With the advent of every new technology, there are many people who prognosticate that something which came before will soon become obsolete.

In most cases, the doomsayers are way off base.

When radio burst onto the airwaves, many people said that would be the death knell for newspapers. It didn’t happen that way.

By the time there was a TV in nearly every household, those same pundits said radio would soon see its demise. It is still going strong.

The Internet was supposed to crush everything in its path including TV, newspapers, books, the music industry and another purported casualty that is often forgotten: the public library.

Needless to say, although each of these media or industries has been forced to evolve, all are still hugely relevant today, perhaps none more so than our libraries.

Visit the Clark County Public Library and it will quickly become apparent it is not the institution of old.

Libraries like ours continue to adapt and change with the times, having now become something far greater than just a repository of books.

Sure, most libraries still have lots of those bound volumes of paper to offer readers but that really just scratches the surface.

The library has become community hub, a meeting place, a vital access point to the Internet, a youth center, a digital content hub, an art gallery, a place to find movies and audio recordings, a leader in historic preservation, a showcase of the local flavor and so much more.

You can even get seeds here in Winchester.

Best of all, most of the services are absolutely free to citizens.

But it doesn’t stop there.

The Clark County Public Library often looks for ways to make a difference, most recently announcing throughout April, the library is offering fine forgiveness for patrons who bring in needed items for the Clark County Animal Shelter.

This shows great vision by director Julie Maruskin and her staff because they understand the community impact and the public library’s role now far exceeds just loaning books.

If you haven’t visited the Clark County Public Library recently, we hope you take the time to see all it offers our community.