PVLD Director's Blog

It's about the people

A couple of weeks ago I was at a meeting of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's Community Arts Committee, a group of arts teachers, school administrators, and community partners that meets periodically to discuss how to improve arts education in the school district.

One of the teachers said something that really struck a chord with me.  I don't remember his exact words, but they were something along the lines of "It's not the art project you made in 6th grade that you remember years later, it's the teacher whose skill and passion turned you on to art."  In short, it's about the people not the art.

Ever since I've been thinking about how that might just as well be said of school librarians.  Forty years ago when I was a shy kid in elementary school my elementary school librarian, Charlotte DeFirmian, was my hero.

 Mrs. DeFirmian introduced me to authors who became lifelong favorites, challenged me to read beyond my comfort zone, and by appointing me an unoffical library assistant made the library a refuge from tormenting peers and a troubling family situation.  In fact, Mrs. DeFirmian is probably the reason I am a librarian today.

We live in an era when California ranks near the bottom of the nation in funding for school libraries, when at the elementary and middle school levels most libraries are staffed by low-paid clerical employees who may or may not have the knowledge of children's literature and talent and skill for connecting kids with books that Mrs. DeFirmian had, and when many school are closing their school libraries or relying on volunteers to keep them open.  

It seems to me that we are at at the bottom of a downward spiral that started when we downgraded the school librarian from someone with the skill and training  to really engage kids with reading to a clerical or volunteer position focused on checking the books in and out...and that what the schools have saved in staffing costs has been more than offset in the loss to students.   It's not about the books, it's about the people...and I hope our schools will come to realize this.

Congratulations to our new State Librarian Stacey Aldrich!

I just heard that my friend and colleague Stacey Aldrich has been appointed the new State Librarian of California.  Stacey has been in the acting State Librarian since her predecessor, Susan Hildreth, left to become the Director of the Seattle Public Library last spring.  I'm thrilled!

Stacey, at the relatively young age of 39, has nearly 20 years of library experience as well as training and experience as a professional Futurist. 

I've had the pleasure of getting to know Stacey as a fellow mentor on the Eureka Leadership program and through working together on several taskforces.  She is energetic, smart, politically astute, and a lot of fun.

Her passion for exploring the further horizons of the future and trying to understand what it means for libraries, her commitment to nurturing the next generation of library leaders, and her commitment to finding ways to unite libraries across this large and diverse state are just what California needs right now and I am looking forward to working with her as she takes on this challenging task.

Congratulations Stacey!

Germany's Open Air Library - A model for the future?

Made out of beer cans, open 24 hours, integrated with a reading cafe and open air stage, no library card required, books taken and returned on the honor system...this article from Fast Company describes the new library in Magdeburg, Germany.  A somewhat more detailed description can be found in this article.

Community generated and operated, it offers a low-cost model of what many of us believe the 21st century library is about - open access, a focus on books and reading, community engagement, and a gathering space.

Reading between the lines it also seems to be missing many of the things we librarians hold dear -professional collection development, a catalog, a website, reference services, library cards and circulation systems...

It is also not clear what, if any, involvement there has been by professional librarians. 

It's a fascinating model of what a community library could be...exciting and energizing, but also a bit scary!

I'd love to know what you think.

21st Century Literacies

Thank you to Helene Blower of LibraryBytes for pointing me to this thought-provoking video of social media educator Howard Rheingold talking about 21st century literacies.  My past couple of blog posts talked about the challengethat people who don't have basic computer skills face in navigating our increasingly digital world.  Mr. Rheingold talks about how the challenge goes beyond skills to literacies, which he defines as the coupling of skills with using them in a meaningful way within a community.    

The video iteself is about 45 minutes long,  but for those who are interested in this subject it is a worthwhile investment of time.  In the library realm we have tended to focus on what we call "information literacy", and what Mr. Rheingold calls critical consumption or "crap detection", as the key 21st century literacy. This is certainly important, but I was intrigued by the other literacies identified in the video - 

• Attention - in a world of multitasking and myriad distractions, how do we make judgements about what to pay attention to?
• Participation - how do we use technology and social media to participate in the wider community
• Cooperation - how do we use technology and social media to engage others?
• Network awareness - how do we identify/build/participate in networks and recognize how our social media actions are transmitted via networks?

With regard to the "attention" literacy I was particularly struck by Mr. Rheingold's comment that the world of social media is "not a queue, it's a flow" - that unlike the world of email and other "point to point" messages which can be processed serially and need to be managed, the world of social media demands that we accept that we will not view or receive every message, and that we need to learn how to "sample" and perform a form of triage so that we get a feel for what is happening and respond to the important stuff without getting bogged down.  This is definitely an area where I am only semi-literate!

