Multitype Librarian

I attended the Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources presentation by Cathy DeRosa today. My colleague, Mary Beth, did an excellent job of summarizing Cathy’s remarks. I won’t rehash them – go on over to Newlyminted Librarian if you wish (the link will open a new window. Read NML and come right on back).

I’ll add a few more thoughts – MB captured Cathy’s opening questions. One of them was, if you had $$$ what would you spend it on, content or service? Interestingly, many librarians would put $$$ in content, but it appears that information consumers would prefer to have service. A library director just the other day told me proudly how her library had recently (when faced with a budget cut), cut library hours and staff, but increased the materials budget. This flies in the face of the study.

I suspect that this response may be skewed by the focus or mission of the library in question. A popular, browsing collection probably would better benefit from best sellers bought in multiple quantities. However, decreasing hours and staff would hamper service to customers who are coming to the library for help in finding information.

Customer service is the value-added aspect of libraries that gives us our niche market. No one else does that for the citizens of our community. When someone wants to find XXX and even Google can’t help, who ya gonna call? Not ghostbusters – but your library! Customer service is what makes libraries the education utility of the culture.

But we’re still faced with what all those people surveyed in the OCLC report think of libraries. My gut tells me that the report is pretty much on target with what most people think of libraries, and their perception is reality. Cathy quoted words like “sacred” and “the library of my childhood”, and we all cringed. Houses of worship are not too full (except on high holy days) and childhood lives only in memory. This does not bode well for support that will equip an alive, essential library.

How to change perception? Tonight I reach to grasp the perception defined in the report. Maybe after understanding how libraries are viewed, we can begin to edit the photo.

Reading my newspaper this morning, I was excited to see the headline . . . “Borrowing increases for college students.” As a librarian (and parent), I’m thrilled that all these college students are going to the library, and checking more books out. Turns out, those college students are “borrowing” more $$$.

On February 9th we learned that Gary Price is leaving “Search Engine Watch.” – officially, he said he was he was going to Ask Jeeves. SEW Blog by Danny Sullivan.

Now, we hear that Jeeves is retiring. Chris Sherman did a nice obituary.

I guess all we’ll have left is “Ask”. Jeeves, we’ll miss you!

What a privilege I had today! Plainview High School was a national award winner in the Scholastic Book Fair contest – for the 2nd year in a row. The Scholastic Book Fair regional manager came to present a huge banner. The kids were there and some of their parents came too! The media specialist, Mike Cabaya, and the assistant, Deb Delgado, are very special people who make the library media center a fun place to be. The kids’ crew even had a name. First it was “The Library Club”, but creative bunch they are, they named themselves “Readers of the Lost Art.”

I was humbled to be able to bring congratulations from the region. I told them they are special, and then I told them how special their community is. Their small school maintains a certified library media specialist in each of their 2 library media centers. Their town has a most excellent public library. They are truly blessed.

After the short program, a young lady named Sasha came to tell me how much she agreed with my remarks. She is a foreign exchange student from Russia, and she related how much she appreciated the libraries in Plainview – both the school and the public library. She told me how she had been a little fearful of what she’d find in such a small town as Plainview, but how much she liked it there, due in no small part to the libraries.

Kudos to “Readers of the Lost Art” – you will make a real mark on our world, wherever you go!