Yesterday: serve

Today: return:
"A room that is merely full of books is not a library, no matter how the councils dress it up. Most importantly, how will authorities determine whether a ‘library’ in a sports centre has been a success? Without being able to provide data to prove its usage, how long will it be before the council seeks to withdraw funding altogether? [....] As has been seen before, retailers will not hesitate from removing a book if it is seen to cause offence. How will a library based in a shop manage this? How will they reconcile the needs of two different sets of customers? Will they be pressured by the potential impact on their revenues if they continue to provide access to a controversial text? And what then for those that wish to access such resources?[....] As the mission of the public library is lost, councils will fail, or continue to fail, to understand why they should provide a library service to their citizens."

Side-note: LSSI is really taking a beating these days. I would hesitate to point out that they, and similar library partner companies (please stop saying jobbers!) employ many librarians, and in many cases do excellent work while committed to the same values as the rest of us. But, you know, that allows for a grey area in the discourse. That's not really allowed anywhere these days, right?

Libraries partner to survive in the UK

Well, I guess it's better than nothing. *
The Local Government Association (LGA) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) released a report on Friday about the progress of several pilot projects in the Future Libraries program, and state that "libraries will increasingly rely on volunteers and community groups, with more books distributed from shops and village halls." Some of these ideas are pretty interesting: collaborations with museums and arts, "Bradford's book borrowing points in shops across the city, Hertfordshire's plans to expand in co-operation with adult social care and children's centres;" some are disturbing: relying on volunteers... how so, exactly? It's one thing to have members of the public on your board (commendable!) but if you cut the number of profesisonal librarians (staff cuts at 6000, no word on how many professionals that includes) providing professional service, you're dreaming if you think that these "innovations" will "increase numbers using libraries."

P.S. to the Guardian - seriously, a photo of a dude with grimy fingers stamping things? No wonder libraries in the UK have issues.... I haven't used a stamp in six years! Plus, would it kill you to show something other than our most mindless task?

*Yes, that is the nicest thing I could think to say right now.....

Occassionally, when I am really good, I get to read....

One afternoon earlier this week, I took what felt like a 30 minute vacation and read this Master's paper. When I have some time to read at my desk in the basement, I like to put my feet on the desk. I know, how unseemly! I remember my dad doing this, and chewing on the end of his pen or pencil, in his office in All Saints, Verdun. It's a little thing I can do to channel that.

So, the doc.:

Harvey, Aisha A. Homeless perspectives of the public library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002. Web. 2 March 2011.

What an interesting paper: Harvey rightly points out that "While hardly any homeless people are asked about their perceptions of libraries many librarians are asked about homeless patrons," and her paper takes one step towards remedying that situation. Harvey conducted five interviews with homeless individuals who visited the Durham Public Library's central branch (located across the street from the Durham Urban Ministries homeless shelter); the five participants' personalities jumped off the page, alternatively moving me to laughter and (honestly) tears. Harvey paid the participants $10 each as an honorarium; one gentleman "folded the ten-dollar bill five times before placing it in his shoe."

I would highly recommend this study to anyone interested in use of libraries by homeless populations in an urban/suburban area. Here are some other interesting bits (and sorry for the bullet points):

• "Most of the informants did indicate that they had gone to libraries as children." And later, "There is some evidence that the current relationship that the informants have with the library, stems from positive experiences that they had with the library earlier in their lives. Some of the informants indicated that they had used the library as children."
  
• Almost all the individuals interviewed were really pleased with library services and the interactions they had with staff. One individual had a bit more of a colourful experience to report, and although some of his comments could probably be taken with a grain of salt, one phrase struck me as being pretty accurate: he said "Well basically, I wish they would get a GED class going over there, something to help people. It would be useful. Like classes to help people learn to get their GED or whatever. Basically, you are helping yourself. I don’t see any activities they are doing over there to try and help anybody."
• That being said, "from the informants’ responses, it can be concluded that most of them believe that they welcome at this public library. This feeling of acceptance encourages them to ask for help when they need something and can play a power role of encouragement and support in their lives."
  
• "It is interesting to note that all of the informants except for Informant #5 went to the library either every day or more days out of the week than they did not." That absolutely holds true with the experiences I have had, as well.
• Again, something I have heard patrons say: "Some informants indicated that presently the library was also used to combat drug use. While most of the informants said that the library collection held nothing to help them stay clean, some informants said that because the library is free from the pressure to use drugs that they encountered on the streets, that it was an agent of sobriety in their lives."
• "All of the informants said that they read in the library. [...] Most of the informants use the library to gain knowledge of many topics. In many ways, the library may appeal to the informants more than the classroom as a learning environment."

In related news, my colleague drew my attention to this article about the 10th anniversary of the Calgary Homeless Foundation "Plan to End Homelessness," which, instead of focusing on services to the homeless, actually gives homes to the homeless. "In its first three years CHF has housed 1,300 chronic and episodic homeless people, almost half the foundation's 2018 goal. Roughly 90% have stayed housed." Not an easy solution, nor one I would have expected a major urban city to try out, but so far, a pretty successful one.

5 most challenging things about my job

If you read closely, you will notice that these 5 are more or less each the flip side of their companion number from the previous post.

1. Isolation
: So, here's the thing. In a community branch, or anywhere where you work alone-ish, it can be fun for awhile but it will get lonely pretty quickly. I was really fortunate to realise this before I even moved to Ottawa. A mentor of mine, from my pre-Ottawa life, observed that I would have to work to make sure I don't get isolated in my new job, and she was right. The best antidotes I can find are to stay connected to colleagues in other physical locations but in the same system (sit on local committees, attend library board meetings, visit other branches on the weekend, chat during breaks at meetings), get involved in library associations (local, regional, and/or national), and actively seek out professional development opportunities, even if you have to do them on your own time and with your own money. The investment will be well worth it in many, many ways, some of which you probably can't even imagine at first, and, as a bonus, you won't feel so alone.
   
