PVLD Director's Blog

This very thoughtful talk by Sherry Turkle (thank you to Trent at The Simple Dollar for sharing) is well worth 20 minutes of your time. Once I got over my chagrin at how close to home many of Professor Turkle's points struck, I started to think about the role public libraries can (and already do) play in both being a place of real human connectedness and fostering the self-reflection that Professor Turkle asserts is so lacking in our world of technological hyper-connection. As we wrestle with what is our role in an increasingly digital world, we would probably be well-advised to keep this in mind.

Go Library! Visiting the libraries in the Los Angeles area

Ellen November, a PVLD volunteer and community activist, has begun a mission to visit and blog about libraries across Los Angeles County. She got the idea from Oleg Kagan, a Librarian at the County of Los Angeles Public Library's West Hollywood Library and husband of PVLD's own Ashley Kagan.

I'm looking forward to this virtual library tour! If you want to join along click here to view Ellen's Go Library blog..and share it with your friends.

Why are we (the library) here?

One of the things we have been talking about here at PVLD is what is the one overarching thing that we are trying to do as a library and how do we communicate that so that is the guiding force behind the actions and behavior of every employee and volunteer.

We don't necessarily mean a "vision statement" or a "mission statement" or a tagline...we already have one of each of those...but rather a simple articulation of why we are here.

The conversation is ongoing, but the more I think about the more I think that it is not about "access to information", or "reading" or "community center" or any of the other concepts that we in libraries often talk about.  What we are here to do is  make our community, and people's lives, better.

The wording may not be quite right, and the grammar could use some polishing, but at the end of the day if our community is not made better because of what the library does, and if the life of every person who comes through our doors or uses our services is not made better in some way small or large because of their interaction with us, we are not fulfilling our true mission.

For the community that means understanding its needs and problems, as well as its goals and aspirations, and finding ways to meet the needs, help solve the problems, or support the achievement the goals and aspirations through the resources, services, and programs that the library offers.

For individual people it means not only offering resources, services and programs to help them address their personal needs and problems or achieve their goals and aspirations but also doing what we can to make sure that every interaction with us enhances their lives.  That could be as simple as a smile and greeting to a lonely older adult or  or the speedy and polite resolution of an issue with their library account or the ability to find something enjoyable to read or a clean and comfortable place to study (or a clean restroom for that matter!)....or as complex as helping them research a medical issue or complete a homework assignment or learn a new skill or language.

The key is that whatever we do should pass the tests of making things better for our community and for every person we interact with.

At least that is what I think the real role of the library is....what about you?

23 Reasons Why The Library Is the Most Important Place In Town

Great article from Public Libraries magazine - Community Centered:  23 Reasons Why the Library is the Most Important Place in Town - but as Patrick Sweeney pointed out when he shared it on Facebook it is really too bad it was printed in a library magazine that is read by "the choir" rather than a mainstream publication.

...Which is why it was nice to see this article by Susan Hildreth, Director of the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services  and former California State Librarian, in the Huffington Post today.

Bottom line...libraries are still relevant, and we do matter.

 

Will libraries go out of business...gradually?

As expected, this holiday season saw an explosion in the sale of tablet computers and e-readers.  According to this article from MSNBC (shared by our Facilities Manager Charles Crouse), during December Amazon.com sold over 1 million Kindles of various types each week, and during the week between Christmas and New Years Eve over 20 million Adroid and Apple IOS mobile devices were activated and over 1 billion mobile apps were downloaded. 

We are certainly seeing the effects of this in the library, as patrons come in with their new devices seeking help with everything from connecting to our WiFi network to downloading e-books.  As I wrote in my earlier post, the staff is doing its best to help - our "Getting Started With E-Books" guide is prominantly featured on our website, we have invested in a selection of devices for staff training, and we will soon begin to offer small group (2-3 people) hand-on training to the public by appointment.  We also continue to beef up our e-book collection, which now has over 1,000 titles.

I'm sure we will make it through this wave in decent shape, but I am less confident about our institutional ability to respond to the tectonic shifts that are generating these waves.

 My friend Derek Wolfgram posted this article ("Why Best Buy Is Going Out of Business...Gradually") from Forbes on Facebook this morning.  It's about Best Buy's failures during the holiday season just past and what they say about the company's ability to survive in the digital age but, as Derek pointed out, the issues identified are as relevent to libraries as they are to retailers:

"Moving online required new thinking, new management structures, and new strategies.  It would also require integrated front and back-end information systems.  Customers would expect inventory to be transparent between the web and the stores, and that specials and “exclusives” would be consistent across all channels.  Whatever attributes they associated with a retailer’s brand—whether price, quality, convenience, expertise, service—would need to be translated to the online experience and enhanced.

To compete successfully against new online retailers, traditional retailers would also need to find ways to transform the expensive liabilities of physical locations with limited hours and high labor and inventory costs into assets that complemented rather than competed with the online experience.

