PVLD Director's Blog

Banned Books Week

What do works by William Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein, Charles Dickens, Laura Ingalls Wilder, William Faulkner, Maya Angelou and Dante have in common?  All have been banned from a library at some point.  What else do they have in common?  They are on many school reading lists and as a result are among the most heavily circulated books at PVLD! 

This week libraries across the country are commemorating Banned Books Week, and PVLD is joining in to make people aware of what might be lost when books are banned.  We've typically had a somewhat low-key display of banned books, but this year we're doing something a bit more interactive...and perhaps a bit edgier -

• A mock pyre has been located in a highly trafficked area near the Reference Desk at Peninsula Center Library.  Adjacent to the pyre is a display of a number of books that have baeen banned at some time in the past.  Each book has a tag with the reason it was banned.  Ten of the books also have a certificate for a small prize inside!
  

• Library users can submit an entry form to win one of three "I Read Banned Books" book bags - one winner to be drawn weekly for three weeks starting October 8th.

• Many of the librarians are sporting t-shirts reading "Closing books shuts out ideas"...and last week some of them posed for this great shot! 

 

If you are interested in learning about what you might have missed out on if the censors had their way, stop by the Peninsula Center Library!

Palos Verdes Daily Photo blog

Friends of the Library board member and fellow blogger Fran Pullara (she writes the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog as well as her own Sacred Ordinary blog )introduced me to this lovely blog that features daily photos of our community.  I don't know Tash, but she has a real eye for the things that make Palos Verdes special...and of course I particularly appreciated today's photo of our Malaga Cove Library!

Volunteers at PVLD - A 30+ year success story

I just learned that tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the formal volunteer program at PVLD.  Volunteer support has been important at PVLD since our inception in the late 1920s and accelerated with the formation of the Peninsula Friends of the Library in the early 1960s.  It wasn't until the loss of revenue that accompanied Proposition 13 in the late 1970s, however, that volunteers became an integral part of our service model, assisting with library operations from shelving books to putting out the new magazines and newspapers to repairing books and other materials to helping catalog foreign language items providing front-line customer service through our Information Greeter program.

Long-time volunteer Janet Vogel reminded us today that many of these volunteer activities were launched with PVLD's first formal volunteer orientation on September 25th, 1978.  From that beginning our volunteer program has grown to over 200 volunteers who provided approximately 28,000 hours of service in the 2007/2008 fiscal year.

The volunteers are one of the main reasons we have been able to maintain service levels through good times and bad, and have also been a source of improvement ideas and community support.  As we face the current economic crisis and associated budget uncertainty, our volunteers are one of the reasons I am confident that we will weather the storm.

If you are interested in volunteering at PVLD click here

To all of our volunteers past, present, and future - thank you!

First Day of Autumn

Today is the first day of autumn.  I recently heard from one of our former employees who recently moved back to New York after several years in Southern California just how much she was enjoying a "real fall."  Having lived in Canada and Kentucky I know what she means, but as a native Southern Californian I think we too have "real fall"...the signs are just more subtle.  For me fall is when  - 

• The Santa Ana winds bring warm weather...but the stores are full of sweaters and corduroy and the beaches are empty even on a sunny Sunday afternoon
• Kids' hair gets darker and skin lighter as the effects of a summer in the pool and at the beach fade
• You have to be careful not to walk into the beautiful webs that the big brown spiders weave across sidewalks and walkways
• There's time to catch a sunset after work but before dinner...and between the Santa Anas blowing the smog out to sea and the start of fire season those sunsets are spectacular!

OK, so it's not blazing red maple trees and roaring fires....but it's autumn nonetheless!

No, we don't have blazing maple trees and the first frost....but it's autumn here all the same!

Changing Roles for the Reference Librarian

 A couple of weeks ago I came across this article by the Stephen Abram.  Stephen is the Vice President of Innovation at library technology vendor Sirsi Dynix, President of the Special Libraries Association, and one of those people who can be counted on to offer thought-provoking ideas about the future of our profession.

