collection development - Public Libraries Online

Not Everything with Books is a Library

Feldenstein Calypso — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 16:55:23 +0000

If you closely follow library stories across the world you may have come across this heartwarming one: A small rural public school’s largely abandoned library in Las Plumas County, California, was so outdated that it was unusable. A local writer, Margaret Garcia, had a dream of reopening this library, so she put out a call on her blog for people to send a book. Her blog post went viral and people sent in 47 million books!

I may not have that exact number correct. Indeed all of my facts here are like unto a crayon rendering of the actual story. But the main point is there were a lot of books donated. So many books that they’re reopening the library and don’t want any more books —just gift cards, money, and shelving.

If you haven’t before heard this story you have heard one like it. It is a man jumps in a flooded river to save a dog story. It is a whole town takes in a refugee story. It is hard to fault the story because it seems to restore faith in destiny, in generosity, and in the kindness of strangers. It says despite the problems out there with proper school library funding this good will can solve problems and make things better. And above all it says that people really care about books and libraries.

I am here to rain on your parade.

But don’t worry, the rain will cool off your heated excitement that might cause you to whisk out to buy an expensive hardcover copy of your favorite book to send to Las Plumas County. You may be able to afford one of those fancy hardcovers, but can you afford 4,000 of them? Because you know in your calm and rain cooled heart that there are surely 3,999 school libraries who could really use that book. Las Plumas is merely today’s lucky winner on the Internet. Everyone else lost.

Novelty news stories, stories of library lottery winners are fine, but they tell a shadow story. They secretly tell a story about that which is normal. School libraries founder and die all the time. They tell an unspoken story about all the lottery losers. And they weave a fantasy solution about books, libraries, and the power of the Internet. It is a cozy notion that libraries are simply books and by each of us donating a few books we can make a library. It is a less cozy notion that a library is good shelving; a viable cataloging system; a pleasant, safe space to be in with decent furniture and good light. And perhaps it is the least cozy notion of all that a library too is probably a person getting paid $56,880 dollars a year to deal with it all. The Las Plumas Library is going to need most of that to be a library. And in the excitement of the moment they may even get a large enough portion for a start. But they will need it next year and the year after that as well. Because in ten years, when their collection is sadly outdated again, and their library is closing from lack of school support, another one-in-a-million shot on the Internet is unlikely to hit again. Remember this: everything you see on the Internet also stands in for a million things no one sees.

I work in a large library in a big city and rarely does a day go by where I am not dealing with book donations. Like the generous donations to the Las Plumas Library they may be intended to save us too. I think we regularly get more donations than they even received in the bonanza in Plumas County. Sadly ours mostly consist of yellowed Ham and Pineapple Cookbooks from the fifties and the early works of Danielle Steele in vintage book club editions that have been fully seasoned by a couple decades of storage in a basement. There’s not much we can do with this stuff other than trying to trick people into buying them or furtively recycling them when that fails. All our donations together provide a rare few items we add to the collection and a small stream of miscellaneous income. If you took all the vast thousands of donated books we receive in a year you would not have a library. You would have a rummage sale. Which we do, twice a year.

But we do have a pretty good tax base here in my city. And a just steady enough commitment to libraries. The people of my county join together as The Friends of the Library to raise money and advocate. And these people also just manage to not elect charlatans who appeal to their flashes of emotion and tell them that we need not pay for anything good as a community. It can be taken care of by trusting to the largess of strangers. Rather they elect people who believe that the kindness of wealthy strangers that will save us is already ours, collectively, and the best way to save ourselves is to make sure that along with roads and water and sewers we first have libraries. This allows us to have a greasy but up to date collection of books and movies. It means we have shelving. We have great windows full of light, places to sit, and proper recessed lighting inside as well. And we have librarians, many of them, some good and some not so much. We have clerks and student workers and volunteers and board members, computer people and computers, and open doors seven days a week. We are a library. I am confident we will be around in five years. I am not so sure about the one in Plumas County. We in no real way rely upon the kindness of strangers. No library should have to, and very few that ever do will thrive, let alone survive.

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Policies for Library Inclusion of Self-Published Works

Chris Burns — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 16:47:54 +0000

Among the many administrative decisions libraries have to make, few are so potentially altering to the scope of their collection as whether or not to include self-published works. Though many are wary to carry items that are published by the author, libraries have historically tended to err on the “more is better” side of these decisions. As several libraries are deciding to pull the trigger and carry self-published materials, we may be facing a shift in our general collections policies.

Times They Are (Still) a-Changing’

Libraries of previous eras all had their dilemmas when it came to collection building. Comic books, music and movies, and potentially dangerous books have all been controversies de jour for your local library. More recently, whether or not to provide Internet access was an issue, and we still struggle with the best ways to carry e-books.

As long as libraries have the space and funding, they tend to include whatever this year’s controversial material is. Many are making that choice with self-published books. Though there are several practical issues such as funding (discussed recently by Public Library Online’s own Troy Lambert), this article is concerned with inclusion criteria for those libraries that choose to bring self-published materials into their space.

Writing Strong Policy

Including self-published works comes with many decisions, such as whether to include printed books, e-books, or both. The library will have to maintain a stringent inclusion policy that fits into their larger policies for selection of new material. This will make it easier to defend against people who say self-published books don’t belong, and also help deter authors of self-published materials the library doesn’t want.

