Gaudiani urged civic engagement, civic commitment, said that knowledge like wealth in a democracy tends to congregate, to concentrate. She said as we move forward we must speak of the importance of values to decide how we will live with more wealth, more knowledge. She said that John Winthrop in 1630 wrote of his expectation that in this new land people would share with those who had less to create a stronger nation. A discussion of values that are important to our work opportunities is essential. Gaudiani claimed that the three values of curiosity, generosity, and integrity apply especially to libraries and librarians.
Higher education works to enable human beings to reach higher levels of development.
This should begin in libraries. The need to create an environment for civic engagement is as important as any other issue in libraries. We are as close as any generation has ever been to kinds of values our founding fathers set before us with flaws they knew were there.