When Authors Attack

I'm used to library funding being criticized by upper middle class white men who are so full of themselves that they can't imagine that there exist (within their municipal borders nonetheless!) other people who actually utilize the collection and services of their public library.  But for an author to go on an extended rant against libraries? There might be nothing more obscene.  Thankfully, the BookRiot GIFs make it appalling and humorous at the same time.

Despite being a bestselling author, he feels he isn't selling enough books, and that libraries are the reason why!  Libraries (and not ebooks) are also the reason that bookstores are closing down.  Libraries are indeed ruining our society.  By using taxpayer funds to enable all citizens to enjoy books, programming, movies, magazines, music and other media, libraries are single-handedly destroying the free market.

The odd thing is that he doesn't even acknowledge that the music and movie industry are actually struggling because of illegal digital downloads (where the downloader is not paying any money) and that print books are fairly uniquely protected from this epidemic because we have things like libraries (which pay for books with taxpayer funds).

Anyway, he's clearly cray cray.  Thankfully, other authors are rejecting his rant.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Young Adults Love Libraries! Who Knew?

With all the budget cuts and folks naysaying about the death of reading and how libraries are becoming outdated and unnecessary in our digital world, it's always good to have real, hard, factual evidence that proves them wrong.

According to a Pew Research Center study, 83% of Americans between the ages 16-29 have read a book in the past year (that's compared with 70% of adults 30+ who said they have).  And there's tons more good news about library usage for research and stuff like that.  One interesting tidbit was that though the under 30 crowd was less likely to eread on a tablet (surprising, right?), 58% of them would like to borrow loaded ereaders from the library, but only about 10% have ever done so.  Clearly, libraries need to do a better job of promoting their ecollections (myself included). Both The New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor have write up that share a bit more of the results and give a little commentary.

My two cents? Of course young people are reading and using libraries!  Libraries have tons of programming specifically for teens and young adults and over the last decade or so, have even devoted whole sections of the library to meeting the needs of this group.  What this proves: If you build it, they will come!

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

School Librarians in Los Angeles Defending Their Jobs

In case you were hiding under a rock these past few years, let me get you up to speed:

• The economy collapsed and the mortgage bubble burst
• Wall Street was at fault
• There's no money to pay for public services, like schools and libraries
• Wall Street is back to record earnings
• Despite the economic rebound, no one is hiring
• Public employees are being laid off, asked to take wage cuts and blamed for everything

And that brings us to the present.  A present where school librarians in Los Angeles are being made to testify in court proceedings to defend their work as educators.  They're bringing in lesson plans and discussing their teaching methods, all in an attempt to prove that they are teachers.  Meanwhile, LAUSD is trying to prove they do not teach (because if they did, then they could be transferred instead of let go).

Say what?  Just because someone doesn't have a regularly scheduled class with a course name and description, that makes his or her teaching non-existent?  Even if that person prepares lesson plans and works with teachers to plan units and TEACHes the research process?  Anyone who has ever been anywhere near a school library will tell you that librarians teach.  And thankfully, this article sides with school librarians.

But naturally I have to rant about one tiny part of the article.  The last paragraph.  Why was it even written?  It just shows that the reporter is one of "those people" who hasn't been in a school library in quite some time:

It doesn't seem right to punish an educator for choosing the quiet and contemplation of book stacks over the noise and hubbub of a classroom or a gymnasium. But that's where we are in these strange and stupid times.

Quiet and contemplation?  Don't get me wrong.  I appreciate this article's defense of librarians, and the rest of the article is spot-on, but the closing paragraph shows that the author doesn't really know school libraries at all.  Hector Tobar, you need to come visit my library and tell me how much quiet and contemplation you get a chance to enjoy.  This joint is jumpin' with active, inquisitive students.  And I'll be the last person to shush them. 

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Another Person Finds and Falls in Love with the Library!

Ebooks and book-books and DVDs, oh my! It's a National Library Week miracle.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Private Companies Running Public Libraries

The newest fad in libraries isn't e-books, it's turning over the reins to private for-profit companies.  It's not widespread, but it's catching on.  As the New York Times reports, L.S.S.I. (Library Systems & Services - not sure where the I comes from) has taken over struggling libraries in communities across the country, with the goal of cutting costs and increasing efficiency.

