Public Libraries -- A Wise Investment / May 8, 2008 The Most Under-used Free Service in the World / April 3, 2008 The Library Experience - books not included / December 20, 2007 Sanbornton Public Library Now Offers Downloadable Audiobooks / October 24, 2007 Finding a Page From Your Past / September 27, 2007 “If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today?” / July 26, 2007 Take a ‘Reading Road Trip’ at Your Library This Summer / June 28, 2007 Libraries in an Amazoogle World / May 31, 2007 Whither Libraries / April 19, 2007

Public Libraries -- A Wise Investment / May 8, 2008

Well, it’s that time of year in Sanbornton again – what I call, with a mixed measure of fondness and exasperation, the silly season. Yes, it’s time for our annual Town Meeting – ballots, warrant articles, and amendments, oh my!

 

Since the Town budget will be a major focus of the community over the course of the next two weeks, this is an opportune time for me to discuss dollars and cents from the perspective of the public library.

 

We all know that times are tight. The trends for unemployment, inflation, and mortgage foreclosures are all far from rosy, both nationally and locally. Sanbornton’s roads are said to need millions of dollars of work in the next 10 years. In such an environment, the pressure to limit town expenditures will be intense. No doubt we can expect some lively debates at our Town Meeting on May 14.

 

In the past, I’ve attempted to make the case for the continued relevance of the public library in an age when “everything’s on the internet.” But I’ve been saving one vital piece of the picture until now – the question of value.

 

There’s no question that taxpayers have been kind to public libraries in the Lakes Region, including here in Sanbornton where we have a beautiful new addition (albeit not quite finished!) Libraries may be as American as apple pie, and opponents of library funding proposals have traditionally been viewed as penny-pinching neanderthals. But in today’s climate of accountability and tight budgets, the public has every right to ask for and receive quantifiable results for their tax dollars.

 

It’s no longer enough for library advocates to say, “Our community loves its library – hands off its budget!” We need to prove our worth. Fortunately, a number of recent studies have shown that public libraries provide a great return on investment – typically four to five times as much in return as expended.

 

Return on Investment (ROI) is a concept usually associated with the world of finance, but in the past 10 years it’s been adopted by libraries and other non-profit entities eager to demonstrate the value of their institutions in monetary terms.

 

ROI is typically calculated as the net gain from an investment (its gain minus its cost), divided by the cost of the investment. The resulting figure expresses the value derived per dollar invested. It’s simply another way of looking at benefits in relation to costs. The higher the better!

 

In the library context, one would say, “For every tax dollar spent on the library, the community receives $X in value.” Value can be measured in a number of ways. For example: What would it cost library users to buy the same services and materials on the open market? What is the value of information “lost” if users without a library are unable to obtain it through other sources? What is the direct economic impact via expenditures and staff employment? How much are home values boosted in communities with excellent libraries?

 

Studies in Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Vermont have all consistently shown that for every dollar invested in libraries, $4-$5 in value is returned to the community. This is a return on investment that a hedge fund manager would sell his or her soul for – and incredibly, it runs on the conservative side!

 

Most of these studies involved either large city library systems or statewide systems. One would think that the smaller the library, the lower the ROI. After all, smaller libraries offer fewer services and are unable to take advantage of cost savings from economies of scale. And no one would confuse that small cozy building on the village green for an economic powerhouse, would they?

 

Yet, the studies seem to show precisely the opposite. A 2007 study of eight libraries in Colorado found that the two smallest libraries (populations around 9,000) had an ROI of $8.80 and $31.07 per dollar invested, compared to the average of $4.83 for the other six. This seems counterintuitive, but perhaps libraries in small towns play a proportionally much bigger role in their communities?

 

In any event, it is gratifying to learn that even the humble small town library can provide tremendous value as well as help residents feel good about their town.

 

During hard times it’s tempting for taxpayers to cut back as much as possible on “non-essential” services. But recent history has shown that Americans rely on libraries more heavily than ever during periods of financial instability and weakness.

