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Things are going very well for me both personally and professionally of late. I survived a dreaded 8-week grand jury service; had a wonderful vacation cruise from Rio de Janiero to Buenos Aries; have reconnected to a lot of the fun things I like about life in DC; and have found my stride as a professional librarian and as a library advocate.
The only issue: I'm operating on a sleep deficit due to a number of late nights at night clubs, out on dates, or just up late working on things I care about.
The past three months have flown by but at the same time, have given me time to reflect on my life and how I want to live. I'm loving my new roommate - he's added a flavor of reserved fun and its great having someone around the house. Work is just simply fun. Sure, its a challenge. Budget is tight and I have a lot of challenges but my efforts have been appreciated and I know what I'm doing. I guess I could say the same about my sex life... it's fun again, I am being appreciated (again) and I know what I'm soing *wink* LOL!
The next several months should be normal (for me at least)... traveling one week a month, focusing on successive sets of meetings, parties, dates, and the regular coffee with the boys on Sunday. I'm beginning to look forward to my trip to China in December and a first-ever trip to Provincetown in August. Before all that though.. is June. Library conference month. This year its going to be special. I'm receiving an award from one of the associations (for exemplifying leadership in the profession) so that conference should be full of great things. For the other Association, I'm running for President-Elect of a section. Like I need another appointment but still...
I'm going to try and post more often... there are some things I'll put in a friends-only filter and there are some thoughts I have about the challenges facing libraries... if I get around to it all that is. Thanks for reading! *kisses*
The tag line on my e-mail since I started this new job (Janyary 6, 2007!) has been a quote from Victor Hugo:
"A library is an act of faith."
I love that line. It sets the context for why I do what I do here. I'm not about "the business case." I'm not about efficiency. I'm about the value of commitment... commitment to an idea. The idea that the library may some day pay off in ways we cannot measure. Libraries for me are the only real safety net we have in our societies today. Anyone can use them and everyone benefits when they are putto good use.
For my institution, we manage the library to meet the current and future research needs not only of our 1,300 research-grade scientists but also all the research interests of the American people (within our areas of research). We have to provide for the current and future information needs of this institution and of the American people. It's a big goal and it requires faith... a lot of it.
So, LiveJournal says my last post was 160 weeks ago... thats over 3 years! Gosh.
Well, a lot has changed in 3 years. Then again, maybe not so much. Professionally, I am doing the same thing I was three years ago, struggling to lead libraries (both public and special) out of the darkness and into a clear vision of a future where they are relevant and vital in their communities.
I've grown a lot over the last three years and don't blame the librarians nearly as much for the mess they find themselves in today. Mostly, I blame the accountants. Libraries are being pushed harder and harder every day to justify the cost of operation; the "value" of library services; and their added value over someone simply searching for information online.
No one seems to understand (either the accountant or the librarian) that there is an inherent value for a firm, school, or community in having a library. Without a physical manifestation of knowledge, our concept of knowledge is eroding into instant gratification and instant amnesia. We don't retain knowledge online... we consume it.
Whole generations are growing up with an "ask the magic eightball" approaches to writing term papers or taking tests. These actions were never about knowing the information... they were designed to demonstrate that you know how to communicate information. That you know how to LEARN something.
We must all find our voice in defending the library not on the basis of a business case or a budget model - but rather, on the justification that without a physical manifestation of knowledge, we will forget what is important about learning and knowing.
No one seems to have their "eye on the prize." Public Libraries should be about #1 Access to Information. But it is so easy to digress from that concept to addressing equally compelling goals: literacy, supporting school children, offering the community forum for meetings and shared learning.
To add to the frustration, the actual physical plants are falling apart and can't seem to get anything more than temporarily fixed. No one believes that the solution is "throwing money at it" but no one is selecting parts of the wntire problem and issuing mandates to those involved.
( So, if it were mine to do, here it is... )
In summary, it takes a coalition to make the library serve the community in the ways that they need. But we can't even take the first step forward until we set some goals and establish the responsibility needed top meet those goals. Our library system has lived too long divorced from its public and without bipartisan support within the administration. The time has come to change the tide!
God this article pissed me off! First, I am all for giving kids access to computers and making it convenient for them to work together and complete their school assignments. I agree that not everyone has a computer at home and also that most kids don't get the kind of time and atmosphere they need to study either. But to completely diss the library is just wrong!
The article says "On one recent morning another sophomore was there too, to do research on deserts for a biology paper" and "Although we have computers in our ...library, it is not possible to send e-mail on them, and they operate at less than half the speed of the units in the Cyber Cafe. The library quiet also is less enticing than the cafe's buzz. "
Well exactly who decided NOT to buy the library adequate equipment? Who decided to limit access to e-mail on the library machines? And why is the library "quiet"?
The principal that wrote this article has written off the library. They are also willing to accept, according to this, a 10th grade paper with research done exclusively on-line. How can the school be sure that the information on deserts that is available on-line is accurate? What kind of help will the student get if they can't find out something about desert ecologies?
Now, I have no doubt that the school library has done their fair share of digging themselves into this hole. But a responsible principal would put the Cyber Cafe under the responsibility of the library; they would open the library before and after school so that kids have access to BOOKS as well as the Internet for their homework; they would provide teachers' aides for the library to help kids with their homework.
I agree that a Cyber Cafe is more appealing than the quiet of a traditional library. This school has the luxury of both right now but the goal of each should be enhancing the education experience of their students. Education is about teaching kids to think, to evaluate sources and to make good decisions about how to learn. The Internet has to be a big part of that learning today but the Internet is the domain of the library. Let, no, make the library manage the Cyber Cafe so that students have help and can learn that not everything on-line is correct and that books can be a good starting point for any assignment.
