Cell Phones and Civility

Last week a visibly upset patron stopped me and expressed her deep and abiding frustration with cell phones, or more specifically, the way in which some patrons used these devices. What she articulated was a not uncommon phenomenon in libraries. As the nature and uses of libraries have changed, and especially as libraries attract larger numbers of nontraditional patrons drawn by computers, games, programs and other attractions the question of public civility becomes a pertinent and contentious point of discussion. I am not certain that cell phones are the core problem, although they are certainly a visible and justifiable target. (I played baseball on a team where our first baseman had the first few bars of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida as his ring tone. I always liked that song, until the fifth or sixth time the phone went off during a road trip.)



Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but there seems to be a lack of consideration for others that manifests itself in certain behaviors. Cell phone tones, followed by extended and often personal conversations peppered with expletives and graphic descriptions are clearly obnoxious. Similarly, the folks who stand over the no smoking signs at the library entrance puffing away, the fatigued or unreflective folks who park themselves in front of the book drop, and the group conducting a full throated conversation oblivious to those in adjacent seats trying to read all merit attention and remonstrance.


As this list implies the problem is as much a matter of behavior as of technology. Therefore, we ask cell phone users to hold their conversations in the foyer, the Media Center or outside the library. There is signage making that request in several locations, but experience shows that signage mostly helps staff point out the policy as they address a violation. Few transgressors read the text before the issue is raised with them. As for the other forms of inconsiderate or anti-social behavior, we could post multiple bill boards inveigning against smoking, cussing, drinking and chewing, but the results would be homely. What we will do is point out the violations as they occur, refer to the copies of the behavior policies posted in multiple locations, ask for cooperation, remove the recalcitrant, and maintain a belief in the long term efficacy of behavior modification.

The hiatus ends

It is hard to believe that so much time has passed since my last post. In fact, I find the lack of further entries hard to explain. The most plausible explanation is lack of time. It certainly is not for lack of subject matter. One of the topics preoccupying me during this hiatus is security. This is not a topic peculiar to the library, indeed it is a subject long associated with the down town area generally. However, what occurs at the library is a manifestation of larger community concerns, and exemplify the types of issues requiring resolution on a community wide basis.

It has been clear for some time that the library is too large to be adequately monitored by staff alone. There are too many corners, obscured and unobserved areas in the library, not counting the special challenges presented by the entry way and exterior. There are also the quantifiable incidents of untoward behavior which frustrate both patrons and staff and detract from our role as a community resource. It is not that one particularly egregious incident provoked a strong response, rather it is the slow grind of often minor events. These will eventually overwhelm even those of the most equable disposition. Perhaps in a less inspiring environment some of this could be rationalized as reflective of the surroundings, but in a new and dynamic building with wonderful amenities for public use the lack of consideration and proper use become intolerable.

Therefore the library has embarked on a program resulting in new, visible and we judge effective measures. A closed circuit camera system is now being installed expressly to monitor the most problematic areas internally and externally. Security staff are being added to the library and will be a visible presence during the days and evenings. Other salient measures cover the window sills and rest rooms.

In conjunction with these enhancements, we are holding regular dialogs with city officials and departments. The mayor's office, city manager, police department and department of human services are all contributing to these communications. The response from Norwich city government is encouraging, and the willingness of city departments to advocate for improvements in housing, policing, and other services validate their commitment to a renascent down town area.

I am pleased to report that the atmosphere at the library has improved markedly. We are an urban library, and the events in and around the library are those facing other urban communities. The environment may never be idyllic, but with the cooperative spirit evinced to date, both the community and the library will benefit.

Library Updates

I hope that you have all received the latest copy of the library newsletter. If you have not signed up to receive our monthly update on activities at the library please contact Julie Menders at jmenders@otis.lioninc.org and we will be sure to include you on our list.

One of my goals for the library is offering a broad spectrum of opportunities that enhance our utility to the public. One of our most recent and successful innovations is serving as a community service work site for area high school students. We currently have 6 students from Norwich Free Academy and one student from the Academy of the Holy Family in Baltic. Each student is required to perform 20 hours of community service as part of their course requirements, and we are very pleased to be a work site. Among the duties performed are shelf reading-a time consuming but essential process of placing the collection in its proper order in the book stacks, shifting collections as books and other materials are removed from the collection and replaced with newer editions, and ascertaining the status of materials listed as lost or missing. We are also hosting an intern from Three Rivers Community College who will help us with a patron survey. This, I hope, will help us to be more responsive to the needs of the library's users, and help us to effectively allocate our resources.

Long term, building on these time constrained service programs, my goal is to use the library as a vehicle for training future librarians. A fair amount has been written over the past few years about the graying of the work force in general, and of librarians in particular. Otis is a good location for a program designed to attract young adults and I am currently working on a proposal to build a collaborative effort with Norwich Free Academy that would introduce young people to the librarianship as a profession.

If any of you are interested in establishing a community service program with the library, or have ideas for other community based collaborations please let me know. Feel free to call me at 860-889-2365 x 122 or e-mail me at bfarwell@otis.lioninc.org.

