How the USDA's 100 million dollar grant to rural libraries exposes the likely future of the field

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Summary: The USDA approved a grant worth $100,000,000 dollars to rural libraries. Good news, right? Yes, but there is also a fact buried in there that a lot of librarians might not be willing to face.

Thursday, 28 January 2010

(15:12:25 CST)

How the USDA's 100 million dollar grant to rural libraries exposes the likely future of the field

Reading an article posted ALA.org's website—United States Department of Agriculture designates $100 million for rural libraries—I felt both a moment of elation, and a moment of worry. Well, quasi-worry. It all comes down to this line:

'In 78 percent of rural communities, the library is the sole provider of no-fee Internet access,' Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the ALA Washington Office, said.
'This funding specifically set aside for rural libraries is a lifeline for communities across the country who depend on their local libraries for basic needs such as Internet access as well as assistance with e-government services, literacy and homework programs, and much more. We thank the USDA for its recognition of the vital role libraries play in rural communities and their need for funding.'

Notice that in the list of things that libraries do, "literacy" (meaning bits dealing partly with books, but not wholly) manages to rank three. Internet access is twice ranked as the most important and seems largely the root of the grant.

This is not a bad thing. Don't get me wrong. Leaning, as I do, more to the "information science" rather than the "library science" of the equation; I find increasing access to information to be a boon. Potentially. There is a whole other matter of teaching proper information access, but I'll leave that for now.

I just can't help but point out that the field is changing. There was a time where libraries were boxes full of books with two or three little computers over to the side with signs that said things like "Surfing the net is limited to 20 minutes" and they were there as an after-thought. Used by people who saw some URL on the side of the box of a cereal. Now, libraries are being given money to get more computers rather than books, to make it more of a thing. Already some are getting rid of shelf-space for computer space, a few libraries became infamous for getting rid of all of their books. Computer services are ranking higher and higher on polls by patrons describing why they come to the library. The "library as place" is taking over the "library as concept", in many ways.

Ah, the future. Who knows what it will hold for our poor beleagured profession.

Si Vales, Valeo

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