Reps of Small and Rural Libraries Meet in Sacramento at Reinvigorated Conference

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Rebecca Miller -- Library Journal, 09/25/2008

• Serving seniors
• Marketing online
• Tips for dealing with "Tiny Tech"

Maybe it was the stop in Sacramento after years in Columbus, OH. Maybe it was the deep engagement of the State Library, including the tireless and inspired Carla Lehn. Maybe it was the new leadership inspired by the old, after the recent retirement of Clarion University’s Bernard Vavrek, who directed the school’s Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship. Whatever the cause, the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) meeting held in the California capital Sept. 19-21 was reinvigorated with great programming and a range of some 260 attendees from 31 states, according to preliminary numbers.

Overall, ARSL organizers imparted a sense of fruition, having made great strides since rural library leaders met to brainstorm the future of the organization in Clarion, PA, in February of 2007. And participants benefited, from a challenging program on the front end and an organization with a stronger voice bolstered on the back end as well by WebJunction’s Jim Malzewski’s determined work on the new ARSL web site. 

The program included presentations by library luminaries such as OCLC’s George Needham, California State Librarian Susan Hildreth, and more. Among the topics: fundraising, advocacy, collaboration for improved programming, collection development issues, and the savvy application of technology.

Serving seniors

(Bill Harmer interview)

Bill Harmer, head of adult services for Chelsea District Library, LJ’s 2008 Best Small Library in America, roused participants with his descriptions of the library’s programming for seniors, an area in which he predicts service growth comparable to the proliferation of teen services. Stating that one in eight Americans in 65 or older, he noted that the 85 and older crowd is the fastest growing population in the country. “We will need more than just a large print collection to address their needs,” he stressed. Luckily he had a roster of great ideas to help, including a senior lock-in (more common with teens), complete with a Hawaiian rib dinner, and oral history projects focused on both WWII veterans and alumns of one room schoolhouses in the region.

A "technology petting zoo"

(Infopeople interview)

Insights into technology, however, abounded—from the exhibit hall, which included a “technology petting zoo” that tours California’s public libraries, to the programs, which included plenty of 2.0. The petting zoo, a project of California’s Infopeople project, funded by LSTA monies, kept the exhibit hall hopping, with people playing with a Wii, trying out a touch screen, or testing various handheld devices and readers. 

The project, geared to promote tech expertise in libraries, tours public libraries, where the tech consultants work with library staff first and then open the zoo up to the public.

Marketing online
Less hands-on, but nevertheless useful, was a talk on marketing libraries online by Sarah Houghton-Jan, LibrarianinBlack blogger. (See her conference posts for more insights and to access her presentation documents.)  “Online,” she said, “everyone’s customers are your customers.” To realize the potential of that statement, libraries can take advantage of many opportunities to improve their marketing online, including getting correctly listed in general directories (AskCity, Yahoo!Local, Google Maps, and others) and library directories (libdex, libweb, mapmuse, libraries411, etc.). 

She also suggested registering multiple domain names to capture searchers who might get the library name wrong, and improving “link love” with the right organizations and local businesses to help patrons find the library. Among her other good ideas, she suggested listing library events in online community calendars (AmericanTowns.com, LibraryThing local, Eventful, Craigslist, and more), noting that a full half of the people showing up at her programs at San Jose Public Library discover them through these kinds of sources, not the library web page.

"Tiny Tech"
All the tech talk might have made some participants antsy, but then Jessamyn West (Vermont librarian, LJ Mover & Shaker, librarian.net blogger, and more) arrived to put it all in perspective in her highly amusing talk, titled "Tiny Libraries, Tiny Tech." “We’re still living on a planet where half the population still hasn’t ever used a telephone, so it’s great to think that we’re all going to a big Internet party,” she noted, but librarians have to remember everyone, including all of those who read the print paper in the library every day. 

Connectivity is still a real issue for rural communities, she pointed out, noting that most of the people in her Vermont town live without any kind of connectivity. With that in mind, she said, the ongoing trend to move more online, including e-government, puts big pressure to libraries. When the Internal Revenue Service sent a letter saying that there would be no more print tax forms sent to one of her library branches (which had four computers on a dial-up connection) because everything is available on the web, she recalled, “you might as well have given our librarian the finger.”

(Interview with ARSL incoming president Patty Hector)

Apologizing for the term Web 2.0, noting that it was created to sell technology conferences, West said, “so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t seem to mean anything to you!” She advised reaching out when implementing new technologies: “We need to trust people as volunteers with technology and manage it like we do volunteers in the rest of the library’s services.” She stressed that the library is a great place to help patrons connect to the outside, because, in some towns, it’s the only public space beyond the post office.