Patrons Are People: How to Be A Model Librarian

Shouting in the Library

For Future Reference: Far From Faltering in Digital Age, Libraries Thrive as Community Hubs

"For Future Reference: Far From Faltering in Digital Age, Libraries Thrive as Community Hubs." Valley News / Aimee Caruso.
New Hampshire: Valley News Online, February 17th 2013.

"“The library belongs to everyone,” [Ken] Linge said. “It’s a community living room.”

To that end, today’s libraries are “a little less rigid,” he said. “We want to be an inviting and a comfortable place for people to come.”"

Librarians A Neglected Lot

"Librarians A Neglected Lot." The Pioneer / Zafar Alam Khan.

India: The Daily Pioneer Online, August 20th 2012.

"A librarian is considered to be a specialist in the care and management of a library, trained in library science and engaged in library services. A librarian has many important roles to play. Unfortunately, their lot remains neglected due to varied reasons, including the indifferent attitude of the policy makers, perhaps because of their lesser numbers.  SR Ranganathan, considered as father of library science, developed five laws in 1931. He said:
Books are for use
Every reader his or her book
Every book its reader
Save the time of the reader
The library is a growing organism
With a few simple adaptations, Ranganathan’s laws hold good even today. ... Librarians are considered not more than clerks. Even the authorities concerned have failed to implement a proper service structure, and have not come up with an effective promotion formula till today. Further obstacles that hinder the recognition of librarianship as a noble profession enlist the attitude and working habits of supporting staff in libraries."

Who Cares About Libraries?

"Who Cares About Libraries?" Macleans / John Geddes.
Toronto" Macleans Online, August 29th 2011.

Canadians apparently. Far from being under siege (except in Toronto), they’re thriving—and experimenting.

"Beyond the sheer fiscal capacity of governments to keep paying for them, the case for libraries remains surprisingly solid in the online age. The Canadian Urban Libraries Council commissioned Lumos Research to analyze the trends. The report, released last spring, found that for every person in a given Canadian city, the public library on average loaned out 11.3 books and other items in 2008-2009, up from 9.7 in 2000-2001. Over the same nine-year period, the number of visits to the libraries’ websites jumped to five a year per capita from only one. More loans and Web hits refute the easy assumption that Google searches and cheap online book-selling must be rendering libraries obsolete. "

See Also:
An Analysis of Public Library Trends

Friday At the Library

Oooh, Saucy Language for a Librarian!

Are Public Libraries an Essential Service?

"Are Public Libraries an Essential Service? Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Says 'No' -- But He's Wrong." Macleans / Emma Teitel.
Toronto: Macleans Online, August 4th 2011.

"Over the next 24 hours more than a hundred civilian deputations would be made, directed mainly at the mayor, who swiveled in his chair, downed the occasional Red Bull, and made not-so-comfortable eye contact with angry disputants. “Save the libraries” and “Shame” were among the more popular epithets slung at Ford, whose fiscal mission—to distinguish Toronto’s “need to haves” from its “nice to haves”— has clearly put neighbourhood libraries in the latter category. His Worship’s older brother Doug—also a city counselor—helpfully poured gasoline on the library fire, making an unlikely opponent of Canadian author and T.O. resident Margaret Atwood by asserting that a) there are more libraries than Tim Hortons outlets in his neighbourhood (there aren’t), and b) he doesn’t care what Atwood has to say about his erroneous assertions because he doesn’t really know who she is."

Naughty Librarian / Pearle Vision

Librarians in the US from 1880-2009

"Librarians in the US from 1880-2009." OUPblog / Sydney Beveridge, Susan Weber & Andrew A. Beveridge.
Oxford: Oxford University Press Blog, June 20th 2011.

Why Library School?

An Open Book

"An Open Book." The Guardian / Leo Benedictus.
London: The Guardian Online, March 7th 2009.

"Despite the pressures on her time, however, this traditional face-to-face work is still something she particularly enjoys. "It's that idea of librarianship being like a detective role," she explains, her eyes lighting up. "People come to you wanting to find information, and you are able - hopefully - to help them track it down in places, perhaps, that they wouldn't know to look. Or in ways that they wouldn't know how to look."

One slight regret I sense from her, however, is that there is so little understanding out there of what librarians do - or how useful they are. "I think most people think it's probably quite a nice job," she says. "I think they imagine you sit in a room full of really nice interesting books and you get to read them, and help the odd person. I don't think they realise quite how busy it gets, or how much pressure you feel under." "

The Society for Librarians Who Say Mother******

"The Society for Librarians Who Say Mother******." The Hour Community / Anne Lagacé Dowson.
Montreal: Hour.ca, May 19th 2011.

"Last week I was invited to address a congress of librarians. I discovered all over again why they are some of my favourite people.

There is something subversive about librarians and libraries. The library remains a place where information isn’t bought and sold. Even if you think of them as being fussy and discreet, what librarians do radically empowers ordinary people, enabling them to use information outside the control of elites. ...

In an age of information glut, no algorithm can replace intelligence and analysis. ...

In Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Italy and Finland, there are big national programs to improve school libraries, not close them, as we are doing."

Librarian Ninja

Don’t Discard the Librarians

"Don’t Discard the Librarians." The Globe & Mail / Ian Brown.
Toronto: Globe & Mail Online, May 20th 2011.

"Even a Globe and Mail editorial called for the death of libraries as “book-centred and quiet places” and their resurrection as “noisy digital hubs” – all to save money, because no one uses libraries any more. “Libraries should not be content to live in the 20th century,” the Globe declaimed, “as it were.”

That might be an interesting point if it were accurate. A couple of hours at local libraries in Toronto proves otherwise. Physical libraries and actual flesh-and-blood librarians seem to be more necessary than ever."

Elegy For Librarians: After All the Budget Cutting's Done, Who'll Be Around to Help Us Ask the Sharper Questions?

"Elegy For Librarians: After All the Budget Cutting's Done, Who'll Be Around to Help Us Ask the Sharper Questions?" Chron / Editor.
Houston: The Houston Chronicle Online, March 301th 2011.

"In this iEverything age, the thinking goes, books are musty relics. And without books, who needs librarians?

The truth is that we've never needed them more. Every day in this city, librarians do important jobs not strictly related to library science." 

Re-Embracing the “Shush ”– Can the Library be a Quiet Place in the Age of Social?

"Re-Embracing the “Shush ”– Can the Library be a Quiet Place in the Age of Social?." Special Library Association Future Ready 365 / Greg Lambert.
New York: SLA Future Ready 365, January 9th 2011.

"...undergraduates at the University of Arizona loved going to the law library because they could actually get some peace and quite there and actually get some work done. While the main libraries on campus were bustling with activity, social meetings, coffee shops and other activities, the law library seems to be what we think of when we think of a traditional library… a place you are expected to be quiet."

Quiet in the Library

Stereotypical Librarian Image

How Customer Service Principles Ensure the Library’s Relevance

"How Customer Service Principles Ensure the Library’s Relevance." AALL Spectrum / Mark P. Bernstein.
Chicago: AALL Spectrum Online, November 2008.

"Set goals through strategic planning or a similar staff development program.  Planning allows an organization to adapt, evolve, and successfully take on new challenges, thus preventing stagnation and apathy. Change is constant; continuing to do something simply because you have always done it that way can often lead your customers to turn elsewhere for information.  Consider using a library e-newsletter, blog, or intranet as a current awareness tool to keep clientele abreast and reflect a proactive stance."