But Helen Rumbelow thinks that public libraries are going the way of the Victorian bath house. Back in the day, there were numerous communal bath houses. But not any more. People have their own baths, thank you.
The public lending library, another great Victorian institution, has had its day. To pretend otherwise is like bursting in on a woman luxuriating in a private bubble-bath and telling her to take her behind out to a public washroom for a good old hose-down. She has no need of that now, thank you.
So it makes sense that Seattle would just have spent a ton of money on a headline architect designed public library.
All the things we used to need a library for—looking up medical information, queueing up for bestsellers—all that stuff can be done on the Internet.
What about those who, like me, used to enjoy exchanging juvenile comments with others in the margins of library books? Well, the internet can do that kind of thing too. It’s called blogging.
Actually, she’s wrong about that. Kids exchange juvenile comments on social networking sites and IM. That is when they are not exchanging juvenile comments texting on their cell phones.
So let us get real.
Let us admit that people can buy their own books if they want to. The one exception to this is children -- libraries are vital for encouraging reading and literary tastes. Children’s libraries should be lavished with funding but could be located in the kind of places where they go anyway, such as play centres or after-school clubs -- all the better for helping with homework.
Children’s libraries. And maybe a bunch of other community-type activities. But forget about adult books. Libraries should be putting their collections online before the books fall apart.
Meanwhile, in Seattle, we have still got to pay off the bonds on our shining new white elephant. Thirty years should do it.
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