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From: Ann Ryan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: publib <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Requesting Assistance Gosh -- Libraries really are international -- we get many of the same questions in NZ. I've found that facts and figures are a good response to most of the people asking these kinds of questions. I also find that their political agenda is de-railed by responding as if to a genuine request for information, rather than an emotional response to a deliberately hostile question. This approach does need to be planned in advance -- which is why you're doing this in any case.... I've put my thoughts after each of your questions... Ann Ryan Library Support Services Manager North Shore Libraries Ph (09) 486-8472 Fax (09) 486-8519 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 4:45 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [PUBLIB] Re: Requesting Assistance I have seen you folks be so helpful to so many that I can't help but ask for assistance myself. I am going to help lead a session on how to answer difficult library questions. I have put some examples I have thought of below. Do you have a difficult question, or a suggested answer to any of the examples? All of the items below are from my own experience. Thanking you in advance for any comments. --Karen Dyer 1. Your building is so big, how could you need money? The lawn in front of the library is so large, what a waste of money, I'm not going to vote for a library measure. Possible answer: (If true) The land was purchased and the building built by the city. Therefore, it has nothing to do with lack of library funding. [Ann Ryan] Talk about the number of visits per day/week. Relate this to your population size, or the size of a local school, baseball crowd, or whatever else is prominent in the local imagination. e.g. Yes the library does look like a big building, until you realize that we have the equivalent of a baseball crowd through here every week. Yes we have a great community space, but people need more than space, they need books, and magazines and other resources. [Then lead into the specifics of why you're asking for more money -- try to slant this to either 'popular' resources (we need to improve the kids non-fiction section) or to resources which will appeal to the person asking the questions (we need to target more money to meet the needs of our older users) Once again, facts and figures help -- what is the average age of material in your junior section? How fast is the over 60 component of your population growing.] Yes, we have a lovely lawn out the front of the library. This is maintained by our city as one of the green spaces throughout the city, which make this such a nice place to live. The library is just lucky that our borrowers get the advantage of two city services in one -- a great library and a lovely park. 2. I don't need the library. I have the internet. [Ann Ryan] This is always a curly one. I tend to agree that the Internet is one of the fastest ways of finding some kinds of information, but remind the borrower that there is still lots of stuff only (or most conveniently) in print form -- give examples here -- again targeted to the individual (I still prefer to curl up at home with a good mystery book, the computer screen just doesn't feel the same) or (Most of the information on the history of our State is still in print format, we need access to both to find out the full story) Then I go into the ways that the library enhances the Internet experience -- faster connections than you can afford at home, subscription access to online resources, etc. Depending on the situation, I may also give a plug for librarians as expert searchers (remember how much time it took you to find exactly what you were looking for....), or the library catalogue/website as a method of organizing the Internet chaos (our staff have already tracked down the best info on the upcoming elections, and collected it all here for you on our website) Possible answer: Libraries are more than the internet....The best access to the internet is through your librarian. 3. Paperbacks are cheap. I'll buy my books instead. [Ann Ryan] Yes it's great that paperbacks are cheap -- I buy lots of my own books that way. But it's really a lot more cost-effective to get the library to buy the books, and the whole community to share them. Last year we issued over x number of books to y number of people. If those people had spent an average of $5 for each of these items, they would have spend $z on their leisure and education. Libraries are the cheapest way of getting access to books that we've been able to find. [This is such a useful calculation, that we're about to put it up on our website -- being in NZ, and having a lower rate of exchange, I've used the $20 figure for us -- and the result is $60 million!] You can also talk about getting bestsellers when they're published -- rather than waiting until the pbk. comes out, and also about finding new authors and titles. 