Aug

10

Library Hero.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

August 10, 2007 |

One of the tough questions for librarians is, how do you get kids to come in, let alone read? As the Fort Dodge(Iowa) Messenger reports, the Humboldt Public Library is luring kids in with an offer to play Guitar Hero. Once there they’ll be approached by fellow teens who are part of the library’s Teen Advisory Board and who want to promote reading.

Blogger Mike Fahey of Kotaku says, “It’s a trap!”, and he’s got some good points. Members of the Teen Advisory Board, have, among other things, recommended removing “classics” in favor of more modern books.  Teen Advisory Board Sam Lenz explained that older books “have a different way of being written that we don’t fully get today.” Is this really a good reason for not reading older books, and even going so far as to remove them from library shelves? And will luring kids in with the promise of video games really encourage them to read, or will it just encourage them to play video games?

In another library, at Rhodes College in Memphis, a different kind of promotion is taking place. The library itself was rebuilt to make it more open, more appealing, more of a place where people would want to go not only to read but to work together. As library head Neil McElroy said, “We’ve put people at the center.” 

My gut instinct is to say that books should be at the center of any library. The very function of libraries is to acquire, preserve, and, most importantly, to provide access to information. And yet it’s always access that I’ve believed is most important: the need for access drives the need for acquisition and preservation. If people aren’t accessing the information, if it’s seen as out of reach because the library building is old, dark, and dank, the library itself needs to change.

The way people access information is also, whether we like it or not, changing. I believe paper is still a time-tested medium, but it’s not the only medium. Video games aren’t necessarily the way to do it, but libraries do need to find a way to draw people in. As the repository of information and history, libraries are and should always be the heart of any community, but the most important thing they can promote is a sense of community between people and the books they read.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. maureen on August 10, 2007 6:17 pm

    You bring up some great points.I agree that books should be the center of the library but libraries need to update. No one wants a building full of books that is empty.

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