Libraries as Linchpins of #Gov20 and #OpenGov
When I was a kid, I spent hours at the local library - especially during the summer when we were off from school.
I'd grab a bunch of books and bring them home, often staying up late reading them with a flashlight in bed under the covers. I'd knock 'em all out, then go back the next day for more.
Those experiences at the library are some of my favorite childhood memories.
As I moved on to college, the library remained a special place for me. I'd often find a couch or cozy chair in a quiet corner, oscillating between study and sleep.
Sometimes I'd get lost in a section, searching for one book that led me down a rabbit hole to reams and reams of previously undiscovered knowledge. It never felt like wasted time (or procrastination!). :-)
I also spent a couple college summers working in a homeless shelter. We didn't allow the men to hang out at the house during the day, so where did they go?
You guessed it: the library.
Since I was an undergrad in the mid-90's, the Internet had really just begun to become influential at our institution, so we weren't spending massive amounts of time surfing the Web. Computers were limited and connections were awfully slow (and noisy).
As an adult, I haven't been spending as much time at the library, but my newborn baby boy is making me think about it again. I'd like to instill in him a love for learning and for places like the library.
At the same time, I've been thinking a lot about the "So what?" behind what we're calling "Gov 2.0" or "Open Government." We can plaster the Web with public information, open datasets and crowd-sourcing tools. Blogs and wikis and webinars offer more access to more people.
But what if they don't have a way of connecting to the Web? What if they don't work in a job where they're sitting in front of a monitor all day and they don't have the money to buy a PC and high-speed Internet at home? What if some people feel a bit intimidated by the Internet due to limited access and/or lack of knowledge about it?
According to the National Broadband Plan, 14 million people in the US do not have access to high speed broadband infrastructure. Only 40% of adults making less than $20,000 have broadband at home and rates of adoption are under 10% for our Tribal lands. The Plan states explicitly: "Hardware and software are too expensive for some. Others lack the skills to use broadband."
So let me suggest that the library is the linchpin - the indispensable hub of access and education.
I am not the first or only person advocating for this idea. In fact, Justin Grimes inspired me at last year's Open Government and Innovations Conference during an incredible lunch conversation and 've heard Sandra Fernandez of the Houston Public Library describe her institution as a primary point of access for citizens in her community.
What are your ideas or examples of libraries as the linchpins for connecting citizens to government information and engagement?
I'd love to get lost in a virtual library of ideas that we generate here.
Tags: government 2.0, internet access, libraries, mostcomment, national broadband plan, national library week
Comment
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Comment by Faye Newsham on April 27, 2010 at 9:31am - Actually, the interior was slated to be painted a green hue... no information on the library being environmental... I'm glad for your interpretation though, I'm not convinced but it isn't a great piece of reporting, is it?!
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Comment by Caryn Wesner-Early on April 27, 2010 at 9:26am
- @Faye - I don't think he's really putting anyone down. I think he's recognizing that current residents and people drawn in by rising property values may want different things from a public library. For gentrifying a neighborhood, a "green" library is a big selling point, but current residents are more likely to care about a lot of computers available, a good job-advice section, and so on.
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Comment by Faye Newsham on April 27, 2010 at 8:04am
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OK - so I'm listening to the radio this morning and hear the following. I've looked it up and the only reference I can find to "green" for this library was its proposed interior at one point. What do you make of the quotes in particular...
"New Anacostia Library Reflects Changing Neighborhood
April 27, 2010 - By Peter Granitz
The D.C. Public Libraries has opened its newest branch, in Anacostia. How will the library fit into a changing neighborhood?
The new library is about a mile from downtown Anacostia, which now boasts a new coffee shop and a couple of art galleries. Bill Hanna, a professor of urban planning at the University of Maryland, says these new amenities actually may not be what residents want.
“A lot of times when you’re redeveloping, you're redeveloping with gentrification and displacement,” says Hanna.
As for the new library, it's clear the neighborhood wants it. And Hanna says investments in community spaces like libraries always add to lower-income neighborhoods. But he isn't so sure about the building itself.
