Save the Libraries

chirp! chirp!

There is a tremendous lack of understanding these day of, well...of many things actually; but within the scope of this blog, the value of libraries.  I think the true value of public libraries is that they provide common ground.  This is reflected to me in two related ways.   I have a quote that I've collected recently from a UK article on libraries that articulates it one way:

"The libraries' most powerful asset is the conversation they provide – between books and readers, between children and parents, between individuals and the collective world. Take them away and those voices turn inwards or vanish. Turns out that libraries have nothing at all to do with silence." - Bella Bathurst, writer for The Observer [newspaper]

Libraries facilitate an intellectual conversation, no matter the format of the conversation or the materials on the shelves, readers, or digital devices.  This largely has to do with the training, skill, and actual practice of the job known as "librarianship".  The people that work in a library make sure by their very work that the conversations listed in the quote above can flourish.

A second way that this thing called a "library" acts as a societal leveler, is as a place where people from all walks of life can experience a certain level of equality and equitable treatment.  The physical space makes it unique in the modern world in that anyone can use it for meeting and exchange of ideas, largely free of any out-of-pocket expense.

Public libraries continue to provide free access to information in the form of books, digital files, Internet access, and government publications, all the while being dismantled bit-by-bit in the name of "lowering taxes" and "trimming the fat".  I contend that libraries, especially public and school libraries, give the most bang for the tax dollar that you can get.  HPL will be here for a while, I think.  We have benefited from the gifts of many fine residents in our town.  But Kansas libraries as a whole are being picked apart.  From elimination of funding for cheap high-speed Internet connectivity (this has already happened - funding was slashed), to statewide accessible databases of information (this funding has also been eliminated), to school libraries at every level, our State Legislature and Governor seem to be doing their best to demolish educational support of any sort.

Lastly, I am not advocating support of this project - you can make your own decisions about it, but I think it is a great idea.  Photographer Robert Dawson is touring 22 states, photographing public libraries as a commons, one of "...the things that we share as a nation - our environment, our infrastructure, our culture - the things that keep our society civil and working."

Here's the link from the comments section below:  Karin Slaughter Writes Story to Help Save Libraries