Its a weird time. The way we deal with libraries is shitty. But libraries are also evolving and instead of looking at how to cut back money on things that our current political leadership obviously has no use for (like books with facts or useful ideas) the smart people should be looking at how best to use this giant infrastructure investment.
Libraries arent just books. They are also real estate, buildings, meeting rooms, cultural centers and places for ongoing education, when the are working.
They are also the place where new ideas are formed and people change their lives as a result when they are at their best. That is certainly why Carnegie funded so many of them.
And that is why we fund them now.
I think people tend to think in terms of a single issue at a time when it comes to public affairs, and there is this sense amongst many people that online books and resources are making books obsolete. And maybe there is some logic to that. But libraries existed before modern books existed, so the idea that information is changing format isnt really the most compelling argument that libraries are facing obsolescence.
Traditionally the Library was at the center of a great city and people would travel for many miles in order to use its resources. The branch concept was partially a way of dealing with cars as well as convenience. Imagine trying to figure out the parking nightmare if all the libraries were combined into the single building downtown and everyone had to use it instead.
But the branches became like embassies of the High Culture, embedded into every one of the neighborhoods, and over the past 80 years or so, they have made the neighborhoods walkable, and created a buzz of activity around a building whose sole purpose is to serve as a center of civilization.
So perhaps its time to have a couple of conversations in our community. First of all, the investment of generations of our city should not be able to be so lightly tossed aside by the vagaries of municipal politics. A body of half literate (one of them is functionally illiterate) city council types should not be able to cripple this investment at a penstroke.
So I support, in a limited kind of way, the idea of an independent taxing function to support the libraries.
But I also think that it is time for the libraries to redefine how they accomplish their great mission in the context of a changing society.
They did it 80 years ago with the advent of branch libraries, and the changes in our daily lives are every bit as profound as the ones brought about by federally fueled demassification and sprawl and the resulting car dependent society.
But frankly, what is happening every day at Bold Bean Cafe should be happening every day at every library. We have become a nation of autodidacts and the proper social center for that change is the very libraries and branches that we are hastening to close.
People should be using their social networks and reaching out and connecting from them. They should be using Facebook. they should be playing games, they should be learning and going to classes and pursuing whatever frivolous line of education and information that they care to pursue.
Libraries are not offices. They are the sanctuary of a seeking mind. The books are simply the tools made available to them, and that format is changing. But the mission of the library was with us before we invented paper.
Well put Stephen. I love, among other things, your ability to gather and summarize.
If we were to list all of the social and learning entities in a community, the library would stand out as something to be salvaged in spite of the seeming changes in books and the Internet. The library "is" much more than books, or places to get online.
It has served, and should continue to serve as a place for meetings, to satisfy curiosity, but also as an environment of learning, and just one more valuable place which always serves to provide a better road to heighten civilization in general. Yes, just as in all cities, we need heightened civilization in our city. In fact, we need an enlightenment.
Although there is the point of there being almost unending options in the home for solitary entertainment, learning, media access, and communication to others, the library is one of the few places where one can socialize and engage in ideas face to face outside of a lounge or a church.
So ......... onward with the push to keep as many branches a possible. Whereas I was initially focusing on the "demand" for the branches in each area of the county, perhaps the focus should be on maintaining the branches, thereby encouraging demand by maintaining the branches.
I'm not sure of the validity of comparing the expense for the stadium TV, lights, pool, etc .. to the expenses to maintain and improve the branch libraries, but perhaps the comparison could be in the conversation. For example, wasn't the agreement about the $30 million or so "city investment" made sort of behind closed doors. I don't remember the decision about the city investment being out in the open. And remember all that odd wording about the source of the city money which is destined for the stadium TV etc.? Of course, I miss lots of things.
In other words, couldn't these funds (the 30 mill) set for the "field-long lights and TV" etc have been used for the library branches? In my opinion -- and this is simply because I'm not one to be impressed by "Monster Trucks" and other technologies which seem to awe those who are less technically schooled -- the addition to the stadium of these items seems somewhat geared to the same group of people who are awed by the "monster trucks".
Might I suggest that one objective in our city is to decrease the segment in our population who are impressed by ... forgive me please ..... bimbo minded stuff like large lights and TV screens and "monster trucks". I realize that the "monster truck" events are for kids, but I use it simply to make a point... which I suspect I've failed to make. Are we somehow continuing, perhaps unconsciously, a "dumbing down" program by adding impressive huge TV screens and such? Isn't the essence of sports ... that of winning the game? I for one would be much more impressed with the stadium and the Jaguars if they were to totally win every several years.
In any case, it just might be that our use of $30 million for bimbo minded stuff such a big blinking lights, redneck stuff, (forgive me again please), and withholding its use for maintaining and enhancing facilities which could only improve all aspects of the lives who are able to use the facilities ....and might just increase the population of the "average or below average in education, and just might nudge our city further back toward the Middle Ages.. that is, as compared to other culturally vibrant cities.
If I offended anyone by using simple and perhaps inappropriate words... I'm sorry. I am trying to make sense, while using my rather limited mental tool kit.
