Sticking my toe in the water again because...well, it's my profession, and it's about a type of institution that some other people here seem to care about.
I tend to agree with those who point out that a big part of the problems that besieged urban libraries now have has to do with libraries being asked to compensate for inadequate social safety nets. Some of our colleagues who've been affected by this demand for librarians to take the place of social workers must feel like hobbits who've been ordered to mount ponies and ride to the aid of Gondor, in place of underfunded Riders of Rohan.
In other communities, librarians have started to feel irrelevant because local public interest in what they have to offer has declined. Much of the public just doesn't seem to think that they're relevant any longer. I wonder whether some university librarians feel this way. In my own visits to college and university libraries in recent years, all I ever see are students using the library as a handy study space.
Quote from: apl68 on June 27, 2023, 10:25:57 AMSticking my toe in the water again because...well, it's my profession, and it's about a type of institution that some other people here seem to care about.
I tend to agree with those who point out that a big part of the problems that besieged urban libraries now have has to do with libraries being asked to compensate for inadequate social safety nets. Some of our colleagues who've been affected by this demand for librarians to take the place of social workers must feel like hobbits who've been ordered to mount ponies and ride to the aid of Gondor, in place of underfunded Riders of Rohan.
In other communities, librarians have started to feel irrelevant because local public interest in what they have to offer has declined. Much of the public just doesn't seem to think that they're relevant any longer. I wonder whether some university librarians feel this way. In my own visits to college and university libraries in recent years, all I ever see are students using the library as a handy study space.
I like to refer to my main university library as an erudite lounge. It's a study area, mainly, but also a place to hang out with friends. The hangout spaces and study spaces are clearly delineated and separated. The main academic library often has pop-up video game areas or live animal petting zoo areas or other similar event programming that fosters the whole student hangout experience. If you're wondering "Isn't this what the student union building is for?"
Yeah, I ask that daily. Our student union building is a ghost town except during lunch time when the food court sees most of its activity. Our student union building now has all those student support services offices in addition to the food court, bookstore, and relevant retail, banking services, etc. But the student life programming that used to be in the student union building, has shifted to the library.
And, now, in addition to the shifting of student programming, we have a lot of general population showing up, including homeless. The library's non-faculty and non-reference staff handle the homeless and general community. They are completely ill-equipped to help this new population. I saw a library staff person trying to help a homeless guy use an open lab computer and help the person with their benefits management . . . holy s**t was what I was thinking. Compassion isn't enough. These librarians aren't trained for social work.
We get inquiries for help with government agencies/insurance claims/job applications fairly often in our public library work. Our patrons are seldom in the sort of acute need seen with the homeless, though. An element of social work has been part of public library service for a long time now. It has certainly increased in recent years in many places. Having to deal with it at a university library must be a real shock.
QuoteIn my own visits to college and university libraries in recent years, all I ever see are students using the library as a handy study space.
Our new(ish) library was designed to maximize this use. We do still have some physical books, but it seems like most undergraduates rely on ebooks, electronic journals, databases, and of course google.
How many professors will still insist that at least a certain percentage of works cited in papers, esp in humanities fields, be actual paper books?
Does anyone ever do that? I've never heard of it.
Quote from: kaysixteen on June 27, 2023, 09:36:15 PMHow many professors will still insist that at least a certain percentage of works cited in papers, esp in humanities fields, be actual paper books?
How would a professor even know if someone used a physical copy or an electronic copy? I guess some reference styles mention the format? In my field, the citation for a book and e-book are the same.
I'm just happy when someone actually cites something!
Two thoughts. First, my university is undergoing massive budget cuts and actually has had a moratorium on ordering new books for several years. When they came into some money somehow and asked for a list of books in my field they should buy, they also asked whether they should be electronic or paper.
Second, I think that that using the library as a physical study space is actually part of its core mission. It certainly was when I went to school, before the library had WiFi and the catalog was still on little cards. I am currently writing an article. I am going to the local research library to work today.
To some degree I will use the library's materials, including their electronic materials. But also I am going to make use of the silent reading room, the big tables, and the fact that I like the ambience. There have been times that I have had to consult the OED, or an Italian-French dictionary, or compare two different translations of a Bible passage, in which case being in a research library was very useful. But often I just want a nice place to work. I would argue this is a good use of a library.
I could of course work at the local coffee shop (or the student union). But there it'd be more crowded, there'd be music and background noise, and I would feel guilty about taking up a seat all day. Also, I would have to buy something, and there'd be longer lines for the bathrooms.
I do also use my local public library branch to work. Most people there seem to be using a computer, using WiFi, or doing some other non-book-related activity. Again, I think that this appropriate. Especially when the weather is unpleasant (summer heat, winter cold.)
