Public Libraries: The way that the essays are organized in the book really fleshes out the reader’s understanding of the people and events in your lives. I wanted to start by asking what was the challenge of selecting and organizing the essays?

Ann Patchett: Can I first say thank you so much for reading them in order, because I’ve sent the book out to writer friends and they’ve said, “I wanted to read the “Happy Marriage” piece first” or “I wanted to read the nun essay first” and I’m like, “No! No!”

If you write a novel you never have that experience of somebody calling you up and saying, “I just really had a hankering to read chapter eight first.” But because I have a novelist’s brain, this is really arranged like a novel. It’s supposed to build and reveal so you learn more about the characters as you go along. So it’s really troubling that people are not reading them in order. (laughs)

The way I put it together, as I think I say in the introduction, is a friend of mine sort of forced me into this and she brought me a group of [my previously published] essays. So I would read what she had put together and then I would think, “Who’s the weak sister?” And I would pull out one or two essays and then I would go back and try to write something that filled in a part of the story that was missing. And then I would read the whole book again and think, “Who’s the weak sister?” And by doing that, over the course of about two years, it was amazing how few essays stayed. Even at the very end I was pulling stuff out and putting other things in or combining several old essays to make a new one. The order really evolved.

PL: Your family and your romantic relationships are a big topic of these pieces. In writing these essays, how do you strike the balance between revealing intimate details about you and your loved ones’ lives while still respecting their privacy?

AP: All the pieces were published before the book came out so that’s an easy justification. Although, it really means something else entirely when you put them together. Weirdly, they become much more personal because they all deepen. I think the title essay was the one I was most worried about. I gave it to my husband, my mother, and the middle stepfather – the one who gets such a bad rap in the essay. So I gave it to the three of them to read before I published it, and my stepfather was not happy but then he came around. He actually got on a plane and flew to Nashville to sit down and talk to me about it. And that was okay–we got through it.

My husband and my mother were both, “Oh, no. It’s fine. It’s totally fine.” So on one hand it does seem really personal, but then on the other hand, I think I’m the only person who’s not on Facebook. Isn’t everybody revealing everything? I think that it’s more that it’s emotionally vulnerable or honest than it is I’m revealing great facts about my life. I had an affair when I was twenty-five. I’m forty-nine. Who cares? It’s not exactly breaking news.

PL: But it’s still brave to put out that information and be so exposed.

AP: Yeah, but I tell you, my sense of privacy–and I have a very developed sense of privacy— has nothing to do with facts. Any fact in that book you could find out if you rolled up your sleeves and went to work on it. Privacy is what’s going on in my head, what I’m thinking about, my hopes and dreams and what I want to do with my life.

PL: In “The Getaway Car,” you write about how valuable having a reader has been for you, and the role that Elizabeth McCracken and Jane Hamilton have played as you write your novels. What role do these readers play and what are the hallmarks of a great reader?

AP: Somebody who’s quick, somebody who’s very direct, somebody who gives me real hands-on advice and criticism. The person who really reads for me now is Miele Meloy, who if she wasn’t such a great writer, I would really think she should become an editor, especially with the essays. Elizabeth has always worked with me on fiction but not on nonfiction—that’s really been Miele. So all of these essays, Miele has had some hand in.

I can send her an essay and man, she’s just laser smart. “Take this sentence out. Move this sentence around.” She just cleans everything up. It’s the difference between me making my bed and a really great hotel making my bed. It’s just so perfect. And I think sometimes we can’t do that for ourselves. I can take my work 98% of the way but that little two percent, that final straightening, it’s really wonderful to have somebody else’s eyes on it. And I never want my editor to do it because I’m so parochial, I’m such a good student. I want my homework to be perfect when I hand it in. So I don’t want to give it to my editor and say, “Can you fix this?” I always want my editor to say, “This doesn’t need anything at all!” because I’ve been leaning on my friends.

PL: Do your editors ever get jealous of your friends?

AP: No, they’re relieved! They don’t want to do this. They’re busy people! (laughs)

PL: Correct me if I’m wrong, but for your writing process for your novels, you write the novels first and then use research to fill in the gaps. What role does research play in your writing?

AP: For fiction, I do try to use it to correct myself. A lot of times I’ll do my research if I’m halfway through a novel because if I start with the research I just don’t ever stop. It’s just so interesting. If you’re writing about evolutionary biology and you think, “You know, I really need to read this book about evolutionary biology,” what you learn by reading the book is you need to read ten more books and maybe go back to college and then maybe go to graduate school. It just always proves what you don’t know. And also, I really hate a book in which someone has clearly done an enormous amount of research, and therefore they’re going to force every fact they learned on me. So I think by using research as a means of correcting you’re not as likely to see the hand of research in the book.

Now for nonfiction, research often is the origin of the piece. For example the RV article [“My Road to Hell Was Paved”]—it wasn’t like I was ever going to rent an RV and drive through the West, but that was the assignment, so I had to go live the experience
and then write the piece.

PL: So for that essay in particular, the research was the actual doing of it? Was there any background reading that you did?

AP: That’s a funny piece, because it was a terrible piece. I wrote it for Outside magazine. It was an editor I only worked with that one time—and I don’t think I’ve ever had this experience—but he wrote like, half of it and didn’t run it by me. It was very much a service piece. There were all of these facts about how many RVs are sold and what their fuel consumption is and how many accidents RV have. It was stuff I didn’t write, didn’t read, wasn’t interested in. And none of the personal stuff was in that story because it wasn’t appropriate for Outside magazine to write about my relationship with my boyfriend.

When I started putting the book together, I pulled that piece out and I read it—and it was a bad piece and I wasn’t going to put it in the book—but I was overwhelmed with the memories of the really big things that happened on that trip and how it really did play a role in the arc of the narrative of the book. So I threw out ninety percent of it and just rewrote it, sort of wrote the story of what really happened. I kept the beginning where we pick it up and kept the very end where we turn it in, [and then wrote] all the stuff about the motorcycle ride and our not being together and kind of coming back together that I had never written in the [original] piece. It was really fun. You get to go back and have your say.

PL: I wanted to talk about Bel Canto being adapted into an opera, particularly because you’re so passionate about opera. What does it mean to you to see your book adapted? Do you have any role in the opera’s creation?

AP: I don’t have any role. I’m happy for them. I hope it all goes well. That’s almost all I’d want to say on the subject because it has almost been so many things. It’s almost been an opera two other times. It’s almost been a movie six times. It’s almost been a Broadway musical. And everything falls apart. These things happen, and everybody’s like, “Aren’t you excited?” and I’m like, “Not so much.” I hope it happens. I love the Lyric, everybody seems to be completely on top of it, but every experience I have had thus far in seeing Bel Canto changed into something else has never come to pass. I like to think it’s because I’ve been saving myself for the Lyric all this time. So we’ll see.

PL: It’s one of those things where it’s almost better to wait until it’s actually here?

AP: I always think, “I won’t buy a dress until a couple of weeks before.” Whatever it turns out to be, I’ll be happy. Once I finish a book I never read it again and I really forget about it completely. I have no sense of ownership about Bel Canto or any of my books. I sold it to a bunch of really smart, talented, creative people and I bet they’ll do something really interesting with it. But it’s like I don’t have a horse in the race.

PL: Why aren’t you interested in looking back at your past work?

AP: I’ve got books to write! I’ve got books up ahead.

PL: There’s only so much time

AP: And also, you write a book and you’re so in it and you care so passionately. It’s your whole world for two or three years and you read it over and over and over again as you edit it and copy-edit it and proofread it and take other people’s advice and rework it that by the time, it’s done.

PL: How has co-owning Parnassus Books shaped how you view the role of the library?

AP: I’ve been on the library board a lot longer than I’ve owned a bookstore and I’ve been a spokesperson for libraries for a long time. I speak at a lot of libraries and have been very vocal about my support of libraries and the importance of libraries in the community.

It’s been a wonderful thing because the fact that I’ve been so involved with my library, and now that I own this bookstore, I’ve been able to create a partnership between these two entities—not by myself by any means. But it’s such a logical partnership. A lot of people think, “Well, here’s one organization that’s selling a book and another organization that’s loaning them out for free, so they should be at odds with one another.” And they’re not.

There’s not an endless number of people who really want to read and really care about books. We need to all pull together and expand our audience as much as we can. I would say I’m in even deeper with the library now since I’ve had the bookstore.

Also, when we lost our bookstores in Nashville the library really jumped in. I was an orphaned author! When I was on book tour for State of Wonder, my hometown bookstore was gone. I was scheduled to read at Davis-Kidd and it was gone. So the library stepped in and said, “You can have the reading here.” I remember things like that. I really hold on to the nice things people do for me and make sure it all comes back.

The post A Partnership Between These Two Entities: A Conversation with Ann Patchett first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

When a patron is looking for your library on the Internet, they might not always be able to find the correct information. OCLC has developed a new
program called Library Spotlight, which pulls information from the World-Cat Registry and connects your library’s information with online directories like Yelp. Libraries can update their Library Spotlight profile with basic information, such as hours, as well as include photos, Wi-Fi access, and other social content. OCLC hopes that with Library Spotlight, the library will be seen as a place, like other social institutions
in a community. To claim your library’s spot, visit www.worldcat.org/spotlight/organization and create an account.

Hachette Now Offers E-Books to Public Libraries

Since May 8, Hachette Book Group has been offering its e-books to public libraries. The e-books will cost three times the price of the print book, but libraries will be able to lend them out an unlimited number of times to a single user. All the books in Hachette’s e-book collection will be available, including new releases. Once the book has been published for one year, the e-book price will decrease.

Hachette Book Group spent years with the American Library Association (ALA) and the New York Public Library (NYPL) developing this price plan and has launched pilots in hopes that this plan will benefit both Hachette Book Group and libraries across the country. ALA President Maureen Sullivan said, “I applaud Hachette Book Group’s decision to broaden its offerings to public and school libraries. Hachette will now include new e-book releases with no embargo period and an unlimited number of circulations. This step moves libraries closer to ensuring that patrons will be able to enjoy the same access to e-books as they have to print books. It also recognizes the critical role that libraries play in bringing authors and readers together in the digital age.” This price plan will be reviewed annually, with the help of ALA.

Gale Expands to Offer National Geographic Kids

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, is now adding National Geographic Kids as part of its National Geographic Virtual Library products. The National Geographic Kids collection will contain issues of the magazine from 2009 to present, 500 downloadable images, and reference and nonfiction books published by National Geographic Kids. National Geographic Readers are another great included resource, which feature detailed information on a specific wildlife, certain historic figures, natural phenomenon, and more. A special interface has been created so that kids can
easily access the content.

