Posted in Uncategorized at 4:03 pm by Leonard Kniffel
Any managers in Libraryland who tell you they are not concerned about revenue and expenses for 2009 are clearly in denial. But while we must all plan for tight financial times, the trick is understanding what to expect. Still on a high from the I Love My Librarian awards, I’ll soon be caught, along with the other unit managers at ALA, in the throes of preparing the 2010 budget. My approach is going to be one of constucting a number of possible scenarios, all beginning with the word “if”: If advertising declines…, if conference attendance drops.
This morning, I received an e-mail message from Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. Carnegie supports the I Love My Librarian awards, and I had talked with Gregorian in New York during the presentation, and for Inside Scoop in October when the financial meltdown began. I’m sure he recognized the angst in my voice, along with countless others who are trying to figure our how the financial folly on Wall Street will trickle down to Main Street, which may have prompted his message. It seems designed to send us into a new and uncertain year with our eyes on the prize, namely delivering the services that the public wants in ever-growing numbers. Here’s what he said:
As we begin a new year with hope and anticipation, we must recognize that the economic crisis we are experiencing has affected every sector of American society and caused turmoil in the world economy. No sector has been immune to the downturn, not you and not Carnegie Corporation of New York. Given the gravity of the situation, we know that there are no simple answers to the challenges that we all face. What is certain, however, is that we remain committed to our grantees and to carrying out Andrew Carnegie’s vision of philanthropy by building on his major concerns: international peace and advancing knowledge and understanding. We have been dedicated to this work for almost a century now and have continued to invest in our grantee partners through times of great social, economic and international change. Continuing to do so remains our paramount goal. We are focused today on making certain that all our grantees working on issues critical to our mission know that they can continue their vital work, aware that Corporation support will be there for them. Most important of all, we are committed to fulfilling all the grants that have been approved by the Corporation
Sincerely
Vartan Gregorian
While later than we’d hoped (there were difficulties both in getting the raw footage and in getting the necessary approvals), we finally have video from the I Love My Librarian Award ceremony, held December 9 in New York City.
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:57 pm by Leonard Kniffel
I received an e-mail message earlier this week from Dick and Marjorie Waters of Godfreys Associates, library consultants in Rhode Island, letting me know that they had send a letter to the Rhode Island congressional delegation—Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Representatives Patrick Kennedy and Jim Langevin.
“With all due respect to ALA President James Rettig,” Dick Waters says, “a $100 million stimulus package is far too modest for what is needed.” He was referring to the ALA announcement that the Association’s Washington Office is asking for a $100 million stimulus package to aid the nation’s working families during the current economic crisis.
Waters attached a copy of the letter describing instead a $5 billion package for public library construction plus a second piece to make sure that state aid is not lost in those states where such aid is provided. “Perhaps American Libraries and/or the Association can encourage its readers to contact their congresspersons to support a public library initiative in President-elect Obama’s stimulus plans,” he urged.
Waters attached a copy of the letter to Rep. Kennedy, which reads as follows:
Mr. Kennedy, these are difficult times that many—probably most—of us are facing. Bold, decisive, caring action needs to be taken. We believe our new President will put forth a plan that is bold, decisive, and caring. We urge you and Representative Langevin—and your colleagues across the aisle in the House of Representatives and in the Senate—to support his plan and to work hard to include our suggestions presented herein.
The number one reason for supporting the economic stimulus package we are suggesting in this letter is our children and their education. Four points to be made:
1. President-elect Obama campaigned – and continues to promote – the need to improve education in the USA. We could not agree more. Public libraries are a very important component of the educational fabric of this country.
2. For the youngest of us, the public library can be – and quite often is – where the educational process starts via a wide variety of programs, activities, books, and other learning aids and methods for children from the cradle to the start of kindergarten or pre-K. It is difficult to provide quality programming in buildings that are too small, inadequately furnished and equipped, not energy efficient, etc.
3. In increasing numbers, parents are home schooling their children and the public library is one of the major resources they turn to. They pay local taxes for public schools and their local public libraries. They benefit from the latter.
