Shame on you MetroCouncil!!! Shame!

Now that the library tax has passed…  Shame on you, MetroCouncil!  

Shame on you for publicly criticizing the EBRP Library, a department of your own city/parish government — and one that has done everything right.   Are you so afraid of losing a vote that you will throw the good things in your district under the bus?  

Every one of you have a library in your district.  EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU.  When one of your tax-hating constituents called you to complain about the millage for the library, did you even THINK about telling them that the library is something in the district that should be supported?  When they opined that the library gets “too much” money, did you for a second consider telling them that it just looks like that because the library manages their money so well — and that you would work to make ALL departments more fiscally responsible.   Did you even ONCE speak in the Library’s favor when a constituent complained?

The EBRP Library exemplifies what local government should be.  It’s one C/P agency that manages its money very well and spends its allotted taxpayer dollars on 1st rate materials, environments and accessibility for the citizens of EBRP.  It meets the current needs of the citizens as it looks forward to anticipate their future needs (and it’s been VERY good at that).  It’s an agency that people appreciate — no long lines to stand in, employees who actually offer to provide assistance (and who are easy to locate), nice “offices” with comfortable seating and current magazines, interesting things to see and do.  

You all know this (and agree with it!) and you still threw the Library, its administration and staff under the bus — all for a few votes that you MIGHT get next year or the year after.  You should be ashamed of yourselves. 

Teen Lit Serves a Purpose

After a hiatus engendered by a certain lack of interest in blogging, I'm back.  Yay?  What brought me back?  Well, I've jumped on the YA Lit vs WSJ bandwagon, of course! 

In case you haven't followed the latest holler, WSJ has dissed teen lit as being too hideous to read ( http://on.wsj.com/iyb4Zn ).  It's too dark.  The topics are all violence, abuse, despair and rage.  OMG!!!  And the books validate these behaviors in teens! 

I was a teenager once -- before teen lit was a genre.  I read the "classics" referenced in the article -- The Outsiders ( a great story, but even then I thought those NAMES were ridiculous) and Go Ask Alice (drug abuse?!?!  Cool!!).  I also read the scintillating and banal, Mr. & Mrs. BoJo Jones (recommended by teachers the world over).  A sorry piece of fiction, to be sure, but it made me think about what life would be like as a teen mother, and it reinforced my mother's Victorian stand on sexual relations before marriage.  I read, and adored, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (mental illness!  AWESOME!!).  I read Elie Wiesel's, Night.  It was a fave and full of real, actual terror and inhumanity.  It was also pretty gruesome if not gory/explicit.

I was a Good Girl.  What did I get from these books?  Excitement.  A view of other kinds of lives that I REALLY didn't want to live.  Some knowledge about the world and that other people in other places lived other, often unpleasant, lives.  Hmmm...

Since my teen years were at the very beginning of books specifically for teens, I was forced to read from the adult ouervre.  What did I find?  Some doozies, I assure you.  I had a collection of vampire stories that included an excerpt from de Sade's Justine.  Of course, I had no idea who the good Marquis was -- and the excerpt didn't include any "sex" (or, possibly, I didn't get it).  I read the Bell Jar.  Now that book is really uplifting.  I wallowed in despair right along with Sylvia and loved every minute of it.  I read bodice rippers -- which at the time were the equivalent of Zane books.  Yummy!  Had I found any books that were as explicit as some of the teen titles available today, I would have jumped on them with great cries of joy.  More excitement!  More despair!  Plus the vicarious experiences of cutting, sex, abuse, gore...  Just what teens want to read. I say more power to 'em!  

No time in life (other than old age) is as lonely as the teen years.  Teens are culturally fenced in.  They are corralled by their parents' expectations; they fear that discussing issues with parents will be a indicator that bad behavior is going on or being considered.  Their peers are braggers who boast of behaviors that they really don't act on, so talking about things with friends can get you labeled as someone who is not cool, hip, on top of things...  Teachers operate in loco parentis, so they're out too. 

Teens want to live vicariously through literature.  Or they want their life experiences to be acknowledged -- by characters in books.  Teen lit allows kids to explore without repercussion what's going on in the world.  Books provide a forum of sorts where abused kids can find out they are not alone and where surly kids from well-adjusted families can find out that life's not so bad after all.  Books offer a type of friendship and commonality that can fill the voids of a culturally constricted teen life in an ugly world of harsh realities.

