Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
We're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We've started this podcast to give you joy, happiness and gorgeous vocabulary with super grammar for your high IELTS score.
For your band 9 score.
Oh, Rory, look at those books at the background.
Have you changed them?
I haven't changed them yet, but I'm going to.
It's like a library.
It is a very small one.
Shall we talk about library?
Let's talk about libraries.
What a coincidence!
It's another coincidence.
Yes, dear listener, in speaking part one, they can ask you questions about libraries.
Let's talk about libraries.
Do you often go to the library?
Much more than I used to, actually.
In my hometown.
The local library is quite far off, but up my neck of the woods now it's just over the road.
So I'll go there maybe once or twice a month.
I think that's quite often.
Did you go to a library when you were a child?
I vividly remember we would go there with our childminder.
I used to pick up a load of books on complex topics just because I liked the pictures.
It must be where I get the vocabulary from.
What do you usually do in the library?
I like to poke around the lifestyle and science fiction sections in the hopes of finding something interesting.
And I've looked up information on local authors for various projects.
The librarians there are actually quite helpful if we talk about my library where I live now.
What kind of people go to libraries to work or study?
Based on a limited number of visits I've made recently, it's hard to pin down exactly who goes there.
I suppose my best guess would be that there are people who are interested in finding out about different subjects connected to what they work with or what they study.
Are libraries popular in your country?
Well, I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say they're probably relatively more popular now than they used to be in the recent past, because people are trying to save money by taking books out on loan rather than by buying them just because we have this cost of living crisis.
However, I don't think that they're as popular as they were back in the day, like we're talking like in the 1950s and 60s, just because people still have more money than they did back then.
But still, they're using various cost cutting measures and so libraries will play a part in that.
Dear listener, we have our premium episodes for you where Rory and I are talking about IELTS Speaking Part 2 and 3 recent questions.
This week we're gonna talk about a person Rory met at a party who he enjoyed talking to in part 2.
And in part 3 we're gonna be talking about meeting new people in general.
These are recent IELTS speaking part 2 and 3 topics.
Do check them out, okay?
Thank you, Rory, for your library story.
Well, for your library answers.
First of all, what do we say?
Go to a library.
Go to the library.
Go to library.
Well, go to the library or go to a library.
Not go to library.
You need an article.
But go to a library for like one of many and go to the library for a specific one of many.
That's usually your local library is the library.
Yeah, and you've mentioned this local library.
I usually go to my local library, so local in your neighborhood, right?
Like your local school, your local shop, your local library, right in the neighborhood.
So i usually go to my local library or to the local library, right.
Or i i've never been to a library.
A library yeah, Or I don't like libraries.
So you said that's up my neck off the woods?
Yes, it's an idiom.
And a spoiler alert, we are working on an idioms course right now.
More information on that further on down the line, which is also an idiom.
However, up my neck of the woods means we're in the area where I live.
Not that you live in a forest, it just means where you live.
Okay, could you give us an example?
Oh, well, yeah, sure.
There aren't many people up my neck of the woods because it's a village.
As a child, Rory went to the library and he said that we would go there.
So I would go there.
Why would?
Because it was a regular action in the past, okay?
So, Rory is talking about the past when he was a child.
I would go to a library.
So, it was a regular action every week.
And you can say I went there or I would go there.
Yes.
I went there, I would go there, I used to go there.
Who is a childminder?
A childminder is just someone who looks after you when your parents are unavailable to do that.
And it's their job to do that.
So a nanny is another word.
We just called it a childminder.
Mind means obviously your head and what's going on in there.
But a mind can also mean to look after, and a minder is someone who looks after something.
So a child minder is someone who looks after children.
Like, mind the gap.
Like, keep the gap in mind.
Yes, it's all connected.
Pick up a load of books.
When you take books from a library, you pick up books, a load of books, lots of books.
So as a child, Rory used to pick up a load of books on complex subjects.
