What's a Library Without Books?

In the September 2013 edition of ALA Libraries, the house organ for the American Libraries Association, there was a news article about a library in Texas that is entirely electronic. The head librarian proudly submitted that they would now be able to focus on getting the information people wanted, rather than doing all that pesky re-shelving.

I wonder if someday, maybe in my daughter's children's children's lifetime, books will go back to what they once were -- the special privilege of the rich. As incomes of the 99 percent fall and the super-rich become de facto oligarchs, there may come a time when libraries, the province of the proletariat, will have to go all electronic for what will be termed 'economic efficiency'.  Provided it remains cheaper to provide electronic copies of romance novels and blockbuster best sellers (which libraries are known to provide because they are popular, and the customer is always right), there will be no need to build or to maintain large buildings with deteriorating collections of books requiring expensive staffs to manage them.

Some will tell you that there is so much not published electronically, but if libraries continue to decline along this path, those wanting to preserve and disseminate their information, opinions, and stories will have to adapt to the new paradigm. Publishers will more than likely have to fall in line too or be caught with unsalable inventories.

I don't say this is around the corner. The circumstances I  posited require that trends continue in a straight line and that there is sort of a social equivalent of a black hole where everyone who's anyone gives up on books as too expensive or too inconvenient.

I wouldn't worry about any of this if it weren't for the fact that I'm vulnerable to the same argument.  When I got my tablet computer, I was thrilled to have some of my favorite books on it, some borrowed from the library. I loved the word look up feature and the ability to use the internet to look up obscure reference to help me better appreciate the text. Book aficionados will smugly snicker when I mourn the loss of this device to malfunction. I am relegated to the technologically impoverished substitute for my sleek and shiny tablet: books. I want my e-books back!  I want to have the equivalent of a small public library in the palm of my hand.  I want to be able to be able to look up the obscure epigrams Dorothy Sayers puts in her Lord Peter Wimsey novels with the touch of my finger. Like a modern day Tevye, I wish I could be rich enough to afford to spend the time to look things up in my huge private collection. Alas, I am not, so I muddle along with my collection of old paperbacks and those items I can still check out of my local library. For good or ill, the day I imagined has not come ... yet.

Let Them Eat Books

Most libraries I have managed did not allow readers to have food or drinks in the library.  A notable exception was the last one I managed.  We actually had a cybercafe attached to the library with tables situated right next to the stacks.

I prefer to allow food and drinks in the library so long as I have no empirical evidence to suggest it is a major problem.  My take is that most people are brought up right and police their own trash and will not spill, and if they do, they will clean up after themselves.  

Once we moved to the new building, in my last library, vermin were not a problem , so I couldn’t see making that the excuse for banning food. I can see if the environment in which the library exists (say the sultry south, or Manhattan)  is particularly prone to bug infestation, you might have more cause for alarm. I would want to know, too, if roaches ate books.

I feel if you want people to integrate reading into their lives you need to allow for such human activities as eating and drinking.  You put in restrooms, why not allow food?  One need is as great at the other.  Making things comfortable for the reader would inevitably lead to greater participation.  How much more likely are you to attend a function where there is food offered?  I think the same goes for a library.

I do think there are appropriate and inappropriate foods to have in a library.  Cheese curls are one of the inappropriate ones.  That greasy orange powder is completely incompatible with a pristine book page.  One might also prefer M&M’s to a Hershey bar for tidiness.

Other than that, I think the no food rule emanates from the unwelcome autocratic thinking that most eschew nowadays.

If there’s a really good reason for disallowing food in the library, I’m open to hearing it.

The Book Trade is Alive

I was talking to a man I know in the bookselling industry, and I had asked him about the difference in sales of books versus electronic products. Anecdotally, he remarked that only five or ten percent of his sales came from e-books and e-readers.  I was surprised to learn that a major portion of those sales was attributed to older readers who needed large print editions.  So, while the advertisers would have us believe that those sleek tablets are most often snapped up by young, hip, movers and shakers, in fact, it’s more likely to be Grandma who can’t see without her glasses.

This was all a lead in to the obvious fact that the paper book industry is by no means dead.  One had only to wander the shelves of the book store to see the incredible diversity of literature on nearly every topic imaginable.  I was happy to see a healthy, even burgeoning, science fiction and fantasy section.  An illustrated version of the Tolkien classic “The Hobbit” (somehow tied in to the new “The Desolation of Smaug” film) was prominently displayed. It was big and golden and glossy and even when displayed spine first, seemed to pop out and say “take me out and look at me -- then you will be MINE!” Nearly every next volume on the shelf had that same “you MUST own me” quality.  Only my deeply rooted Scottish miserliness and my occasionally disregarded Midwestern common sense saved from returning home with a pile of books and a bewildered cry of “where am I going to PUT them all?”.

