Thank You Neil Gaiman

Earlier this month Neil Gaiman (@NeilHimself) gave the second annual Reading Agency Lecture. For his topic he chose the importance of reading for pleasure and as part of that the importance of libraries. I sat listening to the lecture with a notebook handy to jot any words of wisdom down and came away with a handful of notes from half an hour. Suffice it to say after listening to him he has probably earned a place on my wall of wisdom next to the wonder that is Michael Rosen.

Gaiman is in tune with the world of reading, rightly so you would think for an author who has been plying his trade for over thirty years. Again and again the words reading for pleasure were echoed around the lecture hall of The Barbican – as a Librarian in a public library I feel the most important part of my job, my duty if you like is to promote reading for pleasure to all and especially to those children who I interact with. Therefore I felt an affinity with “my friend Neil “as he continued to expostulate on the importance of reading for pleasure – the need to escape and empathise and the lessons reading for pleasure can teach us about basic humanity and help us to develop our own opinions.

He spoke of libraries as magical places... drawing out the words inter library loan, like a small miracle when he first heard it from his local Librarian. He spoke of the evolving nature of libraries with passion and a sense of excitement, promoting libraries not just as book repositories but a place that can help people to find out, sort and collate the masses of information that we are now buried under on a daily basis. An interesting statistic that I managed to note down was from Eric Schmidt of Google; Every two days the human race creates as much information as we did from the dawn of time to 2003! That totally had my mind blown... the information glut we are now living through needs these professionals to help navigate for those who are not computer literate, in a world where life is increasingly led online libraries are a free, legal and open resource for all and are as Gaiman believes the “gates to the future”.

He finished off by speaking of the obligations we have as human beings... the easy ones; to read, to use language and to daydream. But there were also subtle calls to arms; to tell MPs what we want, to use and embrace language, to use reading for pleasure as time to bond with children and show them that reading for pleasure, irrelevant of format should be embraced and celebrated.

The last sparkle of wisdom I’ll leave you with is this.... “If you don’t value libraries you don’t value culture, information or wisdom”. Now I may be biased due to my profession but reading and creating a literate society should be the top priority of a nation. A literate nation is in my opinion an informed nation with a chance to build upon the wonders of the past with the promises of the future and libraries are essential to this end. I would quite happily show this lecture in schools and universities up and down the country, along with both houses of parliament.

So thank you Neil for standing up for reading and libraries and let me know next time you’re in town. 

PS. If you want to watch the lecture just click the link at the top of the post and prepare to fall in love (only intellectually though.... don't get carried away!)

If You Could Change One Thing?

A friend asked me the other day if I could change one aspect of our library service what would it be and after a bit of thinking I answered publicity and marketing... yes I know this covers quite a broad area but in my opinion publicity is not something we are brilliant at as a profession. Don’t get me wrong advocacy for the profession has taken the spotlight in the last two years, you only need to look at Twitter and websites such as Public Library News  or Voices For the Library to see the different campaigns against budget cuts in the public sector. But we are an ever evolving profession; we have to be dynamic to stay relevant whilst still delivering essential core services. Before you start worrying this is not another tirade on CILIP re-branding although I do side with the majority in the necessity that a professional body that represents information and library professionals should have both information and library in their title. This is a look at what we already do and how we can evolve our marketing strategies – both the simple solutions and the more dynamic.

As a profession I think we are very good at preaching to the converted; very good at publicising the library within library walls but how do you reach the thousands of people who walk past the door without ever venturing inside?

Social media has filled that gap in the last decade for some with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogging and Pinterest to name a few. Wiltshire Libraries has an online presence both on the council website and with the use of Twitter to advertise different services such as Health Matters (nurses in libraries), online resources, reservations, new titles, library events etc.  But we have to also be aware that we live in a country where 14% of the population have yet to use the internet.  There is still a digital divide in Britain and rural counties have ongoing issues with internet access and broadband strength. We have to realise that we can’t rely just on online marketing, we have to have a presence in the communities that we serve.

Simple solutions can be found, for instance most libraries in Wiltshire have notice boards on their exteriors and in the towns they are based in, but not every library has a colour printer. At the moment things can be printed at HQ and sent out but this means a delay of days. We also use local newspapers to promote events but we never advertise the core services we offer in print. Simple solutions such as leaflet drops have become a thing of the past with budgets being cut but are a simple and effective way of getting our message out there to those who feel the library has nothing for them.

You would not believe the amount of people who don’t know that it’s free to join the library or use our people’s network computers. We need to get out into the community and let people know this but with staff reductions across the service time is limited for community outreach. We don’t have the time to cultivate relationships, to approach groups that would benefit from using the library and putting to bed all the myths and stereotypes. Partnerships are such a key publicising tool but it falls to the bottom of to-do lists.  

Another simple solution: In my limited research most libraries that have a Twitter account also have an online presence in the form of a blog – these online tools work hand in hand to target potential users and share information about new developments and events. We could also promote services and future events to users through an online newsletter as we ask for email addresses as part of our registration process. Wiltshire is quite a cautious service and I understand the need for this; you don’t want to sign up for everything digital, you need to be selective but by the time online tools have been researched and justified there the fashion for them has often passed and they are no longer current.