 

Library use typically spikes as job-hunters flock to the library and individuals take advantage of services they are no longer able to afford as easily (books, high-speed internet access, cultural programs, and so on.)

 

In fact, the more dire the circumstances, the more libraries have proven their worth. During natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, libraries played critical roles in stabilizing life. Those affected came through their doors in record numbers looking for information, access to computers, support, and even physical sustenance and refuge.

 

So, what’s the proverbial bottom line? A new nonfiction book at retail price will set you back around $30. At a used book store, you might get a handful of books for $30, and at a yard sale as many as 30 or more.

 

But at the Sanbornton Public Library in 2007, for about $34 per resident, or less than a dime per day, you had access to a professionally selected collection of more than 22,000 items; local history materials; computers with high-speed access; staff to help you find exactly the book or information you're looking for; storytimes and cultural programs; and much more.

 

What's your library worth to you? The Maine State Library has developed an interactive Library Use Value Calculator that will give you a rough idea: http://www.maine.gov/msl/services/calculator.htm.

 

Of course, there’s more to life than dollars and cents, even during Town Meeting season. The “dismal science” of economics has so far been unable to quantify the intangible benefits provided by institutions like libraries. How to put a price on improvements to quality of life, on civic connectedness, on pride in self and community, on personal enrichment?

 

Books and all that for $34 per year? Now that’s a great deal.

 

The Most Under-used Free Service in the World / April 3, 2008

In my former life working at university libraries, my job title was “Reference Librarian.” When I would ask students what they thought this meant, the most common response was a blank stare.

 

Sometimes they knew that I could usually be found lurking behind an imposing piece of furniture called the “Reference Desk”. But most had no idea that my primary function was to answer “reference questions” – their questions – and to help them with their research. (If I’d only known that in college!)

 

Public libraries, too, have reference librarians, whose job, and often greatest pleasure, is to help patrons in their quest for knowledge and entertainment. In recent years libraries of all types have seen a slow decline in the number of questions answered by their staff. A recent report from the Pew Internet and American Life project, for example, found that the library was the last place people turned to when faced with any one of a number of common problems related to health, education, taxes, careers, government services, and so on.

 

In this study, 58% of those who had faced at least one of those problems turned to the internet for help, and 53% turned to professionals such as doctors and lawyers. 45% consulted friends and family, 36% consulted newspapers and magazines, 34% consulted the government, and 16% consulted television or radio. Only 9% went to the library and received personalized assistance.

 

A frustrating and sad day for sure when the eager-to-serve librarian loses out to the likes of Dr. Phil, talk radio, and infomercials.

 

The internet, of course, has obvious advantages. It’s open 24/7, it’s huge, and it’s anonymous. Delicate topics can be safely researched online without fear of embarrassment, something not so easily achieved in direct, person-to-person interactions.

 

I don’t begrudge the relative success of the other sources of assistance. Lord knows, we should all get help wherever we can find it.

 

But as a librarian who’s been specifically trained to sift through the myriad sources of information to provide fast, convenient, and accurate answers, it does seem a shame that more people don’t take advantage of this service provided by libraries at no extra charge.

 

I wonder especially about the unspecified percentage of individuals in the Pew study who apparently did not seek any outside assistance.

 

These issues have been hashed out in the professional library literature for a number of years, with dramatic and melodramatic articles on “Redefining Reference Services” and “The Death of Reference.”

 

The commonly accepted solution is that libraries simply have to do a better job of marketing their role as their community’s “Answer Store,” and in particular, of marketing the unique skills of the problem-solving, answer-seeking creatures known as librarians.

 

While librarians have traditionally been too self-effacing to aggressively toot their own horns in this manner, I have no such qualms. Four years at Harvard have worked their magic!

 

The skeptic will inevitably, and rightly, ask, “So where is the added value? Why should I waste my time talking to a librarian, let alone visiting the library to do so?”

 

The answer can be found in the training of librarians, which for many involves a two-year graduate program of study. This has given them a wide familiarity with a range of specialized resources, in both print and electronic formats, and insights into negotiating the information needs of their patrons.

