A man I greatly admire — Chip Ward — is retiring tomorrow after 29 years at the Salt Lake City Library. Chip ends his career as assistant director. Besides his lifelong commitment to intellectual freedom, free speech and library access to all, Chip is a devoted environmentalist and author. I met him three years ago through my husband, Ted. They serve on the board of directors for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA).

Chip and his direct supervisor, library director Nancy Tessman (who retires later this year) have worked diligently for years to keep the city library open and free to all.

It hasn’t been easy. When the breathtaking new building opened three years ago, they helped forge a policy and practice that would continue, just as it did in the funky old building, to welcome everyone — including the homeless. When some patrons got squeamish and complained of people they found undesirable, Chip and Nancy held firm that even those who pass as Utah’s “untouchables” had a place at the public library.

They pointed out the library acted as an effective barometer for the level of chronic homelessness in the community. As more homeless people flock to the library, it could well mean we need more assistance in the community at large.

Chip wrote his last essay for the library employee newsletter, “Library Matters,” and e-mailed friends.

Among other things, Chip makes a powerful link between libraries and the biodiversity of a healthy ecology. Both need diversity and friction to survive. I like the following paragraph a lot, mostly because it helps to explain why I left mainstream, corporate newspaper journalism after 27 years in the business. It was, in some part, because so little freedom, creativity, and courage exist in big media anymore.

Nature is amazingly reciprocal and integrated — rich with feedback loops, synergy, and the constant exchange of information and energy. Societies that have lots of feedback and the means to exchange information and energy easily are likewise more adaptable and resilient than those where ideas are constricted and controlled. The continual concentration of publishing, radio, and television into a few media conglomerates means more choices but less substantive variety, less experimentation, and fewer controversial or unpopular ideas are available. But in the public library, such diversity, experimentation (I would cite this little essay as an example), and risk-taking is still possible. More than possible, it is encouraged.

Excellent. Best to you, Chip and Linda.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 7:36 pm and is filed under All, Community, Media, Culture, Big Utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

A man I greatly admire — Chip Ward — is retiring tomorrow after 29 years at the Salt Lake City Library. Chip ends his career as assistant director. Besides his lifelong commitment to intellectual freedom, free speech and library access to all, Chip is a devoted environmentalist and author. I met him three years ago through my husband, Ted. They serve on the board of directors for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA).

Chip and his direct supervisor, library director Nancy Tessman (who retires later this year) have worked diligently for years to keep the city library open and free to all.

It hasn’t been easy. When the breathtaking new building opened three years ago, they helped forge a policy and practice that would continue, just as it did in the funky old building, to welcome everyone — including the homeless. When some patrons got squeamish and complained of people they found undesirable, Chip and Nancy held firm that even those who pass as Utah’s “untouchables” had a place at the public library.

They pointed out the library acted as an effective barometer for the level of chronic homelessness in the community. As more homeless people flock to the library, it could well mean we need more assistance in the community at large.

Chip wrote his last essay for the library employee newsletter, “Library Matters,” and e-mailed friends.

Among other things, Chip makes a powerful link between libraries and the biodiversity of a healthy ecology. Both need diversity and friction to survive. I like the following paragraph a lot, mostly because it helps to explain why I left mainstream, corporate newspaper journalism after 27 years in the business. It was, in some part, because so little freedom, creativity, and courage exist in big media anymore.

Nature is amazingly reciprocal and integrated — rich with feedback loops, synergy, and the constant exchange of information and energy. Societies that have lots of feedback and the means to exchange information and energy easily are likewise more adaptable and resilient than those where ideas are constricted and controlled. The continual concentration of publishing, radio, and television into a few media conglomerates means more choices but less substantive variety, less experimentation, and fewer controversial or unpopular ideas are available. But in the public library, such diversity, experimentation (I would cite this little essay as an example), and risk-taking is still possible. More than possible, it is encouraged.

Excellent. Best to you, Chip and Linda.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 7:36 pm and is filed under All, Community, Media, Culture, Big Utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.