Why libraries will save the world
In this brief essay, Eric Klinenberg outlines the origin behind is book Palaces for the People and gives a short but convincing plea to readers not only on why they should buy his book, but also why they should care more about their local libraries and have a better understanding of what they provide to the community.
Five years ago, during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I was showing a group of architects and engineers around a Brooklyn neighborhood that had been hit hard during the disaster. We were there because of Rebuild By Design, a federal competition to stimulate innovative ideas for rebuilding cities and communities to meet 21st-century problems, including climate change.
On that day’s tour, we focused on the challenge of building social cohesion, so neighbors are better able to solve problems together and support one another during difficult times. Near the end of our walk, one of the design teams approached me with an idea: every community needs a reliable gathering place.
They told me they were working on a new building type—a “resilience center,” they called it—that would serve all these purposes. It was a terrific idea, I told them. But if they looked more closely, they’d see that most American communities already have these kinds of places. We call them branch libraries, and we walk by them every day.
This interaction was the spark that inspired Palaces for the People, my new book about the importance of social infrastructure for rebuilding community in an age of rampant polarization and inequality.
Libraries are among our nation’s most valued resources—but they’re also among the most neglected and misunderstood. This summer, Forbes published an article arguing that libraries no longer served a purpose and did not deserve public support [...] The public response—from librarians, especially, but also public officials and ordinary citizens—was so overwhelmingly negative that Forbes deleted the article from its website.
During my research, I learned that libraries are not only important for providing books, films, internet access, and other vital information, but also for ensuring a neighborhood’s vitality and promoting stronger social ties.
Libraries are and have always been beacons of information and resources that many rely on day to day. Klinenberg clearly points to the opportunities that libraries have to not only improve their surroundings but to actually bind them together in a form of connection that no other organization can flaunt.
Libraries are more often than not specifically catering to a community of people who are living around them, but maybe libraries have the possibility to reach a larger audience of people on the road. Families can come to a library knowing that in the middle of a busy day their children can take a break reading a book or using the computer. A library then can evolve beyond the community they serve and bring in a larger mix of individuals that can interact with resources the library has to offer and with each other.
References
Klinenberg, E. (2022, March 10). Why libraries will save the world (if we let them): Penguin Random House. penguinrandomhouse.com. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/articles/eric-klinenberg-libraries
