Reading Summary for 2/21/12

In The Public Trust:  by Cain

Outlining the duties a board member accepts with the position.  Duties are the absolute responsibility for the library, good or bad.  Very specific examples and summary what the job will involve.  Many are common sense, many are guideline as individual and with professional staff of library.  Obvious some things are referenced due to past activities that have caused problems  in past making Cain mention.

Public Libraries, Values, Trust and E-Government by Jaeger and Fleischmann

This article has many similar points to the one by Gibson, McClure, Vertot, McGilvray and Andrade.  In particular this article informs of centers in the 90s that did not perform with the same earned trust a library has achieved, but attempted to provide a lower level of e-government or technology assistance and failed.  This article connects the Public Library to society with trust and values and gives examples for the values constant and forgotten.

Community Leadership through Public Library E-Government Services by Gibson, McClure, Bertot, McGilvray and Andrade

Examples of the information and services/assistance the public now leans on the public library to provide which has been transferred from our government branches…with no funding or training.  These approaches has been a large action to cut expenses for the government, but none of that has been cycled into the public library system even at a lower cost to fund and educate some really important programs.  The authors make several suggestions on how to address these changes and be successful while serving the public as expected but not putting the library or as an individual in liability issues or privacy concerns.

Public Library Quartely by Jaeger and Bertot

This article was the first one I read, and I’m glad because it did a good job of explaining an suggesting the changes and responsibility that has “rolled” down from the government to public library systems.  The other two smaller articles backed up this information while providing special areas of focus that was a bit different.  This article provided more on history and how these changes developed over the years, especially with a focus on law practice and the belief of many of our past politicians that affected the present situation.

The focus of our articles was how and what has transferred into the responsibility of the public library with no or little funding and no specific training.  I made several notes while I was reading as many things stood out for me we have been studying and that again correlated with my work.  Jaeger and Fleischmann pointed out this is a new role and opportunity, while many best practice issues have not been considered.  I quickly could see how local political representatives need to be included in the campaign for each state utilizing these folks as a united voice at the federal level.  To provide the professional services the government no longer wants involvement in…would require a partnership resulting in funding so these libraries have the facilities such as small glass partitioned areas that provide for privacy and protect the equipment used providing a locking mechanism.  Information of the level many of these programs involve, truly would require IT staff at a higher level to ensure no breech in sites or systems happens.  Dedicated staff who can monitor these systems should be important also due to the same issues.  I must say I completely agreed with the need to change the “image” of what librarians do and the services patrons receive at the library now….this is an important factor to me in gaining the partnerships of political leaders and requested the value to the government….allowing their cost cutting and the smaller amount of funding need to provide these services in the public library system in a secure and educated environment.  The library science programs can serve a great role in preparing their graduates for the multitude of library jobs….and the public also needs a better understanding.  I suggest advertisement that connects the libraries to the government practices…and this should come from the voice that needs to reach the federal level for funding, training, involvement in decisions and policies.  I believe public libraries need to centralized which would remain cost effective.