 

For example, most web searchers rely on full-phrase, “natural language” searching (e.g., “What is the capital of Moldova?”), which does not work well with more complex, concept-based searches (“Is breastfeeding advisable for drug-dependent mothers?”).

 

The vast majority have little familiarity with the details or importance of Boolean logic, controlled vocabulary, or truncation, yet an understanding of these and other concepts can lead to a quantum improvement in the quality of search results.

 

But even a perfectly designed search strategy is useless if we happen to be looking in the wrong place. I’m reminded of the joke about the drunk who insists on looking for his lost keys under the light of a lamppost, not because that’s where he lost his keys, but because it’s not dark there!

 

Google and Wikipedia are ubiquitous, but there are hundreds of other useful search tools online. Then again, sometimes the best answer is to be found in … a book.

 

Studies have also shown that most information seekers spend very little time evaluating the relevance, accuracy, or authority of what they find. Responses aren’t the same thing as answers, and there are a few relatively simple tools for helping distinguish between the two.

 

The upshot of all this is that searchers typically spend as much time finding their way around and just getting their bearings as they do actually viewing their results. And this is true whether the research is being done online or in the print collections of a library.

 

My advice to my college students was always simple: If you’ve spent more than ten minutes looking for something and you’re not happy with your results, get thee to a librarian! The very essence of our work is connecting the right material with the right individual as quickly as desired.

 

Which brings me to the last great value-added proposition behind libraries. Nowhere else will you find such commitment to determining your needs in a professional, nonjudgmental, and confidential manner, and such disappointment when there’s a possibility that we may fall short in meeting those needs to your full satisfaction.

 

The Pew study cited above found that people who used the library to seek information were two-thirds more likely to report that they found what they were looking for, compared to those who did not get help at the library.

 

Here in Sanbornton, in the past year we’ve helped residents find: information on Victorian mourning customs; a novel set in Honduras; how to carry out performance evaluations; the history of the Sanbornton-Tilton boundary; an electronic copy of a rare carpentry book published in the 1790’s; “read-a-like” authors for fans of Harlan Coben’s mysteries; a comparative analysis of the French and American Revolutions; resources on teaching film studies to high schoolers – to name just a few.

 

So, got a question? Take a break from your favorite search engine and introduce yourself to a finding engine, your local librarian. Put your library to the test. You have nothing to lose. Your taxes have already paid for it!

 

The Library Experience - books not included / December 20, 2007

As the father of a 3-year-old daughter who is a frequent visitor to Sanbornton’s public library, I often get the chance to see the library through her eyes.

 

And as much as Marby loves her books – she’s been known to walk into walls while trying to get somewhere and read at the same time – during many of her visits to the library, her hands don’t even touch a book.

 

She’s found a number of activities in the children’s room that keep her perfectly content: playing with the doll house and its residents; supervising the activities of three stuffed toy cats; drawing on a Plexiglas sheet with magic markers; laughing her head off looking at funny pet videos on YouTube; and playing librarian with Martha at the front desk.

 

Sometimes she ends up checking out a book; sometimes she doesn’t. At first, I was somewhat taken aback when she would decline to check out a book. I am a librarian after all.

 

But then I realized that our home and Marby’s bedroom in particular are already filled with books. To her the “library = books” equation does not compute. The library is a place to have fun.

 

And that’s just as it should be.

 

Librarians realize that the competition for our users’ attention and patronage is intense, even when it comes to our youngest visitors. As a result, the modern age demands that we focus on making the visit to the library an experience, one that has the potential to satisfy a wide range of recreational, intellectual and practical needs.

 

The experience can be one that is primarily social – say, dropping off a book and chatting with a neighbor about the town’s news – or one that is essentially private, catching up with email or the latest stock quotes on one of our public access computers.

 

In either case, books are no longer necessarily at the heart of the library experience.

 

For many, movies and high-speed internet access are the main draws. Others come for the magazines and audiobooks.

