Week 9 Readings

Service trends in the U.S. public library

This article by Everett Henderson talks about a survey that IMLS did and the results of the survey.

Trends have changed over the past eleven (and more) years just as the survey says and libraries, for the most part have kept up with the changes. Libraries have changed to continue to be relevant to patrons in today world with so many other distractions. I think that libraries have done a very good job in trying to stay relevant in today’s world. They have embraced new technology with open arms and think how this new technology can help the patrons and the library continue to move forward.

Cooperation in Rural and Remote Libraries

This article by Leanne Clendening talks about rural libraries in Ontario.

Rural libraries have had it harder to keep up with expensive current trends. They must be more creative in finding resources to bring money to buy the items. By pooling the resources that many rural libraries had they were able to buy the expensive current trends. If I work in a rural library, I will have to get creative with my resources and how I use them whether it is with other libraries or just me and looking for outside money to help. It does help that there is an enormous amount of information on the internet.

Changes in Rural Libraries and Librarianship

This article by Robert Flatley and Andrea Wyman talks about a survey of rural libraries.

One of the questions that was interesting to look at was ‘Why have librarians historically been underpaid?’ The obvious answer is the community lacks funds but the interesting one is that historically a female-dominated profession. It seems that while mostly females work at libraries they are still undervalued to their male counter-parts, just as they would be in a corporate world. Another question that was interesting was the ‘Librarian primary complaint.’ It was interesting to see but should not be too surprising to see that low pay went up from the 2000 survey because of the slight depression that has occurred between the two surveys. It is also not surprising to see that the greatest challenge facing libraries is funding which has gone up in percentage between the two surveys. I believe that it is the biggest thing facing libraries where big or small, no library can ever have enough money to do all they would like to do. Many of the rural librarians would “encourage a young person to pursue librarianship as a career” (p. 36). It goes to show that rural librarians still think that there is a bright future for libraries. Although the core role has changed, there will always be a need for people who can connect patrons with the information that they are looking for and require.