Baker & Taylor Introduces axisReader for Axis360

Baker & Taylor has developed a brand new e-reader app called axisReader that will allow patrons to checkout, download, and read books from their library as long as their library has Axis360. The app will be available for iOS through iTunes and Android through Google Play. They will continue to offer the Blio e-reader, another Baker & Taylor app that provides a fully accessible reading experience.

EBSCO Adds Primary Source Civil War Documents to Historical Collection

Ever growing its digital archive, EBSCO has added Civil War Primary Source Documents, a selection of holdings from the New York Historical  Society, to its collection. Documents can be accessed through EBSCO’s Historical Digital Archives Viewer, a way for patrons to explore and collect
content for their historical research projects. The collection will include documents from 1861 to 1865 from both sides of the war, including manuscripts, diary pages, photos, images, and more. Highlights include letters and first-person accounts from such well-known leaders as Ulysses S. Grant; the papers of David Cronin, a famous soldier and artist; soldiers’ diaries chronicling daily life and experiences as prisoners of war; Union Defence Committee records; and Confederate Army records.

Gale Forms Partnership with Associated Press

Gale has announced that it has formed a partnership with the Associated Press (AP), thus adding millions of news articles from AP to its database, as well as bureau records, letters and personal papers from reporters, and more. Unpublished materials will also be included in the archives, as well as journalists’ notes, adding a dimension to news stories that have never before been experienced. “We’re thrilled to be embarking on this partnership with one of the most respected news organizations in the world,” said Frank Menchaca, executive vice president, research solutions, for Cengage Learning. During this multi-year project, Gale will form a team specifically to work on developing digital products to go with the materials, with the first products rolling out sometime next year.

Simon & Schuster Starts E-Book Pilot Program

New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public Library have begun a one year e-book pilot program with publisher Simon & Schuster. During the pilot, the libraries will be able to circulate books from Simon & Schuster, and titles will include all published books as well as new titles. Every book purchased would circulate at one user per copy. Patrons of the libraries will be offered a chance to buy the books, and if they do, the library will receive a percentage of the profits. 3M will be responsible for the distribution of the Simon & Schuster titles for lending, while BiblioCommons will be responsible for the purchase experience. “As our users increasingly turn to digital media, public libraries need to be poised and ready to serve their needs with a range of digital materials including e-books and loanable e-readers,” said Queens Library President and CEO Thomas W. Galante.

Innovative Interfaces and Overdrive Working to Develop Deep API Integration

Public Libraries using Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (III) platforms, such as Sierra and Encore Discovery Services, will now be able to integrate Overdrive into the platform for a seamless checkout experience for their patrons. III and Overdrive has been planning a deep API integration of Overdrive’s “Content API,” which would allow for patrons to place holds and checkout items from a library’s digital collection catalog. A “patron authentication API” will also be added so that libraries ensure the security of patron accounts. “Innovative is actively seeking out partnerships like this one that will enhance integration and provide more seamless service to library users,” said Innovative CEO Kim Massana. “I’m very pleased to be partnering with OverDrive on this important e-books initiative and applaud them for making such a strong commitment to openness and integration with our core products.”

The post New Product News – May/June 2013 first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

During my career as a librarian and, in particular, as a supervisor, I interviewed many candidates for the position of cataloging librarian. Few were prepared to answer the question, “What are the essential qualities of a successful cataloging librarian?” The most popular response given was “detail oriented.” While the very nature of working as a cataloging librarian requires comfort in managing detailed tasks, there exist many more qualities essential to an effective and efficient cataloging librarian. The following ten qualities will help you achieve success in cataloging.

1. Competence

There is nothing more important in cataloging than professional knowledge; this includes theoretical background as well as technical skills for cataloging. Knowledge of cataloging tools is a must-have. Basic cataloging tools include the following:

• Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2) and/or Resource Description & Access (RDA)
• MARC 21 Formats for Bibliographic Data
• WebDewey and/or printed Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
• Library of Congress Classification (LCC)
• Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
• Library of Congress Subject Cataloging Manual (LCSCM)
• OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards
• Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging Policy Statements (LC-PCC PSs)
• Library of Congress Name Authorities
• CONSER Cataloging Manual (for Serials)

A cataloging librarian must not only know how to use these tools and this knowledge, but also how to keep abreast of the latest changes and updates. Cataloging tools and rules change regularly to reflect or accommodate changes or new developments. Reading professional publications is helpful for learning about updates and changes in cataloging tools and building plans to keep up with them.

Understanding whole functions of the integrated library system (ILS)—that is, relationships between cataloging, serials control, circulation, online public access catalog (OPAC), and acquisition functions—is necessary to create the most useful records for catalog users. Understanding the cataloging module inside and out is a key requirement. Does the cataloging module provide effective authority control? Does the cataloging module allow input of detailed holdings and status information? Does the cataloging module provide for indexing on any bibliographic fields or subfields for searching? The answers to these questions are helpful in learning and mastering the cataloging module.

Knowing how to use one national bibliographic utility (e.g., OCLC or Skyriver), including the authority file, is another requisite skill. Understanding the relationship between AACR2/RDA and MARC coding is important for creating original bibliographic records in the bibliographic utility. Also important is being familiar with the criteria for deciding when to contribute a new record to the bibliographic utility to avoid duplicate records and unnecessary efforts.

2. Accuracy

In the Internet Age, searching the library catalog is essential. Accurate inputting of item descriptions and access points in the record that can accurately represent an item is necessary for effective retrieval by catalog users.

Typos and MARC coding mistakes in the bibliographic record affect searching results in the OPAC. Some mistakes in the item record affect an item’s loan period or location information. Typos in call numbers affect patrons’ browsing and staff’s shelving. It often requires relabeling spine labels. Inaccuracies from typos and other mistakes in the bibliographic or item records create extra work for the staff to fix them. Correcting mistakes is very expensive but will be avoided if the job is done correctly the first time. Furthermore, while the staff is correcting the mistakes, patrons are inconvenienced by the unavailability of an item. Accurate keyboarding skills are necessary for inputting information in the records correctly. Every effort should be made to avoid mistakes in editing or inputting information in the records.

3. Efficiency

No library has an unlimited budget. Most libraries are nonprofit organizations and are responsible for spending money effectively and efficiently instead of focusing on generating revenues. Accordingly, cost-effectiveness in cataloging should be pursued; a cataloging librarian should have a strong sense of economy in cataloging and provide the best quality record for the least cost. A cataloging librarian needs to be cognizant of increasing efficiency while cataloging as well as of the factors that can affect the achievement of these goals.

The method for editing records matters. These days, to save cataloging time and cost, most cataloging librarians utilize the records from a bibliographic utility by editing its records according to the institution’s needs. As an editing method, screen editing (editing live) should be used instead of paper editing (writing out copy to be edited later) because paper editing is very costly and inefficient (see the article “Increasing Technical Services Efficiency to Eliminate Cataloging Backlogs”).¹ Utilizing macro functions and shortcuts not only eliminates the repetition of steps, but also reduces the amount of time typing entries. The method for editing records should be reassessed periodically. The editing method that minimizes costs and maximizes efficiency should be utilized.

Workflow and procedures also affect efficiency. Materials should not be handled more than once. The cataloging tasks should be prioritized by urgency and record availability from a bibliographic utility. Creating and utilizing reference cheat sheets for repeatedly used classification numbers helps expedite the process of classifying without always having to use the classification tool. It is necessary to constantly assess workflow, eliminate redundant or unnecessary procedures or steps, and maintain an efficient workflow for expediting the process of cataloging to deliver materials to patrons in a timely manner.

Time-management and organizing skills affect efficiency. In addition to the regular cataloging workload, a cataloging librarian handles projects. These include reclassification, record maintenance, and elimination of backlog. To complete the project by the deadline, effective management of the workload and working hours based on priority is highly valuable. Serious planning and effort should be made to develop strong time-management and organizational skills.

4. Consistency

Consistency is a key factor in organizing the library collection. The cataloging rules and standards should be applied consistently to provide a consistent level of cataloging quality. The classification numbers and subject headings should be assigned while considering the collection as a whole to provide and maintain subject consistency and uniformity throughout the library collection. Standardization of descriptions and construction of access points should be done consistently as far as possible to increase the ability to share bibliographic and authority data.
When national cataloging rules, tools, and standards cannot accommodate all the needs of your specific community, a cataloging librarian needs to establish local policies or practices. These local policies, rules, and procedures need to be well documented for consistency and continuity within the library collection from current to future processes.

Consistency comes from the cataloging librarian’s logical and consistent mind-set. Cultivating and strengthening the logical and consistent mind-set is necessary because it affects the integrity and organization of the whole library collection.

5. Adaptability

The library world is changing more rapidly than ever, especially in terms of technology and workflow. Libraries often will implement a new ILS or upgrade it. This usually provides new features and enhancements and often requires changes in the existing workflow. A cataloging librarian should be flexible enough to quickly unlearn the old ways and learn how to use the new features and enhancements of the system while being flexible enough to adopt new workflows for better productivity.

What counts as a sufficient reason to do something in one setting may not count in another setting. Decisions need to be revisited and reviewed as needed. Cataloging procedures and policies can be changed to reflect new decisions or to provide better service for patrons. The amount of materials ordered fluctuates throughout the fiscal year according to availability and library budgets. The formats of library materials ordered change according to the demands and needs of the community and demographic changes. All these changes affect the cataloging librarian’s workflow and workload. Being aware of, and understanding, these changes in the department and library help the cataloging librarian adapt to the new workflows and workload easily.

6. Judgment

In assigning subject headings and classification numbers, applying cataloging rules, and inputting information into the ILS using MARC format, many issues arise causing uncertainty and ambiguity. These issues are not always easily dealt with and require good judgment.

Cataloging rules and standards are precoordinated. In original cataloging, there is a great deal of interpretation in trying to fit actual contents within the scope of existing subject headings, classification, and cataloging rules. AACR2 and MARC were established a long time ago when we did not have online and digital materials. Even though they were revised many times, they do not cover every possible scenario. Cataloging judgment is needed where “if in doubt,” “if appropriate” or “supply” is presented in the cataloging rules and standards. A cataloging librarian should be comfortable making good judgments in handling gray areas and differences in interpretation of cataloging rules and standards. Good judgment based on logical reasoning and cataloging principles is necessary.

There are many resources that provide good examples and explanations to help support making good judgments in cataloging—LC-PCC PSs, LCSCM, Cataloger’s Judgment,² and Maxwell’s Handbook for AACR2,3 for example. Also, other cataloging librarians’ wisdom or judgments can be obtained by joining electronic discussion lists such as OLAC-L and the AUTOCAT electronic discussion list.

