Talk20

Six minutes and forty seconds is quite a challenge - but I think it will be fun. What am I talking about? We're supporting an idea here at the library that involves... sharing ideas! Here's a link to a better description of what the program is about. This isn't a one-time deal, but it won't be offered all the time either. It is something that will hopefully get the community talking and learning about the things in which our neighbors are involved.

I like the idea of a library as a place here not only is knowledge collected, organized and stored; but a place where knowledge is created.

BIG change ahead

Sometimes you see big changes because of the flash and glitter associated with it. Other times you notice things have changed subtly - but profoundly - around you. Over the next few months as HPL, there will be some of both. We expect the process to take a good portion of 2014 to complete.

What am I talking about? The library has contracted with a company called Bibliotheca to convert our collection management over to an RFID system. The changes will be both subtle and really, really slick and visible.

The subtle:

Our entire collection - from books to media to ephemeral items will be tagged with an RFID tag. These tags hold information about the item that allow us to more easily locate and manage the collection.

Our staff will have RFID readers at their stations to facilitate startlingly speedy, accurate check-out and check-in and other routine material processes. The upside to all of this is greater efficiency handling the mundane, repetitive tasks that staff must perform every day. This will allow more staff time to be devoted to actually helping people find what they are looking for during a visit to the library. It will also allow us to focus more on "helping" in general and less on clerical work.

The flash and glitter:

New self-check units for patrons. Not only do these units look nice, clean, and modern, we found them to work extremely well in real-world observation during our product research phase.

A new way of returning items you've checked out. This return looks like a regular bookshelf. Unlike a regular shelf though, when you bring your items back in to the library, this shelf unit checks your books back in for you! It will even alert staff when a "book on hold" has been returned. As an added bonus, patrons can then print out a receipt or check their account right there to make sure everything is returned.

Help us build a better library!

We know what we THINK the public wants from the library - an inviting place with access to a great collection, nice spaces to read and study, rooms for meeting, help with technology, and access to the latest in technologies such as ebooks, WiFi, and specialized research tools. We even have a wish list so that you can help us toward those goals.

Lately though, I have been to a variety of library webinars, conferences, and meetings all leading me to wonder if that's ALL we should be doing. This wonderful old fellow reminded me that maybe there are other views:

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." -Jorge Luis Borges

The wise author begs the question then when thinking about HPL, what is YOUR idea of paradise? What does your ideal library look like? What does it offer? Perhaps most importantly, what would make you return over and over?

Perhaps we can meet your wishes - we'll certainly strive for that! Perhaps we will have to plan for the things you desire. either way, please tell me on what you would like HPL to set its sights.

Oh, Thank Goodness!

Actually, thank Steve! I feel like I can breathe again - the new WiFi system is installed and working. I can even get a signal way back in the corner where my desk is squirreled away! Someone needs to update Maslow's chart for certain. WiFi IS a basic need. So, bravo to you Steve, our dedicated IT department head, we can once again get a strong signal pretty much anywhere we wander in the building.

Oh, and we have some nice new chairs and tables too! Thank you Charlene for steering the color scheme in the right direction. The lounge chairs are comfortable AND durable, the coffee tables are very nice, and I've already heard compliments on the wooden charis and tables. Once we get the Technology Center plans hung on the wall (the frames are on their way), we'll have a nice area to sit, relax, read, compute, AND contemplate how to make the larger plan a reality.

Do you ever have that sinking feeling?

You know, where you just feel leaden, you are treading water, but just barely? Well, here at HPL we seem to be having a month-long marathon of water-treading.

Not only are we still recovering from the storms of early August, we seem to be running on to new little twists of the dagger that just make the recovery that much more painful. But some good things are on the horizon. For one, our lightning-damaged wireless system ended up dying after all. How is that good? Although it bumped a planned change up to a fire-alarm style immediate change, we will have a new, robust system installed by the end of this week.

OOO - swirly!

