Updated Service Responses available for download from PLA
May 9th, 2007 by Kathleen HughesThe Public Library Association (PLA) is pleased to announce that the updated Service Responses are now available for download at the ALA Online Store (www.alastore.ala.org). The PDF document, which includes comprehensive descriptions of 18 new and revised Service Responses, is available to ALA members for $22.50 ($25.00 for non-members).
In 1997, the publication Planning for Results: A Public Library Transformation Process included 13 Service Responses, which were defined as “what a library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs.” As communities change, library responses have adapted. In 2006, PLA Results series editors Sandra Nelson and June Garcia initiated a process to revise the 1997 Service Responses by soliciting input from librarians, library staff, and library trustees though meetings and online review and discussion on the PLA Blog (www.plablog.org). The resulting 18 new and revised services responses were completed in February 2007.
The Revised Service Responses, along with other titles from PLA’s popular Results series may be ordered online at www.alastore.ala.org or by calling the ALA Store (1-866-746-7252). For more information on PLA publications, contact the PLA office at 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA, or visit PLA’s Web site at www.pla.org.
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May 13th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Hi. I know what the 13 responses are but I can’t find a list of the 18…can this be posted for general public librarians? I don’t think having to pay $22.50 for something my own organization has put together is really fair. Will the 18 be published in a place I can access? Looking forward to moving into 2.0 without a digital divide.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
I teach a course in public librarianship and try to keep text-related costs reasonable for students on tight budgets. How soon until the new Planning for Results is issued? What will the cost be? Is there an ISBN for this download item? How much overlap if I order both for students [new planning & download]? The topic at hand would be one week of class, not the text for the entire course. Ideally, I would like to refer the students to a short article that outlines the 18 and then put this on reserve.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:46 am
At the ALA Store, the Service Responses are listed as currently unavailable (as of Tuesday morning, 15 May 2007). It is very frustrating to be referred to a source that cannot fulfill the request; it is nearly as frustrating to need to pay $22.50 for a description of the Service Responses.
May 15th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Thank you for your interest in the updated service responses. Let me see if I can address a couple of the issues raised in these comments:
First, Unfortunately, there are costs associated with assembling the new service responses - PLA has to pay the authors/consultants who did the research, arranged the service response sessions, assembled all of the information, and then pulled all of the information together into a cohesive resource. In addition, there are costs related to copyediting and design.
The service responses are actually part of a publication, Planning for Results…so, as you can see, the original 13 responses also had to be purchased. These new service responses will be part of the updated Planning for Results, when it is published, sometime in the near future. In order to keep providing this type of information, PLA has to hire experts and the only way to keep doing that is to charge for the product that the consultants produce.
The download is not just a list of the service responses, it also includes background information, and for each service response a description, suggested target audiences, typical services and programs in libraries that select this as a priority, potential partners, policy implications, critical resources, staff (knowledge, skills, and abilities), collection (print, media, and electronic resources), facility (space, furniture, and equipment), technology (hardware, software, networks, and telecommunications), possible measures, and more.
Anyway, I’m sorry that we cannot offer the publication for free, but we have attempted to make it available at a reasonable price. Please let me know if you have further questions.
The Service Responses are available for $25.00 (22.50 for members) via the ALA online store. A product number has not yet been assigned to the Service Responses (it will not have an ISBN) but here is the link to purchase http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog2&_pn=product_detail&_op=2388.
To address the last comment, we are unable to find any technical problem with the Service Responses on the ALA - if you continue to have problems, please contact me directly. Thank you.
Kathleen Hughes
Manager, Publications
Public Library Association
May 15th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
I appreciate your kind (and comprehensive) response.
In the interval between my comment and your reply, I discovered that I was misinformed on the size of the publication, which is 70 pages of detailed information, as opposed to the list / outline that I anticipated. As a result, the cost is less of an issue.
I discovered, as well, that I encountered a broken link on the ALA Store home page. I later found my way to the Service Responses 2007 publication, which I purchased.
I apologize for the perhaps overly quick comments, and please accept my gratitude for your thoughtful response.