 

And of course still others don’t come to the library at all. This is a fast-paced society in which reading is in decline and ownership and convenience are prized above all else.

 

As the leader of a public institution whose success is measured in part by its ability to serve the entire community, I spend a lot of time thinking about this and wondering what types of experiences the library is not offering and how we can improve the experiences we do offer.

 

Are more cultural and educational programs the answer? A community “living room” for group meetings and events? A different focus for our acquisitions?

A website and blog to keep patrons updated on the latest news from the library? A multimedia technology lab to foster self-expression by creating a space for residents to experiment with the latest gadgets?

 

We have recently begun a new digital audiobook program through which patrons can download entire audiobooks from the comfort of their own home. We have high hopes that this is one piece of the puzzle when it comes to serving individuals who have traditionally not been frequent visitors to our building on Meetinghouse Hill.

 

But there are no pat answers and I firmly believe that the library will only succeed to the extent that the community is an active participant in its evolution.

 

My daughter shares a home with me and so it is very clear to me what type of library she would like: more open spaces for StoryTimes, a private reading nook or two with some beanbag chairs, bookstore-type presentation of new materials and themed collections, more movies, more crafts and toys, and yes, more books.

 

We’re still working on bringing the preferences of the rest of Sanbornton into sharper focus. Fortunately, you won’t need to move in with my family to help out! Just take the time to share your thoughts with us at 286-8288 or spl@metrocast.net.

 

Sanbornton Public Library Now Offers Downloadable Audiobooks / October 24, 2007

“Speaking Volumes” indeed! Sanbornton Public Library patrons now have access to more than 1,700 downloadable audiobooks anytime, anywhere, by visiting the audiobook program’s website at http://nh.lib.overdrive.com/.

 

Customers with a valid library card can check out and download digital titles from the website, which is accessible 24/7 from anywhere in the world.

 

After download, users can listen to the books on their computer or transfer them to dozens of compatible portable devices, including many MP3 players, SmartPhones, and PDA’s. Many titles can also be burned to CD (compact disk).

 

"Our books on tape and CD are extremely popular, and we’re very excited to be able to expand our offerings in this area," said Cab Vinton, Sanbornton Public Library Director.

 

“Being able to download titles 24/7 without having to come to the library and eliminating the hassle of returning them to the library will make it even easier for some people to use our resources," he added.

 

According to Vinton, the only major downside is that the new online library does not “play nice” with Apple. The program is not compatible with Apple computers or with iPods, today’s most popular brand of MP3 players.

 

But with unabridged audiobooks costing up to $100, Vinton says the program is an extremely cost-effective way for the library to provide a much broader range of titles to its patrons. Twenty-five to thirty-five new titles are being added every month to the collection.

 

The collection includes classics like "1984" and "Moby Dick," as well as the latest fiction and non-fiction best-sellers by James Patterson and Barbara Kingsolver.

 

A wide variety of genres is represented, including mystery, romance, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, biography, humor, business, foreign language instruction, and self-help. Over a third of the titles are children’s and young adult titles.

 

Audiobooks have a 7-day lending period, with licenses to the digital titles expiring automatically at the end of the lending period, so patrons never have to worry about overdue items or fines. Up to three titles can be checked out at a time.

 

The technology and content is provided by Overdrive, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, and has been licensed through the New Hampshire State Library to over 100 participating public libraries in the state.

 

To begin downloading your audiobooks, contact the Sanbornton Public Library at 286-8288 for instructions and further information.

 

Finding a Page From Your Past / September 27, 2007

Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to present a genealogy workshop to the Sanbornton Historical Society. The program was an introduction to the resources available to the community for genealogical and local history research.

 

In this month’s column I’d like to highlight one of those resources in particular that I’ve found useful in helping our library’s patrons. As readers with a good memory might recall, Google Book Search (http://books.google.com) is a project that is digitizing books at a rate of more than 3,000 per day.

 

Book Search works just like a web search, except your search results are limited to the contents of books that have been scanned by Google. When you click on a book result, you'll be able to see everything from a few short excerpts to the entire book, including any illustrations or photographs.

