This a really cool TedTalks video from this week that blew my mind. It focuses on the art of choice.  All along I’ve been on the anti-censorship bandwagon believing more information choices leads to better choices.  But after watching this video I’ve been considering the anxiety of having too many choices.  Although the ALA Bill of Rights states that libraries should present information from all points of view possible, there are plenty of points of view that are extremely similar.  In creating a balanced collection, should we refrain from presenting too many choices that are only slightly different from one another to reduce choice anxiety?  I’m not sure how I would answer this question, but I do recommend watching the video.  It’s a refreshingly different perspective on having a lot of choices.

I am so close to finishing this degree I can taste it!   I just finished my final portfolio highlighting how I’ve met all of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science’s competencies through my course projects and papers.  Here it is; I built it with Drupal just to keep up with it.

I was pretty happy to read the NPR article on how libraries might become the new hip thing.  I’ve been chatting about it with the librarians at both of my internships, and most are happy about the positive recognition.  However, one librarian said he didn’t want to be hip, stating that librarians generally weren’t cool anyway.  He even went as far as to add a comment on the NPR site that says “Librarians aren’t cool.”  I was completely dumbfounded.

I can understand why libraries wouldn’t want to just be a fad, like cut-offs and mustaches last summer.  But when I read this article I looked at it as a list of marketable assets.  We should be marketing these things to prove that we’re not just a bunch of buildings with books and shushing librarians.  Some people know this, and a lot of people don’t.  Being trendy might be a great way to get the word out.

This is the response from Mary Dempsey, the Chicago Public Library Commissioner, to the Fox story on the irrelevancy of libraries.

June 29, 2010

Anna Davlantes
Fox 32 news Chicago
WFLD – TV
205 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60601

Dear Ms. Davlantes:

I am astounded at the lack of understanding of public libraries that your Monday evening story, Are Libraries Necessary, or a Waste of Tax Money? revealed. Public libraries are more relevant and heavily used today than ever before, and public libraries are one of the better uses of the taxpayers’ dollars. Let me speak about the Chicago Public Library which serves 12 million visitors per year. No other cultural, educational, entertainment or athletic organization in Chicago can make that claim. Those 12 million visitors come to our libraries for free access to books, journals, research materials, online information and computers, reference assistance from trained librarians, early literacy programs, English as a second language assistance, job search assistance, after school homework help from librarians and certified teachers, best sellers in multiple formats (print, audio, downloadable and e-book), movies, music, author events, book clubs, story times, summer reading programs, financial literacy programs or simply a place to learn, dream and reflect.

The Chicago Public Library, through its 74 locations, serves every neighborhood of our city, is open 7 days per week at its three largest locations, 6 days per week at 71 branch libraries and 24/7 on its website which is filled with online research collections, downloadable content, reference help, and access to vast arrays of the Library’s holdings and information.

Last year, Chicagoans checked out nearly 10 million items from the Chicago Public Library’s 74 locations and the majority of those items were books. (Your ‘undercover cameras” shots were taken in a series of stacks devoted to bound periodicals used for reference. Next time, try looking at the circulating collections throughout the building.) Especially in times of economic downturn, smart people turn to the public library as their free resource for books, information and entertainment in multiple formats – print, online, in person.

And yes, we proudly provide free access to the internet because so much information today is found online, something you should know from your own work. In fact, the Chicago Public Library provided 3.8 million free one hour Internet sessions to the people of Chicago in 2009. The Internet has made public libraries more relevant, not less as your story suggests. There continues to exist in this country a vast digital divide. It exists along lines of race and class and is only bridged consistently and equitably through the free access provided by the Chicago Public Library and all public libraries in this nation. Some 60 percent of the individuals who use public computers a Chicago’s libraries are searching for and applying for jobs. We’re proud to continue to be able to use our resources to help them do so.

