A place to cultivate social capital

I have enjoyed reading Eric Klinenberg's Palaces for the People in which he explores "social infrastructure"; the physical conditions that determine whether social capital develops. Libraries, of course, figure prominently in his examples of places that cultivate interaction and tolerance between diverse people in a public setting, allowing us to practice face-to-face relationships which knit a community together.

I like this quote about libraries from a library user that Klinenberg cited: