A library can be a core institution of an economy.

As I was looking over my notes from yesterday, the two quotes that I wrote down resonated through me again. The first was from Leslie Burger, President-elect-elect. At the NMRT Orientation session, she said “be central to the communities that you serve.” The second was from Barak Obama at the General Opening Session. “Literacy is the currency of a knowledge economy.” I think that libraries are really doing a lot in order to be a central instution in their community and to also encourage and support literacy. Mayor Richard M. Daley talked about how in Chicago, new or renovated libraries are serving as the anchors of economic redevelopment in a lot of neighborhoods. How many communities realize the importance of a library as a part of its economy? It’s very easy to lose sight of the big picture when you’re helping someone track down the book that they heard about on some radio show in another city ten years ago or troubleshooting the same computer problem for the fifth time that day, but if we don’t ensure our communities’ understanding of the importance of the library to their economic base, we won’t be around to find that book or fix that computer.