Category Archives: public libraries

The importance of a local public library

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While we have a local public library where we now live, it isn’t that great in terms of its collection and physical space, especially its children’s area. Why the library isn’t better, I don’t know, but it isn’t because of lack of a tax base or sufficient funding, or so it seems to me.

It is really important to have a good local library, especially for our children. When we lived in Indiana, the local public library in our small town was a joke. We went there once during the three years we lived there. That was it.

Yesterday we decided to go farther afield to a couple of other public libraries where we knew we could get borrowing privileges. Brinley and Cohen loved seeing their children departments and had a lot of fun playing in an environment that was inviting, full of lots of interesting and fun things to do, and set up for people just their size. The difference between these libraries and our hometown library was striking. One of the libraries we went to also has a very large collection of homeschooling materials set up in its own special room. Very nice. We came home from there with armloads of books. Brinley asked me, “How much do these books cost?” She was quite excited when I told her they are free for us to borrow, and she immediately ran around the children’s area picking out all sorts of books to check out.

One other point that became clear to me yesterday as we visited these other public libraries is how much I dislike — even resent — the vagaries of each library’s circulation policies. One library we went to won’t let reciprocal borrowers check out several kinds of materials, for instance, whereas another one had no such restrictions. Another example is the difference in checkout times for certain materials in various libraries. Our local library only allows movies to be checked out for two days, whereas the other two libraries offered much longer checkout periods. Then there is the oddness of each library’s automation system, all of which are different. Our local library doesn’t even have an automated system. While I have a bit of nostalgia for the card catalog, it is not at all useful to me when I am at home and wanting to check on the library’s collection online. One library may require their specific barcode for patron records, another library may not allow the other library’s barcode to be used, and so forth. Yes, I know, libraries have a great history of cooperation and so forth but frankly it doesn’t go far enough anymore.

Behind the scenes: Technical Services in a public library

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Just found this rather corny video from the Arlington Heights (IL) Public Library showing what happens behind the scenes in technical services. It is helpful though because it shows the various functions included in technical services, most of which the general public has no clue about.

Embedded Video

Home delivery for libraries

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I was quite interested to read last night that a group of three nearby public libraries (Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Skokie Public Library and Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling) have decided to offer a new service to their users that gives them the option to check out library material via their websites and have the material delivered to the user’s home. Ah, but as Rick (Humphrey Bogart) says in the movie Casablanca to his ertswhile friend, Ugarte (played by Peter Lorre), “For a price, Ugarte, for a price.” I think this is a great idea and I would be interested in using the service as a user. However, I think the price (the article says it would be $4 per item checked out) is too high. Also, one of the participating public libraries stated that it would not encourage return by mail “because of the availability of 24 hr. drop boxes.” This, to me, is an example of where the library needs to think more clearly about the needs or wants of the user. In other words, I think this library is placing too much of a priority on what is convenient for it vs. what is convenient for the user. Think of the Netflix model. One of the main reasons for Netflix’s success, in my view, is the way that the whole delivery and return process is so easy.

So…a big thumbs up for these libraries that are willing to try something very new (and probably disruptive) in an attempt to better serve their users. Thumbs down, however, for the cost for the user to use this service, as well as for not finding a way (at least in one library’s case) to enable return of library materials by mail.

A public park for your brain

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Quote “overheard” from an excellent blog called It’s All Good, derived from notes jotted down during a live symposium sponsored by OCLC at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting (known as ALA Midwinter). The full quote was “It’s like a public park for your brain” and this statement was made by one of the presenters in the context of discussing the importance of libraries.

Ann Arbor (MI) District Library’s website

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I love the Ann Arbor (MI) District Library’s redesigned website, which is powered by Drupal, a highly useful, open source content management system. It serves as a model for building (and engaging) a community of users who are interested in library-related matters. I just wish my local public library would follow its lead ;-)

New library (finally) for Champaign, Illinois

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When I was a kid growing up in east central Illinois, Champaign-Urbana was “the big city” (actually, they are two separate cities). Ever since I can remember, my mother would took us to the public libraries in both cities (Urbana Free Library, and the Champaign Public Library). The current buildings for both libraries have been in desperate need of upgrades and expansions for decades. The current facility for Champaign was built in 1978. I can remember the previous building for the Champaign Public Library particularly for its insulated glass floors in the stacks. I thought they were pretty cool as a kid. (The building is still in use, but not as a library.) When the new facility opened in ’78 with a Bauhaus style design, we thought it was amazing and futuristic, “cool.” We used it all the time to check out books, magazines, and Super 8 mm. movies. (Yeah, this was in the days of 8 track stereo tapes and before VCRs were in widespread use. In other words, ancient history.) Both libraries were key in developing my love for books and libraries as I was growing up.Unfortunately, the “new” facility for Champaign quickly became outdated and worn out. I was really pleased when I read recently that a new, $29 million facility was approved and that construction will begin soon. I can’t wait to see the design and to read more about it. My family, who live in the area, still use that library quite a bit.Urbana is also nearing completion of an even more desperately needed expansion to its old facility. I’ve driven past it a few times when visiting family and like what I see.Long may library expansion continue, for these, and other, public libraries!

Blog session at Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium

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In an earlier posting I mentioned that I was going to a session on library blogs as marketing tools held at the Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium (GCLC). I also stated that I didn’t think I’d learn much from the session, which in retrospect sounds kinda snotty, and I didn’t mean it that way. What I meant was that I had already been delving into the blogging world quite a bit of late and had a pretty good knowledge base already. Turns out I did learn some things at today’s session, which is always a good thing ;-)

The presenter, Darlene Fichter of the University of Saskatchewan, did a good job of covering quite a bit of ground. For some reason, my boss and I didn’t realize that it was a videoconference presentation, but actually, aside from a few glitches, Darlene did as good a job via videoconference as if she had been there in person. I particularly appreciated her emphasis on establishing an editor and/or editorial guidelines for library blogs to which more than one person contributes. This is exactly the kind of thing I have set up for my library and her point helped to solidify some ideas I’ve had about how best to operate the whole thing. Darlene also emphasized the need to establish a particular “voice” or “niche” for a weblog. I’ve heard that before but her mention of it again helped me to think more about what “voice” or “niche” I would want my library’s weblog to have. She also pointed out the flexibility of a weblog in terms of being able to use the information posted to it in various ways. For instance, the output of a weblog could be in email form, delivered via a newsreader, presented as a static webpage, or fed into an institutional portal environment. The latter point in particular struck a chord with me because my institution is introducing a portal environment beginning with the fall semester. Overall this was a very thorough and well presented session and I’m glad we drove all the way over to Cincinnati to attend it. And an added bonus was Cincinnati itself; really a beautiful city with interesting homes and buildings built up on a bluff high above the river.

As an aside, I had a wireless laptop with me at the time and was surreptitiously looking at Library Stuff and some other weblogs to which I subscribe. Darlene mentioned Kansas City Public Library’s RSS feeds, and just a few seconds later, lo and behold, I saw Steven Cohen’s post at Library Stuff about that very thing. Talk about convergence!