Recognition of the Material

One easy way to add credibility to self-published books is to only accept those that are already recognized; for example, accepting e-books that are part of a publisher or e-book platform. If a patron can get the item on their Kindle, the library has less reason to say “no.” Contrariwise, if the library has an arrangement set up so that all books they adopt into their collection will also become available on an e-reading platform, it raises the stakes on inclusion decisions, forcing the library to be pickier.

Other criteria for determining the legitimacy of a self-published book can be even more simple. Is the author prominent in the local community? How many other books have they published? Is there a built-in readership for this book? These factors can all play into the selection process.

Vetting the Quality

A library may need to take extra steps to assess the quality of self-published books. Often genre books, such as romances or mysteries, are included solely on the basis of publisher recommendation or author. Without these pre-arranged tools, libraries may need to create a formal submission and acceptance policy that goes above and beyond their normal criteria, as well as task an employee or committee with making recommendations.

Is There a Reason We Shouldn’t Have Them?

Self-publishing has become a big industry. Certainly, it’s a way to provide a community access to the works of local authors, but there’s also a growing list of self-published authors who have attained success and popularity. Let’s not forget that Fifty Shades of Grey was originally self-published, and though it has had its own controversies in libraries, the vast majority of public libraries carry it and it circulates extremely well. Whether or not libraries choose to have a wide selection of self-published material and how far they wish to take their collections (consider Taken by the T-Rex and the other very NSFW Christie Sims writings , which have attained enough popularity to be available through BarnesAndNoble.com, be reviewed on Goodreads and are technically in the same genre as Fifty Shades) is something each library system will have to answer for itself. Soon, the question may not be whether your library should carry self-published material, but simply if, like Fifty Shades of Grey, it has the shelf space and can order them from Baker & Taylor.

If the goal of a library is to provide people access to information and books, and if self-published books fits all the criteria for inclusion, then the library should strongly consider carrying them. However, as much as we should have open policies relating to the items we accept, we also must be willing to do the work of curating our self-published collections. Space is limited, and every book we put on a shelf is a choice we’re making about how to use the space we have. If self-published books are coming to our libraries (and, really, why not?) we should be careful and considered in the way we choose them.

Sources:

Lambert, Troy. “Building a Bypass: Libraries, Amazon, and Indie Authors.” Public Libraries Online. December 08, 2015. Web. Accessed January 07, 2015.

Landgraf, Greg. “Solving the Self-Published Puzzle” American Libraries. October 30, 2015. Web. Accessed January 07, 2015.

Schwartz, Meredith. “Florida County Pulls Fifty Shades of Grey From Shelves.” May 11, 2012.,Web. Accessed January 07, 2015

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Collection Development: Catering to the Hispanic Community

Romeo Rosales, Jr. — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 19:17:06 +0000

According to the United States Census Bureau, the estimated Hispanic population as of 2014 is roughly 17.4% of the United States’ 319,000,000 population.[1] While not all of the individuals who classify themselves as Hispanic or Latino speak Spanish, according to a 2015 report released by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes “the United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico.”[2] The U.S has 41 million native speakers and 11 million who are bilingual. Those are some serious numbers and public libraries are at the forefront of assisting many of these Hispanics with whatever resources they have available. Many Spanish speakers go to public libraries to look for answers regarding a path to citizenship, questions about the I-90 form, services offered for Spanish speakers, and my favorite, “Donde tienes tus libros españoles?” (Where do you have your Spanish books?) Publishing companies are doing their best to cater to this large community, but answer this question: Even with more Spanish books readily available, who are the librarians assessing community needs and building these Spanish and bilingual collections? It is one thing to be a Hispanic librarian, as I am, but it is another thing to truly understand the Hispanic community to know how a collection should be built.

In library school, they teach you about multicultural librarianship and how to cater to diverse communities. Learning something can only take you so far, however. It is the application portion that is key. Libraries should “recruit Spanish-speaking personnel in all job classifications, i.e. librarians, paraprofessionals, clerical workers and volunteers.”[3] Librarians and library professionals should never underestimate the power of the “door knocking” approach. Get out into the Hispanic speaking community in your area to sit and talk to individuals who wish to have input on the Spanish and bilingual material located in your library; they are stakeholders as well.

Librarians can no longer sit back and wait for Hispanics to provide them with information regarding collection development. Outreach is the answer! Making contacts and connections throughout the community for assistance with this process is an integral part of the collection development process. If this is not accomplished, Hispanics will assume the library does not care about their needs and does not wish to have programs that cater to their community and culture. Whenever possible, advertise and post signage around the library in Spanish. This is a useful tactic that will let Spanish speakers know that the library indeed understands there is a Hispanic community and they are important as well. Social networking is obviously very popular in this digital age, so posting in English and Spanish gets the word out much better than only posting in English. If you do not speak Spanish, use Google Translate. It is a highly resourceful tool that goes a long way.

There are many ways to reach out to the Hispanic community. Do not underestimate the little things and do not assume the Hispanic community does not take notice. As Louis Pasteur once famously said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

[1] “Quick Facts Beta: United States,” The United States Census Bureau, accessed November 17, 2015, http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/RHI725214/00.

[2] “US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has More,” The Guardian, accessed November 16, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country.

