PVLD Director's Blog

Smarter Giving - anyone can be a philanthropist

PVLD's proeprty tax revenue base only covers about 88% of our operating expenses, and the funds raised by the Peninsula Friends of the Library enable us to sustain a level of library service well beyond what we could achieve with tax revenues alone.

Fundraising in a community like Palos Verdes can be challenging given the large number of local non-profit organizations seeking funding (I think I counted 24 of them at the inaugural Non-Profit Roundtable hosted by the Chamber of Commerce this week!)....and these are just the very local organizations.  A great deal of financial support also flows off the Peninsula to alma maters, and to regional and national organizations.

Last year several non-profit organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in our community (the Peninsula Friends of the Library, the Peninsula Education Foundation, the Palos Verdes Art Center, the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, H.E.L.P., Caring House, and the Norris Center for Performing Arts) came together not to solicit funds, but to educate community members about how to make the most effective use of their donated time and dollars.

The speaker was Ed Long, current Library Trustee and co-founder of the nationally recognized H.E.L.P. organization that provides low-cost legal and financial advice to older adults and their families.  Ed is extremely knowledgeable on the topic of how to be a "smarter giver" and a terrific speaker to boot.

Over 50 people attended the first sessions at the Peninsula Center Library last November, and the feedback was terrific.

Next week the group is sponsoring another Smarter Giving seminar on Wednesday, May 6 at  4:00PM at Ridgecrest Intermediate School in Rancho Palos Verdes.  As an added bonus, 35 lucky participants will receive a copy of the book Inspired Philanthropy to help them plan their future giving.

No sales pitches, no solicitations...just a wealth of information to help you make meaningful contributions to worthy causes, even in these difficult times! 

Playing around

It's been a long week and my thoughts are turning to how to recharge my batteries this weekend. I came across this post from the Slow Leadership blog that reminded me of the importance of play, and in turn made me remember that I had tucked away this presentation by  Helene Blowers of LibraryBytes for future reference (note that for some reason it doesn't show the full screen on the blog page...just click on the title to get the full picture!

BPL: Libraries, Learning & Play

View more presentations from hblowers.

I'm planning to go out and blow some bubbles this weekend...what about you?

Five questions for the future of libraries

I'm at a workshop listening to Interim State Librarian talk about trends that libraries need to think about as we design our services and Programs.

She started by proposing that we think about 5 questions, the answers to which could give us clues about how to evolve what we do.

The questions-

1. How do people know things?

2. How do people find and use information?

3. What is community?

4. What is learning?

5. What is leisur and entertainment?

And underlying all of these is the fact that all of these things are very different than they were when most of our services were developed.

The trends Stacey is currently presenting also provide lots of food for thought. I'm going to see if she'll share her presentation so I can post it!

Social media and music - the YouTube Symphony Orchestra

Following my last post on the legitimization of social media I was fascinated to come across information about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra - an example of how social media can be used to connect performing artists in surprising ways.

Musicians around the world were invited to submit YouTube videos of themselves performing a piece written by composer Tan Dun specifically for this event.  Thousands of submissions were received from around the world, out of which a panel of professional musicians selected the members of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Symphony members were flown to New York where they practiced together for several days and then performed Tan Dun's "Internet Symphony, Eroica" last night at Carnegie Hall.

Not being musical myself I have no idea whether the Internet Symphony and/or the performance are good, bad or indifferent but I was fascinated by the idea of using freely available social networking tools to create an orchestra from scratch...and this mashup of the individual performances is pretty cool too!

I wonder how many other ways this idea can be applied?  Maybe performing a play via a mashup that stitches together video of cast members who might be scattered across the globe, or assembling a dance troupe via YouTube auditions...libraries could even do programs where they invite community members to submit videos of themselves reading poetry or performing music and then assemble the videos into a mashup and show it on a big screen or via the library website.  Fun to think about!

Legitimizing social media/"Web 2.0"

How do you know that social media are now truly maintstream?  When use of social media is recognized by academic institutions as a valid criteria for gaining tenure.  The University of Maine (my husband's alma mater) recently adopted guidelines for giving academic recognition for contributions to social media  - a sign that even tradition-bound institutions like universities are recognizing the legitimacy of social media.

Another sign?  Encyclopedia Britannica's decision, reported in the Boston Globe, to allow subscribers to edit its contents along the lines of Wikipedia.

When even tradition-bound institutions like universities and 241-year-old encyclopedias (which, by the way, makes Britannica much older than our treasured Dewey Decimal system!) are using social media to transform concepts at the heart of their institutional identities it's a pretty clear signal that libraries should do the same...

Libraries on the front lines of the recession

  For all those who wonder if there is a role for libraries in the age of the Internet - here's more compelling evidence of why we matter.  Librarian Eva Gronowska of the Southfield Public Library outside of Detroit has written an amazing and moving description of how the recession has affected her work and her community in the April 6th issue of Newsweek. 

We are seeing the same trends even in a relatively affluent area like the Palos Verdes Peninsula - more job-seekers using our computers and other resources; books on personal finance, frugality, and related topics flying off the shelves of our "rainy day" display; and library use that grows each month.

On a Friday afternoon at the end of a very long week Ms. Gronowska's article was a heartwarming reminder of why we are here...and that at the heart of the myriad roles we play for our communities is the most important of all, "a bastion of hope".