7. Problem Solving

In implementing cataloging rules and standards, a cataloging librarian faces many issues with practicality or causing inconvenience to patrons. Cataloging rules and classification are evolving systems, so there are always periodic updates. A cataloging librarian should be comfortable in deciding what or how much to implement from the updates for his or her library. He or she also should be comfortable in deciding how to achieve the optimal balance both between quality and quantity and between consistency and flexibility.

Problem-solving skills based on logical reasoning are necessary to resolve small and big issues of practicality in cataloging. A cataloging librarian needs to be able to see the big picture of a collection to find long-term solutions, not just quick fixes. The solutions should be cost effective, realistic, practical to implement, and convenient and easy for patrons. If a library is a part of a consortium, the consortium’s cataloging policies and rules should be considered in finding solutions. Sometimes some exceptions to cataloging rules need to be considered to provide convenience for library patrons.

Once the solutions are found and decisions are made to implement them, following through with them is important. It is also important to have the professional courage to fix or change course right away if there are mistakes in the solutions or decisions made.

8. Commitment

Supervisors want a cataloging librarian who seeks a challenge and tries to exceed expectations. He or she should be willing to find answers to a question about cataloging or to find a solution to a problem. A strong sense of responsibility to perform at the highest level should be cultivated. Striving to be known for excellence brings not only success on the job but also satisfaction and fulfillment.

A cataloging librarian should periodically review the job description and technical requirements and work to improve or enhance his or her abilities. A continuing commitment to do the best job is necessary for more productive cataloging.

A cataloging librarian needs to have a good understanding of the documented local procedures, policies, and practices in cataloging to provide consistency throughout the collection and for future use. However, documentation alone does not result in productive cataloging. Memory plays an important role in increasing productivity in cataloging. A cataloging librarian should make a continuing commitment to remember local procedures, policies, practices, and cataloging rules until they become automatic, allowing him or her to be more productive in cataloging.

9. Research Ability

The growth and development of the library profession depends on extensive research. Research is an important tool for advancing knowledge. A cataloging librarian deals with and organizes a variety of subject areas. He or she needs to systematically research the subjects, terminologies, and languages that he or she is not familiar with. The ability to find the information necessary to solve problems and make decisions is useful. Being familiar with research guides and reference resources, whether printed or online, and having research skills are helpful for doing authority work or classification and subject analysis.

10. Self-Discipline

The honor system is the best system. Self-control is the best control. Self-monitoring one’s own work ethics and habits and inspecting one’s own work is the best quality control. A cataloging librarian should have ownership of his or her work.

The self-motivated plan is the best plan. A cataloging librarian should develop his or her own daily, weekly, and monthly plans to increase cataloging productivity. He or she should set up his or her own short- and long-term professional career development plans or programs to improve and maintain professional knowledge in cataloging. Investing for the future is crucial to success in any career.

The work of the cataloging librarian is to examine physical items or electronic resources to be cataloged. It involves repetitiveness of scanning or typing and sitting and reading a computer screen for extended periods. Sometimes this can cause health problems. It is important to take care of one’s health to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, or eye problems. To be more productive, the workstation should be configured to support neutral body positioning and facilitate a comfortable posture.

A cataloging librarian has coworkers, but most of the time works alone and independently. He or she needs to be comfortable working alone independently, not easily distracted by background noise, and able to concentrate on his or her own work. Conclusion Success as a cataloging librarian requires a commitment to acquire and maintain professional knowledge in cataloging and maintain high productivity in both quality and quantity. The roles and duties of the cataloging librarian are important because circulation and reference staff and patrons rely on and use the information that a cataloging librarian inputs into the ILS. He or she needs to make diligent and systematic efforts to input the data in the ILS accurately so it can be easily searchable by catalog users. Periodically ask yourself, “Do I have the essential qualities for this position?” and commit to doing all the things that would enable you to answer yes. Good luck on your cataloging librarian position!

REFERENCES

1. Myung Gi Sung, “Increasing Technical Services Efficiency to Eliminate Cataloging Backlogs,” Public Libraries 43, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2004): 347.
2. Jay Weitz, Cataloger’s Judgment (Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2004).
3. Robert L. Maxwell, Maxwell’s Handbook for AACR2 (Chicago: ALA, 2004).

The post Ten Essential Qualities for Success: A New Cataloging Librarian’s Guide from a Supervisor’s Perspective first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

As of 2011, a whopping one-quarter of the U.S. population is aged 55 or older.¹ Despite the fact that the people who span different generations have varying life experiences, cultural references, and exposure to educational opportunities, they all share the same very human needs: to create, convene, learn, and express themselves. The arts are the perfect lens through which older adults may explore life and share their personal experiences with others.

The fact that the older adult population is growing heralds an exciting opportunity for libraries to reimagine programming for this healthier generation who seek active engagement in a social environment. Libraries, the most universal and most democratic of America’s cultural institutions, are “age neutral” and so appeal to older adults who are reluctant to go to senior centers. Increasingly important as community centers for learning and cultural access, libraries are ideally positioned to evolve as centers for creative aging.

Creative Aging Programs

The emerging field of creative aging focuses on the powerful and beneficial role of the arts in improving the quality of life for older adults. Creative aging programs—arts education for older adults—offer sequential instruction in all disciplines (visual, performing, and literary arts) with goals of skills mastery and social engagement.

Now in its fifth year, the Creative Aging Public Libraries Project is a demonstration and capacity-building program that supports collaborations between professional teaching artists and public libraries resulting in free instructional arts programs for older adults. The program has been developed by Lifetime Arts, a national nonprofit organization based in New York, in partnership with eight major library systems in four states. To build the capacity of libraries to initiate, develop, and sustain creative aging programming, Lifetime Arts provides incentive grants to select library system partners and employs a replicable program model and approach that includes professional development, ongoing technical assistance, and access to resources for participating librarians, library administrators, artists, and other partners.

The work is based on a vision for mobilizing the trusted, familiar, information-rich public space of the library to deliver arts education for older adults. That vision includes building effective collaborations between teaching artists and librarians and building the capacity of different library systems to carry out and sustain creative aging programs.

Teaching artists and librarians find that they share a vision for positive aging and bring complementary strengths to designing and implementing meaningful programs for older adults. One obvious advantage to holding creative aging programs in public libraries is the opportunity for participants to use the library to explore their medium or topic further.

In partnership with the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Programs Office (PPO), the Creative Aging Libraries Project program model and resources will be disseminated nationally through an online Creative Aging Toolkit for Public Libraries (available in June 2013). Lifetime Arts is currently developing an affiliate network that will offer training, resources, and access to a national network of creative aging practitioners.

This nationally recognized program is funded with generous grants from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, AARP Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Helen Andrus Benedict Foundation, Laura Jane Musser Trust, MetLife Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts. Current participating library systems include Boston Public Library; Brooklyn Public Library; Clinton Essex Franklin Library System, headquartered in Plattsburgh, New York; Dallas Public Library; Miami-Dade (Fl.) Public Library System; New York Public Library; and Westchester (N.Y.) Library System.

PPO is supporting the dissemination of the program through Programming Librarian.org and with a preconference workshop and general session at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference.

If Not Now, When?

When Lifetime Arts cofounder and President/CEO Maura O’Malley was caring for her own aging mother, she was struck by the lack of inclusive, participatory arts programs available to this population, who needed something engaging and productive to do with their time. “The assisted living facility where my mother was living offered residents a poetry program, but the poster advertising it stressed that it was ‘not for people who hadn’t written poetry before’ and specifically uninvited people who wanted to learn how to write poetry,” she said. “How frustrating is that?”² Moreover, after thirty years in arts education, O’Malley instinctively knew that making art is good for everyone and could be especially good for older adults. She would soon learn that there was research to back up her thinking.

In 2006, Gene Cohen, working out of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, published “The Creativity and Aging Study: The Impact of Professionally Conducted Cultural Programs on Older Adults.” The goal of this landmark study for which the National Endowment for the Arts was lead sponsor, was “to evaluate the effects relevant to general health, mental health, overall functioning, and sense of wellbeing in older persons caused by active participation in cultural programs provided by professional artists involved in visual and literary arts, music, and other cultural domains.”³

Cohen’s study found that for those older adults who participated in long-term, culturally enriching programs,

• overall health improved and stabilized;
• fewer doctor visits were required;
• less medication was necessary;
• fewer suffered from falling down and physical instability;
• feelings of morale increased while symptoms of depression decreased; and
• social and other activity increased, in some cases significantly.

That settled it for O’Malley. Following lengthy conversations over several months with Ed Friedman, longtime deputy director for the Bronx Council on the Arts with whom O’Malley was serving on a committee, the two veteran arts administrators realized that there was an enormous opportunity for libraries and other community organizations to use arts education programming to drastically improve the lives of older adults.

O’Malley quit her job at a major New York City arts education organization, she and Friedman cofounded Lifetime Arts in 2008, and they positioned it as a service organization to help build an infrastructure for the emerging field of creative aging. Friedman eventually retired from the arts council and started his full-time “encore” career at age 60. He serves as Lifetime Arts’ executive director.

Running the organization out of a spare room in O’Malley’s family home until November 2011, Lifetime Arts quickly attracted partners like the Westchester Library System and the New York Public Library. Through support from generous funders interested in supporting the arts and the use of programming in public libraries to combat isolation in older adults, Lifetime Arts has developed and implemented training institutes, tested and evaluated program service models, launched a creative aging roster of vetted teaching artists, and re-granted more than $375,000 to seven library systems in four states.

What Happens During Library-Based Creative Aging Programs?

Workshop series (usually a minimum of eight sessions, two hours each) are guided by professional teaching artists and allow for in-depth arts learning (mastery). Participants build skills, explore new materials, and learn a variety of art-making techniques. They share their learning with each other through facilitated, modeled conversation (social engagement). On average, registration for each series ranges from ten to twenty, depending on the discipline and space. Choruses often exceed forty participants.

Teaching artists create a safe, risk-free environment where experimentation and engagement is encouraged. Importantly, creative aging library programs foster new relationships between older adults and the larger community. They succeed in breaking down the chronic isolation and passive existence of many older adults as they unlock expressive abilities.

At each library, a culminating event—free and open to the public—celebrates the achievements of each participant and provides confirmation of the value of their work. Event attendees find encouragement and inspiration in the celebration of their peers’ accomplishments.

Librarians promote the workshop series locally and recruit participants. Partnering librarians and artists work together to identify library materials and resources to enhance the instruction, and librarians help patrons access those materials, further strengthening the bond between patron and library.

