Re. future of the “bricks and mortar” library: This is a topic that’s been discussed at past meetings of the Ann Arbor District Library board and by AADL staff. While book collections are one of the services that libraries provide, their focus is not on books so much as education, especially for preschool and K-12. So activities at the library building – storytime for small children, homework help and tutoring, special events like videogame competitions – would continue in that space. The library also provides computer terminals with Internet access for those who can’t afford it in their homes, as well as venues for lectures and public meetings.
It’s likely that the footprint of library buildings in the future will be smaller, or certainly configured in a dramatically different way than what we see today, with so much space still devoted to stacks for book collections.
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