To The Reader’s Forum:

John Palfrey recently wrote a book, BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google. c. 2015. The author is not a librarian. He is a Professor of Law at Harvard University. He led the effort to reorganize the Harvard Law School Library, and he is the founding chairman of the Digital Public Library of America.

This is National Library Week. Most of us agree that we “love libraries”; in today’s world it is much more than a nostalgic feeling. The Harvard Library Innovation Lab created a virtual browsing engine, called Stack View. Soon a physical library and a digital library will co-exist. With less physical effort and no need to climb stairs, patrons can find library resources through digital browsing which means looking at a ‘ virtual’ set of stacks that combine all books in the main library and all of its branches. For all that is possible in libraries today, funding is essential to turn the “possible” into a “reality”! Right now, public libraries offer free access to information in a variety of formats to people of all ages and abilities. Students of all ages acquire needed facts in sources beyond the classroom text books. Librarians teach patrons the best ways to use Google and its variety of uses. (Too often people try to use Google without a lot of knowledge of its use and sources of information. Key words are important.)

In our area we have several local libraries in close proximity, Let’s keep them fully funded and open, Remember your library in your estate planning and gift-giving, Your generosity will benefit so many in the future. This is an exciting time for libraries for all that is possible! Visit your favorite library this week!

Joyce Sanders Mallare’

Jamestown

Retired school library media specialist