Cutting costs and increasing efficiency?  That sounds great!  But how does it work, and how does a company turn a profit from a free public library?  For starters, L.S.S.I establishes a contract with the library's governing body.  Since the whole idea is to save money, we can assume that however much that contracted amount is, it's less than the preexisting library budget.  We can further assume that L.S.S.I. takes their cut right off the top, and divides the remaining funds for staff salaries and benefits, furnishings, collection development, etc., which means less money for those important expenditures.

One of the cost savings highlighted in the article is cleaning house on the library's current staff and hiring new staff (or sometimes the old staff) who will work for less money and less benefits.  Frank A. Pezzanite, the company's chief executive, espouses the belief that library employees work for "35 years and never have to do anything" before settling into a nicely pensioned retirement.  By getting rid of longtime dedicated employees, L.S.S.I. makes way for less experienced staff who will accept lower salaries and fewer benefits.

So here are my issues:

1. I resent the accusation that library employees, as a group, do not work hard at their jobs.  Just as I resent accusations that teachers, police, etc. don't work hard at their jobs.  In every workplace there are some that work tirelessly and some that do not.  Go-getters tend to climb the ranks and advance in their careers.  Those who don't work, tend to get fired.  Sometimes, yes, they sneak by, but that's no different from one place of employment to the next.  Every workplace has "that guy" that is never on-task.

2. Wiping the slate clean and cutting salaries and benefits will save a bunch of money upfront, but that only works at the beginning.  Those new employees, if they stick around, will continue earn more a little bit more each year, and thus cost the library more to keep, so costs here will go up each year.

3. Less money in the budget means fewer books on the shelves, diminished quality in the selection of materials and outdated materials.

4. The last quote in the article "We volunteer more than ever now." (from a library patron) makes me think that perhaps another way they're cutting costs is by not having enough staff to support library services.  Library volunteers are great and any library that has them is lucky, but they aren't a substitute to trained professionals.

5. I just don't see what L.S.S.I. can do for a library that a well-trained library director or consultant can't, unless it's really all about cutting costs by getting rid of union employees who "cost too much."  By having the library run by a private company, all union guaranteed benefits (salary, pension, etc.) are no longer available to employees.  And that saves money, yes, but it seems like the wrong way to go about it - taking money and benefits from your employees only to give most of it to a private company, just for getting rid of the union?

6.  I fear that there MUST be some other way this company is turning a profit.  Do they have proprietary software that you sign on to use as well?  Do they sell your patron records? What's the secret?

Note: I am NOT an employee at a public library.  I am not even an employee at a public school library.  I work for a private school, do not receive a pension, and am not a member of any union.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

No More Pencils, No More Books!

There is much ado about Cushing Academy's (an elite boarding school in Massachusetts) decision to get rid of all the books "aside from a few hundred children's books and valuable antiquarian works" to make way for specialized laptop carrels, 18 kindles, 3 large screen televisions and a coffee bar.

I'm all about embracing technology and think that the idea of creating this "learning center" is pretty fantastic. It will clearly become the center of the school's community. They're clearly on the cutting edge and looking to provide the top-notch 21st century opportunities that the students' parents are paying for their children to receive. But what the heck kind of a school checks out only 48 books in a year? Do these students not read?

Something tells me these students are still reading books both for school and for the fun of it. No, not e-books downloaded to their readers, but actual ink on paper books. Most likely, however, students are required to purchase class novels along with the texts they need for their English and other courses, or they're otherwise kept in classroom libraries (i.e. maps and atlases in the social studies classrooms, scripts in the drama room, etc.). And when they want to read for pleasure? They buy the book from retailers like Amazon or Barnes and Noble and swap with friends from personal bookshelves. It isn't that "very few students actually read [books]," it's that they just aren't checking them out of the school library.

I work at a fantastic private school that is fortunate enough to have the ability to provide amazing opportunities for our students, including access to cutting-edge technology. Now, my students are middle schoolers, and they use the library in a different, less rigorously research-based way than high school students. Still, I venture to guess that not much was being done at this school to encourage student independent use of the library, or the function of the library (as it was) to serve as a center of the school's community.

Our program encourages students to develop a love of reading and provides room for independent reading selections alongside prescribed class novels. Reader's advisory is a big part of my job. Want to guess how many books I've checked out this year (read: over the past three days)? Over 100.