I just returned from the final "Members Council" meeting of the international library company, OCLC. Henceforth, it will move to a model based on new regional and global councils. It's the end of one era, and the beginning of another.
OCLC's main business has been the gathering, joint creation, and dissemination of cataloging records. It now has over a billion such records, in many languages. It also provides various services for the borrowing of materials across libraries, the management of digital records (whether ebooks or digitized photographs), for reaching live librarians online, and more.
But for me, there has been a great personal and professional benefit simply to hear the conversation and concerns of librarians from all around the world.
Here's one of the first lessons I've learned: we truly are a global society. At a sort of "international library roundup" we heard a consistent message. The recession has definitely hit libraries of all types very hard.
There were isolated pockets of exceptions. The leaders in a few states or countries have made strong statements about the value of higher education in the creation of skilled employees and economic growth. But most universities have seen their purchasing power significantly eroded by poor exchange rates.
Public libraries -- most attached to municipalities and funded from general revenues collected from sales taxes -- are in big trouble. From coast to coast in the United States, branches are closing, and layoffs are common. The trend may be most visible here, but that's because with perhaps the exception of Denmark, our public libraries are the best in the world. That means we have the most to lose.
School libraries seem to be faring the worst everywhere. Most nations report that few librarians are left in their schools. The positions have been replaced with technical paraprofessionals, or volunteers. Ironically, we have strong research to show the value of professionally managed library programs in academic achievement -- research that is consistently ignored by school administrators tasked with managing their own declining budgets.
Another irony of the global library picture is that the worse things get, the busier WE get. Public libraries in particular report huge upswings in use. Many of us are offering assistance in writing resumes, looking for work, and writing new business plans.
Beyond that, people who have less discretionary income tend to leverage their original investment in libraries to borrow what they can no longer buy, or to seek "free" entertainment at library programs.
But unlike businesses, libraries' increased activity doesn't mean increased revenue.
It has long been my belief that leadership has the obligation to set a positive tone. But that doesn't mean we just ignore bad news. A realistic assessment of the facts is essential to success.
One conclusion I might draw is that all around the globe, people are more aware of the keen importance of the public sector. While, clearly, its fortunes are linked to the private sector, the public sector provides a buffer to economic swings, a means through which people can prepare for and adapt to change.
Another conclusion is about my colleagues themselves. I spoke with librarians from Hong Kong, New Zealand, Serbia, and the Netherlands. I spoke with librarians from Mexico City and Montana. To a person, they were all deeply passionate about the power of literacy to build better lives, better universities, better communities, better nations, and ultimately, a better world.
Librarians are good people, thoughtful, dedicated, and deeply engaged in their communities. I am proud to be one.
---
LaRue's Views are his own.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Mary 21, 2009 - copyright is an outrage
A friend tells me that the local political party dominating his hometown has a toggle switch: outrage ON. Outrage OFF.
Our experiment today is to see which of these real life library situations flips your switch.
Situation Number One: recently the library bought some new music CDs. One of our staff happened to pop it into a work computer to listen to one of the songs. We don't exactly pay people to listen to music, understand, but sampling a product while cataloging it is perfectly legitimate.
A few moments later, the computer ground to a halt.
After some IT sleuthing, we determined that what happened was this. The CD, legally purchased from Capitol Records for library use (e.g. public lending), installed without any notification at all a "Trojan virus" on the attached computer. "Trojan" simply means that the software was trying to remain hidden. The virus part refers to the attempt to slip past various anti-virus applications and take up residence on the PC.
Once the program was installed, it tried to connect to the Internet and report ... well, we don't know what it was trying to report. Which MP3 files were already on the PC? Information about the disc being used from Capitol? Which anti-virus applications were currently running?
We do know this. The virus disabled the computer, and it required both time and expertise to bring it back up again.
When we called Capitol to ask just what was going on we were told that we had the option to return the disc. But we weren't told what the software was trying to do.
Does anyone think it's a good idea for the library to circulate materials that disable the computers they run on? Or to continue to do business with a publisher who feels free to appropriate or maliciously damage other people's computers?
Outrage ON.
Situation Number Two: last week someone returned to us something really quite remarkable: counterfeit CDs. They had copied the content from the original onto a somewhat cheaper CD. They had done a pretty good job of reproducing the graphic art on the original CD -- including a facsimile of the barcode we attached to it.
We detected the substitution, although it's hard for us to know which user swapped out the original for a fake.
And here's the truth of it. Although most people who borrow library CDs do not take the trouble to replace our content with clever substitutes, it's quite likely that at least some of them do make copies for themselves.
That's not legal, by the way. We loan materials to the public, but the materials remain copyrighted nonetheless. Making a copy of someone else's legally purchased content is theft. It's a crime.
