The Standard-Examiner has an editorial on its web site (click) and in tomorrow's paper about the library bond, asking folks to reject it in favor of just repairing the Ogden branch and calling the rest good.
The "rest," of course, are tripling the size of the Roy library and doubling the usable space in North Ogden -- demands those communities make by overusing what they have now. The S-E would leave those libraries to do as they will, fearing that the future will make "bricks and mortar" obsolete.Considering the role that Weber County's libraries play -- and will continue to play, as indicated by their 9 percent usage growth rate -- in providing education, community, stability and growth to our cities -- all things the Standard supports -- I find this editorial disheartening, to say the least.
Just how will we provide those things if we don't have libraries, which have worked for those goals pretty darn well for the last 150 years or so.
The editorial says we shouldn't lock ourselves into a future of buildings, but we don't know what the future will bring. 20 years ago nobody had a clue what the internet could do, and in the next 20 it will change life in ways nobody can imagine.
So, do we just toss away what we have, let it wither, and hope for the best? I do not share that sort of confidence in the kindness of the future. I'd rather it be we who are in charge
Building now, and the resulting growth of community and stability around what we create, is a way to steer that future, to control it, to provide a place for it to be applied and accessed by all, instead of just waiting to see what comes.
Many people now don't have access to computers and the Internet except via libraries. Failure to support libraries -- and their growth into the future -- supports a two-tier economically defined system, with the rich having access and the poor not. Is education, learning, community, only for those who can afford it?
Does the newspaper think the debate is over the future is set, people should just sit home and use their computers or ebooks?
Such a narrow, lonely vision of the future.
Charles, this one really hit home. Your best work yet.
ReplyDelete--A long time reader.
The SE opinion makes me wonder if any of them have visited one of the libraries lately? The Pleasant Valley and Main branches are packed every time I am there.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to poll the SE board and ask the last time each of them darkened the door of a Weber County library.
DeleteIt's about time to wake some people up and go knocking on doors, Charles. While other communities may have funding issues, too, keeping the Weber County Library in decent shape (or putting it in decent shape) should come before ADDING something somewhere else. Although I no longer live in Ogden, I used that facility over and over and...
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, Charlie! So great in fact that, well...
ReplyDeleteDueling Editorials: Dang Near Everything You Need to Know About The Pending Weber County Library Bonding Measure
Great to see posting here on your blog like a madman!
The editorial board seems certain that e-books are the future and are here to stay. The editorial does not want taxpayers to pay for improvements that they claim will not be useful in 20 years. Yet they seem to belive that current digital technology will remain revelant and current into the future. The oly technology that has remained useful and revelant over the last few hundred years is the printed word. Words on paper. Guttenberg has yet to be surpassed as a method for distributing information. But for those who believe in current technology always be revelant I have some items to sell to you. A box of BetaMax video tapes and a box of 8-Track audio tapes. Both were the high point of modern technology at one time. Technology changes but printed books remain the same. Can you children color the pictures in a e-book cloring book?
ReplyDeleteIf what the SE editor meant to say is that the newspaper is planning to preemptively pull the plug on "the print operations of the Standard Examiner" instead of the Weber County Library System, the comments become relevant. Newspapers need to focus on "providing information effectively" and buildings don’t play into that. Public libraries have a broader mission—one that does require buildings—gracious, spacious buildings. Providing community space for those wishing to find a place to interact with others as they pursue their own idea of happiness within an information-rich atmosphere has long been a tenet of the Weber County Library system. Successful libraries spread their focus across a myriad of community responsibilities; obviously, the first of which is providing information effectively, in both traditional and new technologies, whether online, by phone, or in comfortable face-to-face settings. eBooks, anyone? Your public library has them—and they are free, too, which is a nice change from those ongoing $9.99 Amazon charges. But who teaches new users HOW to access free eBooks? Your public library staff does, often in person via one-on-one impromptu mini-trainings as you come in with your new device in hand, or through regular free classes. These and other facets of modern library service are enhanced by adequate public library spaces. Rest assured that well-managed libraries such as ours will continue to retool their operations to meet patron demand for services. Will technology change demand? You bet—but regardless of the technological advances ahead, people will always need access to welcoming and open library spaces staffed by information specialists trained and ready to help them navigate through the onslaught of choices and weed out those irrelevant to their queries. Stop in and see how tightly packed Weber County’s older libraries in Roy and North Ogden are—and then visit the Pleasant Valley Branch to see how pleasant a modern, spacious library can be. All Weber County residents deserve access to libraries that embrace and anticipate the future of information science. The bond deserves a “yes” vote.
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