Service Response Discussion: Lifelong Learning
August 29th, 2006 by Andrea MercadoThis post is part of a series designed to further discussion of the PLA Results service responses, designed in 1998 to describe “what a library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs.”
The bulleted comments below were gathered in conference sessions by the PLA Results team, in an effort to update the current service responses, which were originally written almost ten years ago. The PLA Results group is looking to the community for feedback on how to update these service responses to better reflect current public library methods and standards.
“A library that provides Lifelong Learning service helps address the desire for self-directed personal growth and development opportunities.” (definition care of the PLA Results site). The current version of the Lifelong Learning service response, is available for review on the PLA Results web site (the file is an Adobe .pdf file, and requires Adobe Reader to view).
Share your feedback on the Lifelong Learning service response, as well as the starter comments listed below, by leaving a comment on this post page. You can help PLA Results bring public library service responses into the 21st century!
Lifelong Learning Discussion Group Comments
Should this service response be renamed?
- It could be renamed Self-Directed Learning.
- A newer term for this is Free-Choice Learning.
- It should be called Independent Learning.
Have there been problems with this service response?
- It is a no-brainer for community groups; they almost always select it. However, the service response provides no direction for staff in terms of collection development and other services.
- It is really broad. Maybe we should break it into smaller components.
- It is preferable to leave it broad now and then give more direction at the resource allocation level when get to that point.
- This is a critical service response and has to stay.
Other Comments
- Glad for anything that has an experience for a user and doesn’t have the word information in it.
- It is non-fiction materials.
- It should include skills development.
Go back to the Service Response Discussion Index.
Tags: PLA, PLA Blog, service responses
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September 7th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Citizens seem to understand what “life-long learning” means - that it applies to all ages, that it is both formal and informal, and that it is extremely important to a democratic society. They seem to understand this term far better than some of the other service responses.
October 10th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
I agree with Ms. Kotch. We went through the community advisory process in this semi-rural and working class community, and this made more sense to the group than most of the taxonomy.
October 11th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Some libraries combine Lifelong Learning and Formal Learning Support. Community members want to acknowledge the home schooling efforts as well as the support for the k-12 efforts (homework help, passing the SATS, and getting into college, among many other programs). They also feel a need to provide services for “self-directed” personal growth and development for others.
I wonder if it has to do with a need to categorize by age and semantics?
October 12th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
I am not surprised that libraries are the center of reading. Bookstores and libraries are the cultural centers in that they provide the best conditions to read, however libraries have the advantage in pulling rabbits out of hats, since they rely on a staff’s various talents and traits. By the look of this month’s reading selections on our library displays, I would say that it takes more time than talent to feed books to hungry readers. Patience, peserverence and reliance on other talents are important traits to look for in finding the right pathfinder to a good book. Some libraries become invisible on the web and it is unfortunate. I believe the next step for all libraries is to market our traits.
October 12th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Amen to Susan Hansen’s comments. Readers Advisory should have its own category in this service prioritization.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I have never liked the term “lifelong learning.” I think its because at one point it was so trendy and every agency in the community was using it. It also seemed to mean learning after formal education or learning for older folks. So when our community committee chose Lifelong Learning as our third service response, we (I) changed it to “Desire for Learning.”
October 24th, 2006 at 11:12 am
I agree with Sarah Nagle - the service of Reader’s Advisory should be a choice. Along with that, we might want to consider this the service choice that truly emphasizes the book, and self directed reading for pleasure. A place where the book is promoted through collections, programs, and services that specifically hook up a patron with a book. I realize this may be regarded as old fashioned, yet no one does this better than a library - if/when it commits resources to it. Some bookstores do the new selections and author parts well, but not the deeper collections and book discussions. And I’ve never had a bookstore employee suggest alternate titles for me, or place a reserve for me because they knew I’d like the title. We could consider this lifelong learning. But it is more focused on the act of reading for sheer enjoyment. And though the clientele for this may be shrinking (if we believe recent reports), that clientele is likely the most loyal library user of them all. And I would venture to say, accounts for a large percentage of the book usage as a whole. To me, that merits a service role.
November 5th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
I second Kathyellen’s comments. Reader’s advisory is a very important component of library services.