Response to Shannon Mattern Libraries & Epistemology<div><br></div><div>Shannon makes a key point by suggesting that the politics of information has to be part of the discussion of the future of these places. The physical library as a site poses different issues in New York City than in Lagos, and differences are just as great when contrasting the urban significance and public libraries situated in thinly populated areas lacking any other public spaces. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I think we should never lose sight of the importance of face-to-face gathering points that are open and public -- yes, call them "libraries and media centers" in today's world. In democratic societies to date, the key pretext for keeping libraries open and funded has been the educational and informational mandate: the cultural imperative seems to be less of a priority and more subject to budget cuts and political manipulation, so one can't trust community centers, etc. to remain open public spaces. See, for example, the discussion, of public spaces and gatherings in Lisa Keller's excellent comparative history "Triumph of Order: Democracy and Public Space in New York and London: which probes constraints on outdoor free speech in the American and British tradition. Those free speech issues always haunt discussions of libraries and epistemology, since assumptions about free inquiry are inextricable from political parameters of the public sphere. </div>
<div><br clear="all">Kathleen Hulser, public historian, New-York Historical Society<br>-- <br> <font>"The political and commercial morals of the United <span style="color: black; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">States</span> are not merely food
for laughter, they are an entire banquet." Mark Twain.<br></font><br>
</div>