OPINION: This isn't your father's library

Kevin Verbesey lives in Setauket.

Last month, most Suffolk County residents voted to pass the budgets for their local public libraries. This is a testament to our collective belief in America's system for safeguarding and sharing information.

My own discovery of public libraries began with trips taken with my father to the Mastic-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, where he was the founding director. My first job, at age 16, was at the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library. I've made my career at Long Island libraries ever since.

Today, I work with the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, an association of the county's 56 public libraries acting to keep taxpayer costs in check through the centralization of numerous library functions. The public gets the benefits, with a range of traditional and digital services.

To ensure that everyone experiences the new technology - not just those with home computers - libraries have installed computer rooms with Internet access and technical instruction. Through mobile devices and home, school, work and library computers, cardholders can access free online resources. For example, the public libraries of Suffolk County have launched SuffolkHomeworkHelp.org, where certified tutors help kindergarten through 12th-grade students with homework. College prep, career services and citizenship guidelines are also available. Another site, SuffolkWave.org, offers an online lending library of downloadable e-books, videos, audio books and music.

To say that this is not my father's library is an understatement. But I know he'd look favorably on the institution's evolving role. After all, public libraries took hold in the United States in the 20th century, spurred on by a social mandate for access to education. In the early 1900s, Andrew Carnegie's foundation established nearly 1,700 circulating libraries across the country, with the caveat that American tax dollars also fund these institutions to guarantee service to the public.

Bricks-and-mortar libraries are still havens for research and study, and function as vibrant community centers. But as part of their mandate to serve the public good, libraries must keep step with a changing world. As borderless possibilities and opportunities replace walls, libraries continue to do what they have always done best - ensure that information is shared by all and available to all.