It was extremely common in elementary school to ask your teacher if you could go to the library for a new book. But, as middle school came around, more and more laptops were being used, and things like Kindle or Amazon Fire came out. iPads became very popular and, although they are still popular, paper-back books became less and less of a common occurrence in students’ backpacks. By the time high school came, libraries were really only used for research projects and the occasional checkout.

That being said, libraries outside of school and in-school are still used for checking out books, doing research, and even can even be used to communicate with people if you have no other means to do so. Libraries don’t only offer huge encyclopedias and chapter books; they offer movies, computers, printers, and so much more. Job searching and financial literacy training are a few of the many practical things that libraries give to the public, and many times they do it for free.

Libraries have been around for almost 3000 years, and they started in many countries all over the world as a place to house the works of intelligent scholars and doctors. Today, they are still used for historical books and works, and now have even expanded to hold computers, movies, and other items. Although the internet is a much more common source of research, that doesn’t mean that libraries have no use at all.

Unemployed people searching for jobs, immigrants learning English, children learning to read, college students needing to print out a paper. Libraries are an important place for many ages, and many different types of people all over the world. These buildings offer life-long learning tools, to help anyone and everyone learn anything and everything that they could ever think to want. The learning possibilities are endless: languages, financial knowledge, and a multitude of courses of studies are only a few of the things that libraries are able to enable everyday people with.

Why wouldn’t we need libraries when they can educate and entertain any person? Honestly, libraries should receive more advertisement and funding to improve their spaces and make them more available to anyone who wants to utilize this extremely resourceful and public service.