Ms. Gurdon needs to get back in touch with her own teen years and remember how bleak it often seemed and how meaningful those teen titles were to her at that time.  She needs to acknowledge that today's teen lives in a completely different world that the one of her experience.  And if she's so disturbed by the content of teen lit, she should work to improve the conditions that many teens experience on a daily basis so that the "horror" that is current lit is no longer needed.

I'm taking an online course right now, Rethinking Reference Collections.  It's offered through InfoPeople in California and Dave Tyckoson is teaching it.  (He's great, BTW.  Take one of his classes sometime.)  Our first assignment was to create a snapshot of our current reference collection.  There was a form to fill out and we had to write about our current collection and what our vision is for our future collection.

Doing that assignment brought home to me how sadly under-used our collection is (not that I didn't know it already, but it's just sad to reminded so forcefully).  Reference heads since 1939 put a lot of effort into creating our collection and, back in the day, it was stellar.  It's still stellar, but that doesn't matter so much anymore.  Now reference is all about databases and instant access.  Books play a very minor role in reference work -- they're kind of the "resource of last resort" for staff, and patrons barely know they exist.

When I first started as Head of Reference Services, we had a feature in our staff meetings -- "My Favorite Reference Book."  Selected staff members would bring their fave to the meeting and extol its virtues.  Everyone learned something and there were some great arguments about the merits of one book over another.  No point in doing that now...  At least half the staff has no idea what's even in our reference books.  (They've never needed them!)  Now we do "My Favorite Database" or "My Favorite Website."  Nothing wrong with that.  Databases and websites are what we use.  But it's sad to see those great print resources just sitting on the shelf gathering dust -- unwept, unhonored and unsung.  Sometimes I look in Encyclopaedia Judaica just to make myself feel better (it's my fave).

When I took over almost 10 years ago, I was intimidated by the work of my predecessors.  They'd done such a great job and I felt inadequate to the task, but I was also determined to bring our reference services into the 20th century -- and beyond. My vision of the ideal reference collection in the beginning was of a collection that provided answers to the questions our patrons asked -- and that was available to ALL our patrons at all of our branches and at home. 

I have realized that vision of our reference collection.  Over time, our working collection has become not one of books, but of electronic resources.  I wanted more electronic resources so that everyone could have up-to-date resources at their fingertips and no one would have to use a 10 year old volume for reference.  Got them -- plenty of them.  I wanted our reference service to address the communication styles of our patrons.  It does (finally!!).  We have gone from phone reference to email reference to text reference to chat reference.  Patrons can pretty much get answers however they prefer.  (I guess Skype reference is next...)  And this is a good thing.   I wanted reference staff throughout the system to have  the benefit of the expertise embodied in the reference staff at the main library.  They do, now that we have deployed LibAnswers as our "Got a Question?" service.  Patrons AND staff can use the system to find answers to virtually every question we've been asked since spring of 2010.   Talk about equitable access!  I wish I'd had this when I was starting out and was clueless.

The last part of our assignment was to describe our vision of the future of our reference collection.  As I was pondering my answer to the question, I realized that my vision of that bright and shiny future is to let someone else envision it.  It's time for someone with fresher ideas to start influencing the future of our collection and services.  I've realized my vision and I'm happy with it.  It ain't perfect, but I think it will serve for awhile.   Now I'll settle for weeding the current print collection in anticipation of a move into a smaller reference space -- and I'm good with that. 

But I will say that I don't see us going back to the book...

Thanks a lot, HarperCollins.

Dear HarperCollins –

I understand that you are now limiting the number of times (26) a digital book can circulate from a library.  Nice.  What’s next?  Will you “pull an Amazon” as well and send someone to remove your hardcover titles from our shelves after they circulate 26 times? 

Here’s something to think about.  Libraries provide access to books. To your books.  We’ve been doing it FOREVER.  Have we crimped your style yet?  Have we affected your bottom line?  No.  In fact, libraries do more to promote your titles than you give us credit for.  We may not be able to beat a multi-million dollar ad campaign, but we’re damned important to you.  We feature your titles on lists (online and paper); we blog about your titles; we recommend your titles to book clubs; we display your books on our shelves and in our catalogs...    We HELP you sell your stupid books.

