commentaries

The problem is online, you only find what you are looking for. But there is no serendipity from browsing up and down aisles.

What is it going to be like in the next 100 years?

What is a library?

Tranquility has also been lost to modern library design. Newer libraries, such as the $140 million, Cesar Pelli-designed Minneapolis Central Library, or the Bentz, Thompson, Rietow-designed Plymouth library traded away quietude for openness, light and "green" design. Reduced energy use, yes, but during busy times, libraries like these become cacophonous echo chambers unsilenced by passive library staff.

William, the people who occupy the library all day have little sense of civility or respect for others. I feel sorry for the library staff. They are fighting a losing battle.

Find a little bookstore, if you can. There are still a few out there. . . And buy a book to support them.

As a high school library media specialist and President of the Minnesota Educational Media Organization, I see libraries and media centers as multi-use spaces, both in the physical and cyber realms. A properly designed library serves the needs of individuals needing a quiet space, groups in collaboration, access to electronic and physical resources, and whatever else the community members need to meet their information, literacy, and collaborative needs. Limitations to meeting these needs are typically monetary in nature, and I believe are most often the result of having inadequate staffing. A library that does not meet the needs of book-reading patrons is either poorly designed or its inclusive vision is poorly implemented. Because meeting patron needs is the primary purpose of libraries, those needs should be the primary focus of both design and implementation.

Libraries and librarians are obsolete. Why are we still funding this 18th century ideal? Books and electronics can be purchased in stores or online all without the help of special government buildings staffed by public employees with knowledge of the Dewey Decimal system. Most inner city libraries have turned into nothing more than well organized homeless shelters.