In response to “What should a modern library be?” at the P’unk Avenue Window…
This is in response to Geoff DiMasi’s post on his blog http://window.punkave.com/2009/01/12/what-should-a-modern-library-be/
Education is not a non-sustainable endeavor. It may not be FINANCIALLY profitable, but it is critically important to any society and civilization, to maintain, improve, and grow that society.
The benefits to education are not realized immediately, they are grown in the on going efforts of the individual who has been educated, and what they return to the community and society in which they live and breathe.
You’re absolutely right.
College is nothing more than a finishing school in many cases. There are a lot of people that I know as well who have gone to just a little college, decided they were bored, and have left for their own world and have flourished. (My Brother is one, so I’m pretty familiar with the idea).
And, the problem here is not that education isn’t needed, I agree that it is… It is that the entire system is broken so badly that our focus is in individual success and wealth instead of long term prosperity and societal growth.
For each person who doesn’t go to college, who doesn’t get exposure to the history and culture that is available to them in college, it become harder and harder for that individual, and the whole society to maintain things other than what it takes to be successful and wealthy.
My undergraduate experience was invaluable to me. But not because of the professional skills I developed there (on my own time, and not in class room), but because of the world view it gave me. The exposure to international students, art work, history, language, literature. That I simply did not have access or exposure to in my 97% white high school in a upper class part subburb.
In my view, libraries need to be less about storage of knowledge, (though this is actually very important if you’re worried about hard drive reliability) and more about sharing knowledge and growing knowledge.
Libraries of the future, in my mind become a place where people come to learn in dynamic and interactive ways, with other people, in voice, music, writing/reading, sharing and working.
Much like IndyHall has fostered a number of innovative people to start to work together to create new and exciting things, Libraries should be the place where people go to share ideas and work on ideas together.
They should be equipped with the knowledge and ways of training people to do things, and then provide the mediums in which to do it.
This is exactly what they do now, but right now its about being quiet, and reading something.
As the storage of knowledge becomes more compact, (how many ‘books’ fit in your laptop?), the space in each of these grand buildings can be freed up for other functions and other ways of sharing knowledge and exploring the art of learning.
The exploration of what we do with these spaces should focus on what it takes to bring people together to learn, and share knowledge, and what it takes to facilitate that behavior.
This all requires a shift in our culture though back to rewarding, and favoring education and creativity over greed and conquest. It is all too easy in this world to bomb your neighbor, but our nation struggles endlessly to cure our sick, feed our hungry, and protect our children.
As we scale back on our cultural expenditures as a nation, something I hope to see reversed under the new administration, we scale back our possibilities to grow as a nation and a society.
These learning establishments, or libraries, of the future should be seen as a stepping stone in to returning the value of education as a long term investment, and less about learning how to do a job. We as a society need to learn the value of those lessons in culture, history, reading and writing, and make sure they are a priority to us, that can be shared, and that will help us with our commercial ventures, and not be a seen as something that will delay or gathering of wealth and success in the financial world.
I appreciate any comments.
Geoff DiMasi 11:40 am on January 13, 2009 Permalink
I really appreciate what you are saying.
I really agree that people need to be educated. I was a history major as an undergraduate (which explains why I am able to put the history of modern education into some context.)
The need to educate people has not diminished, but the place where it happens probably needs to change. We need a place to learn culture. We need a place to learn about the value of civilization.
I think the library could be that place. I plan on expanding on that more in future posts on the P’unk Ave Window.
So glad this is hitting a chord with you. I think we can make some real changes here.
Mike L 3:09 pm on January 15, 2009 Permalink
I completely agree with you both about the importance of a well-rounded education and learning how to think and evaluate using historical context and creativity.
I recently heard a piece on NPR about the increasing number of young people who are unable to get college loans and may not be able to attend college. I could not help but question whether, considering the power of the Web, the typical college experience must be an expensive in-person venture. Many reputable, Web-based college programs, already exist, but on-campus education is still the norm. Are colleges (which, for the most part, are private businesses) conspiring to keep it this way?
State universities should continue to improve and encourage inexpensive online learning. Perhaps libraries could become local facilities for e-learning and for learning how to use the web, so that people can do it at home.