Chicago Mayor Daley’s legacy includes building or renovating nearly 60 libraries

Illustration: 

Retiring Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has renovated or built nearly 60 libraries in Chicago during his tenure.

According to the  The New York Times, “Through the scores of libraries he’s built, like the Near North Branch, at the juncture of diverse neighborhoods, he’s encouraged us to develop social bridges across our differences,” said Thomas H. Sander, an expert on social and civic engagement at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. “That’s all the more important in an era of rampant inequality and heightened segregation.”
“Libraries are still about serving people, but book circulation is not the primary goal. The trick is enlarging the transactions, especially electronic ones, and measuring the number of people coming in the door, not just books going out the door, said Lew Feldstein, co-author with Robert Putnam of “Better Together,” a study in community-building amid the well-chronicled decline in civic engagement.

“Libraries like Chicago’s, which have been in the lead in the country, have become strong community centers — helping new immigrants become citizens, acquire language skills, get advice on filling out city forms,” Mr. Feldstein said. “Kids come after school to study and schmooze and hang with their buddies.”

Read more about the mayor’s efforts on behalf of libraries and literacy.