Saving A National Treasure

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:



Saving A National Treasure
New photo exhibit illuminates our great loss when library budgets are chopped

By Jay Walljasper


Since 1994 Robert Dawson, a photography instructor at San Jose State and Stanford, has visited more than 17,000 libraries coast-to-coast—some grand, most humble—to document the central role they play in the life of their communities. This summer he is crossing the country again with his son Walker to celebrate these national treasures. Follow his adventures and see new photos at Library Road Trip You can also make a contribution to his project.

An exhibit of his photos, “Public Library: An American Commons” is now on display at the San Francisco Public Library. Viewing a slideshow of Dawson’s exhibit on the website of the Design Observer is a moving experience.

From the computer facilities packed with users at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago to a relaxed public meeting at the Newport Public Library in Vermont, from to the grand Art Deco entrance of the Brooklyn Public Library to the metal shed housing the Tuscarora Library and Post Office in Nevada, there’s no doubt these are a national treasure of the same magnitude as The Declaration of Independence or Yellowstone Park.

“The modern American public library is reading room, book lender, video rental outlet, internet café, town hall, concert venue, youth activity center, research archive, history museum, art gallery, homeless day shelter, office suite, coffeeshop, seniors’ clubhouse and romantic hideaway rolled into one,” writes Josh Walleart on Design Observer. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/saving-national-treasure

[FailureToCommunicate]

1. We love our library! (Oldest children's library in the country)

Thanks, marmar, fot the link