[3] “Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users,” Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), A Division of the American Library Association, accessed November 18, 2015, http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidespanish.

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The Obligation of Libraries

Su Epstein — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:30:40 +0000

Obligations: a duty or commitment; an act or course of action to which a person or organization is morally or legally bound. I have been thinking recently a great deal about obligations in relation to the library. On the one hand, it would seem a library’s responsibilities are clear cut and that at least library supporters would all agree on this institution’s obligation. However, this is not always the case.

One issue that recently came up for my library involved appropriate number of open hours. With a population base of a bit over 5,000, my library is open fifty-one hours a week. But one board member felt this was inadequate; they suggested being open sixty hours a week, while another argued that being a small, relatively rural library our resources were already strained and we should reduce our hours. The discussion turned into one of obligations. What began as a discussion of the library’s obligation to patrons evolved into a discussion about the institution’s obligations to staff. With a small staff (4.5 FTE), increasing hours would put additional strain on library workers and in particular the director, who would in effect, become ‘on call’ seven days a week.

For me, the discussion raised another issue: is the library’s obligation to the existing demographics of the community or to a more diversified perspective? Specifically, consider collection development, programming, and displays. Should we offer only that which applies to our known community’s demographics? Or should we try to broaden outlooks and horizons? Many times our decisions in these areas are shaped by our users. We might put up a holiday display because we believe our community expects or supports that perspective. But are we sure? Should we, in fact, be displaying alternative views as part of an obligation to support lifelong learning? Would we draw more users if we expanded beyond our perceived local culture? Is this not part of obligation, also? While it may be easy to say we should do both–support our community’s demographics and expand on the status quo–the finances and/or politics of many libraries may not allow for such a broad spectrum of activities or materials.

We can also expand this question out to larger professional organizations. Is the obligation of a state agency to all institutions within its jurisdiction? One might answer, yes, of course! But the question becomes whether this is a feasible possibility. In most states there are urban and rural libraries, large bureaucratic establishments, and small independent organizations; there may also be municipal libraries and libraries in nonprofit organizations, with differing structures and needs. On a national level, the issue is confounded as there are an even greater number of variations. Consider something as mundane as where a national event will be held? The problem arises that no one location can inherently serve everyone.

Personally, I believe all public library organizations of any size have the obligation to provide a broad base of perspectives, as reflected in materials and activities, and the obligation to strive for as much diversity as is feasible. To that end, on the national level, I support organizations that make mindful efforts to rotate conference location. On a local level, I support state agencies that offer diversified support to different levels and kinds of libraries.

On the daily level of library operations I make a conscious effort to assure my collection is diverse in terms of the topics and peoples it represents. I seek out programs that are unique or unusual. I am ecstatic when I find things that most people have not encountered and thrilled when I hear patrons speak of finding something they never knew about before. I am considerate of all holidays and celebrations–not only putting out the materials or iconic images of those who most participate or that which is most common.

When I consider my obligations for my library I think about challenging common thought patterns, offering a path into places unfamiliar, and helping to support diversity; those considerations shape my obligations to my library. I see this as my obligation not only to my library, but to my community and the well-being of our world.

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Love or Respect – the Collection Development Dilemma

PLA Contributor — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:58:00 +0000

In theory, we are all professionals and whether we like a particular area of the collection or not, we should be able to do our job of adding new materials and withdrawing those that are no longer of use. However, we’re all human. Some things we like better than others. What are some ways to give your section the respect it deserves if you didn’t love it immediately to begin with?

Phone a friend…Do you have a friend, either a professional colleague or someone you know socially, who really likes the genre of books for which you are now responsible? That person will probably be thrilled that you asked. Finding professional colleagues willing to share their subject expertise is always so helpful. We are indebted to professional and social friends who have helped us at different times during our careers when we have needed to champion and grow sections we didn’t know about and love.

Who are you helping…Maybe you aren’t a fan of science fiction or romance novels yourself, but consider the people who love these books in your community. Can you respect your section of books because of who you are reaching? We are all familiar withthe community members who won’t tell us what they would like to have in the library. However, they are happy when things they like arrive. While we would prefer people to tell us what they want instead of us having to guess, seeing new materials checked out does make us feel good.

What professional resources are available…Don’t forget that there are plenty of professional journals that provide reviews of materials. Use them. Some journals and publishers also provide webinars about new materials as well. One of us is very partial to the Booklist webinars, but this is the same person who loves Booklist anyway! Another one of us likes to use different kinds of lists that other people, librarians and genre aficionados, put together.

How can you promote your section…How can you get people interested in your section? This engagement is important because you want people in your community to provide feedback. Are you using social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to highlight new items? Does your catalog have any social media typed functions you can use to highlight new items, either by writing reviews, tagging, or putting the books in a list? You want people in your community to tell you what you’ve done right and what they don’t think should be in the section. While you can’t do absolutely everything your patrons suggest, it will give you more guidance and help than practically anything else. However, if you don’t let people know what’s in your section, how can people give you feedback?

Good luck with your sections. Obviously you’re going to do a great job because you’re an information professional, but know that sometimes everyone needs a little help, and we hope we gave you that.

Melanie A. Lyttle is the Head of Public Services Madison Public Library. You can watch her YouTube channel, Crabby Librarian, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rv5GLWsUow. Shawn D. Walsh is the Emerging Services and Technologies Librarian at Madison Public Library.

