Over the past three years, staff and material budgets for local libraries in the United States have been decimated by the government entities that fund them. Yet a study by the American Library Association and the Gates Foundation found that over the past year, "Americans are making use of their libraries at steady or increasing rates" (The State of America's Libraries: A Report from the American Library Association). Can public libraries keep up with the demand for services and resources without the money to fund them? I'm beginning to doubt it.
Internet stations in my local public library are installed with Microsoft Office 2003. More and more customers are coming to the library with flash drives and documents more advanced than the library computers are able to handle. There is no money for computer upgrades. At what point will the library's infrastructure become obsolete?
“Computer and Internet access at public libraries connect millions of Americans to economic, educational, and social opportunity each year, but libraries struggle to replace aging computer workstations and provide the high-speed Internet connections patrons need,” said Jill Nishi, deputy director of U.S. Libraries at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “As demand for these services rise, public and private investment to support public access technology at libraries is more critical than ever.” (From The State of America's Libraries.)
Where will this public and private investment come from? We hear that the economy is improving, but as gas prices and rents are on the rise, salaries are not. Neither are library budgets. Even print materials are becoming outdated. For example, the most recent edition of a book on blogging that I found in my library system was published in 2006. I discovered that many of the links referenced in the book are now obsolete. If public libraries aren't funded at a level that enables them to keep their resources current, will they ever be able to catch up? What do you think?
Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Why Your Librarian Doesn't Like You
A while back LISNews shared a blog post on twitter by titled This Is Why Your Used Bookstore Clerk Hates You. I tweeted back, "I could write the list for why librarians hate you!" Most of what I deal with day-to-day working at a public library was never covered in graduate school. If it had been, I would have probably transferred to underwater basket weaving ... or at least IT. So here are 12 reasons why librarians wish certain people would go elsewhere.
1 - You consider us a babysitting service.
I noticed a young boy wandering the stacks alone for more than 30 minutes, so I went to talk with him. He was four-years-old. "My Mommy went to get gas for the car and then she is coming back," he told me. This is one of the worst cases I've encountered. Most of the time, the caregiver is at the Internet stations while their young child pulls all the DVDs off the shelves looking at the cover pictures, or plays tag in the stacks with a sibling. Sometimes it's an eight year old caring for their three year old cousin. As one mother told me when I called her to come pick up her two very young children, "I've taught my children how to behave in a library, and my babysitter knows that they're here, so what's the problem?" The problem: Librarians are not babysitters. We can't keep track of your kids and do our job. And we know all to well what you obviously don't -- not everyone in the library is a trustworthy member of society there to conduct library business.
2 - You cruise in and out several times a day to see who's hanging out.
There's nothing in the library you want, except to see who's hanging out. You case the joint, leave, and return an hour later. We notice you, and wonder at how boring your life must be. Why not grab a book and read? Or just go to the park across the street.
3 - You want to use the Internet computers but don't have a library card, any identification to obtain a free library card, or $2 for a guest pass.
All businesses require an ID and/or money in exchange for goods and services. The same is true at a library. It doesn't help if you argue.
4- You smell.
When I began working in libraries, I was told that, "body odor is not a problem behavior." We're taught to grin (meaning hold your breath) and bear it. Please. Your body odor is highly repulsive. It's difficult to assist you when we can't breathe in your presence.
5 - You put lots of books on hold then never come for them.
It's not a magical process. When you place a book on hold, that information appears on a daily report. Staff go to the stacks to look for each book placed on hold, take them to the back to scan, place hold identification slips in each book, cart them to the hold shelf, and shelve them alphabetically by your last name amidst the hundreds of other holds. If you don't pick up a hold, the title shows up on another report, and the process is reversed. It's a lot of wasted time and energy, reminiscent of moving rocks from one pile to another and back again.
6 - You take the DVDs out of the cases, put the cases back on the shelves, and smuggle the DVDs into your personal collection.
It's called stealing, and it reduces the amount of free material others can borrow.
7 - You use the library as your telephone booth.
Remember those? The library is not a telephone booth. We can hear your entire conversation, and it's disrupting those who are reading, studying, and working on the computers. Go outside. If it's raining, go sit in your car. If you don't have a car ...
8 - You use the library to conduct job interviews.
You're having a conversation. We can hear you, and so can everyone else who is there to conduct library business.
9 - You flirt with the library staff on your every visit.
If you're George Clooney or the like, we're okay with this. Otherwise, leave us alone. We don't want to see a picture of your chick magnet car. We don't want to be invited to accompany you to the Bahamas. We don't want to have coffee with you, or give you our telephone number, or hear about your marital problems.
10 - You don't silence your cell phone.
Once, it's a mistake. But twice, three, four, ten times -- so that by the time you leave we have your ring-tone memorized -- you're being disrespectful of all those in the library. We've posted signs to remind you: "Please silence your cell phone." As I tell my colleagues, when I become Library Queen, I'm going to ban cell phones from all libraries.
