Our History Lies within Our Libraries 

Our History Lies within Our Libraries

            The age of technology has come with different consequences not just on the economy, politics, religion, and educational institutions but also the library. Technological use has been embraced by various industries and its growth exponential thus affecting the way of life today. It is also shaping the way we see the future. The only institution connecting us and our past is the library. The library holds a lot of information from the past to the present that helps in making decisions as far as other industries are concerned. In the book ‘The Library’, Susan Orlean addresses this topic by focusing on the story of the Los Angeles Public Library burning down, and it is an eye-opener. She asserts that the biggest lesson learned from inferno is the significant role played by the libraries in our lives (Orlean, 74). She also highlighted the evolution of libraries in the United States and the world.  Technology has exponentially advanced with time, leading to ignoring the benefits of libraries.

Public libraries offer free educational resources to the public, safe refuge for the homeless, and help in boosting local economies through providing a workspace for telemarketers and free internet. The two most significant benefits include the teachings of the English language and preservation of history and the truth.  According to Mersund et al. (18), libraries provide more than just books and remain a central part of society. Libraries feed the mind and soul of our country. These benefits act as a constant reminder that even though we are in a digital era libraries are more necessary than ever. Therefore, this paper will examine the importance of libraries, why they are shutting down, why need them, and the factors eliminating the need for libraries.

Libraries play a significant role in enriching civic competence and understanding as well as activities of civil society. Libraries have books that address various topics from beauty, health, fashion, literature, fiction, science, and history. These books contain good thoughts and give the individual an opportunity of accessing vast knowledge. For instance, there are people in the United States who craves for reading but do not have enough resources of satisfying their urge. Therefore, libraries come handy for such individuals. It is important to note that some books are cheap, while others are costly to the ordinary person. And libraries offer this category of people an opportunity to access a wide range of books at one location for a nominal cost.

Libraries offer educational resources to everyone in society. Studies have shown that public libraries in the country play a significant role in providing not only a safe and accessible but also free educational resource centres for every citizen. Professional and educational training programs, internet access, and books are free to everyone in public libraries. The socio-economic status of families and individuals do not hinder anyone from accessing library resources. Another study conducted examining the importance of libraries today found that approximately 6.6 million people ask questions in the libraries across the country. This study shows how beneficial the libraries are today in the country.

Libraries provide safe homes for the undeserving populations and the homeless. Libraries in the United States are on record for stepping in to help the homeless people and low-income families. Libraries offer these segments of the U.S population support and safe and free accommodation (Terrile, 135). It is also important to note that every morning when the libraries open, they not only become centres for employment and learning but also shelter for the homeless and undeserving individuals. Libraries also partner with homeless shelters to offer commuter services between the two sites. For instance, hundreds of homeless children, women, and men visit Martin Luther King Jr. library in Washington D.C to take advantage of resources (access internet and apply for jobs, read books, train for jobs, and access other useful programs) and also seek shelter (American Library Association, 1).

Libraries help built local economies. Library staff plays a significant role in strengthening the economies of the local communities. For instance, libraries supply free internet fir local community members looking for jobs, provide telecommuters’ workspace, and also provide interview training for deserving members of the community. Studies on the role of libraries have revealed that over 73% of public libraries help people apply for jobs, training on interview skills, entrepreneurial skills as far as starting their own businesses in the community is concerned. For instance, Cincinnati and Hamilton Public Library have partnered with local authorities to develop the capacity of local entrepreneurs by providing them with in-person and online resources. They also guide them on financial management, business plans, market information, and contract opportunities. As a consequence, the economic status of the local community is improved.

Libraries facilitate the learning of the English language. America is a diverse nation. Diversity makes America great. It is one of the imperatives for growth. Libraries play a significant role in guaranteeing this atmosphere of development and growth. For instance, many people across the globe come to the United States in search of new life and opportunities.

In most cases, English is never their first language. It is incumbent for them to learn a new language (English) before they start looking for their success. Therefore, libraries offer new learners an opportunity to immerse in a new language through online resources, audiobooks, books, and periodicals. Most libraries also provide multilingual books for children and adults designed to help them master the English language in an engaging manner. Apart from assisting newcomers in learning the English language, libraries also provide free language classes, help to get employment, and bilingual housing to help them cope and fit in as smoothly as possible.

Libraries preserve history and truth. It is important to note that there is an urgent need for providing the truth now than ever. Libraries stores truth, history, information, and learning that date backs many centuries. Therefore, it helps in defending and fighting against misinformation in society. Libraries play a crucial role in keeping the public informed through providing access to historical resources, news, and educational materials.

As a consequence, they help prevent the public from being confused with fiction. It is also important to note that libraries act as an information hub as well as the torch bearers of facts. Even though libraries have a section set aside for fiction stories, they are still among the leading advocates and defenders of truth.

Libraries benefit society by playing a crucial role in making the communities healthier. Most libraries in the United States are centres of wellbeing and health (Lenstra, 68). Libraries have various community projects, direct assistance from the library staff to the community, and fitness classes that focus on community health. Internet access in the libraries helps patrons to seek health services and information. The Institute of Museum and Library Services observe that over 60% of libraries in the country help members of the community to find health insurance. Also, 18% of libraries provide fitness classes and 20% contract public health officers to conduct free limited services, for example, screening of disease (Noh, 63). It is also essential to state that libraries partner with medical professionals, healthcare providers, and local governments to make communities healthier, thus increasing their liveliness.

