Changing Library Buildings
Just taken a rare opportunity to listen to a podcast. It’s not something I do very often as the number of times when I a) have an hour to spare and b) have something handy to play the podcast on, are about as frequent as a conjunction of the planets Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter.
Talking with Talis: The Library 2.0 Gang talk about changing library buildings
In this Library 2.0 Gang discussion, we talk about the changing role of the library building in delivering a range of services. As more material moves online, and as a growing number of those using library services are remote from their physical library, how do we adapt the services that are offered, and how do we transform the buildings for the 21st century?
T. Scott Plutchack had some interesting thoughts on the role of the building, suggesting that the role of the librarian is critical. Which is an interesting thought to bear in mind as we see the roles of Herefordshire’s libraries begin to develop into what could arguably be called non-traditional. First Bromyard, and now Kington have become ‘centres’ where other council services are offered, and in the case of Bromyard, the leisure centre is also in the same building.
For the public this is arguably a good thing – multiple services can be accessed with one convenient visit. But if we think the role of the librarian is critical, it may be a shock to realise that the staff who are providing the service are expected to provide ALL the services at once. In the case of Bromyard, this covers the library, council enquiries, council payments, the leisure centre, the Tourism Office (which actually may no longer be there – don’t quote me on that) and all by two or three members of staff who are on duty at any one time.
There seems to me to be a dissolution of skill amongst several service strands, so that staff who are invariably part time (Bromyard is open 7 days a week), are required to be jacks of all trades, and so masters of none. This is no slur on the staff, who as much as anybody want to provide the best services they can, but they can see that there are gaps.
There are library specific tasks that in some libraries are carried out by one person who has the experience and knowledge to be able to provide an efficient and accurate service. They use a Library management system which is complex, but I’ll leave it to you to imagine what you get when you ask that same member of staff to learn another four or five complex, and in some cases badly designed, software systems in order to provide ALL the services.
Co-location with other organisations is not something that was discussed in the podcast. Much of the discussion centred around the ways that libraries could vary the delivery of the services they offer, and how the delivery point needed to be where the people were.
- Using video links to allow customers at rural/remote libraries to talk to a librarian at the main library was one interesting idea (although how that would fit around available staff time is another question).
- Another very interesting idea is the integration of electronic resources into the physical space of the real life library. Thomas Brevik outlined an idea for a touchscreen on every shelfend that would provide access to a list of preset searches and electronic resources related to the shelf content.
- Most interesting of all was the idea of a temporary library, where a small but dedicated collection could be set up in a marque or even off the back of a mobile library at events in order to provide library outreach and resource space.
Technorati Tags: co-location, Library2.0, libraries, Talis, Herefordshire
PS: Of course, these are my opinions and not those of the organisation I work for
