The Importance of Being...

Educated. Not earnest, but educated. In a world where everyone seems to be outraged by everything because it offends them, or a group, or might offend someone, or might possibly contain something that could potentially trigger a person, sometimes (indeed often times) people miss the mark badly.

This is an example so filled with sweet, sweet irony, I have to share it. It involves a Tennessee woman and her attempt to ban a biography. The book in question is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It is part of the STEM curriculum reading list in the school district attended by this mother's child.

Here is a good summary article of the rather disturbing misunderstanding that gynecology does not equal pornography.

The scary thing to me is that even in the face of facts, the person is still trying to ban the book from the school district. From the article, clearly the administration, teachers, and I assume the vast majority of parents, understand that the story of Henrietta Lacks is perverse for no other reason than the fact that ethical considerations for her as a human being were completely shoved aside in the process of scientific discovery.

This seems like exactly the kind of book you want to have being read by young people everywhere. It seems perfectly aligned with the new frantic emphasis on STEM education.

This situation is a textbook example of someone needing to read a little, ask a few questions, or maybe actually read the book in question before "going off half-cocked" as they say.

Libraries, tradition, and the "modern" world

This is a great opinion column from the New York Times. The author concisely states the dilemma faced by libraries today: How to remain libraries, remain relevant, and attempt to fill the gaps in social services all while budgets have been shrunk. This is the crux of the problem:

Librarians today are forced to take on a variety of functions that their society is too miserly or contemptuous to fulfill, and the use of their scant resources to meet those essential social obligations diminishes their funds for buying new books and other materials. But a library is not a homeless shelter (at the St. Agnes library in New York, I witnessed a librarian explaining to a customer why she could not sleep on the floor), a nursery or a fun fair (the Seneca East Public Library in Attica, Ohio, offers pajama parties), or a prime provider of social support and medical care (which American librarians today nonetheless routinely give).

The columnist goes on to say that while these are important societal functions, they will require more, not less funding in order to let us (the libraries) reinvent ourselves.

With this I totally agree. IF libraries are to become the social centers of our communities, libraries need to be funded to meet those demands. But we should also think consciously, deliberately about what the "modern" library should be. There is no sense in throwing money into services that could be better delivered by another entity.

So, let's as a society take a pause, decide what we should have available to people "societally", if you will, and do that well. We will all be better off for not wasting money but using it effectively to create a just, fair, and compassionate world in which to live. Plus, it will help libraries tremendously so that we can do what we do best - curate knowledge and foster new knowledge.

Libraries and the Digital World

The article found here by Kathryn Zickuhr includes a slide show of the findings of 3 years of study into American's relationship with public libraries.

I find it fascinating! Among the many revealing tidbits in the slide show summary are slides like this one showing the results of their e-reading vs. print book reading habits is especially heartening to me:

The reason I find it heartening is that 76% of American adults (18+) read a book in the past year - 3 out of every 4 adults reads! The troubling part to me though is where public libraries fit into that number. If our usage statistics are any indication, 3 out of 4 Hutchinson residents might be reading, but far less than 3 out of 4 of those are borrowing those books rather than buying them. If this is due to the rise of e-reading, the answer is kinda simple - library ebook platforms are, well, not to put too fine a point on it, "awkward" to use. I'm not going to say anything rude, like "they suck", although that might be a fair assessment; nor am I going to say something paranoid like publishers are intentionally trying to squeeze libraries out of existence to theoretically "maximize" profits.

No, instead, I'm going to say that libraries need to do better in the ebook arena. I'll take the liberty of putting that on our collectively broad public library shoulders and say that we just need to find another way. There are ideas out there - JukePop is one that provides an interesting example of what people are trying to create looking at libraries as partners instead of competitors. JukePop seeks to provide libraries with a ready and easily accessible source of independently published ebooks while helping the authors of those ebooks get editorial, publishing and promotional support.

There are many other initiatives that seek similar outcomes. The thing is that people are still reading, public libraries need to reach out to them and show them, with easy-to-use tools in hand, that we can help.

Further in the article and slideshow listed above is this slide:

Public libraries clearly act, even in this "modern" digital age, as a great leveler. In every single category listed, lower income Americans value public libraries for their services. We must continue to provide the cost-effective, obviously much wanted and needed services, but in the best ways we can, not just the same ways we always have.

Renewed interest in bibliotherapy?

I read a lot about reading. Really, it makes more sense than it sounds. I am obsessed with the idea that early reading - pre-school reading - is the key to success in school more than just about anything else. As I read about reading though, I come across many articles about other uses, focuses, etc. This is one of those from Smithsonian Magazine: Doctors are now prescribing books to treat depression.