How It Works

The first step in planning any creative aging program in your library is to find out about the older population of your community and how it uses the library currently. Perhaps you have surveyed the population already to learn about their interests. If you haven’t asked your older adult patrons about their interests, do. You’ll be surprised! It is also a great idea to get to know which organizations in your community are offering arts education programs and which are already serving the 55+ population.

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you to determine what type of creative aging programming at your library makes sense for your community and whether there are partnerships that can be struck to take advantage of momentum and funding already in play.

In addition to the in-kind staff cost of running a public library program, an average eight-session creative aging workshop costs between $1,800 and $3,500. Teaching artist fees for instruction range between $35 and $150 per hour, and their planning and prep time ranges between $25 and $50 per hour. Art materials and supplies for participants (depending on the discipline) range between $10 and $35 per person.

Current Creative Aging Libraries Project participants are funded through restricted grants to serve particular library systems. Library Friends groups, local businesses, partnerships with arts organizations, library programming budgets, bequests, and foundation grants are all sources for program support.

Determine if there is adequate and appropriate space available in your library for arts instruction in the disciplines that you would like to offer. For example, wet media require a nearby water source. Similarly, if you are partnering with a senior center or other community space to offer a creative aging workshop series, determine whether they have the right kind of space, and be careful about the scheduling so that the classes don’t conflict with other regularly scheduled events (like meals). While your teaching artist partner is facilitating the program, the library coordinator will need to allocate time to provide administrative support.

Creative aging programs are defined as sequential learning (usually eight to twelve sessions) in a particular arts discipline led by qualified teaching artists. The artist develops and teaches a curriculum that will build skills mastery and foster social interaction. Teaching artists should focus on developing the skills of participants so that they can create original, expressive artwork. This includes learning how to use art-making materials and tools and experimenting with various forms and techniques. A skilled teaching artist builds opportunities for meaningful social engagement into each workshop session. While drop-in classes or even regular meetings (like knitting groups) in libraries are beneficial, they don’t necessarily
have the same impact as creative aging programs do.

Similarly, while librarians and local artists who show work at the library may forge lasting relationships, there is a big difference between an accomplished artist giving a successful talk on her own work and a teaching artist delivering sequential, skill-building art instruction. Sometimes
these are the same people, other times they are not. Local arts organizations are great resources for finding qualified teaching artists in your area.

Subscribe to the Lifetime Arts YouTube Channel to view videos of participants, teaching artists, and librarians. Follow @lifetimearts on Twitter and like us at Facebook.com/lifetimearts.

REFERENCES

1. “The Older Population in the United States: 2011,” United States Census Bureau, accessed Feb. 27, 2013.
2. Maura O’Malley, interview with the author, Feb. 15, 2013.
3. Gene D. Cohen et al., “The Impactof Professionally Conducted CulturalPrograms on the Physical Health, Mental Health, and Social Functioning of Older Adults,” The Gerontologist 48, no. 6 (2006): 726.

The post Lifetime Arts: Delivering Arts Education Programs for Today’s Older Adults first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Sustainability can be defined as “meeting current needs without compromising the opportunities of future generations.”¹ “Sustainable is the new strategic,” according to library consultants Joan Frye Williams and George Needham:

It’s time to move from an emphasis on strategic planning to an emphasis on sustainability planning. . . . The true test of sustainability is whether your plan is still viable when conditions change.

Sustainability is not about securing stable funding for what we’ve always done. We‘re facing a perfect storm of changing circumstances, a storm that has caused us to question every aspect of public library practice today. The dearth of funding available from local government makes it natural to talk about this topic now, but that’s only a proximate cause. Sustainability should be on our radar screens in good times as well as in bad.²

When I became director of the Chestatee Regional Library System (CRLS) in Dawsonville, Georgia, in 1997, it never occurred to me to wonder whether public libraries would exist in the future. Of course they would! Public libraries are the people’s university. They help Americans with the information they need to participate responsibly in our democracy. They level the playing field by providing equitable access to information and technology. The public library may be the only neutral gathering space in the community. All are welcome, regardless of age, viewpoint, or socioeconomic status. Public libraries contribute in important ways to the social, cultural, educational, recreational, economic, and civic life of our communities.

But today, public libraries across the country are facing significant challenges to sustained funding and support. The 2012 State of America’s Libraries, a report published by the American Library Association (ALA), called 2011 a “year of grim headlines.”³ In many communities, library access is abridged because of reduced hours and, in the worst cases, library closings. Mainstream media has also reflected this gloomy picture. The Huffington Post began a series of articles in late 2011 called “Libraries in Crisis.”⁴

Usage is Up

Statistics show that public library use continues to increase. The most recent statistics reported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) show that “visitation and circulation per capita have both increased in public libraries over the past 10 years. Per capita visitation increased 5 percent from the prior year.” The IMLS also found that “the role of public libraries in providing Internet resources to the public continues to increase. The availability of Internet-ready computer terminals in public libraries has doubled over the past 10 years. Internet PC use has also increased.”⁵ Employees of public libraries expect library use to continue to rise. According to a recent study, 85 percent expect an increase in the use of online library services while 55 percent expect use of physical facilities to increase over the next two years.⁶

People do value libraries. According to the 2011 Harris Poll National Quorum, 31 percent of respondents ranked the benefits of the public library at the top of the list compared to the benefits of other tax‐supported services, such as schools, parks, and roads. More than half (57 percent) ranked libraries in the middle of the list, and only 11 percent placed them at the bottom of the list of government services. A full 79 percent agreed: “My public library deserves more funding.”⁷ We might think that this higher use and the value placed on library services translate into greater and more widespread support. However, this is not the case, in part because many of our users are not politically empowered or are disenfranchised. In addition, we have not done an adequate job of engaging and training our supporters to speak up for libraries. The state of the economy and lack of political will to tax citizens for services certainly contribute to this situation as well.

Funding is Down

Despite the fact that people are using libraries more than ever, funding for libraries is in decline nationwide. The Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study found that “a majority (56.7 percent) of public libraries reported flat or decreased operating budgets in FY2012.”⁸ In a report on Library Journal’s 2012 Library Budgets Survey, Michael Kelley called the downward trend in funding “the new normal” and noted a national average decrease in public library open hours of more than ten hours a week from 2008 to 2011.⁹ The cumulative effect of annual budget reductions in recent years has been devastating for some libraries. Donna Howell is director of Mountain Regional Library System, my library system’s neighbor to the north covering Georgia’s counties of Fannin, Towns, and Union. She says that with the most recent cuts in state and local funding, she feels as though she is “presiding over hospice care for the library.” In the last few years positions have been eliminated, staff have been taking mandatory unpaid furlough days (some as many as twenty-four per year), open hours have been cut at all branches, and there are no funds for materials except those generated through donations and Friends of the Library efforts. Yet library use during that period has increased by 500 percent. “We’re not dying for lack of interest or use,” she said, “we’re dying from the benign neglect from those who can fund us, but choose not to do so.”¹⁰ Lamar Paris is the sole county commissioner of Union County, Georgia, one of the counties served by the Mountain Regional Library System. He loves the library, is proud of the new library in his county, and has done his best to keep the funding up for the library despite the fact that his 2012 county budget is less than it was in 2007. The library is, in his words, “one important piece of the quality-of-life puzzle.” When asked what libraries need to do to sustain funding, he emphasized establishing good relationships with elected officials: “You can’t overdo complimenting elected officials when you think they’re doing a good job or in the hopes that they’ll do a better job in the future. They’ll listen a little bit better if you start with a compliment.”

Paris said the secret to public library sustainability is “good leadership, good readership, and community support.” He wants to know that the library is being used and that people care about it. He suggests more contact with elected officials; even having a designated member of the Friends of the Library send one email a month would reap benefits.¹¹

Library leaders cannot afford to be complacent, assuming that good times for libraries will return as the economic outlook improves. We must adapt traditional tools and employ fresh thinking, new skills, discipline, and hard work. Specifically, we must develop agility to respond to a rapidly changing environment, new demands, emerging technologies, and shifting populations. Strategic planning is one means at our disposal to help us do that. Secondly, library leaders must leverage their community-building potential, staying close to customers and bringing people together in new ways. In addition, we must understand the significance of our libraries to our communities, and learn to effectively communicate that value to others.

Strategic Planning

Most public librarians and trustees understand the importance of strategic planning. Planning not only helps the library make the most appropriate use of its limited resources, it communicates stewardship to funders and other stakeholders. The best strategic planning is ongoing, an integral part of the way we do business. Effective strategic planning is one tool in your sustainability toolkit.

However, we have an imperative in today’s environment to do more than the traditional strategic planning. We must reinvent the library, and the first step is understanding the library at a fundamental level. Jim Collins, in his seminal work Good to Great, says that leaders should understand the timeless purpose of their organizations.¹² What did the library do a century ago that will still be important to do a century from now? Lending bound paper books is not likely to be a timeless purpose, whereas helping people learn might be.

Collins also encourages the clarification of core values for the organization. For the Anythink Libraries of Adams County, Colorado, these values include “compassion for our customers and each other, passion for our product, eagerness to learn, and optimistic attitude—we believe that anything is possible.”¹³ Once we understand our purpose and values, strategic planning and the implementation of a plan can flow from that foundation.

Building Community

Where there are high levels of community involvement with the library, support is more robust. The library as storehouse of information and resources, welcoming those who seek us out, will no longer suffice. We must increasingly be outside the library building, where the people are, and actively engaging our communities for the library to be seen as integral to the community infrastructure.

According to Ron Carlee, former chief operating officer of the International City/County Management Association, “One of the critical leadership skills today, in order to build a successful and sustainable organization, is building partnerships.” He cautions that “you may think you have the luxury not to worry about your local government; you do not if you want your organization to be effective in establishing its mission.” Carlee encourages librarians to get out of the library, and says they need to understand that they can’t wait to be asked: “They have to take the initiative to understand their community, what the power structure is, what the needs are, and to go out and market how the library is able and willing to help the community achieve its goals.”¹⁴

Sara Jones, director of the Carson City (Nev.) Library has been actively involved in building community. “We’re concerned about the future and vitality of this community and are at the table every place we can be,” she said.15 Because of a successful collaboration with the city, the Carson City Office of Community Development, which issues all business licenses, is managed by a library employee trained in small-business  development counseling.

Advocacy

Understanding your library’s value to the community will help you create an effective program of advocacy. When I served as library director of CRLS, I asked the local funders, in my case county commissioners, how they would like to receive information about the library. One said I should be able to answer the question, “So what?” (So what if more people are visiting? So what if they are attending more programs or checking out more materials?) We need to be able to tell our funding agencies and others what impact the library has on individuals and the community. To do that, we need to evaluate the outcomes of our programs and services and choose language that speaks to others clearly about our value.