The Libraries vs. Schools or other public agencies funding argument posed by your story is a non-starter. The mission of the Chicago Public Library is and always has been to make available to all people from birth through senior citizenship, the resources they need to enjoy a good quality of life, to participate in lifelong learning, and to become and remain civically engaged. If information is power, then the public library is the source of that power,

We devote considerable effort and funding to providing early literacy books, programs , story times and training for parents, caregivers and preschool teachers of infants and toddlers so that those children start kindergarten ready to learn.

Chicago’s schools offer the shortest school day in the nation. As schools slash their budgets for school libraries and shorten their classroom teaching time, thousands of children flock to Chicago’s public libraries every day afterschool, in the evening and on weekends for homework assistance from our librarians and certified teachers hired by the public library.

In 2009, thanks to funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Chicago Public Library unveiled a new 21st century learning space for teens called YOUmedia, that is heavily used 7 days a week by teens and has been hailed as a groundbreaking learning space that combines books and traditional library collections, digital media, mentors and librarians. YOUmedia fosters civic engagement, creativity, reading, writing, and collaborative learning by teens – and it takes place in the public library, not in a school.

We are at our busiest when schools are not in session. This summer, we will once again welcome some 50,000 children to our summer reading program. As in years past, they will read more than 1.2 million books thereby keeping their reading skills sharp while schools are closed, and this year, they will learn about the collections of the Art Institute and public art throughout our city simply by participating in this free program.

The Chicago Public Library is used heavily throughout the year by college and university students, people moving into second careers, adult learners, small business owners, lawyers and other professionals, and working adults and seniors who simply want to read the latest bestseller, hear an author talk, participate in a book club or in the One Book, One Chicago program, attend a financial literacy class, enjoy a free visit to one of Chicago’s museums or the Ravinia Music Festival, or learn how to use a computer. Last week, more than 650 people of all ages attended a lecture by author Anthony Bourdain at Harold Washington Library Center and that is the norm, not the exception.

The suggestion by one of your interviewees that people do not need or use libraries anymore because of the Internet is simply not true. The Internet is one of the many tools that people use to live productive lives, and that tool can be accessed for free, and with free training by our staff, at the public library.

Finally, let me address the argument by the gentleman from the taxpayers’ group, that public sector employees make higher salaries than those in the private sector and that Chicago’s investment in its public libraries ($120 million annually) ins too high. He is simply wrong. With that budget, we pay the salaries of 1150 employees; maintain and operate 74 buildings; purchase new library collections and refresh worn collections; maintain and update 3000 public access computers; provide free Wifi [sic] and 24/7 access to millions of dollars of online research collections via our website; operate a citywide distribution system that handles millions of items per year; serve as an essential resource to homeschoolers, public, parochial, charter and private schools, colleges, and universities; operate a Talking Book Center for the blind and a physically handicapped; engage in reciprocal borrowing of library materials with 192 other communities in the State of Illinois; provide free access for Library patrons to Chicago’s museums and cultural institutions; support Chicago’s businesses and entrepreneurs; support Chicago’s research community; and enhance quality of life and community in every neighborhood of Chicago.

The public library is supported by taxpayers for the common good of all the people of Chicago – just like public school. We don’t ask our schools to make profit. Neither should we ask it of the public library. As journalist Walter Cronkite once remarked, “Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.”

Finally, like thousands of our fellow City employees, the management of the Chicago Public Library is taking 24 unpaid holidays and furlough days this year to help close the budget gap and to keep city services, including libraries, operating for the public. Interestingly, I was on an unpaid furlough day when I watched your story last evening. And I had just returned from the annual library conference in Washington DC, a trip I paid for myself, not with taxpayer dollars.

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to respond to the issues raised in your story.

Sincerely,

Mary A. Dempsey
Commissioner
Chicago Public Library

via Illinois Budget Crisis | Chicago Public Library Commissioner Reacts to FOX Chicago News’ Story.

Today I helped out Jacob, who is the Nursing Liaison, weed the Nursing section of the stacks.  As we went upstairs and approached the section we both noted how we don’t find ourselves near the books very often anymore.  In fact, this was my first time browsing the stacks at my practicum.  Most of the library action happens downstairs, on the main floor, where there are computer work stations and a reference desk.  And I’ve been so focused on the web-based projects at my practicum that I’ve completely forgotten the books!

