Although we all yearn for shelter and meaningful employment, third spaces address another basic need β they connect us to each other and foster democratic instincts among the local community. Today, we check out the Ohio County Public Library. The Ohio County Public Library models an overlooked feature of third places β safety. In the great hierarchy of needs, safety represents a strong and primitive motivation. Furthermore, while third places can tolerate and even thrive in a physically unadorned setting, a lack of physical security is an interpersonal nonstarter.
Third places must strike a balance between looking too brand-spanking new and seeming too seedy, run-down or threatening. These sensibilities led the Ohio County Public Library to wisely update its look a couple of years ago with brighter lighting, newer ceilings and other cosmetic updates in order to cultivate a more inviting social habitat.
Because healthy social interaction begins with physical safety, it made sense to launch our third places journey at the Ohio County Public Library. There in the silence of the Wheeling Room, flanked by genealogy records, Thomas revealed to me the staggering lengths to which the library goes to build complex, intentional community.
Throughout her career, Thomas witnessed the limitations of electronic circulation and other internet resources, and her observations underscored the importance of human connection in library service.
National trends emerged: over the last five years, library circulation has been shrinking, yet the quantity of library programs has grown twice as fast. Library patrons across North America now check out fewer items but come for more scheduled events. Additionally, because fewer students now visit, library staff now distributes books directly to schools and visit schools to engage with students there as well. Library work extends well beyond assisting the community with accessing information.
