Library Careers

I was talking to one of the librarians on our staff last week and she told me one of our library success stories.  A patron got laid off from his job and came to the library looking for help.  He attended our series of employment workshops and decided he needed to change careers.  Our librarian helped him research possible new careers and he came back in to thank her for her help because he was excited about being accepted into an education program for the new career he had chosen through his research at the library.  Cool!

If you are at that point in your life where you are choosing a career or considering a career change there are a lot of resources available at the library to help you.  There are tools that analyze you and recommend careers based on your preferences.  There are tools that analyze future business markets and employment trends and recommend careers based on anticipated growth.  Consider the US News and World Report article:  30 Best Careers in 2009.  One of the 30 best careers for 2009 on the list is………LIBRARIAN!

Here are some excerpts from their overview of the job:  Forget about that image of librarians as mousy bookworms. More and more of today’s librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond……Librarianship is an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons solve their problems and, in the process, learning new things……That effort to land a job will be well worth it if you’re well suited to the profession: love the idea of helping people dig up information, are committed to being objective—helping people gain multiple perspectives on issues—and will remain inspired by the awareness that librarians are among our society’s most empowering people.

It never hurts to be reminded of why I love this job.  Our success stories show why you might love it too.

Volunteers Paint the Evans Branch

Money is a bit scarce at the library this year but we’re still working on making some needed repairs to the Evans Branch. We replaced the leaky roof last year but we still needed to fix the water damaged walls in the children’s department. Thanks to the efforts of a group of volunteers from Sherman Furniture Rentals organized by Irondequoit resident Peter Kelderhouse Sr., the job has been completed at no cost to the library. Take a look at some pictures snapped last Saturday as the project was in progress. The day before the project the library staff removed all the books from the shelves.  On Saturday, the shelving was unbolted and moved away from the walls. The damaged wall sections were then scraped and patched. When the repaired sections were dry they were sanded. Then the walls were washed and then painted. All this was done in one day.

Thank you to Peter and all our friends at Sherman’s!

Click on the thumbnails below to see the other shots from the project.

Support Your Library

Those 3 simple words say it all. Despite the fact that library use goes way up during times of economic distress, they often mean financial belt tightening for public libraries. The Irondequoit Public library hasn’t been spared. So, if you want to help support your library we’ve made it easy for you. Click on the Support Your Library button at the top of the library home page and multiple options for helping us are displayed.

The newest option is our Amazon.com Wish List. It works just like a bridal registry. On the Wish List are items the library would like to offer but cannot afford to purchase. If you purchase any item from the Wish list, it is shipped to the library for immediate processing. We then make it available on our shelves for borrowing. If you’d like to dedicate the item to any person or cause such as a memorial to a loved one just let us know your wishes by checking the gift options box before going to the checkout. During the checkout process, type your dedication information in the message box and we’ll do the rest. Your gift to the citizens of Irondequoit may be eligible for a tax deduction.

Thank you!

An oldie but a goodie

What are you doing Wednesday night?

May I suggest you attend the next meeting of the Irondequoit Public Library Board of Trustees? If you are interested in how things get done at the library you owe it to yourself to attend one of our board meetings and see the wheels of library administration turning. Have a look at the Library Board’s web page which is now under construction. It includes minutes from previous meetings and information about your library trustees. Just like the Town Board we have a public forum at the beginning of the meeting so you may ask questions or state your views on any library related issues. If you wish to speak at the public forum please call the Evans Branch at 336-6062 and sign up. The Board of Trustees meets at 7 pm at the Evans Branch, 45 Cooper Rd, on the third Wednesday of each month. We’d be delighted to see you at the next meeting!

Shape of things to come?

One of the interesting things about monitoring new developments in information technology is that they often don’t go in the direction we expect. The demise of books in favor of downloadable electronic books or e-books read from handheld devices used to be the favorite vision for people who were certain that the end of books and libraries as we know them was right around the corner. Instead the book has shown remarkable staying power as a preferred literature delivery system. New ways of buying and obtaining books fueled by advances in IT have grown quickly and the often heralded e-books, although growing in popularity, are still rarely seen.

For example, print-on-demand services such as lulu.com have been around for a while now and they have revolutionized the book publishing industry. Books are preserved digitally and printed on demand when somebody orders a copy. When the book is ordered it is printed, bound and shipped the same day. As you can easily surmise, this has completely altered the landscape for users of rare books, self-published authors, vanity presses and small presses.