4. It is widely speculated here in Rhode Island that the State will eliminate, or drastically reduce, the aid to local governments in order to close the budget gap. This could mean each Ocean State public library might lose as much as 20 percent (20%) of its operating revenue. Hours would be reduced, programs suspended, book purchases curtailed, etc. The educational aspect of local libraries would be harmed – and thus so would our children!
Within the next 45-60 days you, Representative Langevin, and other distinguished members of the United State House of Representatives will be presented with a very large and—we sincerely hope—comprehensive economic stimulus bill designed to put folks to work, improve our infrastructure and the buildings where are children endeavor to learn, in short, start the process of digging ourselves out of the recession – or should we dare say depression—this country of ours finds itself in.
We urge you to support the bill after you have had an opportunity to study it carefully, ask the questions that need to be asked, and get answers to your questions. To do anything less would be a disservice to all.
The reported speculation re what the bill will contain has centered on rebuilding our roads, bridges, and school buildings. All worthy causes, all real needs across this great land of ours – and especially needed here in The Ocean State.
To this we strongly urge you, Mr. Langevin, and others in the House to consider the following as most worthy additions to the package that will constitute the economic stimulus bill.
A. Add $5 billion for public library construction projects with the following provisions:
1. Local government and/or 501 C (3) organizations MUST provide the land and retain ownership of the land.
2. Local government and/or 501 C (3) organizations MUST provide 25 percent of the total project costs (site preparation, hard construction, furniture and equipment, technology, permits, and architectural fees).
3. Local governments and/or 501 C (3) organizations WOULD receive Cash Grants equal to 50 percent of the total project costs and a LOAN equal to 25 percent of the total project costs, said loan to be re-paid within ten (10) years of completion and the official dedication of the project. The loan would carry a simple interest rate of five percent (5%).
4. The maximum amount of a federal grant plus loan would be $25 million per project.
5. The local building project must have completed adequate planning and have construction documents ready to bid within six months of receiving funds.
6. Funds would be channeled through the respective state governments – but the states would not have “veto” power.
7. A pre-qualification process for selecting contractors would be strongly suggested in order to prevent local government and/or 501 C (3) organizations from awarding contracts to the low bidder which can all too often result in inferior construction and/or far too many change orders as the low bidder tries to recover from his/her unrealistic original bid.
B. Provide to each state that has a state aid program for local public libraries a direct grant equal to the total amount of state aid distributed the past two fiscal years (either FY06 & 07 or FY07 & 08) with the following provisions:
1. The funds would be distributed per existing rules and regulations in each state except that the requirement that the local municipality (or county as the case may be in some states) fund in FY08 & 09 or FY09 & 10) at the same level as the immediate past fiscal year be set aside until we come out of this economic crisis.
2. The funds would be distributed over two years in equal amounts each year.
3. Local public libraries would file a report per existing rules and regulations that documents how the funds were used, etc.
4. Any unexpended funds would be returned to the Federal treasury with simple interest at five percent (5%).
Mr. Kennedy, here are the benefits of what we are proposing:
1. The construction projects will have positive economic impact locally and nationally. Local architects and contractors will get work designing and building the libraries; firms that manufacture library furniture and equipment will have work; raw material suppliers will benefit, and technology companies will have computers, printers, scanners, etc. to make and sell.
2. Many small and inadequate public library buildings will be replaced with either (a) a totally new facility or (b) an expanded and renovated facility.
3. Those buildings that are replaced – in some instances – may be able to be put back on the tax rolls for other uses thus adding a bit to the assessed valuation of local, county, and/or state governments.
The above, while we believe is quite valid, is not the number one reason for supporting this economic stimulus package. The number one reason, as stated above, is our children and their education. We cannot afford to do any less.
I asked Emily Skeketoff, director of the ALA Washington Office about the amount ALA was recommending, and she said it had already changed. “The $100 million was for employment,” she said, “but it is now $600 million—no dollar amount on construction, but we are just trying to be part of it.”