In the article Stephen offers a "Baker's Dozen of Scenarios" for the future of reference services, from maintaining the status quo (which he calls "a recipe for fossilization") through 11 ways that Reference Librarians can use their skills and capabilities to deliver differentiated value to the people and organizations they serve.  Some of the ideas (such as the "information commons") are not all that new, and some at first glance seem more applicable to the special or academic library setting ("embedded librarians'), but throughout there are some interesting and sometimes uncomfortable ideas for new service models.

I read the article with mixed feelings.  On the one hand I was pleased to note how many of these ideas we are already using at PVLD.  For example "partners in action" is about teaming up with schools to improve student performance, something we have been working with our School District to achieve for a number of years.  Our Twitter feed, Chatstat Instant Messaging Service, library tool bar, etc are all aimed at the "remote librarian" and "virtual librarian 2.0" models.

On the other hand, some of Stephen's comments hit uncomfortably close to home.  I think as a profession we have a long way to go before we (as Stephen puts it ) "decloak" -

"That is to say, that as professionals they will give their names — real names. They will have pictures of themselves on their pages. And, most importantly, they will have the confidence to state clearly the nature of their expertise. No more will libraries promote the generic, unnamed librarian as all for one and one for all — vanilla flavor only. If someone is the best in the system at genealogy, then find them — the same for storytelling, local history, business reference, and more. We then place ourselves in the spaces where our users are — the intranet, websites, SEOed on Google, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Ning, and more. And we connect to other experts such as consumer health hotlines or poison control!

How many other professions hide behind their institutional identities without balancing it with individual professional and personal positioning? I can’t think of a single other profession that doesn’t invest heavily in the personal positioning of experts in addition to the professional branding. For us to succeed in the world of socially networked users, we must adapt to this new reality."

At PVLD we've moved some way towards having our staff be real, identifiable people (we all wear name tags with at least our first name or last name if not both, some of our employees have taken the brave step of having their pictures and/or profiles in our newsletter or on our blog, and we do have at least one librarian who is recognized by name in our community as an expertsin her field - Local History specialist Marjeanne Blinn), but we still tend to participate in online services and networks under pseudonyms and to treat the librarians as interchangeable when it comes to serving on the reference desk or even collection development.

We also have a ways to go in getting out from behind the reference desk to deliver service where our customers are - whether in the stacks, at a public computer workstation, or outside the library altogether.

All-in-all though it was nice to see the extent to which our staff have at least started to implement pieces of many of the models outlined in the article....and I know from conversations with other Library Directors that we are fortunate to have a staff that embraces change the way ours does.

California State Budget - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

After 11 weeks of gridlock the California Assembly and Senate have finally both passed a budget that is now with the Governor for review.

The Good  - The budget does not include any borrowing of local property tax revenues (which could have had a devastating impact on PVLD and many other public libraries), and the cuts to State-funded library programs and services are relatively modest. The budget also spares the adult literacy program that I blogged about last week. The budget closes some tax loopholes including the infamous "yacht tax" but has no new taxes, and "borrowing" in the traditional sense of the term is limited to borrowing against lottery revenues.

The Bad - California's fundamental structural issues remain unresolved, and there is no guarantee the Governor will actually sign the budget as presented. He could veto it, or he could use his "blue pencil" authority to make further cuts including cuts to library programs. 

The Ugly- The budget passed by the Legislature appears to be rife with accounting gimickry and shell games like accounting for next year's revenues this year, accelerating tax collections (which offers a one time benefit at best).  While it does not include traditional "borrowing" apart from the securitization of lottery revenues, it's hard to see how increasing income tax withholding by 10% and then refunding the money when tax returns are filed is anything but borrowing under a different name.

In short, we have a budget that allows the Legislators(many of whom are up for re-election) to "get out of town" in this election season and gives libraries a (probably temporary) reprieve, but does little if anything to deliver long-term financial stability to California.  There is every likelihood that a year from now we will be faced with the same fiscal challenges, or maybe greater ones given what is happening in the broader U.S. and global economy...and we will have run out of gimmicks and quick fixes. 

That's why the PVLD staff are continuing to aggressively pursue cost reductions and revenue enhancements to enable us to withstand whatever next year brings.