When we talk about what a book is about, it's a book on something.
Like I'm reading a book on being creative in schools.
An interesting question.
What do you usually do in a library?
Like, what do most people do in libraries?
No, because these days libraries, you know, they've adapted to this modern life and they have computers, they have technology, they have cafes.
You can also call a library a hub.
A hub of knowledge, a community hub.
Yeah, it's all about these communities and helping each other.
Maybe there are some masterclasses, some classes, seminars, lectures in your local library.
There's a lot going on in different libraries these days.
Rory pokes around in the science fiction sessions.
I enjoy poking around the magazines section.
So just like looking around, checking out different magazines, for example.
You can also use another phrasal verb, look up.
So, I've also looked up information on something.
Or I usually poke around in ... section and I look up information on certain subjects.
What do we call people who work in a library?
The people who match you with the book you want.
We call them lucky because they don't have to deal with people during the day.
Librarians, yeah.
So a librarian like a library librarian yeah, a person who i like this expression like a librarian is somebody who matches you with the book you want.
Dear listener also, you can say that I prefer borrowing books periodicals newspapers films, maps.
In libraries we have DVDs, e-books, audio books, databases I'm reading from the script.
And...
Yeah, and there are collections of, I don't know, rare books, right?
Even if you don't usually, if you never go to a library, you can say this just to show off your vocabulary.
When?
In what?
In which one of these questions are you going to say oh, I look up the rare collection in the library.
What do you usually do in the library?
Oh, yes.
What do I usually do?
Like, if it's a rare collection, I doubt that you're doing it very often, right?
Yeah, but you can say like, oh, I usually borrow this and that.
I poke around this and that section.
Sometimes I also check out the collections of rare books and DVDs.
DVDs.
My answer was fine also.
Yeah, yeah, your answer was fabulous.
Getting defensive about my vocabulary now.
I've made some visits to a library.
So, you make visits to a library.
You visit a library or you can say that based on the limited number of visits I've recently made.
So, to make a visit to a library.
A nice phrasal verb, Rory.
You've used this pin down.
It's hard to pin down exactly who goes to libraries.
Well, it is because everybody goes to the local library where I live.
At least that seems to be the case.
Yeah, but that's in Scotland.
What about some other countries?
I don't know about other countries.
Yeah, so it's difficult for me to say what kind of people go to libraries.
So it's hard to pin down who exactly goes to a local library.
And when you use a phrasal verb, make sure that you stress which word you stress Rory, the verb or the proposition.
Is it the verb?
Now is the proposition to stress a typical native speaker.
I'm tired.
You're rude.
I am rude.
Yeah, we usually say pin down, not like pin down, but pin down.
So the stress is usually on the preposition.
That's why poke around.
Well, we don't say like poke around.
Poke around.
Like around.
Yeah, we're exaggerating, yeah?
But, no.
Poke around the science fiction section.
So, around is more stressed than poke.
Okay?
And then the strategy is to say, my best guess would be people interested in novels.
So my best guess would be...
People who are writing a course paper or who are writing a thesis dissertation.
So my best guess would be... And then Rory used his strategy.
I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say that...
And you know Rory, our listener might think that no, come on, whoever says this, I'm hardly an expert.
This is not natural.
But you know what?
I went to Thailand and there was a guide.
He was talking about these mountains and lakes.
He talked about fish and he goes like, if I were an expert...
I'd say that.
And they go, look, that's our strategy.
He's obviously one of our listeners.
Thank you, Thai Guide, for listening.
Yes, and the guide was from Britain.
Oh, really?
Oh, yeah, yeah, British person.
Nice.
And he used this strategy.
So you see, dear listener, this is real life.
If one person used it, it's like natural.
One native speaker used it, and therefore...
That is, of course, not how language works, but there you go.
Then we say that people can save money and borrow books from their local library.
So we borrow books, we take books and then we give them back, right?
What if I don't give a book back? then you are killed because you're stealing.