2. De-professionalisation
: Big word about feeling "little." When it sometimes feels like you spend your day fixing printer jams, it can be hard to remember that you're a librarian. As a community librarian, you probably will spend a lot of time “on the floor” at your branch; that helps make you that trustworthy community contact, but it also helps continue to confuse the public about what a librarian does (everything? Anything?). Spending all this time on non-professional tasks is also an Express lane straight to burn-out. I don't have any easy answers here, kids: the most I can suggest is that anyone in this position use every opportunity to promote the library's services and collections like the professional they are. Every request for help is an invitation to have a more meaningful interaction with someone visiting the library. That being said, it can be tough. I sometimes spend a few seconds explaining what a librarian is, in certain situations (eg. "Anyone sitting at this desk can help you with homework questions, research, or recommend a good book. Over there is where you can check out the stuff you want to borrow, and they can also check your account for you.") It all depends on the patron, and the situation, and you have to use your judgment about that. If you find you are getting frustrated, or under-stimulated, on the floor, look at everything from schedules (can you break up your Reference desk time?) to architecture (can the printer be moved any further away from your desk, to cut down on the crazy traffic and incessant questions?) to staffing. This is also a great time to take on a special project that will stimulate you, and revive your passion for public librarianship, in all its shapes and forms.
   
3. Lack of resources
: In a big system, like the one in which I work, you have a lot available to help you (colleagues, best practices, policies, tools, reference material, and even a shared collection of puppets!), but you can also get cut off from central departments if you are working in a branch. Sometimes, in any large organisation, it's easy to feel like one octopus leg, and every leg seems to be acting independently... Why are you re-inventing the wheel, only to find out that last month Librarian X at a neighbouring branch is piloting a Wheel Study? Similarly, if you are the only librarian somewhere (anywhere!), you might find that the person who had your position previously wasn’t great at succession planning, leaving you to wonder what on earth he/she did with their time and what you should be doing. The best piece of advice I can give about dealing with this is: if you don’t speak up, you can get lost. The more you share about what's going on chez toi, the more you will hear about what's going on alentours (especially if you, um, ask). Make friends: stay in touch with them, if even just to say, "Is anyone having problems with..." or "Has anyone created a guide to..." There's "working from the ground up," and then there's Sisyphean labour.
   

4. Feeling overwhelmed: with the diversity of experiences/opportunities/tasks on your plate, you might find yourself spending a lot of time “putting out fires." It's easy (ha! Relatively speaking, that is) to move from crisis to crisis; harder to take a step back and analyse the direction in which you and/or your library should be heading. Essentially, you need to stay calm, and be organised: you might even want to set aside time (monthly? Quarterly?) for looking at and thinking about higher-level issues, if your institution doesn't have any regular set of checks and balances in place.
 You might find that you need to work in an environment that has goals for the year that are measurable and are followed up on, or else you might want to spend time doing this yourself. In my experience, neglecting this neglects your own professional development, and affects the contribution you are able to make to your institution.
   
5. Balance: With everyone clamouring for your attention, and all the responsibilities you face, it can be difficult even to prioritise the needs of each group. You have to judge pretty quickly what can wait until later, what should be a priority this year, next year, this month, this week, depending on your responsibilities to each group you interact with. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you have enough responsibility at the moment, and you have to refer to your friends "No" (he and I aren't that close these days...) and "Can I delegate this?" You just can't do everything, or, at least, you can't do everything well.
   

5 best things about my job

I recently gave a talk to students in the University of Ottawa's School of Information Studies about being a public librarian. They were a pleasure to talk to, and I only wish I had more time to stay for additional questions and discussion. They did have some wonderful ideas, questions and comments.

I thought I would share some of the thoughts I prepared for them. After giving them a bit of background (Rideau Branch statistics, OPL statistics, my career path), I decided to structure my talk as:

• The 5 best things about my job
• The 5 most challenging things about my job
• The 5 qualities someone interested in my job should have
  

I'll be blogging these in the next few days, starting with the 5 best things about my job today.

1. Autonomy
: My job has a certain degree of autonomy by virtue of the fact that I am the most senior person in the building at most times. Another degree of autonomy comes from specifics of my own circumstances: I have a great manager, who works with me to give me the freedom to pursue or create projects that I am passionate about. All this autonomy results in great conference presentations, a shelf-talkers pilot, outreach
 initiatives, and fun programs. Furthermore, as senior person at the branch, I get to "set the tone" of the branch in some ways: decide what's going to happen and how they are going to work.
   
2. Bond of trust with the community
: In any community branch, the branch librarian is fortunate to get to know regular patrons, community groups, program partners, local book clubs, and other kindred spirits. Building and maintaining these relationships, often over the course of several years, is incredibly fulfilling for me. On a more subtle level, simply being seen working (well, I hope) in the community on a daily basis fosters a certain sense of trust for some more reticent members of the community, and gives me "social capital" in the community, which can sometimes prove (in the short or long term) to be pretty valuable.
   
3. Working from the ground up:
 In a community library, the world can be your oyster sometimes: you may implement new initiatives, new programs, new partnerships: so many things haven't been done before in many cases that you have a lot of fertile ground to work with.
   
4. Variety / diversity of experiences/opportunities/tasks:
 I can unequivocally say that in the past week I have answered both reference and readers’ advisory questions, as well as questions about homework help, and computer/Internet training (today, a woman argued with me about why she couldn't type in www.goo to get to Google. "Are you sure?" she asked...). It's also possible that I prepared children's programs, acted as a part social worker, broke up an altercation or two, set up a display, helped at the circulation desk, picked up garbage on the floor, removed expired posters from the community bulletin board, and yes, to cite the cliché, dealt with something sketchy in the washroom (or, frankly, elsewhere). No two days are the same!
   
