What Public Libraries Must Do To Survive

In the lower right-hand corner on the front page of its Wednesday, March 7 edition, the New York Times ran a story entitled 'Queens Library Moves Past 'Shh' (and Books).' Although predictably the headline will rankle some in the field, the article itself chronicles how one of the perennially busiest libraries in the country packs in patrons by acting, well, less like a library.

The library's offerings run the gamut from 'Open Mike Night,' a weekly forum giving residents a chance to show off their more exotic talents, to childcare services to merengue dance classes. However, receiving less prominence in the article are QBPL's lofty annual circulation numbers (more than 17.5 million) and its $11.5 million book budget (FY01): quite a commitment to tradition for an institution eager to tell its patrons 'this is not your father's library.'

Can the public library be all things to all people?

The NYT article offers a glimpse of the challenge facing today's public library: redefining itself to meet the nascent needs of the community it serves, while continuing to deliver its traditionally core informational and recreational services. LJ had conversations with more than a dozen public librarians across the country-some from large urban libraries, others from wealthy suburban communities, and still others from smaller rural libraries that we rarely hear from-to find out how they are playing out their balancing act of being both progressive yet practical in order to stay relevant to their communities.

As public institutions, public libraries have traditionally lagged behind the more agile private sector in exploiting the latest technological trends. 'I think we have had difficulties in really coming to grips with what's significant about the digital revolution,' says Dan Walters, director of the Las Vegas-Clark County PL, NV. 'The real challenge for public libraries is being fluid enough to move quickly to remain relevant in terms of having a mix of services that are truly valuable for our customers. Public libraries are not the most flexible of institutions; you could say that generally about the public sector.' Walters says the digital revolution, for public libraries, isn't 'just about taking what's in print and converting it but understanding how the public wants to get the information. If libraries are going to survive in that role, they are going to have to alter the way in which they put content in the public's hands.'

In order to help expedite the time it takes PLs to innovate, Oshkosh PL, WI, Director John Nichols proposes a nonprofit entity for rapid library technology deployment. 'Changing direction quickly, figuring how to fund that flexibility is the challenge for us,' he says. 'We never want to be on the bleeding edge but damn close behind it.' Nichols explains that the typical turnaround time for a client of an application development consultant firm like Oracle-from the time the idea is developed to the time Oracle releases the application-is six months. In public libraries it might be three years or more. 'The web means convenience, and we need to meet that challenge.'

After attending a Wisconsin conference in May 2000 on the future of libraries with fellow directors from across the state, Nichols says it dawned on them that there was a lot of needless replication. ' 'Boy,' we said to each other, 'everybody is working on their own rather than working together and accomplishing more for less money.'' As a result, he and his colleagues left their meeting with the idea of lobbying the Wisconsin legislature for a 30 percent increase in public library funding to cover the cost of the type of technology think-tank envisioned by Nichols. They've also considered approaching the Gates Foundation for seed money.

Anne Marie Gold, executive director of the Stanford-California State Library Institute on 21st Century Librarianship, says it's a matter of the public library being willing to take more risk. 'They can't take two and three years to decide if they want to go in a certain direction,' says Gold. 'They need to be willing to try new technology and involve themselves in technology partnerships, while expecting that those things are not always going to be perfect, and move on.' Having spent a number of years working in public libraries-she was director in Contra Costa and Solano counties and also worked at Oakland and New York PLs-Gold understands the challenges public institutions face. 'There is a stewardship, an accountability for the public dollar, making [technological innovation] tough to do in the public sector.' Moreover, says Gold, libraries risk losing credibility if their 'user community evolves and adapts faster than the public library from a technology standpoint.'

