I live in the Town of West Paris, population around 1700. In the village is very small library that is in the form of a miniature castle made from fieldstones found in the area. Although the space is severely limited within the library, thanks to the MSLN it has the capability today to access information that very few big city libraries had just a very few years back. We have many to thank for this wonderful availability of resources. Strike a blow for equity. Anyone can drop in to make use of the wired computers as well as the wireless connection. Add to that the wonderful resources of MARVEL (Maine's Virtual Library) and even our poorer citizens have the potential to be empowered by the immense knowledge provided by our tiny community space.
Do we appreciate it?
2 comments:
To me, one of the real significant developments over the past couple of years is the democratization of content creation & sharing. If I know much of a topic and wanted to write or edit an article about it, I can use Wikipedia. If I want to publish a book, I can use Lulu and do so for free. If I want to share my ideas, I can blog. If I want to create a video and share, I can use YouTube. If I want others to see my photography, I can use Flickr. The examples are seemingly endless.
I can the trick is how to I get people to take notice????
MSLN has equalized the playing field across Maine. At the library in Harrington, I feel that the computers and the Wi-Fi are used more than the books are for information. MSLN has also been a blessing to those of us in rural areas without broadband availability.
MSLN has greatly benefited schools. If schools in Maine didn't have MSLN then many would still not have Internet connection or they would be a great deal slower than they are.
Statewide public Internet access has changed Maine. Maine was one of the first states to do this and if it wasn't for MSLN and E-Rate, the picture would be much differnt across Maine.
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