SHOW OFF YOUR LIBRARY AS A PLACE
by Marylaine Block
I was exploring library web sites recently while researching an article on libraries as public spaces. Though a fair amount of the web sites had pictures of the building's exterior, I was amazed that so few of them showed people using the library; there were remarkably few pictures of puppet shows and public events and teenagers working together around a computer or people lining up at the reference desk. Very few library sites offered a virtual tour of the building. Very few mentioned library resources that were only available within the building. Most of their subject guides to information referred only to web pages, not to reference books and magazines and CD-ROM databases available within the library.
Are we actually trying to add to the public's growing belief that they don't need libraries because everything is on the internet? Do we not want people to come to the library? Have we stopped believing that the physical library offers a special experience that people need and want?
A library is a physical thing. SOME of what our libraries have to offer can be offered by way of the internet -- our catalogs, databases, exhibits, and whatever of our local history and photo collections, obituary and newspaper indexes and other home-grown resources we've been able to scan in.
Other things we have to offer, however, can not possibly be delivered on the internet. My library, for example, has periodicals for every year from 1811 to the present, a rich resource for anyone who wants to know what history was like for the people who were living it, the anti-slavery speakers who did not know there would be a war between the states, the original women's suffragists who did not know their cause would eventually win, the soldiers of World War I who did not know that their sacrifice in the trenches would not end all wars, the drinkers of bathtub gin who didn't know if prohibition would be repealed in their lifetime.
Despite the joys of accessing the internet and library databases from home at any hour of the day and any day of the week, I still need to go to the library for research, because there are too many important resources there that are not online: great reference books like The Encyclopedia of Bioethics, the complete set of Current Biography, four shelves of quote books (which not only give quotes on every imaginable topic but allow you to trust that the words are correct because they exact source is documented), a reference series on the official positions of the world's religions on a variety of hot social issues, to name a few. I still find it easier to use the physical Statistical Abstracts than the online version.
My library has important magazines that are not in the databases -- how could anybody write about the Church's stance on any topic without reference to The Pope Speaks, and Origins, the weekly publication of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops? And some magazines that ARE in the databases do not show up well there -- how can black and white databases adequately represent the photography and graphic displays of art and science magazines?
My library has exhibit cases where we show off our treasures, and though we may scan them onto our web site, there's no doubt that the physical entities are better, perceivable by more than the eyes.
Like most libraries, my library has computers for the use of the 40 percent of the population that does not. It no longer has CD-ROM databases that are only available within the internal library network, but it once did, and many libraries still have such internal-only databases.
But perhaps the most important thing my library offers is people -- both the staff and other library users. When I visit, I always run into old friends, and have good conversations that make me feel good for the rest of the day. Do you take this for granted? Try being a self-employed writer who may be holed up at home with a deadline for days at a time, talking to nobody but telemarketers and e-mail correspondents.
My library has librarians and other staff right there on the spot, ready to note a look of befuddlement on a student's face and offer assistance. Its librarians have a way of remembering what different students and faculty members wwere interested in, and letting them know whenever they discover other relevant research. (Yes, online librarians might be able to do the same, but it's so much easier to remember a face that goes with the research need than just a name.)
My library also has group study rooms, a conference room, a classroom, so that people can learn together, using the library's computers, internet connections, VCRs, blackboards, books, journals, and other facilities.
My library sponsors all kinds of events, including lunchtime speakers from the faculty and staff who might share their current research or show people how to make Christmas ornaments or deal with their aching backs or learn basic self-defense techniques. Every year it puts on a tree-trimming Christmas party for the whole campus, and it celebrates Dr. Seuss' birthday, and hosts events with visiting writers and speakers. Public libraries, of course, offer even more of these kinds of events, in addition to making meeting rooms and conference rooms available to the public.
Like most libraries, it is a place of sociability, where people can run into each other, accidentally or accidentally-on-purpose, and more than one romance has started in a library.
My library, I might also mention, is a beautiful, warm, welcoming physical space that is a pleasure to be in, with its soaring ceiling and skylight, offering plenty of natural light even in the dismal gray days of winter. Its design attractively mixes strong colors (our architect was unfamiliar with the word "beige"). It has a variety of seating types and arrangements, all of them comfortable, a beautiful view of the campus, and a very nice student lounge. (An even nicer lounge for the library staff, but hey, we had to be there 40 hours a week.)
Think about these and other features in your own library. And then ask yourself if your web site mentions these or any other features that are only available within the physical library building. Does your web site give people any reason at all to make the effort to come to the library?
If it doesn't, you could be in more trouble than you know the next time you ask for better tax support.
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COOL QUOTE
Why [the New York Public Library] Works:
Inside, the Library boasts a gorgeous reading room that would make anyone feel like royalty - indeed, it rivals the ballrooms of European palaces. But out in front, along the street, is where this illustrious institution truly connects with the city around it. A series of well-linked spaces - steps, plazas, little nooks and pathways - provide innumerable places for sitting, meeting, eating and chatting. Overall, these places act as a capacious "front porch" complementing the library's "back yard" - which is, of course, the famed Bryant Park.
"Great Public Spaces: New York Public Library." Project for Public Spaces, http://pps.org/gps/one?public_place_id=161
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Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2003.
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