While I was cleaning out my Feedly reader tonight, I came across this headline: Do libraries still need to provide internet access? The click-baitness of the title alone made me instantly furious, but the link took me to a letter to the editor that made me even angrier. The writer sums up his letter with this statement: "With the real definition and purpose of a library in mind, Fairfax officials should strive to offer what avid readers have wanted all along: a book-filled and Internet-free library."
A couple of immediate thoughts come to mind, none of which I can type, but letters and privileged mindsets like this make me furious.
Yes, a thousand times yes!, libraries should continue to provide internet access. To not do so goes against everything we stand for. Internet access, even for the game playing this writer derides, is essential to our mission to provide free and equitable access to everyone in our communities.
Letter writers like this tend to ignore the massive digital divide that still exists in this country. Not everyone has the internet available in their homes or on their phones. For many, the library is the only place they access information on the internet. For many, the library is the only place they can apply for jobs (many of which are online application only). For many, the library is the only place they can do school research because the schools themselves lack the proper technology or access. For many, the library is the only place to apply for the health insurance policies they are now required to carry by law. For many areas, the library is the only internet connected building in the community.
I love dead tree books, but as a librarian, I do not let my love for the traditional stacks get in the way of the mission of the library. "The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas." I and other libraries do not judge why people use the internet at the library, whether for research or game-playing. The library is open to everyone for whatever information or entertainment need our patrons wish to fulfill. If you think the "real definition and purpose of a library in mind" is to peruse the stacks in silence, please do so. I won't shush you - but I certainly won't tell the kids playing a computer game they have to stop.
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