Today we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to ask an important question: Why are public libraries important?
What are public libraries?
First of all, they are public. Their resources are available to all, and in most cases those resources are free to all users.
Second, they are repositories of books and other materials (magazines, music, and movies, as well as access to newspaper archives, databases and other research tools). All of which can be summed up in one word: knowledge. Public libraries are free, accessible sources of knowledge.
Thirdly, public libraries provide educational and community services. In addition to their shelves full of knowledge, they offer programs and services that range from job application assistance, to story time for toddlers, to exercise classes, all of which help people to live healthy, productive, enriched lives.
So why are public libraries important? How can they remain relevant in our twenty-first century world?
Why I care about libraries
As you may know, I am on the board of my local library. It is one of the ways I choose to serve my local community. Sure, I volunteer at the library because I love books, but also because I believe in all that libraries stand for, including:
- The free and equal access of ideas—with no censorship by government or other agencies— which is a foundation of our country. In today’s digital world, the library has become an important resource for those who do not have access to the internet. (Which is true of more people than you think.)
- An institution that promotes lifelong learning, creativity, and innovation. In addition to the vast amount of material available to be borrowed, libraries are intentional about offering programs designed to interest and benefit the public.
- A safe, welcoming place where people of all ages can come for either quiet study or social engagement.
- A resource for anyone seeking information, from genealogical research to those needing help with online job applications. Because of interlibrary loans, the local library has become a portal to a vast collection of knowledge, and the local librarian is trained to help you find what you are looking for.
What about you?
Do you use libraries? Do you support them? Do you believe they should exist?
I want to hear your opinions on the subject. I mean it.
I REALLY WANT YOUR FEEDBACK!
Comment on this post, add your remarks on Facebook, or send me an email with your thoughts. Call me, text me, stop me at the store—whatever works. Let me know your thoughts.
Why are public libraries important? Why do we need them?
How could public libraries do better at serving the needs of our present communities?
How do you see libraries changing to remain relevant in the near future?
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Hi Lisa,
Great post! I also love public libraries– they’ve been one of my favorite places since childhood. I enjoyed working part-time at a local public library for several months last year. I have to say though, with the digital age, my actually visiting my public library in the last year or so has diminished, as I download audio books and reading books over the internet. I’m not really sure about their future, but I can’t imagine NOT having public libraries.
Thanks for your input. I too wonder what libraries will look like in the future, but I think that some manner of public knowledge provider will still be needed.
Are public libraries worth the effort-produced resources we pour into them? Yes. What gives them this worth? Public libraries shape humans by changing human environments in a way that is fertile for flourishing. Environments shape “human capabilities, that is, what people are actually able to do and be” (Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development, 2000, page 5). An environment featuring public libraries cultivates human capacity to “sense, imagine, think, and reason … to play, to enjoy recreational activities … to engage in various forms of social interaction, . . . to imagine the situation of another and to have compassion for that situation. … to form a conception of the good and to engage in critical reflection about the planning of one’s life” (Ibid. 78-80). And given that the libraries are offered as a free, public service, one does not need to be in the middle class in order to enter the cultivating environment of living with access to a library. Further, public libraries offer reliable resources people can use to explore what’s going on in life, how they can interpret what’s going on, how they can anticipate others’ response to their action. (H. Richard Niebuhr, The Responsible Self, 1999, page 65). Libraries help people live into the transcendental precepts of being human: be aware, be intelligent, be rational, be responsible (Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology, 1990, page 9).
Public libraries develop human capabilities and responsibility by providing particular goods: old and new books, cds, dvds, e-books, streaming videos, reference services, database and periodical access, classes, recreational activities, reference experts, social space, computer and internet acccess, and more (Bernard Lonergan, The Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, The Invariant Structure of the Human Good as Object, 1993, page 33). Libraries create regular recurrence of these goods by the coordination of human operations. New books get added to collections by librarians monthly. Teachers lead yoga classes happen every Wednesday, etc. Librarians have habits of knowledge, volition, and skill which make the coordination of operations possible. They know where to identify new books being released, and how to acquire those materials. They will to come in regularly and do these tasks. People are familiar with the library structure, which makes it easier for them to use it. Libraries possess the material equipment which makes the housing and circulation of materials possible: computers to track check outs, late dates, patron statuses, shelves to house physical materials, servers to house electronic materials, wires to provide electricity to lights. Finally, the good of order that exists in libraries and facilitates capabilities includes personal statuses arising from interpersonal relations and roles. Librarians have a general sense of respect from people, and develop the status of “that’s someone who I can talk to and get help from finding what I’m looking for, or writing this paper, or figuring out where to vote.”
Wow, thanks for all your very considered thoughts. I will have to ponder your ponderings for a while.