Quote from: apl68 on June 27, 2023, 10:25:57 AMI tend to agree with those who point out that a big part of the problems that besieged urban libraries now have has to do with libraries being asked to compensate for inadequate social safety nets. Some of our colleagues who've been affected by this demand for librarians to take the place of social workers must feel like hobbits who've been ordered to mount ponies and ride to the aid of Gondor, in place of underfunded Riders of Rohan.
This has been the situation in our library systems which are now facing massive budget cuts due to the funds being diverted to house the influx of migrants sent here from Texas. Our libraries are facing reduced hours and closures. The library branches, all of them, were closed for the three-day weekend for Memorial Day, instead of the usual Sunday and Monday closings. I always sign the letters whether in the library or through email requesting the city and state for continued support for our libraries. This year, I refrained from my yearly donation because now dogs are allowed in libraries, and patrons including those who might be allergic to dogs are forced to share very small elevators with dogs. I'm not the only patron who has been frustrated enough to stop making monetary contributions to our local libraries.
Quote from: Hegemony on June 28, 2023, 02:34:55 AMDoes anyone ever do that? I've never heard of it.
I have, but I think the prolonged period of all-online COVID learning killed off any remnants of that practice.
Quote from: Langue_doc on June 28, 2023, 05:09:57 AMThis year, I refrained from my yearly donation because now dogs are allowed in libraries, and patrons including those who might be allergic to dogs are forced to share very small elevators with dogs. I'm not the only patron who has been frustrated enough to stop making monetary contributions to our local libraries.
This is another area where libraries sometimes get caught in the middle. There's been a real vogue for therapy dogs of all sorts in recent years. People demand that their therapy animals be accommodated, and some try to abuse this by passing off their (often poorly trained) pets as "therapy animals." This does indeed cause problems for people with allergies. I've also heard of people making scenes and demanding that the whole library be deep-cleaned before they'll consent to return after an animal was present.
The best professional advice is to accommodate therapy animals, but to take a hard line on requiring proof that the animal is a properly trained and certified therapy animal. Only a small number of people can actually provide such proof. If you've been seeing dogs at the library regularly, then most of them are probably not legitimate therapy animals, and the library needs to tighten its policies.
Quote from: apl68 on June 28, 2023, 06:39:09 AMQuote from: Langue_doc on June 28, 2023, 05:09:57 AMThis year, I refrained from my yearly donation because now dogs are allowed in libraries, and patrons including those who might be allergic to dogs are forced to share very small elevators with dogs. I'm not the only patron who has been frustrated enough to stop making monetary contributions to our local libraries.
This is another area where libraries sometimes get caught in the middle. There's been a real vogue for therapy dogs of all sorts in recent years. People demand that their therapy animals be accommodated, and some try to abuse this by passing off their (often poorly trained) pets as "therapy animals." This does indeed cause problems for people with allergies. I've also heard of people making scenes and demanding that the whole library be deep-cleaned before they'll consent to return after an animal was present.
The best professional advice is to accommodate therapy animals, but to take a hard line on requiring proof that the animal is a properly trained and certified therapy animal. Only a small number of people can actually provide such proof. If you've been seeing dogs at the library regularly, then most of them are probably not legitimate therapy animals, and the library needs to tighten its policies.
So many "social justice" issues now represent a real tragedy of the commons. As long as only a tiny number of people need to be "accommodated", it's possible, but as the numbers get larger it's unsustainable.
I've said before that our rural libraries don't tend to face many of the things that some urban libraries have to deal with. But our status as public information providers results in our getting tasked with things we didn't always anticipate.
To paraphrase a colleague in another town that I was recently communicating with: We are the only place locally that still supplies IRS forms. The Courthouse sends people with URLs to look up, print, and fill out forms for the Courthouse to file. It's the library, and not DHS, that helps with Medicare and Social Security benefit forms. Clerks elsewhere send libraries people needing help with divorce and power of attorney forms. Libraries give directions and supply food truck menus, and otherwise provide information about local businesses to help connect them with customers--but the local business may do nothing to support the library in return. Library staff members occasionally have to drive patrons home--children who get stranded, or seniors who can't get home safely.
One of our staff members has been taking a notary public course. I just spent some time today at a local insurance office getting her bonded, and now have to have a stamp made for her. We're doing this because we're routinely asked for notary public service.
Meanwhile, I'm having to figure out what to say at a Rotary Club presentation I'm scheduled to make next week. What should I say about addressing the current status of state legislation affecting libraries. Or should I, since we haven't so far been affected by it? I've got a short, upbeat AV presentation about the library to present, if we can get a projector arranged to use it. I wonder how that's going to be received?
People just have no idea what all goes on here.
Quote from: kaysixteen on June 27, 2023, 09:36:15 PMHow many professors will still insist that at least a certain percentage of works cited in papers, esp in humanities fields, be actual paper books?
