EDITORIAL:
Technology hasn’t diminished importance of public library
In an age when words on a screen are more fashionable
than words on paper, some might question the wisdom of spending $4 million-plus
on expansion of the Paul Sawyier Public Library.
With respect for those who advocate fiscal restraint in
government, we say it’s worth every dime.
Library officials gave community members, including State
Journal reporter Rosalind Essig, a tour of the construction zone last week. The
final product can be hard to envision amid the construction dust at this stage,
but it’s hard not to get excited about a renovated library that will include:
• A larger space for children’s programming away from the
stairs that make moms jittery.
• A new community meeting room more than double the size
of the current meeting room, which will remain intact.
• Huge rear windows with a view of the Kentucky River,
and a tiled mosaic on the back wall of a painting by the artist for whom the
building is named.
If the project stays on its current track, patrons will
enjoy the expanded and improved library by year’s end.
A bricks-and-mortar library is essential to a community
for reasons beyond the books that line its shelves. If books were the only
reason for a library, we’d be the first to advocate spending $4 million on
something more worthwhile. After all, a smartphone in the palm of one’s hand
can hold as many books as a library stack.
A library is community space open to all, regardless of
economic resources. Thanks to the library, a poor person who could never afford
an iPad or Kindle can become as enlightened and knowledgeable as a rich man
with an Amazon account. People of all ages and socioeconomic status can be
equally enriched by books and periodicals (print and digital), interesting
classes, educational programming and social interaction with other patrons.
We commend community leaders for their farsightedness in
investing in an institution that, regardless of technological changes still to
occur, will serve Frankfort for many generations to come.
Source | http://www.state-journal.com/2017/06/24/editorial-technology-hasnt-diminished-importance-of-public-library/
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior Manager @
Knowledge Repository
Khaitan
& Co
Upcoming Lecture | ACTREC - BOSLA Annual lecture series (125th birth anniversary of father
of library science, Padmashree Dr. S. R. Ranganathan) on Saturday, 12th August 2017 at
Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC),
Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. (Theme |
'MakerSpace')
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