I can't even list all of the different activities we saw going on at the archive. We visited the map room, the reading rooms, the microfiche room, and the children's section. Have a look at the following article taking us through the theme Reflections on the public Library San Diego.
We stepped over art students making sketches of the building interior; we breezed through one of the two brilliant exhibitions curated by the archive's staff, we tip-toed through the archive's rooms for research fellows. Each of these places was full of human beings, doing-I doesn't know what. Perhaps one of them was there to look online for a job, and maybe one was researching a story from their family history.
What does it mean to honor libraries? I don't need to reinvent the wheel here; there are quotes carved into the wall all over the archive. To honor libraries is to accept democracy. It is to honor the equality of citizens-to respect and indeed create a meritocracy. It is to acknowledge the role of knowledge in society. It is to accept human potential.
They are the ultimate expression of people defining and meeting their own needs. New York Public Archive was built with private money, and it is primarily maintained with private funds, as are many libraries in this country. Team Maria's Libraries has had the conversation about private donations many times, including doing a two-month research project on it this summer.
A patron would find the book she wanted in the catalog and write it down on a retrieval slip. The retrieval slip would then be put into a capsule which would be transported to the appropriate floor via what was then a modern vacuum technology. A porter would receive the tablet, and fetch the book. This system had the added benefit of giving rise to an urban legend: that the teams retrieving books travel around the stacks on roller skates (not right, I'm sorry to report).
Learning is for everyone, and we all have the right to get educated. Quality and updated books and references should be made accessible to people from all walks of life. Online libraries are bringing about this democratization by making it more convenient for people to access books and references. College students can now quickly search for specific textbooks and are given the option to rent them. Now, the question of whether online libraries can replace traditional libraries has been brought up by debating parties on opposite sides.
The tour of the NYPL is hugely inspiring; it was also both intimidating and affirming. While Maria has been working for 12 years and Maria's Libraries has been working for four years towards the completion of the archive in Busia, we continually realize that we're only just beginning. Since ML has been involved, we've spent two years working out our relationship with the government, two years settling the property rights issues on the plot of archive land, and now we've begun our negotiation process with the architects around the building plans.
We have yet to identify our local patron (if anyone reading this is the Brooke Astor of Western Kenya, email me!), and determining what is needed in the full archive collection is not even on the table yet. This process is slow and sometimes feels like a series of hurdles. And this it will continue to be, for as long as the archive is around.
We stepped over art students making sketches of the building interior; we breezed through one of the two brilliant exhibitions curated by the archive's staff, we tip-toed through the archive's rooms for research fellows. Each of these places was full of human beings, doing-I doesn't know what. Perhaps one of them was there to look online for a job, and maybe one was researching a story from their family history.
What does it mean to honor libraries? I don't need to reinvent the wheel here; there are quotes carved into the wall all over the archive. To honor libraries is to accept democracy. It is to honor the equality of citizens-to respect and indeed create a meritocracy. It is to acknowledge the role of knowledge in society. It is to accept human potential.
They are the ultimate expression of people defining and meeting their own needs. New York Public Archive was built with private money, and it is primarily maintained with private funds, as are many libraries in this country. Team Maria's Libraries has had the conversation about private donations many times, including doing a two-month research project on it this summer.
A patron would find the book she wanted in the catalog and write it down on a retrieval slip. The retrieval slip would then be put into a capsule which would be transported to the appropriate floor via what was then a modern vacuum technology. A porter would receive the tablet, and fetch the book. This system had the added benefit of giving rise to an urban legend: that the teams retrieving books travel around the stacks on roller skates (not right, I'm sorry to report).
Learning is for everyone, and we all have the right to get educated. Quality and updated books and references should be made accessible to people from all walks of life. Online libraries are bringing about this democratization by making it more convenient for people to access books and references. College students can now quickly search for specific textbooks and are given the option to rent them. Now, the question of whether online libraries can replace traditional libraries has been brought up by debating parties on opposite sides.
The tour of the NYPL is hugely inspiring; it was also both intimidating and affirming. While Maria has been working for 12 years and Maria's Libraries has been working for four years towards the completion of the archive in Busia, we continually realize that we're only just beginning. Since ML has been involved, we've spent two years working out our relationship with the government, two years settling the property rights issues on the plot of archive land, and now we've begun our negotiation process with the architects around the building plans.
We have yet to identify our local patron (if anyone reading this is the Brooke Astor of Western Kenya, email me!), and determining what is needed in the full archive collection is not even on the table yet. This process is slow and sometimes feels like a series of hurdles. And this it will continue to be, for as long as the archive is around.
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