I attended a talk this year where the speaker made two points that have stuck with me:
1. Because of legal precedent surrounding protection of patron records, librarians are in a similar category as priests and lawyers.
2. Libraries are a great leveler for society. Paraphrasing: you don't have to dress a certain way; you don't have to look a certain way, and you don't even need to smell good to use a library.
Depending on your outlook, the second point could seem like an in-joke at the expense of homeless, but I find it profoundly poignant.
A side note about the value and impact that libraries have on people's lives. I grew up in Montana where I was routinely asked by older adults if I was any relation to the woman who read / told them stories every day after school. I would reply that she was my grandmother, and they would launch into stories about how they and their friends didn't have any place to go after school, and how much they loved the nice lady at the library.
1. Because of legal precedent surrounding protection of patron records, librarians are in a similar category as priests and lawyers.
2. Libraries are a great leveler for society. Paraphrasing: you don't have to dress a certain way; you don't have to look a certain way, and you don't even need to smell good to use a library.
Depending on your outlook, the second point could seem like an in-joke at the expense of homeless, but I find it profoundly poignant.
A side note about the value and impact that libraries have on people's lives. I grew up in Montana where I was routinely asked by older adults if I was any relation to the woman who read / told them stories every day after school. I would reply that she was my grandmother, and they would launch into stories about how they and their friends didn't have any place to go after school, and how much they loved the nice lady at the library.