LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Begging the question--What IS a given library's function and purpose?
"How long is it going to take educators and librarians to learn the
megastore lessons? How long before we have fruit and juices in our
libraries? How long before public libraries have coffee shops attached? How
long before we have soft chairs and convenient hours for the public?"
--Jim Trelease, quoted in "Reflections on the 'new' bookstores,"
billed as, "A sneak preview of the next edition of THE READ-ALOUD HANDBOOK
in 2001."
My library experience extends from academic (university) to
corporate to school to public libraries. I also have experience in
bookstores--university, independent and chain.
The blueprint for one will no more serve as the blueprint for
another any more than a stack of recipes should be expected to require the
same ingredients. The notion that we may lump all libraries and bookstores
into the same grand vat of naivete and delude ourselves into thinking we
may yet manage to serve our unique clienteles is as realistic as the notion
that we may standardize our kids and still manage to genuinely and
responsibly, ADEQUATELY serve even one such unique and precious INDIVIDUAL.
Just as it is completely reasonable and appropriate that the
university bookstore sells sweatshirts and the like which tout that
university, it would be completely unreasonable for the independent
bookstore in a non-college town to offer the same stock. Likewise, it
would be just plain silly, let alone bad marketing, for that same
university bookstore to expect to stock and sell sweatshirts and
paraphernalia advertising a university across the globe.
Treating all libraries as if the same is reckless hyperbole.
Presuming to apply a one-notion-fits-all quick fix cavalierly insults the
many veteran library professionals who to this day, and despite inadequate
funding, support or acknowledgement, continue to work to manage to provide
a welcoming AND appropriately functional library environment, with or
without sugarcoating. The suggestion that the "cure" for library woes lies
in adding glitz and peripheral appeal belies the fact that before one
builds fancy malls along an abandoned or ill-maintained road, one ought to
have the basic sense and practical responsibility to repair the road,
first--and commit to its routine maintenance. That is to say before we
make reckless generalizations as to how we might repair the apparent ills
of underutilized, or APPARENTLY underutilized libraries, the responsible
and the professional will take a serious look at what may actually have
compelled their present or presumed depressed functionality and usefulness.
And just as it is ill advised to fill every library shelf and toss
away the bookends, foolishly forgetting that any number of books might
actually be USED from time to time, it is equally absurd to conclude that
the intermittently sparsely populated library media center might not
already be adequately used. Is every inch of highway constantly taken up
with traffic?! Since when do we strive for gridlock and think it
progressive?!
Likewise, the research function of many media centers is in no way
enhanced by tittering coffee clutches. Or has research, too, become passe?
But, hey, go ahead; offer free coffee, and throw in donuts while
you are at it. Ignore the apparently only theoretical problem of
silverfish, first attracted by the food and then resorting to eating the
books when these other food sources are not readily at hand. After all, it
truly will prove of little consequence that the books are being devoured by
these little insects while most of the books we blithely leave on the
shelves date to the '50s and '60s. Might as well find SOME use, after all,
eh? And, ah, meantime "library" usage is up.
Hurrah.
Forgive me, but the quick fix corporate window dressing notion as a
solution for the myriad problems facing our libraries, which we, in our
ignorance and naivete have created, is as sensible and productive as
building a restaurant in the middle of an airstrip, though it be observed
and conceded that the airstrip is/was in disrepair and but infrequently
used!
Sorry to crash your party, but this should be "plane."
Hey, but why not read this aloud at church? I hear attendance is
lagging and this might be just the remedy they seek--though those nasty
hard pews might be the real problem, eh? (Jeez!)
Me, I'm off for some ballroom dancing in my bathrobe. And they'd
better offer free massages there, or I'm likely to throw a tantrum and
they'll doubtless end up having to close their operation down as a result.
Seriously, might we please give this critical issue the closer
responsible analytical scrutiny it both deserves and requires, and until
then perhaps know to leave off presuming to tell our heroic library
professionals their business?
Thanks!
Take care.
Jeffrey E. Kirkpatrick
*****
The individual or institution which fails to honor and support
viable libraries is simply not credible. For, a library, as a society, is
people, sharing in trust, for their mutual benefit and edification. The
naive who fail their libraries fail themselves.
'Nuff said.
Jeffrey E. Kirkpatrick
Advocate for libraries and education reform, in Aurora, CO
e-mail address: jeffkirk@concentric.net
(previously jeffkirk@sni.net --through 5/22/99)
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