Tampere City LibraryOutside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
The Mayor of Issoudun in France, has argued that "a city that is not capable of bringing culture to citizens is a city economically doomed. Close to us, columnist and essayist Alain Dubuc has shown that reading (and public reading) and collective prosperity go hand in hand in Canada *, in a work based on a truism, namely that the more a society is collectively richer, it will easily perform generous reallocations to its citizens. What about the connection between prosperity and reading? Does a prosperous society necessarily include a higher proportion than elsewhere of highly educated people? Are they are more likely to read books than others? Does a public that reads have greater "consciousness of the universe rather than being enclosed as an object trapped in the inevitable" **? Without culture is there only "consumption, survival reflexes "***? Probably all at once. One cannot deny that it is not from an ignorant population, whose culture is already weak or undeveloped, that will emerge enterprising people, groups carrying projects, innovative community ready to support these projects. (...) The culture does not concern only scholars, snobs or original, but everyone, at ranges and in different ways by groups and individuals so theypossibly have a better "consciousness of the universe" * rather than being tossed like straws or treated as pawns. This is the highest point, once again a question of dignity. Respect thereof may be combined with interest, pleasure even entertainment.
Why not apply to the public library what has made the reputation of television (before the advent of "reality TV" but that is not reality anyway)? It has charm, while opening us to the world. Like television, who, while entertaining us, taught us to look at us, sometimes without complacency, the public library, thanks to the treasures it contains, provides a better self-awareness and awareness of the universe. By transmitting culture, it does more than entertain, it gives man his dignity.
"How to stimulate language development in your child?
The language of the child should be considered on two levels: the spoken language and the written language. There are several ways to stimulate each of them.
The first is to read him stories and books. You can start to take him to the library and help choose books starting at the age of three years. Introduce him to the librarian and help him become the librarian's friend.
It is surprising how few parents attending the library know their children's librarian. (If there is one librarian, she will also guide you to choose children's books.)
A librarian can provide considerable assistance to teach a child to discover all the richness of a library and help them feel at home.
Make a habit of going regularly to the library to borrow books. (Keep in mind that young children have difficulty understanding the need to make Ausi books are understanding and patient: a child hurts the difference between buying a book and borrow it for two weeks.) "
"It took 25 years so that in Québec awakening to reading and writing of the young child becomes a major concern of our rulers and thus promotes its penetration into all of our educational system, family and community . The awakening to reading and writing begins when the child can neither read nor write, not even in an unconventional way. This suggests that reading and writing begin in the child's life long before he attends school. The statement also indicates that the school has no monopoly to facilitate the developmentof this know-how.
This awareness of the importance of written abilities develops in a more or less happy way, depending on the influences that the child receives from his family, his social background and his entire environment. These influences enable him informally to acquire knowledge and develop skills in written communication. "
The role of librarians is multiple. Yes, librarians are preoccupied to develop collections that reflect more accurately the needs of their clients, but they also work to:
■ develop optimally their local library;
■ manage their library's resources, from its budget to its logistics;
■ manage the computer systems of their library, particularly its integrated library management (which includes the catalog) and databases;
■ facilitate the identification of documents acquired by overseeing their indexing and classification;
■ assist their clients in finding information;
■ train their customers to information retrieval, better use of information, etc..;
■ animate their library;
■ promote their services, often unknown or misunderstood by their customers and therefore under-used;
■ support the document management of their organization;
■ ... and we pass, and best.
