Lifelong Learning

Libraries are the quintessential “universities of the streets”, a place where people of all ages can go for life-long learning, to further educate themselves and improve their prospects in life.  Librarians are educators--our students range from 4 year olds in early literacy classes, to 18 year old high school or college students researching their term papers, to twenty-something year old Jamaican or Bosnian immigrants learning English, and to senior citizens wanting to know how to use the computer and internet.

Public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries and specialty libraries make it possible for everyone to continue learning through all the services and programs offered. In essence, libraries provide a human starting point for any question, any area of interest, any quest for new knowledge.

Libraries are the bedrock for early childhood education, for literacy, for academic achievement and for adult studies.

When parents want to introduce their children to the joy of reading, they go to the library. When seniors want to learn how to get online, they go to their library. When students want to figure out how to use databases for their research, they go to their school or academic library. When an academic needs to research the history of science, he or she turns to a specialty library that focuses just on those issues.

In our current economic climate, libraries enable adults to acquire new skills or determine a new focus in their work life with a collective goal of making new opportunities available to all.

Throughout our lives, we seek knowledge and information. Throughout our lives, we learn. Throughout our lives, we turn to our libraries to continue learning.