Mr. Rheingold questions whether the traditional educational environment is, or even can be, the place for developing these literacies...which of course made me wonder whether/if libraries could play a role.  Given that we struggle to be recognized even as a resource for the information literacy/critical consumption literacy that we see as core to our mission and have not yet come to grips with how to effectively help people build even basic computer skillsand comfort levels  I'm not sure how - but its something I want to spend some time thinking about.  It seems to me that starting with encouraging/helping our staff to gain these literacies is a starting point, though.

Anyway - here's the video (if it doesn't display click here for a link)

(and if you want to dive a little deeper into how to become an effective "crap detector" I recommend this article)

 

Imagine a community without a library

"What would our community be like if there were no public library?"  That is a question we have been asking community members as part of a Strategic Plan-driven project to understand community perceptions of the library and use this input to better position our services, programs, and messages.

Thankfully here in Palos Verdes it is a hypothetical question, but I was appalled to learn that for the citizens of Philadelphia it may soon become a reality, according to the website of the Philadelphia Free Library System.

I loved Cory Doctorow's post expressing his dismay over at BoingBoing.  What a great articulation of what public libraries offer communities and society as a whole, and what a tragedy that some communities are willing to give this up....

Web 2.0 and Social Media - Not Just a Fad!

Are "social media" like Twitter and Facebook a fad, or has the Internet ushered in a social and cultural revolution to rival the industrial revolution? 

Thank you to Stephen Abram for sharing this YouTube video that attempts to answer this question using data (with citations!)..watching with the sound off is recommended!

The video demonstrates how the Internet has grown much faster than media like radio and TV did.  What it doesn't address is how, unlike using a basic radio or television where the only skills required were turning on switches and changing channels or adjusting volume, the Internet requires a raft of skills from basic literacy to data entry to establishing and maintaing passwords to screen-based navigation.

I've been thinking about this alot as PVLD is experiencing first hand the challenges some (mostly older) customers have navigating the process of setting up their user accounts in our new SOPAC online catalog.  Our Digital Services Manager, David Campbell, is providing a lot of one on one coaching through this process and as he does he is hearing that these people also have a lot of difficulty with online activities like buying books from Amazon, or booking travel online.  In his experience they need more than classes or written instructions, they need someone to hold their hand and guide them as they use these new tools.

It seems to me that this is both a challenge and an opportunity for libraries.  On the one hand, we need to keep developing services and products that engage those who are comfortable in the online world of the "social web", and at the same time we need to support those who are not. 

I jokingly told David this afternoon that in his individualized support for people struggling with the new system he is the equivalent of an old-fashioned travel agent.  Thinking about it further, it strikes me that this is not just a funny comment, but a service model that we need to explore further....

Libraries of the Future

Kathryn Greenhill of Librarians Matter posted this interesting video on the future of academic libraries:

The video is the output of a year-long study on the Future of Libraries conducted by JISC, a United Kingdom organization that is dedicated to support the innovative use of digital technologies in higher education.

While the focus of the video is academic libraries, the themes are very familiar to public librarians and some of the concepts of what the library of the future will be ("a place", "a beehive") fit public libraries as much as they do academic ones....and even where there are differences we need to recognize that the college students of today are the adult library users of tomorrow and will bring their experiences and expectations with them. 

As always the question is what are we doing to meet the needs of this generation, and are we doing it fast enough?

Facing the competition

At a time when public libraries, including PVLD, are busier than ever it's easy to get lulled into thinking that our future is secure.  In an environment where we are thriving (from a usage if not from a funding standpoint) its easy to forget that there are real competitive forces that make the future less certain.

I was reminded of this in two recent blog posts on the subject of competition - one from David Lee King reminding his reader that libraries do indeed have competitors, and one from Kathryn Greenhill carrying on the conversation that David started.  

Kathryn makes reference to the closing of the last Virgin Megastore in New York City, and notes that in an increasingly digital world not even the store's role as a social gathering place could save it.  That's a sobering thought for libraries, again including PVLD, that have seen developing their role as community gathering places as a way of maintaining relevance.

The posts by David and Kathryn give a pretty good summary of the competition libraries face in terms of their services, but I think there are other sources of competition that may have just as significant an impact on our future.  These include -

Competition for funds.  For many libraries this means competing with police, fire, and other local services.  Independent library Districts like PVLD don't face that particular competition, but as we try to grow our fundraising and reduce our dependence on property tax revenues we clearly face competition from other non-profit organizations.