The Library as Dehumanized Supermarket?

Early this morning I read an article almost as gray and ominous as the weather. John N. Berry's column, posted in the February 15 on line version of Library Journal is entitled The Vanishing Librarian, The library becomes a dehumanized supermarket or a chaotic bookstore. After careful consideration I will describe it as a jeremiad on the "deskilling" of library jobs, the replacement of professionals with less skilled and less well compensated staff, and the wholesale transformation of libraries from humane, differentiated centers of learning and education to indistinguishable, impersonal "cookie-cutter" facilities reminiscent of standardized big box chain stores or mega-groceries. I took a quick mental assessment of our library, and then did a quick tour to reassure myself that this did not describe the Otis Library. I am satisfied that it does not. I cannot envision some of the more execrable innovations described by Mr. Berry, specifically the banishing of the reference desk, the displacement of the circulation desk in favor of self-serve check out stations, and the outsourcing of materials selection. Otis was designed as a community centered library, and these trends, if that is what they are, run counter to the spirit of service embodied in this library. Please let it always remain thus!

If you build a new library they will come. But what will they do?

One of the important questions currently facing the library concerns it role in the community. At first blush the answer seems self-evident: this library has an historic mission to act as an information gatekeeper, that is to act as guide and provider, sometimes an arbiter for a population seeking particular types of information. Despite the acknowledgments paid to the evolving role of libraries in society, that their purpose may be changing, or is being altered, I think the common perception remains that information provider is a core reason for libraries in society: elucidating, educating, guiding inquiries in pursuit of knowledge, principally through books but by other means as well. That continues as a role for this library, especially given the realities of life in an urban library. Unlike some of the suburban libraries I have visited and worked in, the free public internet computers are not gathering dust. Folks need the 16 computers available in the reference/adult services area because that remains their only-or principal- access to the resources available on line, to job applications, government forms and other necessary items. The queues remain long, and few sessions end early. So, that role for the moment remains important.

As you might have anticipated, here comes the BUT. When I look at the monthly statistics, I wonder about the significance of the information role in the panoply of services accessible to the public. Empirically, we can substantiate the robust levels of patronage hoped for when the building program was conceived. Based on the sheer volume of visits, it is simple enough to quantify the use of the facility. In both our temporary location and in the previous, unlamented incarnation of the library at 261 Main Street, a day registering 300 visits was considered good, or average to good. Since January 1 of 2008, the average week day number hovers around 850. On an above average day, that figure surges to around 1,0000, and on an exceptional day, 1,800 visits were recorded. Looking at the number of new library cards registered at the library confirms the increase in use. Back in July a record 422 new users requested cards or had their bar code added to our patron date base. Subsequently, and not unexpectedly, that number has decreased to a less stratospheric but still impressive 200-plus additions per month. Statistically, that remains impressive, and confirms the importance of the library as a destination. And yet, while this may sound like an obsessive hunt to find the but among what appear to be sanguine indicators, I cannot help feeling that we need to identify future roles and reasons for the library, even as we bask in the knowledge that statistically, we are indeed meeting expectations and then some.

Some of the impetus for reassessment and identification of new roles is based on strategic changes taking place in the accessability to information. For generations the mission of libraries remained essentially unchanged. Thomas Frey of the DaVinci Institute neatly summarizes this immutable mission as follows: “ Leading up to today libraries have consisted of large collections of books and other materials, primarily funded and maintained by cities or other institutions. Collections are often used by people who choose not to, or can not afford to, purchase books for themselves.” Now, and in the future, the role of library as information arbiter and custodian is changing. From a time when information was scarce and defined as a precious commodity, we have entered irreversibly, a time when information is readily accessible in multiple forms, often as easily retrieved electronically while seated in a coffee house as in an archive, and no longer the preserve of librarians and arcane source materials. You can argue the efficacy of a Google search versus a search conducted with a skilled reference librarian, but as Frey points out, “the vast majority of people with specific information needs no longer visit libraries.” That's a generalization valided by the OCLC Report Perceptions of Library and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership (2005). Surveying 270,000 information users, the report confirms that "the library is not the first or only stop for information seekers." They are more likely to gravitate to search engines, especially Google, e-mail and instant messaging than the library, the librarians, the library web site, or our vaunted arsenal of databases. Yes, we will continue to attract readers, and it will be some time, if ever, before everything needed or desired in the way of information is available outside a library. I dare say that in our community there will continue to be a need for the information services currently provided. But the general message is not wrong. It should be acknowledged as a tocsin by those institutions determined to play a central role in their communities.

