Publisher's Letter: Libraries and the Elections
A more informed public is our responsibility—and opportunity
By Ron Shank, Publisher -- Library Journal, 9/15/2007
As I was driving into the Nashville airport one Monday at 6 a.m. headed toward LJ’s New York office for the week, I passed a battered sign in a neighbor’s front yard supporting Howard Gentry for mayor in the city’s August election. It saddened me and made me mad. (Gentry, by the way, was the sole black candidate among several contending for the job.) There were many more, larger, undamaged signs for other candidates along my route.
It reminded me of the important role libraries can and should play in the election season. LJ’s editor at large, John N. Berry III, often reaffirms that a cornerstone public library responsibility is to provide access to the materials necessary to ensure an informed electorate. In our democracy, we enjoy freedom of the press and freedom of speech, but we do not have an unbiased or steadily thoughtful press. National candidates are coached to stay “on message,” campaign managers practice negative tactics, and the resulting media coverage too often comes via outlets that reinforce preconceptions, not challenge them.
The din of repetitive sound bites on 24-hour “news” channels, the faltering influence of daily newspapers, the diminished reach of serious journals, and the historically early volleys of the presidential campaign have convinced me that libraries must step up to maximize their impact on the election. You can do this by putting very visible displays of candidate and legislative information in front of your public rather than only responding to inquiries. While you can’t reshape popular media, you can offer a broader, more comprehensive look at the candidates’ positions and make these records available.
This could be as dynamic as your imagination allows. As managers of the world’s information, you can already see the possibilities far better than I, but here are a few ideas:
- Assign staff or accept volunteers to serve as your library’s election expert/hero. It’s a major job for the next year.
- Set up displays that maximize information in all media: books, newspapers, magazines, campaign materials...build a web site to aggregate links to candidate and issue forums, blogs, web sites, and breaking news. Refresh the display daily.
- Rotate and mix components that help define the issues and how they affect different groups in your community, such as seniors, small business people, immigrants, and teens.
- Reach out to your neighbors to get input from university scholars, chambers of commerce, political parties, and special interest groups that support issues like environmental preservation, recreation, and more. While librarians can’t push their own political agendas, they can and should make available material on all sides of an issue.
- Get local and granular. Be sure each candidate and proposal on the ballot that affects your municipality is studied, exposed, and open for inspection and understanding.
- Showcase a display of books that provides insight into past elections and current issues. This could spur discussion groups and book clubs.
- Monitor your election display constantly to prevent bias. Expect to be challenged by activists who do not brook dissent regarding their issues or their candidates. The brash political arguments of the past several years have been divisive. You will face opposition, perhaps even vandalism, to open access. But that’s what you do every day—and this will remind you of that mission you do so well.
So, I challenge you to make the time between now and November 2008 the “year of election education” at your library. LJ will report on it and look at some best practices.
Put your vast array of skills to work and be rewarded because anyone who sets foot in your library or visits your web site will come away a better-informed voter.