Competition for talent.  In the near term many libraries are having to lay off staff (fortunately PVLD isn't, and hopefully won't be, in this position) which because of seniority rules usually means the newest members of the staff are first to go and my fear is that once these new librarians leave we may not get them back.  In the slightly longer term there is a risk that perceptions about poor job prospects lead to a repeat of the recession of the 1980s when library schools across the country were closing due to lack of enrollment.  The future depends on our ability to attract and retain talented new professionals, so I see these as real competitive threats.  And of course despite budget pressures we need to continue to develop innovative new services not only so we keep up with our external competitors, but so the bright young hotshots of the future think of libraries as a cool place to work!

The competition for talent also means competition for volunteers.  PVLD has over 200 active volunteers, upon whom we rely for everything from fundraising to helping shelve books.  Many of these volunteers are older adults - stay-at-home moms from an era when that was commonplace who became active community volunteers after their children left home and men who began volunteering after they retired (which in many cases was at a younger age than may be possible for later generations).  In an era when most families have two working parents and people remain in paid employment longer I don't think we will be able to rely on the kind of volunteer support we have now.  Organizations wanting to attract future volunteers will need to provide volunteer opportunities that can be scheduled around work and family commitments, are seen to capitalize on and/or build the professional skills that people need for their careers, and are project- rather than commitment-based. 

Competition for time and attention.  A multi-tasking, Twittering, Facebooking, and increasingly mobile world offers lots of distractions as well as lots of new ways to reach people.  Libraries need to offer services that reflect the "continuous partial attention" that are the new reality, and to quickly adapt to new channels of communication as they come into favor (and abandon those that fall out of favor).

Competition?  There's plenty of it - and we can't let the current spurt of activity and use breed complacency or let budget pressures and stretched staff cause us to stop growing and innovating.  Not easy in the current environment!

 

Twitter and the transformation of communication

This TED video of Clay Shirky talking about "How Social Media Can Make History" has been floating around the blogosphere for little while now.  I just had a chance to watch it, and found it to be one of the most succinct and compelling descriptions yet of how the Internet is transforming not only traditional media but how people communicate and how organizations and institutions need to respond. 

The entire video provides food for thought, but I was particulaly taken by his description of a new world of what he calls media, and I would call information, that is produced locally (i.e. everywhere), by amateurs, extremely quickly (essentially in real time) and in abundance...and where it's distribution is not one to one, or even one to many, but many to many in a rich network of messages and conversations. 

Mr. Shirky's talk is in large part about how this change in the very nature of information and communication is making old models of institutional control of individuals irrelevent and driving new models of organization based on convening and supporting groups and conversations. He uses China's attemtps to control access to the Internet use as an example of the former (particularly relevent given news in the last day or so that China has suspended access to Twitter and Facebook to prevent the dissemination of information about ethnic riots in Xinjiang province) and Barack Obama's presidential campaign as an example of the latter.

He doesn't mention librarians or libraries at all, but I couldn't help thinking about what all of this means for a profession and institutions that originated to collect, organize, and disseminate information/media in a world that was the inverse of that being created by the Internet - i.e. where information/media were produced centrally, by "professionals", disseminated slowly, transmitted "one way" to a person or group, and scarce/expensive.  This model is at the very heart of the professional library disciplines of cataloging, collection development, and reference and I have to wonder how they will change in this new world.

My own view (as previously stated on this blog!) is that the role of the librarian will need to move from collecting, organizing (controlling?), and disseminating information to  fostering connections between people and to a large extent letting the information take care of itself.  We're already seeing this role emerge in the growing importance of library "programming" (speakers, events, and activities) programs in general, and at least here at PVLD we are particularly seeing an interest people in ongoing clubs (like PVLD's book groups, story times, history discussion group, chess clubs, etc.) and "series" type programs such as the concerts organized by librarian Ashely Burdick or the Cine-Monde movie series - which provide not only entertainment and learning opportunities, but foster intreaction. conversation, and relationships. Interestingly in our case these ongoing programs are increasingly supported and even led by volunteers and to an extent self-organizing.

I can see a future in which less an less of a librarian's time is spent on the traditional activities of collection management (which increasingly can increasingly be automated based on actual usage data and techniques such as standing orders) and reference (which becomes less important in a world where information and the tools to find it are ubiquitous and people feel capable of finding what they need on their own) and more time is spent as Mr. Shirky puts is "Creating an environment for convening and supporting groups".

And since the video doesn't always display correctly - here's the link! http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

More on why libraries matter

Yesterday at a meeting of volunteers who are helping us with our fundraising efforts one of the people in attendance reported that she had just had a conversation with a community member who questioned why we need libraries in the age of the Internet. 

Coincidentally today PVLD employee Kendel Cornwell told me that about this segment from the Today Show this morning.  It's as compelling a description of the important role libraries play as any I've seen!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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