Do we have the time?

Do we librarians have time to meet our library users in person? All of them? There are close to one library staff members per 1000 inhabitants in Denmark and in Finland. Most probably this is among the highest rate - many countries only have half as many or less. These two countries also have, to my knowledge, among the highest lending and visiting figures in the world. Staff matters!

Assuming there is one library employee per 2000 inhabitants (like in Sweden and slightly less in UK) and that 50% of them have public contact leaves us with one public staff member per 4000 inhabitants. Working at the most 250 days and hopefully meeting about half of the population this means that every public staff member on a yearly basis meets about eight (8) new persons per day. Every one of them longing for and expecting a great experience! Besides meeting new customers we as library employees of course need time for our regular duties of selecting, collecting and presenting our stocks and to take good care of all of our patrons.

The interesting point here I think is how to meet the users. What means do we have? One possible valuable way of contact is the web, the virtual path. Many libraries are doing a great job in presenting media on the web by lists, tips and blog articles. With interactive web communication there is room for reactions to a blog article via the comment facility. With due respect and careful “listening” to the comments and answering them thoughtfully (without overdoing it of course) the user will get an impression of the library as a valuable service point of, for example, literary thought sharing. A good thing here is that people who are not participating in the dialogue can have a good experience reading it. I think, and this could be important, that if I as a library user know that the person in dialogue with me is locally employed it will enhance my feelings for the local library and it will add to my acceptance for the library as a tax funded institution.

Where will this thinking leave the centrally driven library web sites with no clear affiliation with the local library? An example is the new very nice central children’s site in Denmark (Palles Gavebod) which seems to me to be the library point for the children to visit. 80 librarians from different parts of Denmark will contribute their time to the site. From my point of view the Danish site has some really good stuff and looks really attractive. It is a good thing that the user needs a local library account to register. Even so, I do miss the possibility of having all the content (and design ideas?) available to reuse/mashup locally if the library chooses to. That will put the local library forwards in the dialogue with the end user. This would give the local library a great advantage. It would tie bonds with the local public and it would cultivate a locally based creative common ground for the library and the community in the local municipality.

There is, I think, an underestimation of the power of local interactivity. There are many paths to explore. One nice example is the library (Oak Park outside Chicago with Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright references) that arranges book clubs at the local cafés and reflects the discussions on the net. It has given that library a lot of credit locally (and made them famous nationally but that is another story).
Is there a future for centralized library efforts to develop services for the local community? This will be effort consuming but will hold the advantage of the local presence.

Do we perhaps prefer the synergy of our joined library forces to efficiently be presented in strong national web sites?

			Written by : Boris Ukotic Zetterlund Categories : central services local services Comments : Read comments   Write a comment