The problem with even $600 million, ALA members are telling me, is that even that amount trickles down to only about a couple-three bucks per library user in the country per year, hardly enough to buy even a book per patron, much less finance new building projects. Federal support for publicly funded libraries has always been a small piece of the library funding pie and is likely to remain so, but I’m happy to put forth the amibitions of Dick and Marjorie Waters. If we are going to lobby for federal support, we might as well ask for something that will truly have an impact. The difference between libraries and everyone else with a hand out for federal money is that libraries are not asking to be bailed out; we are asking for support that will enable us to continue the successful work we are already doing. The demand grows, even as philanthropic and public funding sources threaten to dry up.
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:30 am by Leonard Kniffel
Ten years ago, for a moment, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, then a U.S. representative in Congress, was the darling of school libraries in Chicago. I can remember interviewing Ann Weeks, then director of the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries and Information Services, after he’d made the grand gesture of donating his share of the year’s congressional pay raise ($2,140.09, to be exact) to a CPS book fundraiser with a $20 million goal. We were both impressed by the gesture; after all, here was a congressman coming out in support of books and reading and school libraries. We could see that this was a man on the way up, and it was pretty obvious that we needed friends like him in high places.
Fast forward ten years. It seems the governor has turned the tables. Time for the money to flow in the opposite direction, he has apparently decided. And he thinks a good start, federal investigators are alleging, would be to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.
I heard from Ann Weeks this morning. She is now a professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland and has the same recollection I do. “I’ve always thought of Blagojevich as a strong library supporter,” she said. Unfortunately, she and I both, along with everyone else with even an iota of insight into how Illinois politics seem to work, would register little surprise if the corruption allegations being leveled by the U.S. Attorney’s office turned true.
Although I never had an opportunity to interview Blagojevich, his grand gesture stuck in my craw, and I will say that I voted for the man, twice. I rationalize that some of it had to do with my memory of his grand gesture for school library books. How could anyone who came out for libraries turn out to be such a foolish and arrogant man? The way I feel about him now is that Illinois citizens should form a mob, go down to his office, and pull him out of his chair. But it’s probably fairer to stop presuming he’s guilty and let the impeachment process kick in.
In any case, we have to move on from the Blagojevich mess to the promise implicit in President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of the Harvard-educated chief executive of Chicago Public Schools as his secretary of education. In Chicago, Arne Duncan has a reputation as a reformer who has confronted teachers unions and held schools accountable for performance. Duncan has been head of Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest school district, since 2001, and current education secretary, Margaret Spellings, has called him a “visionary” school leader. Duncan has already said the first item on his to-tackle list is No Child Left Behind.
Meanwhile, I received an e-mail message yesterday from Donnella Mitchell, an assistant cataloger for Tacoma Public Schools in Washington, pointing out the “America’s Best High Schools” article published by U.S. News and World Report, which touts their three point analysis for determining the 100 best U.S. high schools. “As a school librarian,” she said, “I wondered. There is another reason that these high schools could present such high student achievement: a well-stocked, well-staffed, full-time school library. There was no mention of libraries in the articles that I read. I think that research into what kind of library programs these high schools have could result in a very, very interesting article in American Libraries and give us more ammunition for protecting school library programs all over the country.”
Julie Walker, executive director of ALA’s American Association of School Librarians, agrees, noting that AASL has always preached that instruction in information literacy must be embedded in the curriculum content . She points out that a related article says, “What’s new today is the degree to which economic competitiveness and educational equity mean these skills can no longer be the province of the few. This distinction is not a mere debating point. It has important implications for how schools approach teaching, curriculum, and content.”
Although AASL has no immediate plans to cross check the programs, says Walker, “I always think the same thing when a see a ‘notable’ school listed: It would be an interesting study—budget, staffing, etc. On the other hand, the ever present challenge would be establishing a causal link.”
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:46 pm by Leonard Kniffel
Here’s the inside scoop on the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times ‘I Love My Librarian!’ Awards. Thanks to the support of the two eponymous sponsors who fund them, along with ALA’s administrative contribution, more than 3,200 library users nationwide nominated a librarian for the award. That’s a lot of appreciation for the services library professionals offer to their communities, schools, and campuses. Ten of those nominees rose to the top and received the prestigious honor―along with a $5,000 cash award―at a ceremony and reception at the Times Center, hosted by The New York Times Corporation this evening, December 9, in New York City.