This is no new idea, in fact it was an old idea when I studied counseling psychology in college. Intuitively it makes sense to me that reading would help if one felt totally isolated from those around her or him. It might even "trick" you into coming out of that inward-spiraling cycle that is depression.

Warning: Education Rant Ahead!

Ordinarily, I try to not stray far from the areas of reading, libraries, the effects of technology on libraries, and activities at HPL here on this blog. But today I am going to stray off topic and into the realm of education, migration, and the economy. With that in mind, the following are my opinions, not my library's, and I am expressing them to blow off steam...

First, education: Our great state of Kansas has long struggled with providing public education. Wide-open spaces, few people, and a great divide between the rich and the poor have long caused strife and acrimony. Mostly, we've ended up in court because we can't decide how to solve the problem ourselves as citizens and law-makers.

This past go-round has been different. The courts ruled that the legislature needed to better-fund schools. The legislature though, caught up in the lunacy that is "all taxes are bad, no taxes would be Nirvana", are on the verge of crippling our state by failing to provide any real solutions to the education issue. The group to suffer? Maybe you think I'm going to say the poor or disadvantaged. Of course, they always end up with the raw deal. No, the people who are going to suffer most are all of us. There are so many things wrong with the current funding proposals, I am not at all sure where to start.

Lawmakers in Kansas seem fixated on destroying public schooling. They hate Common Core (you can read the standards yourself at that link). Whatever. I hated No Child Left Behind because of its good intentions but unintended outcome of forcing teachers to teach the test so that they didn't lose their jobs. After reading about it, I can't imagine Common Core will be worse. What I find outrageous about the funding bill are the attempts to eliminate more taxes while supposedly fulfilling the funding obligations of the State. For example, Kansas lawmakers have tied tax breaks for corporations to private schooling in the education funding bill. What? If the schools are broken, we'll give you money to go elsewhere RATHER THAN SPEND THAT MONEY TO FIX THE SCHOOLS? What happened to providing for the common good? I am a tax payer with children in public school and in no way do I want to support an "opt out" philosophy. Well, hey, at least we're not embarrassing ourselves debating evolution or something.

The real problem though is my second and third gripes;  Kansas lawmakers keep cutting taxes to businesses saying that it's the only way to grow the economy. Information has come out that shows Kansas, despite gutting its revenue streams lags all states around us in economic growth post-recession. The State collects less in taxes, but has shifted much of the burden to counties and municipalities. The economy is still sluggish. That leads to more people moving away. Of course, that has been a topic of worry since I was in school some 30 years ago. Youth leave and never come back. Interestingly, the trend of folks (not just youth, but all ages) leaving the state at a faster rate than before has accelerated.

Here's my theory: people want to live in a place with a sense of responsibility. A place where corporate interest is balanced by responsible taxation. No one wants to move to a state where you can (theoretically, 'cause it ain't happenin' here!) get a great job, but have terrible, under-funded schools in towns that have to charge high property taxes just to keep the doors open. Would we all like to pay zero taxes? Of course! But reality intrudes into that simplistic desire. We want good education to build smart, capable young workers, to attract business...to grow.

OK, rant over. If you've stuck it out this long, here's a picture of Batman riding an elephant as your prize:

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.

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.

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.

Ebooks - It's been a while since I griped

We have been working very hard at HPL on physical projects involving real shelves, books, and other stuff outside the Internet world.  I know!  Shocking, isn't it?

<rant>During that time I have been watching the "Big 6" publishers continue to treat libraries as their enemies in the ebook world.  And while I am sure that no one pays much attention to my little blog, let alone my rants, I feel remiss for not railing on a daily basis about this ridiculous state of affairs.

Honestly, where does Simon & Schuster think avid readers find out about new authors?  Where does Penguin or Hatchette think new authors get a try and then a following?  Who do they think spends 24/7 thinking of ways to get more people involved in more reading?  And I mean thinking of more ways to get EVERYBODY reading, regardless of means.  I love book stores.  Book stores do some of this.  But they have to stay alive by selling the most popular.  Who helps them with that?  They promote books and authors.  LIBRARIES promote reading and readers.  Apparently though, we're the enemy.  We're going to suck away the meager revenue stream from the big publishers.  Honestly, if that's what they believe, then they are the enemy of readers.