No, if you don't give a book back, then you might have to pay a fine or you'd get a written warning from your library.
Or if you're a teacher in the United Kingdom, then you can take out a special teacher's account and you have an unlimited loan time because they know that teachers are busy and they'll get them back to you when they can.
So we borrow books from libraries.
But if I just go to a library and I take a book and I just leaf through it, I read it there.
So what do you call this?
Like I use books for reference.
If you're just reading through a book in the library, I guess you're just leafing through it.
It depends on what you're using it for.
And you mentioned this cost-cutting measures.
What did you mean by cost-cutting?
A cost-cutting measure is just something that helps you save money.
So borrowing books instead of buying them is a cost-cutting measure because you don't pay for them.
Not paying your taxes is a cost-cutting measure.
Yeah, dear listener, so you can talk about libraries as community centers, right?
So where people go to have different classes, I don't know, to meet other people, to just hang around with your friends.
And also I think some people use libraries when they're internet at home is down.
Wi-Fi doesn't work, so they just pop in their local library to use free Wi-Fi, because it's free right.
It's supposed to be.
Is it for free?
I don't know.
I don't think we have Wi-Fi in our local library.
No?
Oh, Scotland these days.
But we're in the middle of nowhere.
I like the way you say it now.
I'm in the middle of nowhere.
Excellent.
So Rory has officially accepted that he is just in the middle of nowhere in a small village.
Just out there somewhere in Scotland, we don't even know where he is.
That doesn't mean that it's a bad thing.
It means it's quiet.
No, no.
Quiet, yes.
Do you think that libraries are in real danger of closing down?
Right.
Everything is in real danger of closing down.
Probably not the really big state-owned ones.
So the one that you were describing in Moscow, for example, or I'm trying to think of a big library in London.
I don't know any famous libraries in London.
But there will be ones that are owned by the government.
They probably won't close.
But local community libraries, as they're used less and less often, will probably close down.
Oh, and do you know that in some libraries, you can use your voice to search for library materials?
That will not be in my local library, I assure you.
Yeah, but maybe in some, you know, in libraries in London or in other capitals, you can just use your voice.
Please find me a book by Rory, Fergus, Duncan, Goodwillie.
A book by who?
If you hooked up an AI to a search database, then yeah, probably you could say like I need you to find a book that's about X, Y and Z, and they would find it.
Be great.
Thank you very much for listening, so please make sure that you let us know like do you know any people who go to libraries these days?
Do you go to a library?
Or maybe when you were at school or at university did you used to go to a library and what you did there?
Okay, Thank you very much.
Hugs, Korean hearts, kisses, lots of energy.
And we'll see you in our next show.
Bye.
Do you often go to the library?
Much more than I used to, actually.
In my hometown.
The local library is quite far off, but up my neck of the woods now it's just over the road.
So I'll go there maybe once or twice a month.
I think that's quite often.
Did you go to a library when you were a child?
I vividly remember we would go there with our childminder.
I used to pick up a load of books on complex topics just because I liked the pictures.
It must be where I get the vocabulary from.
What do you usually do in the library?
I like to poke around the lifestyle and science fiction sections in the hopes of finding something interesting.
And I've looked up information on local authors for various projects.
The librarians there are actually quite helpful if we talk about my library where I live now.
What kind of people go to libraries to work or study?
Based on a limited number of visits I've made recently, it's hard to pin down exactly who goes there.
I suppose my best guess would be that there are people who are interested in finding out about different subjects connected to what they work with or what they study.
Are libraries popular in your country?
Well, I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say they're probably relatively more popular now than they used to be in the recent past, because people are trying to save money by taking books out on loan rather than by buying them just because we have this cost of living crisis.
However, I don't think that they're as popular as they were back in the day, like we're talking like in the 1950s and 60s, just because people still have more money than they did back then.
But still, they're using various cost cutting measures and so libraries will play a part in that.