There have been many other problems, large and small, to come out of those soggy, electrically-charged rainy weeks, but those are being slowly resolved. Sometimes, it the sheer number of them seem to swallow up any other progress being made. Our new telephone system with building-wide emergency paging is finally coming online as well. Progress is being made on improving our collection security, organization, and staff efficiency by adding RFID to the building.

Don't worry though, the RFID tags will not store your personal information. The tags store information about the book to which they are affixed and will help us with inventory and help you with speedy, accurate check-out. Library cards and patron information will stay private.

New furnishings will fill the space left when we moved the 900s non-fiction collection upstairs. By the end of this month there will be a variety of new, comfortable chairs to use for study and computing.

Last, but definitely not least, HPL has subscribed to a crowd-source fundraising site called WishList. This will go live for us in the next week or so and will allow patrons to purchase memorial and "in honor of" books online, contribute toward large projects, browse volunteer opportunities at the library and join the Friends of the Library group, among many other things. I'm really excited about this! It will be awesome - I just hope I haven't drowned before it goes live!

Summer Reading - Hutchinson Digs It

The Summer Reading Programs are finished, there's nothing left but sweeping up and clearing the bats out of the Children's Department (drop by to see what I'm talking about!)

The great news is that HPL patrons are avid readers - voracious even! Over the past 3 years, we have concentrated on increasing the number of children who finish the reading program. We are definitely headed toward our goal of having nearly every child complete the 10-books-or-10-hours requirement. Here's what happened this year:

• 1,092 - Number of children registered for the program
• 581 - Number of children who turned in completed reading logs
• 1,460 - Number of children attending summer story times
• 440 - Number of children attending the 4 craft days (average 110 per event)
• 120 - Number of Young Adults "Questing for Read-a-lot"

What can we take from this? The main thing is that children in Hutchinson and Reno County read well over 5,810 books or hours during June and July. I think that's pretty fantastic! We've achieved an increase in completion rates of more than 6% over last year - that's also pretty fantastic.

Children need to read - we need to make sure they learn to love reading. It helps in every aspect of their educational lives and provides an avenue to relaxation that can be a life-long pursuit. The fact of the matter is that modern technology is changing the way we learn and the unknown is whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Numerous studies and books have been conducted and written on the effects of the Internet on our attention spans (overview article here). It is important, in my opinion, to re-enforce deep, critical thinking skills and reading whole books can help this.

Libraries and Modern Psychology

We have had a disaster of sorts here at HPL beginning a few days ago. As of this morning, it looks like it will continue for at least for another week. This disaster is vexing to both staff and patrons. Although we are able to open the doors every day, it is amazing to me and apparently HUGELY distressing to the patrons who have complained to me, the effects of our disaster.

So what happened? Fire? Thank goodness, no. Flood? No. Electric failure or water main break? Closer. The disaster that befell us is that our WiFi system completely died. Dead. Kaput. And frankly, this is what WiFi means to me and many others these days:

Many of you may recognize this as (mostly)psychologist Abraham Maslow's famous Heirarchy of Needs. I have taken the liberty of crudely modifying it to fit my needs, but I think the illustration is appropriate to the situation. I cannot take credit for this joke, I've seen it spread all around the Internet (though not on my tablet here at the library this week!)

I hate to admit it, but I really am quite reliant on my mobile devices for my day-to-day activities. I feel the pain of our patrons during this very trying time. To be honest, Internet connectivity actually helps me realize some of my "self-actualization" needs on Maslow's chart. I'm creating this post on a wired computer, but WiFi helps me to do that anywhere inspiration strikes.

There is good news to come out of this. Replacing our clunky old WiFi box was on the slate of projects for this year and very soon we'll have a slick, new, load-balancing system with an easy-to-log-into interface. Coverage will be much better in our building and we'll have a strong signal in the meeting rooms and other public areas. In the meantime, there are a number of ways to cope with WiFi withdrawal. Go outside! Get some exercise! Dare I say it? Read a book!

Graphic Novel & Comic Art Festival!

