"To the degree that we can ... replace books with people, that’s the future of where libraries are going.”

That's Anthony Marx, the President of New York Public Library, quoted in a 2011 article in The Nation.  He's talking about a plan to convert the Central Library to a circulating library as well as research facility.  The plan involves ripping out a lot of stacks, adding a lot of computers, and closing two branches to pay for the renovation.  I learned about the plan from a passing comment on the Fuse#8 blog--a Guardian article on the subject makes it clear staff are discouraged (forbidden?) from commenting.  However, library users have not been silent.  And there are some irate Slavic scholars out there.

Air conditioning, anarchy, and makeshift summer camps

Two interesting news articles have been sent to me by other librarians this past week. Some context for the first one: the Smith Hill and Knight Memorial Libraries have been closed more than they've been open the last two weeks, because they're not air conditioned. When it gets too hot inside, union rules dictate that the building must be closed. Meanwhile, ABC6 is telling people to got to their public libraries to cool down, so the libraries that are open are overflowing (and so are my programs). Is this what it means to be a third space?*

Let me be clear: I'm very grateful for the AC in my building. Not only does it make me comfortable, but it allows us to be consistently accessible to patrons. However, I did enjoy this anti-air conditioning article from the Washington Post.

I did not enjoy this article, which has been circulating among librarians as well: Public Libraries Serving as Makeshift Summer Camps for Some Children in Chicagoland.

A study of the optimum distance between a library and a school

They're closing a number of schools in Providence, and I've been discussing with people how this might affect the libraries near the schools. Mount Pleasant, my humble library, is walking distance from two public elementary schools, two Catholic schools, one public high school, and one private high school. Of course, "walking distance" depends on the length of your legs and your walking tolerance, which depends on how often you are transported by minivan.

I once had a volunteer (pity her) take the NCES list of schools in Providence and map them, along with the public libraries, so I could figure out what schools were my responsibility.

[View Providence Schools in a larger map]

Libraries as Physical Places

I'm listening to a podcast about the Boston Public Library situation--they have a budget shortfall, so they're looking at closing some branches. Sound familiar? Oooooh, they just got to the part where they compare the situation to the Providence situation. Ann Robinson is on the line!

Anyway, I think what's at stake here is the library as physical place. Unless we get a lot more money, libraries can't be everything people want them to be: children's playroom, research institution, internet cafe, senior center, homeless shelter, continuing education extension, video store, after school program, etc. But one of the biggest either-or decisions we have to make is whether we're going to be a physical place or an online presence.

In Providence, we've already taken sides. PCL is keeping the physical spaces open--both in terms of locations and hours--and naturally that means other things have to take a hit--collections, staffing, building maintenance, etc. Dale Thompson has embraced the other path, where the assumption is that people have computers and can access your resources 24/7 from wherever.

Maybe another thing that's at stake is whether the library is a social service for people with lower incomes (and the homeless) or an institution that will compete with Netflix and Google to attract the middle to upper class. Maybe we don't have to choose between these two particular extremes, but I don't think we can be everything to everyone in this economy, so we need to commit. To something. Know who we are and be that.

Note: I'm not the first blogger to talk about this, obviously, although it's more often a discussion at University Libraries.