As a child it was really an outing: getting books from the library. With the library card in hand, pick out fresh reading books together with your mother every week. Today, the library is much more than a lending desk for books: it is a meeting place and an institution with a social mission. Yet more and more libraries are disappearing from the streets, especially in the smaller villages.
The library’s core function is to increase people’s knowledge, but the best way to do this is changing. In recent years, the ‘newfangled’ library has created a new raison d’être. By contributing to the personal development and improvement of people’s social opportunities, the library takes on a new role in society. In this way they distinguish themselves from the ‘old-fashioned’ library, which is stuck in old revenue models and which does not make sufficient use of the new possibilities of our time. In the ‘classic’ library you can still see old-fashioned PCs that do not work in the cloud and do not have super-fast WiFi.
Unconditional Accessibility
An important core of the library is unconditional accessibility. In addition, the libraries are at the heart of society and offer essential services. For example, schools work closely with it, language courses are given and you can go there for help with tax returns. Last year, libraries also helped a lot with applying for the corona pass.
What do you think, does the library still have a right to exist in this age of reading?