It's much easier to drill to a cited source, when it's an electronic source and the link into the database is provided. For this reason, I would never insist on using paper-only materials.
Quote from: kaysixteen on June 27, 2023, 09:36:15 PMHow many professors will still insist that at least a certain percentage of works cited in papers, esp in humanities fields, be actual paper books?
This attitude is so 1980s.
QuoteOne of our staff members has been taking a notary public course. I just spent some time today at a local insurance office getting her bonded, and now have to have a stamp made for her. We're doing this because we're routinely asked for notary public service.
This seems like a really great service for a public library to offer!
Quote from: lightning on June 28, 2023, 10:51:34 AMQuote from: kaysixteen on June 27, 2023, 09:36:15 PMHow many professors will still insist that at least a certain percentage of works cited in papers, esp in humanities fields, be actual paper books?
It's much easier to drill to a cited source, when it's an electronic source and the link into the database is provided. For this reason, I would never insist on using paper-only materials.
I have to admit, as a historian, that I have never heard this. Is this an urban legend?
In fact, when I teach the senior history research course--where the students have to write a long primary-source-based research paper--much of the emphasis is how students can find primary sources online.
I, personally, prefer print sources. This is more and more taking the form that I find something online, download a PDF, and print it out. (This works with articles, but also books, newspapers, pamphlets, and sometimes archival collections.) More and more I am using databases of newspapers instead of microfilm collections. It is much easier. (Although now that I think of it, I might require my students to use a certain percentage of microfilm sources.)
All that said, I don't even know how it would be possible to require a certain percentage of print sources. Yes, I know that the MLA style requires noting what format is used--which I find annoying because I will often use a xerox from a book, a PDF, and the book itself (all with the same pagination) over the course of research.
I've had questions about a public notary at the branch libraries where I've worked over the years. Although we don't have anyone on staff, there are enough places where we can refer folks in the community. At one place I worked, the public notary was at the cleaners across the street, and it was advertised.
At my current library location, I've read messages on the neighborhood listserv from individuals who provide public notary services as a side gig.
Driving patrons home: depending on your state, it may be a strict no-no.
Obviously teaching hs is different from teaching undergrads. I have certainly required print sources in hs papers, and am still sympathetic to doing so in college. I get that some *books* are printed and put on line, heck, some may not even appear in print, but the point of requiring a book to at least be available in print, would be that it is probably been vetted by serious publishing house standards, whereas anything can get online. Remember I also have a library degree and extensive experience teaching bibliographic instruction. One of the explicit tasks I see myself as having when teaching hs at least would be to teach library acquisition skills, appreciation for the use of a physical library, and analysis skills to discern between unvetted slop, vanity press stuff, etc., vs., well real scholarly stuff, and this sort of thing is valuable at the undergrad, esp freshburger level, as well. And another issue would be (although this is of course field-specific), the promotion of actual books as opposed to papers only.
BTW, at the uni whose library has the petting zoo-- who pays for this, and tell me that library funds are not being diverted to do so?
Quote from: Langue_doc on June 28, 2023, 05:09:57 AMThis has been the situation in our library systems which are now facing massive budget cuts due to the funds being diverted to house the influx of migrants sent here from Texas. Our libraries are facing reduced hours and closures. The library branches, all of them, were closed for the three-day weekend for Memorial Day, instead of the usual Sunday and Monday closings.
Our libraries might be spared the proposed budget cuts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/nyregion/nyc-budget-deal-cuts-funding.html
QuoteLibraries Appear to Be Spared in Tense N.Y.C. Budget Talks
Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council hope to reach a budget deal before Friday. Funding for schools, CUNY and parks are at stake.
apl....Meanwhile, I'm having to figure out what to say at a Rotary Club presentation I'm scheduled to make next week. What should I say about addressing the current status of state legislation affecting libraries. Or should I, since we haven't so far been affected by it? I've got a short, upbeat AV presentation about the library to present, if we can get a projector arranged to use it. I wonder how that's going to be received?
People just have no idea what all goes on here.
I live in a rural area so have some idea of your audience. Our library has excellent children's programs, which are non-controversial (at least for the moment) and get good coverage in our twice weekly newspaper. If I were doing a presentation, I might focus on the children's programs with a small segue into how they might be affected in the future. As for the projector, isn't there a gizmo which can be hooked to a computer? I am lagging on technology these days.
Yesterday a colleague of mine in the state sent out something of a cri de coeur regarding several older patrons that her staff have been having to deal with. They all live alone and have family, but nobody nearby that they are on speaking terms with. One is clearly getting dangerously frail, but has been concealing it from family to remain independent. One has developed paranoid delusions and could potentially prove dangerous to anybody who might happen to surprise him at home while taking care of routine business. Another has been showing clear signs of dementia, and has been seen wandering around town in the region's dangerous summer heat.
