Developing public libraries

Supporting community libraries

Context

Even the smallest public library can participate in a myriad of formal and informal networks that allow it to borrow materials from other libraries, access material by computer, and otherwise supplement local collections. By serving as a gateway to information that it does not have in its own holdings, the public library is invaluable as a stepping stone to the complex web of government, university and non-governmental organizations from which most non-commercial information flows.

Claim

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion." (Thomas Jefferson)