To the editor,
It is understandable that there are some reservations surrounding the proposed central library expansion plan. Transitioning to a large central library with smaller community hubs is a major change from what our library has looked like in the past and with change there is always going to be a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Our society and our communities are also undergoing change. The digital revolution changed everything in our daily lives in almost every way imaginable, including the way in which we all access information. Fortunately for all of us, the fundamental function of our public library has not and will never change.
The library should always be a safe and accessible space for all members of our communities. More importantly, the value in our public library was never tied just to books, or information, or the beautiful physical buildings we have grown to love. The true value of our public library has always been in its role in building healthy, intelligent, informed and welcoming communities.
The library is a free space for anyone to meet and interact with each other. It is a place to come together and bond over common interests and common goals, to work as a community and to simply build, explore, create and live together. Community groups are currently being turned away from the library because there is not enough space to serve the diverse needs of all. This is a major public failure that impacts all of us.
The central library is an idea that is designed to transform the face of our public library and help it meet the changing demand of our communities, while maintaining the fundamental principal that the library is a safe space for everyone. Existing services that many rely on and love, will continue to be available to those who access them regularly.
This transformation does require investment, which is scary. However, maintaining the current status quo also requires investment and does not provide the long term savings and benefits that the new model provides; a bad return on investment, even scarier.
We all want Thunder Bay to grow, no one can argue against that. The central library is a change that will improve the quality of our public goods and provide opportunities for community growth in the long run.
If we aren’t willing to invest in ourselves and our own public goods, how can we expect others to invest in us, for us?
If we choose to sit on our hands and wait for the next Carnegie to come along we will have to continue to idly wait for that meaningful community growth to happen on its own and watch as the opportunities that our diverse and unique communities could provide us all, are lost.
Cory Bagdon
