One of the few institutions that thrive in recession times is the public library. Understandably, public library use goes up when people can’t afford to buy books, or have a lot of spare time on their hands thanks to being laid off (or both).
In Calgary, the land of the boom, the public library system had a record year last year. In fact, Calgary is one of the ten busiest public libraries in North America:
Library users borrowed nearly 15.4 million books, CDs and DVDs from city libraries in 2008, an increase of more than 1.1 million items over 2007, library officials said Thursday. That makes the library the sixth busiest in North America, after the huge cities of Toronto, Los Angeles and the boroughs of New York.
What’s more, library officials predict another dramatic rise in 2009. Economic downturns often prompt people to flock to libraries, so officials are planning ways to deal with booming demand.
Calgarians are much better read, apparently, than one would expect. This makes the fact that they’ve kept the same political party in power for almost four decades all the more perplexing. Mind you, I wonder how the borrowing of Lament for a Nation compares to Rich Dad, Poor Dad or Twilight.
Having said that, this opens some opportunities for growth (stimulus hint!) for the public library system. Not only does the public library provide citizens with a wealth of public knowledge, it also encourages frugality and patience–you can’t have the book RIGHT NOW and you have to bring it back to share. Public libraries are a form of public space and community institution that is sorely lacking in the modern sprawling city.
Perhaps expanding library branches to under-served parts of the city, or placing a few more in densely populated neighborhoods for the sake of walkability would make the system even more attractive to untapped demographics. And it could create some jobs in the process. Reading is good, too.
Photo courtesy of “boot_sy” under CC license.
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I hadn’t thought about the delayed gratification part of library borrowing – that’s a good point. We need to get better at that, much better.