Chosen for the honors by a committee chaired by Loriene Roy, immediate past president of ALA, the winners, from across the country and across library type, represent the finest the profession has to offer, and there to hear them accept their awards were Carnegie and Times presidents, respectively, Vartan Gregorian and Janet Robinson, along with some 250 fans.
Inside Scoop went backstage before the show to watch the winners prep for their speeches. The screen in the beautiful auditorium at the Times Center on 41st Street flashed “I Love My Librarian!” as the recipients rehearsed with Megan Humphrey of the ALA’s Public Information Office. They chatted nervously, words like “star treatment” being bandied about. Outside the auditorium doors a crowd was forming, while the glamour of theater bustle all around the venue lent an air of the Tony Awards to the proceedings—but without the self-congratulatory blather. There was more than one moment in this prestigious event, right here in the heart of New York City, when sincerity outshown glamour by a long shot, and seeing Gregorian and Robinson was a sign of their genuine faith in our profession and in the future of libraries.
At showtime, I turned from my front row seat to check out the crowd. The enthusiasm was plentiful, and I could see that some of the winners had brought their students and patrons. With everyone who works in the nonprofit arena worrying about how the financial debacle of recent months will trickle down to libraries, and with the nation’s eyes on today-arrested Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and what it will mean for the Senate seat of President Elect Obama, what struck me in this room with Broadway around the corner is that the show must go on—this particular show and the show of essential solutions that libraries offer to every national crisis.
Janet Robinson opened the show, reinforcing the notion that librarians are the people who “make sure the young people of this country love to learn.” Once an elementary schoolteacher, she said that it’s important to make reading and knowing more something young people want to do, not have to do. As a teacher she encouraged her students to continue their quest for knowledge for a lifetime. When your students succeed, that is success for a teacher, Robinson said. “Librarians are excited by the prospect of nurturing young minds,” she observed, emphasizing the openness of libraries to all, regardless of social status.
Comparing libraries to schools, Vartan Gregorian quipped that in libraries “there is no such thing as graduation, no such thing as ending learning.” One of Gregorian’s refrains when I’ve interviewed him and heard him speak at ALA is that libraries are “the most tolerant institutions because they give us the history of all our deeds—follies and accomplishments.” He also defended librarians defending intellectual freedom: “It was nobody’s business what you read.” And he praised the internet, which “gives everyone your own Library of Alexandria.”
Gregorian repeated another refrain that seemed particularly apt in the current political and financial climate in this country. “Librarians are the most underappreciated individuals,” he said, adding that they have the burden of needing to be ”more educated, more knowledgable,” than library users in order to be effective. “Anybody can find information,” he said. “You are not about information; you are about knowledge.” Libraries “are not centers of information, they are centers of learning and knowledge,” he emphasized. There are only three professions that are absolutely essential to the survival of civilization, Gregorian observed: teacher, journalist, and librarian.
Praising ALA for its core values of, among others, intellectual freedom, freedom of access, and public awareness, Robinson introduced ALA President Jim Rettig, who noted of the award winners, “As different as we are, there are connections between all our libraries.” He said, “Service to people, making a difference in their lives is what we are all about.”
It was the best show in town. All 10 winners (see photos and details below) came to the stage to accept the thanks of the patrons who nominated them and they thousands of people they serve. Among the highlights of their acceptance speeches:
Jean Amaral of Antioch University in New Hampshire recalled advice given to her early in her career: “Be ashamed to die before you have won a victory for humanity.” That has inspired her work with students, “so that their world will be just and sustainable.”
Amy Cheney of California said her joy was getting her clients excited about reading by talking to authors. She works in a juvenile detention facility. “I am here to be a voice for the youth,” telling two moving stories about the transformation that occurs when someone learns to read.
Carol W. Levers of Missouri and originally of South Africa thanked ALA for her success. “If not for Spectrum scholarship that I received, I would not be standing here tonight,” she said, also thanking her family: “I love you all—and I love all librarians.”
Iona Malanchuk quoted athlete Althea Gibson, who said, “No matter what your accomplishments, somebody helped you.” Noting that her career had started 41 years ago right here in New York City and thanking those who’d helped her, she said she’d been able to “turn around and help someone else!”
