It's weird to see going to the library referred to as a social activity. While in many cases it may be a social activity that involves a stay, in most of the cases I observe, it's brief and transactional, akin to visiting a convenience store or a short-duration service provider (like a car wash).
I went to the library about eight times last year, and in every case I was there solely to use their printer or fax machine (because if you don't work in an office, this is about the only place to access these things; certainly the cheapest). While there, most of the people I observed were either doing the same thing, or were stopping in to briefly browse and check out books or media. These aren't "social activities" unless buying a pack of gum at the corner store is a social activity. A haircut is far more social for me, and I had more of them last year.
My mother takes her great-granddaughter to the library a couple times a month, for various fantastic events the library puts together, which are highly social. They're well-attended, so I have no doubt that there are a decent number of people who do legitimately socialize there, but I wouldn't count most library visits as social events.
I think it depends. In the libraries closest to me, any events are squirreled away in conference rooms and other areas that wouldn't disturb people who are in the same building to study, read, or use the facilities available. It makes sense that you'd never encounter a social group if you only go to a library to access a part of the library that would've been separated out.
The libraries near me are much smaller. Obviously my anecdotal observations are a limited data set. Also, I just realized the article says "cultural activity" rather than "social activity", which changes things a bit, but my anecdote still stands insofar as I'm not really sure that much of the use I see counts for that either.
Libraries are great. I'm just not sure we should be patting ourselves on the back based on the usage I observe.
I went to the library about eight times last year, and in every case I was there solely to use their printer or fax machine (because if you don't work in an office, this is about the only place to access these things; certainly the cheapest). While there, most of the people I observed were either doing the same thing, or were stopping in to briefly browse and check out books or media. These aren't "social activities" unless buying a pack of gum at the corner store is a social activity. A haircut is far more social for me, and I had more of them last year.
My mother takes her great-granddaughter to the library a couple times a month, for various fantastic events the library puts together, which are highly social. They're well-attended, so I have no doubt that there are a decent number of people who do legitimately socialize there, but I wouldn't count most library visits as social events.