5. Responsibility:
 A community librarian might supervise staff
, either directly (as I do) or indirectly, and be responsible for training, guiding and overseeing their work, as well as offering feedback on their performance. Of course, I also interact with many other groups, from building and city maintenance staff to library senior managers, from the library board to the general public, and from colleagues at OPL to librarians across Canada. I have the privilege of watching people I have trained learn and grow
; I have had the privilege to represent Rideau Branch or OPL or professional librarians as a whole within the community. The responsibilities of a community librarian are all interwoven, in a weird and wonderful way.
   

"Libraries are the backbone of our educational infrastructure."

"Fight for libraries as you do freedom." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. September 10, 2010.

Really powerfully moving op-ed piece by American writer Karin Slaughter about the recent underfunding of American libraries ("Libraries are the backbone of our educational infrastructure, and they are being slowly broken by bankrupt municipalities and apathetic politicians."), and their importance in American society ([Libraries] service everyone in their community, no matter their circumstances. Rich or poor; no one is denied. Libraries are not simply part of our guarantee to the pursuit of happiness. They are a civil right, the foundation upon which time and time again the American dream has been built. If we lose our libraries, we risk losing our communities, our families and ourselves").

Thanks to David Wright for the link.

Duh.

From the Beeb (via the fabulous Book2Book):

"Schools Across Kent Told To Borrow Books From Libraries:
Teachers will be able to borrow 100 books for eight weeks free of charge for students."

WTF? They had to pay for it before this?

Sorry, Kent, we already do that. In fact, we have been offering special services to schools and teachers since our Carnegie Library opened in Ottawa in April 1906. But maybe that's just 'cause we have enough "stock" (God, I hate when people say stock. It's the only British-ism I can't abide).

Library services to the poor / homeless

I’m reading a book called Public Library Services for the Poor: Doing All We Can, and it quotes from this interesting article:

“There is no better test of the profession’s dedication to equal and democratic public service than the extent to which the needs of the “least among us” are recognized and fulfilled.”

There are some interesting ideas for programs in the book I want to try out at Rideau, based on the outreach I have been doing this month (I have visited drop in centres for women and Aboriginal people, and on Friday a group of refugees is coming for a tour of the library). Many of the resources mentioned in the book are American, but most of the ideas have Canadian counterparts ....

[Exits, stage left, planning world domination...]

Liberate your librarian

CHANGE IS OVERDUE - a public charter for libraries

"We are currently in a situation where two thirds of people in the UK read in their free time yet only one third of the population visit libraries. Why is this the case when libraries offer 24 hr web services, are open to all and provide access, free of charge, to books and an array of other interesting reading materials? Either it is because a public library service is not relevant today or, the more likely, libraries are not meeting the needs and wants of their local communities."

Declarations:

"1. Make the libraries local
2. Increase opening hours
3. Improve library collections
4. Improve the library environment
5. Embrace technology
6. Liberate the library staff
7. Collaborate and share best practice
8. Don’t waste money
9. Performance feedback
10. Engage individuals and communities
11. Don't close libraries
12. Make and keep a promise"

Two library "firsts"

Liberia’s first children’s library

First public library in Kanungu District (one of the hardest-to-reach areas in southwest Uganda)

Another day, another chance to get angry about the state of UK libraries

So, KPMG came out with this report into public sector reform, and it included a review of libraries (low usage; high operating costs). The report called for giving local councils control over running their own libraries, thereby "saving large amounts of money on over-skilled paid staff, poor use of space and unnecessary stock".

I got as far as "over-skilled paid staff" before I completely lost my head. Really? What makes me livid is that no one seems to be asking WHY libraries are not being used. Perhaps some staff need different training to make them better at reaching out to the community; perhaps some are doing a fabulous job but within a straightjacket of funding constraints.

Perhaps KPMG could have, oh, I don't know, asked some people in communities about why they don't use the library? Wouldn't that be more useful than taking guesses about how to serve these communities?

Then again, given that the KPMG report keeps freezing when I download it, I can't tell if they did, anyway. I get all my news via the Guardian.

Risky (or brave) perspective

"Why Closing More Public Libraries Might Be The Best Thing (…Right Now)" from LISNews.

Excerpt:

"People skills are a sorely overlooked basic requirement of librarianship. A librarian could be well versed in every item in a library, but it wouldn’t matter a single bit if they lack the social skills to communicate this information with the patrons. [...] This aspect extends to our paraprofessional and support staff. In a nutshell, checking in and out materials and maintaining patrons records is trainable; finding someone who will act as an advocate for the library at the desk that most patrons interact with is not. And yet, we hire on the basis of the first part without much thought or consideration as to the face that we are giving the library by putting this individual at our most prominent position: the circulation desk. This simply cannot continue as a hiring practice."

Agree, agree, agree! Even if the author does make one of my most-hated grammatical mistakes further along: it's FEWER public libraries, not less! Argh!

Publishers and librarians

I often wonder why we aren't better connected; God knows we are working towards the same general goals (although often very different bottom lines!)

Now, here is a great, thoughtful article (accompanied by storybook-style profiles of your average publisher and librarian) from Library Journal, by librarian and mystery writer Barbara Finter. And I quote:

"Though publishing and librarianship may have different cultures, we have a common goal. S.R. Ranganathan put it in a nutshell with two of his famous rules: every reader his book; every book its reader. In an era when publishing opportunities have proliferated and the number of titles being published has skyrocketed, libraries rely on professionals who can do the painstaking work of developing quality books. In turn, publishers need librarians, who help spark a love of reading among children, sustain it through the stages of life, and know what's important to readers.

Though book sales have slumped in recent months, library circulation is soaring. If publishers didn't get the importance of libraries before, now's the time to get the message, because it's in libraries that book culture will be sustained through these hard times."

Libraries in the U.K.: a perfect storm?

As you probably have noticed, I read a lot about libraries in the U.K. Recently, articles and reports have come out with ideas about how to save libraries (coffee + Sunday hours?, interlibrary stock, online services and automated lending?) ... Meanwhile, random dudes hand out books on the Tube, which libraries could/should be doing!). Manifestos have been written; lines in the sand have been drawn.

Libraries in the U.K. have been experiencing a schism, a term recently employed in an excellent article in the Times. You could also call it an identity crisis of sorts: the question is, in the words of Andrew Motion, "shhh and fining or Starbucks and PCs." And the U.K. public has mostly fallen into the trap of believing libraries to be an either/or: as my favourite source of info about libraries in the U.K, Perkins the cat, writes on his blog, "we shouldn't polarise the argument into books or not books." Despite idol worship, we are not a format (as I keep saying; sorry if you've heard me say this a dozen times before. Maybe I should get a t-shirt): we are a service.

Many libraries, or sections within libraries, will always remain a source of uninterrupted quiet contemplation of the weath of historical knowledge, a place in which you can enjoy a silent communion with the entirety of recorded human thought. Many community-based libraries have already evolved to reflect changing communities; we sometimes forget that beyond what libraries represent as object or idol, they ultimately belong to the people. These people are a variable, diverse, sometimes-loud, quirky mass of humanity, and each one of them deserves to be honoured and provided for in their local community library. The other option is to return to the closed-stacks, one version of history library, where the conquerers' version of stories is preserved and libraries are not of the people, but of the elite. Not that the taxpayer model of public libraries doesn't have its issues, but it's the lesser of various evils.

One of the major hurdles facing community libraries worldwide is the lack of use by the (sweeping generalisation here!) 16-45 year old demographic. I've seen this myself, often enough, being smack in the middle of that age group. I struggle a lot with the whole movement to "cool up" the library, with pizza and pajama parties and gaming tournaments, but ultimately, being a repository for books is only one aspect of libraries - another is being a part of community life. The generations coming of age these days are lacking (some would say sadly) the sit-down-and-read-the-book-in-the-library "quality time" we used to have: well, see, that actually turned some people off libraries entirely, so it was never really working for us. Now, we have opportunities to get kids in the door by offering a variety of programs: once hooked, or at least interested, we hope they will remember us as a fun, safe place to visit, and untimately pick up a book or magazine. Frankly, I don't think we have much of a choice but to meet kids more than halfway: as the Times columnist points out, "my son has been inside the local branch once, our daughter isn't even a member." We (and I mean we as a society, as well as we as librarians) simply can't afford for this to be the future. Libraries do gain some members back in middle age and retirement, but not enough, and fewer and fewer will return, if they ever came at all. So what if our children's departments sound like "a kindergarten with all the singing and clapping"? Isn't that better than "children should be seen and not heard"? (I used to make the old joke about the separate children's library entrances of yore - I'm looking at you, Westmount of the 1910s - "Or not seen! And not heard!").

Another major hurdle, in the U.K. specifically, perhaps, is the "perfect storm" of circumstances that have conspired to put U.K. libraries in a specifically horrid situation: the economy is facing all the ugency of the American economy, library membership and use continues to drop, not rise, during the recession, U.K workplace culture has somehow missed the "customer service" revolution that swept across North American libraries in the past decade or so, and the government is without a proper structure for library services (or that structure is missing a unified, competent team in senior management, anyway).

Finally, to balance everything out, we need to be awkwardly funding both small, specific community libraries and larger, district or regional libraries: the latter can necessarily have more of the "communion" factor due to sheer architectural possibilities, and are essential in supporting the local branches and providing/maintaining the idea of a library (as place, as repository) in popular, modern culture. Yes, Alan Gibbons, the "shiny city centre book palaces" belong somewhere, too, but Gibbons is correct in lampooning U.K. officials for not making a commitment (backed with cash) to local libraries within a "reasonable travel distance" from people's homes. Not that I'm chastising them for recently weeding en masse, but perhaps there needs to be a scheme, too, for keeping one copy of Dickens per ... what? 10 miles? Jeesh.

Maybe I will close with a quote from a good friend and colleague of my mother's. This is about faith, kids, but I think the idea applies here. Are we respecting the tradition of libraries, or are we being traditionalists? Are we building or defending dead libraries, or libraries that can live and thrive in the 21st century?

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.'
- Jaroslav Pelikan

London Libraries Change Program: Backlash

"I don’t think any member of the public would have put interlibrary stock, online services and automated lending as the three priorities for change in London Libraries. In fact we know they would have put improved shelf stock, longer hours and better buildings along with a request that well informed staff be available at counters. It is almost bizarre that the LLCP failed to identify the things that people most want."

Via.

London Library Change Program, Phase 3 Bulletin

Read it here! (warning: PDF)

London libraries are looking at centralised request services in back offices, an unified approach to "stock management and procurement" (the word, stock, sticks in my craw!), and a single system for renewals and requests, in (possibly) 15 out of 33 boroughs.

They cite TPL as an example of a large, centralised library system. I could be wounded that they didn't mention us, but that's OK. We're only the largest bilingual English-French library system in North America.... Maybe they're still mad at me for making fun of Oxford's circ desk.

Travels with Alex in British libraries, Part 2: London, Day 1

In which Alex re-unites with one of a total of, oh, maybe three, friends from library school, succumbs to her inner Woolf groupie, misses a library (whoops!) and is alternately annoyed and amazed at the British Museum.

It's all about context. "Old" means something totally different in Europe. I remember noticing when I came back from Rome the first time how new everything looks here. Regularly, I say, "I work at one of the oldest public libraries in Ottawa," dating from 1934. Kielan reminds me his flat was built around then. "Old," in England, means your library is housed in a building that also has a dining table donated by Queen Elizabeth. The Virgin Queen, that is.

My friend from library school, the lovely Renae, kindly invited Kris and I to visit her library while we were abroad. She is a rare books librarian at the Middle Temple Library. Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court which call men and women to the Bar; members and benchers include characters as diverse as Sir Walter Raleigh and Prince William, as well as five of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence.

The Middle Temple Hall, where Renae took us for lunch, is home to the giant dining table mentioned above (which was brought down the Thames by boat and into the Hall through a window, and is probably there for the duration now), and also features a double hammer beam roof carved from the oak of Windsor Forest and stained glass windows representing the coats of arms of illustrious members. The Hall also hosted the first performance of Twelfth Night, in 1602.

The library itself is no less impressive (I know, sorry, no photos - but there's one nice one on their website). It is open to all members of the Middle Temple, as well as to member of the other Inns at Court. The library was founded in 1641 by Robert Ashley, who bequeathed his books to the Inn. Some (unexpectedly) diverse material made it into the Library's holdings this way: Ashley bought up much of John Donne's library, interestingly. There are also excellent examples of incunabula in the library's rare books holdings, not to mention a Captain John Smith map of Virginia from 1612. Three years ago, when Renae first arrived, the Library received a massive renovation, which included a "conservation-level storage space for the Archives and Rare Book and Manuscripts Collection." With a much better home, climate control, and a caretaker like Renae, the collection is undoubtedly in wonderful hands. I must say Renae's mending shelf looks nothing like mine!

I can't talk about the Middle Temple Library, though, without mentioning the great mystery of the Molyneux Globes. A matching set of celestial and terrestrial globes (the former one of a kind), made in 1592, were made by Elizabethan globe-maker (my, that must have been quite the career - some context: when the globes were made, Guyana had just been "discovered") Emery Molyneux and are dedicated to Elizabeth I. The big question is, however, who donated them? Was it Ashley? Was it Francis Drake? Was it Elizabeth herself? There's a lovely poster display near the globes outlining the main suspects. Alas, at the moment, anyway, there is no documentary evidence of the globes before a passing mention of them being repaired in 1717.

After such a juicy tour (and a frankly delicious lunch), Kris and I wandered around a bit, killing time until meeting Kielan at the British Museum. Since it's somewhat close to there, I decided to make a pilgrimmage to (one of) Virginia Woolf's London homes, 46 Gordon Square. Side note: why can't they put a sign on each corner of these squares for stupid North Americans, so we don't have to walk aaaall the way around the perimeter to find #46?

On the bright side, the walk was calming. The square was quiet, and its small park at the centre was peaceful in the mid-afternoon misty rain. I actually had quite a moment of, I'm in England. I'm in the square where Virginia once walked. Then I stumbled upon another library. Indeed, little did I know, but Gordon Square is home to Dr. William's Library. I confess I didn't even try the door; I was sort of blissed out, and too tired to care by then. While recently reading The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World, I discovered that Dr. William's Library was home, until recently, to a First Folio. Well then. Also, the library is "the pre-eminent research library of English Protestant nonconformity" (now you know, OK?) Meanwhile, we stood outside #46, at left, and contemplated a young woman living with her sister Vanessa on Gordon Square in 1905.

And then it was on to the British Museum. The old Reading Room is now, of course, the space for temporary exhibits (Aztecs, when I wanted the ghost of Marx), so we bypassed that. I had the lovely good fortune of being chaperoned by not one, but two (!) lovely gentlemen willing to do my bidding (K and K!), so I elected to inspect the Staffordshire Hoard (not merely because I enjoyed saying, "Let's go inspect the hoard!") and, of course, all the pilfered Egyptian stuff.

Have you head about this Staffordshire Hoard, by the way? Largest batch of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found; found, no less, by an amateur treasure hunter, Terry Herbert, while he was metal detecting in a field. Wow.

One of our final stops in the Museum was a lovely room with the title, Enlightenment. An exhibit about exploration and discovery in the 18th century, the room was originally built for the King's Library (do I get to say I saw it twice, since the actual collection is now at the British Library?). The King's Library is the collection of King George III, donated to the nation. Donated material from the House of Commons now fills the shelves, although I wonder who belongs to the gigantic, multi-volume (at least 80) atlas, hilariously entitled, General Atlas (what, pray tell, does the Specific one look like?), that Kielan and I kept tripping over?

After inspecting mummified cats, Cleopatra, oversized dictionaries, stuffed field mice and suchlike, it was inevitable that we stop by the actual, working library at the Museum. Really, it had been at least 72 hours since I had last attempted to break some rules. This time, I was summarily told "what for" after taking an illegal picture of the Paul Hamlyn Library. Kielan was scandalised; Kris was not surprised. Interestingly, the library is not for researchers, but rather for the visiting public, to help them to discover more about the cultures represented in the library. The collection is thus reference-only, with photocopy facilities, and uses the good old DDC. The information pamphlet comes with a funny warning not to use the ladders along the walls; staff will apparently run up and get things for you (ah, Nicholas Hoare flashbacks!).

After parting ways in the rain with Kielan, who was finally off for his honeymoon with the lovely Kate, we made our way to the Idea Store in Whitechapel. My friend Diane had recommended this one as emblematic of the Idea Store concept, so off we went.

Let me just say, getting off the Tube at Whitechapel, after dark, is rather grotty. There is a street market by day, and it's rather like going by the Byward Market after closing: all tattered shop wares, exhausted workers, and dirty tarp. It's rather Brick Lane-y, too. All in all, an inauspicious start. Although, given the sampling of ethnicities we saw in the neighbourhood, I can see why the Idea Store was chosen as the local library concept. Certainly it makes the library experience less bleak, at least architecturally, than Oxford.

And what, exactly, is the library experience? I found myself wondering as I wandered through the Idea Store. I think the stores have actually done a good job of providing excellent service; I think they get flack for their gimmicky nature. Certainly, the big-screen TV was even a bit much for me. I like the idea that they are rather like Quebec's Maisons de la culture - a third space that includes not only a library, but a coffee shop, daycare, dance studios, and rooms to rent for ESL groups or other activities. While I was wandering around, I eavesdropped on a staff member giving what looked like an impromptu library tour to a young mother in the Bangladeshi novel section; I thought, this is what service is all about, and this is probably what this community needs. Many of the little things were thought out to be as simple and welcoming as possible: Braille labels on signage, public use PCs scattered around the floors (in addition to a large area for many stations), swirly stacks that don't rise as high (and are somehow less intimidating... Some might argue wistfully that we should be intimidating, but I think we need spaces that fulfill each role: grand, majestic library spaces celebrating the wealth of knowledge, and functional, everyday spaces that invite everyone in, regardless of age, wealth or culture), and tabs for fiction.

