I have interacted with Klinenberg’s ideas in Palaces for the People in several courses and after this interaction have realized I need to set reading the book as a goal before I finish my MLIS. I would also like to seek out what he has said since. The idea that I find most powerful is that physical places shape the way we interact and are a key element in how we repair fractured societies and a precarious social order (Libraries and the Social Infrastructure). This article made a fresh connection for me when he mentioned that in Sweden, support for libraries diminished amidst a right-wing backlash against new immigrants. Libraries are opposed because they are inclusive places, not just because of the books inside. 

This tied in so beautifully with Pam Sandian Smith’s TedTalk about the fresh approach of Anythink libraries. There were three ideas that stood out to me. One, at their library, everything is an experiment. I love the notion that every decision/program/project does not hold our success or define us, we can just try it! Experimenting will have failures or successes, but we’ll learn. Second, was a new quote for me from John Cotton Dana: “The public library is a center of public happiness first, of public education next.” What a delight, that even with the many challenges of librarianship in the current context, public happiness is part of the job description. Finally, “Who else is gonna do this?” American public libraries did not set out to address the needs of immigrants and the unhoused. Neither Franklin, Dewey, or Carnegie had these people in mind, but who else will support the disadvantaged for the benefit of the community. 

Finally, Get To Know Your Neighbor blew my mind with its simplicity. A sofa, and a fishbowl of questions is all it takes to build connections. I think this idea could only be improved if it offered a hot cup of coffee as well.