However, for some communities, the challenge has nothing to do with keeping up with the evolving needs of technologically savvy patrons. 'For us the technology revolution is being able to bring computer services to people who can't afford them,' says Jamie Hansen, director, Columbus County PL, Whiteville, NC. Hansen's community has been walloped by the fiscal realities of a failing local economy. Whiteville's economic hardships include an unemployment rate that is nearly triple the national average and the closing of four sewing plants within the last year, which left over 5000 residents in Whiteville and 50,000 countywide without jobs. Hansen says residents aren't spending their money on computers. 'They just worry about paying the rent and buying groceries,' she says. Thus their technology needs are less ambitious. 'We have three computers at this site that are used exclusively for word processing, and we have people coming in all the time to do their church bulletins because they don't have a computer at home.'

An expanded number of net-related job opportunities, comparatively mediocre pay, and a raft of retirements both now and in the next ten years have conspired to bring about a staffing crisis. And if they aren't facing acute problems now, more libraries could feel the pinch soon. According to the Urban Libraries Council, three of four library directors currently at urban libraries will have retired by 2010.

'We're hearing more people talk about how hard it's getting to recruit not only people with a traditional library background but those in technology and with web development experience and support staffing in those areas,' said Oshkosh PL's Nichols. 'The Yahoos of the world have become a fertile recruiting ground [for employing librarians]. That's a crunch we are facing.'

Nichols said the Oshkosh PL has convinced its Friends group to offer $1000 scholarships, enabling the library to 'develop the capacities' of its staff, an endeavor that, Nichols contends, 'may not always involve going to library school.' In an effort to invest in sorely needed technology training and personnel development, the library has formulated a $30,000 grant to help fund courses in Microsoft Excel and Access as well as in database training and development.

Pasadena PL, CA, Director Luis Herrera shares Nichols's concern about technology training but has also had to endure a recent wave of retirements, leaving him searching for new, young library staff with the ability to 'understand the community.' Herrera says the changing demographics of the library user-increased proficiency in technology in addition to a swelling number of ESL users-have him seeking candidates with the 'skill set to go out and work with community agencies and schools.' He acknowledges that this new 'prototype' of librarian 'is out there' but difficult to find. Herrera says he is 'excited' about the American Library Association's Spectrum Initiative to provide minorities with library school scholarship funds. '[Spectrum scholars] come out with a passion,' he says. 'Somehow that needs to be integrated into the broader education.'

Herrera reasons that recruitment alone won't solve libraries' staffing ills. Thus Pasadena PL plans on rejiggering the roles of the staff by reevaluating who is deployed to do what and how they are deployed to do it. Herrera says rethinking roles will lead to a change in the way libraries use librarians. 'I'm finding, much to my dismay, that librarians are spending time doing clerical things like [coordinating] Internet signup sheets,' maintains Herrera. 'I want them to be working on collection development or designing new programs, whether it's e-reference or complex reference work, as opposed to-I hate to say this-more clerical stuff. So we may have fewer librarians, but the ones we do have will be better valued.'

Hand in glove with Herrera's philosophy for more targeted leadership roles for librarians is his plan for extensive training for support staff, allowing Pasadena and other libraries to 'grow their own.' Recruiting staff from the community will be just as critical as recruiting MLSs. 'We have to build our programs in-house so we have the option of creating paraprofessional positions-including outreach and managing units-that are well paid. That way I can have my librarian doing true library work.'

John Guscott, 28-year-old editor of a new quarterly newsletter about the trends and future of public libraries (www.libraryfutures.com), sees the recruitment issue as owing to generational differences among today's would-be librarians. Guscott agrees it is getting more difficult to staff with good people, but primarily because 'younger people have a different value set' than the generally altruistic baby boomers they are replacing. 'I grew up under Reagan, and I think the Gen Xers are more mercenary in that regard,' says Guscott, who is also manager of electronic services at the library in Lakewood, OH, a Cleveland suburb. 'Younger people who got a library degree may start out working in a library and have no qualms about moving on to a dot-com or advertising firm.'

Ironically, as libraries are pushing and being pushed to offer the latest formats and to deliver technology and information to users where they want it and when, they are further solidifying their seminal role as community center. 'We are doing the technology thing, with 16 computers in our new library, and we serve a population of 9000,' says Anna Jane Abaray, Ballston Community Library, Burnt Hills, NY. 'But we have a community function that isn't going to be replaced; it's a big part of coming to our library.' Abaray insists that the library-as-place concept will only continue to grow as suburbia sprawls even further from urban areas.

