Short But Sweet

In one of my first posts, Poor Man's Netflix, I describe my love for checking out DVD's from my local library.

Today, I found an article describing how the OCLC just published a study stating that Americans get more DVDs from Public Libraries compared to Netflix, Redbox or Blockbuster. Reading the study makes me feel all warm inside.

Today, I checked out 2 DVDs - David Lynch's Dune (I feel that today's librarians are the equivalent of Frank Herbert's Mentats) and United States of Tara (Diablo Cody, Stephen Spielberg and Toni Collette? I have high expectations).

Why spend money when you can get it for free? Seriously, why?

A perfect example of community centeredness...

I should be working on my research proposal that is due in a week, but had to share this quick post with all of you:

My local public library, Multnomah County Library, just announced via Facebook their new ecoroof.

I'm kind of geeking out over it.

I think this is a perfect example of what a library is: a center of community.

Let me break this down a bit.

Yes, a library is a center of information sharing, and for the most part this means checking out books and accessing the internet. But in 21st century, sharing information means so much more. In an age where ecological consciousness is so important, a library has the potential of being a leader and an example of sustainability, and the ecoroof is an amazing example of sustainable living.

The benefits of the new roof include:

- Reducing rainwater runoff into an already stressed sewer system
- Reducing energy costs
- Increasing vegetation and wildlife habitat
- Reducing air pollution
- Filtering the air
- Improving fish habitat, again by absorbing the water before it enters the sewer system.

Because community members (individuals, families, school groups, etc.) can tour and learn about the roof, the ecoroof is an example of information as a thing. You could log on to websites or check out books about ecoroofs, and you can actually experience it.

This is also an example of community colaboration. The roof was designed and monitored by employees of the City of Portland and a Portland State University Professor. The roof was funded by community organizations including various environmental offices from the City of Portland and the Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc. By involving members of the community from outside the library to support, create and maintain the project, more stakeholders are involved, thus creating opportunities to disseminate the information even further into the community!

I give Multnomah County Library two big thumbs up for their new ecoroof, and I can't wait for my summer term to be over so I can get up there and check it out for myself!

Protrait of a book as a library item

I just checked out a book today.

I know, when you work in the library field, that may not be the most exciting piece of news. But I started thinking about the journey this book took the information within this book took before and after it reached my hands.

The book in question is Sarah Silverman's Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee. I think it's going to be an instant classic.

The story of how I ended up checking this book out has a very logical beginning: Facebook. One day, not too long ago, I was chatting, via Facebook wall, with my friend Liz. Liz, an amazing individual, has been living in New Hampshire the past few years. Which is kind of unfortunate.

(sorry Liz, it's true)

Don't get me wrong - I love New Hampshire. It's my home state, and I'm proud enough to be from there to have the outline tattooed on my ankle:

(It says "The Shire" underneath. And yes, it's there forever)

BUT, for a hip, intelligent individual in your mid twenties, the granite state is kind of a boring place to live (Right, Liz?) However, we were talking about New Hampshire's more positive attributes - such as it's export of comedians - mainly Adam Sandler and Sarah Silverman (New Hampshire is a great breeding ground for fart jokes). As we were discussing our mutual appreciation for Sarah Silverman, Liz mentioned her new book. In my excitement I went ahead a placed a reserve for it at my local library.

Luckily, I was one of the first to place a reserve. Even though the library didn't own a copy at the time I placed my hold, within a few days the reserve list swelled to over 150 holds. As I picked up my book today I thought about that fact. Granted, the library owns almost a dozen copies of this book, but this title is going to spend the first few months as an item in this library circulating. It's not going to sit on shelf (other than the hold shelf) for a patron to come in and browse. That idea simply struck me funny.

In fact, browsing the shelves at Multnomah County Library kind of sucks. It's because all the good books aren't in the library but are in circulation. It's rare, when I request a book, to see its status as being on the shelf. In order to get a book in your hands, it seems like you need to do a little Internet research first - read a review of it online, or have a friend recommend it to you through a social networking site. Then, after a few clicks, you place it on reserve from your libraries Online Public Access Catalog and (depending on the popularity of the item) after a few days or weeks... BOOM! It's yours.

