Members phkrause Posted February 19 Members Share Posted February 19 Libraries on front lines Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios Public libraries have morphed into all-purpose community centers amid soaring demand for social services. Libraries are enjoying a renaissance in usage. They're also battling book bans and bearing the brunt of a host of societal issues — from caring for unhoused people and migrants to distributing COVID tests and Narcan for drug overdoses, Axios' Jennifer A. Kingson writes. Why it matters: The result is frazzled staff and budgets spread thin from competing needs. Librarians, while still helping kids with their homework, are helping migrants apply for asylum, and jobless people write resumes. Libraries are offering expungement clinics to help people erase their rap sheets, and "digital navigators" to help boost patrons' computer skills. Onsite social workers are assisting people with mental illnesses. They're becoming cooling centers and climate resilience hubs. Between the lines: "Libraries have never been more important than they are in 2024," says Patrick Losinski, CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, Ohio. "I'd much rather have these challenges for additional services and pressures than have people saying that our time has passed." Reality check: Librarians are fending off physical and verbal assaults from angry customers — some of whom blame these frontline workers for the content of books they'd like banned. And they're grappling with everything from the high cost of e-books to the need for free outdoor Wi-Fi so people without broadband can have off-hours access. Read on. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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