Readings Journal 4/10

Working With Friends Groups: Enhancing Participation Through Cultivation and Planning by Sara S. Lowman and Mary D. Bixby

This article discusses the Friends of the Fondren Library at Rice University and the activities, programs, and fundraisers they provide for the library.

One of the points discussed in this article is the importance of mission statements and strategic plans.  This is something that we have discussed a lot in class.  Without a strategic plan, the library has nowhere to go.  This article takes it a step further and says that not only does the library need a strategic plan and a mission statement, but the friends of the library also needs both.  This article made me wonder how many public library friends groups actually have mission statements and strategic plans. I looked up the friends groups for Monroe County Public Library and for my hometown library, Brown County Public Library (in Wisconsin, not the Brown County in Indiana) and found that both did have mission statements.  So, although mission statements for friends groups are something I had never thought of, I am glad to see that they are being utilized.  In the instance of this article, the friends group seemed to do a lot of good for the library, and I’m sure having a mission statement helped them reach their goals.

We Would if we Could, but it is not in the Budget: Success Stories in Third Party Funding for Public Library Programs by Jack Goodman

This article looks at libraries in Australia who have lost a lot of funding and discusses ways partnerships have helped these libraries.

I thought it was interesting that this article brought up that public libraries are “among the most trusted public institutions.”  This was brought up before in class when we discussed the Jaeger & Fleischmann article Public Libraries, Values, Trust, and E-Government (2007).  That article mentioned that one reason people were going to libraries to use  E-Government resources is because they trust libraries.  However, libraries are not getting extra money for this extra service.  Similarly, this article mentions that even though libraries are trusted, they are very under funded.  Both of these articles show that patrons use the library and find it trustworthy, but government funds haven’t reflected this.  I also really liked the part of this article that discussed what types of librarians are needed to implement partnerships.  Although librarians may be typically thought of as introverts, the trend seems to be changing towards a need for extroverted librarians.

Jaeger, P.T., & Fleischmann, K.R. (2007). Public libraries, values, trust, and e

government.  Information Technology & Libraries, 26(4), 34-43.

Key Donor Cultivation: Building for the Future by Thomas Wilburn Leonhardt

This article discussed library fundraising, especially in regards to donors.

The author of this article mentioned inviting possible donors to a catered lunch, which to me seems like bribing.  Is it ok for libraries to bribe people who are going to give them money, especially if they are spending money to do it?  If I was donating to a library I would like to know that my money was going to be spent on the library’s programs and collections.  If I saw the library casually spending money by taking me out to eat I would wonder if my money was going to be spent as frivolously and if the library even needs the money I am giving.  I know one lunch does not cost that much, so maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way, but to me it seems wrong for a library to bribe someone for money.  There are better ways to receive funds than to stoop to that level.