Leadership

When people ask me about my job, I often say that the amount of time I spend doing "library stuff" is very small compared to the amount of time I spend on management and leadership activities that are not really unique to libraries.  It's the leadership part of my work that I find the most rewarding, but it is also often the source of the greatest stress and challenge.  Trying to maintain employee confidence and morale during times of financial uncertaintly like the present; negotiating a labor contract that recognizes the great work the staff has done but doesn't jeopardize the long-term financial stability of the organization; providing constructive coaching to an employee who is struggling; asking people to continue to do more without any more resources....these are the kinds of things that keep me up at night, and most of the time I don't feel like I've done them any where near as well as the people in this organization deserve.

That's why I particularly appreciated reading the following poem by John O'Donohue (my first introduction to his work, now I've got the book on hold) on the wonderful blog that Friends of the Library board member Fran Pullara writes.  What a humbling reminder of the meaning of leadership, and as Fran points out, how timely.  I personally was humbled to realize that despite my best efforts the only one of the attributes O'Donohue describes that I consistently achieve is the last one...there is no doubt that leadership for me is "a true adventure of growth"...but I'm now carrying the poem in my calendar notebook as a reminder of what to strive for.    Thanks Fran!

FOR A LEADER

By John O’Donohue

 

May you have the grace and wisdom

To act kindly, learning

To distinguish between what is

Personal and what is not.

May you be hospitable to criticism.

May you never put yourself at the center of things.

 

May you act not from arrogance but out of service.

 

May you work on yourself,

Building up and refining the ways of your mind.

 

May those who work for you know

You see and respect them.

 

May you learn to cultivate the art of presence

In order to engage with those who meet you.

 

When someone fails or disappoints you,

May the graciousness with which you engage

Be their stairway to renewal and refinement.

 

May you treasure the gifts of the mind

Through reading and creative thinking

So that you continue as a servant of the frontier

Where the new will draw its enrichment from the old,

And you never become a functionary.

 

May you know the wisdom of deep listening,

The healing of wholesome words,

The encouragement of the appreciative gaze,

The decorum of held dignity,

The springtime edge of the bleak question.

 

May you have a mind that loves frontiers

So that you can evoke the bright fields

That lie beyond the view of the regular eye.

 

May you have good friends

To mirror your blind spots.

 

May leadership be for you

A true adventure of growth.

The future of the World Wide Web...and what might it mean for libraries?

It's a quiet Friday at the library, which means I have some much appreciated reading and thinking time.  A few weeks ago I came across the following video of Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine talking about the "next 5,000 days of the Internet", and ever since many of his comments have been floating around the back of my mind.  I've been a fan of Kevin's ever since I read his New Rules for the New Economy nearly 10 years ago.  He was the first person I encountered who could explain (in language even I could understand!) why the Internet was not "TV but better".  

In the video Kevin notes that the World Wide Web (not the Internet, which has much older roots, but the system of URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) that allows us to find and link to documents and pages in the vast sea of digital information that the computer era has spawned)as we know it today is not even 5,000 days old!

After giving a mind-bending account of the current state of the Web in terms of its storage and processing capacity, Kevin gives his view as to what the next 5,000 days and beyond will bring, and as when I first read "New Rules" a decade ago I had several jolts of recognition.  When he talked about shoes as "chips with heels" I couldn't help think about how much I love my Nike+ Ipod - essentially a chip you insert in your shoe that tracks your walking/running and uploads the data to a personalized webpage...heaven sent for someone with obsessive compulsive tendencies like me but also a wonderful example of not only the convergence of the physical and the digital, but of the evolution of the web to a "me-centric" network of information.

On a less frivolous note, however, some of the concepts and issues he raises are things librarians need to really think about. 

How will we deliver services in a world where the digital and the physical converge? What will our collections look like?  (I'll write another day on some interesting ideas put forth by Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive related to this topic.)

If "web 3.0" moves us from a network of "pages" to a network in which every item, idea, and word can be linked what does that mean for an organization like PVLD who sees its core mission as "Connecting People, Information, and Ideas"?

How will we meet people's growing expectation of personalization of services and products?  And what does Kevin's assertion that "the price of personalization is transparency" mean for our deeply held values and beliefs around privacy?