Some things I liked:

• Good use of pictogram labels for children's non-fiction (you know signage makes me passionate!)
• A bibliotherapy book club (well, the bibliotherapy part is icky, personally, but the idea is noble: more informal club where readers come with ideas rather than a formal, classroom-y club)
• The Idea Store has a toy library - I've read about these in a few places now (we have one in Ottawa) and I think it's a great idea. Why would anyone want to buy all that stuff? Plus, boost your kids' immunity (hee hee!)
• They have a monthly "News views" club - "share your views and opinions about the latest news over a cuppa and croissants." I want to do this!
• They have a Citizens Advice Bureau Service - hmm, interesting....
• Just so you don't despair that quality reading of literary fiction is dead, the Idea Store Festival of Reading 2009 was on while I was there, "focusing on the themes of life, crime and history," with readings in various branches. I like the emphasis on reading, not writing, in the festival name.
  

I was less impressed with the staircase (honestly! Just because it's functional doesn't mean it has to be totally horrid! It looked like estate housing stairwells!) and surprised to see picture books not shelved in any order (aaah! Anarchy! Now, I know this may be less "strict," but it's entirely useless for anyone trying to find specific titles. Part of encouraging pre-literacy skills is choosing the right books, which is much harder for staff or parents if they're all muddled together. Trust me; I separated ours out at Rideau Branch after losing my mind a few times).

Overall, I expected to be more annoyed with Idea Stores, frankly. I think, in the end, the thing I am most uncomfortable with about them is the name: many think that the "re-branding" campaign was undertaken because the word "library" had failed in some way in England (think: Oxford, only much worse, probably). But the thing is, it still seems kind of silly to me; part of the goal of the Idea Stores is to appeal to immigrants, who probably don't have any associations with the word library (unless, say, they lived in Communist China or North Korea). Using the word library would probably be more instant "brand recognition" than explaining the concept of an Idea Store. Many other Britons, who quite like libraries despite everything, are also pretty much permanently alienated; adding in the word "Store" gives them the creepy-crawlies. We should be less caught up in terminology and more worried about actual service; during this conversation I had with Ralph, Jackie and John, John mentioned a run-in he had recently had with a librarian in Birmingham who scolded him about proper handling of items in the Reference collection. We should be more concerned about developing positive relationships (and being partners in lifelong learning rather than security guards for Burke's Peerage) than about the word, library. Moreover, usage of libraries in the UK isn't totally going down.

And, really, the expanded hours and additional services of the Idea Stores are not too far from the concept of the public library in North America: many of us are also experimenting with adult ed classes and such; OPL is expanding its Sunday hours based on popular demand; many libraries in smaller communities have acted as community centres (or within community centres) for generations.

Oh goody, I just started two sentences with "and" and "but." Nicely done. Oh well.

After dawdling around the Idea Store for an hour or so, we were off into the night (and the tube) to enjoy Italian food at Attillio's (delish!)

Travels with Alex in British libraries, Part 1: Oxford

In which we learn much about Alex's criminal tendencies, customer service, good lighting, the universal horrors of Brutalist architecture, whole collection RA, and interactive museum exhibits.

Oh, Oxford. Why must you keycard the doors to university libraries? I suppose the goggle-eyed proletariat does confound students trying to study, but really, how elitist. I did scamper up a back staircase in Christ Church College Library... See, I had my eye on this unsuspecting young girl in front of me. I figured we could pass for study mates and I could tail her in when she swiped her card. I just didn't count on:

1. The heavy, heavy door that thudded emphatically shut within 1.2 seconds of her entering
2. The crisis of guilt I had at second 1.1.

Also, I could hear my aunt asking Kris incredulously, "did she go up there?," and figured on day 2 of the Re-uniting With Family trip, B&E (or at least, E?) would not be a good first impression.

Luckily, my cousin Sim sensed my frustration and took me to Blackwell's, whose Norrington Room (160, 000 books on 3 miles of shelving!) made up for some of the closed doors of the day.

In the evening, after a day of college wanderings, Kris and I meandered around non-university Oxford, taking in shops and the local public library. Yes, even in shops I can find library inspiration: I would like to shout out to Timpson's for excellence in customer service. I picked up two of their little "Campaign for better service" cards. Like a comment card/suggestion card, but more elaborate, actually saying "Sorry you had a problem," asking how the problem was dealt with, and the likelihood that a customer will recommend Timpson (notice the question is not "will you return?" but "will you recommend us?" I thought that was interesting. Word of mouth is everything!). The cards are signed by John Timpson, another personal touch that I thought showed a certain respect for customers. Not to mention they have a monthly draw from the cards (which are thematic: the ones I picked up were "Have we amazed you?" and "Sorry you had a problem") for prizes. Hello, incentive. Anyway, a good customer service idea. I also liked that they were Business reply mail postcards.

On to Oxford Central Library (Can you tell I was stalling?). Right. So, if you don't already know, British public libraries are woefully under-funded, and some sketchy bureaucratic decisions recently mean people are starting to threaten to close libraries, or at least get rid of the pesky books. Just read The Good Library Blog (by Perkins, library cat, who today threatened to run someone through). So, on the one hand, things are quite dire; on the other hand, great gobs of money are spent on library-esque buildings like the Idea Stores (stay tuned for later post about that) and the Norwich Millenium Library (anything located at "the Forum" is not getting off on the right foot with me... pretentious, much? I reserve further judgment until I hear from my uncle Ralph, who lives there, or I visit him and the Forum *snort* myself). I have very mixed feelings about those endeavours (and I had an interesting conversation about them with my uncle Ralph, aunt Jackie, and her friend John - more later).