There were sections that led me to different feelings, depending on their content.  One such was a ‘classic literature’ display, which implied that your home library was deficient if you did not own the complete works of Conan Doyle, the Iliad AND the Odyssey, not to mention Proust, Maupassant, Jane Austen, and, if necessary, both Brontes. There will always be SOMETHING you are missing, so you had better get to it and buy the lot.

Then there were the quirky titles, like the one that wanted to help you discern such things as the difference BETWEEN the Iliad and the Odyssey. If you thought you were just fine, there were lots of books to prove you wrong.  Diet books abounded, telling you to cut out fat, gluten, preservatives, sugar, and anything else worth eating. Who knew there were 1,500 ways to serve seaweed?

Of course, if you just couldn’t bring yourself to buy another book (or more likely, couldn’t decide which one to choose) there were games, gift sets, mugs, book lights, candles and other cultus of the middlebrow literati. Nothing quite assuages the guilt of buying for oneself than purchasing extravagances for someone else.  

I think one of the reasons book buying will never die is that there will always be a segment of society that likes to look well read, and is willing to pay a premium to do so.

What is the purpose of a public library?

I asked myself recently “What is the purpose of a public library?”

It may seem at once an arrogant, provocative, even a hostile question.  I can hear people say “How dare you challenge the sacred institution of the public library?” .  I can hear others say “How stupid can you get?  Everybody knows the purpose of a public library -- it’s so you can get the latest novel without having to buy it and so you have a cheap place to take your kids when they’re bored”.  Both of these are legitimate responses, but I don’t think they really tackle the fundamental issue underlying the question.

Many purposes append to one’s local public library.  Some tout themselves as centers of public entertainment, offering a multitude of programs, workshops, classes, clubs and what have you.  Such libraries are vibrant places, with many contributors, participants, and supporters.  But couldn’t that role be just as well served by a community center? I don’t see that as the fundamental role of a library.

Some libraries want to become technology clearinghouses. They hare after the latest technology, be it iPads, Nanos, tablets, laptops, or netbooks.  They are always happy to help anyone use the latest technologies. They were the first to adopt self checkout stations, and have an impressive collection of e-books. Of course, if you’re not rich enough or tech savvy enough to afford a tablet computer or to understand digital rights, you may be soldier out of luck.

Recently, my eight year old daughter got caught up in reading a series of books.  She was enthralled by the world in which she found herself when she opened the cover of each title. I was excited for her.  Personally I found the premise of the series a bit precious, but if my daughter was reading, who was I to cavil? Another element of the scenario is that some time ago, I had bought a tablet device for her, mostly because I wanted her to be able to get access to the e-books our library had available. It was a cheap thing, and in a very short time it began to malfunction.  Since I couldn’t afford a better model, she is now without a tablet.  But books she has no problem with.  A book never fails to charge.  A book doesn’t crash. A book doesn’t run out of memory. The only thing a book does do is come due at the library.   

I think the main purpose of a library is to advance the purpose of reading. It is a civic good, just as transportation, crime fighting,  and fire and rescue contribute to the common weal. I believe if a library does not have that as its central purpose, it will be subject to the whims of the mob, apt to be co opted and dismembered, a redundant line item in the public budget. Just as justice is ill served by the vigilante, the public’s right to  reading is ill suited to the interests of the selfish private interest. Leaving our precious access to the world’s literature and information to the wild winds of fortune is as irresponsible as leaving your baby on a sidewalk in hopes it will be cared for.  Let’s hope there will always be a public library to fulfill our need for a good book.

The Main Desk - Introduction

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is David Purdy, and I have been a professional librarian since 1986,

But enough about me, let’s go on to the topic of the weblog -- libraries.  I am both experienced and very curious and interested in libraries of all kinds and in all places.  The weblog will range through any topic that catches my fancy, and I hope it will catch yours.  I will be looking for knotty problems, intriguing ideas, and lively inspirations.  

There are a few ground rules about contributing comments.  I expect civility and will not tolerate disrespectful behavior.  This is not to say we cannot disagree with one another.  I have learned that even if I don’t share the attitude or expectations of another person, what they say informs me and contributes to my growth.  

As I police my own language, I expect others to police theirs.  I consider good language to be a sign of decent breeding.  Call me a prig if you like, just don’t call me anything unmentionable on my weblog.

With the niceties out of the way, let me also explain my purposes for writing.  Firstly, I am looking to connect with my colleagues.  This is especially true of my local colleagues in the Littleton, Colorado area.  Others are also welcome to read my weblog, but I will be tending to focus on what is going on locally, so their interest in it may be more limited.  I do hope that my content is so scintillating that even a person in Bora Bora will find it readable, but my main audience is intended to be from the Greater Denver metropolitan area.

Outside of those expectations, the sky is the limit. Topics may range from ethics, to politics, to technology, to furniture.  It’s my party.  I hope you’ll join me often … and tell your friends.