We need to craft our advocacy messages in the context of community possibilities. Blogger R. David Lankes encourages us to

give up a deficit model and embrace the aspirations of the community. Rather than talking about how the community can’t read, or research, or access the Internet, we need to talk about how reading, researching, and accessing the Internet can help our communities unleash their potential. We should be asking how libraries help our communities thrive. If we can put together that vision in a compelling way, people will support libraries out of self-interest, not out of pity, charity, or a
sense of obligation.¹⁶

Molly Raphael, past ALA president, focused on transforming libraries during her presidential term, and current president Maureen Sullivan continues the theme. “We have used approaches that help libraries identify the different populations of their communities, figure out how to engage with the varied groups to understand their priorities, adjust library services to serve those groups, and then motivate those communities to speak out about the value of the libraries,” Raphael said.¹⁷

We need our public libraries. Our children and our grandchildren deserve them. The sustainable public library can be realized through reinvention and planning, building community, and effective advocacy. Best wishes on your journey to create a community-centered, cherished, and thriving public library!

REFERENCES

1. James W. Marcum, “Partnering for Innovation and Sustainability,” The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances 21, no. 3 (2008): 82.
2. Joan Frye Williams and George Needham, email to the author, May 31, 2012.
3. Executive summary to “The 2012 State of America’s Libraries,” special issue, American Libraries: 1, accessed Aug. 10, 2012.
4. “Libraries in Crisis,” The Huffington Post, accessed May 22, 2013.
5. Kim A. Miller et al., Public Libraries Survey Fiscal Year 2009 (Washington, D.C.: IMLS, October 2011), accessed Aug.10, 2012.
6. “A Snapshot of Priorities and Perspectives: U. S. Public Libraries” infographic, Online Computer Library Center, 2012, accessed Aug. 10, 2012.
7. Harris Interactive, “January 2011 Harris Poll Quorum,” Jan. 26, 2011, accessed Aug. 10, 2012.
8. “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2011–2012,” digital supplement, American Libraries (summer 2012): 6, accessed Aug. 10, 2012.
9. Michael Kelley, “The New Normal: Annual Library Budget Survey 2012,” Library Journal 62 (Jan. 16, 2012), accessed Aug. 10, 2012.
10. Donna Howell, email to the author, June 18, 2012.
11. Lamar Paris, telephone interview with the author, July 10, 2012.
12. Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don’t (New York: HarperCollins, 2001).
13. “2012–2014 Strategic Plan,” Anythink Libraries, accessed Aug.10, 2012.
14. Ron Carlee, telephone interview with the author, July 9, 2012.
15. Sara Jones, telephone interview with the author, July 6, 2012.
16. R. David Lankes, “Beyond the Bullet Points: It is Time to Stop Trying to Save Libraries,” Virtual Dave . . . Real Blog, Aug. 1, 2012, accessed Aug. 10, 2012.
17. “Transforming Libraries . . . Continued,” American Libraries 43, no. 5–6 (May/June 2012): 44–45, accessed Aug. 10, 2012.

The post Planning to Thrive: Sustainable Public Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

An Introduction

Peter McLaren, a bicycle tourist from Scotland, describes himself as a huge fan of the U.S. public library service. In 2011, during a bicycle tour across the United States, Peter made frequent visits to libraries to update his online journal, check email, and talk to the librarians about the area. One day in Colorado he was delayed in crossing Hoosier Pass by a big thunderstorm. Peter figured the Fairplay Public Library was an excellent place to wait until the weather passed. His stormy entrance to the library resulted in staff and patrons rushing to his rescue. Soon the librarian was phoning the nearby Breckinridge Library to check on the weather on the other side of the pass. Other people were working to find Peter and his cycling companion alternative accommodation for the night. One library patron offered the use of her cabin in nearby Alma, only six miles down the road. As Peter remarked, “That kind of micro-information is sometimes hard to find . . . a library can be an oasis.”¹

Bicycle tourists such as Peter are people that travel by bicycle. They may be on a short overnight trip, a week-long ride across the state, or a three-month journey across the United States. They may be travelling by themselves or in the company of thousands of other cyclists. Some bicycle tourists ride self-contained—carrying all their camping gear and other necessities on their bikes. Many bicycle tourists bypass cities for quiet rural areas or remote scenic locations. In these locations, cell phones or modems may have difficulty in picking up a signal. And although some towns are too small to have a McDonalds or coffee shop, most of them do have a public library. For bicycle tourists, libraries provide beneficial services such as a place to relax, electricity to recharge electronic devices, access to computers and the internet, and the opportunity to speak with a local person knowledgeable about the area.

Adventure Cycling Association: Supporting Public Libraries and Bicycle Tourists

One group that has recognized this special relationship between bicycle tourists and public libraries is the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA), a nonprofit advocacy group for people traveling by bicycle. Over the last thirty-five years, ACA has researched and produced more than 41,000 miles of routes for the bicycle tourist. Their maps list services such as bike shops, hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, grocery stores, and post offices. Around 2001, users of these maps requested that Adventure Cycling begin to include sites that provided Internet access as well. According to Carla Majernik, routes and mapping director for Adventure Cycling, she and other staff members realized potential problems in listing Internet cafés on the maps because of the transient nature of such businesses. According to the ACA staff, the logical choice for connectivity was local public libraries. Beginning in 2003, Adventure Cycling began to list libraries on their maps. Today the ACA maps include an estimated 1,500 public library locations throughout the United States.

Although some bicycle tourists create their own trip itinerary, many follow the Adventure Cycling routes. The most popular cross-country Adventure Cycling route is the TransAmerica Trail, established in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial. This route stretches 4,241 miles from Astoria, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia. One library along this route is the Damascus Branch Library of the Washington County Public Library System in Virginia, notable for serving both cyclists riding the TransAmerica Trail and through-hikers on the intersecting Appalachian Trail.

A second cross-country route is the Northern Tier route, spanning 4,294 miles between Anacortes, Washington, and Bar Harbor, Maine. The Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor is just down the street from the Village Green, the center of community activity in busy downtown Bar Harbor. According to the library director, Ruth Eveland, they see many bicycle tourists ending or just beginning the Northern Tier route, as well as bicyclists seeking information about cycling the carriage roads in nearby Acadia National Park.

The shortest transnational route, at a “mere” 3,058 miles, is the Southern Tier route between San Diego, California, and St. Augustine, Florida. Travelling the Southern Tier route, bicycle tourist Marti Fine said the library staff at the Washington Municipal Library in Washington, Louisiana, went out of their way to welcome her and her husband Dave. The couple had just finished checking email and updating their online journal when one of the staff invited them to the back room where, in Marti’s words, “she placed on the table a container of something that smelled great. It was a delicious dish of shrimp creole from one of the town’s best lunch spots, the Cafe Opera. What a wonderful treat!”²

Crazy Guys (and Gals) on Bikes

A popular website that offers insight into bicycle tourism is called crazyguyonabike. Here you will find more than 7,500 journals (personal diaries that describe bicycle trips), along with more than one million pictures of bicycle adventures from all over the world. The online journals make it clear that bicycle tourists are using public libraries. Searching for the keywords library or libraries in the online journals resulted in 9,948 hits. The journals are full of anecdotes of librarians helping cyclists in unexpected ways—locating medical care, offering a place to spend the night, and even feeding hungry cyclists.

The journal of Jim and Dianna Devisser reads like a travel log of public libraries. In the summer of 2012, the Devissers bicycled part of the Northern Tier route from Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Seattle. They made the trip without a mobile phone and used libraries to update their online journal, check email, ask directions, use the restrooms, obtain water, find town information and camping choices, and to take an occasional nap. In total, they stopped at thirty-three public libraries on their forty-two-day journey.

Reading the online journals gives an idea of what it is like to be a bicycle tourist. Your trip may be in the middle of the summer, in 100+ degree heat, or you may be cycling into a strong headwind or cycling in the rain or cold weather. You cycle forty to eighty miles a day, often passing through small towns in rural areas of the country. At times it can be quite lonely. People often ride routes solo or with one other person. Communicating with spouses, family, and friends back home is an important part of the journey.

Using Public Libraries to Stay Connected

Bicycle tourists are using public libraries for a variety of communication needs. Will Stein, reference librarian for the Washington County (Va.) Public Library System, says bicycle tourists use their computers for blogging and checking email. For those bicycle tourists who travel with smart phones, tablets, or laptops, public libraries usually provide free Wi-Fi access. At the La Crescent Public Library in Wisconsin, Director LaVonne Beach says they provide twenty-four-hour Wi-Fi access both inside and outside the library. They even provide outdoor seating for after-hours Wi-Fi users.

A surprising number of bicycle tourists travel with no phone or only a “stupid” phone, as bicycle tourist Chuck Harmon refers to standard cell phones. A cyclist from Ohio, Chuck sees bicycle touring as an opportunity to get away from nonstop email and Internet dominating his day. Instead he stops at public libraries to use their computers to upload photos and update his journal. Because he does not like to pre-plan his trips, he also uses libraries to plan his route and camping stop for the next day. Josette Coffman, who travels without a cellphone, says libraries are her primary source of connectivity. Libraries are so woven into her daily schedule that her mother once asked her “is this a bike tour or a library tour?”³

Ease of computer access is of primary importance to bicycle tourists. Marti Fine said they used libraries regularly to update their online journal and to check email along the Southern Tier Route. Only once did they feel the Internet access fee was prohibitive (five dollars). Usually access to computers was free or at a very minimal charge. Jim Devissier thought the public library in Bismarck, North Dakota, had the best computer access rules: no games or Facebook, and email was on separate computers at the cost of twenty-five cents for fifteen minutes. Jim feels that this made it possible for computers to be available at all times.

And the difference between stopping in a public library or stopping at McDonald’s for Wi-Fi access? Chuck Harmon says he always feels obligated to buy something anytime he stops at a place of business, but not at a library. He also spoke highly of the atmosphere of public libraries: “You’re made to feel welcome, and there are so many little things that you can do there that seem small and trivial but are very important to a self-contained cyclist.”⁴ Iain Cullen, a bicycle tourist from Scotland, says McDonald’s and public libraries complement each other. He likes libraries for their quietness, comfortable seating, space, and access to electric outlets. On the other hand, he feels more comfortable talking aloud on Skype in McDonald’s, plus there is food available for purchase.

