Years ago, I heard someone discussing the necessity of having Public Television, funded by the government and “viewers like you” with the advent of cable and the hundreds of channels available. There was a time when PBS was the only place you could find cultural programming, educational programs and cooking shows, but with cable television it’s possible to find a channel devoted to almost any topic you can imagine. In our house, there are at least two channels devoted to only preschool programs, all day, and several more with cartoons and other kid-type programs. We have a cooking channel, and several that show art films, independent films, and other kinds of “cultural” programming, including a channel devoted to only gay and lesbian programming!!
Today, I heard a similar discussion about libraries. Do we need to have huge main libraries in every city with smaller branches around the area? Do we need to have the government fund things like DVD rentals, large paperback collections and every magazine published? With the Internet and places like Amazon, huge bookstores and independent and used bookstores, do libraries serve the same purpose they did in the past?
What do you think? Do you still use the library? If so, why? If not, why not?
Personally, this is a touchy subject for me.
YES, we do need libraries. Not all information is available on the Internet, not all segments of society have access to the Internet. Libraries are one means to help those on the bottom of the heap pull themselves up. They also allow children and teens to get into reading without putting any financial drain on parents. Libraries generally also have staff that are highly trained and able to teach how to use both the Internet and the Library. Of course, the trend is getting rid of librarians as well.
Personally, I also use libraries quite a bit. Books, while available everywhere, are pricey. Libraries allow for experimentation in reading, exploring new authors and quantity. I couldn’t afford to read as much as I do if I had to buy everything I read. Libraries are also a source of older, out of print books that are no longer for sale.
Hi Nancy – your blog looks great – your topic about libraries is pertinent to me as I received a Master’s of information at the School of Library and Information Science a few years back. We had an ongoing discussion of the relevance of libraries. I think our local library is used more than ever – it’s always packed with people and no parking spots! I go every day just to have a new place to write in a fresher environment.
I think books will never go out of existence – just change their use a bit – and libraries are here forever!
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in the town where i live, there’s a campaign right now to pass a referendum to give $35 million to the library system… for renovations and major expansions. why? because in a city of 120,000, over 1,600 people were in the library every day. they’ve become community centers as well as information centers. there are great programs for children, educational programs for adults, computer resources, books, books and even maybe enough books to satisfy this bibliophile! you can rent dvds for free, borrow audiobooks (which are too pricey on their own to have a personal library of), etc.
i think they’re great. it introduces me to authors and genres that i might not pick up in a bookstore because the books are too expensive. i love the internet, don’t get me wrong, but if i’m going to be doing lengthy reading in one spot on any topic, i can’t look at the computer screen that long. give me a book, please!
i’m at our library at LEAST once a week, and when my child(ren) get to the age of being homeschooled, we’ll be there much more often. everytime i move to a town, it doesn’t take long for the librarians to learn my name!
A resounding “Yes!” from here. I take my kids to the library once a week. We have access to so many books that we could not afford on our own, and I build a fair amount of our homeschooling curriculum around books I can find at the library. I also use the internet quite a lot, but not everyone has that luxury. And, there’s nothing like the feel of a great book in one’s hands.
A good topic, Nancy!
Public libraries started in this country with private collections. When I lived in the East, the core of many good municipal libraries was formed by wonderful collections of books that had once been in private libraries and that were eventually opened to the public. One of the main benefactors of public libraries was Andrew Carnegie, who acted as a private individual to found public but non-governmental libraries. When I came West, I was astonished by the shallow, meager offerings in the public libraries, which had always been under government supervision.
To my mind, the question is not whether there should be libraries that can be used in common. The question is, why should the government pay for them? Why should bureaucrats decide what is and isn’t appropriate for individuals to read? Why are bureaucrats in control of the knowledge?
Libraries with a wide range of material (not just current books and magazines, but science books, philosophy, the classics, the Greek and Roman writers, etc.) are still necessary. Depending on the market for knowledge doesn’t work. Though there’s a promising trend lately toward reprinting inexpensive editions of certain classics, markets generally want to sell you what’s new, not what you yourself might want to read if you knew it existed.
For example, inquisitive children who are new to the world of reading are bombarded with dumbed-down, “age-appropriate” reading matter—mostly that seems to mean PC textbooks, fantasy stories and environmental propaganda. Why shouldn’t those children have the option of reading Marcus Aurelius if they want to and they’re able? Yet how would children ever know a book like the Meditations existed unless they wandered the aisles of a library and picked it out of the stacks?—without the “library police” shooing them into the children’s section!
On-line libraries like Gutenberg and Bartleby offer a lot of the books that used to be found in those magnificent private collections, so they’re invaluable. Still, you have to know what you’re looking for. It’s easy to take down a book from a shelf and thumb through to see if you want to read it. It’s not so easy to use a computer to do that, and not everyone has computer access. Access depends on a technological infrastructure that’s alarmingly fragile. Lose your power source, and you lose access to your books. Put a book in your pocket, and you don’t need technology. And a thousand books in a thousand private pockets are harder to censor, manipulate or wipe out than a centralized e-collection!
Libraries are about transmitting the knowledge of a culture in the long term, from one generation to the next, regardless of what’s popular or governmentally fashionable at the moment. If we want to do that, we still need libraries.
I believe the library, like everything in this age of electronics, is evolving. Most libraries’ catalogs are available over the Internet, which saves time when deciding on a book, movie, or music CD before making a trip to your local library. In addition, more of these items are accessible over the Internet, eliminating the necessity of traveling to the library. When it comes to research, the Internet provides a vast network of material in an instant and usually more current than items found on a shelf. That such information is readily accessible is of great benefit, especially when one lives many miles from a major city.
As much as I love holding a book in my hand, the ever-increasing quantity and cost of producing printed book is escalating at an enormous rate, not to mention the logistics in storing the copies. Publishing cannot help but adapt. Electronic publishing is experiencing a surge in growth with many of the bigger publishing houses coming onboard. I believe this trend will continue. To see the future, we only have to look at the past.
I think the issue is not one of whether cable and other media outlets meet demand but what is their motive for doing so.
The purpose of non-commercial television, as delineated from “public broadcasting” which was a term brought into use only after the carnegie foundation and Ford motors founded CPB as a way of asserting corporate control over open access airwaves, was to keep a part of the spectrum in public trust for the public good. Television is a powerful medium that should not simply be handed over to profit-motivated interests. Even the niche networks on extended cable still have to turn a profit. As an example, remember when A&E actually showed “Arts & Entertainment,” quality program of cultural regard. Now all they show is true crime specials and Dog: The Bounty Hunter.
As for libraries, they’re important for two very big reasons. 1. they keep the price of books in the bookstores down. Booksellers can only charge so much when people have the option of getting most major market publications for free. 2. There is alot of authoritative non-fiction that is next to impossible to find at B&N or Borders and that, even if you can find it online, is Craaaaaaazy expensive. The library is often the only practical avenue to these sort of books.
OH YEAH — Libraries are still definitely a MUST. Whenever I move (and we seem to move alot), the first thing I look for is the public library. We’re fortunate to have moved to within about 3 blocks of our local library here in Denver.
Libraries allow me to get books that my kids wouldn’t be able to see if I had to buy them (my dh is a Catholic school teacher which = low pay, long hours). We learn at home and have access to EVERYTHING through our library. I can request books, videos, music, artwork — all through my computer and then pick them up at the library. I can obtain books like “King of the Golden City” in it’s original 1920s edition through ILL (my copy came from Fordham University!). I can request movies like JP2’s “The Jeweller’s Shop” from a library in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
My older teens can go “hang out” at the library, using the Internet or browsing the stacks; my little ones walk with me to the library at least once a week to choose their own books on subjects that are as varied as my kids are!
Oh, yes, libraries are an essential public good!
I think libraries will continue to be of importance. First reason, they keep many original historical documents and books plus information not commonly available on the net or those available on the net at pay-for-view only (Library of Congress, State and large city libraries in particular). Second reason , they provide the economically disadvantaged a place to gain access to the interenet. Third, there are still masses of people who like to hold a physical book or magazine to read without buying it, are not computer literate enough browse the Internet or just like the reader to librarian personal relationship. It’s hard to believe but there are many very isolated people in the world who rely on the few readily accessible and friendly public services that still exist. I live in a very small community (500 or less) and the library is very active place (with free coffee and cookies!) and the community supports it with donations.
Nancy, great updates to your site!
I also like the question, a nice one to stir the pot.
I’m a former librarian, so without much thought I have to say YES!!! There’s nothing like a library. It’s a zen sort of place which activates all senses. I have seen libraries educate and entertain, and having the internet only brings another facet to all the libarary has to offer.
As others have mentioned, libraries are also now community centers that simply offer rooms to reserve for various groups, or have movie showings for children of all ages. There have been mini craft fares and career fares as well.
In short, I think a city without a library would be a very disconnected one.
You all put it so nicely, I have only one more reason why I love libraries: the smell. Every time I walk in I’m reminded of peaceful, happy childhood memories… like the time I borrowed Where the Wild Things Are for about six months straight. That book had the smell, too. Sigh!