How many people check out library CDs and steal the content? I don't know for sure. Anecdotally, I gather there are quite a few. They seem to feel perfectly justified, too. It's the sort of thing to make a legitimate publisher -- Capitol Records, say -- a little testy.
Outrage OFF?
Not everyone is a thief, of course. I suspect that most people use library materials precisely the way we intend: to sample musical genres, to check out CDs before purchasing them, to broaden their knowledge of both classical and popular culture without having to spend a fortune in the process. Our value as an institution is to leverage the cooperative purchasing power of communities -- not to enable wholesale robbery.
Of course, libraries could simply stop buying anything but books. But then, what about all those perfectly legal, even admirable uses I just described? Should we be forced to abandon our role as an advocate of literacy -- where literacy includes knowledge of many formats and cultural content -- just because a minority of our public is ethically challenged?
Outrage ....?
---
LaRue's Views are his own.
Our experiment today is to see which of these real life library situations flips your switch.
Situation Number One: recently the library bought some new music CDs. One of our staff happened to pop it into a work computer to listen to one of the songs. We don't exactly pay people to listen to music, understand, but sampling a product while cataloging it is perfectly legitimate.
A few moments later, the computer ground to a halt.
After some IT sleuthing, we determined that what happened was this. The CD, legally purchased from Capitol Records for library use (e.g. public lending), installed without any notification at all a "Trojan virus" on the attached computer. "Trojan" simply means that the software was trying to remain hidden. The virus part refers to the attempt to slip past various anti-virus applications and take up residence on the PC.
Once the program was installed, it tried to connect to the Internet and report ... well, we don't know what it was trying to report. Which MP3 files were already on the PC? Information about the disc being used from Capitol? Which anti-virus applications were currently running?
We do know this. The virus disabled the computer, and it required both time and expertise to bring it back up again.
When we called Capitol to ask just what was going on we were told that we had the option to return the disc. But we weren't told what the software was trying to do.
Does anyone think it's a good idea for the library to circulate materials that disable the computers they run on? Or to continue to do business with a publisher who feels free to appropriate or maliciously damage other people's computers?
Outrage ON.
Situation Number Two: last week someone returned to us something really quite remarkable: counterfeit CDs. They had copied the content from the original onto a somewhat cheaper CD. They had done a pretty good job of reproducing the graphic art on the original CD -- including a facsimile of the barcode we attached to it.
We detected the substitution, although it's hard for us to know which user swapped out the original for a fake.
And here's the truth of it. Although most people who borrow library CDs do not take the trouble to replace our content with clever substitutes, it's quite likely that at least some of them do make copies for themselves.
That's not legal, by the way. We loan materials to the public, but the materials remain copyrighted nonetheless. Making a copy of someone else's legally purchased content is theft. It's a crime.
How many people check out library CDs and steal the content? I don't know for sure. Anecdotally, I gather there are quite a few. They seem to feel perfectly justified, too. It's the sort of thing to make a legitimate publisher -- Capitol Records, say -- a little testy.
Outrage OFF?
Not everyone is a thief, of course. I suspect that most people use library materials precisely the way we intend: to sample musical genres, to check out CDs before purchasing them, to broaden their knowledge of both classical and popular culture without having to spend a fortune in the process. Our value as an institution is to leverage the cooperative purchasing power of communities -- not to enable wholesale robbery.
Of course, libraries could simply stop buying anything but books. But then, what about all those perfectly legal, even admirable uses I just described? Should we be forced to abandon our role as an advocate of literacy -- where literacy includes knowledge of many formats and cultural content -- just because a minority of our public is ethically challenged?
Outrage ....?
---
LaRue's Views are his own.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
May 14, 2009 - libraries mean business
by Rochelle Logan and Jamie LaRue
A couple of years ago the Douglas County Manager of Economic Development, Meme Martin, met with library representatives to talk about the business databases we buy. She wanted to know if we would consider augmenting those subscription services to support new "economic gardening" efforts at Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock.
Our interest was piqued. We wanted to know more about economic gardening. (It means, in brief, growing the seeds of businesses that are already planted in the local community.)
Libraries exist to serve their communities -- residents and business owners alike. And we're always interested in mutually beneficial partnerships.
Since that meeting in 2007, we purchased thousands of dollars in additional databases and other business materials (journals, books, etc.). Librarians now also attend many meetings of area chambers of commerce and economic development councils.
So these days, library staff are resources for business and economic development groups, speakers at brown bag lunches, researchers for complex questions, and much more.
What does that mean to a local business owner?
