Thursday, November 6, 2008

Barack Obama on libraries

No matter what any of our personal politics are, Barack Obama will be our next President. And so it's good to re-read what he said about libraries when he addressed the American Library Association conference June 27, 2005.

Among other things, he said:
More than a building that houses books and data, the library has always been a window to a larger world - a place where we've always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the American story forward.

...libraries remind us that truth isn't about who yells the loudest, but who has the right information.

And so the moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold into a library, we've changed their lives forever, and for the better. This is an enormous force for good.

Reading this speech might help us understand what the library community might expect from our next President. And it might help remind us of what people expect from us, and why we do this work.

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