This is going to be great fun! On Saturday, September 21st, come to the library to learn about the art and craft of graphic novels, comic books, and comic art.

Check the library’s web site at http://www.hutchpl.org for updates!

Ande Parks Baldwin City, is a professional American comic book artist, known for his work as an inker and writer in the industry. His greatest notoriety has come from his stint with fellow artist Phil Hester on DC Comics' Green Arrow series from 2001 to 2004 and writing the graphic novels UNION STATION and CAPOTE IN KANSAS by Oni Press. Ande will provide a behind the scenes look at graphic novel development using his book CAPOTE IN KANSAS, which was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2006.

Joe Sutliff Sanders Manhattan, is a specialist in children's and adolescent literature, and he teaches a broad variety of courses relevant to books for young readers at K-State. He also has a particular passion for comics, graphic novels, fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Joe will lead a graphic novel discussion of SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY during a brown bag lunch, as well as speak on “The Gleeful Science of Comics” later in the afternoon. To reserve a copy of SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY to read for the discussion, email Annette, amsmith59@gmail.com

John Eberly Hutchinson, was an extraordinarily active artist in the mid-1980’s and gained an international reputation as an underground cartoonist, also producing scads of zines and Xerox publications under the umbrella of Mumbles Publications. John’s presentation will be a history of publishing “commix”, and will include a discussion of underground comics of the 60’s, ‘70’s, and early ‘80’s, the advent of self-publishing in the 1980’s and the “NET” as precursor to the Internet. He will include a demonstration of how to make your own “comix”. *Includes adult themes, parental guidance suggested.

Bryan Dietrich Wichita, is the author of a book-length study on comics, Wonder Woman Unbound, and six books of poems, Krypton Nights, Universal Monsters, The Assumption, Prime Directive, The Monstrance, and Love Craft. He is also co-editor of Drawn to Marvel, an anthology of superhero poetry. Bryan will present “Drawn to Marvel: Pop-Classicism and Poetry of Comics”.






There will be comic art in the library as well, including work by “Hutchinson as Smallville”
advocate Christopher Wietrick. The display cases will be full of action figures, memorabelia, and more!

This Festival is funded in part by the Kansas Humanities Council, a non-profit cultural organization promoting understanding of the history, traditions, and ideas that shape our lives and build community.

eBook Sales Decline?

That seems like an exaggeration to me, but the numbers show a dramatic slow-down in the pace of sales increases. This article from Slate by author Robert Rosenberger is a fascinating read. From the article, the most plausible speculation as to why this is happening is the rise in tablet computing. The dedicated ereader has fallen by the wayside as tablets have become more affordable. Compared to a dedicated ebook reader, tablets offer a tremendous variety of things to do BESIDES read.

So, are people simply reading less altogether? The article doesn't delve into this much, but I can tell you that while foot traffic in our library has never been greater, paper book circulation has declined over the past 12 months. eBook circulation here is still in its infancy due to the slow growth of the collection and the ridiculous tactics of big publishers and their treatment of public libraries.

Public library problems aside, the notion that reading at length is declining is a very scary prospect. Will Rogers, I think, gave us this thought about reading / learning:

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

I hope the Slate article does not turn out to mean that the latter group is growing - that's not a good thing. But I wonder what this means for all the money we've been pouring into ebooks.

Who Goes There?

Last night the SF discussion group screened the Howard Hawks' version of John Campbell's novella Who Goes There? Following the film we discussed the differences (there are many) between the two. Hawks' "The Thing" is definitely and adaptation and reflects the time in which the film was made, 1951.

Campbell's novella features scientists in the antarctic, the discovery of ancient alien life frozen in the ice, and the eventual discovery that the "Thing" will take over world if the few men at the station can't stop it.

Hawks' movie is set near the North Pole and features a heavy presence of military activity and Cold War paranoia that the Russians are up to something. The Thing cash lands near an outpost and a group of scientist are sent to investigate the site. After a mishap with the alien craft, an alien body is found and transported back to the station. The movie then centers around the familiar motif of scientists-versus-military, alien friend or foe conflict between the human characters. Of all the B-movies I have seen though, this one ranks high in the watch-ability category.