...Amazon neither invented nor appropriated its basic strategies from Best Buy or anyone else.  It simply does what consumers want.  Best Buy does what would be most convenient for the company for consumers to want but don’t, then crosses its fingers and prays."

Antiquated back-end inventory and database systems that do not integrate seamlessly with the online experience, expensive physical locations with limited hours and high labor and inventory costs, inability to carry sufficient inventory to fulfill customer expectations, systems that are based on what we think the customer should need....sounds eerily familiar.

I know libraries and librarians across the country and around the world, and certainly here at PVLD, are working hard to fundamentally change our operating models so that we can surf the waves of technological change rather than being crushed as they crash over our heads...but I do worry that the changes are not as fast, or as fundamental, as they need to be.

 

The E-Book Wave

For the first 7 of my nearly 8 years at PVLD the most common question I got out in the community was "We have the Internet, why do we need libraries?"  This past year, the question has changed.  It's now one of several variations of "Why do we need libraries if we can get nearly every book we want on our Kindle?"

My response usually touches on the digital divide and the role libraries play in bridging it, the aesthetic value of print, and the fact that libraries also offer e-books and they are free...but I have to confess that my words usually sound weak even to me.

The truth is that, especially as we face the first holiday season in which the price point of decent e-readers is low enough to make them an extremely popular gift, it feels a bit like iwhen I am heading into the ocean for a swim and look up to see a giant wave about to break on top of me.

This time the wave is a technological one, but I suspect that the only safe response is going to be the same - dive as deep as you can, , let the wave tumble you around without fighting it, and hope you can keep your balance once you are able to get your feet on solid ground and your head above water.

The signs of profound change are everywhere, and as articles and blog posts like these make clear, they are disrupting the entire writing/publishing/content distribution ecosystem:

http://www.idealog.com/blog/how-many-christmases-until-we-see-a-whole-new-industry notes that the % reduction in sales at bricks and mortar bookstores is doubling every year -from a 1% decline in '09 to a 2% decline in '10 to an estimated 4-5% decline in '11....and probably 10% or more in '12

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/39210/  identifies the rise of consumer e-books as one of the 5 disruptive technologies of 2011

 http://ebookfriendly.com/2011/12/15/3-out-of-top-10-best-selling-kindle-books-of-2011-are-self-published/ points out that 3 of the top 10 bestselling Kindle books are self-published

http://copyrightandtechnology.com/2011/12/04/a-bleak-future-for-public-libraries-and-e-books/ provides insight into just how vulnerable public libraries are to some of the new e-book distribution models arising in the public sector

Just the fact t that these links reflect just a sampling of articles and blog posts that have been published in December alone is scary enough, but when I read the contents all I can think is that libraries are in no way prepared for the wave that is about to hit.

I'm pretty sure that the PVLD staff is not alone in heading into the holiday season knowing that as fast as we've tried to grow it our e-book collection can't meet current demand much less what we expect once all of those Kindle's are unwrapped; Overdrive, our e-book lending system, is not easy to use (especially when contrasted to just downloading an e-book from Amazon); and our staff is struggling to learn the quirks of all of the devices and is not as well-equipped as we would like to help patrons learn how to use them.

We're putting some plans in place to help us cope with the post-holiday wave, and we'll make it through the near term rough surf...but I'm honetly not sure how we, and all public libraries, will adapt to the fundamental changes rocking our world.  The one thing I do know, is that getting out of the water is not the answer... 

(Thank you California State Library for sharing the above links)

 

 

Turkey Jon

The Palos Verdes Library District serves a generally affluent community, and one that is a bit off the beaten path (far from a freeway, up a big hill, limited access by public transit) so unlike many public libraries we do not have many patrons who appear to be indigent or homeless...but we do have some.

Perhaps because seeing someone who appears homeless is not a common sight in our libraries, our patrons (and sometimes our employees) don't always know how to react.  We have had patrons ask if "people like that" should be allowed in the library  - the answer is yes, we are a public building and anyone is welcome to enjoy our facilities provided they comply with our policies.

It may be a sign of the continued economic pressures but recently we seem to have had more visits from people who appear to be homeless, along with incidents of use of our restrooms for bathing (not allowed), sleeping for an extended period (upright while sitting in a chair - allowed as long as it isn't interfering with anyone's ability to make use of the library in comfort), bringing in luggage or multiple bags (allowed as long as the person retains control of their items, does not block aisles or access, and does not interfere with others' use of the library), and severe odor due to lack of bathing (if the odor is so strong it makes use of the library unpleasant for others the person can be asked to leave). 

In these situations it can be tempting to react to a person's appearance and make assumptions about their personal situations - that the person in layers of torn clothing  or the one dragging a battered suitcase and caring several plastic bags of clothing is homeless - and then base our actions on those assumptions rather than the person's behavior as it relates to library use.

