Librarians

Once the keepers of the need, and the right, of the the public to have public access to important knowledge, across the full spectrum of written knowledge, and creative expression in general, where there will always, certainly, be a lot we should never lose sight of; these people who were also dedicated to the proper classification of knowledge, as well, of course, as well as to preserve its history; these people have had their role, as it is actually now lived, change a lot over the last few decades; all of these years of so much change to instrumentality itself, and that feeding back into the ways in which we can now get, and call back with, thoughtful expression; because now you don't even have to know how to do anything relating to getting video. Anything relating to getting audio. Anything relating to more dazzling mixtures of audio, and video, presented in every more spine tingling, and complete, recreation, in 3d movie houses of new impact, or astoundingly new VR experiences, or whatever other imaginative way to get the new "creative expression" expressed; no, all you need to know to do now is write the synthetic ware coding to do all those other things for you. That and a lot of hardware, and a lot of processing power, and maybe a few other coders as well because some of those process object calls almost always have to have people with unique, niche skills. Etc.

It has changed a lot. We can see that here because they seem to have become more keepers of a safe, public commons. A kind of safe where you can sit comfortably, reasonable warm, in a space where it is perfectly acceptable that one would want to do that very thing. Because where else in a lot of communities, is it possible for an individual, of whatever means, to go to, browse row upon row of marvelously arranged thought, and expressed, available only at the price of being able to read in the first place; where else but in that place could you go, pick up one these lovely expressions, take it to a comfortable chair, and at least just feel some of the spirit that went into making this collection of text possible. Where else but there.

 And maybe a lot of it that is held there is hard for you, because you only got so far in doing reading. And maybe work has been very hard to find because, even if you can read, it doesn't mean the skill you do have now is necessarily worth all that much; with the competition from overseas and all. And picking up everything you thought you needed to have, and getting it to where your skill might be more viable, takes cash you never seem to have much in reserve of; because its always been paycheck to paycheck. Just getting by. And so for whatever reason, where you might even be working part time, living out of a vehicle, but still needing some safe place, just to hang out in, and not be thought suspiciously of. Where else would you go. That isn't going to cost you the exorbitant price of a cup of coffee? And that for only a few hours... And they don't think you look too shabby.

And so, in this new role they must also be EMT's, in a sense, because this safe place is where people who have no other place to go are going to collect. Why wouldn't they when all they have to do is go in, pick up a book, and sit quietly. Why wouldn't they.

This should show us how we are not dealing with so many thing things, in so many ways. And the buildup of collateral damage that occurs, overflows into public spaces; more and more of which, however, significant segments us don't want to be so public anymore. As such the overflow will go wherever it can so that homelessness, and addiction, become the new skill requirements of the Librarian. And the books themselves to then become, too easily, just relic adornments to a, supposed, institutional obsolescence. The whole spectacle of it should be as shaming as it is depressing, and discouraging.

And the fact of the matter is that it doesn't need to be like this. We could set things up to do oh so much better. We could do it balancing practicality, and empathy. We just have to accept the need to do something so much more than just "business as usual."

'YOU TAKE THE LEAP'

Once It Was Overdue Books. Now Librarians Fight Overdoses.

5 diggs The New York Times Drugs

The opioid epidemic has turned librarians into emergency medical workers and prompted a debate over whether they should administer the anti-overdose drug naloxone.