Why are libraries invisible?

For those of us who are concerned with libraries and make them a part of our lives, it’s often discouraging to discover how many of our friends and neighbors don’t make libraries a central part of their thinking even when they try to encourage their children to read. I was reminded of this again reading a blog post by a mother concerned about her daughter’s reluctance to read. Mia Wenjen, the blogger, started by pointing out that the loss of the Border’s chain of bookstores is going to affect the reading habits of many children. There’s no argument about that and librarians and teachers across the country are mourning the loss of one of the few bookstores serving many communities. Nonetheless, in describing her technique for turning her daughter into a voracious reader, I was surprised at what a small role the library played. First on the list of steps to take to encourage your child to read was to make regular trips to the bookstores to buy books. There is nothing wrong with that, but very few families these days have access to bookstores; for many the only place to buy books is the scanty space in a big box store. Besides that, very few families have the money to spend on buying children’s books regularly. Another technique mentioned was for a parent to start a reading group. Again, this is a fine idea, but many libraries already have reading groups for children and they have a wide selection of books to support them. A reading group in a home is likely to have very limited access to books unless one or more of the families involved has an unusually wide selection of books at home. What was the problem with the library? Well, the short three-week borrowing period seemed to be the major one. That time was often too short for the girl to finish her book. Perhaps libraries should think about encouraging parents and children who find the borrowing period too short. Most libraries offer renewals online and by telephone, which lengthens the period to six weeks or even longer if others are not clamoring to take out the same book. Do we publicize this flexibility enough? Perhaps a renewal notice in each book that goes out would help some families. Most of all, the problem seems to be that many families that are trying hard to encourage their children to read do not know about library services available to them. Librarians often look around the busy library and notice the children who are there reading, sharing books, enjoying programs. They don’t see the children who rarely enter the building. Just because we work there every day doesn’t mean that all members of the community understand how many books and other materials are available. Mia Wenjen is right; the loss of so many bookstores is affecting the reading habits of many children in our communities. Now is a great time for librarians to step up their PR efforts and try harder than ever to remind people that despite financial cutbacks and hard times, the public and school libraries are still the best reading support in the community. We need to push that message out more than ever before.

Ebooks to go in libraries?

School Library Journal's latest issue is filled with news about ebooks and the attention they are getting from librarians and teachers. They report on a conference on virtual books at which speakers talked about the opportunities and problems for librarians in providing ebook materials. One of the biggest obvious issues is the variety of formats for ebooks. Kindles are currently the most popular platform but the Nooks, iPad and other formats have their supporters. Librarians worry that if they go with the wrong format they will end with obsolete equipment and materials just as many libraries did with filmstrips and tape recorders in the past. Perhaps an even greater issue is the rights of libraries to provide ebooks to patrons who own their own device. The marketers have built their business plans on each user buying a device, which cuts libraries out of the picture. It's time for professional organizations like ALA to try to start a dialog with ebook producers to work out some reasonable way for libraries to circulate materials. On pattern that might work in schools is the model, also written up in SLJ this month, at Arizona State University. The library there is buying a supply of Kindles for students and will have a collection of YA materials available for each machine. This model could work in other school situations where authorized users are limited and easily identifiable, but it doesn't seem feasible for public libraries. We need to think about the future of ebooks in libraries for the next 20 years, because they are not going away.

Scattering libraries around

Airport bookstores are the despair of many frequent flyers because the book stock is often limited to bestsellers and business books aimed at travelers with their minds on work. Now, according to a N.Y. Times report a new library has opened at the busy international airport in Amsterdam aimed at a different audience. The library books are chosen to show Dutch culture and thought to the world through a variety of books--short stories, essays, poetry--with the idea that travelers who often spend four or more hours between flights will be able to dip into the life of the Netherlands even if they aren't able to travel into the city and see the sights. It seems to work. The library has attracted a number of users, some of whom like the books so much that they take them with them and then return them on their next stopover at the airport. The Times article doesn's say whether any children's books are included in the library's collection, but it surely would be a good idea to have some. Many families heading for overseas vacations spend dreary hours in airports. How refreshing it would be to have a handy source of reading materials for impromptu storyhours, or just browsing. Perhaps American libraries could consider offering similar outposts in busy stopover airports. Surely with all our technology today, a library could even loan the books on someone's local library card and allow the patron to return the book at home. There might have to be a small postage charge added for the service, but what a wonderful way to introduce good books to children and their families.

The joys of chasing links

Sometimes following links on the SLJ website can lead to fascinating destinations, making it worth the time I sometimes spend doing it. Not all link-chasing leads to frivolous sites to find out the latest celebrity scandal; in fact, none of SLJ's links do that, but you can often find useful tools for helping patrons. If you've ever tried to explain social software to teachers or parents, you know how difficult the concept can be, so finding a clear, logical article that explains the components of social software is very helpful. Here is just such an article, called "Social Software Building Blocks" It's rather old now--dating from 2007--but the concepts are still relevant and can help to explain the appeal of social networks for so many young people. The more understanding librarians and other adults have about social networking, the less likely they will be to try to block youngsters from using them. The faster we get schools and libraries on board to support constructive uses of social networking, the better we can serve the young people who use them.

What do students say?

After last week's NY Times story about whether or not schools need books in their libraries, the paper has followed up with comments from students. As would be expected, opinions among these many high school students and, it appears, graduates vary considerably. Several support the thoughts of the librarians and teachers interviewed earlier who defended the importance of reading books because of the pleasant physical experience. Clearly this aspect of reading is still important to many people of all ages, although there are others who find reading electronic materials equally enjoyable. Most of the students make a distinction between reading for research and homework and reading for pleasure. I think is an important point that many commentators ignore. The format for reading should suit the purpose of reading. My prediction would be that even as more and more material goes online because of the ease of searching, ease of transportation, and value of preservation, books will continue to exist as a viable form offering sufficient value to make them important to many people.