Now, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, customers at the University of Michigan library will be able to use a sort of vending machine to order print-on-demand copies of books from the university’s collection. The Espresso Book Machine, a book-printing machine described as “the ATM of books” will be available at the U of M’s library October 1st. The machines are going online at college libraries and bookstores all around North America.

Just about any digitized, out-of-copyright book from Michigan’s collection can be printed and bound on the spot. Printing takes five to seven minutes, and the cost is about $10 per book. Users will also be able to print books from online sources such as the Open Content Alliance. The Espresso’s manufacturer, On Demand Books, wants to create a network of machines in libraries and bookshops around the world, allowing users to print books from collections anywhere.

What do you think? Given the consumer’s lack of enthusiasm for e-books, is this the way information technology will most rapidly affect the world of books, libraries and maybe bookstores, through a totally new model for delivering good old fashioned books? Or, is this just another technological dead end?

Public Libraries and the Economy

Public libraries face a conundrum today as much of our nation grapples with economic hard times. Those hard times extend to the public sector as well with increased pressures to hold down spending as revenues dry up and operating costs increase. The irony for us is that public library use goes up, way up, every time the economy takes a downward turn. (Albany NY Times Union, March 27, 2008.) Studies conducted by universities, media and the American Library Association show that just when the resources that support the library are tightest, the demand for them is highest. (New York Times, August 1, 2008; ALA and University of Illinois, April 18, 2002)

Why? Families also are seeking ways to reduce their spending in the face of increased costs. The public library fills their budget gap. Why pay for books, music, movies, games and entertainment programs when they are available at the library for free? Eliminate that monthly broadband internet bill. The PC and internet access are available at the library (we just increased our available bandwidth) at no charge.

Libraries also get busier in times like these due to an increasing number of folks visiting the library because they have lost their jobs. Savvy workers know that the public library is your one-stop shopping spot when unemployed. At the library we can assist you with preparing a resume, applying for jobs online, locating education and training opportunities, changing careers or starting your own business. The price is right for those on reduced incomes. It is free.

This year, the Irondequoit Public Library is an excellent example of this economic effect. Our numbers, which were flat for a while, have risen dramatically. This summer, we have had the highest numbers of items borrowed and the highest number of visitors in the library’s history. PC use is up. Participation in the Summer Reading program and all other library activities is up significantly. Regular visitors have remarked upon this phenomenon as the upsurge in customers is quite noticeable. Fewer parking spaces, longer waits for PCs, more people everywhere and the resulting increase in clamor and hubbub have all been remarked upon by our regulars.

Stop in and see for yourself. We’ll save you some money too!

Where do we go from here?

It appears that it will take more time to resolve the issue of library expansion. I thought I’d stick my neck out and give you my take on the current situation with the library branch buildings. Please remember this is my blog and reflects my views alone. No matter the outcome please be assured that we will continue bringing you the best possible library services we can. Our staff are dedicated professionals who make it easy for me to say that we love our jobs and enjoy serving you.

As a library director I describe my job as trying to arrange the best possible conditions for successful delivery of services. Right now, the conditions are substandard. We don’t have enough room to provide the programs and services that our customers ask for, that other town libraries offer and that our staff would love to deliver. Perhaps this is why, when Irondequoit residents use public libraries, almost 20% of the time they do it in other towns, a number that grows each year. The majority of our customer complaints can be attributed to the friction that results from too many people trying to do too many things with too few resources in way too small of a space. We will continue to do as much as we possibly can with what we have. We will continue to make repairs and do maintenance when we must. Investing in big repair projects when we don’t know how or when the situation will be resolved is difficult.

There are so many possible ways the building situation could be resolved. I only want to reject two of them. I just cannot take seriously the claims from some that everything is just fine and nothing needs to be changed about the library buildings. By all objective measures we have outgrown our buildings and they have become ill-suited to deliver modern library services. I also reject the even more ridiculous assertion that we will soon be irrelevant due to the easy availability of information, electronic delivery or some other technological reason. We have evolved, as all smart organizations do, to the point that we are often the agency that leads in the adoption of new technologies and the first place citizens encounter and grow comfortable with them. As the pace of this change accelerates we find a steadily increasing demand for services that connect people with the exact same technology some claim will replace us.