The reality is that appearances can be deceiving.  That is why I loved this article from the front page of yesterday's Los Angeles Times about "Turkey Jon" Burt, who is a familiar sight around the Beach Cities where I live.    Based on this description from the article, it would be easy to assume that Mr. Burt is homeless:

Burt is a huddle of clothes, hunched over the handlebars, white plastic bags hanging as sentries. "Stuff for the beach," he says of the contents.

He is wrapped in layer upon layer of warmth topped by a flannel jacket, ripped in places. Windbreaker pants fend off the stiff ocean breezes that come with sunrise.

Affectionately called Turkey Jon, he rolls along Hermosa Avenue. Rumpled, grizzled, wearing moccasins with his big toe poking out of the left one, Burt seems out of place in this town of bikinis and flip-flops.

And yet the reality is very different.  He has a home, a family who love him, and many friends. 

As I read the article I wondered, if Mr. Burt came to our library how would he be treated?  I hope it would be as a welcome guest, and not as someone to be viewed with suspicion.

Book Bike

Just because it is a beautiful day for a bike ride, and instead of  being at my desk writing my monthly report I wish I were out and about on one of these!  Thanks Patrick Sweeney for sharing

http://tucsonvelo.com/news/book-bike-will-take-library-for-a-ride/9635

Hard Choices

Like libraries everywhere PVLD has limited physical space and a myriad of demands for that space...with one of the biggest demands being the need to house all of the books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs, and even audio- and video-tape items in our collection.

With limited space and a constant influx of newly purchased items, the librarians are constantly "weeding" the collection of older items to make space for new ones.

We, like many other libraries, are also finding that in this era of downloadable and streaming e-books, audio, and video the demand for physical items is trending downwards, while the demand for space for people in the library is growing.

Taken together, these factors mean that each month we remove a large number of items from the library collection - over 5,000 in September alone. The decision to remove a book is never easy and we take a number of factors into consideration including its age, how recently it has circulated, whether it is a "classic" or the only available copy in ourlibrary or in our region, its condition, etc.

Once a book is removed we make every effort to dispose of it responsibly. Those that are in very bad condition sent straight to the recycle bin, but most are sent to the Peninsula Friends of the Library for their book sales. Those that can't be sold individually (and the market for used library books with their stickers, labels, and stamps isn't as big as you might think!) may be sold in bulk to the film industry for movie sets, to interior decorators seeking books with a certain "look", or to dealers. The remainder are often donated - they have gone to schools in needy areas, shelters for the homeless or battered women, the county jail, military hospitals, the local Boys and Girls Club, and many other places. After all of these avenues are exhausted a book in reasonable condition still may end up in the recycle bin...and when a member of the public discovers that we are "throwing away books" all h&*!&@ can break loose!

Deciding which books get removed from the library, and then deciding how to dispose of them, is one of those aspects of library operations that most people don't think about, so it was refreshing to find this article on the National Public Radio blog. It's a pretty good overview of the process many libraries go through in managing their collections.

The NPR post makes reference to this article from Cracked.com which is a bit more pointed and a bit less representative of how PVLD handles disposing of books, but is a succinct articulation of the challenges nonetheless.

I think most librarians feel that every book has value, and "getting rid of" any book is not easy, but making those hard choices is part of keeping our libraries and what they contain relevent to our communities...so we do the best we can to keep the things that should be kept, responsibly dispose of those that can't, and balance all of the competing needs for our physical spaces. In the process do some books get destroyed forever? The answer is yes....but what is the alternative? To become a mausoleum for books? I doubt our comunities will continue to invest in public libraries if that is what we are.

How would you handle this dilemma?

What is the life expectancy of the public library?

Later this week our PVLD management team and all of our full-time librarians are gathering for a discussion, facilitiated by Joan Frye Williams and George Needham, on the topic of what it means to be a professional in the 21st century.

As so often happens in the serendipitous world of the blogosphere, this morning I happened across a guest post on Tame the Web that pointed me to this challenging blog post predicting that public libraries will be dead within 15 years by Mike Shatzkin of the Idea Logical Company from a few months ago.  It's a response to media reports about a comment he made in a speech at the private Atwater Library in Montreal, and makes compelling argument that e-books will essentially kill the public library (what he calls the consumer library...as opposed to academic and other libraries with a more specialized purpose), and that all of the things our profession talks about as reasons for continued existance - unique local content, programs and activites, access for the underserved - will not be sufficient to justify the investment in our infrastruture, or alternatively will so fundamentally change what we are that the term "library" will no longer apply.

In his post Shatzkin systematically debunks many of the most cherished arguments of public librarians, as articulated very clearly by Gary Price, but agrees with Price on an important and intriguing point - "that  librarianship will be needed by people long after buildings full of books are not", requiring a whole new and as yet unimagined business model.

If Shatzkin is right and we need a new business model that is not about delivery of content in the form of books, or about bridging the digital divide, or about offering programs in a community center model,  or reliant on the creation, preservation and distribution of local content....what is it?

I'm looking forward to hearing what ideas our supervisors and librarians have when we get together later this week, and wish I had a clearer vision myself!