by Stan Cutler

Those of us who grew up in Philadelphia used the Free Library system a lot. Before there were so much media clamoring for our attention, we had a robust media infrastructure that was integral to our community. But it was communal – not commercial. It was free, it was ours and it did an amazing job.

The Library was like our Internet, where we physically (not virtually) went for entertainment and enlightenment – a place to and from which we walked with pounds of books. We were hooked on the library -- in no small measure because we had to keep going back to return the books. What a gimmick. We live in a different age.

“The mission of the Free Library of Philadelphia is to advance literacy, guide learning, and inspire curiosity. Its vision is to build an enlightened community devoted to lifelong learning.”

Here’s a bit of irony: I downloaded the FLP’s mission statement (above) while in my snug office on Highland Avenue. It took me 30 seconds to type “FLP Philadelphia mission” into a Google search and copy the results from the FLP home page. Ta-dah! Back in the day, I would have had to walk to the library and look it up.

Please notice that the word "book" does not appear in the statement. We keep the books because they are a terrific medium of communication, superior to electronic media in many ways. But there are other ways the FLP’s resources can be used “to build an enlightened community devoted to lifelong learning.”

Let’s be loud and energetic advocates for the Free Library of Philadelphia in general and for our Chestnut Hill branch in particular. Let’s do so because we love books and because we are advocates for learning, literacy, curiosity, and because we want to live in a community devoted to lifelong learning.

When you think of the great building on the 8700 block of the Avenue, understand that it is not just a valuable book collection. Much more should happen there if it is to fulfill its purpose. We will use this column to put forward your ideas (and mine) about how we can energize the library, rejuvenate it as a public media center with a communal, enlightened mission.

What does that mean? What’s a public media center? How does it work? Our library is unusual because it has a spacious community room that is unused most of the time. Should it be an adult education center? Should it send as well as receive? Can it be used to learn technology? Is it a podcast site? Is it a classroom or a lecture hall? Is it all of these or none of these? I think it’s up to us to decide. That’s, in part, what these essays are about.

The Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library welcome your ideas at programs@chestnuthilllibraryfriends.org

Stan Cutler is an author and a board member of the Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library.