Blog December Post 28/Blog12daysxmas Post 4 - Core Services?

Excuse my mistake yesterday with the number of Blog December post - it should've been 27 not 28 as 28 is today.

Today's Destiny Card is Care.

On the 4th day of Christmas.... I had an interesting twitter debate concerning core/traditional library services.  This meant that I started thinking about work, duh!

This then lead me to read the latest and final edition of APLIS.  Yes APLIS is no longer being published - which is a bit sad really as it always had some great articles focusing on Australian and New Zealand public libraries.

Anyway, back to the twitter debate.  One article out of APLIS caught my eye (well actually two articles but this was the first one): OUR LEARNING LANDSCAPE: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND
POSSIBILITIES Sue Roberts Chief Executive Officer and State Librarian, State Library of Victoria, Aplis 25(4) December 2012.

The article starts by saying: Libraries are operating in a rapidly changing information, pedagogic and technological environment. In this context, libraries have been redefined as facilitators of access to a world of information far beyond physical collections, providing access to global information through online resources and systems; many have also positioned themselves as facilitators of learning, with the emphasis on informal and lifelong learning, and as physical and virtual spaces for community engagement and connection.

I've sort of blogged about this before and fear I may be sounding like a bit of a broken record but what of the one person library or the libraries that require refurbishing or rebuilding but don't have the funds to do so - will they be left behind?  Will their communities be left without a library or a building full of books that is not being used?  What of our traditional/core services and what are they?

After a bit of searching via Google, I couldn't really find a list anywhere of core library services - I was looking for public libraries.  What are your thoughts on core library services?

Wood County District Public Library lists its core services as:

• Quality customer service
• Providing materials and resources that meet the needs and wishes of our diverse and growing community
• Babies & Preschoolers’ “Door to Learning”
• Sharing materials within the “Serving Every Ohioan” Library Consortium
• Bowling Green and Wood County history and genealogy information
• Connecting the collections to our communities through programming, literacy, bookmobile and outreach services
• Community gathering place

Do you agree with this list or does the list have to come from the community the library serves?  Does the community determine core services?

There is another interesting article in this edition of APLIS: DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS TO DELIVER LEARNING PROGRAMS: THE MOONEE VALLEY EXPERIENCE Troy Watson Manager Library and Learning, Moonee Valley City Council Victoria, Aplis 25(4) December 2012.

It discusses how through collaboration and partnerships, Avondale Heights Library and Learning Centre provides informal and formal training programs.

It seems to be a bit of a theme for libraries in Victoria to be developing learning and/or lifelong learning frameworks - I wonder how long before other states follow?

In my libraries, I know there is a need for basic computer training for the community.  How do I know this, because when I first started working here four years ago, the first thing I did was run computer training sessions.  Each session was fully booked - it wasn't that hard as I only had 7 computers to work with in one branch, five in another and four in another.  So it didn't allow for big numbers of attendees.  We also don't have laptops available for use.

I ran the lessons on my Monday - which is technically supposed to be a day for me to catch up on my managerial/running three branch libraries tasks and also attend team leader meetings/book selection at HQ.

In the end I burnt out.  The classes were not sustainable as I was the only one doing them and I had to play catch up with my other tasks.

Since then our library service has subscribed to an online computer tutorial program which is where we direct our library members when asked about computer lessons.  One of our local neighbourhood centres also runs one-on-one lessons at a cost.

I have thought about partnering with a training provider but as we are not set up with a computer training room or laptops - it won't really work well.  Also, I don't believe that those that need computer training the most are in the position to pay for the lessons - so who pays the training provider to run the lessons.

In one of my branches I don't even have the funding to run story time sessions - which I really do consider a core library service.  We had a volunteer doing it for a while but then they asked for employment or payment.  Again not sustainable.

I have a list of possible programs a mile long which I would love to roll out, but can't - not because the need isnt' there but because the resources aren't there nor is the funding.  And don't you worry I keep my eye out for grants all the time - but most ask for some in kind or dollar for dollar funding commitment which won't/can't happen and then if you do get the funds how do you make the program sustainable?

