Quote:
Originally Posted by stevejay
The worth and measure of the public library is not only measured by the books on a shelf. It is a common meeting place for the community, a collective consciousness of sorts, and lets face it...
Will "story hours" ever be replaced? Can poetry readings or author visits be satisfactorily replaced by webinars? Community and inter-connectedness can not or should not be made obsolete by technologies.
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There's certainly nothing wrong with the intimacy earned by collecting in a group and listening to a reading or story hour. But for those who cannot get to a location to hear readings and story hours, "technology" provides us ways to experience it from our homes.
Libraries aren't the only places where people congregate and communities form. When that becomes their only useful function, they can effectively be replaced. Yes, I know how that sounds... but romanticism aside, libraries ARE for storing books/recorded knowledge. When they are no longer needed for that purpose, they are no longer needed. Communities can (and will) congregate, and read to each other, elsewhere.