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Developing Book Donation Resources

Paul Jackson — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 15:23:25 +0000

Many new and start-up libraries are looking for ways to acquire books cheaply because of their small budgets. In 1992, I wrote an article for Against the Grain about finding resources to build collections. The ideas in that article are still useful and it can be downloaded from the Purdue University site here. Updating the information in my article, there are additional resources which include digital collections of Project Gutenberg , The Hathi-Trust, and many other free book sites. Using the search terms “free book resources” in a Google search, you will come up with many resources–mostly ebooks, and additional sites for “free textbooks.” One such sight has a listing of eleven of the best sites for textbooks.

Beyond free books, you can find resources for used books, these include eBay, Amazon, and Powell’s books. One thing to be aware of is bookjacking, similar to the flipping of real estate. The book is listed at a very large markup, the Bookjacker get the customer, then buy the book from the original owner and make a large profit selling at the marked-up price. So just be sure to do a thorough internet search for the book you want before making a purchase. It’s also possible to find stolen books through some of those sellers, which could be called ‘bookjacking’ too. One of the sites covering these issues is Zubal books and their site, a resource for cheap books, ‘books-by-the-foot.” Their site also lists those known bookjacking sellers here.

Finally, many libraries are reporting ways they weed books–the used, the abused, the discards, and donations which can’t be kept. It seems many have rules against accepting donations. Covering the giving away part, the American Library Association (ALA) has developed a listing of resources mostly for donating or recycling books. Information about this outgoing process is here: http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet12 and here: https://delicious.com/alalibrary/bookdonations. This includes ideas for exchanges, which can also be a tool for building your small library collection.

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Weeding Backlash at Berkeley Public Library

Julia Pyatetsky — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 20:04:47 +0000

Recent collection development policy changes transformed the weeding policy and process at the Berkeley (California) Public Library (BPL) to a more centralized method. This change has ruffled feathers in the community. In July, a group of about 30 protesters, consisting of retired librarians and community members, gathered in front of the library to encourage patrons to check out 50 items, which is the max number of checkouts allowed. The protesters intended this move to save some of the books that would otherwise be weeded out, as well as to protest the changes in the weeding policy and related changes in staffing.

Weeding or “deaccession” is a standard all librarians are familiar with. Following the CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation Weeding) guidelines, items at libraries need to be removed or replaced in order to make room for new titles as well as items in good condition. However, when a library has not properly weeded items in many years, and when a centralized plan of action is put into play, many community members and professionals in the field cry foul play. This is not just something that BPL is currently under fire for; many public libraries have had to deal with backlash when large numbers of books are removed.

The Urbana Free Library in Urbana, Illinois, another community with a large and well-known academic environment, was criticized for a similar large-scale weeding project back in 2013. That summer was known as “#bookgate” in Urbana. I called and spoke directly with Celeste Choate, who has served as executive director at Urbana Free Library (UFL) since April of 2014. She expressed that the removal of books is a really complicated situation that leaves emotions running high amongst community members. Although there was a negative response to the UFL weeding procedure, two years later it appears that the community does trust the library. Choate stated that even above how much librarians love books, they love their patrons more. So what can public libraries do to try to keep emotions at bay? Be as transparent and open as possible and be ready to have a conversation with the community at large. Beyond that, it’s important to keep a consistent and centralized collection development policy that’s approved by the Library Board. Jeff Scott, director of the Berkeley Public Library, seemed to be doing just that, but it wasn’t enough. A petition asking for the removal of Scott was signed by over one thousand people, leading to his recent resignation.

Link to source article: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/07/14/protesters-rally-check-out-books-to-make-clear-concerns-over-weeding-at-berkeley-central-library/

Additional Sources used: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/07/08/berkeley-library-fans-voice-concern-over-weeding-of-books/

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/08/12/berkeley-library-director-admits-vast-discrepancies-in-numbers-of-weeded-books/

http://www.berkeleyside.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Jeff-Scott-explanatory-letter-7.6.15.pdf

https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/sites/default/files/files/inline/2015_07_01_bolt_agenda_packet.pdf

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/08/31/breaking-jeff-scott-resigns-as-berkeley-library-director/

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To Series or Not to Series…Does it Matter?

PLA Contributor — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:47:19 +0000

If you’ve been following our past few entries, you know we have been talking about putting fiction into genres, but in the “genre-fication process” we are going through, we are also labeling our books that are in a series with the series name and number. It’s taken quite a bit of time to put series information on all our chapter, tween, young adult, adult, and large print books. However, the response from the community has been tremendous, and it’s taught us a few things about our collection as well!

How do you decide what’s in a series? There are two really great websites that we have found quite helpful. One is Kent District (MI) Library’s What’s Next Database. It’s really good for figuring out what books belong in a series, especially since the book itself may not always tell you. The other site another library suggested to us was Fantastic Fiction, which allows searches by ISBN. Between the two sites they really cover practically any book we have owned.

How are you keeping track of your series? Just so everyone working on your series project knows what’s going on, you need to keep a list of what series you have. This is especially important if you have separated your fiction into genres. You don’t want part of a series in mystery and part of series in historical fiction if the series is a historical mystery. In our library we started with a spreadsheet and quickly realized that we needed more. So we designed a relational database that holds series information. It has a web interface so staff can input information and search for information. It also holds details about subseries as well.

