Rediscover your library

Posted: Tuesday Aug 27, 2024

We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Martin Phillipps, a good friend and supporter of the library.
A few weeks before he passed, Martin kindly answered our 3 Questions about libraries, sharing some of his thoughts and memories with us. We are thankful to him for always being so generous with his time, we will miss him dearly.
Our condolences go out to his family, and our thanks also to them for allowing us to share these memories with you. Ngā mihi aroha kia a koutou whānau. Moe mai rā e te rangatira.

Martin Phillipps of The Chills

What is your earliest library memory?
I remember visiting the children’s library around 1970 when it was still in upper Stuart Street. It was a rainy day and, frankly, a herd of small children in wet, woollen jerseys is not a smell one easily forgets. But it was a warm, comfortable place where (these were different times) your parents could leave you while they went shopping and you could find your own little corner and become immersed in a new story.

What does a library mean to you?
A library, to me, is the organised protection of some of humanity’s most wonderful ideas.

What is a favourite book of yours?
That’s tough… okay - off the top of my head, Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Blood Meridian’ recently confronted me as no piece of literature has.
I love Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ - even the descriptions of the whaling process, which some people find tedious or worse.
Once every seven or eight years I will re-read the Narnia series - thinking that it will be the last time.