I’m not going to romanticize the tangible side of the library here, but I will say I found the handling of the books during the weeding process to be quite therapeutic.  And part of me wanted to bring my computer up to one of the study cubicles up there to be near all the paper while I worked on Blackboard Help web pages for faculty.  There’s something refreshing about being able to see all the knowledge in the library physically versus not knowing the depth of information available through the digital side of the library.

Maybe this is part of the issue involved in arguing the library’s relevancy today.  Take the Fox News article and video on how we’re a waste of tax dollars that could be spent elsewhere.  Fox notes that library users are using library computers and going online more than looking at the books.  However, Fox’s choice of publishing this observation online instead of in print does some damage to their argument.  There is an enormous depth of digital information to absorb, though it’s harder to visualize than a bookshelf.

Another failure to visualize the intangible by Fox is inferred in the statement “libraries do bring in some revenue: more than $2 million in fines is collected annually by Chicago public libraries.”  Library revenue should be measured by the outcome of its use, not monetary gain.  The gain is in community, knowledge and discovery.  If only the results of these could be easily measured and visualized.

…Back to the books.  If you’re interested in what weeding the nursing stacks was like, read on:

First we took the books that were no longer appropriate for the collection off the shelves and brought them downstairs.  This part of the weeding process was surprisingly more subjective than I had expected.  After bringing the carts of books downstairs I took one book at a time to check if a more recent version had been published.  If it had, I checked if we had it on our shelves yet.  If we didn’t have the new version I added it to a list of books to order.  Then I checked the i-share catalog to see if any other libraries in the consortium had the book we were weeding.  If someone else had it, it went back on the cart to be taken out of Elmhurst’s catalog.  If we were the only library that owned the book, I put it back on the shelf.

I volunteer hours at the reference desk at Loyola University’s Health Sciences Library, and today I got the best “thank you” ever after helping a patron.  She said, “thanks for your service!”  She just said it casually as she left the library, but it really made my day to hear a library user refer to the library as a service.

Most of my time today was spent continuing to build the new Blackboard help pages, but I also had an interesting conversation with one of the reference librarians about library directors with MBAs.   Many new library directors have PhDs, but we discussed how a MBA might be better.  While PhDs are usually required for teaching positions, library directors are not usually professors.  The MBA would better equipped for the administrative tasks involved with the position. 

The discussions in my capstone course have also touched on the topic of treating libraries like businesses, where there would be a  bigger emphasis on “selling” or marketing the library services offered at a library.  Libraries could also follow a more business-like management model.  The contemplation of librarians with MBAs was discussed here as well.

After finding myself in a similar discussion again today I did some quick searches on the library directors of academic libraries in the Chicagoland area.  Of course I didn’t get to all of them, and some directors didn’t have their degree information available, but here’s what I found:

• U of Chicago: Judith Nadler: BA, MLS
• Elmhurst College: Susan Steffen: BA, MA, MALS
• Northwestern University: Sarah Prichard: Ba, MA, MLS
• Loyola University: Leslie Haas: BA (in Business Administration), MLS
• Loyola University Health Sciences: Logan Ludwig: Phd
• IIT Downtown Campus: Keith Ann Stiverson: BA, MA, MLS, JD
• Rush University: Christine Frank: BA, MLS
• Chicago State University: Tarshel Beards: MS, MLS 

I actually only found one director with a PhD, though my recent conversations inferred that many library directors have PhDs. I also didn’t find a single library director that had a MBA. My search was brief and incomplete, but I expected to at least come across one director with one. It would be interesting to find a library with a director with a MBA to do a comparison study of how such a library handles its management tasks and marketing.

It was just hiding in the corner.

I have the role of an instructor on Blackboard now, so I’m able to walk through the Blackboard processes instructors have.  I’m having a lot of fun creating colorful help pages.  Here’s one that I created this week: