At 18:34 30/10/01 +0000, Chris Smith LLM LY LS wrote:
> is that a vote for small, local community spaces?
I hope so. This is a welcome theme and in political terms a timely one.
I'll just throw in a couple of points which have been exercising my tiny
brain lately -
First, the role of public libraries as 'third places' (not home, not work,
informal, local, inclusive...) is dangerously undervalued. Our third places
are under threat of extinction as public places become increasingly managed
and privatised for select (usually 'valued') clientele. And as Ray
Oldenburg argues, ('The great good place') third places have to be local
and inclusive, meaning within buggy-pushing distance, and not requiring the
burden of being either a guest or a host. And of course David is right to
draw attention to the fact that officials are 'gripped by the realisation
that there are "community venues" ... that anyone can use for a whole range
of purposes'. It's a good time to be trading on this particular asset, I'd
have thought.
Secondly, in a couple of the postings there has been the point about
libraries as a network. As a user and commentator not currently working in
a public library, I observe that it is a very loose network, which could
and should be much stronger. Getting my local library service to stretch
beyond its own boundaries for information or material is far harder than it
should be - shouldn't it be almost seamless? Properly exploited, the
technology will enable far more effective connections between different
points in the network; but they have to be locally-based access points.
I'm looking ahead to the Network Society and I see an acute need for third
places in order to promote association and serendipity in neighbourhood
ecologies; the need for local opportunities for people to establish and
exploit connections (with agencies and for personal social networks); and
serious social roles for any established, flexible information network
which reaches down to local level. Obviously libraries could be part of the
answer in each case. But the opportunities could be blown quite easily by
closing down local branches.
kevin
Kevin Harris
Community Development Foundation
http://www.cdf.org.uk
+44 207 226 5375
fax 207 704 0313
60 Highbury Grove London N5 2AG
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