Here's an example. Rochelle recently participated in a 5K walk in Douglas County and got into conversation with a woman who owns a small business dealing with hair care. When asked how the business is doing these days, the woman replied that she was just trying to keep ahead of the next customer walking through the door.
She hadn’t written a business plan, or done any marketing or industry trend research. In truth, she really didn't know where to start. When Rochelle told her that public libraries have business services and professional librarians to help her, she was amazed.
Despite the fact that public entities are often told that we should run ourselves more like businesses, the sad truth is this: most businesses don't make it. The ones that do are the ones that do their homework.
And where do smart people go to do their homework? The library.
Let me say that again. The library and its resources just might make the difference between the success or failure of your business.
In this economy, the usual suspects of economic growth -- expanding franchises, big box retailers, etc. -- are slowing down or contracting. There have been many layoffs.
But for a long time, the fastest growing sector of our economy really has been the small office/home office start-up.
The second stage of that business development focuses on "gazelles." These are the businesses that have survived those crucial first years, and are ready for the next step: adding a new employee or two, renting downtown office space.
Realizing the great need for small business help, the library has created a new service. It's called BizInfo: Build Your Business Here.
Librarians at our three regional libraries in Castle Rock, Parker, and Highlands Ranch, have been specially trained to work with entrepreneurs on everything from finding sample business plans, marketing and industry trend research, and competitive analysis.
Where do you begin? It's probably easiest to visit us online. Check out this form:
http://douglascountylibraries.org/Research/BizInfoForm
In addition to the many services we provide to individuals, the library is also more consciously tracking issues that affect the entire county. Economic development is one of them -- clearly of great significance in a recession.
Libraries can - and do - add enormous value to our communities. To that end, we're also investigating hosting, or partnering to host, an "economic summit" -- an opportunity to bring together both business and government players to talk about how we can keep at least our local economy humming. Stay tuned.
Douglas County Libraries: we mean business.
----
LaRue's Views are his own.
A couple of years ago the Douglas County Manager of Economic Development, Meme Martin, met with library representatives to talk about the business databases we buy. She wanted to know if we would consider augmenting those subscription services to support new "economic gardening" efforts at Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock.
Our interest was piqued. We wanted to know more about economic gardening. (It means, in brief, growing the seeds of businesses that are already planted in the local community.)
Libraries exist to serve their communities -- residents and business owners alike. And we're always interested in mutually beneficial partnerships.
Since that meeting in 2007, we purchased thousands of dollars in additional databases and other business materials (journals, books, etc.). Librarians now also attend many meetings of area chambers of commerce and economic development councils.
So these days, library staff are resources for business and economic development groups, speakers at brown bag lunches, researchers for complex questions, and much more.
What does that mean to a local business owner?
Here's an example. Rochelle recently participated in a 5K walk in Douglas County and got into conversation with a woman who owns a small business dealing with hair care. When asked how the business is doing these days, the woman replied that she was just trying to keep ahead of the next customer walking through the door.
She hadn’t written a business plan, or done any marketing or industry trend research. In truth, she really didn't know where to start. When Rochelle told her that public libraries have business services and professional librarians to help her, she was amazed.
Despite the fact that public entities are often told that we should run ourselves more like businesses, the sad truth is this: most businesses don't make it. The ones that do are the ones that do their homework.
And where do smart people go to do their homework? The library.
Let me say that again. The library and its resources just might make the difference between the success or failure of your business.
In this economy, the usual suspects of economic growth -- expanding franchises, big box retailers, etc. -- are slowing down or contracting. There have been many layoffs.
But for a long time, the fastest growing sector of our economy really has been the small office/home office start-up.
The second stage of that business development focuses on "gazelles." These are the businesses that have survived those crucial first years, and are ready for the next step: adding a new employee or two, renting downtown office space.
Realizing the great need for small business help, the library has created a new service. It's called BizInfo: Build Your Business Here.
Librarians at our three regional libraries in Castle Rock, Parker, and Highlands Ranch, have been specially trained to work with entrepreneurs on everything from finding sample business plans, marketing and industry trend research, and competitive analysis.
Where do you begin? It's probably easiest to visit us online. Check out this form:
http://douglascountylibraries.org/Research/BizInfoForm
In addition to the many services we provide to individuals, the library is also more consciously tracking issues that affect the entire county. Economic development is one of them -- clearly of great significance in a recession.
Libraries can - and do - add enormous value to our communities. To that end, we're also investigating hosting, or partnering to host, an "economic summit" -- an opportunity to bring together both business and government players to talk about how we can keep at least our local economy humming. Stay tuned.
Douglas County Libraries: we mean business.
----
LaRue's Views are his own.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
May 7, 2009 - library volunteers worth almost half a million dollars in 2008
On April 22, the Douglas County Libraries invited our volunteers to a modest recognition dinner. The occasion: looking back on 2008 library volunteerism. It was a record-breaker.
