At the Core

Serving the Public

Libraries serve a variety of communities, one of them being "the public," for whom public libraries exist (big surprise there). Public libraries are publicly-supported institutions that play an important role in democratic society. Here's where the humanitarian value for serving the public good comes in. Library workers love to help people and make society better. They also believe in the library as the heart of the community, as a public space whose mission is not only educational and informational, but recreational too. Community events, group meetings, outreach programs, skill development workshops - and yes, reading - all bring people together at the public library. That's right: libraries aren't just shelves and books; in fact they are pretty magical places.