Library <=> Community (MIS)

I believe the personal account "Race and Place" by Traci Hall gave me a better perception about the role of a library in a community. To be truthful, I have never thought of a library as anything more than a tax-funded outlet for books and information. Through the class readings however, I am beginning to see the library as a representative for the community as a whole. My MIS for this reading was, "Libraries offer the greatest hope for social reconciliation we have today." With this, it seems as if she is setting a load of responsibility on the shoulder's of this nations library system. Because they play such an important role in defining and bringing together the community to which they lie in, they appear crucial to the social integrity of those within the community.