One fundamental aim of libraries has been to formulate a philosophy of intellectual freedom, and to provide free access to all sources of information. Libraries attempt to meet the needs of a diverse and complex group of users who have a variety of special interests and demands that must be met. Deeply woven into the profession is a commitment to the 'ideal' of individual choice, an underlying belief that no group should attempt to limit the flow of any type of information, and that libraries are supposed to be service organizations, with a legacy of social consciousness and community involvement. The branch libraries should be as diverse as the people in the neighborhoods for which they serve, and continually reach into the surrounding community. As J. Ingrid Lesley states:
Throughout its history, the public library has been the place to learn, study, and read, and the community center for special groups. Good librarians have always asked the same questions: Who lives in the community? What are their needs? How do we best meet them? Should the library be reaching out to others in the community? (Lesley 1991,25).
Since the 1980s, the Canadian Library Association has had a set of guidelines for the promotion of multiculturalism in libraries, which were developed to help libraries provide "fair and equitable multilanguage and multicultural services" for the diverse Canadian population (Skrzszewski 1990,21). The province of Ontario, with its steady stream of immigrants, has had a multicultural policy in place since 1977, while Metro Toronto libraries have responded to the needs in their neighborhoods by improving their responsiveness to the immigrant community, with a commitment to establishing well-developed programs (Skrzszewski 1990,23). In the United States, 700,000 legal immigrants enter the country each year and they require help to overcome their insecurities and feelings of alienation. Many have the additional burden of a language barrier and lack the finances to get training. Libraries are safe havens for their empowerment, act as vehicles for learning a new culture, and are important places to obtain information about services, such as ESL courses (Lesley 1991,27-31). Libraries that are truly committed to cultural diversity, will provide books and newspapers in the first languages of their immigrant user groups, and reach out to a variety of ethnic communities, garnering support from library boards and staff members (Skrzszewski 1990,24).
There are many fine examples of libraries serving their communities and implementing changes on its behalf. One is the San Jose Public Library system, which is struggling to administer services to a huge influx of Hispanics and Asians. James Fish is the director and has overseen the creation of a forty-nine-point plan called Commitment to the Community that focuses on "putting philosophy into action" (Fish 1994,37). His staff have organized workshops on sign language in a variety of languages, have been encouraged to participate in community events such as the Vietnamese Tet Festival, and have worked in outreach programs to help the people living in the surrounding neighborhoods (Fish 1994,36).
The Queens Borough Public Library offers programs in job placement, American culture, how to get Green cards, and a comprehensive project called Coping Skills Program (Lesley 1991,31). One of their most popular ventures is The New Americans Project that offers instruction in English, with seventy-five classes being taught in the system's sixty-two libraries (Lesley 1991,31). Another enterprise that has operated since the early 1980s is One With One, based in Massachusetts. In conjunction with the public libraries, it has volunteers helping new immigrants develop English proficiency, and to use library resources to learn about health and child care, career opportunities, and problem solving in a new country (Van Duyne 1992,42-44).
Libraries are also important centers in our society for the homeless. Who said, there but for the grace of God go I? There are many reasons why people become homeless, and becoming educated in them is important for librarians. Public libraries have to deal with homeless people every day, who are in desperate need for information and must provide compassionate service to them. Obviously, libraries must establish guidelines to deal with homeless people, but with tolerance and understanding, workable solutions can be found. It is in society's best interest to empower the homeless, and bring them into the community. Some libraries are creating outreach programs with community shelters, just as the New York Public Library, which set up a depository of books for the children of a homeless shelter, providing volunteers from the staff one morning a week for a storytelling program (Silver 1996,4).
In Milwaukee, public libraries have established a peer tutoring service for the homeless, and sponsor cultural events that are open to everyone, encouraging the homeless to attend (Silver 1996,4). In Elmsford, New York, libraries help with the collection of food for the homeless and assist social service agencies (Silver 1996,4). San Diego, Memphis, and North Carolina libraries have referral desks for the street people, Portland and Milwaukee have set up reading rooms in shelters, and in 1995 the Haverhill, Massachusetts library system released plans for an enlarged library, with inclusion of reading lounges for the homeless and a winter garden (Silver 1996,3-4). Even without addresses, the San Francisco Public library got around the bureaucracy and registered the homeless for the vote, and the Chicago Public Library exhibited the poetry of former homeless women and men to help establish them in their literary careers (Lesley 1991,33-34).
