"It's nuts" at Hanover New Hampshire's Howe Library

Howe Library, Hanover, New Hampshire

For Future Reference: Far From Faltering in Digital Age, Libraries Thrive as Community Hubs.  (Valley News, 2/17/2013)

Article subheadings

• The draw of technology  (In the Upper Valley, public computers and free Wi-Fi draw steady traffic)
• Life after Google:  Different look, same purpose  (The stereotypical image of a library as a “building full of books” is no longer valid.)
• E-reading growing.  (Libraries have become the go-to place for help with everything from e-readers to basic computer skills to troubleshooting wireless connections.)
• 'Reclaiming space for people.  ('As more books were being published, libraries gradually took all the space they possibly could to fit books and other materials in, Grace said. “Now, we are kind of going the other way. We are reclaiming some of that space for people.”)
• No more shushing.  (No longer silent repositories for books, even the soundscape of libraries has changed. With all that community gathering going on, the iron-clad prohibition on talking has eased. Conversations are commonplace.)
• What's next.  (There’s no doubt that today’s libraries are working hard to adapt to the new information landscape. But, librarians say, that’s nothing new. “We expect things to change, so it’s not a surprise when they do,” [Mike] Grace, [Director of Fiske Free Library in Claremont] said. “We’re expecting it, and we try to be ready for it.”)