“I would guess there are a fair number of people who are in the gentry who would say what a nice thing to have a green library in our neighborhood. And I would also guess a lot of working class people couldn’t care less,” he says.
Hanna wonders whether the new library is being built for the people who live there, or for the people the city hopes to attract there."
I can't decide if he is putting down "the people who live there" or libraries in general... am I reading too much into this?
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Comment by Cynthia Burke on April 21, 2010 at 8:51am
- Interesting article - YEAAH Libraries! The great thing is that people who don't have access to the Internet at home can go to the public libraries and get access. There are waiting lists for the PCs at public libraries! Students use them to do homework, people job hunt, even play online games. The public library has always connected citizens to government information. Books, magazines, newspapers and journals, videos, directories, tax forms, tax assistance, live programs, community association meetings and newsletters - on and on. YEAAH Libraries!
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Comment by Srinidhi Boray on April 18, 2010 at 8:44am -
A bit off-track about Prezi
"Prezi" is a cool thing that uses unbounded space to make presentation (arrangement of information) defeating linearization of ideas that powerpoint and such are riddled with. In a way it tends to address the temporal limitations by using more seemingly boundary-less spatial medium in which randomly placed ideas find context to form relationships. I liked Prezi, but need many more features.
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Comment by kristin wolff on April 18, 2010 at 12:15am - One more thing that just arrived - this Prezi on mobile literacies for librarians - certainly points to a future in which libraries are an evermore critical part of community infrastructure. http://prezi.com/u9urpn3pw9xo/cil2010-mobile-literacy/
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Comment by kristin wolff on April 17, 2010 at 7:19pm
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Andrew:
Check out this Gates Foundation Report http://www.gatesfoundation.org/learning/Documents/OpportunityForAll.pdf. It's the first comprehensive documentation of computer use in libraries. Education and workforce (services government provides) feature prominently. If we took these findings seriously, we could imagine really embedding a range of services and building community capacity at the same time (maybe saving $ too).
There's also this awesome report that looks at the role of the library in cultivating 21st C skills. I wish we'd survey all of our public infrastructure this way and see how we could redesign to meet community need (maybe I'll write a blog post on this). http://www.imls.gov/pdf/21stCenturySkills.pdf
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Comment by Keith Moore on April 17, 2010 at 5:33pm -
Andrew. I think that the best testament of the OGD community's demonstration of support for your concern for those who may not have access to the internet is the Open Government Directive Workshop hosted at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in November 2009, the Charles Sumner Library both in Washington DC, and our panel interview with Thomas Reed Director of small and minority owned business for the FCC and the broadband plan. Each of these events and location represent a history and current effort to advocate for access and parity.
I think like most of our challenges and opportunities facing society today, there is not enough support yet for authentic media that wants to promote for example how the Gov 2.0 and the OGD can help build bridges to access to information. OGD, web 2.0, Gov 2.0 are foreign to most who are not considered tech savvy, and that was not the design of transparency and collaboration.
So amen to your walk back down memory lane, and know that we at Open Government TV have put our passion, our purse, and our purpose on the line to help support people like you who want to make a difference. Make a difference, Now, so that we can have a tomorrow!

U.S. statesman of the American Civil War period dedicated to human equality and to the abolition of slavery.
A graduate of Harvard Law School (1833), Sumner crusaded for many causes, including prison reform, world peace, and Horace Mann’s educational reforms. It was in his long service as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1852–74), however, that he exercised his major influence on history. He bitterly attacked the Compromise of 1850, which attempted to balance the demands of North against South. On May 19/20, 1856, he denounced ... (100 of 478 words)
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Comment by Peggy Garvin on April 16, 2010 at 9:52pm
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Hat tip to a great tweep, @gordonbelt, for passing this on: http://bit.ly/9aUEZ5
It is yesterday's program from the Marketplace radio show. "The American Library Association says overall library use during the recession has risen as much as 23 percent." Lots of basic Web training going on to help people find and apply for jobs online.
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Comment by Faye Newsham on April 16, 2010 at 2:32pm
- @Sheryl - if you get the T-shirt made, I want one! I see a cafe press site going up...
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