In recent years, libraries of all types have begun to create space and activities that center around creativity. From rewiring a lamp, to 3D printers, to sewing circles, libraries are capitalizing on a priceless commodity: the sharing of personal knowledge, or learning by doing.
In the 21st century, libraries are about much more than books! In fact, libraries work very hard to provide patrons of all ages with a rich and current menu of CDs and DVDs, as well as electronic and online resources. Video game resources and programs at the library actually complement these existing services. Featuring this new gaming media helps the library expand its reach while meeting community expectations..
They are also gaining ground in schools as valuable resources that introduce and reinforce a variety of curricular, social and life skills. Read more. Skip to main content. You are here Home » What Libraries Do. A librarian can bring you back the right one. Provide Access Libraries level the playing field.
Promote Literacy Libraries are committed to helping children and adults develop the skills they need to survive and thrive in a global information society: the ability to read and use computers.
Protect Your Rights Libraries are advocates for your right to read and your right to reader privacy. Innovate Libraries are places for community engagement, a platform for great minds to come together. Makerspaces In recent years, libraries of all types have begun to create space and activities that center around creativity. Gaming In the 21st century, libraries are about much more than books! Libraries offer online and access for all, often free.
The United Nations has declared that internet access is a human right — public libraries uphold that right. In addition, using the internet means one can take advantage of special offers e.
Our young son is the biggest user of the library in terms of number of books he borrow. I think having such a wealth and variety of books is a huge benefit in terms of his development, use of imagination, his language skills etc. Not something you can add a value to.
Similarly, libraries offer word-processing, printing, photocopying and fax. Many people on low incomes or mental health problems use the library as there is nowhere else to go.
Ironically, this is sometimes used informally as a reason against public libraries while others argue against libraries as being too Middle Class. Libraries improve the neighbourhood and increase house values. This goes directly against the stereotype of public libraries as quiet places. One user of the library where the author works has said that he would kill himself if the library closed down as there would be nothing else for him to do and no-one else he could talk to.
This is especially the case in small communities where, unfortunately, they are currently most under threat of closure. When they close the post offices, the clubs and the libraries, then the local people lose meeting places.
When libraries are adequately funded, people use them — see the record number of users at Hillingdon or any new library such as Portishead. Alan Gibbons believes the million visits per year to public libraries could double with proper leadership of the service. I f one takes virtual visits into account, usage is increasing. Libraries are cheap to run. When given a choice of losing their library or increasing council tax, people choose the library — for example, in Wiltshire.
The same is the case, with many more examples in the USA , where there is a strong upward trend in library use. Many offer subscription-only online family history tools such as Ancestry, for free.
Intellectual freedom is basic to public libraries which help to sustain a democratic society. Libraries are increasingly lend E-books. Libraries are not being made obsolete by technology. With the decline of bookshops on the High Street, Libraries may become the only place where one can browse physical books. The loss of book shops has led to loss of book sales — not all of it has migrated online.
Google proposed deleting its entire video archive in April and only stopped due to public protest. The same could happen with Google Books. Equally with other groups — Facebook have been deleting political groups without warning too. Public libraries have never been in competition with booksellers nor are they now with e-booksellers. Librarians are not booksellers. People buy books and borrow books — one does not preclude the other.
Perhaps the most deep-rooted of our human instincts is the desire to preserve our culture for future generations. This is one of the most important functions of libraries. Libraries are rich repositories of historically and culturally significant collections, many of which are not available anywhere else in the world.
Without an appropriate copyright exception, a library could not preserve or replace a damaged work while it is still covered by copyright. For example, it could not lawfully copy or digitize an old newspaper or a unique sound recording to preserve it.
Without appropriate library exceptions, this cultural heritage would be lost to future generations. Without the legal means to preserve and replace works in a variety of media and formats — including format shifting and migrating electronic content from obsolete storage formats — many of these works will inevitably be lost to future generations of historians.
The challenges facing libraries are linked in large part to the fact that, while international copyright agreements guarantee exclusive rights for authors and other right holders, the interpretation of the exceptions and limitations that entities such as libraries depend on in order to provide their services is left to national parliaments. In sum, exceptions and limitations are national and optional, whereas the rights accruing to right holders are international and guaranteed.
The study found that statutes relating to library exceptions differ greatly from one country to another. It also found that, of the countries surveyed, 21 had no library exceptions in their copyright laws, and had a least one statutory library exception, with many, most often in developed countries, having multiple library-related provisions.
Even where library exceptions to copyright laws do exist, however, they generally date from the pre-Internet age and now need to be updated and adapted to the digital environment. They also point to the need for a common approach to ensuring equitable access to knowledge, and to providing libraries with the legal means to preserve the unique cultural, artistic and scientific heritage of each country.
The Internet has created tremendous opportunities in terms of accessing knowledge. While it is difficult to foresee the full implications of such an undertaking, the benefits promise to be widespread and powerful. A record in need of conservation and preservation work. Without appropriate exceptions a library cannot preserve or replace a damaged work that is still covered by copyright. One particularly moving example of the benefits of mass digitization comes from my own library, the British Library.
A number of years ago we digitized a series of 20th century recordings from Uganda and put them online. We were subsequently contacted by a student at Sheffield University who explained that some of the recordings were of Ugandan royal court music, an art form that had all but disappeared.
Given the historical importance of the recordings, we made copies for Makerere University in Kampala, and Ugandan musicians are now trying to piece together how to play this unique music once again. While libraries have some funds to digitize collections and put them on the web, the many challenges of clearing intellectual property IP rights in in-copyright materials combined with the fact that copyright can reach back as far as the s means that libraries often prefer to digitize out of copyright material.
Libraries have no desire to undermine vibrant markets, but evidence suggests that there is little market activity for many older in-copyright works. A report by the French government ,submitted to the French Senate supporting a new law to enable mass digitization, estimates that 57 percent of works published in France since are either orphan works — works whose creators or right holders cannot be identified or traced — or out of commerce, the only means of accessing them being from a library.
Studies suggest that while the scale of the orphan works problem varies, the number of such works can be relatively high, even with books that have a long history of well-organized and professional production and distribution. In many countries, reuse of such works is unlawful without the express permission of the right holders. Finding an appropriate and lawful means to deal with orphan works, therefore, is a key element in opening the way to mass digitization.
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