What are you doing with subseries and series finished by other people? Subseries turned out to be an interesting challenge because things like Star Wars books or Dragonlance books were all related, but they were written by many different authors. For books that were in a series but had a subseries, the series was used for alphabetizing on the shelf and the subseries appeared on the label in the “series spot.” Then there were the series begun by one author (eg., Robert Ludlum, Robert B. Parker, and others) but the remainder of the series was finished by a different author. To keep the series together, the spine label reads the original author’s name, not necessarily the actual author.

How are you handling not having every book in a series? It’s perfectly fine if the answer is you aren’t doing anything. You may have book one of a series but not any subsequent materials. You may have book three and not any other books. We pose this question because inevitably there will be a patron who comes to you and says, “I found book three on the shelf. Do you have books one and two?” If you’re part of a consortium, it’s most likely that you can get the first two books from another library. However, from a collection development perspective you will want to decide to either only have first books and see if people want more, or you may decide to see if anyone cares that you have book three but not the other two, before buying the first two books you don’t currently have. We say this a lot, but every library in every community is different. What works in one place may not be appropriate for another.

How are you telling patrons a book is in a series? Some consortia have online catalogs that allow notes to be put in for individual books. This means a series name and number could be put there. We have seen this more with juvenile books series than adult materials. Sometimes the book’s call number is the series and number only. We are fortunate that our book labels allow us to print the series name and number of the spine of the book. In addition, we are using a field that will display the series as a note in our public catalog display.

Many readers like to find a series and stick with it until the end. Helping them find that series is one of the services that we provide as librarians.

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Library of Things Shapes Dialogue on Library Collections

Matthew Gunby — Tue, 12 May 2015 19:55:29 +0000

For many years, libraries have been primarily associated with books. Many people, including the taxpayers who fund public libraries, continue to hold on to this relationship. Linguistically this makes sense, as the word “library” derives from the Latin word for books: liber, though the term also means rind or bark[1], and this association is far less common. When libraries veer from this norm of providing books there is often some backlash, with greater perceived deviations receiving greater scrutiny. What a library should collect and distribute depends greatly on the community it serves and the library’s mission.

What might be considered an extreme case of this is the Sacramento Public Library’s recent initiative to create a Library of Things. One aspect is a variety of instruments, including guitars, drums and ukuleles. They have board games for all ages and video games for circulation. GoPro cameras and sewing machines are also available. It is also possible to work with the library’s 3D printer and bike repair station, though these are not available for checkout.[2]

When considering a lending library of this sort, it is important to determine that it is in keeping with the library’s mission. SPL’s Mission Statement reads, “Sacramento Public Library provides ideas, information, and resources to help our community discover, learn, and grow.”[3] Viewing the Library of Things in this context, not only does it seem appropriate to supplement their print collection with these items, but it could also be seen as a disservice to not allow these venues for learning, discovery, and growth.

It is important when building non-standard collections (as it is in all collections) to allow for vigorous assessment. 3D printers are a growing trend in public libraries, but a library needs to make sure that it is providing sufficient programming around such a costly addition. Moreover, it must ensure the public has both the opportunity and desire to use such equipment. Some of this assessment can only be performed after a purchase. Yet understanding the demographics most interested in 3D printers and determining if they are regular library users or might become regular users if a device was purchased can be helpful information to gather before a purchase is made. Also, surveys with realistic evaluations of the cost both in terms of dollars and products/services can help shift the decision from the library to the community.

It is also important to seek alternative revenue streams to supplement taxpayer dollars. The Library of Things was supported by a $10,000 grant through the Library Services and Technology Act.[4] Many object lending libraries either begin as a result of a donation, or are supplemented through later donations. Even with donations it is important to assess the community impact and how the objects help the library fulfill its mission as they require physical space and staff maintenance.

Finally, the library needs to determine what special policies (if any) need to be in place for these special additions. As noted above, items like the 3D printer can only be used in the library, while in some libraries, smaller portable ones may be brought off-site by a library staff member. Some libraries lend laptops or tablets for use in the library. The Sacramento Library notes that some of the more expensive items will include a written agreement before checking out items.[5] Other libraries may require a copy of a driver’s license to keep on file until the item is returned. Determining a policy that properly supports the library and the community’s investment while also not being onerous or excluding potential users can be challenging and may need to be amended over time.

Over the centuries libraries have evolved from maintaining collections of papyrus scrolls to lending books to the general public. Books should not define the legacy of the library, but instead be viewed as an important means through which libraries can serve their community. In many communities they still offer one of the best, most affordable means of promoting learning. Yet in some communities, and likely increasingly over time, libraries must seek new service opportunities within their neighborhoods. For one community this may mean a greater portion of the budget being spent on audiobooks or DVDs, in another it could mean adding board games. It is not the tool that defines the library, but instead the library, with the help of the community, defining the tools that enable it to serve most effectively. What tools does your library currently use and what does it hope to incorporate in the future? How will these tools help serve your community? For more on the widening definition of the library’s collection see The Evolution of Library Collections.