I don't want to spoil either movie or novella if you haven't experienced them, but the fact that the movie and story are quite unlike one another doesn't really make a difference. Campbell's writing is tight and his story is suspenseful. Hawks' film is definitely a loose take on the novella, but is good fun if not exactly...scary.

All-in-all, I thought this was a fun exercise and hope we can do it more often!

Library as Publisher?

This is a great idea. I don't know how to make it happen here in Hutchinson, Kansas, but I'm keen to try and figure it out. Library as publisher.

Libraries continue to experience high use but with ever-shrinking revenue streams. How can we continue to fulfill our mission to build life-long learners if we don't have resources to purchase books and materials to support that mission?

I wonder if it isn't in the way of the ancient idea of "library". Libraries were once not only collectors of knowledge, they fostered it by sponsoring the creators of new ideas. That is what is proposed in this article from ALA about the library discovering new authors and helping them to blossom.

I doubt very much that HPL could muster the resources in equipment and staff to make this happen on our own, but there might be a possibility for a consortium of libraries to pool resources and help turn the explosion of self-published ebooks become an explosion of really high-quality ebooks.
(Thanks for the link Sandra!)

Authors and Ebooks

A movement is afoot with authors on the side of libraries in the current struggle to find a happy medium in the ebook world.

Give the site a look: Authors for Library Ebooks

We want to provide as many digitally accessible books as we can, but at current prices to libraries we have to be VERY selective. Plus the variety that are offered to libraries for "purchase" is severely limited compared to what can be obtained by consumers individually. I think the four bullet points in the link cited above pretty much cover what I and many other librarians know to be true. I think many patrons know them to be true as well.

2013 Summer Celebration Awesomeness!

I am still recovering from being one of the moles in the Whack-a-Mole game, but I can't believe how many people turned out for the big kick-off to our Summer Reading Program this past Friday (June 7)!

Congratulations to our fantastic Hutchinson Public Library staff for their dedication and effort in pulling this off! If you were there, you saw staff from all departments pitching in to help for the morning. And, of course, we had massive support from a small army of volunteers and could never have run all the games and programs without them. Thank you!

We easily surpassed last years' numbers as far as I could tell, there was a non-stop line at our booth. We will have pictures of the event posted on the library's Facebook page and I'll post some here soon.

In the meantime, "Dig in to Reading", pick up a "Groundbreaking Read", or join the "Quest for Readalot" at the Hutchinson Public Library this summer. These are the reading programs for children, adults, and young adults respectively. There's fun and rewards to go along with each and each one gives you the excitement of discovering new worlds through reading!

Book Review: Frederik Pohl's Gateway

The SF Book discussion group met again to discuss Pohl's 1976 novel Gateway. This is the first in a trilogy that includes Beyond the Blue Event Horizon and Heechee Rendezvous. In Gateway, we meet Robinet (Bob) Broadhead, a man made wealthy by prospecting the ancient space lanes blazed by a long-dead and forgotten species called the "Heechee".

Through a stroke of luck, bob wins enough money in a lottery to purchase a ticket to Gateway, an intergalactic hub of sorts where prospectors can "ship out" on pre-programmed (by the Heechee) routes and return to Gateway automatically. The catch is that no one knows where the ships go until someone tries them out. Some end up in ... let's just say that some trips are no longer "round trips". Basically, the prospectors take a gamble and may strike it rich finding a treasure trove of ancient alien artifacts at their destinations or they may find nothing or they may perish in the process.

The appeal of this book is the unfolding of Bob's tale. We learn early that he is clearly wealthy and gained his wealth through prospecting from Gateway. We also learn that he is wracked by neuroses of various sorts as he frequently visits his digital shrink that he has dubbed "Sigfrid".

