MS&R employees have a strong connection to libraries. They use them with their families and they are instrumental in helping create them for other families. Rhys MacPherson, a long time employee who has worked on numerous library projects, offers his insights into why libraries matter to him:
One of our weekly if not twice a week routine is to visit our three closest libraries with our 3 kids. We tend to rotate with the amenities and resources that we are looking for. For us the internet, the big box bookstore and the mall is not enough. All 5 of us like to have physical contact with our resources. We have a small neighborhood one stop shop library for quick in and out times, our inner city urban library that has an all new collection and the third library “the big one” is the Roseville library which we use on a regular basis. My oldest daughter who is really isn’t quite a teen yet but thinks she is makes a big deal about that she gets to go to her “room”. My two youngest enjoy have an indoor and outdoor childrens’ room that has multiple choices of environments and learning resources. As our family has grown, so has our need for resources of information. Libraries aren’t just about books anymore but provide learning environments in several media formats and let’s us and our children socialize and participate in a civil way that is different than school or the playground. We meet lots of our neighbors on a regular basis as a result. Each of our 3 libraries that we hang out at have different focuses as well. Roseville has more of a green focus in which our kids have enjoyed borrowing the kill a watt meter and using it around the house to monitor our energy usage. As a result, we changed our home office plug in strategy and the back room tv usage as well. Our neighborhood library is within 3 blocks of the house and we frequently walk or bike to it and buy artesian bread next door (a happy pairing). Our inner city library with the all new collection has an emphasis on urban living and remodeling.
One Comment
Our local public library is crucial for us to enable our seven year old to access reading and project information for his school curriculum and project work, as well as nurture an interest in reading for leisure. The school library is not able to provide the level of resource of our public libraries, and when they do visit the school library as part of their class activities it is focused on computer work or book sales by publishers marketing their wares. While this is a great resource to have in a school, the range of applications and uses is much more limited (like the hours) than our public library. I really like Rhys’ comment about about the ‘room’ in the library. This really does apply, for us, to the whole public library: a ‘room’ we can feel at home in away from home.