From All of Us to All of You
Changing of the Guard
Over the weekend, I attended the visitation of Jane Shaw. Jane was a public library director during the 70’s & 80’s, a board member afterward, active in ILA and ALA and an expert on all things library. Jane passed away last week after being ill for some time. I didn’t know Jane well, but our paths crossed a few times, her name was well known - Jane’s family assembled a table full of awards and accolades she had received during her library lifetime - and some of the people who have mentored me were close to her. So I went to the visitation to support a friend and in recognition for all the things Jane did for and in the library profession. I ran into a couple of fellow library directors who came out on a snowy, cold day for the same reasons I did. A recognition of what has come before us and an opportunity to tell her family that she made a difference in the profession we practice. Libraries are what libraries are in Illinois today because of Jane’s efforts.
Lynn
Before and After
Before the library’s renovation project, the library was only used by the people who saw it for the diamond in the rough that it was - six months after our project I am delighted to say we are busier than ever.
- Here are some highlights of our before and after numbers:
- Materials: books, DVDs, music CDs and electronic titles show a 30% check out increase over the same time pre-renovation
- Walk in traffic is up 15.75%
- Adult reference assistance transactions have doubled. That is a 104% increase. This has as much to do with a staff reorganization as it does with refurbishing the library.
- Youth reference assistance transactions up 10.5%
All in all, a good year
Lynn
Library Closed December 10 - 11, 2008
The library will be closed on December 10 and 11 as we install two new roof top units as part of the library’s heating and air conditioning improvement project.
Neighbors on Maple Street, Washington Street and Garfield Avenue will be receiving notices this week concerning street closings on December 10.
The new RTU’s will be trucked in on semi-trailers. A large crane will also be trucked in and stationed on Maple Street. The crane will lift the old units from the roof and replace them with the new units. The installation is expected to be complete by end of the day on December 10. The following day, work crews will begin connecting the RTU’s to the library’s ductwork and testing the operation of each.
The bookdrop will not be open on December 10 until after 3:30pm, but will be open all day on December 11.
The library will re-open on Friday December 12 at 9:00am.
Thank you for your patience as we complete our improvements to the library.
Please feel free to call me at 630/896-1976 ext. 204 if you have any questions or send an email to me at lelam@hinsdalelibrary.info
Lynn
Coolest Libraries
MSN City Guides published this list of the ten coolest public libraries. Take a look:
http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/cityarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=10444020
Lynn
It’s all about Widgets
I finally got around to joining Shelfari. That’s the shelf of books you see on the right side of this screen. It’s also a widget. Widgets are applications that you can pick and choose to add to websites. My iGoogle page is made up of all kinds of widgets and reflects what I happen to be interested in at the moment.
Widgets are the thing you know.
This Shelf has titles of books that the library has offered in our Big Read community reading programs beginning in 2003 through this year’s pick Animal Vegetable Miracle.
I also included Chicago Blues, an anthology of mystery stories written by local authors - it is edited by Libby Fischer Hellmann who is our guest speaker at this Saturday’s Foundation after hours event. Included is a story by our very own trustee Jack Fredrickson who wrote A Safe Place for Dying (it is one of the funnier books I’ve read in awhile. Must be because Jack is pretty funny himself).
I haven’t written reviews of these titles yet, but promise to get back there as soon as I can. Meanwhile, check out Shelfari for yourself - you can join groups, create and organize books you’ve read, want to read, are currently reading….it would be easy to spend the whole day wandering around adding books to your shelves and talking to other book people. I actually think some people do.
I’ll continue to add titles we are reading or talking about and invite you to join in the discussion -
Lynn
Banned Books Week
This week marks the 27th annual Banned Books Week. The library has built a display of books which have been banned or challenged in libraries across the country. I looked at it this morning and as always, wondered who in the world would want to keep people from reading To Kill A Mockingbird, The Bible, The Chocolate War, Harry Potter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Beloved and so many others.
Since 1982 over 1,000 books have been challenged in libraries, schools and bookstores. The most common stated reasons for the challenges are reader’s exposure to violence, sex, witchcraft, and obscenities.
We of the library set talk about the power of information. I believe it. I also believe that people try to reduce that power for others by limiting access to materials. Learn more about Banned Books Week - give some thought to what limited access means. Visit www.bannedbooksweek.org to learn more.
Lynn
Self Help and Privacy
Library managers and trustees talk about two things: service and cost of service. Managers must find ways to provide excellent service while maintaining low costs. To accomplish that, many organizations have adopted self-help models of service. Self-serve gas stations, self-serve drink machines in fast food restaurants, self-check out at the grocery store and my favorite self-check out at Home Depot stores.
Many libraries, including HPL, have installed self-check out equipment with staff being reserved for special or problem circulation needs. A cost savings model of service that so far isn’t very popular with our patrons.
Lately, libraries have been installing self-service holds areas where materials ordered into the library for patrons are placed in an open shelving area for pick-up. This means anyone, anytime can browse these shelves and determine what has been ordered and by whom.
Of course this raises some questions about privacy. If anyone can wander through the area and look at what is waiting for a patron to pick-up, what conclusions about that person might be drawn? Patron confidentiality is a cornerstone of the library profession. 48 of 50 states in our country have some type of law specifically protecting the privacy of library patron registration and circulation records.
Patrons have an understanding and an expectation that in the library, their privacy is protected. If a patron knows that materials ordered into the library and placed in an open area can be seen by anyone, how likely is that patron to make such a request? Not very. I would suggest that access to information for patrons uncomfortable with the knowledge that their reading and information choices are available for public consumption is now as limited as is their privacy.
Library managers argue that space, staffing costs and convenience to patrons are the driving forces behind self-serve holds areas. During our own recent renovation project, some of the original plans had a self-serve holds area. Through discussion with circulation staff, an understanding of the value of the human touch in public service, and concerns about patron privacy, the self-serve holds area was removed.
I have heard of libraries wrapping books so that nosy patrons, govenment officials or people intent on causing harm cannot discern who is checking out what. And the cost savings is where? And the service to patrons is how much?
Self-help has its place in libraries as it does in gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores. But not when privacy of our patrons can be compromised.
Ensuring patron privacy is a long established standard of library service - we give way to methods that erode that concept only as a last possible resort.
Lynn
265010
What’s 265010? That would be our SMS text reference number.
Oh yes, that’s us, going where you are and offering reference service directly to your cell phone.
How does it work? Just like any other text messaging service - here’s how to do it:
On your cell phone dial 265010 as an SMS Text and press send
Next key in AskHPL:
Add your question - example: AskHPL:are you the first area public library to offer text messaging reference?
Your question will be picked up at the library’s reference desk on our AOL IM account and our librarians will reply to your cell phone via text.
OBTW, the answer is yes!
Lynn
Some Talk - We Walk
You may know Karen Joy Fowler as the author of The Jane Austen Book Club.
In her latest novel, Wit’s End , she writes:
(Though Rima’s father had always told her never to underestimate librarians. The Patriot Act, he’d said, had made the mistake of underestimating librarians, and now they were the only thing standing between us and 1984, and they weren’t all spineless the way Congress was. They read books. His money was on them.)
Yes, indeed.
Lynn