
‘We need to return to the original purpose of the library, which is to support all the various needs of the scholar and provide him or her with a place to come up with ideas and make breakthroughs that would not otherwise have happened.’
THE Library of Celsus was built in 135AD in honour of a Roman senator. It stored 12,000 scrolls and those who wished to read them would travel long distances to visit. They would stay until their work was complete, sometimes for weeks at a time, and were given a place to eat, sleep and do some sort of athletic activity. Now that so many students use the library as a place to do their own work, libraries are thinking more about how to accommodate the varying needs of their users.
The I School has taught us to do something that’s incredibly hard in practice: be the person who says no. The great idea is illegal. The great thought is illogical. The company cannot be saved in this way because it would sacrifice the dignity of the users. The team cannot be the best it possibly can without a diverse set of voices, spoken and heard. We have our ideas and our ideals. Beauty and truth. Those cannot be denied.