 

How much you see will depend on the copyright status of the book in question. In the United States, all works published before 1923 have expired copyrights and are in the public domain. Some other works published before 1964 also fall into this category.

 

Now normally the thought of having access to literature from the time of Calvin Coolidge and Jack Dempsey would not set anyone’s pants on fire. But genealogists and historians are a special breed.

 

Our forebears were as interested in themselves and in where they came from as we are and so thousands of works of tremendous historical value were published in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries: town histories, county histories, family histories, biographies, autobiographies, journals, memoirs, and so on. In many instances the subject matter has not been picked up again since.

 

The standard history of Sanbornton, for example, was published by the Reverend Moses T. Runnels back in 1881. A similar work is D.H. Hurd’s "History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties," which dates back to 1885. Despite their age, researchers still highly value these resources. (Sadly, neither title has yet been scanned by Google or any other digital library.)

 

In addition, many titles of genealogical interest are extremely rare and the chances of finding them in any one library are relatively low. Often they are in poor physical condition and are kept under lock and key in a Special Collections room.

 

All this makes Google Book Search a potential gold mine for genealogists and other historical detectives.

 

What is even more exciting, however, is that if a work is in the public domain you can download a searchable copy of the entire book to your computer in PDF format. Then it’s yours to keep and to use as you see fit.

 

But even if the full-text is not available, at least you now have the option of tracking down a physical copy of the book. In fact, many users go straight from Google Book Search to on online bookseller or their library’s website precisely for this reason.

 

I’ve recently been using Google Book Search to help some patrons with their research on Sanbornton’s history and there’s no doubt in my mind that I was able to find references and information that I would never have been able to find otherwise.

 

Now, it does help to be dealing with unique or unusual names. If you happen to be a Smith or Johnson, for example, or to have an ancestor who lived in one of the nation’s 36 Franklin’s or Salem’s, your task will be quite a bit tougher.

 

Sanbornton on the other hand is in a particularly fortunate position. According to the United States Geological Survey, there is not and has never been another populated place with the same name. Similarly, my middle name happens to be Cabeen, which makes genealogical research an easier proposition.

 

For example, a quick tap on the keyboard and I was able to discover that in 1816 an ancestor of mine picked up an indentured servant as a tanner and currier from the Charleston Orphan House in South Carolina. Of course I would be wise to dig a little deeper and to verify this little tidbit from other sources.

 

But if it pans out, this small fragment, previously buried and quite unknown to my parents or grandparents, has now come to light and will be added to the mosaic of our family history. Who knows what discoveries it might lead to if I took the time to build on it?

 

I’m not suggesting that digital libraries like Google’s will replace the tried and true methods and resources of librarians, historians, and genealogists. Public records, family letters, newspaper articles and the like will all continue to be vitally important.

 

It’s also worth remembering that tens of millions of books have been published and it will be a long time before a significant portion of these are digitized. And even then, fewer than 20% of books will be in the public domain.

 

Finally, some scans are of extremely poor quality and are almost impossible to read. Hyphenation is preserved in the extracted text of scans, reducing the accuracy of searches.

 

Still, Google Book Search and projects like it (see Microsoft’s equivalent at http://books.live.com) are a wonderful addition to our collection of tools. Give them a try and see what surprises await you.

 

If you’re interested in genealogy or local history and would like to learn more about this and other resources, an archived version of my presentation to the Sanbornton Historical Society is available at http://splib.pbwiki.com.

 

“If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today?” / July 26, 2007

That’s the question that Stephen Dubner recently asked on the Freakonomics blog that he and fellow economist Steven Levitt edit together. (The two are the co-authors of the 2006 bestselling book of the same name.)

 

Just a few short years ago music companies and artists used lawsuits to bring Napster, the online file sharing company, to its knees. More recently, book publishers and authors have sued Google for massive copyright infringement simply because its search results provide snippets of copyrighted works. So it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that if public libraries did not already exist, they would face fierce resistance today from the creators and defenders of intellectual property.

