Everything else seems to be covered.

At Yarra Plenty Regional Library we are exploring how we might use the social networking technologies to do what Cheri talks about - getting people participating and involved, rather than just providing them with services. We think that the role of public libraries is changing fundamentally as we move into a new age of technology and a new digital lifestyle. Increasingly people are becoming creators not just consumers.

We have rolled out the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenberg County’s 23 Things training and it has been wonderful to watch staff actively take on new learning! We have identified 4 areas that we are concentrating on growing our staff skills in - finding information; enabling learning; creating content; and celebrating culture.

(#1) O’Reilly, T (2005/9/30). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the
Next Generation of Software. O’Reilly Network, Retrieved 10/25/2006, from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
(#2) Mossman, K (2006/7/15). Serving the Niche. Library Journal, Retrieved 10/25/2006,
from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6349032.html
(#3)Fallows, J (2005/11/6). A Journey to the Center of Yahoo. New York Times:
nytimes.com, Retrieved 10/25/2006, from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/business/yourmoney/06techno.html?ei=5088&en=11aa3a8e097005a7&ex=1288933200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

In light of these and similar discussions, I see the development of library community as taking place on multiple fronts. In order to stay relevant, we must embrace practices that include continuing two-way interaction with our patrons. This is a user-centric era and it becomes more so all the time. As more and more people become active participants in Internet-based activities (an occurrence that libraries are facilitating) their expectations of interactivity and responsiveness will grow. We must find ways to incorporate this into our way of providing service.

I come to this discussion as a public librarian who has always been involved in outreach and in initiating services to senior adults, new adult readers, and people with disabilities. To accomplish these services, I, and other staff members, have worked with community agencies and constituent advisory committees and have employed programming for seniors and in American Sign Language for the Deaf community. We have also used adaptive technology.

So I see the need to emphasize outreach services and, more specifically,
services to senior adults, services to people with disabilities, and services to people for whom English is a second language. I don’t think the term immigrants is now politically correct. There is still need for literacy classes or tutoring for Americans whose first language is English but who are lacking in reading and writing skills.

Diversity and Access are key words in library and ALA parlance. I would think that “services to diverse population including….” could incorporate
the above groups and that Access relates more to a Library philosophy which would be reflected in services to these diverse groups.

The current concern with the coming senior status of the Boomer Generation further stresses the need for services to senior adults who have now been categorized into three age groups. Savvy seniors will need the Zoom Text enlargement on computers, computer literacy training, FM Assistive Listening devices in the Lecture Halls, and information on volunteer opportunities.

Having been involved in programming not only for special audiences, but for general audiences, ranging from directing the National Endowment for the Humanities Learning Library at the BPL to organizing celebrity author series, ethnic celebrations, foreign affairs, Great Books, and other book discussion groups, I know the power of such undertakings to contribute to lifelong learning. And I hope that programming and discussion groups are not ignored in any listing of services that reflect the Library’s core values.

I think any inventory of services must be predicated on a philosophy of library services or core values. An expression of these core values or philosophy should be contained in an introduction to an enumeration of these services. I confess that I am not aware of the core values that I think ALA articulated a few years ago.

I don’t know whether these core values have been incorporated into “The Library as Place,” which, I believe Carol Brey endorsed or whether the concept of “Libraries Build Communities” which has been another motif
is considered a valid core value. It seems to me they are as well as “lifelong learning,” “the information function in daily life, student education, consumer guidance, etc.” “the educational, social, and recreational role of the Library.” And, of course, reading.

But I think these values or philosophy should be enunciated clearly and forcefully. I agree with Penny Welling that we should be proactive, that the Library should be seen as it is in many cases, and can be in others–a dynamic, vital entity that interacts with the community so that the Library may even anticipates the public’s needs.

Technology is the important element that has become a part of the Library’s core values and operation over the last ten years. I think special attention needs to be given to the role of technology in public libraries, not only in the information literacy aspects but in how technology will further interaction with the public through blogs, wikis, etc making the public’s participation in Library policy and procedures greater and more significant.
One of your commentators has mentioned gaming on the Internet as a possible new service and it is one that is increasingly endorsed by Young Adult librarians.

Getting back to philosophy of library services, I think the best expression of what this philosophy should be was carved on the ediface of the Boston Public Library. “Free to All. Built by the People of the City of Boston and Dedicated to the Advancement of Learning.”

Sincerely, Kathleen B. Hegarty

In my opinion, RA in the broadest sense isn’t just a glory of the past–it’s also one of the most important library services for the coming generation. As access becomes more and more of a non-issue for the majority of our customers, evaluation will conversely be a greater and greater need, as the universe of information and entertainment choices for people expands. And the kind of personalized, passionately informed evaluation assistance that future generations of library users will probably come to expect is the kind of personalized, passionately informed evaluation assistance that RA has been providing leisure readers for years.

I personally believe that this is why RA has undergone such a renaissance recently and is expanding into nonfiction RA, viewer’s advisory, listener’s advisory, etc. If there’s anything public libraries are uniquely in a position to provide well, this is it. And if there’s anything that will help us connect to a new generation of passionate users, this is it.

Survey after survey indicates that the public most strongly associates public libraries with books and reading, and the recent OCLC “Perceptions” report concluded that “there is no runner up.” I would like to see a service response that addresses the joy of reading as a top tier priority. Maybe we could call it Engaged Literacy, or simply Reading for Pleasure. Using language similar to the other service responses, a description for this response might read something like: “Addresses library patrons’ appetites for reading and the experience of engaging with the written word.” All activities in the service of bringing readers and texts together could be included here – collection development, displays, author programs and story-times, readers’ advisory, electronic reader’s advisory tools, book discussion groups, booklists, book blogs or current awareness efforts, etc. As the list in the previous sentence demonstrates, public libraries already are doing a lot in the interest of books and reading – we should formalize this important activity in our major role-setting policies and planning documents.

Scott Condon