In total, last year our community volunteers donated 24,265 hours to the library. That's 11.8% more than in 2007. Recent national studies suggest that the hourly value of that (considering the savings not just in salary but benefits) is at least $19.19. Multiply the hours by the value, and our community contributed the equivalent of $465,645 to our libraries last year!
This column isn't long enough to describe a tenth of the tasks our volunteers perform for us. I'd like to call out one that that has particular meaning to me, probably because it's one of the ways I've volunteered myself: working as a literacy tutor.
Low estimates put the number of adult Americans who can't read above the fourth grade level at no less than 10% of the population. This does not include illegal immigrants. But it does cut across all socioeconomic categories.
The rate of illiteracy is much higher in prisons. People without options often turn to crime. But in cooperation with the Sheriff's office, the library has placed volunteers who not only help inmates at the Douglas County facility raise their basic reading comprehension, but also earn their G.E.D.'s. This past year has seen many "graduates" -- and that just might be the boost people need to break a difficult cycle.
Library volunteer hours translate not only to amazing transformations in people's lives, but directly benefit our larger community in ways that are important.
A second favorite volunteer category for me is our Spellbinders. These are folks, mostly retired, who train to become master storytellers. Then they travel far and wide throughout the county, to schools, to daycares, to anywhere, and enthrall young minds with the magic of words.
This, too, is a crucial investment in our community. Literacy begins with storytelling, with putting yourself in someone else's place, and learning a little more about how the world works. By delivering these stories to groups, our Spellbinders also create a shared community, building little pockets of understanding, of moments held in common.
This is how communities take root and grow: by investing the time of talented individuals -- of whom Douglas County has so many! -- in the fertile soil of our intellectual future.
In yet another category are our volunteers in the Douglas County History Research Center. These folks help us cull through newspapers to extract clippings by topic. They help us sort through donations of letters or photographs. They help us interview veterans or long time county residents. In short, they help us preserve our surprisingly rich past.
But these categories aren't even our biggest. Most of our volunteers assist us with the work of our branches. They help us respond to the pincers of a problem: a big jump in business (up over 17% at some of our branches) at the same time we're paring down staff through attrition to balance the budget.
So I would like to thank not only our volunteers, but the staff we have called out to work with them. First is Paula Standen, District Volunteer Services. Right behind her are our branch volunteer coordinators: Dede Hemphill (Philip S. Miller Library), Angela Weeden (Highlands Ranch Library), Sylvia Wilkinson (Parker Library), Sarah Tweed (Neighborhood Library at Roxborough), and Claire Bochner (Neighborhood Library at Lone Tree).
I'd also like to thank our two Literacy Specialists, Molly Elkins and Priscilla Queen, Geri Domareck, our Book Start Coordinator, and the entire staff of our Douglas County History Research Center.
It was almost 10 years ago now that Robert Putnam's classic "bowling alone" study came out -- a finding that American's "social capital" was in decline.
But as I hope some of these numbers show, we may be seeing signs of a rediscovery of the value of community investment -- not just in what it gives to the community, but in the rich personal reward of a job done well, of making a difference in other people's lives.
---
LaRue's Views are his own.
In total, last year our community volunteers donated 24,265 hours to the library. That's 11.8% more than in 2007. Recent national studies suggest that the hourly value of that (considering the savings not just in salary but benefits) is at least $19.19. Multiply the hours by the value, and our community contributed the equivalent of $465,645 to our libraries last year!
This column isn't long enough to describe a tenth of the tasks our volunteers perform for us. I'd like to call out one that that has particular meaning to me, probably because it's one of the ways I've volunteered myself: working as a literacy tutor.
Low estimates put the number of adult Americans who can't read above the fourth grade level at no less than 10% of the population. This does not include illegal immigrants. But it does cut across all socioeconomic categories.
The rate of illiteracy is much higher in prisons. People without options often turn to crime. But in cooperation with the Sheriff's office, the library has placed volunteers who not only help inmates at the Douglas County facility raise their basic reading comprehension, but also earn their G.E.D.'s. This past year has seen many "graduates" -- and that just might be the boost people need to break a difficult cycle.
Library volunteer hours translate not only to amazing transformations in people's lives, but directly benefit our larger community in ways that are important.
A second favorite volunteer category for me is our Spellbinders. These are folks, mostly retired, who train to become master storytellers. Then they travel far and wide throughout the county, to schools, to daycares, to anywhere, and enthrall young minds with the magic of words.
