Idaho Commission for Libraries

Professional librarians are taught how to acquire, organize and disseminate information to meet the needs of their patrons. Librarians are also exposed to core values of the profession. One of the core values is the concept of the public good. Over 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson presented his ideas about social compacts—governments are instituted among people and derive their powers from the consent of the governed. The people create these compacts and governments to obtain a collective, greater good and security of their natural rights. Therefore, the public good is that which serves the collective population overall in addition to enhancing the life of the individual in that society. Fundamental to the success of Jeffersonian democracy are the assumptions that citizens can read, freely access information, and gather with their neighbors to discuss issues in order to make decisions about their government. Librarians assert that a library serves the public good through acting to help citizens become more informed members of the electorate and more capable of self-governance in a democracy.

While technology may change the tools available to the patron and the librarian, the demands for recreational, educational, and business information continue to expand. Whether the access to the library is virtual—bits and bytes in space—or a physical location, the cultural and social roles of the library endure as a place to read, research, reflect, gather to meet and discuss common issues, and to provide a human touch in the high-tech information age.

Idaho libraries sit on an historical continuum. The understanding of past events lends credibility and stability to present actions that stretch into the ideas and potentialities of unlimited futures. As we dream and explore, an occasional glance in the rearview mirror may be beneficial.