Saturday, June 2, 2007

(Un?)Fortunately I have been quite busy as of late. First off, I would like to belatedly thank anyone who voted for me in the ALA election. I am truly honored that I have been elected to serve as a Councilor-at-Large. I look forward to making a difference within the organization and have no qualms about shaking things up. While I did not expect to win with my first attempt, I'm confident that I will represent ALA members effectively. Still, wowzers!

Three issues that I wanted to chime in on:
Jackson County Public Libraries Stay Closed
Maricopa County Library - Death of DDC
Collection Development Issues in Sacramento

All of these issues go hand in hand. Some people do not want to pass library levies because "I don't go to the library, why should I have to pay?" Or "They don't have what I want anyway, why should I pay extra taxes?" Or "I can never seem to find anything when I'm in there, why bother?"

Our desire to maintain libraries' relevance in the eyes of the patron/customer should not acquiesce and confound the mission of libraries. Concurrently, I would assert that libraries sometimes take themselves too seriously.

Indeed, we must have standards and an organizational schema that enables the purchase and classification of items. I'm a fan of Dewey. Not the individual but his classification system. While I do not wish to completely abandon DDC, I feel that the general public does not know what it means. Instead of no longer incorporating Dewey in the Perry Library (Maricopa County Public Library System), I would suggest endcap signage with additional signage in the stacks. Pointing out the general topics of the DDC may prove useful and less confusing for the average patron.

By no means do I mean to diminish the importance of public libraries and wish to turn them into big box bookstores. It is very sad that the citizens of Jackson County were unable to support the proposed levy. It begs the question, what was done to rally support from those voters? How could the library have marketed its services and value to those people? How do those people view the library? Sometimes the voice of the minority is so strong that they do not realize the deafening silence around them or that the rest of the group is engrossed in other pursuits and not paying attention. I remember in the 2004 election thinking that there was no way Bush was going to win. Additionally, I was associating myself with people that were like-minded. The resounding cry heard amongst us was "We are unhappy with the way things are going under Bush. Let's elect Kerry!" Since it seemed to be echoing throughout the land, we were shocked when the majority re-elected him. Perhaps our echoes were just bouncing off of each other. Since then, I've resolved to make an effort to find out what "the opposition" is thinking.
It is unclear to me whether or not the library workers or those campaigning for the levy made attempts to reach out to the opposition. I have only been involved in one library levy campaign and admittedly it was a successful one. It may have been interesting to encounter a more fierce opposition.

This brings us to trying to please everyone all of the time. You just can't do it. In Sacramento, the director made the call to shift from a policy that stressed the importance of the classics, etc. to a more popularized approach. I'm not exactly thrilled with this but I'm willing to take a second glance at this line of reasoning. "Give them what they want!"
I could ramble incessantly about the dumbing down of our culture and how libraries are stewards of intellectual freedom and how the culture of conspicuous consumption ultimately pits man against himself but I'm not going to do that. I will state simply that the mission of libraries has never been to be a slave to our circulation statistics. We are not just about books and DVDs. Libraries provide important services. We serve the public and supply them with the resources to better themselves. However, what if they don't want to better themselves? What if they are complacent in their pop culture, instant gratification mentality? Does that mean we should be complicit? No. We just need to evolve.

I see libraries evolving every day. The shift from the notion of "library as a place" or embracing that stand alone box mentality and establishing itself as the center of the community and thereby expanding its services. Outreach librarians have the opportunity to take the library to the patrons/customers. Instructional Technology librarians can assist patrons and teach them new skills that can be utilized in the ever changing job market. Programming, the all encompassing catchphrase of Library 2.0, etc. are just examples of how we are changing.
The key is to illustrate to patrons/customers what we can provide for them. We are not simply a free Borders. We can provide so much more than that and do!
It will be interesting to see how the Sacramento Library collection development issue unfolds. As with a number of issues that I may not agree with, I will definitely be paying attention if only to further understand how libraries can continue to evolve.