Z kolei amerykański spec od marketingu Seth Godin analizując ewolucję instytucji biblioteki, dochodzi do wniosku, że powinny być one małymi centrami kultury, w których niekoniecznie chodzi o książki. O tym jak biblioteka przestaje być biblioteką pisze na swoim blogu: Before Gutenberg, a book cost about as much as a small house. As a result, only kings and bishops could afford to own a book of their own. This naturally led to the creation of shared books, of libraries where scholars (everyone else was too busy not starving) could come to read books that they didn’t have to own. The library as warehouse for books worth sharing. Only after that did we invent the librarian. The librarian isn’t a clerk who happens to work at a library. A librarian is a data hound, a guide, a sherpa and a teacher. The librarian is the interface between reams of data and the untrained but motivated user… czytaj dalej
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Ameryka dyskutuje o bibliotekach
Amerykański poeta Charles Simic rozpoczyna swój nostalgiczny tekst w obronie bibliotek cytatem z jednego z braci Marx: „Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read”. Potem, broniąc instytucji bibliotek publicznych, opowiada o tym, jak biblioteki odegrały role wtajemniczenia i inicjacji małego chłopca w świat, na portalu New York Review of Books czytamy: „All across the United States, large and small cities are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operations. Detroit, I read a few days ago, may close all of its branches and Denver half of its own: decisions that will undoubtedly put hundreds of its employees out of work. When you count the families all over this country who don’t have computers or can’t afford Internet connections and rely on the ones in libraries to look for jobs, the consequences will be even more dire. People everywhere are unhappy about these closings, and so are mayors making the hard decisions. But with roads and streets left in disrepair, teachers, policemen and firemen being laid off, and politicians in both parties pledging never to raise taxes, no matter what happens to our quality of life, the outlook is bleak… czytaj dalej
