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this heartwarming one: A small rural public school’s largely abandoned library in Las Plumas County, California, was so outdated that it was unusable.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!
Interest in self-published books is on the rise. Libraries should consider including these new materials in their collections, but should be very careful how they go about it.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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 as well as related changes in staffing.
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!
For many years, libraries have been primarily associated with books. What might be considered an extreme case of this is the Sacramento Public Library’s recent initiative to create a Library of Things.
Many book stores separate fiction into genres. Some libraries do it too. Should you?
You’ve decided that it would be best for your library users to separate the adult fiction into genres. How do you prepare so you don’t have to redo things later?
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.
In the quandary of whether to have an “adult graphic novel” collection, do you have an idea of what you want “adult graphic novel” collection to mean for your library?
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.
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