Regionalism and Libraries
Thanks to Clevelandada for tipping me off to the PD's new series about regionalism in Cleveland. Especially because I probably wouldn't have found it otherwise, what with being totally unable to stomach cleveland.com.
I'm divided (ha ha) on the issue. The division is between the urban enthusiast in me, and the librarian in me. On one hand, I see the benefits of shared services. On the other hand, there's the possible Barnes-and-Noble-ization of the region's libraries.
Out of the wide range of services that a municipality provides, I think that there are some that probably are more, I don't know, personal. Libraries are one of those services.
For the uninitiated, here is an ultra-brief description of how libraries get filled up with books.
Books just don't arrive on the shelf. Someone has to order them. If the library is a large one with many branches, it would be chaos for librarians in every branch to be ordering books. So there's usually a centralized collections department that orders for the whole system. Oftentimes, librarians in the branches get a say about what gets ordered, but often, the collections department, who may or may not have any experience with the communities served by the branches, (and who may or may not have any experience working with the public at all), is the ultimate decision-maker. The end result is that all the branches end up receiving varying quantities of more or less the same stuff.
In a smaller library, it's usually the librarians who have contact with the public who do the ordering of books. The collection gets specialized to the needs/desires/demands of the immediate community.
(There are exceptions to this, of course. Cleveland Public Library, for one. Cleveland Public Library has an hugely diverse collection.)
So if you take away local control and squish all the libraries under one bookish umbrella - say, the Cuyahoga County Library system - you could end up with a more homogenized collection: a lot of choices, perhaps, but not a lot of selection. I say could instead of will because it depends on what that new Pangaea-esque library system's collection policy would be. I won't lie -- the trend now in public libraries is to buy more of what's popular -- John Grisham, The Secret -- than what's useful, traditional, or a "staple of literature."
Why? Because libraries have limited budgets.
Funding for libraries is generally doing one of two things: shrinking or stagnating. In Ohio, libraries get more state funding based on how many items they circulate. Do you see where this is going? If the library buys more popular items, they get more circulation, and the library gets more money.
What's wrong with that? you might ask. Well, the trouble is - and this is where the Library Establishment and I seem to disagree - that while DVD-borrowing patrons might think of the library as a "free Blockbuster," book-borrowing patrons do NOT think of the library as a "free Barnes and Noble." They expect the library to be a repository, at least sort of a complete archive of the human record. They expect the library to have things that they can't find at Barnes and Noble (e.g., obscure plumbing manuals), or which they can't afford to buy tons of at Barnes and Noble (e.g., children's picture books).
A consolidated library system in Cuyahoga County would have to take that into consideration.
I'm divided (ha ha) on the issue. The division is between the urban enthusiast in me, and the librarian in me. On one hand, I see the benefits of shared services. On the other hand, there's the possible Barnes-and-Noble-ization of the region's libraries.
Out of the wide range of services that a municipality provides, I think that there are some that probably are more, I don't know, personal. Libraries are one of those services.
For the uninitiated, here is an ultra-brief description of how libraries get filled up with books.
Books just don't arrive on the shelf. Someone has to order them. If the library is a large one with many branches, it would be chaos for librarians in every branch to be ordering books. So there's usually a centralized collections department that orders for the whole system. Oftentimes, librarians in the branches get a say about what gets ordered, but often, the collections department, who may or may not have any experience with the communities served by the branches, (and who may or may not have any experience working with the public at all), is the ultimate decision-maker. The end result is that all the branches end up receiving varying quantities of more or less the same stuff.
In a smaller library, it's usually the librarians who have contact with the public who do the ordering of books. The collection gets specialized to the needs/desires/demands of the immediate community.
(There are exceptions to this, of course. Cleveland Public Library, for one. Cleveland Public Library has an hugely diverse collection.)
So if you take away local control and squish all the libraries under one bookish umbrella - say, the Cuyahoga County Library system - you could end up with a more homogenized collection: a lot of choices, perhaps, but not a lot of selection. I say could instead of will because it depends on what that new Pangaea-esque library system's collection policy would be. I won't lie -- the trend now in public libraries is to buy more of what's popular -- John Grisham, The Secret -- than what's useful, traditional, or a "staple of literature."
Why? Because libraries have limited budgets.
Funding for libraries is generally doing one of two things: shrinking or stagnating. In Ohio, libraries get more state funding based on how many items they circulate. Do you see where this is going? If the library buys more popular items, they get more circulation, and the library gets more money.
What's wrong with that? you might ask. Well, the trouble is - and this is where the Library Establishment and I seem to disagree - that while DVD-borrowing patrons might think of the library as a "free Blockbuster," book-borrowing patrons do NOT think of the library as a "free Barnes and Noble." They expect the library to be a repository, at least sort of a complete archive of the human record. They expect the library to have things that they can't find at Barnes and Noble (e.g., obscure plumbing manuals), or which they can't afford to buy tons of at Barnes and Noble (e.g., children's picture books).
A consolidated library system in Cuyahoga County would have to take that into consideration.
Labels: Cleveland, Libraries, Regionalism
posted by Christine Borne at 12:23 PM
2 Comments:
This is an interesting point I didn't think about. I guess the question is, can we have consolidation and still keep a certain degree of community/neighborhood autonomy?
Theoretically, I think we can, although I do think there are some valid questions about regionalism. In capitalism, consolidation keeps companies healthy. Governments don't work the same way, and I think we would need to guard against specific body's growth and abuse.
Let me throw this by you: My biggest frustration with the Lakewood library is that it's not tapped into any larger system. For example, I wanted to read a book by Haruki Murakami, which was available in Shaker Heights. Using my Clevenet card, I could have reserved this book in downtown Cleveland, Twinsburg or even Wadsworth (I think they're in Clevenet). However, with Lakewood, I can only get when they have. In this regard, tapping into the region's buying power is good for me.
Re: Lakewood public library...you should let them know that you feel that way. No kidding. They've resisted joining CLEVNET for years.
I'm not 100% positive on their reason for not joining, but I *suspect* it has something to do with the fact that if they did, all their interesting, unusual materials would get farmed out to other libraries (and might not come back). Sort of, "why should we have to make up for the collection failings of other libraries?"
I might be entirely wrong on that, but as I recall (from working at a Clevnet library), that sentiment was sometimes present among the member institutions.
Again, you should tell them.
Hallelujah- businesses and governments do NOT work the same way. You nailed it. It irritates me to no end the current trend of calling library patrons "customers." Ugh. A rant for another day, perhaps!
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