11 - You argue about every fine, every time.
You signed an agreement when you registered for your FREE library card. You agreed to pay fees on materials returned late, and to pay for the replacement of materials lost or damaged while checked-out on your card. What's amazing about this one is that usually those who owe big bucks -- like more than $50 -- pay up without any mouth. Those owing less than $1 usually argue the most.
12 - You are the reason we have to call the police.
Your young child is left at the library and we can't reach you; you kick the window in on the front door because we wouldn't issue a free guest pass; you yell loudly at staff to make an exception for you because no one will know -- except that everyone is now gathered around listening; you drop a bunch of uncased DVDs while heading toward the door; you get into a fist-fight with someone you cruised in to look for. Police calls result in stress and mountains of paperwork, which result in loss of sleep, which result in us liking you even less the next day when we're tired.
And you thought librarians worked with books!
1 - You consider us a babysitting service.
I noticed a young boy wandering the stacks alone for more than 30 minutes, so I went to talk with him. He was four-years-old. "My Mommy went to get gas for the car and then she is coming back," he told me. This is one of the worst cases I've encountered. Most of the time, the caregiver is at the Internet stations while their young child pulls all the DVDs off the shelves looking at the cover pictures, or plays tag in the stacks with a sibling. Sometimes it's an eight year old caring for their three year old cousin. As one mother told me when I called her to come pick up her two very young children, "I've taught my children how to behave in a library, and my babysitter knows that they're here, so what's the problem?" The problem: Librarians are not babysitters. We can't keep track of your kids and do our job. And we know all to well what you obviously don't -- not everyone in the library is a trustworthy member of society there to conduct library business.
2 - You cruise in and out several times a day to see who's hanging out.
There's nothing in the library you want, except to see who's hanging out. You case the joint, leave, and return an hour later. We notice you, and wonder at how boring your life must be. Why not grab a book and read? Or just go to the park across the street.
3 - You want to use the Internet computers but don't have a library card, any identification to obtain a free library card, or $2 for a guest pass.
All businesses require an ID and/or money in exchange for goods and services. The same is true at a library. It doesn't help if you argue.
4- You smell.
When I began working in libraries, I was told that, "body odor is not a problem behavior." We're taught to grin (meaning hold your breath) and bear it. Please. Your body odor is highly repulsive. It's difficult to assist you when we can't breathe in your presence.
5 - You put lots of books on hold then never come for them.
It's not a magical process. When you place a book on hold, that information appears on a daily report. Staff go to the stacks to look for each book placed on hold, take them to the back to scan, place hold identification slips in each book, cart them to the hold shelf, and shelve them alphabetically by your last name amidst the hundreds of other holds. If you don't pick up a hold, the title shows up on another report, and the process is reversed. It's a lot of wasted time and energy, reminiscent of moving rocks from one pile to another and back again.
6 - You take the DVDs out of the cases, put the cases back on the shelves, and smuggle the DVDs into your personal collection.
It's called stealing, and it reduces the amount of free material others can borrow.
7 - You use the library as your telephone booth.
Remember those? The library is not a telephone booth. We can hear your entire conversation, and it's disrupting those who are reading, studying, and working on the computers. Go outside. If it's raining, go sit in your car. If you don't have a car ...
8 - You use the library to conduct job interviews.
You're having a conversation. We can hear you, and so can everyone else who is there to conduct library business.
9 - You flirt with the library staff on your every visit.
If you're George Clooney or the like, we're okay with this. Otherwise, leave us alone. We don't want to see a picture of your chick magnet car. We don't want to be invited to accompany you to the Bahamas. We don't want to have coffee with you, or give you our telephone number, or hear about your marital problems.
10 - You don't silence your cell phone.
Once, it's a mistake. But twice, three, four, ten times -- so that by the time you leave we have your ring-tone memorized -- you're being disrespectful of all those in the library. We've posted signs to remind you: "Please silence your cell phone." As I tell my colleagues, when I become Library Queen, I'm going to ban cell phones from all libraries.
11 - You argue about every fine, every time.
You signed an agreement when you registered for your FREE library card. You agreed to pay fees on materials returned late, and to pay for the replacement of materials lost or damaged while checked-out on your card. What's amazing about this one is that usually those who owe big bucks -- like more than $50 -- pay up without any mouth. Those owing less than $1 usually argue the most.
12 - You are the reason we have to call the police.
Your young child is left at the library and we can't reach you; you kick the window in on the front door because we wouldn't issue a free guest pass; you yell loudly at staff to make an exception for you because no one will know -- except that everyone is now gathered around listening; you drop a bunch of uncased DVDs while heading toward the door; you get into a fist-fight with someone you cruised in to look for. Police calls result in stress and mountains of paperwork, which result in loss of sleep, which result in us liking you even less the next day when we're tired.
And you thought librarians worked with books!
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