|
Sometimes people need a place to go. The old-timer who reads the paper and hopes to bump into a friend, the kid whose home is chaos and wants quiet and possibly computer access as well for homework, the unemployed who need to get out of the house but can't go anywhere that would cost them money....
Then there are those who need a live person to help them, because they're not savvy enough to suss out the resources they need.
I'm appalled by this. It's arrogance that suggests that impersonal kiosks and storefronts could replace the resources and ambiance of a library. Those for whom that would be sufficient are the less needy of the public library's clientele. I'd rather see a library like Seattle's with its huge elibrary have fewer ebooks and devote more resources to its neediest patrons.
|