A Dedicated Customer

During the Christchurch City Library 150th celebrations, library staff interviewed Mollie Tobeck, a regular customer at the Central and Hornby Libraries. Mollie was typical of the many enthusiastic customers the library is fortunate to have.

In 1940, 12-year-old Mollie Tobeck left home clutching a note from her headmaster. She took the tram from Beckenham to town and joined the Canterbury Public Library. A dedicated customer to this day, Mollie shares memories of her “treasure house”, the library.

Mollie doesn’t remember what the headmaster’s note said nor why she had to have it but she was a passionate reader, already familiar with the Beckenham Library, and joining the Children’s Library at Canterbury Public opened the way to a lifetime of wide-ranging reading. At that time the Children’s Library was a separate room on the side of the library and of that first day she remembers walking around and thinking: “Oh there’s so many books I want to read. It’s just a treasure house!”

The Anne of Green Gables stories by L.M. Montgomery and The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett were two of Mollie’s youthful favourites. As a pupil at Girls’ High she made the most of the library being close by and when she left school she fortuitously went to work at the David Crozier motor firm in Worcester Street, just a quick walk to the library. She often went there wearing her office uniform of a floral smock and found she was frequently accosted by customers in the library wanting help and having to explain she was a customer too. Her smock was not as pretty as the library fabrics, she remembers.

City and Hornby libraries most used

Mollie remembers City Librarian, Mr Bell, who struck her as being a very stern man. He probably wasn’t, she says, but just gave that impression. She used to think he was so lucky living right next door to the library.

“I think I thought he went in the library every night and sat there reading.”

The old library had big leather-topped tables and round-backed armchairs – it was a real, old-fashioned library.

Marriage and family and setting up a home in Hornby did not slow down Mollie’s use of the library. As soon as her children were old enough she was bringing them in to the library on the bus. She remembers that younger children were not so well catered for in the children’s library then and could not join until they were at least five. Parents could borrow books on their behalf from a picture book collection in the adult library.

Her memories of the children’s library at this time include the excellent help she received from Mrs Jensen, who had a great rapport with the children. She would happily leave her son Mark in Mrs Jensen’s care while she chose her own books. Mrs Jensen talked to Mark and helped him to choose books. Mrs Jensen once gave Mollie a copy of Where the Wild Things Are to read at home and to assess how frightening it was for small children. No problems there remembers Mollie, although her son grew up with a fondness for Stephen King novels.

Mollie was also a great customer of the Hornby Library, first at the Power Company building on the Main South Road, and then at the current site on Goulding Avenue. These days she still uses the Central and Hornby libraries.

Changing tastes

Her reading tastes have changed over the years, once a science fiction fan, she has now moved on to more non-fiction, biographies mainly and interesting fiction. She reads a lot of young adult fiction which she says is great.

“I’ll give anything a go” she says.

“I go to two chapters and if I’m not interested by then I don’t persevere, there are too many good books to be read.”

She is open to ideas and suggestions from radio reviewers, librarians and friends, loves magazines, CDs and DVDs as well. Recently enjoyed books include The 10pm Question and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. She loves Alexander McCall Smith although is a bit concerned about his Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency stories being made into a film and how well that will be done.

Mollie loves all the beautiful coffee table books and cookbooks (she is really enjoying Gran’s Kitchen at present).

A couple of reserves she is looking forward to include the biography of scientist and global warming crusader James Lovelock and the newly re-released A Lion called Christian. She shares her reading passion with her son and daughter, comparing reads and reserve lists, and is thrilled by the range of resources at the library and the wonderful condition of the books.

‘Bother the groceries, books are more important’

Mollie wishes more people would read and is pleased with number of young people she sees reading “that’s because they have such a wonderful choice” .

A member of Friends of the Library, she enjoys the events that the group organises. There’s only one thing on Mollie’s library wish list - “a room where we could have author talks” .

When she goes to collect her books she takes her shopping trundler and sometimes she collects so many she thinks ‘where am I going to put the groceries?’.

Once she met a fellow customer with the same problem who said: “Bother the groceries, books are more important”

“I can’t understand people who don’t read and I think here there is such a wonderful choice” says Mollie. Someone once told her they never read as it is ‘such a waste of time’. “I must have wasted a lot of time,” Mollie chuckles.