I was glad to see this article:

Economy gets people out of the house, into libraries
Study shows more checkouts in hard times
By TERRY OBLANDER Newhouse News Service
Aug. 2, 2008, 5:30PM

People have made libraries part of stay-at-home vacations, she said. Whole families participate in programs.

Although the evening news is both scary and depressing – I found this article to be a welcome bit of good news. Actually – at least in this area – I have noticed that public libraries have been busier than ever for a long time now. Still – there are so many people that are so enamored of the internet, they think libraries are anachronisms. Silly people.

The library is a PLACE. It is a DESTINATION. It is where people and ideas can interact together. In person. What a concept. No matter how much we love our computers – we are social beings. We like to have face-to-face conversations once in awhile.

Our school has computer labs and no student laptops or mobile labs. Even if we had them – I think teachers and students will still prefer to come to the library where they can spread out and form groups to work on projects. Not to mention all the cool books.

In spite of what ardent internet users think – many kids still read books. They might not go to them as often for reports – but they still like to read for fun. That’s why I concentrate a lot of my book budget on the kinds of books – fiction and non-fiction – that kids enjoy reading. For research material, more of my budget goes into online databases these days.

Now – if only my library were big enough for more groups…. We are bursting at the seams these days – for research AND for fun. The library is a great destination!