Join the Maplewood Library Foundation for a conversation with John Palfrey, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Rebecca Blumenstein, Deputy Managing Editor of the New York Times and longtime Maplewood resident.
In his book BiblioTech, Palfrey contends that anyone seeking to participate in the 21st century needs to understand how to find and use the vast stores of information available online.
And libraries, which play a crucial role in making these skills and this information available, are at risk. In order to survive our rapidly modernizing world and dwindling government funding, libraries must make the transition to a digital future as soon as possible - by digitizing print material and ensuring that born-digital material is publicly available online.
As we move closer to the planned reconstruction of the Maplewood Library to make it a library for the next century, we are challenged to respond to these changes while not losing the value of what our library means to the importance of our community.
But as Palfrey boldly argues, these modifications are vital if we hope to save libraries and, through them, the American democratic ideal.
Join us for what will be a thought-provoking and forward-looking conversation.