The "Sixth Sense" - the future of information

PVLD volunteer extraordinaire Gene Roeder forwarded me this video from Ted.com.  It's a stunning example of how the way people interact with information may be transformed in the not-too-distant future, and has profound implications for libraries. 

Watch the video, and then imagine a world where people go to the shelves, pick up a book, and immediately see how closely it matches their personal likes and dislikes.  Or where there is no such thing as a "computer" that sits on a table because everyone is wearing all the computer capacity they need.  Or where no library cards are needed because people's account information is automatically transmitted to our systems when they approach the Circ desk.  Or where micro-GPS information enables people to select an item from our catalog by typing it into the catalog screen projected on their hand, and then be guided to exactly where that item is located on the shelf.

 

Amazing!  Now let your imagine run free and think about what libraries will need to do to serve people in the world of the "sixth sense"!

The Darien Statement on the Library and Librarians

When I was in library school back in the mid-1980s a group of us (including our Dean) spent endless hours discussing and debating the essence of librarianship...you know, the kind of discussions you have in grad school when you are with a bunch of bright, committed people hanging out in places like student lounges and local bars.  I loved those discussions and the sense that we were talking about the very future of our profession...and the role that conversation and dialogue played in advancing ideas.

Today I got a little frisson of recognition when I came across posts on a number of library blogs talking about the just issued "Darien Statement on the Library and Librarians" - a manifesto of sorts that was written by John Blyberg of the Darien Public Library, Cindi Trainor of Eastern Kentucky University, and Kathryn Greenhill of Murdoch University in Western Australia in one of those frenzies of collaborative inspiration that can happen when like minds meet (in this case in person and then using an amazing array of virtual tools).

The manifesto itself is an astounding piece of work that reflects much of what has been bouncing around in my head for the past few years and addresses not just what libraries/librarians are but what we need to become...and just reading the posts on the process by Cindi and Kathryn about the process brought me back to those intense library school conversations.  John, Cindi, and Kathryn put the Statement out there to stimulate more of just those kinds of conversations, so here it is!

The Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians
Written and endorsed by John Blyberg, Kathryn Greenhill, and Cindi Trainor

The Purpose of the Library

The purpose of the Library is to preserve the integrity of civilization.

The Library has a moral obligation to adhere to its purpose despite social, economic, environmental, or political influences. The purpose of the Library will never change.

The Library is infinite in its capacity to contain, connect and disseminate knowledge; librarians are human and ephemeral, therefore we must work together to ensure the Library’s permanence.

Individual libraries serve the mission of their parent institution or governing body, but the purpose of the Library overrides that mission when the two come into conflict.

Why we do things will not change, but how we do them will.

A clear understanding of the Library’s purpose, its role, and the role of librarians is essential to the preservation of the Library.

The Role of the Library

The Library:

• Provides the opportunity for personal enlightenment.
• Encourages the love of learning.
• Empowers people to fulfill their civic duty.
• Facilitates human connections.
• Preserves and provides materials.
• Expands capacity for creative expression.
• Inspires and perpetuates hope.

The Role of Librarians

Librarians:

• Are stewards of the Library.
• Connect people with accurate information.
• Assist people in the creation of their human and information networks.
• Select, organize and facilitate creation of content.
• Protect access to content and preserve freedom of information and expression.
• Anticipate, identify and meet the needs of the Library’s community.

The Preservation of the Library

Our methods need to rapidly change to address the profound impact of information technology on the nature of human connection and the transmission and consumption of knowledge.

If the Library is to fulfill its purpose in the future, librarians must commit to a culture of continuous operational change, accept risk and uncertainty as key properties of the profession, and uphold service to the user as our most valuable directive.

As librarians, we must:

• Promote openness, kindness, and transparency among libraries and users.
• Eliminate barriers to cooperation between the Library and any person, institution, or entity within or outside the Library.
• Choose wisely what to stop doing.
• Preserve and foster the connections between users and the Library.
• Harness distributed expertise to serve the needs of the local and global community.
• Help individuals to learn and to use new tools to create a more robust path to knowledge.
• Engage in activism on behalf of the Library if its integrity is externally threatened.
• Endorse procedures only if they guide librarians or users to excellence.
• Identify and implement the most humane and efficient methods, tools, standards and practices.
• Adopt technology that keeps data open and free, abandon technology that does not.
• Be willing and have the expertise to make frequent radical changes.
• Hire the best people and let them do their job; remove staff who cannot or will not.
• Trust each other and trust the users.

We have faith that the citizens of our communities will continue to fulfill their civic responsibility by preserving the Library.

Lets honor John, Cindi and Kathryn by keeping the conversation going...tell me what you think!  Have they captured what we are all about?  Is there something missing?  Something that makes you uncomfortable?  Something about the Statement you love?

Things Could Always Be Worse

Things have been pretty stressful here at PVLD as we face serious budget challenges due to much lower projected revenues; work to maintain service levels in the face of growing library use and staff absences due to illness, jury duty, and other unforeseen circumstances; and still work on longer term projects like the new Strategic Plan and addressing long-term facilities and technology needs.  Employees have been doing more with less and working extremely hard in the process.

I'd been feeling a bit discouraged until I read this article from yesterday's New York Times about the truly dire and sometimes dangerous circumstances that other libraries are facing.  I have always known in my head that, tough as things seem, we at PVLD are blessed but this article made me feel it in my heart.