Shea and I often talk about how strange it is that librarians are one of the few professions where practitioners actively visit local examples of their workplace in other communities when traveling (she doesn’t have a strong desire to visit hospitals in other places when on a holiday – that’s for sure!).
I think there’s lots of reasons for this, not least of which is that part of the library’s role is to be open and accepting of everyone as a place of learning, community and even sanctuary which draws people to see libraries as though they were another type of tourist attraction, in line with museums and historical buildings and theatres.
Unfortunately, there’s a downside to this commitment to openness and access in that the library is often also an unofficial social services agency with regular visits from people dealing with addictions, mental health issues, homelessness and so on.
These people are often drawn to the library as one of the few public spaces that will allow them in without judgement or expectation of purchase (Tim Horton’s – and really, most retail establishments – will kick out a homeless person for loitering pretty quickly if they don’t buy something but, as long as the person’s behaviour meets the library’s guidelines, someone can usually linger in the library for hours or even all day.)
For that reason, I was stunned to hear of the mass stabbing in North Vancouver which occurred at their public library (small blessing in Canada that it was a mass stabbing, not mass shooting.
And of course this happens to be one of many libraries I’ve visited during my travels – this one was in June 2010 when Shea and I did a big trip across Western Canada including visiting with family who lived in North Vancouver.
Beautiful library (but I say that about all of them!) 😉
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