I ask this as an honest question so please forgive the directness: in what sense, aside from the parent comment's "trying to remain relevant" theory, is the com

I ask this as an honest question so please forgive the directness: in what sense, aside from the parent comment's "trying to remain relevant" theory, is the community-building the "actual point of a library"? I completely agree that libraries have evolved into this role in the US (though my experience in Europe is drastically different). I'm just wondering if there's any sort of organized policy behind the "Library as community center" phenomenon.