New Libraries Offer New Way of Learning

The proliferation of libraries and their spurring of neighborhood development is a pattern repeated elsewhere despite what is generally an unsexy legacy of the Mayor Richard M. Daley years.

The initiative relied on a mix of government obligation bonds, Tax Increment Financing, and land donated by various departments and private interests. It even bought out a rent-by-the-hour motel in Budlong Woods, stabilizing a middle-class area of increasing Korean flavor. This has partly disproved the powerful academic conventional wisdom of the 1990s of fragmentation and social isolation in American life. Those currents remain, but the libraries are social havens, especially for new immigrants, and a place for P.T.A.'s, block clubs and many others to meet. They provide a refuge for children — whose schools may not have a library — to do homework, assisted by teachers hired by the libraries. The 54th library of the mayor's 21-year-tenure was unveiled last week at Chicago and Ashland Avenues inside the former Goldblatt's department store. The West Town branch replaces two unsatisfying outposts, including one inside a Park District field house.

By the time Mr. Daley exits in March, 59 libraries will have been completed or nearly finished. The system had 12 million visitors last year, nearly 4 million one-hour Internet sessions and 10 million circulated items in 40 languages, said Mary Dempsey, the library commissioner, who has had the job for 17 years and is one of the few remaining top talents from Mr. Daley's early years.