If it is true that stories are how a culture communicates values, then libraries play an important role in developing and sustaining the culture and values of a community, since libraries are full of stories. The library has stories for children and for grown-ups. Stories about real people and invented ones. Stories that convey information and those that explore the realms of imagination.
Stories can come in book form, or be shared out loud, in person, or via a recording.
They can be enjoyed live on stage, or in a movie theater or at home on tape. His stories are seemingly unconnected to each other, with each one having its own flavor and focus. But taken together they tell us a lot about one public library and its relationship with the community it has served for 125 years. This is still the basis for today's public libraries - they continue to represent a community's investment in its future and the value it places on learning and opportunity, for everyone. By the end of this year, those two rooms established in 1875 on the second floor of Madison's old City Hall on the Capital Square will have grown to over 155,000 square feet in nine different locations.