The Future happened and here we still are
On this gloomy Monday morning, right at this moment, there are 18 people, parents and children, using the children’s library. Most of them will stay for at least half an hour, and may visit again later in the week, and sometimes even again the same day. So far this morning we’ve had a Storytime for kids from visiting child care centre, who were joined by several other children who happened to be here at the time. In the course of this week, we will be hosting organised activities for approximately 170 children, from ages 0-12. The fact that it’s Library Week has bumped the figure up a bit, but a number over one hundred every week is quite normal. Then there’s the rest of the kids who come in every day to read, borrow books, work on their assignments, meet friends, and take advantage of the welcoming, friendly, engaging space that we’ve created. I don’t think it’s going to change much, at least not in my lifetime. The Internet has been around for long enough now to make it’s presence felt, longer than the entire lifetime of any of our young borrowers. Even their parents are of the generation who have grown up fully fluent in the web, and able to navigate it with ease and confidence. Still, you can’t sit the internet on your lap and make it do the funny voices, you can’t tuck it in to bed with you and enjoy the full sensory experience that shared stories will provide. No family could afford to own for themselves the variety that the library can provide, not even in Mosman.
And so here they are, every day, happily coming in to use the space and share the delights of the wonderful world of books that only a Library can provide.
Nope, we’re not going anywhere.
