These links will show up later tonight from del.icio.us, but I found two links today that press the question, “What is a library?” I think the majority of people haven’t been in a library since their high school days, and think of them as some smelly, dank building filled with ancient books and card catalogs.

It’s just not true. Not anymore. If you haven’t been to your local library, go there and check it out. Ask the person behind the desk for a tour. My personal view is that it’s the job of the libraries to match their users up with the information they’re seeking. These days that means books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, Internet terminals, community groups, community resources, self-help… You name it. These aren’t pie-in-the-sky dreams. These are things happening in Everycommunity, USA, today.

After school programs that teach D&D games? Or, web resources, to help with breaking news when a natural disaster comes through?

You can see why, with this philosophy, I don’t see myself going to be a traditional old-school librarian… Instead, I see everything we enteract with on a daily basis coming into the library, and the library being a focal point for providing information back to the user. Think of it as a physical search engine … Google is nothing more than a virtual library on the web. The challenges for your local library are the same as Google’s… What information do people want? How can we provide it? What will bring them back and make this an even better resource? Where’s the next round of money going to come from?

That, other than the money thing, is what interests me the most.