[1] “Library.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Accessed April 18, 2015. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/library

[2] Milne, Steve. “Library of Things Launches on Saturday.” Capital Public Radio. Accessed April 18, 2015. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/03/12/library-of-things-launches-on-saturday

[3] “Strategic Plan.” Sacramento Public Library. Accessed April 18, 2015. https://www.saclibrary.org/About-Us/Strategic-Plan/

[4] Milne, Steve. “Library of Things Launches on Saturday.” Capital Public Radio. Accessed April 18, 2015. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/03/12/library-of-things-launches-on-saturday

[5] Milne, Steve. “Library of Things Launches on Saturday.” Capital Public Radio. Accessed April 18, 2015. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/03/12/library-of-things-launches-on-saturday

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Separate or Keep Together?

PLA Contributor — Tue, 05 May 2015 20:04:45 +0000

This is the kind of question librarians like to fight over. Should you separate fiction into genres, or should all fiction be left together? Or do you split the difference and mark different genres in some way but leave everything together on the shelf? There are lots of questions, and very few definitive answers. However, there is one question we can answer for sure. Is there a right way to do things? Absolutely not! This is a decision best left up to individual libraries and what will work best for their communities, but there are some questions to consider as you ponder your decision.

Do you have commonalities between large numbers of books in your collection? There are some major groupings libraries tend to use to divide books into genres. Common ones include mystery, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, inspiration, and romance. Do these groupings represent what you would consider a sizable portion of your collection?

Are there special niche books that are particularly important in your community that should be kept together? Some libraries like to keep local authors together on shelves. Other libraries choose potentially more narrow genres to group together like suspense, horror, historical fiction, or urban fiction. There can also be chick lit, humorous, book and TV, Amish, teen books for adults, sagas, supernatural, and war stories. Some libraries have a large collection of books that are recommended by the staff, and these books are all grouped together. What is really special in your library?

Do you have a defensible reason for changing either to separated genres OR putting together books that were separated before? Some communities, for whatever reason, tend to have more adults who read within a particular genre as opposed to reading a particular author. Would breaking the collection into smaller groupings, like genres, encourage more browsing or help patrons find what they are looking for more quickly? If you have books separated into genres, combining all fiction books together saves shelf space if you need more room. People are going to resist change whatever it is. When they want to talk about the change, you need to have answers for them.

How are you letting the staff and the public know changes are coming? Whether you have a newsletter, Facebook, newspaper articles, or some other way to tell the public, you’ll have to do it more than once. You may even want to get the staff and public’s opinions before you make a final decision about what to do with your fiction collection. Whatever decision you choose, make sure your staff is able to answer questions about why books were moved from “where they’d always been.” Preparing staff makes the change easier for both staff members and patrons.

Whatever you decide to do, someone isn’t going to like it. That’s just the way it goes. However, providing clear signage to help people find what they’re looking for will help quite a bit. However, making sure your decision is the right thing for your community is ultimately the most important thing.

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Genre-fying Your Library’s Fiction Collection

PLA Contributor — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 15:09:53 +0000

We are in the final stretch of our “genre-fying fiction” marathon, and want to share our observations. In hindsight, we would have done some things a bit differently, but we also remind ourselves that we are doing this to make the library experience better for our patrons. That’s what’s important.

Choosing your genres…This may seem obvious, but choose all your genres before you get started and stick with it until the end. Look at what books seem to circulate well. Look at review magazines or other publications to see how they group fiction materials. Take a survey of your patrons to get ideas. However, we also strongly suggest you pull some books from a section of your shelves. Look at what genres they represent. Does your collection gravitate towards a specific direction? However, keep in mind that if you choose to create niche genres, these will be more fluid. When the books go out of style, you may want to dissolve the genre and return the books to other areas. Or someday there may be a new niche where a large number of books are published, and you may want to keep all these books together. For example, with the craze for vampires and other supernatural entities, our library decided to create a supernatural genre to keep these books together. And, in the future when vikings or something else become extremely popular, we may need to create a new collection.

Where do you go to determine genres…Many book vendors have genres listed within their online catalogs. OCLC’s WorldCat has genres specifically listed in their catalog entries as well. But keep in mind that both OCLC and also the commercial vendors are judging each book individually. Also, if you are part of a consortium, see where other libraries have placed books or series of books. This may give you ideas about what genres you would like to include in your library.

When to take a broader look at your collection…When you are putting books into different genres, you will find that some authors write in multiple genres. Some libraries classify strictly based on genres, while others try to keep author’s works together. This is particularly important if the library is in a community where reading an author’s entire body of work is important. However, our advice to you is do one author at a time, and pay attention to books in the authors’ series. You may find that throughout a series, each book has a different genre assigned to it. At the very least, you need to keep all the books in an author’s series together.

How are you keeping track of what you have done…Is there a master list somewhere that says this author goes in this genre, or this chunk of an author’s work goes here and this chunk goes there? It’s more than likely that you will have multiple people work on this project. How does everyone make sure they know what is going on and don’t either duplicate already completed work or do something that doesn’t match previous patterns?

When a patron disagrees with you…There will be patrons that don’t agree with what genre you have assigned to a book or a series of books. They may want to suggest additional or different genres to use. Not all their suggestions will be great, but listen to them because some will be very helpful. Take notes, and tell them you will consider what they say. It may not change what you ultimately do, but your patrons will feel they have been heard.

Good luck with your genre-fying project. It will be great.

