West Side Canvas: St. Agnes Library, ‘Oasis on Amsterdam’

By Robert Beck

The library I was taken to as a child was a house built in the late 1700s and given to the town in 1929 expressly to be used for that purpose. I remember turning right just past the desk and running to the shelves in the corner where they had two books on magic. I haven’t been to that library in 60 years. However, I can still do a couple of sleight-of-hand tricks well enough to fool an eight-year-old.

The St. Agnes Library, part of the New York Public Library system, began life as a private church library. It later opened to the public, received funding from Andrew Carnegie, and now serves the community from its location on Amsterdam Avenue between West 82nd and 83rd.

When I was writing this column, that word community popped up a lot. A variety of people had come in while I was painting — kids, adults, older folks — and there was something there for all of them. Here’s another excellent word: access. Free, open, and equal access to ideas and information. Access to help. Access to social services. You can get exam prep, Wi-Fi, hear a presentation, and watch a film — it’s an extensive list. You can even go to the bathroom. And it’s for everybody. Libraries fight polarization, inequality, and the decline in civility. And yes, there are marvelous books.

Libraries are tailored to the community. They are safe and respectful environments that bring us together. Safe is another important word.

Some people view libraries as artifacts from days past made irrelevant by the internet, but the two are very different places. As Neil Gaiman said, “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers; a librarian can bring you back the right one.”

There are other reasons libraries matter, best seen in contrast to the internet’s significant downsides. The web fosters isolation, inaccurate and falsified information, the gathering and theft of personal data, and scams. If you read online comments sections, it’s clear that anonymity enables uncivil behavior. It’s a dangerous place, and not just for kids. Libraries are none of those things.

There’s also a dependency that comes with the internet. One needs only experience the mortal dread and panic when a computer or phone stops working to understand the unhealthy influence. Sure, the web is a necessary and powerful tool, but it is also an unreal and hazardous simulation governed by popularity, optimization, and advantage, none of which are paths to the truth.

Given the choice of where I want my kids (or my mother) to spend their time — in their room with a computer or in a library — it would be where there is a community with their interests in mind. The place with the magic.

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See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio by going to www.robertbeck.net. Let him know if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!

Note: Before Robert Beck wrote West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in Weekend Column. Read Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.

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