 

After all, the idea of allowing a government-funded institution to buy a single copy of a book and then loan it an unlimited number of times to an unlimited number of individuals – well, it sounds almost communist, doesn’t it? The modern public library is just organized, state-sponsored theft!

Who cannot feel some sympathy for those impoverished authors whose royalties are depressed by all the sales lost whenever their books are borrowed from a library instead of sold at a bookstore? Have you not seen the forlorn scribe picketing outside our library: “Where’s my bold cut of your late fees?” “Only crooks … check out books!”

 

In truth, I have to confess to having often wandered through the aisles of many a wonderful bookstore, notebook in hand, scribbling down title after title that I later obtained – for free, no less – at my library, either directly or indirectly via its interlibrary loan service.

 

Publishers and authors are not naïve, however. They know that libraries are schools for literacy and that a literate nation is one that buys books. Many readers use libraries to explore new authors and genres. Quite apart from the private satisfaction this offers, this often transfers over into book purchases as new favorites are discovered and embraced – the “try before you buy” model. Publishing companies rely heavily on the success of a relatively few blockbusters to subsidize the remainder of their less successful titles. Libraries represent a dependable and critical market for these “mid-list” and lower titles.

 

But in a sense, the financial argument completely misses the point.

 

What’s good for the private sector is not always good for society, and the secret lies in a little concept called “the public good.” The purpose of libraries has never been to ensure profits for private enterprise, or to come out on the right side of a strictly monetary cost-benefit analysis. Rather, they have served to preserve knowledge, even our culture itself.

 

Those mid-list titles are kept on the shelves of libraries long after bookstores have abandoned them forever. Indeed, many quality titles would never have been published at all without libraries around to buy them. Herman Melville, Franz Kafka, and Zora Neale Hurston all died in obscurity. Which neglected authors on our libraries’ shelves today are simply waiting to be discovered by generations to come?

 

Libraries also make the products of our most creative minds freely available to all, but especially to those who need them most and who face the greatest obstacles in obtaining access to them – individuals and families whose options are limited by poverty, lack of education, illness, social isolation, discrimination, and homelessness.

 

Finally, as I suggested in my first column a couple months ago, libraries are not just a delivery mechanism for books. They are part of the glue that holds our society together. Librarians put a friendly face on an information age that is changing at a dizzying pace.

 

They provide access to the latest technologies and welcoming spaces for children’s story times, book groups, community meetings, and any number of formal and informal learning experiences.

 

And I would argue, even that solitary reader sitting quietly in the comfy chair in the corner of the library is busy strengthening the ties that bind us together. In all likelihood, she could have stayed home and found reading material there.

 

But just by virtue of her presence in the library, a simple physical space is enlivened and transformed into a public commons, a place where we all join together in a shared quest for that which gives meaning to our lives.

 

And you can’t put a price on that.

 

Take a ‘Reading Road Trip’ at Your Library This Summer / June 28, 2007

Just because school is out for summer doesn't mean kids have to put down the books – especially the fun ones. In fact, this summer children across the state can look forward to traveling beyond their own backyards for vacation-time fun.

 

“Reading Road Trip U.S.A.” is the theme of the annual summer reading program sponsored by the Children’s Librarians of New Hampshire, and libraries throughout the Lakes Region are gearing up for fun activities.

 

Here in Sanbornton, the program is geared to students through the 5th grade and will hit the road on Thursday, July 5 at 11:30 a.m. with a visit from the University of New Hampshire’s Little Red Wagon theater troupe.

 

It’s been a number of years since the troupe last came to town and we’re looking forward to this year’s show, “Truckin’ with the Wagon,” which promises to be an exciting performance full of stories, drama, puppets, and songs – all focused on the theme of travel, transportation, and vacation fun. Other events and activities are planned for the following five Thursdays at the same time (through August 9). Stay tuned for more news about visits from Sanbornton’s own Mr. Phil and the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center who will be presenting their Natural Encounters live animal program.