Ebooks "last forever", so how can we make libraries ever buy another copy?  Library patrons will just borrow the library copy whenever they want to read.  Hmm...why not ask us to work out a plan?  No?  You'd rather just turn books into licensed content and sell it and choke off any potential for growth?

Here's the crux of the problem (besides the lure of filthy lucre).  From ALA:

Why are e-books treated differently than print books?

As content migrates from physical to digital forms, the typical access model shifts from
purchasing to licensing. Digital music and online journals represent examples of this shift from the last few decades; e-books represent the latest form of content to make this transition. As licenses are contracts, libraries receive the rights articulated in the agreements. The usual ebook license with a publisher or distributor often constrains or altogether prohibits libraries from archiving and preserving content, making accommodations for people with disabilities, ensuring patron privacy, receiving donations of e-books, and selling e-books that libraries do not wish to retain.

They key is in that paragraph.  Control over the content (contract vs. purchase); the "purchaser" - you, me, a library, no longer "owns" that thing we thought we bought.  Thus, no one can loan it, resell it, or collect it.  But why is that ownership so important?  Collections like those created by libraries are important not just for preserving the past but for creating new ideas and inspiring new stories.  Writers and researchers create from what is available to them.

Too bad the big publishers won't work out a deal.  Libraries want to participate and are willing to pay to play.  Too bad they are so focused on preserving a possibly already-lost corner on the market.  That old chestnut about catching more flies with honey than vinegar is going to come back and bite them.  Libraries could help them flourish in the ebook age and I'd wager we as a group would strike a bargain on almost every issue in that quote above.  Will it happen?  I doubt it.  And everyone - you, me, authors, publishers, and libraries will be the poorer for it. </rant>

Youth and Libraries

Courtesy of Vancouver Public Library/Creative Commons License

The Pew Research Center has published a study about the reading and library use habits of people between the ages of 16 and 29.  It might surprise many people who DON'T use the library to find out that this 16-29 age group DOES use the library!  For those of us who work in public libraries however, this should not be a great surprise.

Walk around the Hutchinson Public Library in the afternoons and you will see many teens and young adults using our library.  We often have a variety of home school students and community college students using our resources.  If you stop to think about it though, it makes sense.  I think many of the folks who "marvel" at the opportunities provided by the Internet, e-content, smartphones and tablets are people who didn't grow up with them.  Those younger people who have grown up in an Internet world see the library / physical materials / librarians as a few of the tools among many options, but tools that are of value nonetheless.

Libraries must evolve to provide the services and resources that people find useful.  I think that is happening and I think that the Pew Center study gives us an indication that we are on the right track.

Accessible Broadband...for real

There has been a lot of talk about access to broadband Internet connections in rural areas here in Kansas.  Mainly because virtually all of Kansas IS a rural area.  The farther west you go from the Kansas City-Topeka corner, the less likely you are to find any ability to connect to a true "high-speed" Internet connection unless you live in the limits of some reasonably sized town.

Now, we can argue until we're blue in the face about why and about who is responsible, but the bottom line remains that the Internet is to modern life what the rail system was to 1890's life.  That is, if the railroad didn't come through your town, your town died.  Plain and simple.  The Internet functions the same way.  Business and opportunity in the information age follow the bandwidth.

I just finished reading this article.  It presents a solution to the very problem outlined above.  It likens the Internet to the system of roadways for which government is usually responsible.  Why not treat the Internet the same way we treat roads?  For institutional customers like us, a public library, this makes especially good sense.  For attracting business to a state like Kansas that struggles at times to compete with neighboring states, the appeal of access to exponentially greater bandwidth might entice people to move here.  After all, in a world that includes easy access to fast Internet, you can live just about anywhere, right?

Interesting Rumor...

...or not.

I heard a new rumor today, that the Hutchinson Public Library is closing.  First off, I want to say that this rumor is FALSE!  We've been here for 110 years and Melville Dewey willing, we will be here in another 110 years.

Second, I wonder if this has anything to do with our "Are you Prepared...?" program series for 2012?  It's going to be fun, and we're taking a light-hearted approach to the impending end of the "Mayan Long Count" calendar.  Of course, it never hurts to be prepared and we will have a variety of lunch-n-learn type activities and much more to help you get ready for what comes next.

Save the Libraries

chirp! chirp!