Various mysteries unfold as the book progresses and we follow, in a back-and-forth manner, the developments that form the Bob Broadhead we meet at the beginning of the book.

The general consensus of our group was that the book was a good one, despite dating itself in a few minor ways. I have mentioned before that the HPL SF group is a pretty tough crowd and this book was not treated as roughly as some of our previous selections. Personally, I highly recommend the book. Despite having read it many years ago and knowing where Bob's tale would lead, I enjoyed Pohl's story-telling again this time through.

eBook changes

The publishing mood is changing in the ebook market. In the past few months I have seen signs of a gradual thawing in attitude toward us evil public libraries. An excellent example of this is Hatchette Book Group's announcement that they are reinstating front-list ebook sales to libraries.

Hatchette will "sell" licenses of new titles to public libraries immediately upon publication. The cost to libraries will be three times the RETAIL hardcover price. One year after publication, that cost will drop to one-and-a-half times the retail cover price. There will be no checkout limits (the titles will not "wear out"). This is an improvement, at least, in that public libraries will have access to new titles from Hatchette and Random House (who already had this sort of sales model).

I still maintain that public libraries are a powerful ally, not an enemy to be squeezed out. Hopefully we can show this to be the case and publisher attitudes will continue to thaw.

Comics in Smallville

An article in the Hutchinson News today about a "free comic" offer from our local Hasting's store has me thinking even more about the possibilities for the Library's planned Smallville conference. We are working on a combination of discussion / seminar presentations and hands-on workshops for September 21st, 2013.

What I've been thinking however, is that I wonder if there isn't enough interest in the genre, the collecting, etc. to warrant an actual comic convention in our little corner of the wheat fields. What do you think? Would Hutchinson/Smallville be a place where people might come to buy and sell, trade knowledge, attend programs and generally have fun doing it?

The Stars My Destination - SF Book Discussion

The HPL Science Fiction Book Discussion group met April 4th to discuss Alfred Bester's classic The Stars My Destination. This mid-1950's novel is frequently cited as an influence on the SF cyberpunk movement. The work is also known by its UK title, Tiger, Tiger! after the first line of William Blake's poem The Tiger.

Bester is perhaps better known for his novel, The Demolished Man, which received the first Hugo Award in 1953. The Stars My Destination is, in a nutshell, a story that starts out all about revenge and ends up with personal growth. Now our group is composed of individuals with strong opinions about SF and as I have learned, a fairly high bar to be impressed.

To our last two books, despite high acclaim for the titles, our group responded with a resounding "meh". Concerning Bester's book, the general consensus seemed to be summed up by one member's comment, "I at least wanted to see how it turned out". Damning with faint praise? I don't think so. I think we dare to want more from an author. This story explores fascinating themes; following the ramifications to society of a human evolutionary step, "jaunting", to its possible conclusions. It is worth a read. Despite its age, it is easy to see why this book is often considered a precursor or major influence on the cyberpunk movement of the late 20th century.

Our group will meet again on May 2nd to discuss another SF classic, A.E. van Vogt's SLAN. If you would like to join us, contact Gregg Wamsley at (620)663-5441 or gwamsley@hutchpl.org

Summer Reading 2013

Spring has sprung here in Hutchinson and though it seems far away at the moment, the end of school is just around the corner. One of the most important things parents can do for their children during the long summer break is to get them involved in reading. When it's too hot to play out side or some downtime is needed, reading will keep their vocabulary skills honed and their minds sharp heading into the next school year.

Here at the Hutchinson Public Library, we will be digging into reading all summer long! With story time programs for pre-k and elementary-aged children and reading programs for children, young adults AND adults, it shouldn't be hard to keep everyone reading. The articles I've linked above point out the problems and offer many solutions. The main idea though, is that as long as your child remains engaged with books and learning during the summer, losses to grade-level skills will be minimized or eliminated.

Our programs are free to the public, our library cards are free with proof of address, and our services, including a huge array of children's and young adult programming, are too many to list here.

