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What Are Public Libraries For
Article

What Are Public Libraries For

Out with the Dewey Decimal System. In with co-working spaces, podcast studios, and goats.



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8

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  • Concrete Examples
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Libraries were once easy for anyone to describe. They held books and books and more books. People went to the library to read and borrow books. That was then. Now, libraries have morphed into community centers that offer a wide range of services. The contemporary library’s menu of activities is a result of competition for user attention and taxpayer funding, and of the shortage of social service support for underserved populations, including the homeless. Schuyler Velasco’s survey of the changing nature of libraries for Experience Magazine will surprise library users and inspire librarians, library patrons and local government policymakers.

Summary

Libraries are morphing from book repositories into providers of a diverse, sometimes startling variety of services and programs.

Libraries still have books, but they offer so much more than books alone that many branches no longer resemble traditional visions of a library. In part, they evolved because library use was declining so alarmingly that the Donald Trump administration suggested cutting library budgets. Becoming relevant to contemporary users is a matter of survival for these institutions.

Not only do libraries differ in appearance and service from their traditional antecedents, but within a single library system, each branch may serve various communities in particular ways. Rapidly changing technology presents challenges to library leaders who attempt to keep their facilities updated. One system opened its computer lab just as the iPhone rendered...

About the Author

Schuyler Velasco is the deputy editor of Northeastern University’s Experience Magazine.


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