Elaine McIlroy of Massachusetts noted that she had met her husband in a library, “so I’ve always associated libraries with love.” It is the librarians mission “to do real and permanent good in the world.”
Paul McIntosh delivered probably the most heartfelt and room-silencing thank-you of the evening. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are more powerful than we can imagine,” he said. Dealing every day with 6-12th-graders in Harlem, he said his students are “struggling to make sense of this struggle we call life.” And the group of students he brought with him cheered for their hero with all the power they could muster.
All 10 winners: Linda Allen
Libraries Director
Pasco County Library System
Hudson, Florida
Jean Amaral
Reference Librarian
Antioch University New England
Keene, New Hampshire
Amy J. Cheney
Librarian
Alameda County Library, Juvenile Hall
San Leandro, California
Jennifer Lankford Dempsey
Library Media Specialist and Technology Coordinator
Wrights Mill Road Elementary School
Auburn, Alabama
Carol W. Levers
Community Services Librarian
Kansas City, Kansas Public Library; Weekend Supervisor
Plaza Branch Library, Kansas City Public Library
Kansas City, Missouri
Margaret “Gigi” Lincoln
Library Media Specialist
Lakeview High School Library
Battle Creek, Michigan
Iona R. Malanchuk
Associate University Librarian and Head of the Education Library
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Elaine McIlroy
Director
Wellfleet Public Library
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Paul McIntosh
Library Media Specialist
Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts
New York, New York
Arezoo Moseni
Senior Librarian
The New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Library, The Art Collection
New York, New York
Video and other news coverage will follow at American Libraries Focus and on the I Love Libraries website, with links in American Libraries Direct. The January-February double issue of American Libraries is underway and will feature all the winners and their stories.
“We started this as a ‘discoverable’—in other words, one of the many hidden surprises throughout the library,” said County Librarian Lucie Osborn. “Word-of-mouth was our greatest ally.” Even without formal promotion, Osborn said that the station is “pretty much in constant use while we are open.” That even includes school hours, when it’s used by home-schooled children or 4- and 5-year-olds who aren’t yet in school.
“The animation station provides our community’s youth an interactive opportunity to utilize their imaginations, work cooperatively with others, and create their own stories and films using materials provided by the library or their own pieces from home,” said Osborn. She considers it a perfect fit for the library, whose mission statement includes commitments to “Be a community center for access to information, self-improvement, social interaction, cultural exposure, and leisure,” and to “Use and provide state-of-the-art technology.”
Osborn says the animation station helps to attract non-traditional library users, particularly boys, and encourages collaborations among children or between kids and their parents. Students also use it for homework, because the videos can be downloaded and used in presentations. “A huge benefit of the animation station is that it is just fun,” Osborn added. “Even though they are learning, they are mostly having fun and enjoying something they don’t have access to anywhere else in Cheyenne.”
The station was installed for the opening of the library in summer of 2007, but the library only recently resolved a technical glitch that had prevented users from saving their movies to the web. The library web site hosts the videos, but there they are private to the filmmaker and people they e-mail it to. Users can, however, save the video on their own flash drives and post it online publicly at YouTube or similar sites if they choose. The library also selects one movie as “Video of the Month” and posts it on the animation station’s web page.
The animation station was made possible by a major donation that helped to fund the entire “My Library Place” project, an interactive literacy center for children created by The Burgeon Group that also includes a baby bookmobile and a book factory. Equipment includes a networked PC, monitor, and still camera in a self-contained unit.
One of my favorite programs at the recent LITA National Forum was a presentation on library web labs given by Jason Battles of the University of Alabama and Jody Combs of Vanderbilt University.
At its heart, the concept is an adaptation of Google Labs. Library web labs list new and experimental services offered by the library—usually though not necessarily web-based—and offer ways for patrons to try them and, more importantly, offer feedback. The library can then use that feedback to improve the service before its “official” release.