SF Book Discussion

This past month's book was The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Considered by many to be the best war-themed science fiction novel ever written, our group tackled it with what seems to be our trademark skepticism. To summarize the discussion, I don't think any of us did NOT like the book, I just don't think any of us were convinced that it is THE penultimate SF war novel.

The novel, written in 1974, is a criticism of war in general and is specifically a parable of the Vietnam War. It works as such and the reader gets a very definite impression of the futility of war. I really did like the book. It has a disconnected, dispassionate feel to it that really gave me the feeling that it didn't matter what happened to Private Mandella or any of the other characters. The higher-ups had decided to test out the Earth's war machine and the individual was simple a grunt or pawn to carry out the experiment and see if we were tougher than "them". If you want a lesson in the effects of war on individuals as well as a lesson on relativity, I would recommend you read this book! If you click the jacket art, it will take you to the library's catalog and you can check out The Forever War.

We will read the classic Alfred Bester novel, The Stars My Destination for next month's discussion. The discussion will take place Thursday, April 4th at 7pm in the library's conference room #2 on the second floor.

eBooks at HPL

If you have a Hutchinson (Kansas) Public Library card and are interested in reading e-style, then you might want to check out our website. Click on the E-Everything tab and you will find 2 sources for ebooks and 2 sources for eaudiobooks:

ebooks: 3M Cloud Library
ebooks: OverDrive

eaudiobooks: OneClickdigital by Recorded Books
eaudiobooks: OverDrive

Also, if you have a State of Kansas library card, you can access the resources provided state-wide at the Kansas EZ Library. They also have a selection of ebooks and downloadable eaudio.

All this to point out one of our oldest, yet handiest (I think) electronic tools:  Wowbrary.It's a simple, free weekly e-newsletter with a big punch.Once you are signed up, every Wednesday Wowbrary will send you a newsletter showcasing everything HPL has added to it's collection in the previous week - including ebooks!

SF Book Discussion

Our Science Fiction Book Discussion group met this Thursday for our first meeting of the year. Our new schedule is a monthly book discussion on the first Thursday evening of every month at 7pm. Meetings are held in the Conference Room #2 upstairs at the library.

This month we discussed J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, The Hobbit. The bulk of the discussion revolved (not surprisingly, I suppose) around the book's recent translation to film. We spent a good deal of the discussion talking about the relative merit that should be given to some of the criticism of Tolkien's most famous "children's book".

Next month (March 7th) we will discuss Joe Haldeman's war novel, The Forever War. Written by a well-known and celebrated science fiction author as well as Vietnam veteran, the book is probably his best known. It is an interstellar war story in the vein of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", but there the similarities end. I am looking forward to reading this book.

On April 4th we will discuss Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. Written several years after Bester's Hugo Award-winning The Demolished Man, it is a sort of proto cyber punk novel mashed up with a tale of a man who is shipwrecked and abandoned.

SNAPSHOT: Tell us how to serve you better!

The Hutchinson Public Library is conducting a week-long snapshot survey to help us focus better on the things you really want us to do or provide. Please help us by filling out the survey (if you are or might become a patron here).

There are a couple of simple, specific questions we're asking, but most of the survey is open-ended for you to tell us about what you would like or how we could help you. The entire survey can be completed in about 5 minutes, unless you have a lot to write! Please help, and "Thank you!" in advance.

HPL apps and tools

New tool round-up:

• 3M Cloud Library
• OneClick eAudio Service
• Transparent Language Online
• And my new favorite - OWL iLibrary.

This last tool is a handsome and powerful app that allows you to use the library's catalog and your library account like you would using a traditional computer and browser.  It's available for Apple and Android-based devices and it's free.

If you read (or listen to) your books "e", then HPL has three different services for you.

• We have OverDrive, which has both ebooks and eaudio downloads.
• We have the 3M Cloud Library, a new service which is ebooks only.
• We have OneClick Digital, another new service that is eaudio only.

If you are interested in learning a new language or brushing up on a disused one, we also have a new learning program called Transparent Language Online.