This, too, is a crucial investment in our community. Literacy begins with storytelling, with putting yourself in someone else's place, and learning a little more about how the world works. By delivering these stories to groups, our Spellbinders also create a shared community, building little pockets of understanding, of moments held in common.
This is how communities take root and grow: by investing the time of talented individuals -- of whom Douglas County has so many! -- in the fertile soil of our intellectual future.
In yet another category are our volunteers in the Douglas County History Research Center. These folks help us cull through newspapers to extract clippings by topic. They help us sort through donations of letters or photographs. They help us interview veterans or long time county residents. In short, they help us preserve our surprisingly rich past.
But these categories aren't even our biggest. Most of our volunteers assist us with the work of our branches. They help us respond to the pincers of a problem: a big jump in business (up over 17% at some of our branches) at the same time we're paring down staff through attrition to balance the budget.
So I would like to thank not only our volunteers, but the staff we have called out to work with them. First is Paula Standen, District Volunteer Services. Right behind her are our branch volunteer coordinators: Dede Hemphill (Philip S. Miller Library), Angela Weeden (Highlands Ranch Library), Sylvia Wilkinson (Parker Library), Sarah Tweed (Neighborhood Library at Roxborough), and Claire Bochner (Neighborhood Library at Lone Tree).
I'd also like to thank our two Literacy Specialists, Molly Elkins and Priscilla Queen, Geri Domareck, our Book Start Coordinator, and the entire staff of our Douglas County History Research Center.
It was almost 10 years ago now that Robert Putnam's classic "bowling alone" study came out -- a finding that American's "social capital" was in decline.
But as I hope some of these numbers show, we may be seeing signs of a rediscovery of the value of community investment -- not just in what it gives to the community, but in the rich personal reward of a job done well, of making a difference in other people's lives.
---
LaRue's Views are his own.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
April 30, 2009 - library taxes and Louviers
To many citizens, public funding is a mystery. That includes library funding. So this week I thought I'd walk through some numbers for one of our service areas that's been in the news lately: Louviers.
Most of the library's revenues come from 4 mills of property tax (approved by the voters back in 1996). Year by year, that varies slightly, adjusted by the county assessor to reflect minor changes in collections called "abatements," but the library doesn't have any control over that.
1 mill = $7.96 of the ASSESSED VALUE of a house whose actual or MARKET VALUE according to the county assessor (sometimes equivalent to what you can sell your house for -- sometimes not) is $100,000. So 2 mills = $15.92, 3 mills = $23.88, and 4 mills = $31.84.
Now let's apply that to houses by the assessor's opinion of market value. The calculations below tell you what a household of this value would pay in library taxes for an entire year.
4 mills ($31.84) X $100,000 market value= $31.84
4 mills X $200,000 market value = $63.68
4 mills X $300,000 market value = $95.52
4 mills X $400,000 market value = $127.36
4 mills X $500,000 market value = $159.20
4 mills X $1,000,000 market value = $310.84
And yes, I skipped from 500,000 to a million, just to say that hey, if you live in a million dollar house, you would pay just over $300 a year for libraries.
Does that sound like a lot?
Now figure out what you pay for cable TV -- $50 a month? A cell phone? Broadband? Gym membership? For most households in Douglas County, people pay more for any of these services in two months than they pay for the library in a whole year.
Arguably, the library investment not only has a higher personal return on the investment, it makes a direct contribution to the quality of our shared community.
Now multiply the average value of those homes times the number of homes in an area. Let's say the average home price in Louviers is $300,000. And there are about 100 homes. The average house would pay just under $100 a year in library taxes. Times 100 homes, that's a total contribution of $10,000 from Louviers residential properties for library services. (As any commercial property owner knows, commercial property pays about 3-1/2 times higher taxes than residential.)
In 2008, we spent over $90,000 to operate the Louviers Library, mostly on salaries and materials.
Where did the difference between the $10,000 and the $90,000 come from? From the rest of the county. It came, for instance, from the revenues collected from the Castle Pines area, which has no library at all.
This kind of disparity is historical; Louviers was around long before Castle Pines. But it explains, I hope, why I have argued that a regional library approach -- centering libraries in larger population centers that people also visit to shop -- is not only more cost-effective, but is also inherently fairer to all our patrons -- Douglas County residents who are in fact our owners.
Based on a recent decision by our Board of Trustees, and due to a projected long term decline in property tax collections, we'll be scaling back our services in Louviers by about half, leading to an annual cost of about $45,000. The citizens of Louviers in fact recommended this reduction in response to our fiscal outlook.
Quite aside from the numbers, they have spoken at length about the intangibles of library service: the library's contribution to a sense of community, the library's role in preserving unique local history, and the library's role as community gathering place. All of that's true, too.