Now, when we’re just starting to embrace a new technology -- when we’re just beginning to get excited about the possibilities this new technology offers to our institutions and our constituencies, you KNOCK US UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH A DAMNED BASEBALL BAT!!!!  

What do you think happens at the library when a HarperCollins title becomes popular?  We buy hardcover copies (lots), large print copies (lots), and audio CD versions (lots).  And now we buy digital format audio copies and ebook copies too.  All told, we buy a buttload of copies of your popular titles in every available format.  Guess what else?  We don’t buy fewer physical copies – we just add more copies in digital formats.  How is this bad?  How does this hurt you and your authors?  You’re selling more to libraries, not less.  (my eyes are rolling around in my head so much right now I’m getting seasick)  Who the HELL are you protecting?  Your investors?  Puh-leeze.

As many copies as we do buy, they are usually not enough to meet demand.  What do you think happens when a waiting list has 100 people on it?  Well, we buy some more copies.  And what do you think happens when people on those waiting lists get tired of waiting?  THEY GO OUT AND BUY YOUR DAMNED BOOK!!!  Even our limited book budgets help you sell your books and you want to make it harder for us???

HC – get your head out of your tightly bound gutter.  Make ebooks library friendly.  You may not miss the sales you don’t get when libraries quit buying your digital titles, and you may not even register a blip in revenue when we cut back drastically on the number of physical copies we purchase from your catalog.  But pay attention to this – when our patrons ask us why we don’t have a certain title or why we don’t have a lot of copies or formats available, we’ll be VERY happy to tell them that HarperCollins is a library-unfriendly publisher and we feel that doing business with HarperCollins is NOT GOOD USE OF THEIR TAX DOLLARS.  We will also give them your contact information that they may also register their displeasure with your electronic publishing practices.  

Librarians may be nice but we are not without influence.

The Relevance of Libraries

I am sharing this article because I think it's important.  It also speaks well of my library...

Thanks to WAFB, Channel 9.  Baton Rouge, LA.

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Woman says library gave her second chance at life

Posted: Jan 27, 2011 5:29 PM CST Updated: Jan 27, 2011 9:19 PM CST

Click image to enlarge

By Tyana Williams - bio | email
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - The main library on Goodwood Boulevard will have a brand new building in two years.  But until then, one woman is speaking out to make sure those plans aren't getting taken off the table.  Sharon Bell says with all the crime in her neighborhood, the library became her second home.
The Goodwood branch is by far the busiest library location.  Librarians say the main branch sees around 1,500 people a day.
Sharon Bell is what you might call one of their regulars.  "I can literally walk you through this library and tell you where every book is," she said.
Bell says the books were a blessing.  She says her neighborhood has its share of criminal activity, so when things got crazy she gathered her son and went to the library.  In fact, she says she began visiting the library six days a week and staying for about eight hours a day.
Bell came to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home.  She says initially she was trying to fill out FEMA paperwork, but realized she needed to do more to better herself.
"My first day of college was here at the library.  I enrolled in college here, I attend college here," Bell said.  She says librarians began to take notice she was spending all day in the building.  But as soon as she told them her story, they began pointing her in the right direction for research help.
Now that the branch expanding, Bell says she's hoping to encourage others.  She wants to help someone else find a way out of a situation similar to hers.
"I am a single mother.  My husband got murdered in New Orleans.  So coming here changed my life. There was a lot of help here for us, if you wanted it," Bell said.  "It's all been through a book, a simple book."
Construction on the new library should break ground in the spring.  As for Sharon Bell, she says she's set to graduate from college in May.
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On Being a Personal Librarian

I'm a reference librarian.  I find information.  I show people how to use databases.  I solve puzzles.  I am not a Readers Advisor. 

For one thing, my own reading is pretty narrow.  I hate mysteries.  Bodice rippers bore me anymore.  The most popular authors in the most popular genres just don't do it for me.  My non-fiction reading is totally devoted to food.  I do read science fiction and fantasy -- and the occasional thriller.  I also read chick lit, but I'm getting over it.  But unless you like to read what I like to read, I'm no help to you.  Reading is personal to me and I'm not going to read stuff just to be useful.