I have always said that one of the best things about working here is that people in this town obviously love their library. This has rightly caused many residents to propose solutions to our space problems. One of the amazing things about some of the plans we hear is how little their proponents seem to care what their librarians think. It leaves me slack jawed to encounter some elaborate plan or some loudly proclaimed opinion from some person or group who never bothered to ask their librarians what works best. Would you choose new squad cars for the police without consulting them? These buildings are our tools. We use them to serve you. We know what works best. It is not just a matter of square feet. Configuration, layout, adjacencies and lines of sight are just some of the vital components to a successful library building plan. If you don’t bother to find out what we need don’t be shocked when we don’t enthusiastically embrace your solution. Please, before you bring us any more “solutions”, ask us what we need to serve you better. Is it so hard? We’re longing to be asked!

As financial pressures force government leaders to cut departmental budgets including the library, consolidation of services that are duplicated just 2&1/2 miles apart seems a reasonable way to increase library space and expand library services while keeping operating costs down. If you do not favor this approach then you must decide what you are willing to pay for. Are you willing to pay millions to just to rehab the existing library buildings without enlarging them? Are you willing to pay more to duplicate library services at sites so close together? I believe the library operation is as lean as it can be and still deliver high quality, professional services. There is very little left to cut or economize on. If consolidation takes place we can offer much more of what people are demanding including increased hours of operation with no need to increase staff which is by far the largest component of our operating costs.

It is easy to talk about what you want without looking at cost implications. Then the tax bill comes and people get upset. Now more than ever town leaders need to hear your opinions on how much more you are willing to pay to get what you want. What are you willing to pay to meet our need for increased space for facilities where all town residents can easily access services? Just the cost of the status quo is high.

I believe town government officials are eager to work with open minded citizens to seek solutions. I believe the library and what it adds to the quality of life in the community is too important to not challenge each and every one of you to propose solutions that we can all point to with pride and will improve library services for every resident, no matter where they reside.

As always, I welcome your comments.   Also, feel free to contact me about any library related topics.  Just click on ABOUT to see how.

What do I read next?

Librarians lay it on the line every day. Every day we offer reference desk service where we try to answer any question on any subject from anybody who stops by, calls or emails. We try to provide an answer from a reputable, authoritative source or refer the customer to the next best place to try. It takes a good long while to become confident enough in one’s own skills and knowledge to handle reference desk duty with aplomb.

For many of us the most challenging question a customer can ask is, “can you recommend a good book to read?” We call it reader’s advisory. This has always been a tough one for me. Chances are I don’t know you or what you like. I can’t tell by looking at you what you like to read. I feel like I could undermine your confidence in the library with a dumb answer. I usually try to interview you just to have a shot at giving you a good recommendation. I might ask, “Tell me about the last good book you read” or “who is or your favorite author” and work from there. If we are communicating well I might take a chance and recommend a book I recently enjoyed (see previous posts in this blog tagged “What I’ve Been Reading”).

Where am I going with this? People seem to love recommendations. Consider the success of Oprah Winfrey’s book club. People are willing to give a book a chance if somebody they know or respect has recommended it. As soon as Oprah adds a new title to her book club list our phone starts ringing.

Here at the IPL we have collected all of our online reader’s resources and put them in one place called “For Readers”. Please feel free to explore the links there and, of course, tell us what you think. Please take special note of the IPL staff recommendations hosted on the web site librarything.com and our subscription to the book recommendation database NoveList.

Librarything is a wonderful place where book lovers and readers gather to exchange their views about books. Some represent libraries, some are just readers. If you love reading good books and want to share that enthusiasm with other like you, this is your place.

NoveList is an amazing product that helps you find books to read by determining what you liked about books you have already enjoyed and finding others like them. It also has lists of the winners of all the book awards and prizes and many other features. If you find something you like in NoveList, click on the “Check Library Catalog” button and you can find out if our library carries the item. If you visit from home you may need your library card to log in.

Remember, if you can’t find something you like using any of these online resources you can still stop at the library and talk to us about it. If you enjoy something we suggest, please come back and tell us. Reader’s advisory may be difficult but when we know you liked the book we recommended it is all worth it!