She noted that library staff members have driven some of these seniors home despite liability concerns, and sometimes perform welfare checks by finding work-related excuses to call them. She was wondering where to draw the line about "getting involved," and whether there were other resources she could contact for such situations.
So where inner-city libraries have to serve as drug treatment, homeless, and mental health centers, small-town libraries are now being tasked with elder care. Our own library's situation is not as alarming as what this colleague reports (our location is not as central, so we don't get as much pedestrian traffic), but we have had incidents similar to some of what she describes. In fact, we had just had one quite recently that required several telephone calls before we could find any relatives to handle the situation. I imagine there's a great deal of this sort of thing going on at libraries around the country.
Quote from: apl68 on August 03, 2023, 09:43:47 AMYesterday a colleague of mine in the state sent out something of a cri de coeur regarding several older patrons that her staff have been having to deal with. They all live alone and have family, but nobody nearby that they are on speaking terms with. One is clearly getting dangerously frail, but has been concealing it from family to remain independent. One has developed paranoid delusions and could potentially prove dangerous to anybody who might happen to surprise him at home while taking care of routine business. Another has been showing clear signs of dementia, and has been seen wandering around town in the region's dangerous summer heat.
She noted that library staff members have driven some of these seniors home despite liability concerns, and sometimes perform welfare checks by finding work-related excuses to call them. She was wondering where to draw the line about "getting involved," and whether there were other resources she could contact for such situations.
So where inner-city libraries have to serve as drug treatment, homeless, and mental health centers, small-town libraries are now being tasked with elder care. Our own library's situation is not as alarming as what this colleague reports (our location is not as central, so we don't get as much pedestrian traffic), but we have had incidents similar to some of what she describes. In fact, we had just had one quite recently that required several telephone calls before we could find any relatives to handle the situation. I imagine there's a great deal of this sort of thing going on at libraries around the country.
If they seem like they are not able to care for themselves or are a danger to themselves, a call to your state's Adult Protective Services (assuming you have one) would seem to be in order.
Many libraries, like many institutions of all sorts, have budget problems. These have now come for us. Several years ago our town's largest employer shut down literally about half of its operations. Hundreds of people were laid off. Then they started demolishing the shut-down facilities so that they would no longer have to pay property tax on them.
This process of "dis-improving" the company's land in town has cost us about 20% of our property tax revenues so far. A small surge of people moving into town from out of state--COVID refugees? California refugees?--and paying good prices for local houses has shored up the local housing market and property values. So at least the layoffs haven't torpedoed residential property values as we had feared. It still remains to be seen whether the declines in property tax revenues have bottomed out.
About the time this was happening, our no-longer-new facility started demanding ever more maintenance and repair. We've paid a king's ransom for building repairs this year. The combination of declining revenues and skyrocketing expenses has put us deep in the red. This week we're having to cash in a certificate of deposit that we had bought to bank surplus money from previous years. If we didn't have that money to draw on, we wouldn't have been able to make payroll until our main property tax revenues come in December.
We have enough operating reserves banked in CDs to keep running without layoffs and cuts in services for the time being. But this money will only last so long. Since the facility will remain hugely expensive to operate--even if it doesn't run up huge repair bills every single year--we're going to be looking sooner or later at cutting staff.
I'm thankful that our reserves banked during good years have kept us out of an acute crisis situation. Not all of my colleagues can say that they've been so fortunate. Still...if things don't turn around within the next several years, we'll have to lay people off and cut hours and service to the community. We've built a good staff over the years. They don't deserve that.
In recent months we've had a staff member semi-retire. She has gone to part-time. This means we're paying for fewer hours of staff time, and this staff member has been dropped from our staff employee benefits. By not hiring another part-timer to cover the hours she's no longer here for, we have saved some money. That will help our budget situation without any lay-offs.
The fact remains that we now have fewer staff hours with which to serve the public. This is putting us in an awkward position at times. We're now trying to put together a plan for the next Board of Trustees meeting to reduce our evening hours during the week slightly. Most evenings there's nobody here at closing time, so we could amputate an hour from most evenings during the week without inconveniencing too many patrons. By adjusting work schedules, we should be able to cover our hours pretty well.
But it's going to require quite a few adjustments in schedules. Some lunch breaks may have to be reduced. We need to put a good deal of thought into the best schedule. I hope we can come up with something that won't antagonize anybody too badly.
I thought we could shorten Saturday schedules by an hour as well, but in studying patron activity on Saturdays I don't find any reliably slow hours at either the beginning or the end of the day that would be an obvious hour to sacrifice. So it looks like we won't be shortening our opening hours on that day.