I'm sure I'm not the only one with these challenges and I'm sure that someone out there has a creative mind that may be able to suggest things to overcome these challenges - I'm open to suggestions.

The other thing that I always think about when it comes to library programs in my community is often when we do surveys the community will always say we are doing a great job and they are happy with the services already offered.  My question is - how do they know what they are missing out on if they have never had it on offer before?

Sorry for the long post and ramble and a bit of whinging - which really didn't have much to do with the destiny card of Care - but I care for my communities (as mentioned previously the three libraries I manage all have very different communities) and I care for my library service - which is probably why I get so torn up when discussing programs and resources and funding.

Blog December Post 5 - Future vs Reality

So I really did post yesterday's post before reading the latest issue of Incite.

If you haven't read it yet, it discusses the future of libraries.

In the Opinion piece, Seth Godin says: The next library is a place, still.  A place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together.

My question back would be, what happens to all the libraries that exist that do not have the space to be a place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects?  I have branch libraries that you can barely swing a cat around in - and I can't really believe that the book collection will shrink so much that we can remove the shelves and become a space.

Who will fund the new furniture and technology required to become this.  With local, state and federal budgets being so tight and libraries being at the end of the priority line - where will the money come from to create these spaces??

While I do see new libraries moving this way - what happens to the old?  Do those communities miss out because of lack of funding?

Or in my case we have youth hubs popping up that are providing those spaces for the youth - what of the library?

And then I go back to looking at my libraries and I don't see people using the library space as a space they come together to work.  I see the library space where people use the public computers, sit and read the paper but the majority come in, choose their books and leave.

Another article mentions offering programs.  What of the one person library?  I have a branch where I can't even offer storytime because we don't have the funding to provide an extra staff member for an hour a week to provide this service.

I've been told to use volunteers but we have tried this in the past and it is not sustainable as the volunteer eventually moves on or wants to be paid.

I don't mean to be negative, and I'm happy for people to come back at me with "buts" and suggestions.  Today I just have an issue with looking past the reality of our situation.  And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I am optimistic that one day the funding will rain on us and we will build new buildings enabling us to be creating spaces and have more than one staff working.

But unfortunately, today the realist in me spoke!!

Public Libraries NSW Imagine Conference Part 1

I promised I would do a post about the conference and I really need to force myself to reflect somewhere other than just in my head. The problem is that my tweeting was my note taking. Now it is hard to access my tweets as they are in the past and Twitter has issues when you keep trying to go back in time because it's about the "now." And since my laptop is so old I was unable to try to capture tweets using Storify - I say "try" because I've never done it before. Anyway, I will do my best.

In a nutshell, the conference was pretty much all about reading. Which since it is the National Year of Reading, it was timely to be discussing reading.

Dr Alex Byrne (State Librarian and Chief Executive of State Library of NSW) kicked off the conference with a keynote titled Imagine a 21st Century Public Library Network for NSW.  Alex started his talk commenting about the State Library's role of providing memory of past, and collecting new memories for the future.  He spoke of how they have been successful in gaining some grants/funding to focus on digitisation and how SLNSW has a role in capturing informal content such as blogs, emails, tweets etc and the challenges faced in doing this.

The talk then moved on to SLNSW relationship with public libraries in NSW.  He asked us to think about how we can reach more people.  Public libraries in NSW currently have 46% of the population as members of a public library.  He said our network is bigger than McDonalds and that for every $1 spent on public libraries it equals $4.24 in economic benefit - see more about that here at Enriching communities.  He felt that for us to push the importance of public libraries, Public Libraries NSW Association, Public Libraries NSW Metropolitian and the State Library have to work together as one voice.

He pushed Local Governments to invest more than the current $1.85 per person in public libraries and public library staff have to better communicate the role of the public library to the community.  He recognised that LGA's cannot provide public library services alone and that statewide access to resources is important.  This is where the talk got interesting as Alex discussed that a public library network should not only be local it should be state, national and international.  And perhaps the one card one library is not that far away.  See my previous blog post on this dream of mine.