Who uses the library and why

Let’s get 2008 started off right with some interesting data on who uses public libraries and why.

For a long time now, some folks have been predicting the demise of the public library. Here in Irondequoit a few people have told me to forget expanding the library because the Internet and information technology will soon render it obsolete. Our response, in addition to citing steady increases in borrowing and visits, has been that there are still a lot of people who don’t have Internet access or are clueless about technology and really need our help.

If there is truth to the assertion that the Internet is replacing the public library it seems reasonable to assume that the age group most comfortable with the Internet and information technology would be the first to abandon us and the library would be most heavily used by those without access or without the expertise to use it effectively. Recent research shows that none of the above ideas may be correct.

The University of Illinois, working with the Pew Internet Research Group, conducted an extensive survey of public library users. They found that young adults are the most frequent library users. By that they mean that a larger percentage of this group (ages 18 to 30) indicated that they turn to the library for information and problem solving than any other age group. They are, the numbers show, more than twice as likely as other age groups to do so. This, of course, directly contradicts the widely held notion that young adults don’t use libraries much anymore because they are so well integrated into the information saturated on-line world.

To what can we attribute this surprising news? The researchers theorized that because young adults had such great access to information and information technology it made them hungry for more and they know that libraries are the place to go for it. Indeed, folks who indicated that they use the library most often cited the presence of high quality information technology and resources plus a knowledgeable staff as their reasons. Researchers also reasoned that the subjects the young adults indicated they most often researched at the library, jobs, education, financial aid and health were all things libraries do very well.

The research shows that libraries are attracting young adults because they have free broadband Internet access and computer resources. The great surprise for librarians in this report is that reliance upon the library for information and problem solving was lowest among people with the least financial resources and slow or no Internet access. We could call this group “The People We Thought Needed Us Most”. We have always marketed ourselves aggressively toward this segment and assumed and even bragged that we were drawing these folks to the library for those reasons.

The message to public libraries is clear.

1. Technology isn’t ruining the library it is extending and revising the mission.

2. Our well-informed and most tech savvy citizens most heavily use and respect the library.

3. The financially and technologically disadvantaged, despite our claims to the contrary and our best efforts to attract them, are not such heavy library users. We must redouble our efforts at reaching those who need us the most while continuing to earn the respect of the most tech savvy segment of the population.

What we do best

Recently a national opinion poll revealed many people don’t realize the extent of the services available from their local public library. The service most overlooked is access to electronic databases. This is unfortunate because databases are one of the things we do best. We’re not talking about what you’d find in Google. We’re way better than that.

Did you know that our customers can easily search, view, print, download or email current and back issues of the Democrat and Chronicle, Irondequoit Post and well known magazines in full text through our NewsBank service? How well known? Do Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Money, Fortune and People qualify?

Did you know that through our databases such as InfoTrac OneFile and Ebsco MasterFILE Select you can easily search, view, email or print millions of full-text articles from hundreds of the best known magazines, journals and newspapers? How well known? How about the New York Times, Washington Post, Consumer Reports to name a few?

An individual would have to pay thousands of dollars for access to the millions of articles represented by the three products mentioned above. Your cost for access through the public library? ZERO. Yes, ZERO. I know, I know. You are asking: “How do they do it? With their shrinking budget how can they afford to deliver such amazing value?”

We do it 2 ways. We use the buying power of the large consortiums of which we are a member such as the Monroe County Library System (MCLS) and the Rochester Regional Library Council (RRLC) and negotiate great deals when we buy as a group. Also, The New York State Education Department negotiates great database deals and licenses them for all public libraries in New York through the NOVEL program.

We believe easy access to magazine, journal and newspaper articles is vital. It is the key to obtaining the latest information on any subject. Google can’t cut it. Many web sites are of dubious origin and contain inaccurate or biased information. Even the latest books have information that is at least a year old. Do you want to make important decisions about investments, health or major purchases using old or inaccurate information? I don’t think so!

To review: All the resources I have mentioned have 3 things in common:

1. They are very expensive.

2. You cannot find them for free on the internet.

3. We provide them free for our customers.

Can’t get to the library? No worries. Go to our website, visit the “Find An Article” page and work from home or anywhere you access the internet. But, have your library card handy. A deal this good is only available to our customers.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you have about this or any library services. Click on “About” for my contact information.