On being everything to everyone

ALA, the American Library Association, held its annual conference in Chicago in 2013.  I am not a member of ALA, but I pay attention to who the speakers are, what the themes of the conference are, and I try to read some of the reports and reviews that come out of the conference each year.

I read this in a list of 'takeaways' from the 2013 annual conference:

‘Doing good’ is not the same thing as ‘making a difference’.” Public librarians need to find out where they can make the most difference and concentrate on those areas instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

Those of you who get email from me will see this as my signature line for a while.  I have been saying essentially this very thing for a number of years now.  No, we don't carry postage stamps, envelopes, writing paper, tag board, glue, markers or other art supplies, supply a notary, give legal or medical advice, or babysit your children (well, yes, we do babysit your children, but not intentionally & if someone flashes them - or worse- while they're here unsupervised, it's on your head).

We do supply books, DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks, free computer use with free Internet and productivity software access, newspapers, magazines, database access to materials not available on the open Internet, and electronically downloadable books, audiobooks and magazines.  We have literacy-based storytimes for parents and children, special music and art programs for all ages, author talks, tax-preparation help, and beginning computer, resume writing, and online job searching workshops.  One thing public libraries do well is provide a starting point.  Technological literacy becomes more important every year, and public libraries have the opportunity to excel at helping people gain that knowledge.

To be a Librarian in my library you must have a professional degree, which means you have advanced training on searching and sorting through sources and resources.  I can't count the number of times a patron will say "I spent an hour looking for - fill in the blank - and couldn't find anything on the internet" and I can find it in a 5-minute search using search techniques that come with my education and experience.  Need materials to support your 4th-grader's science project? Guess what, there aren't books at a 4th-grade level on the chemical composition of laundry detergent.  But there are general books on chemistry, including explaining what biodegradable means.  Need help explaining how and why a solar hotdog cooker works?  There isn't a whole book on a hotdog cooker, but let's go to the books on solar power, and camping, and voila, there's the support you need.  I help people think outside the box, more broadly, to the subject rather than the specific.  And sometimes I help people think more specifically.  Doing a high-school paper on the Holocaust?  It's a broad topic, so maybe you want to think about focusing the thesis of your paper on a specific aspect: one specific camp, or one specific survivor story, surrounded by the larger theme.

The Librarians in my branch were recently told we need to do more outreach. Outreach is not a bad thing; despite being an extreme introvert, incredibly shy, I actually enjoy going out to talk to groups about the library.  But I really think my bosses want us to do more Outreach just so they can say we've done it.  I don't believe they think much about whether the outreach we do makes any difference.  One of the suggestions made to me was to run an off-site book group, in a senior center or residence.  I currently run a book group that meets at the branch library monthly.  That entails finding discussion-worthy books - for which there must be a minimum of six copies available, compiling discussion questions, emailing the group with said discussion questions and meeting reminders, and reading the book.  The reading is done on my own uncompensated time. Adding another book group would add approximately 10 more unpaid hours to my work load every month. I asked whether I could get comp time for any additional hours and got a blank stare with an "I don't know, I don't think so..." reply.  It was apparent that my boss had never thought about the hours I spend reading as work time.  And I do, in fact, already help choose the books for a local senior book group.  The group needs 4-5 large print, 1-2 audiobooks, and 2-3 regular print copies.  Finding titles worth reading that meet those requirements can be a challenge so I asked our book selector about getting a list of large print titles being purchased and I keep a spreadsheet of possibilities.  This is a helpful thing I can do within the confines of my paid work week and the list I've generated can be used to help other book groups and other librarians.

Farmer Bill is often the sounding board for the hard parts of my job. He is always supportive, sympathetic, and on my side, for which I am truly grateful.  I'm going to end this post with two stories about the positive parts of my work, because he mentioned once that he doesn't get to hear enough of those.

On a Thursday in May 2013 a local elementary school had a literacy night at the library.  About 200 parents and children converged on the library for a 2-hour span of time. Spanish- and Somali-language translators helped us explain what the library could offer visitors.  Several dozen brand-new library card accounts were created and many lost cards were replaced (with a waiver of the normal $2 replacement card fee). As each family got cards, we explained that materials were loaned for set amounts of time. If they aren't returned or renewed on time, late fees are applied.  I helped one Latina mother and her children choose some books to read and fun movies to watch, and explained again about movies needing to come back in one week (movie overdue fees are $1/day each and add up quickly for many families).  The following Wednesday afternoon that family came into the library with all of the materials while I was on the public desk.  Recognizing them, I walked with them to the return slot, assuring them that they were completely on time with the movies - and could keep the books longer if they wished.  No, they'd read the books. We returned all the items, and I asked if they needed help choosing more materials.  No, thank you, they knew right where to go because of our session the week before.  And they have been regular visitors to the library ever since.

Just last week, an African-American mother came in with her three children.  The youngest, a 2nd-grader, needed to do a project on our solar system.  Mom applied for and got a library card, we set them up on a computer, taught Mom how to search for, copy, and paste pictures of planets into a Word document (it helped enormously that Mom was reasonably comfortable on a computer, although very shy and a bit insecure of her abilities).  Mom and daughter spent about 2 hours creating a project.  When they finished, nearly at closing time, there was a bit of a rush to get it printed before their computer time ran out.  Mom was concerned that changes would need to be made and wanted to email the project to herself so they could work on it again if necessary.  This was my chance to be a hero & I took it.  USB drives are regularly left behind at the computers.  We keep any we find, or that are turned in by patrons, for a month. Those not claimed after a month come to me.  I clean all the personal information off them, keep a batch of 12 for our computer classes, and the rest go in a drawer to be given away.  I quickly grabbed one of the drives, plugged it into the computer and saved the girl's project on it, all the while explaining what I was doing and how I was doing it. After it was saved, I showed them how to find it again.  When I unplugged the drive and handed it to her, saying she could take it home & the children could use it for future projects at home, at school, or at the library, Mom was briefly overwhelmed.  They took their printed project and the flash drive, checked out some books, and went home very happy patrons who will almost certainly come back to use the library in the future.

Those are 2 stories about what public libraries and librarians can do best: make connections and help close the digital and literacy divides that exist in this country.