In the movie “You’ve Got Mail,”
Tom Hanks is part of a family that owns a fictional version of The Chain. He
jokes that their plan to draw customers/readers into the store is through
things that don’t have that much to do with books: “our square footage . . .
and our deep armchairs, and our cappuccino.” Although The Chain is the bad guy
for 95% of the film and these extras seem more like a trap than a benefit, it’s
actually not a bad point of comparison for what is happening right now with the
Boston Public Library. According to an article in the New York Times, the BPL
renovation will add things like rooms for teens to get involved with
technology, a coffee shop, and possibly even an area for static exercise bikes.
The aim is to create a cultural centre—the exact opposite of the funeral
parlour scene some still seem to imagine when they think of the future of
libraries.
The Boston Public Library (BPL)
is not only America’s first public city library, but also second in the country
in terms of the number of physical books. However, organizers of the renovation
project have no plans to use this long history and obvious commitment to
physical books as a reason to continue unchangingly until they are utterly
outdated. Their technology departments are expanding and Susan Benton of the
Urban Libraries Council claims that “physical visits and virtual visits are off
the charts.” The article postulates that by turning the BPL into a more
welcoming and tech-savvy environment will not only improve the spread of
knowledge and information, but also increase the creativity of those who use
the space.
I think this is a fantastic idea
and a great way to keep kids coming back to the library as they grow up. An
article by the independent newspaper of Boston College mentions that people
aged 20 to 35 are the hardest demographic for a library to attract. I remember
using the library much more when I was a kid, then really only coming back as a
university student to get books for pleasure reading in my spare time. On the
other hand, I know that when some kids start to move away from books and
towards computers, they can become very solitary and introverted. If kids and
teens feel more inclined to read when they can do so on an ereader, that’s
great. If they choose to go to a local library where this is made available to
them in a common area filled with their peers and designed to inspire
and engage them, even better.
I imagine that giving children
and teens resources like these will help them become more independent and
knowledgeable about technology. In this case, what happens to that other
fixture of libraries: the librarian? The president of the BPL, Amy Ryan, insists
that libraries are as important as ever, stating that “people turn to
librarians to help them sift through the 10 million answers they find on the
Internet. We’re more like navigators.” Ryan’s point echoes what Barbara K.
Stripling stated in the WSJ articles about libraries as “digital guides”. What
I’m getting from this is that basically, every librarian wants to be the Hikaru
Sulu of the starship Library, piloting the way into new technologies where no
librarian has gone before. Boston College’s newspaper believes that the staff
of the library will more closely resemble those in the indie bookstore trade.
This means they will possess valuable, specialized knowledge, used to cultivate
exciting conversations about books, whether digital or physical.
I can easily get on board with
this concept. In my mind, being able to talk with someone of authority on the
subject of a book you’re really curious about is a huge benefit of the
independent bookstore, and one that I haven’t really experienced since the closure
of my hometown’s (London, Ontario’s) Wendell Holmes stores. For the past year
before starting the publishing program at Humber, I worked at the bookstore of
my alma mater, UWO. Although the majority of our customers came solely for
their course books, it was always a pleasure when someone asked me to recommend
a work of fiction for them to read for fun. I began writing my own book reviews
on note cards and tucking one end under the book on the shelf. One day, a man
came up to the counter where I worked and, having seen my name under the
review, asked me to go into greater detail about one book, Michael Winter’s Minister Without Portfolio. He ended up
selecting the book as mandatory reading for his local men’s book club, which
made me feel very proud.
When you have a passion for
something like reading, nothing is more gratifying than having someone
acknowledge and trust your opinion. This is how I picture librarians feeling as
well when they can perform the service of an indie bookstore worker instead of
being ignored, underestimated, or even let go from their jobs as their career
and training become irrelevant with the onset of new technology. I think the
mention in the New York Times article of increased creativity is so important.
People who read more create more, and I hope that libraries can continue to
encourage this outward turn through all manifestations of the written word.
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