The challenge for the library -- and most other public institutions -- is to balance the lofty goals that drive us with the fiscal realities that either enable, or restrict, our ability to live up to them.
----
LaRue's Views are his own.
Most of the library's revenues come from 4 mills of property tax (approved by the voters back in 1996). Year by year, that varies slightly, adjusted by the county assessor to reflect minor changes in collections called "abatements," but the library doesn't have any control over that.
1 mill = $7.96 of the ASSESSED VALUE of a house whose actual or MARKET VALUE according to the county assessor (sometimes equivalent to what you can sell your house for -- sometimes not) is $100,000. So 2 mills = $15.92, 3 mills = $23.88, and 4 mills = $31.84.
Now let's apply that to houses by the assessor's opinion of market value. The calculations below tell you what a household of this value would pay in library taxes for an entire year.
4 mills ($31.84) X $100,000 market value= $31.84
4 mills X $200,000 market value = $63.68
4 mills X $300,000 market value = $95.52
4 mills X $400,000 market value = $127.36
4 mills X $500,000 market value = $159.20
4 mills X $1,000,000 market value = $310.84
And yes, I skipped from 500,000 to a million, just to say that hey, if you live in a million dollar house, you would pay just over $300 a year for libraries.
Does that sound like a lot?
Now figure out what you pay for cable TV -- $50 a month? A cell phone? Broadband? Gym membership? For most households in Douglas County, people pay more for any of these services in two months than they pay for the library in a whole year.
Arguably, the library investment not only has a higher personal return on the investment, it makes a direct contribution to the quality of our shared community.
Now multiply the average value of those homes times the number of homes in an area. Let's say the average home price in Louviers is $300,000. And there are about 100 homes. The average house would pay just under $100 a year in library taxes. Times 100 homes, that's a total contribution of $10,000 from Louviers residential properties for library services. (As any commercial property owner knows, commercial property pays about 3-1/2 times higher taxes than residential.)
In 2008, we spent over $90,000 to operate the Louviers Library, mostly on salaries and materials.
Where did the difference between the $10,000 and the $90,000 come from? From the rest of the county. It came, for instance, from the revenues collected from the Castle Pines area, which has no library at all.
This kind of disparity is historical; Louviers was around long before Castle Pines. But it explains, I hope, why I have argued that a regional library approach -- centering libraries in larger population centers that people also visit to shop -- is not only more cost-effective, but is also inherently fairer to all our patrons -- Douglas County residents who are in fact our owners.
Based on a recent decision by our Board of Trustees, and due to a projected long term decline in property tax collections, we'll be scaling back our services in Louviers by about half, leading to an annual cost of about $45,000. The citizens of Louviers in fact recommended this reduction in response to our fiscal outlook.
Quite aside from the numbers, they have spoken at length about the intangibles of library service: the library's contribution to a sense of community, the library's role in preserving unique local history, and the library's role as community gathering place. All of that's true, too.
The challenge for the library -- and most other public institutions -- is to balance the lofty goals that drive us with the fiscal realities that either enable, or restrict, our ability to live up to them.
----
LaRue's Views are his own.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
April 23, 2009 - meditations on change
"Change is inevitable. Change for the better is a full-time job." Adlai E. Stevenson.
People keep telling me that "no one wants or likes change." That's not how I see it.
I used to do workshops that started like this: "I'm going to name some job factors, and I want you to tell me if you want MORE, LESS, DIFFERENT,
or if this factor is ABOUT RIGHT.
* Tools (computers, software, or any other device or technology)
* Hours
* Benefits
* Pay
* Supervisors
* Workload
and so on.
After getting people to vote on all of these, I would ask, "Did anyone vote 'about right' for every question?" Invariably, no one had.
Then I would ask them, "What do you think this talk is about?" The answers ranged from ergonomics to effective supervision to almost everything else.
Finally, I would say, "No. It's about change. And based on your votes this morning, everybody wants it."
But does this apply only to our work lives? I don't think so. Let's see some hands out there: how many of us are at our ideal weight or target heart rate? Spend enough time with the kids? Carve out the time to do our favorite, spirit-replenishing hobbies?
How many of us would be willing to go out on this limb: winning the lottery?
Face it, people. We want change so bad, the lack of it may kill us.
But it's even worse. Some kinds of change we get no matter what we want. We get older, and eventually decrepit. Or die. Either way, it's change!
The fact is that change is the only thing we can be sure of.
So here's what I think. We don't fear change. We fear change for the worse.
What then can we do in both our work and personal lives to change in ways that leave us better than we are today?
Here are a few thoughts from a librarian who both reads and thinks about such things far more than may be reasonable.
