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Tacoma Public Library, a new digital lab offers space where teens can create, learn
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Just beyond the main checkout counter, in a soundproof room covered in gray egg carton foam, the future of the Tacoma Public Library is spilling out in graphics, text, video and sound.
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“This stuff” is a new array of high-powered computers and state-of-the-art software, collectively known as StoryLab – the Tacoma Public Library’s new digital media center for teens. Funded by a three-year $150,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation with matching funds from the library, StoryLab is believed to be only the third digital media center in the nation now provided by a public library, library officials say.
“This really speaks to the way libraries are changing,” said Susan Odencrantz, the city’s library director. “More and more, there’s a movement toward digital literacy and uploading content. This just lets us take it to the next level to serve people with more modern tools and training opportunities.”
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So, are libraries just for reading? and is this a proper use of tax funds when basic funding is being stretched to the limit? Keep in mind that this same library system shut down two branches earlier this year because of poor funding.
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Hamstrung by a $1.9 million budget shortfall and facing an almost certain future of lean economic times, the Tacoma Public Library has pared 24 staff positions and will shut two of its ten branches by the end of this month.
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