St. Louis’ Central Library is reinventing itself as a playful and provocative community center, geared to a digital future yet madly preserving the past
More community center than temple of knowledge, the library has reinvented itself for a time when people no longer think of a book as a physical object—and literacy crosses so many platforms, it’s in danger of missing the train to Hogwarts.
Across this radical shift, though, language remains the point: It encodes knowledge, captures emotion, frees you to explore. The ultimate democratic institution, a library is still a place “where you learn,” as Alan Dershowitz put it, “what teachers were afraid to teach you.”
At Central, nobody’s trying to sell you something, judge you, fix you, or exploit you. A book will only be banned if its content is laced with hatred or cruelty. You can find words that resonate with your experience—yet were spoken five centuries ago. People who’ve been puzzling out the same questions millions of miles away. Answers to niggling everyday problems; ideas that pry open your mind; insights that soothe your soul. And all of it’s yours for the borrowing, shared on trust.
Read the full article @ St. Louis Mag Photo: Kevin A. Roberts
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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One Reply to “St. Louis’ Central Library is reinventing itself as a playful and provocative community center, geared to a digital future yet madly preserving the past”
The library is looking great!!!