International Outreach

Many of the bicycle tourists are international visitors discovering and using American public libraries. Toni Thompson from England says that public libraries are great for keeping in touch with family and friends, plus speaking with someone about the region: “I can update my web site . . . one of the bonuses is getting to talk to some of the local people including the librarians, lots of good information about the area.”⁵

Cullun said that “United States libraries are superb. No matter what other facilities a small town was known to have or lack, if it had a library, I looked forward to getting there. Friendly staff, a comfortable seat away from the heat or the cold and rain, access to books, Wi-Fi, and toilets. Most of a touring cyclist’s immediate needs taken care of right away.”⁶ Another Scot and self-proclaimed U.S. library fan, Peter McLaren, remarked that given the state of the economy in Scotland, many of the libraries have closed or have limited hours. He noticed that is not the case in the United States, and even the smallest towns had libraries opened regular hours—a service he came to depend on.

Often hearing accents among bicycle tourists, Cliff Croxford, a desk clerk at the Madison County Public Library in Berea, Kentucky, said the library started displaying a world map, asking cyclists to pin their home location. This library recently hosted a large group of international cyclists riding through Berea, including bicyclists from New Zealand, Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, and parts of Asia. Bicycle tourists from outside of the United States are accustomed to paying for Internet access at cyber cafés. Being unacquainted with American public libraries, Cliff remarked that international bicycle tourists often inquire about the cost of computer access.

Statewide Bike Rides: RAGBRAI and GOBA

In addition to self-supported bicycle touring, cross-state group bicycle rides are sponsored in more than forty U.S. states. Two such rides are the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) and the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA). The RAGBRAI is the oldest and largest such bike ride, with its inaugural ride dating back to 1973. In 2012, the weeklong RAGBRAI ride included more than ten thousand official cyclists accompanied by an estimated five to ten thousand unregistered rogue riders. The week-long GOBA ride is smaller, limited to three thousand riders. Each of these rides is supported, meaning that the organizers carry riders’ gear and camping equipment, leaving the cyclists with less weight to carry.

The Day the Cyclists Came to Town

Many of the towns selected to host RAGBRAI contain far fewer citizens than the ride’s estimated fifteen to twenty thousand bicycle tourists. In 2012, several small towns in Iowa hosted RAGBRAI—towns such as Cherokee (population 6,000), Lake View (1,142), Webster City (8,070), and Anamosa (5,600). During the day of RAGBRAI visit, the population of these towns increased by 200–1,000+ percent. The public libraries in each of these communities found themselves hosts to hundreds of hot, tired cyclists looking for electricity, computers, and an escape from the weather.

Libraries in both Iowa and Ohio reported huge increases of library users during the 2012 statewide bike rides. During RAGBRAI, the Lakeview (Iowa) Library reported an estimated four hundred cyclists using the library, while the Marshalltown (Iowa) Public Library hosted two to three hundred cyclists. Despite being smaller than RAGBRAI, the GOBA ride resulted in the largest number of cyclists visiting a public library. That honor goes to the Floyd E. Younkin Branch of the Pickaway County (Ohio) District Public Library in Ashville (population 3,200). This library branch hosted more than six hundred cyclists during GOBA’s visit, in comparison to their usual seventy-five daily library users.

Library Services for the Hot and Tired Cyclist

Since both of these rides take place in the summer, the weather can be brutal, with high temperatures and thunderstorms. Many of the riders are seeking refuge from the heat, with temperatures often above 100 degrees. According to Joy Jewett, branch coordinator of the Floyd E. Younkin Branch Library in Ashville, Ohio, “Many cyclists took advantage of our air conditioning, and simply relaxed around the library reading books, newspapers, and magazines. We even had several fall asleep on our floor.”⁷ In addition, libraries reported cyclists playing board games usually reserved for younger library patrons, playing with the Nintendo Wii stations, and researching local information.

Not surprisingly, many cyclists need a place to recharge electronic devices or want to use the library computers. According to Marcia Hummel, assistant librarian at the Lakeview (Iowa) Library, RAGBRAI cyclists “made use of every electrical outlet available for charging cell phones and using their laptops. We have five public use computers that were also in constant use during the hours the library was open.”⁸ The Marshalltown (Iowa) Public Library and the Floyd E. Younkin Branch Library in Ashville, Ohio, both reported issuing more than one hundred daily computer guest passes for the day.

Libraries—Above and Beyond Expectations

Many of the libraries along the RAGBRAI and GOBA routes provided services for the bicycle tourists above and beyond traditional library services. The Marshalltown Public Library welcomed the RAGBRAI riders by opening up their big meeting room and kitchenette. Bicycle tourists were sleeping on the carpet and cooking ramen noodles for lunch. Sarah Rosenblum, the library director, even went a step further: she volunteered to host a cyclist-librarian and her husband at her home for the night. Sarah remembers the day of the cyclists as a very calm and positive experience: “They were all very considerate and actually vacuumed the room before they left. It was a very quiet and peaceful day in the meeting room.”⁹

Jennifer West at the Hillsboro (Ohio) Public Library (GOBA hosts in 2006 and 2012), went online to the Unofficial GOBA Message Board to personally invite cyclists to visit their library, promoting their library services. Clearly she understood the needs of cyclists when she posted the following: “We have Internet access computers, a wireless hot spot, air conditioning and public restrooms!”¹⁰ They also provided cyclists with local information about restaurants and interesting places to visit.

The Carnegie Public Library in Washington Courthouse, Ohio, coordinated with the chamber of commerce prior to the GOBA ride and prepared a full slate of activities and services for the bicycle tourists. The library created the GOBA Lounge in their meeting room, a place to “Read, Relax, and Recharge.” There they set up several tables equipped with power strips and USB-capable charging adapters, board games, and a cart full of honor books (paperbacks that do not require a library card to check out). They filled their new books shelves with books about cycling, fitness, and local historical and tourist information, all heavily browsed during the GOBA visit. They even created bookmarks to distribute to the cyclists. Sarah Nichols, head of adult services, said that even with the lounge, there was not a free seat to be had for those few days: “We have a generous amount of seating and accessible outlets throughout the library and rarely was there a free spot.” Her response to the GOBA ride was extremely positive, stating that “this was a fun and exciting experience for us.”¹¹

Bicycle Tourists and Public Libraries: Of Mutual Benefit

A special relationship exists between public libraries and the bicycle tourist. For the bicycle tourist, the library serves as travel agent, cyber café, rest stop, electrical recharge station, and tourist information center. Often libraries are at the center of town, both figuratively and literally. For bicycle tourists like Peter McLaren, visiting the public library meant being included into the community and “being welcomed into that community felt special as a visitor.”¹²

Small-town libraries are especially appreciated by bicycle tourists. According to many cyclists, the importance of the library is often related to the size of the town. The smaller the town, the less likely it is to have alternative Internet resources, such as a McDonald’s or coffee shops. The library is often the primary source for connectivity, local information, and entertainment.

In return, bicycle tourists offer public libraries the opportunity to extend library services beyond the local community. There are many ways libraries can attract bicycle tourists to their doors. They can create policies that ensure computer and Wi-Fi access for nonresidents visiting for the day. They can also provide a place for bicycle tourists to safely and securely park their bikes. They can adopt the American Library Association’s National Library Symbol and display it on exterior signs appearing on streets and highways.

If a town has been lucky enough to be selected as a host for a statewide bike ride, the library can work with the chamber of commerce or city council to plan a full day of services and programs geared towards the cyclists. In preparation, it is a good idea to publicize the library through online forums, signage, and personal invitations to the cyclists. Library supporters can take advantage of the occasion to organize library fundraisers. The end result can be publicity for your library, improved cooperation between town agencies, and increased support for libraries in general.

REFERENCES

1. Peter McLaren, email to the authors, Nov. 5, 2012.
2. Marti Fine, email to the authors, Oct. 16, 2012.
3. Josette Coffman, email to the authors, Oct.15, 2012.
4. Chuck Harmon, telephone interview with the authors, Oct. 25, 2012.
5. Tony Thompson, email to the authors, Oct. 15, 2012.
6. Iain Cullun, email to the authors, Oct. 29, 2012.
7. Joy Jewett, email to the authors, Oct.29, 2012.
8. Marcia Hummel, email to the authors, Oct. 31, 2012.
9. Sarah Rosenblum, email to the authors, Oct. 30, 2012.
10. Jennifer West to Unofficial GOBA Message Board, “Visit Hillsboro Public Library During Your Stay,” June 11, 2012, accessed Oct. 25, 2012. This message needs a passworded account to view.
11. Sarah Nichols, email to the authors, Nov. 1, 2012.
12. Peter McLaren, email to the authors, Nov. 5, 2012.

The post Bicycle Tourists: Staying Connected at Public Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Public Libraries: Your book mashes up several genres—spy thriller, Regency romance, science-fiction. How were you able to balance the different tones of the novel?

Bee Ridgway: It happened in several stages. Basically the spine of the novel isn’t science fiction, it’s Regency romance. Georgette Heyer, the great queen of the Regency romance novel, is an author who got me through a lot of hard times in graduate school. I began writing the novel just to see what it would feel like to write in that mode, so that genre is the base note of the novel. But I also really wanted to stretch that genre and see how it could play with others – how far could it be stretched without breaking?

It was really interesting to see how elastic it was or wasn’t. The spy aspect, the mystery aspect, the science fiction aspect were all easy to play with Regency romance. The one that was difficult was historical fiction. The places where I tried to touch a true history of Georgian England next to this very well established fantasy Georgian England that is Regency romance—that was where I had to work the hardest.

PL: What made historical fiction such a hard fit?

For almost a century now, Regency romance has been developed as a genre that’s quote unquote historically located in Georgian England, but doesn’t really adhere to very many rules to what historically happened during that time. It’s this genre that’s set in a historical moment but has developed so far from [reality]—it’s an alternative universe. It is in itself a science fiction.

And those rules [of Regency romance] are really fun. They can produce at their best a really picaresque, fun, adventure novel. I love the genre for that reason—for the fact that it’s a happy genre, but it is fantasy. So when I then put on my scholarly hat and looked at the kinds of political things that were going on in Georgian England in 1815, it was difficult. I’m not saying that Regency romance authors are not talking about real history. There are some amazing historians writing in the field. But it’s more the rules of genres, if you see what I mean.

PL: Right. In a typical Regency romance there’s probably not a discussion on how the outcome of the passing of the Corn Law is going to affect the characters, as it does in The River of No Return.

BR: Not necessarily. And I don’t want to say I’m doing something new there, because I’m definitely in awe of lots of Regency romance writers who are doing it, too. But I was just surprised at how hard it was.

PL: Why did you choose 1815 as the setting of your novel?

BR: Well, it’s the year of Waterloo. So it’s the year that the Napoleonic wars come to an end. And it’s a huge historical watershed for Europe. It feels to me like a time-travely moment, in that the era of Revolution—the French and American Revolutions then leading into the Napoleonic Wars—finally came to an end in this crazy battle. And Britain at that point had to look around itself and say, “Who are we?” After that you get this huge Imperial push. So it’s kind of this watershed moment between one kind of Britain and another. It’s also a moment when the end of the aristocracy is really clear, even though they manage to hold on for a long time.