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Hidden Gems – Five Lesser-Known Periodicals for Your Collection

Su Epstein — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 16:52:40 +0000

As budgets shrink, the quest for quality grows. A while ago my library surveyed patrons about their preferences and how they wanted to see materials collections develop. One item that arose much to my surprise was the request for hard copy periodicals “with substance.” The food and craft titles were fine, but people commented they wanted to see less gossip and more content.

While we have People Magazine and Rolling Stone, the request for substance made me not only review our publication list more closely, but examine what was currently available in the periodicals marketplace. This quest lead to some terrific discoveries.

Below are five great titles that I’ve found most people never heard of! I have no affiliation with any of these publications, but offer them here for the curious…

ChopChop Magazine – an award winning, quarterly kid’s foodie magazine produced by ChopChopKids. Founded in 2010 by James Beard-nominated author Sally Sampson, the magazine’s mission is to teach young people to cook and eat real food. The publication is available in both English and Spanish and offers facts, games, and recipes. http://www.chopchopmag.org/
Pacific Standard Magazine – prints bimonthly in partnership with its parent organization, the non-profit Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy. They “explore the science of society;” examining everything from economics to psychology, customs to education, and institutions to the environment. Their broad-based and timely articles are accessible and readable, yet also grounded in empirical research, with reference provided. http://www.psmag.com/
The Sun – For those seeking a more literary approach, The Sun is an independent, non-profit, ad-free monthly magazine that celebrates life through personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photography. http://thesunmagazine.org
Mindful – Another publication by an independent non-profit, the magazine uses personal stories, news, and advice. to celebrate being present, composed, and thoughtful in all aspects of life. Articles focus on kindness, caring, and being present. The magazine is published by the Foundation of a Mindful Society. http://www.mindful.org/
Stone Soup – produced by the non-profit, the Children’s Art Foundation, Stone Soup magazine is written and illustrated by young writers and artists ages 8 to 13. Published six times a year, the magazine hopes to inspire creativity in youth. http://www.stonesoup.com/

If you are looking to expand or develop your periodicals, encourage a wider frame of reference, or think your patrons ( like mine) are looking for something more substantive and thought provoking, I recommend these titles. Likewise, if you have hidden gems, I would like to hear of them.

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What is an Adult Graphic Novel?

PLA Contributor — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 21:42:45 +0000

We recently added an adult graphic novel collection to our library. We have had young adult graphic novels since the early 2000s. Tween and beginning reader graphic novels were added in 2008. Yet nothing was available for adults. The implied argument was adults didn’t read graphic novels, and if they did, it was generally the superhero books available in the young adult section. Were we doing a disservice to our patrons? The answer, yes! We needed to fix that.

Define “Young Adult Graphic Novel.” – We started by looking at the young adult graphic novel collection, and we decided we were going to pull some of the series that were showing up on “Best Adult Graphic Novels” lists. That should bring a built-in audience to our new adult graphic novel area. Out of the young adult collection came Sandman, Spawn, and Watchman. The young adult collection thus became the bastion of the superheroes of DC and Marvel with a strong Star Wars presence. It’s not that adults didn’t read these books voraciously, but it brought the content of the graphic novels more in line with the content of the young adult novels we had.

Where are the compilations of newspaper comics going? – Libraries put these books in all different places, including non-fiction and young adult sections. Not that it doesn’t happen, but when did you see a high schooler reading Doonesbury? And many people like Dilbert, but searching in the 700s is a daunting task. We rescued the newspaper comics compilation books from 741.5 and put them in the adult graphic novel collection. As soon as we did, they started circulating quite a bit more than they had before.

Where do the graphic novels go that students may be assigned for class? – Maus and Persepolis are good examples of books that teachers frequently incorporate into their curriculum. These books had been living in the young adult section, but unfortunately no one was reading them. However, we had an eighth grade English teacher ask us about other books similar to these, including some of Gene Luen Yang’s books and A Game for Swallows. Would we be getting additional similar titles, he wondered, because he’d like to assign his class to read some of these types of books? To give these titles more cache and also to entice adults who would also be interested in these books but never find them in youth materials, these books were moved. All “literary graphic novels” now live in the adult graphic novel collection.

How is this section not a repository for unloved books? – Given the more conservative view our community has about books for youth, there were a number of graphic novels we didn’t have in the library’s collection. We now have the graphic novel versions of titles by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Janet Evanovich sharing shelf space with the Walking Dead. We have Sin City and Hellraiser. Without this section of adult graphic novels, we couldn’t adequately accommodate many popular titles that appeal to a quiet minority of our community who never requested we purchase these books but seems to be checking them out regularly.

How do you evaluate success? – Obviously, circulation is one way, and the graphic novels have only been their own section for six months or so. It seems like people are reading the books, even if it’s only the staff who are grudgingly admitting that “there might be something to these graphic novels.” Every time we talk to an adult about Maus, Persepolis, or American Born Chinese and he or she decides to check out the book, we have success. However, overhearing that a 24 year-old male patron said to his friends via social media, “You have to come to the Madison Public Library. They have really great comics [referring to our adult graphic novel section].” That is the best sign of success ever.

You know your patrons best. What do they want in their adult graphic novels? You may decide what makes up our adult graphic novels section does not work for you. Use this as a guide, and no matter what you decide, we hope your section is popular with the patrons of your community.