That said, for the last 8 months, I've been my mother's Personal Librarian. 

That she even trusted me to pick books for her says a lot about my mother's belief in my abilities as a librarian (or maybe she was just using me).  She wasn't quite as narrow in her reading as I -- but she did hate mysteries, was bored with bodice rippers, and indulged in the VERY occasional thriller.  However, she did NOT read science fiction and fantasy.  She liked Danielle Steele!  She liked Southern fiction -- but none of the authors you'd expect someone who liked Southern fiction to read.  She liked historical novels, but no Elizabethan settings (what did she have against Elizabeth??).  I could go pre-Eliz and post-Eliz, but Eliz herself?  Anathema!!  She read Christian fiction, but I had to be careful with that.  If it was too... sappy, she gave me the stink eye.  She did like a good adventure story every now and then, and I managed to find a few that didn't get tossed back into the bookbag immediately (that was the definitive sign of choice failure).  I will have to give her credit, though;  if I did find a good one, she bragged on me Big Time -- throughout her reading of the book.   I think she was worried that I'd stop trying if she didn't acknowledge my successes.

At first, I hated being responsible for finding Mama's most important entertainment avenue.  Reading was so much a part of who she was and it was her biggest act of daily living.  It freaked me out, and I dreaded the Tuesday night book pull.  But as the weeks wore on, I started to view it as a reference question -- a puzzle to be solved for a favorite patron.  I found myself making her book choices in much the same way I would approach constructing a search for a difficult topic.  I didn't look for similar authors -- that blew up on me early on.  But I looked for similar themes.  I read a few pages of possible titles and considered how the book "read" -- would she find the writing style compelling or would she throw it in the bag by paragraph 3?  Setting was often hit or miss (Elizabeth I was a good example of a miss), but I got pretty good at  figuring out that a book set in Montana in 1843 would not go over, but that a book set in Missouri at the same time would probably make the table rather than the bag.  Being Mama's Personal Librarian started to be fun.

Now that job has ended.  I'll miss the Tuesday night book pull and trying to second guess her reading taste.  I'll miss the disappointment of seeing 10 out of 12 books stay in the bookbag and the  feeling of accomplishment that 6 books on the table brought.  In some ways, being her librarian made me feel closer to her.  It brought us together on a level that was more "friends" than "mother and daughter."  It gave us something to talk about other than her health and the boredom of being homebound.  I think my efforts to keep her in good books was successful overall.  I know she'd say they were.

Reference Catch-22

Tonight I was directed to Library Journal to read Jean Costello's unsettling blog post about her experience with local reference services, Why I Don't Use Libraries for Reference Anymore.  I try to remain upbeat about the future of reference, but this post kind of did me in.  I was going to respond to her, but decided to post my response here instead:

As the head of a reference division in a public library, I cringed as I read your post.  And I live in fear that one day, a patron just like you will visit my staff and have a similar experience.  But one point your post brought home to me was one I've been concerned about for awhile and am not sure how to address. 

Back in the day, when we used books (almost exclusively) to answer reference questions, we were answering more questions just like yours.  The staff was familiar with that kind of question and was better armed to answer it -- not because our resources were deeper then, but because the staff's experience was.  As I look over the questions we are asked today, I find very few that require the kind of knowledge of resources that yours did.  In fact, I'm not sure how many of my staff would even know look for poetry explication sources to answer your question.  I know that some of them would, but the younger/newer ones might not think of looking for an explication resource unless they had been lit majors.  They may not even know the term to start looking for it.

This isn't entirely a matter of poor training -- if it were, I wouldn't be as worried about it.  It's a matter of using knowledge of resources plus acquiring more knowledge over time -- and that's just something that isn't happening like it used to.  I can train staff to use databases and books, but if they rarely have the need to use them after training, they lose what they learned.  (Reference work ain't like riding a bicycle.)  I can also send out a tough weekly reference question as a training tool, but even that is only putting a tiny band-aid on an ever-growing sore.  If our reference staffs don't get constant reinforcement and regular challenges (the kind that can only be had by assisting patrons like you on a regular basis), they won't grow into knowledgeable critical thinkers, and reference service will slowly atrophy into the the kind of service described in your post -- a source of pleasant conversation and general information.