Chattanooga Public Library

How Libraries Are Advancing and Inspiring Schools and Communities

The Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has recently released a report, Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries, that asks us “to reconsider how the library can serve communities in the 21st century.” The report focuses on the Chattanooga and Nashville public libraries for … Read more

Scores Come to Chattanooga Public Library to Study Library Innovation

Nationwide, libraries are losing funding, information is streamed into private homes, and increasingly, libraries are becoming static places. Chattanooga, however, is at the forefront of overcoming those challenges. In mid-November, more than 100 library directors and administrators from all over the U.S. kicked off an annual two-day summit hosted by the Library Journal—a gathering whose … Read more

Shifting Perception: Why Essentialness is Not the Problem

Chattanooga Public Library

By Corinne Hill

The fact that the topic of “the essentialness of libraries” is trending right now reveals a completely different issue that has nothing to do with the library being essential.

What this trending topic and ensuing discussions reveal about our profession is that we’re totally insecure. We are frantic in our zeal to be everything to everyone, and we’re so busy and distracted with the gathering of evidence to defend our existence that we forget who we are.

Read moreShifting Perception: Why Essentialness is Not the Problem