So I think the point I’m trying to make is that we need to invest in publicity, we need to get out to our communities and make ourselves heard as the threat to our profession have become very real very fast and if we do not advertise our worth and breadth of services we are in danger of losing budgets further and in extreme cases closing libraries. We have to learn to do more with less, to economize and use the resources at our disposal to reach as many people as possible.

“A library once lost is lost forever”

The quote above is one of my originals with a hint of Jane Austen for good measure! I suppose this post is really about me putting in my penny’s worth about public libraries and the precarious state they find themselves in these days. I remember coming across a quote whilst I was writing my dissertation three years ago (which focused on 2008’s National Year of Reading) which stated that more people visited a library then went to a professional football match or the cinema (Framework for the Future­, 2003: 12).

I have to say three years on, it doesn’t feel this way. I work in three different level libraries in Wiltshire and there are increasingly times when the only people in the library are the staff. Now I’m not saying that I want the library to be choc-a-bloc full all day everyday, I’m realistic but it has recently started to feel like the media hype might be right. Visitor and issue figures for public libraries are suffering a downfall nationally which can be blamed on the use of eBooks and new technology or the nature of life these days; more people working longer hours, commuting longer and therefore not having enough downtime. This may be my naivety coming across but I would have thought with the national media coverage the library profession has had over the last couple of years this would boost our numbers, not have a negative impact.

Wiltshire have not been affected as drastically as neighbouring local authorities in terms of cuts and there is relatively little difference on the frontline between now and 2009. None of the 30 libraries in Wiltshire have been closed, our 5 mobile routes are still in existence and our smallest ten libraries are now volunteer led with library assistants working behind the scenes. There has been a reduction in opening hours and the introduction of self service RFID machines in all libraries have been the only public facing cuts, but this is to be expected. Behind the scenes there has been a reduction in staffing top down from management to admin staff, librarians and frontline staff and a cut to our stock fund and budget for three years running. Therefore for the public who do use us it feels like business as usual... behind the scenes we are still trying to provide the same level of service on limited staffing, time and resources whilst also trying to attract new members.

 Like many public services, we are all trying to learn quickly how to do more with less. It would be interesting to find out if different authorities have had the same reaction from the public, or are those that have had to fight more publicly picked up a new following? I do feel in Wiltshire for all the media attention libraries have had over the last two years there is little reflection in the visitor and issue figures. Of course there will always be the customers who come in and lend their support, those who you’ve never seen before come in to make sure you’re not closing and tell you that they will fight alongside if anything may happen but overall there has been no increase in membership or active borrowing and libraries are quieter than a year ago.

We also have to fight against those who believe the library has had its day – most recently the tirade from beloved children’s author Terry Deary (who coincidentally I had just put a display up in the library to celebrate his 20 years of Horrible Histories... thanks Tel!). Anyone who believes libraries are not an essential service are clearly a few sandwiches short of a picnic. This comes down in my honest opinion to ignorance of the range of services which are now provided by libraries. In times of austerity, libraries become even more important, helping with services such as job clubs, CV workshops, benefits help and in its purest form providing a social space for people to interact. There are also those who believe eBooks and digital publishing has filled the void of libraries. Yes, many local authorities now provide an eBook service alongside print but the number of publishers who do not publish electronic material make an e-collection very limited (Wiltshire’s collection at the moment is just under 3000 titles which include non-fiction and children’s titles). Not everyone can afford an e-reader or want an e-reader and those that can and do in my experience still have a fondness for the printed word as well.

Librarianship has always been an ever evolving profession, staff and spaces have to be adaptable and willing to change and that’s how libraries have survived through history. If you think about a library even twenty years ago it was a completely different service... the imposed silence rule if nothing else... I’d love to know if anyone can still enforce this with success in the public sector! Whose to say what the next twenty years will bring but I am confident that with new technologies the library service will find its place... there will always be a need for a free service to help people navigate new technologies and promote the pleasure and benefits of reading. In my own mind I do hope it’s not completely virtual... there is something about walking through the doors of any library and exploring the shelves which you can’t get from a screen.

The more immediate problem is reaching different audiences and promoting our value to those who may believe that the library has nothing to offer them. Yes it’s all about technology these days; facebook, twitter, linkedin, snapchat etc but how do you reach those who are caught in the digital divide? Do you go back to envelope stuffing? Local advertising is always beneficial and you should be able to rely on word of mouth but causing a stir about the library isn’t cheap and with ever cutting budgets we need to become innovative in the ways we market our services.

I have no doubt that libraries will still be around fifty years from now, maybe not in the same capacity that we are now but there will always be a place for a service which thrives on helping and enabling communities, providing a safe and impartial environment for all who need it. What we need to do is make sure that we continue to adapt to society’s needs and embrace new technologies and are able to deliver these services in an efficient and helpful way. There is a little bit of hope for the future though... the pictures below were taken in Calne Library... a Love Libraries display that ran through February asking members to share why they loved their library.