There is a tremendous lack of understanding these day of, well...of many things actually; but within the scope of this blog, the value of libraries.  I think the true value of public libraries is that they provide common ground.  This is reflected to me in two related ways.   I have a quote that I've collected recently from a UK article on libraries that articulates it one way:

"The libraries' most powerful asset is the conversation they provide – between books and readers, between children and parents, between individuals and the collective world. Take them away and those voices turn inwards or vanish. Turns out that libraries have nothing at all to do with silence." - Bella Bathurst, writer for The Observer [newspaper]

Libraries facilitate an intellectual conversation, no matter the format of the conversation or the materials on the shelves, readers, or digital devices.  This largely has to do with the training, skill, and actual practice of the job known as "librarianship".  The people that work in a library make sure by their very work that the conversations listed in the quote above can flourish.

A second way that this thing called a "library" acts as a societal leveler, is as a place where people from all walks of life can experience a certain level of equality and equitable treatment.  The physical space makes it unique in the modern world in that anyone can use it for meeting and exchange of ideas, largely free of any out-of-pocket expense.

Public libraries continue to provide free access to information in the form of books, digital files, Internet access, and government publications, all the while being dismantled bit-by-bit in the name of "lowering taxes" and "trimming the fat".  I contend that libraries, especially public and school libraries, give the most bang for the tax dollar that you can get.  HPL will be here for a while, I think.  We have benefited from the gifts of many fine residents in our town.  But Kansas libraries as a whole are being picked apart.  From elimination of funding for cheap high-speed Internet connectivity (this has already happened - funding was slashed), to statewide accessible databases of information (this funding has also been eliminated), to school libraries at every level, our State Legislature and Governor seem to be doing their best to demolish educational support of any sort.

Lastly, I am not advocating support of this project - you can make your own decisions about it, but I think it is a great idea.  Photographer Robert Dawson is touring 22 states, photographing public libraries as a commons, one of "...the things that we share as a nation - our environment, our infrastructure, our culture - the things that keep our society civil and working."

Here's the link from the comments section below:  Karin Slaughter Writes Story to Help Save Libraries

What does a public library look like?

I was thinking about the future of libraries today while participating in the library board meeting.  We were talking about where we go at HPL with downloadable media of all types.  It is my current belief that libraries everywhere will be subscribing to more than one online content provider to get the broad scope of what is (and what will be) available for download.

Warehouse?

Center of the City?

Tiny kiosk?

Here's what I think will happen:  Despite all the talk about ebooks driving the future of reading / publishing, there is still an important demographic that prefers paper, or can't afford the technology, has no access to high speed Internet, or any number of other contributing factors.  The library will have another demographic to cater to - the ebook patron.  Just like before them came the downloadable audio patron, the DVD patron, the VHS patron, the tape audiobook patron, the CD music patron, the vinyl / 8-Track / microfilm / microfiche / plain-old-book patrons before them.

Ebook readers don't kill libraries.  Lack of good services for lending ebooks does.  When the publishers realize that libraries DO promote their authors and DO promote a love of reading and services like OverDrive realize loaning ematerial CAN be easy and seamless (look at 3M Cloud Library, hint, hint), libraries will integrate this new media and move on.  Afterall, libraries are so much more than the materials they loan out.  Libraries serve a function in their communities no other entity can fulfill - they cause the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to be injected into the real world.  Sound grandiose?  It isn't - public libraries provide space to assemble, access (at least for awhile) information to allow the existence of an informed electorate, defend the freedom of speech, and ensure at least some measure of equality to all this across the increasingly disparate ends of the socio-economic spectrum.

OK, now I'm just angry

[/rant]

I read a Los Angeles Times article earlier in the week about the treatment of Los Angeles public school librarians and was by turns sad, angry, and ever more firm in my conviction that the United States is so far off the rails, it might just be irreversible.  The issue is that the LA school district wants to fire all the librarians because in the district's view they are, in a nutshell, superfluous.  To add insult to injury, the librarians were grilled by attorneys in a make-shift courtroom, made to defend their worth because the choice was either lose your job, or prove that you could be transferred into a classroom.  Disgraceful.  Where were the court appearances for the greedy folks that leveraged us in to this mess?

Our leaders no longer even attempt to look at what they are doing because the pressures from the "no tax could ever be good" folks have blinded them to the point that they can't see what tools are necessary to achieve even their own (the politician's) stated goals!  Just looking at the federal level, how do you build a strong STEM education if students don't learn to research a topic?  Ask any college instructor today and they will tell you that the multitudes of HS graduates coming to them are ill prepared for advanced study.

I can tell you that my experiences with school libraries all the way back to early elementary grades were the only things that kept me interested in learning.  I got the chance to go to this place, once per week, that was filled with new avenues and I could choose which one I took.  In fact, there was this person there who, over time, learned what I seemed to like and would suggest other similar books.  Sometimes she would suggest things that were just OK, but sometimes she would suggest a book or author that would (as I have found to date) stick with me forever.

