Weekly Readings 3/6

Cooperation in Rural and Remote Libraries by Leanne Clendening

Clendening, a CEO of library services in northern Ontario, highlights the importance of technology and the internet to small and rural libraries in providing better services.

I spent about half my childhood and all of my teen years living in a town of about 14,000 people, down the road from the main location of a countywide system. The nearest library serving any population larger than this was 50+ miles. While there are towns significantly smaller than this, I could relate to what Clendening was saying to my local library. They did a good job keeping up their collection, all things considered, but a large percentage of what I read came via ILL. Thankfully Ohio has a large number of consortia, meaning this wasn't as big a deal. Whereas at MCPL, ILLs often cost so much (from what I have been told) it is actually their policy to purchase an item instead in most cases. This is where a program like Evergreen seems so beneficial, and is definitely made possible through technology. Beyond just materials, I think greater use of technology can improve almost every library service through the sharing of ideas. I especially liked her quote, "When we see an opportunity to provide service to our clients in a more cost-effective manner, or to provide new services, we seize it." However, one remaining downside, is that no amount of technology will ever provide enough money to get a well-paid librarian employed at a rural library with a tiny budget.


Changes in Rural Libraries and Librarianship by Robert Flatley & Andrea Wyman

In 2007, the authors administered an update to a 2000 survey of libraries serving fewer than 2,500 people to find out about librarian attitudes toward the internet, salaries, services, etc.

I remember discussing response rates in Evaluation of Resources and Services, and one of the first things that struck me about this article was how few librarians responded. While I know that anything in the 40% range is technically considered acceptable for e-mail surveys, I would be curious to find out more broadly if these numbers hold up. The authors also never addressed whether there was any regional bias based on that response rate. Beyond that, most of the information gleaned from the surveys made sense to me. While I worked as a reporter, Ohio threatened to severely slash library budgets, so I did several articles about what that would mean. As I said before, I lived in a countywide library system, but there was also a tiny independent district in a town of about 600 people, and I know their situation reflected this article. Their director was part-time, with no MLS, though they also had another part-time employee who ran the desk while the director did the small number of programs. I did find it interesting that this article made no mention of Friends groups, which I know this particular library formed as a result of the budget cuts and relied heavily upon. While it is also encouraging to see that the number of rural librarians at least with a bachelor's has risen, I can't help but wonder if these aren't the people most in need of formal MLS training. After all, they have to do the most with the least amount of resources, which means they need to be keenly aware of as many resources as possible and don't have other staff to brainstorm with.


Service Trends in U.S. Public Libraries by Everett Henderson

The author discusses the results of a 2007 survey of metro and rural public libraries compared to previous data, concluding that libraries are generally meeting new demands but that rural libraries are not always showing similar results.

In an ideal world, a rural library would be able to increase circulation per capita and buy more electronic materials. These are certainly admirable goals that should be aimed for and creative ways developed to attain them, but there is also a reality that a rural district is only going to have space and money enough to do so much. The services that these smaller locations provide are still invaluable to their patrons (not that I think anyone would argue otherwise), but it is also a different kind of service that they need. If these libraries are adequately meeting the community needs, why should we push them to become more like their urban counterparts? One thing I wish the article had done was define "electronic materials" better. I assumed that this included anything electronic (books, databases, newspapers, etc.), and was not surprised that rural libraries really lack in this area. Access costs to things like OverDrive and databases can exceed the entire budgets of some libraries. I know we learned in Collection Development that this is often aggregated depending on the service population, but without access to a consortial agreement, this still wouldn't be low enough. Plus, as libraries in general shift more toward electronic information, the price will increase, leaving smaller libraries even farther behind.