Thinking about the life cycle of a library book makes me think about those libraries who are doing away with their books. The most recent case I've heard about is Stanford University's Physics and Engineering libraries. Another case, reported back in September 2009, involves an elite New England prep school removing all of their books from their library and turning it digital.

I think one of these libraries is appropriately removing their books and the other is not.

In the case of Stanford, both of these libraries are primarily research based, and the information these patrons are gathering will mostly be available online, anyways. Not to mention that Stanford is already having space issues (as reported in the article), so if you have to choose one library to free up shelve space, science libraries would be at the top of my list.

In the case of the private high school, I think their efforts of revolutionizing their library could end up being counter productive. These students are still developing their academic and research skills, and the interaction with physical print is a great benefit to their development. Here is an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that proves this belief. Print is more conducive to a variety of learning styles, whereas reading from a screen is not.

I know this post is getting a little bit too big picture (welcome to my brain), what started as a post about a silly comedienne's memoir is now spinning out of control into the ethos of educational theory, so I'll try and draw this tangent to a close. I just think it's interesting to look at a book, which is fast becoming a controversial cultural artifact, as a library item. In one case you have a library that is responsible in its removal of books, another library that is irresponsible in theirs and a third, highly regarded public library, that requires you to log onto a computer to gain access to the books that can't be found on their shelves (which is the majority of them).

For those of you who wonder what types of things we deal with in library school, I hope I gave you a little something to chew on.

There's A Social Worker In San Francisco's Public Library

I would imagine that San Francisco's public library system is much like Multnomah County public library (Portland's Public Library); an amazing and vibrant library system that might be confused with a homeless shelter.

I love the central branch here in Portland - it's a beautiful building and the staff is amazing. I pick up the materials that I place on reserve there. I've even received some helpful research assistance from the reference librarians.

It is an open, free, democratic space. Hence, the proliferation of street kids, homeless folks and various other-rarely-discussed-members of society. Unfortunately it can make the library a little uncomfortable. On rainy days it's particularly smelly. Its hard to concentrate on homework when there is a gentleman having boisterous arguments with (I presume) the book he is reading. And you're generally pretty cautious when entering the restroom.

A few months ago I was having a conversation with two library staff members (one of whom holds a masters in social work) and they both agreed that a social worker embedded in the library would make a world of difference.

San Francisco's public library is one step ahead of us.

Not only has the library hired a social worker to refer patrons to various services (such as shelters, showers, food and employment services), she is overseeing a program where the library actually hires homeless patrons to act as "Health and Safety Associates," (i.e bathroom monitors). The social worker also trains library staff what to do when witnessing unpleasant behavior from the patrons.

I think this is amazing. Libraries should be information-sharing community centers. By having a social worker in the library, an individual with the proper training and experience is in a very visible place to assist specific members of the community find information that could directly improve their situations.

This is the view that I feel libraries need to take in general. It's not just about accessing books, it's more about accessing the community.

Poor Man's Netflix

Is a future librarian writing on his blog about the things he himself has checked out of the library poetic, ironic or just plan sad?

Anyways - I dig the list feature that blogger offers. Usually when I am on facebook the first thing that I look at are the lists of books, dvds and cds that folks post on their profiles. They're very telling at how people perceive themselves (or at least want to be perceived). What can I say, I'm pretty shallow...

Instead of just copying and pasting what I have posted on my facebook page, and staying true to my obsession with all things bibliographic, I decided to just have a rolling list of things I currently have checked out from Multnomah County Library, a library I have been smitten with ever since I moved to Portland...

Did you know Multnomah Count Library is one of the most patroned libraries in America (second only to Brooklyn, NY)? Not only does that illustrate how amazing our library system is, it's also a kudos to how awesome Portland is. I consider it my poor man's netflix - instead of adding items to my queue, I just request them (usually from my home computer) and as soon as they are available I pick them up from the branch a few blocks from my house. As a graduate student living in poverty, its a pretty sweet deal....

So check my list out, it'll give you an interesting look as to who I am. If you notice it's not alphabetical, rather chronological. I figure that way you'll know what movie, book or cd I am enjoying at the moment...