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Filed Under: books, copyright, jennie rose halperin, libraries, library futures, podcast
Beyond the Pandemic, Libraries Look Toward a New Era
With a shift to online resources well underway, “the most trusted civic institutions” are in a good position to deal with the changing future.
Many companies and public institutions were unprepared for the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown. There was one notable, perhaps even surprising, exception: the nation’s public libraries.
For more than a decade, these seemingly traditional institutions had been investing in a range of technologies and media. Libraries now balance two stacks: the physical with the so-called digital full stack.
With a wealth of electronic books, streaming platforms and of course Zoom, many were ready, with some adjustments, to provide services for their communities. But no one could have predicted that 2020 would create the moment when “our libraries, the most trusted civic institutions in the country, would become totally virtual,” said Anthony Marx, the president and chief executive of the New York Public Library, the nation’s largest library system after the Library of Congress.
But will virtual offerings eclipse physical locations? . . .
Mesa Celebrates National Library Card Sign-Up Month
September 1, 2021 at 5:13 pmSeptember is Library Card Sign-up Month, a national effort to ensure every child signs up for their own library card. Mesa Public Library is joining the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries nationwide to remind parents, caregivers and...