So, while I believe we will maintain our position as an information provider, and empirically, I have not no reason to doubt the importance of that service at this time, continued growth in patronage will be based on our ability to adapt to changing needs and a commitment to regularly reassess the mission of the library. I believe one of the contributing factors in the growth of the library’s user base to date is our willingness to embrace the changing nature of the library as a community institution. Some of this reflects a conscious effort, already underway, to find niches for the library to fill. Exemplary of these, the library has embraced a new role as a passport application center, based on the need for a site to replace the city clerk’s office. This was also a responsibility well suited to the library’s operating hours and constituent needs. With extended hours on Monday-Thursday, and Saturday and Sunday hours on the weekends, the library can accept and review applications outside of the usual 9-5 time frame, thus accommodating shift workers and persons with more than one job. Similarly, new initiatives, like a student internship program introducing high school students to the library profession, an online newsletter to inform and poll constituents on current performance and future needs, an advisory board for our Young Adult collection, are reflections of the transitional state libraries find themselves in, and the critical need to revisit and redefine the mission and responsibilities of community libraries with the participation of community members. On the staff level, there is regular solicition of patron opinions and suggestions, be it via informal chats, program assessments, or in the director’s case by conversations while practicing MBWA, or Management by Walking Around.

Despite some of the ominous tinges to the DaVinci Institute and OCLC findings, libraries are far from vestigial or artifacts. However the previously "assumed" role of information provider is no longer unchallenged. We, like other community libraries will thrive if we are willing to redesign library services to meet the needs and expectations of communities we serve. That will mean providing content in new ways, and in such as fashion that it will be used regularly. As OCLC notes, that means we do more than simply educate information consumers about the current library.It will involve dynamic missions, public engagement, dialogue, and new ideas, among other things. There will continue to be a need for libraries as meeting places, as vehicles for personal enrichment, as places to read as public forums, and as one of the few public spaces where all segments of the community find themselves in proximity to each other and on common ground. It is an exciting time to be a librarian, especially in this library!

2/18/2008

It's a great life if you don't weaken

It was one of those days when very little you learned in library school provided sufficient preparation for the problems encountered. It is an especially bad sign when the project you began with great expectations at 8:30 remains undone at 4:45, and the results cannot be attributed to personal indolence, or avoidance behavior. It is times like this when my grandmother's favorite aphorism seems eminently suitable: It's a great life if you don't weaken.

Most of today's issues involved personal behavior unfitting a public space or adjacent areas. A prime example: a gent who I ejected from the library last week for unsuitable behavior now sees fit to park in the spaces clearly reserved for staff. When asked to leave, he berates the staff and is generally abusive. (I ought to note here that parking in our downtown area is at a premium. Spaces are so scarce that I truly believe some residents spend more time looking for a space than they do attending to the errand they needed the space for). Just to provide enough parking for the staff we spend over $10,000 a year on reserve spaces. So, ejecting the gent from the precious library spots involves the police, the parking commission, yours truly, and time and energy. If we let it slide and let him leave with a warning he doesn't think we are serious and is emboldened, then shows up later and plants himself in another reserve spot until he is threatened, etc. Life is too short. Today's incident was black comedy, involving the exchange of particular hand signals-yes, that hand signal-acquisition of a name, license number and numerous other details, police reports, interviews, and on and on. It set the tone for a day that involved a gent drinking in the first floor men's room, several patrons well beyond the further limts of sobriety, and similar distractions.

We always hope the library will make a favorable impression, but we also acknowledge and address the less than favorable episodes which occur. Recently we conducted our first web based user's survey, and two issues proved particularly important to the experience of our patrons.Both have the potential to cause the greatest discomfort if not acknowledged.

The first is parking. The lack of public parking is not a new issue, and it is one that continues to bedevil much of the business district. For the record, the library now spends in excess of $10,000 a year just to provide enough spaces to accommodate the library staff. However, given the volume of responses indicating that parking is a chronic problem I will address the situation with the mayor, city manager, and the city council. I kmnow they understand the problem, but given the paucity of space down town, I am not sure how the matter will be resolved. However, we need to keep it at the forefront of public discussion, and we will make every opportunity to do so count.

The other long standing and equally contentious matters are loitering and behavioral issues around the library. Again, these are tribulations of long standing, and might better be defined as business district or down town problems. Most library users, regardless of their circumstances, respect, and acknowledge the sensibilities of the patrons and staff of the library. There is however a core group of inveterately problematic individuals who choose to abuse the library and environs, or conduct themselves in such a fashion that they make themselves obnoxious. When these individuals are identified they are dealt with, and if necessary removed from the library. Some are permanently banned when their conduct is particularly egregious. There are clearly defined rules of deportment posted in the library, and proscribed behavior that will result in ejection from the premises. In the entry way a no smoking and loitering sign is posted, and when contrary behavior is observed either the police or I will intervene. These are exemplary tactical methods for dealing with immediate problems.

The reality is this: as long as there is homelessness in our city, or insufficient means for integrating or caring for individuals with mental health and addiction problems, there will be patrons at the library who view it as a safe haven or a warm/cool refuge from a frequently hostile or indifferent world. As long as an individual’s deportment meets the library standards, they are welcome. The strategic solution to many of the problems which manifest themselves at the library is supportive housing. People with domiciles are less likely to conduct their lives in doorways and on sidewalks or to appear impaired in a public place. This is an issue the city council will debate in February, and I will urge as many patrons to attend as possible. As soon as a date for this discussion is announced word will be disseminated to the public.