The Information Professional

Portland Tribune

Library reflects our community values

A new Cascade Policy Institute report calls on Multnomah County to hand over operations of its library system to a private contractor, or institute user fees, as alternatives to a...

 

"I would argue that cost and efficiency aren’t the only premises on which to judge an organization. I believe we should also consider a deeper and more meaningful question: What values should a community’s library reflect?

Public libraries exist to provide free, equal access to information and services to everyone. While many library users do live comfortably, many don’t. In Multnomah County, one in five residents younger than age 18 live below the poverty level; nearly half of recent library survey respondents reported household income less than the county’s median.

Library services are available to all of them. The public library is a unique place where the collective riches and wisdom of the world are not shuttered to those who cannot pay."