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PULLIB Public Led Libraries
Commentaries and Manifestos on Libraries and the Internet © 2000 – 2003 Daniel Clark
The Life of the Mind
These are scary times for library employees. More and more people,particularly young people, prefer to do their reading while looking atscreens, not printed pages. We feel threatened. Why? It's because of our attachment to ink-on-paper. But we don't have to be scared. Everything'sOK, really. It's just that it's time to redefine what libraries are all about.The ink-on-paper paradigm has gone too far.Don't get me wrong. I love books. I love to feel the texture of their pages,to smell the rich aroma of their ink. I love them thick. I love them thin. Ilove their bookmarks, jutting out at a jaunty angle. I love to fan my thumbalong their leaves, so flexible, one edge held firm in the tightly sewnspine. I can't stop reading them.I feel a warm comfort in the company of fellow book lovers. We supporteach other with news about more bound volumes to hold and cherish.Still, I know I have a problem. My obsession with these physical objectshas gone too far. And I know I'm not alone. All library people havesuccumbed, over the past few thousand years, to a fetishism, or idolatry,or addiction, to ink-on-paper. We've lost our way.There is still time, sisters and brothers!Now, because of the incursions of electronic media, we're being forced tokick our habit. It's an uncomfortable adjustment. Perhaps we should startInkaholics Anonymous. Let me be the first to confess, "I am an inkaholic."But seriously, this doesn't mean we should turn into...electroholics. Thereal theme of libraries is not the Book -- or the Computer. It's the Life of the Mind.James Billington, the head of the Library of Congress, has written, "In anage of increasing physical limits, the life of the mind may be the onlyremaining frontier where the horizons of our cherished ideal of freedomremain infinite."The physical medium through which the Life of the Mind is expressedhas changed and will continue to change according to time, place, andcircumstance. But our commitment in the library is to the development of consciousness.Think how similar the words "library" and "liberate" are. They're from theLatin, "liber" with a short i, and "liber" with a long i, respectively. Come tothe library and get liberated! Liberated from ignorance, from illusions,from confusion. My mind is free at the library. Free to discover, explore,
 
and wonder. The liberty we cherish as citizens in a democratic society isfound flourishing at the library.No matter how much we love books, it's to our advantage to realize thatthe real center of interest in libraries is The Life of the Mind. Givingpeople the opportunity to help each other live The Life of the Mind.Let's face it, paper-printed books have some irritating features aboutthem. Most of them won't lie flat, which makes them hard to read whenyou're eating your lunch -- they keep snapping shut like a bear trap. Onother occasions the pages blow around in the wind. The pages also rip,or get dirty, yellowed, or mildewed. Coated paper reflects light, makingreading difficult. Bindings break. Book publishers' voracious appetite for wood pulp consumes our precious forests. Books weigh too much -- askany backpacked student. If you need the latest information, books areusually at least a year behind the times. We shouldn't put books on apedestal.They'll still be the best medium for certain purposes. After all, wordschiseled in stone still have their place.More important than books are libraries. And libraries don't have to dieout. Go back five hundred years. How did European libraries changeafter the invention of the printing press? For one thing, there were manymore of them. They popped up in the homes of the middle class, not justin the mansions of the rich and the monasteries of the church. Finally, theprinting press enabled the free public lending library to flourish.What happened? It was a movement in the direction of democratization.Libraries for the masses, not just the few. Libraries that contained manynew kinds of items that themselves were made possible by technologicalinnovations. Libraries gained a solid platform of power in the communityat large, such as they'd never had before. Who won? The library or theprinting press? Both won, because the library assimilated the printingpress, and took advantage of it.Libraries changed -- for the better.Is it possible that libraries will change any less after the invention of theworld wide web? They'll probably change even more. In 1500, at least itwas just a shift from one kind of ink- on-paper to another. Now we'reconfronted with wireless hand-held online devices. They can deliver -- toborrow the title of an old French film --
Toute la memoire du monde
, "Allthe Memory of the World." That was a documentary about the NationalLibrary in Paris. Remake the movie. Is the new subject the Palm VII?What's a poor library to do?Here we have the frightful question. What's really to keep a library inbusiness? The website, we can understand. That may find a place in theelectronic age. But the building, that beautiful building. What will becomeof it?Prediction has its limits. Will all the ink- on-paper content of all thelibraries go online, universally accessible by everyone everywhere? We
 
don't know. But let's say it might happen. We still have no reason toworry. The building will be freed from its always inadequate role as abook warehouse. The building can be used more effectively byexpanding already-existing functions and introducing new ones. And theinterior will certainly look more inviting! (It's too bad, though -- we won'tbe able to do that fascinating shelf-reading any more.)People don't change all that much. They'll always want to get out of thehouse and go somewhere. People will always want to join together withothers in a physical location to share activities. The library building is theright place for a community center dedicated to the Life of the Mind. Thelibrary is a clicks- and-mortar theme-park-in-a-box whose theme is TheLife of the Mind.I went to our local fitness center the other day. It's a cordial kind of place,given over to physical activity. And a library is its counterpart, given over to mental activity.We don't want to lose that meeting place. It would be a terrible loss for the community. I'll bet that even if most of the ink-on-paper gets shippedout, the library will survive.People whose homes or offices are noisy or distracting will come to thelibrary for a quiet place to read, think, write, and do other creative work.People whose home online devices are being used by other familymembers will come to the library to use the public connection. Peoplewho don't have their own online devices will use the library's. Travelerswithout portable access will also use the library devices.Patrons will get together to help each other in their internet searches.Literacy tutors will help people learn how to read words, interpret images,and develop internet comprehension. Students will study together insmall groups. Students registered for distance learning will take their courses. Local individuals and groups will hold classes, lectures, andmeetings. Audiences will attend film and video showings. Children'sprograms will continue, adding multimedia performances. Technicianswill show people how to solve simple hardware and software problems.And, what's more, the public will enjoy looking at the displays of antiquebooks in glass cases!I couldn't resist tossing that in.What is a library? Not a place that promotes one medium over others,but a place (on the ground or on the net) that promotes and enhancesThe Life of the Mind.
PullibLog
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