Libraries a busy industry

Commentary by Joe McWilliams

A fellow was in the office the other day talking about one thing and another and the topic of the new library in Slave Lake came up. His attitude about spending that much money on a new library was probably fairly typical. Also dead wrong. He was surprised to find out that I actually do borrow books from the place. It kind of ruined the point he was trying to make, which I think was that nobody actually uses the library, so why do we need a new one? I think it’s safe to imply, from this, that none of the guys he hangs out with borrow books from the public library. They might concede that old ladies and young children patronize the joint. But not real men. Real men don’t eat quiche and they don’t have any use for libraries. What does that make me? I’m still working on that one. As it happens I read a lot and am far too cheap to pay for books. Why should I when the library will lend them to me for the price of an annual membership? I’ve always borrowed books from libraries and I guess I always will. Also as it happens I’m on the library board. Of course the guy I was talking to didn’t know that and I didn’t find a way to fit it into the conversation. If I’d confessed that I not only take books out of the library but am also a board member he might have questioned my masculinity. I’m joking, of course. But there’s an issue out there that’s worth discussing. Does a community need a library at all, let alone a new one worth $2.6 million? You might be surprised to find out how popular the library really is. For starters, people really do read books. Library staff process hundreds (yes, really, hundreds) of books each month for readers locally and elsewhere in the Peace region. Thanks to the inter-library loan system, library patrons can order any book from any library in the region, so there are constantly books coming into the local branch and being sent out to other branches. It’s a busy little industry that is more or less invisible to those who don’t use it. Of course it’s not just books. Compact discs and DVDs are a big and growing part of the lending arsenal. In the month of May, for example, the Slave Lake public library checked out over 2,700 items and checked in over 3,400. Then there are the computers. Most libraries have several Internet-connected units and the ones in Slave Lake are busy pretty much all the time. In that same month of May, 2008, there were 1,256 computer users. It should be noted that many of these people are visitors from out of town. The library is often the first destination for travelers or out-of-town workers looking for information, for a quiet place to read or to check e-mail or whatever. It’s another aspect of community service that is more or less invisible to those who don’t visit the library. When I brought figures like those above to a Rotary Club meeting a couple of years ago, there were a lot of raised eyebrows. One of the members there admitted he had no idea so much was going on at the library. To their great credit, the Rotary Club acknowledged the importance of the library by agreeing to fundraise for a big chunk of the construction cost of a new one for Slave Lake. One final note on libraries. Benjamin Franklin, that great American genius, was an early advocate of public libraries. Why? Because he knew that free access to reliable information was vital to the health of a democratic society. If only the rich could afford books, then everyone else would have to rely on rumour and speculation – or whatever the powerful thought they should hear. The principle still applies.