Important questions, and I don't pretend to know the answers.  I do know, however, that this thing we call the "web" has to large degree taken on a life of its own as more and more people, devices, and bits of information are caught up in it....so trying to change its course is almost certainly impossible.  I don't know whether all of Kevin Kelly's predictions will come to pass.  He is, however, someone whse intellect and perspective I respect.  With that in mind, watch the video and let me know what you think!

Adult Literacy- Why I Care

I've been thinking about why I care so much about the current threat to California's adult literacy programs.  Literacy has never been an issue in my family or among my friends, and it's not really an issue in the community PVLD serves...so why do I care more about this than I do about many of the other cuts to "social services" contained in the various budget proposals floating around Sacramento?

Part of it is personal.  I've written before about how important reading is to me and I actually can't remember a time when I couldn't read.  I grew up surrounded by avid readers on both sides of my family, and the fact that this trait was passed to the youngest generation is evidenced by the 50 or so books that my nieces and nephew bought at the Friends of the Library book sale when they visited us this summer! To me reading is like breathing - I can't imagine how you live without doing it.

It wasn't until I was an entry level librarian in my first professional job at the Pasadena Public Library that I realized that there are many adults in our society who can't even read enough to fill out a job application, get a driver's license, or help their children with homework.  That realization came to me thanks to my friend Vickey Johnson, which is the second reason I am so passionate about the topic.  Vickey and I went to library school together, and then worked together at Pasadena Public where she helped implement one of the first adult literacy programs in the State...funded in part by the then brand new State Library program that became the "English Acquisition and Literacy" program that is now under threat.  Vickey was passionate about literacy and reading, and took that passion with her when she later became Director first of the Sunnyvale Public Library and then of the San Mateo County Public Library.  Last May Vickey lost her long battle with cancer, and I can't think of a more fitting tribute than to protect public library literacy programs.

In addition to the importance reading has to me personally, and my desire to honor my friend Vickey's memory, I have had the opportunity to learn how literacy changes lives.  At Pasadena Public Library I had my first exposure to the transformative power that learning to read can have not only on the adults who struggle with functional literacy but on their entire families, and the stories that people who work in the adult literacy field tell are no different today.  The following case stduy comes from Fresno, not Pasadena, but there are thousands like it from across California:

Bette's Literacy Journey:  a success story (note:  Bette is not her real name)

Older adult; dropped out of high school in the 11th grade.  First language is English.  Lives in a small, rural Fresno County town that has only a post office and a library.  Assessed a first grade reading level when she started in 2004.

Goals met in 2005 - reading improved to 3rd-4th grade level:  Read the Bible.  Read for pleasure.  Read to her grandchildren.  Help grandchildren with homework.

Goals met in 2006: Used a map.  Voted for the first time.

Goals met in 2007:  Write checks.  Pay bills.  Read medicine labels.  Fill out medical forms.  Read the newspaper.  Access community resources.  Write letters to friends.  Read a bus schedule.

Now imagine your life if you couldn't do these things! Imagine the cost to the economy and society if as many as one in five adults can't do these things!

Finally, I know the power of words!  Just check out this video that has been floating around the Internet to see how the impact of the ability to use words effectively -

Now tell me that investing in literacy isn't one of the most important investments we can make....

When adults can't read - and what you can do to help!

I just got back from the California Library Association Legislative Committee meeting in Sacramento.  It was discouraging to hear how far apart the parties remain on budget issues, but for the most part the impact on libraries is not much different than it was a month ago.  The one very notable exception is that the recently released Republican proposal contains an option to eliminate the "English Acquisition and Literacy Program" for a savings of $4.5 million.

Reading the name of the program you might think that it is aimed at non-English speakers such as immigrants....it is NOT!  It is a 25 year old program administered by the state library to support public libraries in helping functionally illiterate native English speakers acquire basic literacy skills so that they can get a drivers license, fill out a job application, or read a story to their children.  In fact, by law this program does NOT provide English as a Second Language education!