Children in Los Angeles, in other states, in Kansas, and potentially even in Hutchinson will miss this guidance because of a glaring ignorance regarding the importance of not the collections of information but the people who know what is there.  School librarians are being fired everywhere.  They have taken big hits in Kansas as school districts cope with drastic budget cuts.  I know, times are tough.  They were made tough by rampant greed and you and I and our kids and grandkids are apparently expected to suffer for that greed.

Back to my original point, the political leaders need to make up their minds.  They can't have it both ways - funding cuts and no revenue increases.  As a parent, I am for any education-related tax increase needed to adequately staff our schools.  I am not oblivious to the fact that I am in a minority here.  But I want the United States to regain an even keel.  I want a nation full of opportunity and competitive spirit.  And I know there are 2 things that will get us there - ingenuity and education.  I am convinced that librarians play a crucial role in the education and development of children and that cutting them out of schools further cripples an already overburdened educational system.

[/end rant]

Why libraries? This...

This editorial from the Houston Chronicle pretty much sums up what libraries are good for (should anyone ask you).  These are words of wisdom here:

Librarians make it possible to navigate [the infoverse] wilderness. They do the brute-force work of organization: bar-coding new acquisitions; putting books back on the right shelves; scanning and digitizing paper holdings; entering items into databases, where a search can reveal them. Handed a difficult question, a good librarian happily hacks through the data jungle, sorting the good info from the bad, and procuring exactly the answer you wanted. But great librarians do something even better: They help you ask a sharper question, then find the answer you didn't know you needed.

Sadly, these days there are fewer and fewer people considering library work.  Like teaching, it is a graying  profession afforded less respect than it deserves.  I tend often toward skepticism with a bent toward pessimism.  Occasionally people around me have to warn me when I stray too far across the line into cynicism.  This is probably one of those areas.  As a society, we have become too detached from what made us great and what allowed us to build a great nation.  Plain and simple education and access to the accumulated wisdom of billions of people who came before us.  [Grump, grump, grouse, stomps back to troll cave.]

More work for librarians

This is one of those personal not-quite-a-rant posts where I just have to get something out of my head so I can stop thinking about it for a bit.  Feel free to stop reading after following this link to an excellent list of state resources regarding bullying and how to deal with it.

[rant]

If only there really were "rant" tags - maybe they would create bolded, all-caps text with too many exclamation points?

Librarians in general need (and perhaps are already receiving) a swift kick in the pants about their role in the world.  Sometimes I feel like the world's information-sharing mechanisms have reverted to a digital version of the Dark Ages.  Important information, collections, etc. are buried or isolated and simply cannot be found.  In the Dark Ages this occurred because of, well, the collapse of western civilization causing the dissemination of knowledge to slow to a trickle.  In the digital age this has occurred because the dissemination, at least, has become so simple there is a flood of knowledge overwhelming us.

A new idea?  No.  But we have to come to grips with it.  Who is the "we"?  Librarians.  Our very purpose as "professionals" is to organize the collected knowledge of humankind and make it available.  There are fantastic tools out there for this purpose.  The ones designed for libraries are, with extremely few exceptions, either clunky, over-simplified, or over-complicated and hard to use.  Why can't we get this right?  From highly involved online catalogs that are intended to simply direct people to the best information in a building to federated search tools supposedly aggregating all the library's resources into one search box; library sites and products are only a few among many options and often not the best choices.

I think that a simple-to-use tool is needed that is backed by the expertise of librarians.  Easy enough to say.  Patently obvious, right?  So, why doesn't it exist?  Or if it does, why hasn't it supplanted the currently dominant tools out there?  Sometimes I wish I were a Jeff Bezos-type.  I thought at one time I was a visionary.  Maybe I am to some extent, but I lack that whatever it is to make the "thing" happen.  Often I feel like I spend too much time looking back to see what's coming and maybe that's the library world's problem.

[/rant]

Back to compiling statistics for the State Library annual report.  Let's see how we did last year...HEY, wait a minute!

What to do about "those few"

I have always held that rules for public places (like libraries) punish the honest users rather than deter the few folks the rules are meant to control.  In libraries, none is more basic than trying to hold patrons accountable for items they have checked out and never returned.  I am not talking about the person with $3 in overdue fines, but the few patrons at the other end of the spectrum.  At HPL we have an elaborate system of warnings, notices, and finally a collection agency to try and retrieve our materials from a relatively small number of folks who, for whatever reason, feel like they can check things out of the library and never return them.

