Library more than vault of information, bill to taxpayers
To the editor:
We’ve heard a lot about the financial cost of a new Johnson County library, but what about the financial return? Libraries cannot be defined by their buildings alone, but by what is embedded in them, where professionals help guide patrons to the necessary tools available.
In an age where technology is changing rapidly, the library is one place where you can gain knowledge and understanding of what is new and impacting our society currently, and for the future. We live in a world of information overload where Google alone estimates nearly 4 billion searches per day on their site, so now more than ever the world needs professionals to assess and present information, because for a lot of people, trying to get good information off the net is like trying to drink from a waterfall.
For those of you who have spoken out that libraries are outdated because everything is on the Internet, and for those of you who feel that the current space of the Clark Pleasant branch has always been good enough for you, do your needs ever change as the times change? Libraries are no longer just information vaults or the gatekeepers of information. The gates are wide open and library staff lights the path for people once they’re through that gate. It used to be just about information, now it’s about leverage: turning information into knowledge.
The public needs to stop thinking like it’s 1911 when the library was established before the age of technology, because the JCPL stopped thinking that way many years ago, and is now providing users with information that is not otherwise publicly available, assistance in locating information, story hours for children and many other valuable educational services needed by the community.
As a teacher, my colleagues and I rely on libraries to allow for our poorer population to have access to all of the above that would not otherwise be available to them. When I work with students on gathering information necessary to further their understanding of concepts and ideas, there is no way it can be done solely within the confines of the school day. Students must continue accessing information on their own, but when five Johnson County schools report free lunch rates of 15, 29, 33, 35 and 37 percentages, the only places they are going to be able to access any needed information is the public library.
For those of you who live in the school district located closest to the Clark Pleasant library, how do you think the 35 percent of these same students are going to succeed when there are limited computers currently available at the Clark Pleasant branch of the library? While you may think that the quoted school statistics don’t have a bearing on the needs of the library, the idea of “It takes a village to raise a child” has never been so important as in our current educational needs.
In anticipating the future, we need our library to expand their available resources and spaces so that children, who are the future leaders, don’t stay stagnant or fall behind in their knowledge. The JCPL provides all residents with unlimited access to the resources that will mean the difference between success and failure for residents as individuals, Johnson County as a community, and the United States as a nation. The JCPL is supported by a very modest contribution of public tax funds, and provides a fabulous return on this investment by any nature. Sure, the library is an old fashioned concept. So is democracy. So is equal opportunity. So is knowledge.
Carri Randall
Greenwood
