Hyperlinked Environments: The moment it clicked

One of my earliest memories is accompanying my mother, a life-long student and author, to the main branch of the San Francisco public library. The building was a gem: enormous, imposing, marble and limestone with a grand staircase, quite reading rooms with long tables and green crook-neck study lamps. I remember holding her hand and walking up the grand central staircase of white marble, looking down all the while and watching my red Mary jane shoes skip steps alongside her. Mom asked a librarian for assistance, and he guided us through this room to that one, and finally to a tiny (closet-sized) space, painted deep Pompeii red, lined floor-to-ceiling with old book shelves and more books than were safe for the space to contain. Taking cues from everyone around me (hushhhh), I was wise enough to keep quiet and let mom do her thing. The other patrons worked quietly, diligently, on their tasks. This was a library: an enormous, quiet space where we went to whisper our needs to a stranger.

While my memory may not paint a picture of triumphant library-glory, or give access to why I chose to dedicate myself to the discipline, I can say that libraries have come a long way, and continue to grow and morph at just as fast a clip as technology in the Bay Area. My greatest challenge, however, has been marrying my mental vision of what a library has been—old memories can die hard because of the comfort they provide—and what libraries are now and continue to become. I have had a very hard time wrapping my thoughts around the community hub of endless access and resource that libraries have evolved into. How can libraries be everywhere, and provide heart and compassion, along with services and needs of the community? From information to entertainment, to safety zones, recording studios, cooking classes, libraries-of-things, and on and on.

But then I read about the Memphis library (Smithsonian Magazine, Nov 2021, R. Grant). This mega-library/community center is an “activated space for learning in every form,” including top-level recording studios with equipment and staff to match. Award-winning film maker Janay Kelly made entire films about hip-hop and Jim crow through the free services available at the library. “In a place where you are traditionally supposed to be as quiet as possible, I have found my voice.” What more perfect statement could describe the impact of this library on her art and life?

How can one, publicly-funded institution, handle all of this? How does all of this happen? Vision and focus on community. It takes a super-open, unthreatened, forward-thinking, non-territorial staff whose dedication to information access and dignity in humanity rises above the fear of speaking too loudly, or putting power into random people’s hands. Personal investment in study for the sake of learning is the greatest luxury. Information is the most powerful tool we have.

I struggled and struggled to wrap my head around all of these ideas and all of this “plenty.” But then it became clear in one vision: libraries are, in essence, free, open-access universities. They go beyond “community centers” or information points. They provide a world of access, putting power into the hands of patrons without asking for repayment. The greatest repayment is for patrons to return. And return again. And to share their gifts—those that they honed in the library—with the greater community.

This was the “ahh” moment.

Resources

Grant, R. (2021, November). How Memphis Created the Nation’s Most Innovative Public Library. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/memphis-created-nations-innovative-public-library-180978844/?fbclid=IwAR1KhgGc_cXHfCduhqGtJ1Wi5Y2jRho1yW1Q62QjCNC5o2Qs9eLeGnzqqIM