 

The purpose of our summer reading program and others like it is to encourage reading for pleasure in a relaxed environment, far from any pressures related to the classroom and tests. Librarians are naturally inclined to see the virtue in reading for entertainment as well as for knowledge. But the two are in fact closely related.

 

Reading is the most powerful tool available for building vocabulary as well as the ability to read, write, spell and comprehend. And naturally, reading skills improve with practice.

 

So it should come as no surprise that a number of studies have shown that summer reading programs can make a significant difference in student achievement:

 

• Students lose school-year reading gains over the summer if they don't read – equivalent to a lag of two or more years in reading achievement by the end of the 6th grade, even with effective instruction during the school year.

• Children who use the public library during the summer are more likely to make vocabulary gains than those attending summer school.

• Children who attend a summer library program are more likely to read at or above their grade level and to keep up their reading skills the next school year.

 

The Sanbornton program will enable children to keep track of their summer reading and to earn prizes for reaching their reading goal. Children who are not yet reading can also join and keep track of books read to them.

 

Reluctant readers who are happier in front of a computer screen with a mouse in their hand instead of book, should be sure to check out the library’s TumbleBooks service. Children’s books are presented online in an interactive e-book format by taking existing picture books and adding animation, sound, music and narration to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you. Contact us for more information and the site’s user name and password.

 

Registration for the summer reading program begins now and continues through July 5, either in person at the library or via phone (286-8288). The scheduled events are open to all, however, and registration is not required.

 

So, let’s get ready to hit the road and hit the books!

 

Libraries in an Amazoogle World / May 31, 2007

Every now and again I hear someone say that they don’t go to the library anymore because “everything’s on the Internet.”

 

There is of course an element of truth behind this sentiment. Millions of used books are available online, many at a cost of just pennies plus shipping. All of the major media outlets are online and there are over 66 million live Web domains worldwide. A year and a half ago Google claimed that it had indexed over 24 billion Web pages. Its Book Search project is digitizing books at a rate of more 3,000 per day.

 

No question, you would be hard-pressed to find a librarian whose work has not been revolutionized by the Internet over the past fifteen years. Until recently librarians faced with a patron’s request for information relied almost exclusively on their intimate knowledge of the print materials in their library. Those days are gone forever.

 

And yet this is only part of the picture. Here are five reasons why the Internet is no substitute for your public library.

1. Not everything is on the Internet. Every year more than 1 million books are published worldwide, approximately one every 30 seconds. These join the some 100 million that have already been published throughout history. The vast majority of these are available only in print format. Likewise, analog is still king for other forms of human expression: 750 million articles and essays, 25 million songs, 500,000 movies, and 3 million videos, TV shows and short films.

 

It is librarians and archivists who store, preserve and provide access to the materials that you won’t find on the Internet. Granted, much of what meets people’s needs is in digital format. But do you really see yourself taking an “e-book” to the beach for a good summer’s day reading?

 

2. Not everything on the Internet is “on the Internet.” There is a “deep web” that is not accessible via common search engines like Google or Yahoo. Typical content includes proprietary or fee-based information hidden behind passwords, and database content that is generated dynamically based on users’ requests.

 

This invisible web is up to 500 times the size of the indexable web and contains a higher proportion of quality content. Librarians often have access to key portions of the deep web, either through familiarity with specialized search techniques or through licensing agreements with content providers (see #3).

 

3. Not everything on the Internet is free. “You get what you pay for” might as well be a law of nature, and the Internet is no exception. If you want faster download speeds for large files or multimedia content, many libraries have already made the investment in broadband technology on your behalf.

 

Moreover, much of the best content on the web comes at a price, whether it’s detailed restaurant reviews from Zagat’s, or the complete text of articles from thousands of magazines that would cost as much as a small condo if you were to subscribe to each magazine personally.

Ask your local librarian about NHewLink or other subscription-based resources and see what hidden treasures await you.