The idea intrigued me both on its own merits and because it so nicely encapsulated one of the purposes of this blog, which after much struggle was finally getting started right then. Much of what we post here (including this post and Leonard Kniffel’s open letter to President-Elect Obama yesterday) will eventually be adapted to the print magazine, and some will be experimental to see if a topic has enough interest for broader consumption. So please, don’t be shy about sharing your comments.
But to the labs themselves. Ken Varnum, the web systems manager at the University of Michigan, maintains that school’s MLibrary Labs site. “Something libraries have not been great at historically is experimenting in public,” he told me, noting the urge to make services “perfect” before release. The problem with that is that the endless tinkering in pursuit of perfection needlessly delays what is probably a functional and useful service. Or as he put it: “The great gets in the way of the good.”
Combs noted that “In a test environment, if it doesn’t pan out, we haven’t invested too much,” and pointed out that the lab reduces pressure on the library to force innovations to fit the academic calendar, which would normally discourage new releases other than at the beginning of a semester. Battles observed that the lab helps the library to serve distance learners who wouldn’t be in the physical library. “This kind of platform gives them a place to see what we’re doing and give feedback,” he said.
Building the Lab MLibrary Labs is a static index page that lists new services, so creating it took little effort. There’s also a blog associated with the site, which generates an RSS feed that can notify interested parties when a new service is available. New York Public Library’s NYPL Labs is similarly simple, built as a Wordpress blog with plug-ins.
Battles and Combs took a more involved approach, creating with a team of five the Test Pilot site when both were working at Vanderbilt in June 2006. That site includes a mySQL database to keep and organize comments, PHP code to interact with the database, and Javascript snippets from script.aculo.us, for the user interface to provide feedback. That code is portable, however; when Battles moved to the University of Alabama in July 2007, he used it and had a functioning site, Web Laboratory, installed in a single day, although he has since adapted it using Ajax to further improve the comment interface. They are willing to share the code with other librarians, and since presenting at LITA, Battles said he has had three requests for it.
Test Pilot’s greatest success thus far has been when Vanderbilt was a development partner for Ex Libris’s Primo discovery tool. Branded as DiscoverLibrary, it was added to Test Pilot early in its beta release and received more than 150 user comments. As a result of user feedback, the library moved faceted browsing links that were originally on the right side of the screen to a more prominent location on the left. “That made all the difference in the world,” Combs said. “It really is a great way to get that kind of early feedback.”
Alabama, meanwhile, got more than 100 comments during a website redesign, which pointed out some confusing search inconsistencies that developers had overlooked: Most searches gave item-level results, but database searches only gave title-level results. Once brought to their attention, changes could be implemented. NYPL Labs also received significant feedback on a year-long redesign of its digital gallery of more than 650,000 images. “It led to ultimately a much more finely honed site,” said Josh Greenberg, NYPL’s director of digital strategy and scholarship.
Not all projects get this much response. Combs said that Test Pilot projects have received a total of about 280 comments, while Varnum said that MLibrary Labs gets about 750 visits per month. “It’s not the highest traffic thing on our side, but we wouldn’t expect it to be,” Varnum added. Lab promotion at all four sites generally takes place through links from the library websites, although Varnum noted that Michigan librarians also direct users to the lab when a tool there is appropriate to their needs.
Of course, library web labs are still a relatively new concept. “The lab itself is kind of an experiment as well as a space for other experiments,” Greenberg said, and the transparency of the lab requires a new relationship between the library and the public. But he added: “Because of how we’re funded, we can do that even better than companies like Google that have competing pressures.”
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:31 pm by Leonard Kniffel
“I have this idea that I thought I would tell you,” said the e-mail message. “I am sure it’s not original, but with the economy and the whole environmental crisis, carbon footprint things going on, maybe ALA can FINALLY have an option on their membership to NOT receive the magazine?” Namely American Libraries.
So began a posting to the ALA Council’s electronic list yesterday from Councilor Trevor A. Dawes. He was forwarding a message from an ALA member who, in her effort to be helpful, went on to say: “First off, they send thousands of these magazines out every year that just get wasted: people don’t read them (me)…. If I wanted to read the magazine I could either go to the stacks, borrow someone else’s or forage through the 4th floor. Also, much of its available online now, so what’s the point, AND most importantly, can’t we practice what we preach and go for open access on this one?”