* Begin by dwelling on your strengths and your joys. People seem to be happiest when they are both doing something they're good at, and stretches them, challenges them. Celebrate your unique gifts by using them.
* Visualize your future. This may not the be whole "secret" to life, but it is surely useful: start seeing your life the way you'd like to be, and you tend to make choices to get there.
* Seek something the Japanese call "kaizen" -- continuous improvement. Not one big jump into an idealized future, just one or two steps in that direction. The small changes add up.
* Cultivate an attitude of appreciation. I admit it: things don't always turn out the way you'd like. But almost every day, something wonderful happens, if only the slant of morning light, or the etching of a cottonwood branch against a cloud, or the twitter of unseen birds, or a whole display of fascinating new books, or the smile of a child. It's not all about you, but you are privileged to live in a world of surpassing beauty.
"Do you fear change? Leave it here." - sign at coffee counter
People keep telling me that "no one wants or likes change." That's not how I see it.
I used to do workshops that started like this: "I'm going to name some job factors, and I want you to tell me if you want MORE, LESS, DIFFERENT,
or if this factor is ABOUT RIGHT.
* Tools (computers, software, or any other device or technology)
* Hours
* Benefits
* Pay
* Supervisors
* Workload
and so on.
After getting people to vote on all of these, I would ask, "Did anyone vote 'about right' for every question?" Invariably, no one had.
Then I would ask them, "What do you think this talk is about?" The answers ranged from ergonomics to effective supervision to almost everything else.
Finally, I would say, "No. It's about change. And based on your votes this morning, everybody wants it."
But does this apply only to our work lives? I don't think so. Let's see some hands out there: how many of us are at our ideal weight or target heart rate? Spend enough time with the kids? Carve out the time to do our favorite, spirit-replenishing hobbies?
How many of us would be willing to go out on this limb: winning the lottery?
Face it, people. We want change so bad, the lack of it may kill us.
But it's even worse. Some kinds of change we get no matter what we want. We get older, and eventually decrepit. Or die. Either way, it's change!
The fact is that change is the only thing we can be sure of.
So here's what I think. We don't fear change. We fear change for the worse.
What then can we do in both our work and personal lives to change in ways that leave us better than we are today?
Here are a few thoughts from a librarian who both reads and thinks about such things far more than may be reasonable.
* Begin by dwelling on your strengths and your joys. People seem to be happiest when they are both doing something they're good at, and stretches them, challenges them. Celebrate your unique gifts by using them.
* Visualize your future. This may not the be whole "secret" to life, but it is surely useful: start seeing your life the way you'd like to be, and you tend to make choices to get there.
* Seek something the Japanese call "kaizen" -- continuous improvement. Not one big jump into an idealized future, just one or two steps in that direction. The small changes add up.
* Cultivate an attitude of appreciation. I admit it: things don't always turn out the way you'd like. But almost every day, something wonderful happens, if only the slant of morning light, or the etching of a cottonwood branch against a cloud, or the twitter of unseen birds, or a whole display of fascinating new books, or the smile of a child. It's not all about you, but you are privileged to live in a world of surpassing beauty.
"Do you fear change? Leave it here." - sign at coffee counter
Thursday, April 16, 2009
April 16, 2009 - tim miller tweets
[The library employs a host of wonderful people, and it's fun to see what they're up to. This week, library employee Tim Miller talks about about living in Twitter Town. - Jamie LaRue]
I've only been a citizen of what some people call "Twitter Town" for about a week now, and I love it already. My web browser always has a Twitter tab up. On The Net, this electronic tossed salad of people,places, institutions, and bots goes by the domain name twitter.com. If you haven't joined this quickly growing community of "Tweeters"already, sign up now.
Twitter is just an upgrade of several older ideas. Chat rooms have existed since the early nineties. A lot of you probably remember the days when you'd come home, crank over your dial-up modem, and hop on AOL for a little strange talk with the other Americans, who weren't playing Nintendo or watching "The Simpsons." Later on, instant and text messaging became the major mediums for communicating with peers.
Chat rooms still exist. They allow people to express and take in newopinions, while meeting other personas. Unfortunately, the open chat format also gives criminals and perverts an easy way to manipulate unaware Net-goers. On the other hand, text and instant messaging allows users to customize who gets a message.
I've never text messaged a random cell phone number. I tend to stay in my social box, where networking and friendship opportunities are limited to the people I talk to every day. That's no good. As a Douglas County Libraries employee, I believe that meeting new people and gaining fresh perspectives is part of lifelong learning and literacy. Sending messages to people I know doesn’t allow me to do those things online.
Then again, chat rooms have become too random and dangerous for me. I never know when some electronic snake-in-the-grass or a software porno solicitor is going to bug me out of any want to be online. This goes for social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook too.
