No silence at the library suits me just fine
Posted Jan 28, 2010 By Mark Kerr
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Tweet ThisEMC Editorial - One of the fondest elementary school memories is of going to the public library. One day a week we would put on our coats and boots and march single file to the library just down the street.
Elgin's public library wasn't much, but for a book-loving boy who had exhausted the school library's collection of Hockey Digest magazines, the excursion was akin to finding water after wandering the desert for a week.
As we checked out our books, we sat on the floor of the library and waited for everyone to do so. We stared at the sign above the door that read "No Silence." Even though we were only nine or 10-years-old, we got the humour of the sign and, in turn, giggled and carried on whispered conversations just low enough not to draw the ire of our teacher.
The memory came back to me recently as South Frontenac Township planned a new library building. I sat in on a few meetings and observed councillors and community members struggle with what a library should be in the 21st century.
A "No Silence" sign is unnecessary in libraries these days. On my first visit to the new Calvin Park library branch a couple weeks ago, the place buzzed with activity. Two men chatted about the news as they read the paper, people caught up with each near the checkout counter, and parents entertained their toddlers in the children's area.
Stuffy libraries are a thing of the past, even on university campuses. When I attended McGill, more chatting, talking and texting took place at McLennan Library during exam period than actual studying or research.
Even books are becoming less and less the main focus of libraries. Even though the new Sydenham library is going to increase in size from the existing branch, there will not be a great deal more stack space. Instead, there will be more room for shelves that will display the branch's newest titles, CDs and DVDs reminiscent of retail outlets such as Chapters or Indigo. One of the main features of the new librarya new community meeting spacewon't even hold books.
Some people on the Sydenham library committee questioned whether the community was actually getting a library. As a library patron from an early age, you might think I would be critical of this evolution, but I am not. I actually welcome the changes.
The importance of library bricks and mortar has diminished in recent years with the growth of the Internet. I can go online and reserve any item in the Kingston Frontenac Public Library system. Once it has been delivered my home branch, I receive an email telling me I can pick it up. Trips to the library for materials are going to be even less important in the future as KFPL continues to add digital books to its collection.
Books are being pushed to the sidefiguratively and literally. Children's space, teen areas and computers have filled that space. With the diminished role of actual books, libraries have been reinvented as community hubs.
I have no problem with this change. Libraries need to be vibrant, welcoming places. Parents of all socio-economic backgrounds need to feel comfortable taking their children there. Hopefully it will create a life-long love of books.
Furthermore, as the No Silence sign suggests, reading is no longer a solitary activity. Literature is something that should be shared and debated, and what better place for those conversations than the library?
Libraries and books more generally have changed immensely since the days when my South Crosby Public School classes went on those mini field trips every week. And that trend will continue with the advent of digital readers like Kindle and the rumoured launch of the Apple tablet computer this week. However, it's my hunch that we will continue to need physical spaceswith No Silencewhere we can go to talk about what we just read.