Dawes noted that this suggestion is in line with the recent decision to send ALA election ballots entirely electronically, and that he agrees that members should be able to opt out of the print edition. Actually, so do I, and this is definitely on the horizon. Quite a number of people have suggested to me and the other editors at American Libraries that they do not wish to receive the print edition.
“This could save thousands of dollars,” the posting suggested, along with “a huge spot in the landfill. Mine, honestly goes directly from the mailbox into the trash can/recycle bin.”
I have to admit that made me say “ouch.” But then I think about the many pieces of print that come to me every day that someone put their blood, sweat, and tears into but that I simply do not have time to read, and I understand that this is a discussion that we should be having, but it needs to be tempered with a couple corrections. One is that not much of it but all of American Libraries is already available online to anyone. Right now it is in searchable PDF format, but next year the content will be available online in HTML format. The decision to open up American Libraries and American Libraries Direct to nonmembers came after Annual Conference this year, where several key committees agreed with my assertion that it was time to stop characterizing print AL as the sole perquiste of membership in ALA.
The second correction is to the notion that producing print American Libraries is somehow a drain on the association. The fact of the matter is that AL operates much like any other print magazine. Circulation numbers attract advertisers, advertisers want print, and it is still American Libraries print that pays the bills and the overhead required for the association to employ people to do the work necessary to be an effective advocacy organization.
We are taking many steps to figure out where we are going with print, the AL Direct electronic newsletter, this Inside Scoop blog, the AL Focus video operation, and the forthcoming foray into digital supplements, all designed to attract advertisers as well as readers. American Libraries operates within ALA Publishing and the operation’s primary focus is generating the revenue required to keep the Association operating, and the future of all of our activities and services depends on it.
Lastly, I don’t buy the argument that the best way to save the planet is to eliminate print publications—or books, for that matter. Paper, when made right, is a renewable, recyclable, biodegradable resource, unlike the must-be-replaced-every-three-years computers, hand-helds, and other petroleum-based products we put our trust in.
Every couple years American Libraries, like most magazines, does a readers survey. So far (and the last one was done in 2006), none have ever indicated that readers in large numbers want us to do away with print. And general membership surveys consistently reveal that the vast majority of members view AL as their single most valued tangible link to the Association. That may change as electronic devices become easier to use and print lovers like me die off, but I see no benefit in rushing it!
Which reminds me that I have to go out and buy my Christmas tree this weekend. And it won’t be some plastic job from Wal-Mart; it’ll be an evergreen from some tree farmer holed up in his trailer trying to make a buck off a renewable, local, garden product.
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:42 am by Leonard Kniffel
“Forty-one states are likely to face budget shortfalls this year or next, forcing you to choose between reining in spending and raising taxes,” said President-elect Barack Obama at the National Governors Association meeting December 2 in Philadelphia. “Jobs are being cut. Programs for the needy are at risk. Libraries, parks, and historic sites are being closed,” he observed. “Right here in Philadelphia, over two hundred workers are being laid off, and hundreds more unfilled positions are being eliminated.”
Immediately, the ALA Council’s electronic list lit up with the news. “He said ‘libraries’!” everyone seemed to be saying. “He said libraries!” And, yes, it is a good thing that libraries are already on our new president’s radar. The governors meeting is intended to be a bipartisan delegation, and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden welcomed Alaska Governor and former election rival Sarah Palin by saying, “And Governor Palin, your being here today sends a powerful message that when campaigns end, we are all partners in progress. Thank you.”
It’s going to take all the bipartisanship the Obama team can muster for the new administration to reverse the cascading effect the economic meltdown of 2008, a cascade that threatens library funding across the nation. Obama told the governors, “We’re going to have to make hard choices in the months ahead about how to invest precious tax dollars and how to save them.” He asked for the governors’ cooperation in designing a recovery plan. “If we are listening to our governors, we’ll not only be doing what’s right for our states, we’ll be doing what’s right for our country.” And by implication, for our libraries.