Nichols agrees, explaining that the now-ubiquitous suburban strip mall community has no natural center, thus allowing the library the opportunity to become the community's de facto town square. 'Because that sense of 'place' in the community has really changed in America, the public library, especially in rural communities, is where people increasingly get together, whether it's for poetry, a concert, or a book reading.' Nichols also sees the library-as-community center concept becoming more critical as patrons spend more time online and thus alone. 'Opportunities to connect with people in person are getting fewer and fewer,' says Nichols.

The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) has adopted a community-centered approach as a blueprint for the ambitious revamping of its infrastructure, according to its director, Susan Kent. Between 1990 and 2004, says Kent, the LAPL will have refurbished at least 61 of the system's 67 branches, with each having a community room, a 'wonderful' children's area, and a distinctive teen area. 'We believe that the library in almost every case is the heart of the community and, in many cases, the only public facility,' says Kent. 'I think the future of the public library is strong, because no other public institution does what we do: we provide 'place,' a place that's for them.'

Lakewood PL's Guscott, who refers to the library as the 'tugboat of the community,' has observed some libraries 'shifting their priorities' from information to social interaction. 'The important question that librarians should be asking is: 'How do you want your library to be viewed by the public?' If patrons think 'library equals community,' will they ever again think that 'library equals book' ten years down the road?' While no one can predict the future, Guscott says, 'You have to choose the direction you like and work backward from that.'

According to Las Vegas's Walters, librarians need to 'reinforce the concept of the neighborhood library as a locus in the community for public discussion, cultural enlightenment, and a place that can counteract the fractious effects of urban living.'

Public perception of libraries, and the degree to which librarians can shape it with savvy marketing strategies, will greatly impact their success in attracting patrons and funding, their lifeblood. 'When you look at what people said in the Benton Report (Books vs. Bytes..), they think of the library as books,' said Harriet Henderson, director of the Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries in Rockville, MD, 'but that's not where people are headed. Yes, books are still important, but as you look at the rise of e-publishing, e-books, and the impact of the Internet on people's lives, we have to focus on other things besides just books.'

Henderson says that libraries need to have the attitude that 'we're here to provide the service that meets your needs. If we think of ourselves as a library we're not thinking of ourselves in the right context.' Libraries need to 'think ahead,' says Henderson and promote themselves and provide service 'based on what people want, as opposed to what we have been providing.'

Libraries also have to do a better job of counteracting the myth that everything is available on the net, rendering libraries expendable, says Nichols. 'Why do we need the public library when we have the Internet?' was the first question he says he was asked by a county commissioner at his library's budget presentation. 'The seed of doubt has been sown, and we have the challenge of effectively dispelling that.'

Ballston Community Library's Abaray says it occurred to her that the reading generation, which grew up with books as their primary source, is going to die out. 'Most of our younger customers are screen-oriented as opposed to book-oriented. I don't know if they will be using books in the same way and with the same frequency [as older customers]. They won't be as print-dependent.' Located in a suburb of Schenectady/Albany/Troy in New York's Saratoga County, the library has been promoting its high-speed Internet access, a big draw among the high school/young adult crowd, according to Abaray.

Walters believes that in order to alter the perception from outside the library, things must change on the inside. After surveying two different library systems in less than four years-Las Vegas-Clark County and Buffalo & Erie County, his previous employer-Walters says the same issues were most prominent. 'People liked hanging out at Borders and Barnes & Noble more than their local library. What does that say to us?' asks Walters. 'There's obviously something about the ambience [at bookstores] that they find appealing.'

As a result, Walters plans on 'housing and displaying' books so they're easier to find. 'We're not going to chuck the Library of Congress numbers; we're going to chuck the notion that if somebody wants to find a cookbook or a book on travel they've got to find the LC number to do it. We're great organizers, but that's not where customers come from.'