Some people are pretty ambitious when it comes to finding new "friends"on the networking sites. I'm not. Once I've "friended" someone, we might exchange messages once or twice, but then it's over. That person is just another picture on my list of un-friends. If I add the disadvantages above to the fact that it takes a lot of time to answer the "Hey, how ya' doin'?” messages from everyone I've ever known, and the guilt from not staying in touch with them, I have a ginormous lack of motivation to visit MySpace or Facebook.
Twitter has combined the best, and left out the worst, of the chat, text, instant message, and social network concepts. The site works like a single, global chat room, with customizable features that allow users, or "Tweeple," to customize who they follow and what they read.Those annoying solicitors and criminals have taken up residence in this medium too, but all I have to do is block them. Plus, Twitter involves no pressure.
Each "tweet" I leave for followers can only be 140 characters long.That limitation applies to individual messages too. Unlike MySpace or Facebook, I don't have to keep in touch with people I barely remember,or read way-too-detailed accounts of what everyone else is doing on the site. With Twitter, I can read and write what I want, without feeling guilty, while also meeting new people. Tweets can contain links to other pages, so Twitter works like a news aggregator too. I can even get tweets on my cell phone.
People have been talking about Twitter for a while now, but I never tried it until Douglas County Libraries (DCL) started tweeting to notify its patrons of news and upcoming events. Since then, I've been addicted.
You can find and follow DCL on Twitter, under the name "DCLcolorado."If you'd like to read my rants, you can look me up as "tr1str4m" on Twitter, or visit my blog at timotheus.synthasite.com. As always, DouglasCountyLibraries.org is your online access point for lifelong learning and literacy in our communities.
I've only been a citizen of what some people call "Twitter Town" for about a week now, and I love it already. My web browser always has a Twitter tab up. On The Net, this electronic tossed salad of people,places, institutions, and bots goes by the domain name twitter.com. If you haven't joined this quickly growing community of "Tweeters"already, sign up now.
Twitter is just an upgrade of several older ideas. Chat rooms have existed since the early nineties. A lot of you probably remember the days when you'd come home, crank over your dial-up modem, and hop on AOL for a little strange talk with the other Americans, who weren't playing Nintendo or watching "The Simpsons." Later on, instant and text messaging became the major mediums for communicating with peers.
Chat rooms still exist. They allow people to express and take in newopinions, while meeting other personas. Unfortunately, the open chat format also gives criminals and perverts an easy way to manipulate unaware Net-goers. On the other hand, text and instant messaging allows users to customize who gets a message.
I've never text messaged a random cell phone number. I tend to stay in my social box, where networking and friendship opportunities are limited to the people I talk to every day. That's no good. As a Douglas County Libraries employee, I believe that meeting new people and gaining fresh perspectives is part of lifelong learning and literacy. Sending messages to people I know doesn’t allow me to do those things online.
Then again, chat rooms have become too random and dangerous for me. I never know when some electronic snake-in-the-grass or a software porno solicitor is going to bug me out of any want to be online. This goes for social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook too.
Some people are pretty ambitious when it comes to finding new "friends"on the networking sites. I'm not. Once I've "friended" someone, we might exchange messages once or twice, but then it's over. That person is just another picture on my list of un-friends. If I add the disadvantages above to the fact that it takes a lot of time to answer the "Hey, how ya' doin'?” messages from everyone I've ever known, and the guilt from not staying in touch with them, I have a ginormous lack of motivation to visit MySpace or Facebook.
Twitter has combined the best, and left out the worst, of the chat, text, instant message, and social network concepts. The site works like a single, global chat room, with customizable features that allow users, or "Tweeple," to customize who they follow and what they read.Those annoying solicitors and criminals have taken up residence in this medium too, but all I have to do is block them. Plus, Twitter involves no pressure.
Each "tweet" I leave for followers can only be 140 characters long.That limitation applies to individual messages too. Unlike MySpace or Facebook, I don't have to keep in touch with people I barely remember,or read way-too-detailed accounts of what everyone else is doing on the site. With Twitter, I can read and write what I want, without feeling guilty, while also meeting new people. Tweets can contain links to other pages, so Twitter works like a news aggregator too. I can even get tweets on my cell phone.
People have been talking about Twitter for a while now, but I never tried it until Douglas County Libraries (DCL) started tweeting to notify its patrons of news and upcoming events. Since then, I've been addicted.
You can find and follow DCL on Twitter, under the name "DCLcolorado."If you'd like to read my rants, you can look me up as "tr1str4m" on Twitter, or visit my blog at timotheus.synthasite.com. As always, DouglasCountyLibraries.org is your online access point for lifelong learning and literacy in our communities.
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