A Library Holds a Community Together

A Library Holds a Community Together

Clashes between police and demonstrators, rioting, school closures and general unrest in Ferguson, Missouri have made headlines around the world since the August day when Michael Brown, a black teenager, was shot by a white police officer. Many have reflected on the divide between the perceptions of blacks and whites on the shooting and the subsequent decision by a grand jury not to indict the shooter. Others have commented on the devastating economic toll of the events in Ferguson; racial discrimination in the justice system; the militarization of police departments; the need for new approaches to policing; and the failure of governmental institutions to create trusting relationships with residents.

Nearly lost amid these sobering headlines and important conversations about race and justice was the news that one community institution – the Ferguson Municipal Public Library –was providing both a refuge and a community rallying point through the storm of violence, unease, distrust and uncertainty waging in the streets of Ferguson. Relying on volunteers, Scott Bonner, the only full-time member of the library’s staff has kept the building open even as the the public schools delayed their opening this summer and as schools closed in advance and in the wake of the grand jury’s announcement last week.

Teachers have created an alternative school experience for Ferguson’s youngsters at the library, allowing parents to continue to go to work. A food bank has partnered with the library to offer lunches to children who would otherwise rely on free or subsidized school lunches. Related community programs continue. The library is one of a number of area venues hosting an art exhibit in response to the shooting of Michael Brown. Other libraries in the St. Louis area are offering free counseling.

In addition, libraries and librarians all over the country are creating reading lists and organizing book wish lists around the events in Ferguson. Thanks to an outpouring of support from around the world, Ferguson’s Municipal Public Library now has “one of the strongest collections in the state for civic engagement, civil rights history and recovering from trauma,” Bonner told Library Journal. A LibGuide created by a high school librarian in the St. Louis area provides resources for those interested in learning or teaching about the events in Ferguson.

We often think about libraries as places for quiet studying, a home for books, not people. A service provider that allows us to borrow materials. But Ferguson’s library is proving that libraries are so much more than that; they are community institutions that use books to help residents explore their own realities and those of their neighbors, institutions that build and support community development. Institutions that have an important role to play in providing a forum for the big questions with which so many in Ferguson and around the world are grappling.

At Books@Work we see the power of libraries and librarians every day. One Books@Work community program meets in a library, while their children use the space in the children’s section to read and color and connect with each other. Our participants are witness to the tremendous cross-section of residents who makes use of that space, and the commitment of librarians who work with members of the public to learn and grow. Inspired by the work of forward-thinking libraries like Ferguson, we look forward to finding more ways of working with libraries to build community at Books@Work in 2015.

Image: Steps of the New York Public Library Stephen A. Schwarzman Building [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons


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Rachel Burstein

Rachel Burstein

Rachel Burstein is a Research Associate for EdSurge and former member of the Books@Work team.