March 6th Readings

Henderson, E. (2009) Service trends in U.S. public libraries, 1997-2007. 

 

The article discusses the trends in metro and nonmetro libraries and how they changed in ten years.

I thought it was interesting that right after the article discussed the fact that rural communities have unique needs it goes back into broad assumptions about why circulation per visit has dropped 5%. It talks about English language programs and homework tutor sessions and adult literacy. While I believe those are all grand programs and fully support them, I don’t know a single, small, rural library that offers them (although I’m sure that somewhere they do exists, it isn’t going to be many of them.) So why has their circulation per visit dropped? It fails to answer the question fully, basically contributing to the problem they had just pointed out.

Another question I have is why is the circulation statistics so much lower in the rural libraries? I can understand/make up a reason as to why nonmetro libraries would have a lower visitation rate. They cover greater distances and I know some patrons that have to drive a good 20-30 minutes to reach their library. But you would think that would mean that they would check out more books at once so they don’t have to return as often. I’m curious if anyone has a good answer to this?

Flatley, R., & Wyman, A. (2009). Changes in Rural Libraries and Librarianship: A Comparative Survey

This article shares and discusses the results of a survey sent out to librarians of libraries with less than 2,500 community members.

I found this article to be interesting. They had a lot of interesting information for a group of people who are hardly ever examined on their own. I was surprised at the amount of range, especially in the salary and budget questions. I was also surprised to hear that the amount of librarians with MLS degrees rose. However, while not surprising, it was disappointing to find out that only included 14% of those they surveyed which is not many at all. I really hope continue to redo this survey every few years and publish the results because I think it is important to know what librarians on all levels do and what they have to work with. They might want to look into asking questions on programming if possible.

Clendening, L. (2003). Cooperation in Rural and Remote Libraries: The Promise of Technology

This article discusses the implications the internet could have on libraries in Canada as it gets cheaper and more libraries find a way to afford it.

I am not sure how well this article ties in with today’s readings. It is all about the promise of technology not what has actually happened with technology. However, being written in 2003 is it still relevant? Perhaps not when you look at the issues they are discussing such creating new library consortium-type groups or getting internet of some form into a library. (I am fairly certain that almost every library has internet these days, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few exceptions.) But when you focus on solely the promise part, you realize that is exactly what librarians are discussing today when it comes to e-readers. Now whether or not the promise comes to fruition is another story entirely, and frankly, one that I am more interested in hearing. 

One of the blogs I like to read from time to time actually deals with how technology can be used in today's libraries. It's called Information Tyrannosaur. Granted he is an academic librarian and rural libraries don't always have the means to deal with new technologies the same way as larger libraries, but even just being informed as to the multiple ways technology can be used in libraries is important.