Saturday, June 30, 2007
Editorial: No ordinary library
From the RoundTable blog
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Had Roanoke ignored the citizen uproar over a Texas consultant's 1996 study and followed his recommendation to close several of the city's five branch libraries, the "heart" of the historic Gainsboro community -- its library -- would have stopped beating. Thankfully, it didn't.
Plans for a $1.1 million Gainsboro Library renovation, unveiled Thursday, give people hope that their communities, and what helps sustain them, do matter. The fight to save a library in a community that has weathered its share of hurt over many years wasn't dismissed as mere progress-blocking.
It was no surprise that more library supporters turned out for the renovation plan unveiling than the library's meeting room could hold. In its 86 years, the library has served as more than a book repository; it is a community gathering spot, an after-school hangout for children and a meeting place for civic groups and neighborhood clubs.
It was among the first black libraries in the South, the only segregation-era place where Roanoke's black residents could check out books.
"It is history," says Claudia Pannel, a member of the Gainsboro Southwest Community Organization.
Roanoke listened to the citizens enraged by the consultant's 1996 proposal.
Gainsboro's history and the library's bright future are ample reasons to have ignored the consultant's bad advice.
