City Council approves new master plan for libraries

Last week, the city council adopted a new master plan for San Diego’s libraries, one that promised modernization, expansion, and perhaps most importantly, equity. As council member Kent Lee put it, “I hope this plan helps to guide how we move forward to serve each of our communities equitably. And a big part of that is getting past the supposed connection between libraries and books. The average high school kid’s smart phone already has access to more information than was contained in the famed Library of Alexandria. And studies show that literacy is simply not an equitable value, with Asians and white kids at 82% and 76%, respectively, and Latinos and Blacks at 54% and 47%. It’s therefore clear that literacy cannot be the measure of our kids’ educational well being, and so libraries need to change to reflect that new understanding. Whatever we wind up putting on all those shelves going forward, I can promise you this: it won’t be books.”