Defending the "Great Good Place"

Neal Peirce observes that America's public libraries continue to be "enablers of the American dream" and are being staunchly defended by their advocates in the face of sometime severe municipal and state budget cuts.

"[L]ibraries are as varied as America. Many provide specialized services, including translation and English instruction, to America's large populations of new immigrants. Some let patrons check out not just books but fishing poles, backpacks and garden tools.

And central libraries, notes Robert McNulty of Partners for Livable Communities, can be 'the great good place in the city' - as a literacy, Internet and special film center, or as a place for lectures, for local performing arts and exhibitions. Or as a coffeehouse. Or as an information center for visiting tourists, or a safe place for kids.

[L]ibraries have been enablers of generations of Americans' dreams. And with a little luck, they'll help pull us out of our current economic morass too."