We must speak with one voice and work in unison.

Well here I was thinking that I would get through more than one speaker in this post but due to time restraints I've barely touched on the conference.

I'll be back with more thoughts from the Public Libraries NSW conference.

Library Politics

Since moving from Qld to NSW I have been struggling with the close relationship with Council councillors and libraries. The Public Libraries NSW association is divided into Zones - our library service is part of the North East Zone. Our Zone has a full Zone meeting twice a year and a managers meeting twice a year. I attend the full Zone meetings and the Regional Librarian attends the managers meeting. The meetings are held in May and October - one on the coast and one inland - usually inland in May (cold) and coast in October (so we can swim!!).

My Council has a councillor who is nominated to be the library representative. The councillor attends the Zone meeting with me. This is the same in all the member Councils of Public Libraries NSW association. The same councillor also attends the association conferences with me.

This was very new to me. I am unsure if the same happens in other states but I believe the reasoning behind this is so that the other Council councillors are aware of what is going on in the library world and they can lobby for us. Councillors have better access to local members of parliament and are used to speaking the speak. So does this happen in other states?

Now I mentioned before that there are two public library associations in NSW - Public Libraries NSW (formerly Public Libraries NSW - Country) and Public Libraries NSW Metropolitan (my linking is not working correctly so http://www.nswmpla.org.au/). For many many years there as been negotiation back and forth between the two associations to merge and become one voice. I am not fully aware of the history so I can't comment too much - although I do believe that there are less councillors involved in the metropolitan assocation then in the country association.

Since the negotiations continue to fail - Public Libraries NSW decided to open membership beyond country libraries and invite all public libraries in NSW to join. Apparently there has been some movement of metro libraries from their association to ours.

The other thing I found interesting after moving here is the attitude towards ALIA. I noted that even though some of the country librarians are members they don't necessarily think that ALIA supports public libraries enough.

I have noted that ALIA has done some pretty good lobbying on behalf of public libraries in the past few years. It did help that there was a public librarian as the President but I feel that this has continued. When prompted I can't get a list of what they think ALIA should be doing - just that they don't feel they are doing enough.

Personally I think ALIA has been doing quite a lot for public libraries - especially in getting our representation on the table for things like the NBN, NYR2012, and the Library Initiative to name a few. There has been some successful lobbying for library funding in other states - not sure why NSW has not been tackled, especially when our state funding is the lowest in Australia. Maybe we, as a state, haven't put our hand up to ALIA for assistance - again I'm not sure son can't comment.

There was a comment made recently at our association AGM concerning the represenation of public libraries in the recently published Book Industry Strategy Group final report http://www.innovation.gov.au/Industry/BooksandPrinting/BookIndustryStrategyGroup/Documents/BISGFinalReport.pdf
Especially when it came to this quote from the report:
"But the very concept of a public library is currently under threat and may appear to some readers as remote as the medieval monastery, especially when they can access the contents of the Library of Congress from their iPads. The Fisher Library of the University of Sydney plans to eliminate 500,000 books from its collection. The University of New South Wales Library is converting library space to lounges, which are more friendly to people using ereaders. It is difficult to imagine any government in 2011 committing large sums to the construction of new libraries."

It was asked why this quote, especially the last sentence was included in the report and why the representatives of public libraries did not disagree with this statement. As many of the NSW public libraries apply for building funding via the State Library Development Grants - having this quote circulating around probably doesn't assist the case in getting funding for new libraries.

The reply was that there was an opportunity for public libraries to respond to the draft report but there were few submissions received. There was then the comment that many people didn't see the call for submissions - so really who is to know who is at fault?!? Often the call for submissions allows little time to put one together. Do others agree?

Anyway, these are the political things I struggle with since moving to NSW but I am interested to learn about what happens in other states - even in other industries.

Do you think it is a good idea having councillors involved? Do you think we should have less associations and one that speaks for all? Do you think ALIA does a good job in speaking for all?