Public libraries will never lose their purpose

A trip to my local library once changed my life.

When I was two, I met my lifelong best friend during Children’s Story Hour at the Fendrick Library in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. My ensuing summers were filled with long bike rides with my older brother to the library where I would check out giant stacks of Goosebumps and Babysitters Club books  every week. My mom was even the elementary school librarian — after class let out, I would spend my afternoons curled in a chair with a book while she worked.

My love for public libraries hasn’t gone away as I’ve aged. Luckily for me, I’m in Pittsburgh, where we have 20 public libraries — most of them courtesy of Pittsburgh’s own Andrew Carnegie. In his lifetime, Carnegie donated more than 1,600 library buildings to towns across the United States. It was his belief that “a library outranks any other thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”

But in the midst of the digital age, libraries have faced their fair share of criticism.

Many question whether we really still need libraries when a world of information is at our fingertips. Forbes’ Tim Worstall has suggested replacing funding for libraries with Kindles and Amazon Prime subscriptions because the way Americans are reading has changed. Who reads paperbacks these days, anyway?

It’s true that new technology has made research much simpler, largely removing that particular library use for many people. And e-books have certainly made their mark on recreational reading — major bookstore chain Borders went bankrupt in 2011 because of its failure to keep up with the changing climate.

But people who say libraries are irrelevant forget libraries’ true purpose. It’s not books­ — it’s the people surrounding them. Our libraries are — first and foremost — community centers.  No matter the technology advancements, this feature will never be obsolete.

If anything, the digital age is producing a public library revival.

Libraries are among the few places open to the public at no cost. Forget the stereotype of hushed halls and strict librarians — today, public libraries act as social, collaborative spaces.

The first floor of the Carnegie Library has a booming café, and its open-floor-plan fiction section feels more like a bookstore. Some people converse amiably while others read quietly. An entire section is dedicated to teens and tweens only. And the library is always busy — never overcrowded but certainly not abandoned.

In fact, in a 2013 report by Pew Research Center, 90 percent of people said closing their local library would impact their community, and 63 percent said it would have a “major” impact. People clearly believe that the services libraries provide still have a place in their neighborhoods, despite the smartphones in their pockets.

Libraries offer free Internet for those smartphones, and they often have resources to assist those who are unemployed, retired or searching for a job. The second floor of the Carnegie Library is home to a sprawling Job and Career Education Center, which, aside from its computers and helpful librarian at hand, also holds programs and résumé workshops.

Libraries aren’t only places of relentless productivity, though. They also facilitate safe, enriching recreational programs that would normally cost the participants money.

This week alone, the Carnegie Library in Oakland is holding Children’s Storytime, language classes, board game meet-ups, a Sunday afternoon music series, yoga sessions, a knitting event and a Dungeons and Dragons session, to name a few events.

At various branch locations, there are also meditation sessions, an anime club, book discussions, cooking classes, music recording sessions and more.

For libraries today, survival is a matter of keeping up with the times despite difficult budget cuts.

Current state funding is still not sufficient, making the need for private donors that much greater. The response from libraries has been to take matters into its own hands. In 2009, the Carnegie Library network faced significant budget cuts that continued for the next several years, inspiring a “Protect your Library” media campaign to drum up donations.

The money they have received is all part of a plan. Recently, the library launched a campaign entitled “Realize: Our Power, Our Potential,” which is a $20 million initiative to improve the region’s education, economic development and neighborhoods over the next three years.

This goal represents the long-standing purpose of libraries everywhere.

Libraries are “third places”— locations besides work or home that people can visit to work, socialize and collaborate. Psychology experts like Christopher Peterson from Psychology Today have widely endorsed third places as part of staying mentally healthy, and technology’s effect on how we work has only increased our need for these spaces. With so many more people able to work from home, the necessity for third places has risen as homes and offices have collided. While many take to Starbucks, others are paying a visit to their local libraries.

Personally, I feel a sense of community at libraries that I rarely experience elsewhere. Essentially everyone at Hillman, for instance, is a fellow student. Public libraries, meanwhile, are some of the most diverse places in any community. They are locations where young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated can come together in a cohesive structure. Everyone is equal in a community’s library, and the environment ends up feeling less suffocating.

Bonnie McCloskey, a senior librarian at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Main, said she’s even witnessed couples who met at library programs end up getting married. 

“I see people from all over the world connecting every week, sometimes creating lifelong friendships,” she said.

Librarians today realize that libraries are evolving. But as Tony Marx, president and CEO of the New York Public library, explained to NPR in May, “Their mission is still the same — to provide free access to information and to all people.”

All that being said, Pew Research Center reports that the library service people value most is — you guessed it — books. Public libraries may be adapting to the times, but they’ll always stick to their roots.

After completing a 54,000 mile journey around America this year, Deborah Fallows wrote about her experience for The Atlantic. “The visit to the public library revealed [a town’s] heart and soul,” Fallows wrote.

Libraries bring us together, regardless of neighborhood. And this feature will never go obsolete.

Write to Emily at eks50@pitt.edu