Check It Out! Library Blog: Reinventing the Library

It's not just for books anymore.

"Maker-Spaces", " Internet Surfing Center", "Museum", "Learning Community", "Homeschool Hub". There are many great reasons to visit the Library.

This excursion was a weekly treat when I unschooled my daughter over a decade ago. A gaggle of home-based educators and their children could be found awaiting the opened doors of the local library any day of the week.

My autodidactic child would go on a treasure hunt to discover the 50-book limit to borrow, then dump the full milk crate onto the living room floor just to admire her bounty. She only read a few pages of some of the volumes. Others transformed her existence while she lounged on the sofa, oblivious to her actual surroundings. She learned something from each and every one, becoming my teacher over our shared lunch.

We attended a few of the story/craft time offerings, only to discover that most of the programs were designed for very young children, below the age of school attendance.

Now, just a few years into an immersion into the virtual world of gaming and social media mania, Libraries, including those on school campuses, have begun offering Maker-Spaces (a trendy new term meaning Craft Tables) but focusing on the use of computers to create simple codes for animating tiny Lego creations. But don't be surprised if you stumble upon a diverse group of visitors rediscovering the joys of leather craft, woodworking, knitting or Prepper training!

You see, one of the downfalls of living in the virtual world is that you lose the fascinating interactions of actual humans and the productive use of your hands.

I'm glad to see this trend, especially in suburban areas like Lancaster, California, near Walnut Creek in the East Bay area. The city decided to transform the Library into a true Community Center, complete with regular events and gatherings for all age groups, guest authors and lecturers, a coffee shop, used bookstore, Arts and Science Discovery Center, Senior Center, Historical Society and more. It's not just a Library anymore. In fact, they renamed it to the Lafayette Library and Learning Center.

Maybe they should just call it The Heart of the City. 

Let's have one in every community.