800 public libraries participate in the program, serving 20,000 functionally illiterate adults each year.  The State funding provides only a small portion of the cost of serving these citizens - every $1 of State funding is matched by an average of $3 of local and/or private funding.  These funds combined allow libraries to hire program coordinators (usually part-time), train volunteer tutors, and purchase materials and supplies. The tutoring is done by volunteer tutors whose contributions have been valued at $16 million/year.  In effect this means that for an investment of $4.5 million the State gains nearly $30 million in value, and that value is realized in an additional 20,000 citizens who now have the ability to contribute more fully to the economy, raise better educated families, and vote! 

It appears that the rationale for cutting this program is that similar services are available through the K-12 education system, adult education programs, the community college system, and community groups.  This is simply not true.

The people served by this program are ADULTS who the K-12 education system has failed.  Returning to public schools is simply not an option.

There are very few, if any, basic literacy programs for adult English speakers offered through adult education programs.  Adult school-based literacy education tends to focus on English as a Second Language (ESL) - not the native English speakers served by the public library program in question.  Also adult school classes charge fees and typically meet at fixed times - both barriers to people who in many cases have limited financial resources and schedule flexibility.  These are also people who have in the past not performed well in formal educational settings leading to reluctance to go back to a school campus.

Community colleges do offer basic skills tutoring to enrolled students, but to access their services a person must (1) fill out an application (2) take an assessment test and (3) enroll in a class at a cost of $15/unit.  To someone with poor functional literacy the first two hurdles alone are enough to prevent access and the fee,schedule, and fear of formal education hurdles are the same as for adult schools.

It is true that some community groups offer adult literacy education, but these fall largely into two categories - ethnically-based community groups that offer English language education to non-English speakers, and groups such as our own local South Bay Literacy Council that in many cases work closely with public libraries and thereby benefit from the State funding.

In addition to being focused on English-speakers, the public library literacy programs are differentiated by the fact that they provide one-on-one or small group tutoring that is non-threatening to adults who are often reluctant to admit that they can't read and write and/or have been turned off by formal education; by the fact that it is driven by the students individual goals and aspirations (some want simply to get their drivers' license, others to read the Bible or get a job or continue their formal education) and by the fact that the tutoring is scheduled and located to meet the student's needs rather than confined to a class schedule and location(so someone working night shift, or with family responsibilities, can find a time and place that works for them).  And it works!  I have seen testimonial after testimonial from students whose lives, and those of their families, were transformed when they learned to read and write.

PVLD does not receive State literacy funding and does not have an adult literacy program as this is not a burning issue for our residents...but that doesn't mean we shouldn't care!  One in five Americans is functionally illiterate.  Think about what would happen in terms of employability, reduced reliance on welfare and government support, public health, and family life if everyone could read and write at a basic level.  And reading is becoming an even more important skill as we transition to a digital era.  People who can't read can't access the Internet, get email or text messages, or participate in the information economy.  Think about how different your life would be if you couldn't read!

The State funding provides only a portion of the cost of public library literacy programs, but it is an important part.  It typically funds a part-time staff member who can then work to procure local funding, apply for grants, and recruit volunteers.  Without this foundation the existing programs would crumble.

If you care, please let the Legislative Leaders and the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Budget committees (Denise Duchesny and John Laird) know that you believe that basic literacy is essential to a successful society and a thriving economy and that cutting the English Acquisition and Literacy Program is short-sighted.  And remind them that for an investment of less than $250 per adult learner they are reaping 5 or 6 times that in matching contributions and an incalculable economic and societal benefit.

Time is of the essence, so phone calls and faxes are preferred.  Contact information is below

Senate President pro Tem, Don Perata – (916) 651-4009 – phone,  (916) 327-1997 - fax

Senate Republican Leader, Dave Cogdill (916) 651-4014 – phone, (916) 327-3523 – fax

Senate Budget Chair, Denise Ducheny (916) 651-4040 – phone, (916) 327-3522 – fax

Assembly Speaker, Karen Bass (916) 319-2047 – phone, (916) 319-2147 – fax

Assembly Republican Leader, Mike Villines (916) 319-2029 – phone, (916) 319-2129 – fax

Assembly Budget Chair, John Laird (916) 319-2027 – phone, (916) 319-2127 – fax

Thank you!