If you click the library logo, you will be taken to the Hutchinson Public Library website.  From there, click on the "E-Everything" menu on the far right of the gray bar.

The only prerequisite for using any of these tools is an active Hutchinson Public Library card - and that's free too!

We've been "MacMillan'd"!

Maybe that's not the catchiest phrase, but public libraries have been graced with the possibility of "buying" and circulating ebooks from one of the Big 6! This should be great news, right? It is not terrible news, but it fits in the grand scheme of things at about the "meh" level.

First, it is a pilot project. Second, the titles are from the backlist of MacMillan's Minotaur imprint which publishes mainly crime/mystery fiction. Third, the titles will cost libraries $25 each and have a "shelf life" of 52 circs or two years, which ever comes first.

In other words, we get to circulate to you, our patrons, old titles you may already have read and unlike old PAPER titles you may already have read, they won't languish on our virtual shelves - they'll automatically weed themselves in two years!

Maybe I should be more worried, sooner rather than later human librarians will be obsolete.  We are being replaced by publishers who are cutting out the middle man.  Don't worry though, the business men will look out for culture and history.  They'll make it all available to the individual, I'm sure...for a low recurring monthly payment.

Libraries vs. Publishers

The article I have linked below (Thanks, Robert!) was sent out on a library email list. It is, as is often the case, far more eloquent and clear than I could ever be in arguing what the future of public libraries and ebooks should be. Where I get angry and rant, the author of this Forbes article, Mr. Vinjamuri, is clear and reasoned.

I agree with him on almost every point, both about the failings of the "Big 6" publishers and the missed opportunities and failings of public libraries in their responses. Regarding public libraries, this is the major issue of our time. Nothing else will influence what I do for a living and what you use as a patron more than the outcome of the book's transition from a paper to an electronic medium.

If you are interested in the ebook brouhaha and the future of public libraries, please read this article: Why Libraries Matter: And How They Can Do More, by David Vinjamuri, contributor at Forbes magazine.

Why do we have public libraries?

Some (most, probably) will think I'm a little slow-witted asking this question.  The "educated" technophile might say public libraries are an anachronism and that everything needed research-wise or recreational reading-wise can be obtained online or through Amazon.  The hard-line libertarians would most assuredly say that the money spent on them would be better utilized by the individual to choose to spend on their own education if she/he so desired.  The cynic might say that we (society) have to provide SOME place for the homeless and disturbed to hang out.  Yet other people never even think about the library as a useful tool at their disposal, having had at some point in their lives a bad experience with fines or fees or even SHHHHHH! ... librarians.

There are some days where I can at least see the reasoning for some of these stances.  I have to remember that I have a vested interest in this whole concept.  And yet...

Many of the same social conditions that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and that were the impetus for creating free public libraries, exist today.  In fact, poor educational level, poverty, sub-par work skills and the accompanying lack of upward mobility have intensified since I became a librarian in the mid-1990s.

Back to the title of this article: Why do we need public libraries?  Early childhood literacy.  If I could say nothing else about them, if I could answer in only one way, this is a role public libraries fill and succeed in like no other "free" public institution.  Study after study has shown that the single most important factor to success in school is mastery of basic math and reading skills by Kindergarten.  Public libraries have been working diligently at this for decades.  Bring your child to story time, check out some books to read with her at home and BAM!  You've received a huge ROI on your tax dollar because your child is positioned to succeed in school and ultimately in life.

Honestly, we need as many avenues to literacy, competency, life skills and work skills as we can possibly manage in our current world.  The gap between the rich and poor has grown once again to an enormous chasm.  While libraries need to remain relevant by adapting to new media, they must continue to focus on their strengths.  First, the librarians and specialists that can instill the love of reading and learning at a young age and provide support and training throughout the lives of our patrons. Second, the power of being free to all who want our services.  Third, the willingness to explore those new tools as they come around and to bend them to our will - helping our patrons grow and learn.