An estimated five million children are left home alone every day and many libraries are trying their best to attract children of all ages for the after school hours. For example, the South Hollis after-school program offers recreational activities, homework help, and storytelling programs with the staff (ALA 1997,1). In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the public library provides a bus service that takes the kids from school to participate in library programs, while the Fort Erie Public Library in Ontario, in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs, sponsor a service for latchkey kids. They have a bus system, prepare snacks, help them with their information needs, and visit historical sites (Dowd 1992,2). In addition, one of the most exemplary projects called SPLASH, is run by the Seattle Public Library. Besides offering the usual activities, they are dedicated to the promotion of self-esteem, creativity, and a lifelong love for reading and knowledge. There has also been instruction in making doll house furniture, gardening, and specialized programs for teenagers to keep them off the streets (Dowd 1992,2).
Libraries have an integral role in the establishments of real communities that help improve the quality of their patrons' lives in many ways. They have a role to play in the development of increased sensitivity and tolerance, putting forth the advocation of gay and lesbian materials, feminist literature, and an array of community-based literature and services. All of these activities do their share in bringing about a sense of community throughout towns and cities, creating relationships among people, and a deeper value for what it means to be interested in knowledge and the value of human life. And what would replace all of these human services to children and families, if libraries became virtual communities of information? Who will help all of those people from diverse backgrounds that make up the communities we call libraries? Many librarians are setting the example for how we can all play a part in helping our fellow citizens learn to interact and make quality of life better for some people.
And so, even though you may like to be physically isolated, while "linked to a worldwide collection of like-minded ... souls" (Rheingold 1992), that is not a possibility for everyone, nor would it be healthy for society to have the Brave New World ideology in place, with globally-connected individuals partitioned away in their rooms. The 'webs of personal relationships' that you envision making up virtual communities, "are in part, a response to the hunger for community that has followed the disintegration of traditional communities around the world" (Rheingold 1992), but do you really believe that advocation of virtual encounters for everything from personal relationships with strangers, to seeking library information, is such a good idea when extrapolated over time? It is the same thing as the dropping out of society heralded in the 1960s, except this computer-mediated version is "essentially ephemeral" (Lockard 1997,225), because these are people that you never have to meet if you do not want to, or deal with on any basis that is not structured and supervised. By using computer-mediated communications to try to recreate the great good places in our society again, is simply a romanticization of a past that never really existed. It is one thing if a few people want to get together and discuss any number of things on a list serve, but quite another to say or hope that this is the bright new future to look forward to,especially when so few people can afford to be connected to that extent. As you know, one must be very careful about what one wishes for in this world. As Vincent Mosco writes, "a world of information haves and have-nots is far more likely than a global village or a world of virtual communities" (Mosco 1996).
The only radical utopia that libraries and their staff can envision is one that helps to develop neighborhoods and communities that empower those who live in them to be educated, knowledgeable, and tolerant. Can we equate empty streets, with soulless societies, just as easily as we can say that "empty libraries are those that do not respond to changes in the population" (Lesley 1991,28), and those who have forgotten Andrew Carnegie's vision of public libraries providing services to all sectors of society, including immigrants and those experiencing economic difficulties? Would you say that "the promised land that Bill Gates trumpets in his book The Road Ahead, could turn out to be a mirage?" (Mosco 1996), or agree with the following observation:
The computer enthusiast, alone in front of the screen is less the new model of human participation in community and more its sad caricature. Community, they insist, requires social interaction, a genuine coming together of people in physical contact to exchange ideas and feelings, to debate and plan, to make use of all the senses with all of their nuances. At best, community in cyberspace is one small tool, one extension of the senses to build social networks (Stoll 1995, as quoted by Mosco 1996).
The only realistic way to look at the concept of virtual communities and what they can do for society, is if they are used to help with the advancement of the world as we know it, beginning on the local level. There is nothing wrong with having an interest in international communities, or universal access, but developing the 'local' into the best it can be, must be the first priority. In other words, it is possible that freenets can provide the 'gateways' that "can develop virtual communities that help geographic communities work better" (Graham), just as virtualized/digitized library services can help provide access to information, while increasing community awareness of sources. This writer is not saying that there is no wistful need in all of us to communicate with like-minded citizens on the planet, especially since computers breakdown the distances between people, and we all want to have our voices heard by someone, anyone at times. Still, it is worrisome that face-to-face interaction is becoming passe, while countless hours are spent, without tactile encounters, nor the beauty of hearing human words and laughter. Finally, J. McClellan theorizes:
Rather than providing a replacement for the crumbling public realm, virtual communities are actually contributing to its decline. They're another thing keeping people indoors and off the streets. Just as TV produces couch potatoes, so on-line culture creates mouse potatoes, people who hide from real life and spend their time living in cyberspace (Fernback 1995).
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