Meanwhile, I think librarians need to take an different approach from those institutions standing in line with their hands out. We should concentrate on the myriad ways in which libraries are already a part of the solution to the economic crisis. I am composing an open letter to send to the president on Inauguration Day. So far, it goes something like this:
Dear President Obama,
As you become the 44th president of the United States of America, probably the last thing you need is more people telling you what they want you to do for them. From the Headquarters of the American Library Association in Chicago, it looks to me as if everybody is asking you for something, and librarians, of course, don’t want to miss the boat. But before we get in line with our demands, let me offer one modest suggestion for how to deal with this profession: Let us show you what we can do for you.
In 2005, before you keynoted the American Library Association’s Annual Conference here in Chicago, I sidled up to you in the green room with a tape recorder and asked you to talk about libraries. You focused thoughtfully on my questions, one of which was, “Can you tell us more about the effect libraries have had on you?” You answered that although people tend to think of libraries in terms of just being sources for reading material or research, it was a librarian at the New York Public Library in Manhattan who helped you find the community organizing job you were looking for. “I probably would not be in Chicago were it not for the Manhattan public library,” you said, adding that the librarian had identified lists of potential employers and, “I wrote to every organization; one of them wound up being an organization in Chicago that I got a job with.”
People all over the country are using libraries in larger numbers than ever before, partly for reading and research as they always have but also because libraries have become community solution centers where people are learning new skills, meeting their neighbors, and getting practical help with some of life’s essentials, such as managing their dwindling finances or, like you, finding a job.
Following our brief interview, you went on to deliver a keynote speech so clearly tailored to librarians that we immediately asked your staff for permission to adapt it as a cover story in the August 2005 issue of American Libraries. In it you said, “More than a building that houses books and data, the library represents a window to a larger world, the place where we’ve always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the American story forward….” Many of us walked away from that speech already saying, “Yes we can.”
We can continue to be the “sanctuaries of learning” that you remember. We can foster literacy, what you called “the most basic currency of the knowledge economy.” We can produce the highest achieving students when they attend schools with good library media centers. We can help parents prepare children for the workforce and for a lifetime of reading and learning. Libraries are central to community development, civic engagement, and scholarly excellence. Therefore, the librarians of this nation ask not what you can do for libraries but what libraries can do to help you solve the daunting problems we all face. We’re at your service.
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:38 am by Greg Landgraf
I’m pleased to announce that American Libraries is now accepting submissions for our annual Library Design Showcase, to be published in the April 2009 issue.
This is a showcase of new and newly renovated or expanded libraries of all types. Roughly 30 of the best construction projects of the year will be highlighed in this major AL feature.
To be considered, send the completed submission form, along with color photos, 35mm slides, or high-resolution digital images, to: American Libraries, Attn: Architecture Showcase, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. The deadline is February 1, 2009, and to be eligible, projects must have been completed since October 1, 2007.
This is going to be my third time working on the “Facilities Feature,” as we generally call it. It’s an enjoyable job, but also a big one. Shortly after the February 1 deadline, a group of editors and designers will meet to go through all of the submissions–roughly 70 each of the past two years, although I think that figure is higher than average–to select the libraries that will be featured. We’re looking for visual appeal, interesting stories, and variety in the libraries we include. In other words, the quality of photos and the project description are the most important parts of the submission form. For digital photos, this means a resolution of 300 dpi is critical, and they need to be large–around 4 inches wide is the smallest we’d run them, and some will run at a full page or even over a spread.*
The best way I can describe what the project descriptions should entail is: They should be what you’d tell a friend or a colleague when you’re bragging about your new library. Interesting construction details, favorite features, or intriguing snippets about how the space gets used are all good things to include. I’ll be distilling those facts into the descriptive text that accompanies each photo.
If you have a new or renovated facility, I hope you’ll consider submitting it. If you have any questions, or if you have a facility that’s still in progress and you want to receive an e-mail notification when we’ve opened submissions for 2010, please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.
* This large size is also why we don’t have online submissions: an 8-inch by 11-inch .tif is large enough that sending it online isn’t trivial, and multiple photos like that are even less trivial. I’m looking into file upload services and I’m hopeful, though not certain, that we’ll be able to accept submissions online this year. If you have any recommendations, I’d be glad to hear them.
