The New York Times reports on the sad state of the public library in San Jose, California where nearly a third of residents in poor neighborhoods are banned from entry to the library due to unpaid fines including what Direct of Libraries Jill Bourne describes as "an exorbitant" processing fee of $20 for lost materials.
Few of the residents in these neighborhoods have broadband connections on their computers and it is safe to assume that few have many books at home - in short these are precisely the people, including children, that public libraries should be serving with access to both books and the internet.
Outsiders might think that "everyone in Silicon Valley is affluent and hyperconnected," said Mayor Samuel T. Liccardo, who represents San Jose's one million residents, 40 percent of whom are immigrants. "We still have a digital divide.... The kids who are barred from the door of the library are the ones we most desperately want to reach."
Few of the residents in these neighborhoods have broadband connections on their computers and it is safe to assume that few have many books at home - in short these are precisely the people, including children, that public libraries should be serving with access to both books and the internet.
Outsiders might think that "everyone in Silicon Valley is affluent and hyperconnected," said Mayor Samuel T. Liccardo, who represents San Jose's one million residents, 40 percent of whom are immigrants. "We still have a digital divide.... The kids who are barred from the door of the library are the ones we most desperately want to reach."