We as a society must keep libraries alive, as they are a place where anyone can learn about, interact with, and love literature and books, and at the end of the day, can provide infrastructure to make sure everyone has a safe place to go during the day.
Libraries are beneficial to a great number of people and a wide spread of demographics. One example of this is stated by the New York Times article “Do We Still Need Libraries,” “Mr. de Blasio should act because his city is demanding it, more than ever. That is, the people whose needs are the core of Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral mission, whose priorities he trumpets, immigrants and the poor.” Along with that, The Age, a Melbourne-based newspaper, wrote an editorial on the matter during the pandemic, in describes the use of libraries for others like children and people who live alone, “Books are particularly important to those who live alone as well as those who have mental health issues. . . Children would no doubt also be delighted with this brief break from isolation accompanied by access to fresh books. Such a move would have a profound effect for the good of our well-being.” Libraries are required by many people.
Along with that, their services are needed. The NYT displays this, “The libraries are where poor children learn to read and love literature, where immigrants learn English, where job-seekers hone résumés and cover letters, and where those who lack ready access to the Internet can cross the digital divide.” In addition, The Age exemplifies how important libraries are for students and economically challenged people, “So how exactly are they continuing their studies, or applying for jobs and government assistance? Let’s declare libraries an essential service as soon as possible, so the digital divide and social inequality don’t get any worse.” The services libraries provide for free are needed in the community.
Libraries need to stick around and continued community support for that can help keep these essential parts of life accessible.
Works Cited
Angell, Katelyn. “Privacy Audit of Public Access Computers and Networks at a Public College Library.” Information Technology & Libraries, vol. 42, no. 3, Sept. 2023, pp. 1–10. Advanced Placement Source, https://doi.org/10.5860/ital.v42i3.16233.
“An Essential Service That Needs to Reopen.” Age, The (Melbourne), May 2020, p. 20. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=c837c02c-3392-3a7a-bc81-7c6891c49966.
Lane, Julie. “Gathering Strength to Combat Access Inequality: How a Small Rural Public Library Supported Virtual Access for Public School Students, Staff, and Their Families.” Information Technology & Libraries, vol. 41, no. 2, June 2022, pp. 1–4. Advanced Placement Source, https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v41i2.15161.
Saeidnia, Hamid Reza, et al. “Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Mobile Application for Academic Library Services: A Study in a Developing Country.” Information Technology & Libraries, vol. 42, no. 3, Sept. 2023, pp. 1–23. Advanced Placement Source, https://doi.org/10.5860/ital.v42i3.15977.
Gonchar, Michael. “Do We Still Need Libraries?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 May 2015, archive.nytimes.com/learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/do-we-still-need-libraries/?rref=collection%252Fcolumn%252Flearning-student-opinion.