Having been a public librarian for quite some time now, I have heard a tremendous variety of excuses from library users who just can't seem to get things back and checked in.  The excuses run the gamut from denying ever having "that book" in the first place to having returned items in the drop box, "so they are here somewhere", trying to make it the libraries fault.  These situations usually involve one or two items and rarely amount to any significant money.  But what really gets me are that small (but expensive) group who decide at some point to deliberately check out a large quantity of items, usually in a narrow subject range, with no intention of ever bringing them back.

What to do about this group then?  They don't respond to collection agency coercion.  They don't seem to acknowledge any sort of correspondence at all, polite, threatening, or otherwise.  Small claims court is an option in Kansas since library materials are included in a state statute covering property crime, I would assume specifically for this type of problem.

This seems like a reasonable solution since there appears to be no other effective method of trying to "get our stuff back".  Though, it brings with it a whole array of publicity issues that would have to be considered.  It doesn't look quite right when the library starts hauling people in to court over some missing books.  But the patrons I am thinking of have hundreds of dollars worth of our materials.  I suppose it comes down to what would be considered acting as a "good steward" of tax dollars.  After all, people who steal from the public library are really stealing from from all of us.

What is it about shelf reading?

For over a year, the most popular post I have written has been this one.  It is a bit of my waxing poetic about shelf reading, of all things.  This is one of the few posts that draws in random readers from all over the place.  (Not very many readers, but readers nonetheless!)  But why do people look at that post?  It's not like there is a dearth of information about "shelf reading".

So, since I needed to think about this, I got up from my desk and went out to get my thinking in order...shelf reading.  The more I think about this, the more I wonder if people really are just wondering from what sort of insanity I must be suffering.

Looking at some of the Google results for "shelf reading" like this guide to stack management, there is a lot of information out there pertaining to shelf reading.  While most of the info I found is far more informative than my info, none of it makes it sound like more than a necessary evil.  I suppose for that reason, I'm proud of my two cents on the subject, regardless of why others might look at it.  I still believe shelf reading is interesting and fun besides being one of the most useful tasks to undertake in a library.

By the way - I know that people have bad days.  I know too that times are hard, nerves frayed and confidence sapped.  But why the spate of people being rude to our public service staff?  We try hard to please.  We don't ask much of you.  Simple things really:  Be respectful of others using the library.  That includes being patient with the staff and our contracting partners.  We are thinly spread and as a group, not the most highly-compensated.  For the most part we all do what we do because we like the idea of the library, not because we're getting rich.  So by all means, let us know where we need to improve but please be civil.

E-book changes...sort of

[EDIT: 10/27]
I read this weekend that Amazon is allowing the lending of Kindle e-books.  My first thought was, "Really?  Because they have been really tight-fisted about content control to date."  So, as I read a bit further into the CNET article I had stumbled across and found the "gotcha".  Mainly what they are allowing, for some but not all e-books, is the opportunity to share a book once, as in "only once...ever".

Honestly, I find this whole new wave of the e-book to be quite frustrating.  It isn't that I'm secretly shedding tears at the impending death of paper books (if that even happens).  It is mostly that I can't stand the fact that just like software, if we aren't careful, we will no longer "own" the books we buy.  We will license a copy.  That's really what Amazon et.al. are doing - they are selling licenses to "intellectual property" produced by writers.  Regardless of the fate of libraries or even used book shops, the idea that a book MUST be purchased each time in order to be shared is not healthy for for authors, readers, or I think even publishers, (though it might help a small percentage of bottom lines).

My personal experience with reading (especially fiction), new authors, and book-buying has been one that, with very few exceptions, has gone like this:  Someone directs me to a title or an author they have read.  I borrow that persons copy or go to the library and check it out.  If I like the author, I look for more and often buy and also recommend to others.  Very rarely will I go out and buy a book on recommendation.  Perhaps I'm cheap.  Perhaps I've read too much so-so writing.  Perhaps I "just don't get it".  I am not sure.  I am sure that I still don't think the ebook concept is fully fleshed out.

UPDATE:  I read this interesting article in Consumerist this morning, posted on a library email list.  Basically, another problem with using your e-reader for anything other than viewing "licensed" material.  Again, it sounds like I am anti-ebook when I am not.  But there are some major issues to be aware of along with some fundamental questions that need to be answered before I feel comfortable with e-books becoming a major medium.