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It is neither ironic nor coincidental that across the country communi-ties are both recognizing and celebrating the myriad functions of community libraries. At the same time, the library community itself is also recognizing and celebrating these functions in an effort to maximize service delivery. Commonly referred to as "community builders, civic integrators, and community activists in a digital world," community libraries of all types (academic, school, public, and special) form the basis of civic life. Libraries are directly tied to an individual's and a community's quality of life. When the roles of libraries are weakened, the quality of life erodes. Because these roles/functions are critical to the success of community libraries, it is imperative that we work together. Equally, it is important that we understand, share, and celebrate our oneness. This concept implies that when we speak of "us" we speak for libraries and librarians as well as for individuals.
As institutions, libraries really do belong to communities, including staffs who provide service. Indeed, they are institutions that belong to everyone, inclusively. It is your library, also:
Your library for teaching skills and facilitating instruction,
Your library for learning processes and discovering answers, and
Your library for advancing knowledge and expanding horizons.
When the Texas Library Association convenes in Houston, it will celebrate these essential functions of YOUR LIBRARY: Teaching, Learning, and Advancing. At a time when electronic access to seemingly unlimited data can be seductive, intimidating, misleading, and frequently disappointing, YOUR LIBRARY offers "value added" information: resources + people. At YOUR LIBRARY, the flea market of information is transformed into a smorgasbord of resources.
TEACHING: Librarians, working hand-in-hand with educators, teach individuals of all ages. YOUR LIBRARY provides enrichment materials and teaches library users to manipulate informational resources. While promoting traditional and emerging literacy, YOUR LIBRARY creates a comfortable, stimulating environment where an individual's own curiosity is the only limit to learning.
LEARNING: The resources at YOUR LIBRARY make learning available to everyone. Regardless of an individual's economic means, there are riches to enjoy and treasures to discover. YOUR LIBRARY is a democratic institution that allows every mind equal access to knowledge and equal opportunity for educational advancement.
ADVANCING: Users come to YOUR LIBRARY looking for answers, and YOUR LIBRARY'S objective is to help locate the needed information. In providing that access, YOUR LIBRARY helps individuals and communities move closer to their goals.
In an age of hyper-links, YOUR LIBRARY provides the missing link; it is the human moment, that all important time when eyes meet and the process of TEACHING, LEARNING, and ADVANCING begins anew. This year's conference theme affirms the primacy of that human moment in YOUR LIBRARY, a place where librarians, library users, and communities teach, learn, and advance together. Therein lie the functions as well as the values of community libraries, and therein, also, lies the value of inclusivenessteaching, learning, and advancing together. . .