Cover Photo Credit: carmichaellibrary (CC BY 2.0)

Melanie A. Lyttle is the Head of Public Services Madison Public Library. You can watch her YouTube channel, Crabby Librarian, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rv5GLWsUow. Shawn D. Walsh is the Emerging Services and Technologies Librarian at Madison Public Library.

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A Library Can Say Hello in Almost Any Language

Marybeth Zeman — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:40:58 +0000

According to the traditional Bible story, the Tower of Babel tumbled down when its builders each had to communicate in a different language. When challenged with serving New York City’s most linguistically diverse borough, the Queens Library in New York City has flourished instead and created a mosaic that celebrates the Queens community’s wonderful multiculturalism.

New Americans Welcome Here

The Queens Library services what some might consider an almost impossible task—the most ethnically diverse population in the United States. 47% of the Queens Library’s patrons speak a language other than English.

How that’s done has been QL’s challenge since the 1970s when the library initiated its New Americans Program. It has strived to develop a multilingual collection, a multilingual database and to provide multilingual services. It is a “user-friendly in any language” library in all of its branches.

According to the Queens Library, it’d be almost impossible to find someone who speaks every language in every local branch. However, they explain that the library conducts extensive staff training in non-verbal communication and cultural awareness to help patrons and staff. It has even developed a library linqua franca—an adapted universal sign language/pointing guide to target key areas of service in the library.

Multicultural Services—More than Books

The library’s community branches offer ESL classes, Citizenship and Naturalization classes, and Computer Literacy classes. The Central branch offers comprehensive newcomer services such as immigration form and application assistance, financial literacy classes, and other cultural orientation classes.

Presently, the QL maintains Multilingual Web Picks in 10 languages so patrons can find the best websites in their native languages on anything from Albania to Zen. Queens Library explains that the multilingual media center is very popular, since network links to foreign media sources and news services are very important for many individuals.

Over 26 Languages and Growing

The multilingual collection now exceeds over 26 languages—this represents the largest collection in the US for general readers in Spanish (157,000 items) and Chinese (256,000) (both Mandarin and Chinese simplified), extensive fiction and non-fiction collections in Korean (53,000 items), Russian (53,000), and South Asian Languages (46,000 items in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu and Punjabi). (http://www.queenslibrary.org/sites/default/files/about-us/Facts%20Sheet.pdf)

Queens has the largest Asian population in NYC—49.3% of the population is either Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, or Nepalese.

Queens Library says that most of the library’s circulating material is popular reading—romance novels, mysteries, self-help books, and cookbooks. However, these aren’t necessarily direct translations of American publishers. The library takes great effort to access materials from overseas libraries and publishers in order to continue cultural contact and authenticity.

David Baldacci may be a household name to readers in the United States but for a Chinese reader, Keigo Higashino is more likely the name that comes to mind. This Japanese writer has been translated into Chinese and has been on the bestseller list since 2007 (http://paper-republic.org/news/newsitems/80/).

Serving the Whole Community: The First, Second, and Heritage Language Community

The flagship QL Branch in Flushing includes international newspapers, magazines, and books. It also includes the C.Y. Han collection on Chinese culture—a collection of bilingual English-Chinese books as well as reference books relating to Chinese civilization. 90% of these materials can be borrowed. The Window of Shanghai and the Window of Dynamic Korea are also housed here.

QL’s awareness and respect of first, second, and “heritage” language speakers embraces the spirit of multiculturalism that it fosters. QPL serves the immigrant populations of Queens as well as succeeding generations who want to preserve their language heritage.

The C.Y. Han Collection is a good example of a native language collection that preserves its past while still including culturally relevant material that interests contemporary Chinese speakers as well.

Multiculturalism as a Fundamental Characteristic of a Library

Queens Library serves its community’s changing demographic by consistently reaching out to newcomers, offering them services, and providing them reading.

Multilingual collections are a foundation of outreach services for:

Family literacy
Information services
Citizenship classes and information
Community services and access
English as a second language classes
Digital literacy
Homework help

Introducing diverse groups to library services also assists these groups in linking with other agencies or services that might benefit them as they assimilate into a new culture and country.

The Eyes and Ears of the World

The community librarian is the eyes and ears of data collection. QL constantly monitors census data, citywide statistics, and even surrounding hospital birth records to track changes in neighborhood demographics in order to keep its local collections relevant to its community’s needs.

Queens Library shared a retired librarian’s insight into multilingual collection development: “You can map the world’s troubles by looking at the book collections in the Queens Library.” In the early 1990s, Queens saw an influx of Chinese from Hong Kong as it was seceded back to China. As a result, there was a demand for , authors, which QL ably met. Last year, in Jackson Heights–nicknamed the Little Philippines– the library noticed a much greater demand for requests for books on typhoons after Typhoon Haiyan. Jackson Heights now has 9 copies of books on the subject in several languages; the Central branch now carries 44.

In a world connected by information needs, QL recognizes the multicultural role it plays. The library’s multilingual collection is the perfect hub for its community’s citizens to connect to their former residences as they make new homes here.

Lost in Translation

Multilingual collections do not equate to direct translations. Likewise, QL understands that assimilation does not equal instant citizenship. It is a process to become a new citizen in a new country. Respecting the cultures within our library’s communities by maintaining the languages they speak is the very touchstone of multiculturalism. The multilingual collections at the Queens Library embrace the unique character of each stone in the diverse mosaic of the Queens community that it serves.

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