Future etched in city libraries

There are myriad ways to judge a mayor's achievements. You can look at crime statistics, at the number of jobs and new businesses, at the rate of population growth on his watch. You can ask if basic city services - trash pickup, snow removal, sidewalk maintenance, all the stolidly unromantic but absolutely essential tasks upon which citizens depend for their lives to run smoothly and well - were handled efficiently and cost-effectively. In the arts, you can count the number of new venues at which people come into contact with artworks and performances during a mayor's tenure: museums, theaters, concert halls, parks. But public libraries are different. You don't need a reservation or a ticket. You don't need to pull any strings to get VIP treatment. In a public library, everybody's a VIP.