Kathy DeGrego’s T-shirt lets you know right away she isn’t an old-school librarian.
“Shhh,” it says, “is a four-letter word.”
That spirit of bookish defiance has guided the makeover of the suburban Denver library system where DeGrego works. Reference desks and study carrels have been replaced by rooms where kids can play Guitar Hero. Overdue book fines have been eliminated, and the arcane Dewey Decimal System has been scrapped in favor of bookstore-like sections organized by topic.
“It’s very common for people to say, ‘Why do I need a library when I’ve got a computer?’ ” said Pam Sandlian-Smith, director of the seven-branch Rangeview, Colo., Library District. “We have to reframe what the library means to the community.”
I love the utility of the computer, but to read a book, I always go to the hard copy version. There’s something about a book that an online image can’t adequately replace. Nor can a computer image replace the rows of books on the shelves in my library at home, the best decor for a quiet sanctuary.
Baloney.We need a library because it is quiet, and in the silence, we can read without disturbance. Where in the miserably babbling river of noise and talktalktalk, is there a sanctuary? In a church, for one, and in one’s library, private or public. Amen #1. Larry
“Rooms where kids can play Guitar Hero?”