the public library's "place" in the community
This topic has surfaced from time to time in some of the comments you all have made to blog postings and it seems that there is a wide variety of opinions on the subject. Just what is the "place" of the public library?
You will note that this will continue the discussion started in the considerations of the philosophical context in which we find the public library and continued in the considerations of the community context. Is the public library a temple of learning, a place for leisure pursuits, a refuge from the mean streets, a community information kiosk, a support for people who need it for research, an alternate social services organization, a place where one can keep up to date with the latest volume of a series of romance novels, a locale where children can learn about things their parents would rather they didn't learn, ... or all of the above ... and more?
There is no one answer to the question because the public library means different things to different communities and to different people, and not least to those who work in it and keep it a living entity.
A colleague once posed the question: "Is is all about the coffee?" Is the public library a place for reading and reflection, or is it a place for communal meeting and conversation? Can it survive as the first idea if it becomes the second one?
The intent of this week's topic is to cause us all to think about our concept of the public library and our understanding of our communities, and then to consider what is the "proper" role for the public library, or what is the current best way the public library can serve the community.
When I was doing my dissertation research in small town public libraries, I observed how the libraries I was in were being used. One role I saw over and over again was as a place where residents could connect to the wider world through the free access computers. The use of the computers (usually funded by the Gates Foundation) for email was the main consistent activity. Web browsing for jobs, information, and fun came in second. Most of the people who came in to check their email didn't also go looking for books to read.
A second role I saw over and over again was as a place for human contact. People would come in to talk to the library staff. Even when they didn't really know them as people or as friends (and often they did), the two groups (patrons and staff) recognized each other as familiar and interacted with each other as neighbors. It seemed that many of the patrons needed that routine bit of regular human contact with someone who was unthreatening and seemingly non-judgmental.
A third role was leisure activities. Many people seemed to visit their libraries just to read the newspapers. They probably could have as easily subscribed to a paper or read the paper on-line, but they seemed to find enjoyment just sitting and reading. Most of those readers were also the same people who looked over the shelves of new fiction and often checked out the latest Danielle Steele. These people seemed to be readers and also seemed to have time on their hands.
The time-constrained and harried (usually mothers) were less interested in leisure activities and seemed focused on getting information of all types, from the computers or from the staff, or on checking out as many children's materials as they could.
I was disappointed to not see many people using the libraries for research activities. I would have supposed that local business people could have needed the information in the reference materials, but I didn't see much of it. I was also disappointed to not see many children using the reference materials. Maybe they had them at home, but I felt another factor was at play. In the small libraries I observed, the staff was usually one, or at most two, individuals. And with all that the single individual staffer had to do, they did not seem to provide an inviting environment for inquisitive children. I don't doubt that many of them would have happily done so, but the stresses of their daily tasks seemed to preclude them being too interested in school aged kids' issues.
I honestly felt that the small libraries I observed would have been healthier places had they had coffee available. Of course, the over tasked staffs could never have done it. I often wondered why they hadn't considered partnering with a local entrepreneur to have a coffee and pastry service in or near the library. In the small towns I observed, the library was a stand alone place and didn't seem to be buzzing with life. That is clearly not the case for large, urban libraries, but it was the case in the small town libraries I was familiar with.
So what is the third place that the library can or should be? The home is the first place and usually the church is the second, but the library is in competition with a lot of other places for that third role.
I hope you have some thoughts about the topics in the readings and also are willing to share with us the ways in which your local libraries are answering the issue of the library's role as "third" place in your communities.
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