So I was interested in setting a fantastical time-travel story—people actually bopping around the time line in a way that’s impossible—against a moment in time that did feel really weird and temporally shifty to people.

PL: One aspect of time travel that seems unique in your book is how when Nick returns to the 1800s after spending ten years in the 21st century, his newfound modern sensibility contends with all the dormant emotions from the man he would have become if he had remained in time. How did you develop that concept of warring emotions between the past and present self?

BR: In some ways it just happened as in, I got him back [in his time] and I realized, “Well of course that would be the case.” But another thing about the novel is that it’s about how we now live in this moment when our individuality is everything, where we think we’re completely sovereign subjects. I really wanted to explore how time, era and historical moment allows us to be who we are. So Nick turns up back in his time and he has all these responsibilities that he didn’t have as a man of the 21st century. And you have to have a certain set of feelings to be a person in 1815. You can’t just go back and not have those feelings. So I liked the idea of [those feelings] waiting for him, and I also wanted to explore the ways we’re just not as free from our culture as we like to think we are.

PL: I read that the working title of the book was As I Like It. Can you talk about why that was such a fitting title for your book?

BR: I’m not one of those people who’s already dreamed of being a novelist. I’m a professor of English literature and I had worn myself out writing this essay on Abraham Lincoln and the Blackhawk War that had taken me a long time to do. It was really complicated. I was completely burned out and I needed to do something fun. I found myself sitting down and trying my hand at this. I just basically gave myself permission to do everything in it that I like and to have no shame—to just really let it all hang out. And that’s what I did. So I called it As I Like It because I didn’t want to judge anything that gave me pleasure in this book

PL: How did your experience in academia affect your writing process?

BR: Sort of in every way. On the first hand I started writing it in reaction to my [academic] writing. At the same time, I’ve been trained now for over twenty years to think citationaly. When you’re writing an academic piece you’re always thinking, “Who else said something like this? What other authors are writing in this mode? What other scholars have argued against or with me?” Writing the novel, my brain worked in exactly the same way. As I was writing along, I would think, “Oh, this reminds me of a passage in Melville or whatever.” Which of course sounds pretentious, but it wasn’t that I was trying to be like Melville, but it was like, “Oh he describes whiteness in this way.” So again in the mode of just doing whatever I wanted, I started putting that stuff in. So there are about three or four dozen little fragments from all the books that I teach and read scattered throughout the book. There’s this one moment where I’m describing a rustic white car and I thought, “Melville has this great description of how mottled Moby Dick is, why don’t I just use the way he does it?”

The reason I did that was because I was writing a time-travel novel and I thought it would be pretty great to hide these things. I wouldn’t necessarily want my readers to know or notice it, but to have these moments where literally a voice from another time takes over the text for four or five words and then goes away. That was a way that I could just indulge myself. I’ve trained my brain to think that way and here I could just indulge it without having to make an argument about it or footnote it.

Another way that my profession influenced me is that I teach 18th and 19th century literature so I get students who have read maybe The Scarlet Letter. Coming out of high school, they’re not used to reading old books. And how do you kind of seduce them into a feeling of another era? So the whole idea that we travel to the past on feeling and emotion really came out of my experience of seeing my students do that as they learned to read 18th and 19th century fiction—falling into the emotional space of these books and learning to love them

PL: You’ve just finished a book tour. What has it been like to transition from the life of an academic where you’re discussing other people’s books to the life of an author, where you’re talking about your own book?

BR: It was great. I had such a good time. I’m so used to people saying, “Well I’d like to hear more about” and then have it be some author who’s been dead for two hundred years. To have to talk about myself was interesting. There were a couple of times where I found myself wanting to fall into a lecture mode and having to either back away from it or do it a little differently. I’m not really used to talking about myself. But I also realized everything in your life prepares you for what you’re doing now, and there was a lot about teaching and thinking about literature as a professor that prepared me for it. Mostly what was so great about it was just how much fun it was. It was so much fun.

PL: Did any of the readers’ questions catch you off guard?

BR: The readers’ questions were really amazing and probing in these wonderful ways. I teach eighteen to twenty-one-year olds and they’re really smart and really hardworking, but to have the questions of readers who have lived a lifetime of experience was great. Their questions had the depth and taste of a lifetime of readership—and readership for pleasure and interest, not something that’s been assigned to them. So that was completely humbling. The questions that were hardest for me were from people who are better read than me in the genre that I’m writing in—of time travel. It’s a genre I have read widely in children’s literature but not in contemporary literature. So they were like, “Okay, what about the grandfather paradox?” and I was like, “You know what? I don’t care about it!” (laughs) They weren’t aggressive but they were difficult.

PL: You’re currently writing a sequel, right?

BR: Yes, it’s so much fun!

PL: When did you decide that there’d be a sequel to the book?

BR: So the first draft was very neatly wrapped up and came to a lovely complete ending. Then I got an agent who was wonderful. She said, “You know what? This is a really good book but it could have several more layers of complexity.”

Basically she thought the idea of the Guild, the idea of a corporation that controls time-travel and has secrets, was enough of an architecture that could support a lot more complexity in the book. And with the whole As I Like It thing, I just hadn’t really been that ambitious for the book. I had simply [wrote] it for pleasure in this fast fun way. And it was so great to be challenged to go back and make it more complicated. That first revision working with my agent was incredible to me, but it began to become a much more complex plot. The world that I was thinking about became much larger and more ominous. I gained some bad guys and some scary future stuff. And I began to realize, “This is either going to be an incredibly long book or it’s going to be more than one book.” And she said, “Why don’t you make it more than one book?” So I did.

PL: So is the hope to have the story span over several books?

BR: I don’t know right now. I don’t write knowing what’s happening next. It depends on what my characters make me do. I can see it being either two or three books right now in terms of the arc of the kinds of problems my characters are facing.

PL: And are you still teaching?

BR: I am!

PL: How has it been to balance those two different worlds of teaching and writing?

BR: I find it incredibly generative to be in the classroom. First of all, it gets me out of my own head. Second of all, now that I’ve written a novel, teaching novels has totally changed for me. I see them really differently.

The more that I exercise the kind of conversations I get to have with the students in my class, the more creative energy I have coming back to the novel. But the novel just came out a month ago, and so I haven’t been back in the classroom [yet]—I was on leave this semester. So I was in the classroom while I was writing but I haven’t been back in the classroom since it came out. So it will be interesting to see what that’s like with my students having potentially read the novel.

PL: You’ll be walking into class with a different reputation.

BR: Dignity is not my strong point anyway so it will probably be fine. (laughs)

PL: What role have libraries played in your life?

BR: Where to begin? (laughs) I grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is a small town—well it was smaller then; it’s a big college town now. It has a wonderful public library that was donated by some good man back in the nineteenth century and it’s built to look like a house. It was basically all these little rooms with bookshelves and big comfy chairs stuck in windows. My mom is a writer and she would teach writing workshops three nights a week, so I went to the library all the time as a kid. It was basically my babysitter. My mom would be writing during the day and I could just walk to the library and read—and I had no restrictions on what I read—so I just sat in those chairs and read my way through everything I got my hands on. I wouldn’t be a writer today without the public library in my hometown. There’s just no question.

The post As I Like It: A Conversation with Bee Ridgway first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

As a youth services librarian, I was aware of the Printz Award early in my career. In library school, one of the units in my literature class was to read Printz winners and honor books. Yet, as I told those around me about my work on the committee, I was surprised at how often I found myself explaining the Printz Award to those inside the library world. I expected my friends and family to not always know what the Printz Award was, but I was taken aback by the number of colleagues who had no idea about this award for young adult literature. It made me think about how this important award needs support and promotion from within the library community, and not just from young adult librarians, but from everyone.

The Michael L. Printz Award was first awarded in 2000. According to the Young Adult Library Services Association, the sponsoring ALA division, it “is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.”¹ While the reputation of the genre has grown over the years, YA literature can still be perceived as simple and not literary. I believe the Printz Award is important because it shines a light on high-quality literature being written for teens.

So how can we promote the Printz Award to library colleagues and to the public?

• Host a Mock Printz Discussion. As a librarian, there is nothing I love more than talking about books. Mock awards discussions are the perfect opportunity to engage staff and patrons in book discussions as well as introduce a variety of young adult titles. Mock award discussions may take some work to get going, but are well worth it in the long run. Choose a list of titles to discuss and a date to meet. Make sure the list is available with plenty of reading time. Then when the program date arrives, spend time discussing the selected titles and vote for your winners and honor books. Don’t worry if not everyone that attends hasn’t read the selected titles. You can always allow participants to vote based on the discussion they heard and explain that the real committee will be reading and rereading their own selected titles. Mock Award programs are a wonderful way to get both staff and patrons involved in reading young adult literature, and it’s a great program for teens and adults to participate in together. There’s also something very satisfying about correctly guessing a winner or honor book!
• Display the Printz winners—and not just during award season. Displays are easy and effective marketing. Put Printz Award winners and honor books on display, create a booklist that features all the winning titles,and make a bookmark that lists Printz titles. Award displays are great for any time of the year and make a nice complement to National Library Week, which happens in April, and Teen Read Week, which happens in October.The Thursday of National Library Week is Support Teen Literature Day, and what better way to support teen literature than to highlight examples of literary excellence in teen literature?
• Create a Printz book club. Take a peek at the past by looking at previous Printz winners and honor books. Ask teens about their thoughts on previous Printz titles, and teach them about reading critically and evaluating literature. I love how book clubs can help teens learn how to think critically and evaluate what they have read. It also gives them the freedom to give their opinions on books, which helps them formulate why they liked or disliked something in the book.
• Participate in a Printz Reading Challenge. Ask staff and patrons to read previous Printz titles and create a reading challenge. Many readers make it a goal to read award winners, so why not include the Printz winners in that list? You could even highlight the Printz Award as part of the Summer Reading Program and give participants a goal of reading one Printz Award winner during their summer reading.
• Book talk Printz Award titles to patrons and staff. I’m often asked to give book talks to schools, and I make sure I include award winners when I take books to book talk. I also make sure I highlight award winners to staff. Each month we have a youth services meeting to host readers’ advisory discussions. We discuss award predictions and book talk titles that have won awards previously as part of our readers’ advisory. I also try to keep my staff up-to-date on award titles and give them book talks on winning titles that they can share with patrons.
• Advertise award winners on Social Media. Throughout the year, promote Printz titles on the library website and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. My library has televisions that run PowerPoint throughout the day advertising library programs and news. After the awards were announced in January, we made sure to put up the award-winning titles on the PowerPoint TVs to tell patrons they could check out these titles at the library.
• Show the Youth Media Awards Webcast at your library. Each year the American Library Association hosts a live webcast of the Youth Media Awards. This year I was able to have my staff tune into the awards webcast, and we projected the webcast on the big screen in our auditorium. We made sure the event was open to staff as well as any patrons who wanted to attend. Since we had talked about the awards season leading up to the announcements and hosted a Mock Award event, patrons were interested in finding out which titles had won. Take a cue from the Oscars and have those in attendance guess what titles they think will win before the announcements. You can even pass out prizes for the most correct predictions.• Talk about the Printz Award. Word of mouth is the best form of marketing. When you talk about awards to patrons or staff, be sure to include the Printz Award in the discussion.