Libraries connect communities. Libraries play a similar role played by public parks, town hall, and community centres. Provision of employment skills training and educational resources to undeserving populations under one roof ensures that they pool local resources together and facilitate community connections. For instance, libraries help community members address their tax concerns, unemployed person to search and get a job, an immigrant to learn a new language, and families looking for a fun moment like storytelling. These communities come together under one roof to not only celebrate and share but also to learn who they are, where they reside, and their aspirations. These realities make libraries to be remarkable places in the world today. As a result, we need them now more than ever.

However, with all these benefits of libraries, they are still facing a lot of threats from various quotas with some people arguing that public libraries will be in existence in the next 50 years. The threatening issues include the fact that most people feel that the libraries will not make any sense in the future. According to the report released by Pew Research Internet Project, young people do not see the importance of libraries. It is only 19% of young people below the age of 30 years who think that if their library closes their families and communities will be affected negatively. However, 67% don’t believe that the closing of a library would have a significant impact (Horrigan, 23). Some people are worried that the public libraries will likely end up like public schools which were forsaken by the rich for much more comfortable and better alternatives, then funding will end or reduce.

Internet is also considered a threat to libraries. At the beginning of the 21^st century, the library industry was worried that the emergence of internet threatened its existence, including its staff and related professions. This kind of argument even delayed the expansion of Google’s digital library (Sharun, 181). Many people argued that the internet would kill the book, lead to jobless of thousands of librarians, and deny many people access to knowledge, especially those people that could not pay for online subscriptions.  However, libraries are still better than the internet. For instance, there is no censorship in the library, the library is the safest place, and librarians can help sort real from fake news. Also, librarians do not track the searches or readings of a reader, and they guide the reader to whatever he wants, host maker spaces, are publishers, and leads in increasing online access as far as scholarly information is concerned. Similarly, librarians respect history and help in digitizing essential primary sources, making it outstand internet use.

Libraries are continuously declining in operation because the public mistrusts the government. Public libraries are government units, especially at the county level. The number who mistrusts the government is increasingly growing. For instance, Pew Research Center survey of 2015 found out that the proportion of people who trusted the government was 75% in 1958 as compared to 19% in 2015 (Pew Research Center, 3). This mistrust is damaging to the public libraries as far as their operations are concerned.

There is also a lack of faith in objective information which in turn is making public libraries to be considered insignificant. Objective truth is one of the essential values of society, and it is expected to be guarded by the librarian. Today, people rarely agree about basic facts and science is no longer considered a gospel. People do not look to experts in the industry, government, and academia. People today are increasingly turning to alternative sources of information which is non-objective as observed by the Knight Foundation report of 2018. According to Funk, Cary, and Brian Kennedy (14), the traditional authoritative sources of information like libraries are undermined. Even though the public continues to have confidence in the credibility of information coming from libraries, the trend of the love for non-objective information is worrying. It can lead to the closure of libraries if it continues to grow.

Disappearing middles class threatens the existence of libraries as well. The middle class is disappearing, and income inequality continues to grow. This reality is a concern to the library work. It is important to note that the foundational history of the library is solely based on the middle class’ aspirations. According to Andrew Carnegie, the brain behind the “palaces for the people,” asserted that the power of the public library is struggling middle class and not the wealthy in society (Pew Research Center, 2). The middle class wanted to empower themselves and improve their status through civic engagement, cultural enrichment, and self-education. Therefore, libraries serve the poor, and when the safety nets are diminished and need to grow increases, the libraries are bound to be overburdened and overwhelmed hence shutting down.

Lastly, the library is built on middle-class aspirations. Some urban areas suffer from unaffordability. These areas find it challenging to recruit and retain qualified staff for library functioning. High value attached to the property will also make it hard for some urban areas in the country to remodel their libraries, build new ones, and even maintain the already existing ones because of the increasing value of the property. According to Orlean (73), income inequality threatens the existence of libraries, for example, homelessness.

Work Cited

American Library Association. “About ALA.” Retrieved January 26 (2018). 5-8

Funk, Cary, and Brian Kennedy. “Public confidence in scientists has remained stable for decades.” Pew Research Center (2017). 11-16

Horrigan, John B. “Libraries 2016.” Pew Research Center (2016). 21-26

Lenstra, Noah. “Let’s move! Fitness programming in public libraries.” Public Library Quarterly 37.1 (2018): 61-80.

Mersand, Shannon, et al. “Public libraries as anchor institutions in smart communities: Current practices and future development.” Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. 2019.

Noh, Y. (2019). A comparative study of public libraries’ contribution to digital inclusion in Korea and the United States. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 51(1), 59-77.

Orlean, Susan. The library book. Simon & Schuster, 2019. 71-82

Pew Research Center. “The American middle class is losing ground.” (2015). 1-16

Sharun, Sara. “Demographic Variables Are Associated with Differing Perceptions of a Broad Range of Public Library Benefits.” Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 11.2 (2016): 180-182.

Terrile, Vikki C. “Public library support of families experiencing homelessness.” Journal of Children and Poverty 22.2 (2016): 133-146.