 

4. The Internet has an organization problem. Roger Ebert once said that “Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly.” If you’ve ever struggled to find, or even to re-find something online, you know just what he means.

 

Many Sanbornton residents have identified a need for more senior housing options in town, but when a Google search for “senior housing rural communities” returns over 1.4 million results, we can only pray that the company’s algorithms are clever enough to divine our needs and place the best results in the first two or three pages where searchers spend 99 percent of their time.

 

Librarians can help you navigate this maze – they’re familiar with the latest search tools and strategies, and with resources, both online and in print, that have been selected and organized by real people.

 

5. The Internet also has a quality control problem. As a New Yorker cartoon famously put it, “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog” – so any fool can post anything online. And the fools have been busy indeed.

 

This past March, Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to write its articles, reported the death of comedian Sinbad. But Sinbad was in fact very much alive, and he and his family were subjected to quite an ordeal because too many people placed too much trust in the Internet.

 

Similarly, try searching for “Martin Luther King” on Google: the sixth Web site out of almost 12 million results is a site created by a white supremacist group (martinlutherking.org). The site describes itself as a “valuable resource for teachers and students alike”; your child’s teachers will disagree.

 

The resources in libraries have been evaluated to make sure that they contain reliable information. Librarians have also designed information portals listing only authoritative sites – the Internet Public Library and the Librarians’ Internet Index, for example. They can also share with you or your child techniques for determining the trustworthiness of the Web sites you find.

So, the Internet is indeed a miracle of ingenuity, an essential complement for a well-run library, but far from a substitute.

Libraries and librarians – they are the original search engines!

 

Whither Libraries / April 19, 2007

Welcome to the first in a series of regular monthly columns from the Sanbornton Public Library. The crossroads of librarianship and the new digital age is an exciting place to be right now, even in our small corner of the Granite State. It’s also a potentially dangerous place.

 

Just ask the 195,000 residents of Jackson County, Oregon, whose 15 library branches closed their doors for the last time this past weekend due to a lack of funding. So are all libraries destined to be roadkill on the information superhighway? Will librarians live on for future generations only as faded memories, the quaint counterparts of yesterday’s cobblers and wheelwrights, because “everything’s on the Internet”? I think not, but it’s clear that a business as usual approach will lead to libraries becoming increasingly irrelevant to their communities.

 

Ironically, the way forward lies in looking back – looking back to first principles and to the core values that placed public libraries at the heart of our civic life in the first place. Modern life has inundated us with data and technology. But libraries are not about machines or mere information. Knowledge and understanding are our central concern, not bits and bytes. Libraries exist to provide human services to human beings, to connect us all to one another.

 

But which services? How shall we be connected? The joy of a small public library is that it can be responsive to the needs of its particular host community. Of course, it helps immensely if that community expresses its needs clearly and often. To give a sense of the options, here is a menu of ten service initiatives that librarians around the country are busy offering to their patrons:

• Popular materials center – meets the need for current materials and satisfying recreational experiences through collections and reader’s advisory services (“What should I read next?”)

• Lifelong learning center – meets the need for self-directed personal growth and in-depth knowledge about a wide range of subjects: health, law, small business, job-hunting, consumer issues, gardening, etc.

Answer store – satisfies the need for quick answers to basic questions.

• Community commons – satisfies the need for a space for community members of all ages to meet and interact, through both formal and informal participation in shared social and cultural experiences.

• Education support – meets the needs of students, whether they are home-schooled or enrolled in schools, via events and specialized resources that support literacy and learning.

• Local history/ genealogy center – meets the need to stay connected to our cultural heritage and family histories.

• Technology center – meets the need for access to information technology otherwise unavailable (bridging the “digital divide”).

• Government partner – meets the need for access to information and forms from government at the local, state, and national level.

• Community referral – addresses the need for information related to local events and to services provided by community agencies and organizations.

• Cultural center – meets the need for a public space for the enjoyment of the arts (musical performances, art displays, etc.)

 

So, what’s your pleasure? Talk to your local librarians and let them know what kind of library you envision for your community.