Even though the Printz Award is still a relatively new award, it’s making its mark on young adult literature. Together, we can help promote the Printz Award to those in the library community as well as introduce it to library patrons. The Printz Award shines a light on excellence in young adult literature, and that’s something we as librarians should be proud of.

REFERENCE

1. Young Adult Library Services Association, “Printz Award,” accessed May 14, 2013.

The post Promoting the Printz Award first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

But sometimes people just want to see hilarious cat photos. Does this fall within our mission? Of course it does. We are libraries. We contain multitudes. And microblogging platform Tumblr is no different.

Like Pinterest, Tumblr allows users to collect interesting things they find (or create) online and share them with people in their network. But where Pinterest allows users to gather what they find into curated collections, Tumblr is more focused on pushing material out on the web and watching other folks consume it. If Pinterest is a cabinet of wonders, Tumblr is more like an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant where delicacies come to you via conveyor belt.

As with all-you-can-eat sushi, it’s easy to be skeptical of Tumblr. At first glance, the site can seem like a repository for teen angst or a venue for continually reblogging other people’s content. Do these components exist on Tumblr? Of course they do. But this seemingly simple behavior masks some rather sophisticated social activity, and even more complex media literacies. It may look like tic-tac-toe, but Tumblr is really a simple set of constraints allowing for nearly infinite possibilities.

The method for creating content on Tumblr is simple: a basic text editor and a selection of tools for uploading media. The same goes for the social functions—every post gives you the same options: favorite, reblog, and follow the poster. This minimal framework allows the user community to be as creative as it likes, and allows the platform to assimilate some of the most useful elements from other social networks. Are there Pinterest-like tools for collecting online content? Yes. Can you subscribe to favorite content streams, a la RSS? You bet. Are there threaded conversations like what you’d see on an active blog? Check. Is there measurable social currency, akin to the Facebook “like” button? Absolutely. And, like Twitter, can you watch content go viral, as it is reblogged, hashtagged, and passed from one online community to another? You better believe it. Tumblr takes all of these elements, mixes them up, and doles them out in one endless stream of new content. This blend has led to an explosion in Tumblr’s popularity, with more than 89 million new posts generated per day.¹

By combining all of these features, Tumblr has introduced a level of transparency to its own measurement tools. Every active move a user makes with a Tumblr post is indicated with a number next to its title. This number grows every time someone favorites, reblogs, or comments on a post. As this number grows, the name of each user making the reaction is added to the notes field in chronological order beneath the post.

I’ll give you an example, using a post from the Skokie Library Tumblr.² By following this thread, you can chart just how far your posts travel through the Tumblr universe. Pay particular attention to where the post was reblogged from. You can see who saw the post by following your feed directly, and who discovered the post via someone else. If you see the same name popping up several times in a row, then you know that person is very likely a key influencer in their network, and is probably worth knowing. This is a goldmine if you’re at all interested in metrics, as it provides an easy-to-understand level of detail that goes far beyond the traditional pageview mechanics. Because the notes appear in alphabetical order, you can get a sense of the emerging narrative as a post gains responses. There’s something here for both sides of your brain.

It’s stuff like this that has allayed my initial doubts about Tumblr as a useful tool for libraries on the Internet. Ready to jump in? Here are a few tips for creating your own digital delights.

Streamline your workflow. “Great,” you say. “Another social media platform to update?” It’s easy to get burned out on the endless struggle to feed the fresh content beast. I find it easiest to schedule several posts at once, and dole them out over the course of a day. Adding the Share on Tumblr bookmarklet (available at tumblr.com/apps) makes it simple to post things you find on a regular browsing day.

Tumblr also makes it easy to find content within its framework due to its robust use of tags. If you’re looking for new content to reblog, it’s always a good idea to start with a tag search. (Of course, it goes without saying that you should also be tagging your own content.)

Boost your own signal. If you already have a blog elsewhere, tools like IFTTT. com or WordPress’s built-in Jetpack extension allow for easy cross-posting. These can help to boost your own signal, but be sure to mix in content native to Tumblr.

Another option might simply be eliminating the middleman by making Tumblr your blog platform outright. There are a lot of advantages to this, given Tumblr’s simplicity and built-in audience. Just make sure you’re able to style your theme to match your organization’s design scheme.

Think in pictures as well as words. Tumblr’s versatility with many different types of content has led to a whole new type of visual shorthand. It’s not uncommon for posts to start with text and use an image or an animated GIF to illustrate the point. It can seem absurd at first, but this blend of elements can be an elegant method for saying a lot with a little. It might take some practice, but you’d be surprised at how quickly you can get creative with your Tumblr posts.

Popular culture references can be teaching moments for libraries on Tumblr. Why is a particular photo meme funny? What’s the history or the cultural signifiers behind the latest YouTube dance phenomenon? How do you provide proper attribution in the freewheeling world of remix culture? Tumblr is still struggling with these questions, and librarians can help create some positive examples. If nothing else, it’s a good opportunity to link back to your own materials.

Get comfortable with GIFs. If you’re going to have a Tumblr account, you’re going to have some GIFs in there. It’s no surprise that these simple flipbook-style image files go so well with Tumblr—both take advantage of a somewhat rigid set of limitations in order to encourage creativity in the user. You don’t need to know Photoshop to create an animated GIF. Online tools like Gifninja.com and apps like GifBoom (available for iOS and Android) can handle a lot of the heavy lifting.³

Be generous. Remember the notes field? You can use this chronology of a post’s social life for more than just statistics. By reblogging content from other Tumblr users, you can make yourself visible to the people in their network. As people see your name pop up on their notestreams, they’ll be more likely to follow you back and boost your signal in kind.

Tumblr also makes it possible to solicit questions from your readers. Given that so much of what we do is built around providing answers, this is a perfect way to demonstrate our abilities within the Tumblr environment. As you build your network, you’ll have more opportunities to engage in back-and-forth.

The Tumblrarians Welcome You

Tumblr can be a useful tool for connecting with an audience that may not otherwise engage with your organization. But the site is also starting to come into its own as a tool for professional development. The growing community of Tumblrarians on the site has rapidly evolved into a great sounding board for new ideas and a source for mutual support. Librarian Kate Tkacik is maintaining lists of both libraries and librarians on Tumblr at her site (thelifeguardlibrarian. tumblr.com). Start there if you’d like to identify some best practices.

Much like our libraries themselves, Tumblr’s utility grows the more you put yourself out there. Tumblr’s core values of community, creativity, and mutual generosity make it a great fit for libraries. If you’re looking for a new way to connect with your online audience – or to replace your blog platform—it’s certainly worth the experiment.

REFERENCES

1. Hayes Davis, “Why 2013 is the Year You Need to Get Serious About Tumblr,” Forbes.com, Jan. 24, 2013, accessed May 9, 2013.

2. Link resolves to “Someone Called Us a Hipster Library,” Skokie Public Library Tumblr page, Mar. 22, 2013, accessed May 9, 2013.

3. For a more detailed primer on animated GIFs, please see Toby Greenwalt, “Let’s Get Animated: Our GIF to You,” Skokie Public Library Blogs, Mar. 19, 2013, accessed May 9, 2013.

The post Every Day I’m Tumbling first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

As president of PLA, I was invited to give the keynote speech at the International Conference on Public Library Development Trends in the Digital Era in honor of the Taipei (Taiwan) Public Library’s sixtieth anniversary. I flew to Los Angeles on October 20, 2012, to travel with Jan Sanders,  director of the Pasadena (Calif.) Public Library, and past PLA president, who also had been invited to speak at the conference. We left the Los Angeles Airport on October 21 and arrived in Taiwan on October 23. I left Taiwan on October 25 to preside over my first PLA board of directors meeting on October 26. I was told that my first board meeting went very well.

Many other events happened that I will not bore you with in my last column, but working with a fabulous PLA board of directors, and an extremely efficient PLA executive director and her talented staff, was the most wonderful experience! I’m most proud to have worked personally to appoint highly qualified and diverse PLA members to serve on the various PLA committees, many of whom were new to the field (including Emerging Leaders and Spectrum Scholars) or had never served on a PLA committee.

PLA received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for three grants during my term as president. Building on the PLA strategic plan priorities, these grants provide critically needed leadership training and literacy resources for public libraries. I want to share just how these grants will help.

Development of a Digital Literacy Website

One in five Americans doesn’t use the Internet,¹ which often means they take longer to find a job, they may have limited access to educational resources, and they are more isolated, among other issues. Many organizations are working to decrease the digital divide, and many state and public libraries have created digital literacy curriculum and resources in response to the increased demand of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program activities. DigitalLearn.org will build on the resources of libraries and other community organizations and will offer training and communities of practice for the profession. Be sure to check out the beta site and provide us with feedback. The site will launch at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

Digital Summer Reading Planning Grant

PLA received a planning grant to research summer reading practices, how digital resources are or might be used, and what would be most useful to public libraries. A white paper based on survey results and focus groups will be made available for public comment in June 2013. The final results
will be used to consider implementation of a summer reading application that will help strengthen communities by building the skills needed for our increasingly digital society.

Leadership Training Model Planning Grant

In partnership with the International City/County Management Association, PLA received a planning grant to design and develop a leadership-training model for key staff in public libraries across the United States. Training was held March 5–8 for twenty-four library leaders to increase their capacity to lead within the library and the community. As a result of the grant funding, twenty-four library leaders are now better prepared to maximize the potential of public libraries in the twenty-first century and ensure that libraries are viewed as critical to communities. PLA will use the pilot results to develop an implementation plan for sustainable leadership training.

I leave the office of president knowing that PLA will continue to provide strategic vision, innovative solutions, and careful management of its resources to help public libraries. Thanks so much for the opportunity! It was indeed a blast!

REFERENCE

1. Kathryn Zickuhr and Aaron Smith, “Digital Differences,” Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 13, 2012, accessed May 21, 2013.

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