So, Oxford's Central Library is Siamese-twinned with Westgate Mall (home to Primark; across from M&S). You enter via a rather desolate lobby (security guard nods; Alex and Kris nod), with flyers about city services, elevator and staircase. Up you go, to the 2nd floor main library entrance, which looks like this:



"It's just like the old Rideau Branch!" I exclaimed - that lovely CHOOSE YOUR PATH idea that I find so intimidating in libraries. Circ desk that looks like a battleship: check. Right for entry, left for exit, and woe to anyone who isn't party to those cultural norms: check. I'm not being mean, Oxford: my library looked like this until one year ago. Many of us are guilty of similar architectural crimes, often perpetrated by architects, not librarians!

Oxford Central Library is open 57 hours a week, and is home to regular collections (books to Blu-ray, with a smattering of public use PCs), a Children's Library, a Music Library, Oxfordshire's Adult Learning Centre, and a local studies collection called Oxfordshire Studies. Unfortunately, the building is staggeringly ugly, all cement, orange carpet, and poor lighting. I had to drill pretty deep into the county website to find a passing reference to the Westgate re-development project, which is currently on hold, and may be dropped, due to the economic crisis. Wikipedia tells me the project would have included "a prominent new three-storey glazed entrance for Oxford’s County Library." No one can tell me when the library and the mall were built, but I blame the Brutalists for the library, at least. I was very disappointed that I arrived too late to visit the Oxfordshire Studies room (it closes 30 mins before the library proper). I did see an old card catalogue through the window to the OS room, which filled me with glee.

Some things I quite liked at Oxford Central Library:

• More customer comment cards: most interesting question, "Do you feel you were treated fairly?"
• "Naming" the bays with letters (see photo): far easier to say "Bay H" than "English drama - 822!"
• Quick reads display: "easy to pick up, hard to put down."
• Screen reads display of books in the media room - brilliant! Whole collection readers' advisory! Ten points for you, Oxford!
  
• The magnificent Oxfordshire Studies sign (word cloud!) as well as their tasteful banners hanging down to the main reading room.
• I think the Children's Library did the best they could in a gloomy space. Staff were working on a lovely creative mural when I was there.

From the literature I picked up, I was somewhat confounded to see that their application form asks about ethnic origin. Is this common? I see the merit, on the one hand (and they do say, "...This information will help us to plan and provide better services for library members") but couldn't they get general info from demographics? Wouldn't they want to know also the ethnic backgrounds that aren't visiting the library? I can't see that it's worth it to offend some to gain limited info. I did like that "Mixed" is the 2nd option on the list. I also like that if you register online, they will mail your library card to you!

I love that the brochure for young people includes benefits of membership, including "having fun" and "chill out." I also love that it mentions "Puzzle books" in the same breath it does "Picture books" - I wonder if that's a reflection of how popular they are, as they are here?! The application form is also available in other formats for those with disabilities, including (unusually, and quite interestingly) on audio-cassette, computer disk, or by e-mail.

The charmingly-named brochure, "your library - what's in it for you?" (man, when did not using capitals become synonymous with cool? Although I guess I am guilty as charged in e-mails to friends all the time) led to a startling discovery: No fines for children under 5 at Oxfordshire Libraries! In fact, "We'd like children to have fun when they come to the library so we don't mind if they make a little noise. We know that getting books back on time can be difficult sometimes, so there are no fines for children under five. We don't worry if books occasionally get damaged; there are no charges and we can find other copies." Bullet points about children's services below this statement include "Children and babies are never too young to join." Damn straight! I also liked that they emphasised having "books and films you won't find on the High Street."

All in all, horrid building housing some lovely services and collections. I hope they get a face-lift, Westgate re-development or not. In a city full of such astoundingly beautiful places, it is a shame to see such a jewel in a setting that does it little justice.

Non-library observation of note: The Ashmolean, Britain's first public museum, (1683) is amazing, with a respectable collection of Pre-Raphaelites and a sumptuous new display space for them, as well as "the only significant Minoan collection in the UK," and "the greatest Anglo-Saxon collections outside the British Museum." The whole museum re-opened only days before our visit after a massive reno; it now set up according to a new display approach they call "Crossing Cultures Crossing Time." The idea is to reveal "how the civilisations of the east and west have developed as part of an interrelated world culture."

One thing the Ashmolean (and, come to think of it, the Imperial War Museum - maybe it's a British thing?) does very well is exhibit the everyday objects that really make a big impact on visitors: eg. Pashmina gloves, India, 1700s, belonging to the Governeur-General of Bengal. Amazing. Another thing I loved was the interactive stuff: they had an interactive display on, entitled "Writing the spoken word," which involved making your own hieroglyphs. I was also oddly captivated by this magical bowl, which is a propos of nothing, really.

Bonus observation for the day: I loved this idea to clean up a messy bulletin board, from *I think* Balliol College... Would be great in a teen area....

Outreach is dead. Long live outreach?

Excellent, excellent article about outreach services in libraries.

Some good points:

• "If the people who you’re attempting to reach seek services from you (rather than you reaching them) it is not outreach."


• "But let’s face it, these services and the community-based nature of public libraries are essential to what today’s library is. It is not extra, it is mandatory and we should all be engaged and providing targeted, community-based services to our constituents."


• "We have the ability to be in our communities, to engage them and offer specific targeted services. Our engagement with our communities can be the defining aspect of what a library is to any given community [....] Traditional “outreach” services should be an integrated part of what we do, not an aside, a tacked on item."


• "How are we going to train library staff to provide those 30 second elevator speeches? Who will take the lead to ensure that circulation staff, reference staff, and others know how to engage in the services we’ve been calling outreach? If we expect everyone to engage in this work, staff need to have the skills and knowledge to be able to do so." Such an important point. Not everyone is inclined to be good at outreach in general, or "30 second elevator speeches" specifically. Why don't we use the people who have those skills, train the ones who want to learn, and let the others apply their numerous other skills to numerous other aspects of library services?


• "Outreach is usually considered a separate department, when marketing and promotion of outreach activities within institutions get delegated to separate “marketing,” “communications,” or “public relations” departments. Wouldn’t it be best if the two were integrated? These departments often produce and distribute printed and written materials such as press releases, brochures and flyers, or craft an organizational mission statement. This kind of community engagement remains essential. We must learn to embrace marketing and collaborate with our marketing and communications departments for our community-centered services to achieve their potential."

Signage, paper, and other trvialities

I've been thinking a lot about the somewhat "trivial" aspects of the physical space in a library (this is what happens when you spend too long debating about Ikea chairs...).

I often joke to people that some libraries aspire to an interior design aesthetic that is best described as "Unloved Church Basement, circa 1982." It's like the flip side of maintaining a collection: librarians and paraprofessional staff have only recently managed to swallow the idea of actually weeding the collection. We have yet to even begin to cut into manageable, bite-sized pieces the idea of considering the physical space of the library as a component of our services.

That's a sweeping generalization, of course. The Idea Stores, love them or hate them, at least considered space and design, northern Europeans in general are pretty good at designing cool libraries (more below; also, Shannon, your pics were too good NOT to link to...), Seattle did a wicked job (signage!), as did Vancouver.

Quick sidebar re. the Swedes and libraries: I saw a fascinating presentation at IFLA last year about getting children and young adults involved in developing and designing their space in the library, and is based on Howard Gardner’s educational theories about multiple intelligences. Libraries should play with: words (linguistic intelligence – this one is fairly obvious for us!), pictures (spatial intelligence: colours, materials, structure of the library, windows, furniture, etc.), music (musical intelligence: having a music room, instruments for lending), self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence: quiet spaces, reading rooms, theatres, fireplaces, sofas), physical experience (bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence: ladders, sofas, climbing walls, skateboard ramps, playground outside), social experience (interpersonal intelligence: group work rooms, café, friendly helpful staff), experience in the natural world (naturalist intelligence: plants, fountains, maps, a nice smell in the library!). Questions to ask in the process include: How can interaction with the library space develop? How can you strengthen language and stimulate the joy of reading with new techniques? How can you develop meaningful participation for children and young people when it comes to developing the library space? The project organized focus groups with children and incorporated their drawings and 3D models into renovation plans. The web site for the project acts as a resource for other librarians interested in the project.

Whoo, sidetracked. Sorry.

Maybe, upon reflection, it's the smaller branch libraries that concern me. And smaller things: not even furniture, or carpeting, or windows, but non-permanent signage (i.e. not the signs affixed to the wall that point out the washrooms, but the small posters advertizing your branch's programs, for example), display space, flyers, pamphlets, bulletin boards...

Here's where I'm coming from. At Westmount, most of the staff were pretty aware of the little things. We also had a hawk-eyed senior management team who would tear down posters they didn't like, scour the bulletin board for expired notices, and chose everything from the program notice boards to the plastic baskets patrons can use to pile up on books with infinite care (some might call this micromanaging!)...

When I started working at another library, I was appalled at the standard of ... um, cleanliness? Tidiness? I developed this theory that the way the physical space of a library is designed, and maintained (or not - garbage on the floor, grafitti in the study carrels, ignored for days...) influences the way patrons act in the space. I'm not saying we all have to be as intimidating as possible when designing spaces (something I think Westmount was, in fact, guilty of, when it designed its high service counters - how unfriendly and unergonomic!). I'm just saying that keeping the library in good shape on a daily basis has to be everyone's responsibility, or else it becomes no one's. One of my previous bosses used to do a walking tour of her branch every morning - what a great way to stay on top of things.

Some smaller infractions I have been guilty of or have observed in my day that are totally unnecessary:

• A suggestion box with the X in box ripped off.


• Handwritten signage - seriously, dude, use a computer!


• Grafitti up for more than 48 hours.


• So many pamphlets at the Reference desk that you can't see the staff person.


• So many book trucks of work-related material pulled up beside the Reference desk that you can't see the staff person.


• Now that I think of it, any book truck storage in public spaces.


• Notices for summer programs in the community still up in October. Bonus points for also having the "expired" flyers or booklets, too!


• Cluttered public workspaces (seriously, is it SO HARD to put your crap away?)


• Dusty things.


• Dead plants (fills me with such confidence about your dedication to serving actual humans).


• Things used for purposes other than that which God intended them: cardboard boxes as storage for toys out in a public area, signs held up using a metal bookend and a plastic page protector, old milk cartons as storage for plastic bags for patrons, Kleenex boxes full of crayons, etc.

You're wondering where all this hostility is coming from, aren't you? I know we're public libraries, and we're poor and all that, but we need to have some self-respect, or we can't really expect our patrons to have any respect for us, can we?

And signage. God, I could write a whole other post on signage alone. First of all, no one reads signs, right? This became all too clear when people pulled on the door of Rideau Branch every day we were closed, despite the sign on the door (directly above the door handle) saying CLOSED. Especially in the children's department: some of our patrons can't read! Plus, we have new Canadians, and the elderly who can't see very well anymore, and so on. I've started using pictograms in my signs: covers of famous picture books in the pic book section, giant dinosaurs in the 567.91s, and so on. Why aren't more of us doing this? It astounds me. We talk ourselves blue in the face about welcoming people to the library, do outreach, entertain school groups, provide readers' advisory services, answer the phones, and do myriad other things - why aren't we paying attention to "smaller" things like signage as a part of the same philosophy of accessibility?

On a related topic, what do you think about this presentation about empathetic signage? On the one hand, I can hear my husband saying, "Why do we need to encourage people to be empathetic? Shouldn't they BE empathetic already?" On the other hand, I appreciate the light touch of humour. We spend too much time being totally obvious, and stultifying, when we make signs.