4. Libraries are good for children, but not adults. I don't have any children, I'm not voting for library measures. [Ann Ryan] Yes, two of our biggest user groups are kids and older people -- and libraries are especially crucial for both groups, as they're the ones who don't have the money to buy everything they want. However investing in libraries is good for the whole community. Libraries are one of the most effective ways of encouraging literacy (have some research stats. to hand), and it's these kids that we'll want to be supporting us in our old age. Our older people have contributed to our community all their lives, now it's time for them to take advantage of the years of support they've given to their library. But libraries are important for adults too. Over x% of our users are over 18 and under 60. We have great collections of information especially to support business and commercial communities; and for anyone looking to set up a business, the library has some great resources to help. What would you like to be able to get out of your library? Perhaps we can help? Possible answer: Libraries provide literacy programs for all ages, have outreach to seniors; and, by conributing to something that is also good for children, our future generations will be on a better track. 5. The reserve list is too long. Yes. This can be a problem. If we had more money, we could order more copies... [Ann Ryan] Yes -- it is a problem. We have to balance off ordering hundreds of copies of the latest John Grisham -- which will just sit on the shelf after the request list has finished with them, against ordering a range of titles that will interest the community over a number of years. We currently peg our number of copies against the request list (buying 1 copy for every x requests on the list), this means that people usually have to wait a maximum of y weeks for the book. That's the best compromise we've been able to come up with at the moment. It's frustrating to have to wait, but can I help you find some other books, like the one you're waiting for? Strongly consider starting a 'hot titles' or 'bestsellers' section, with rental copies. This will siphon off some of your demand (including the most vocal about having to wait), and the rest will feel a little smug about not having to pay for their request. These collections are particularly popular with men, who just want to have the latest bestseller -- and who would otherwise not use the library (helps with q4 above) 6. Why can't libraries do what businesses do and "trim the fat"--make their money go farther? Libraries are run very efficiently. Every dollar is stretched.... [Ann Ryan] Gosh! We'd like to be in a situation of having some fat to shed! Our library 'business' has increased by x% over the last 10 years, with a y% increase in funding [NB if y is larger, don't use this example, but I envy your library service!]. This means that we've consistently done more with less over this period. Our staff are continually finding ways to 'work smarter' [put in examples here], and we're pretty proud of our results, and think they stand up to some of the best business models around. Any increase in funding is tied very closely to improvements in services, so people have the opportunity to see just what they're getting for the dollar. 7. Librarians sell porn (courtesy of the now faint memory of Dr. Laura) Libraries provide free and equal access to as much information as possible....Internet is impossible to conrol..... [Ann Ryan] This is a hard one. Our communities are still coming to grips with the way that information is distributed and accessed over the Internet. No one wants to provide access to porn -- if it's illegal, we don't want it in our buildings. But we don't yet have good ways of preventing this. No one wants to have the librarian looking over their shoulder to see what they're reading -- we're all entitled to our privacy. There's a lot of talk about filters -- but at the moment they're a pretty 'blunt-instrument' approach. All the practical 'hands on' testing shows that filters restrict access to a lot of legitimate information as well as the 'nasties' (we want people to have access to sites on breast cancer, not be restricted because the word 'breast' is used); while at the same time not restricting access to all the porn sites (these guys are wise to the filter programs, and specifically design websites which don't trigger them) I guess that the thing to remember is that the vast majority of people in our libraries use the Internet appropriately and correctly. Sure, we need to have rules to make it clear where the boundaries are. But we don't want to punish the majority for the crimes of a small minority. Our policy is to .... 8. Why can't the staff be volunteers? Circulation records are confidential; librarians are professionals just like doctors and lawyers...we use volunteers in such capacities as....there are liability issues, security issues.... [Ann Ryan] I guess this is like asking why lawyers can't be volunteers. Librarians spend just as much time training in their profession of providing information to their community. There's a lot more involved than you see just from walking in the doors. [Segue into a "Librarians do" list -- whatever are the top, complicated jobs in your library.] Sure we have some junior staff in the building -- in fact, we couldn't operate without them -- but banks have junior staff as well, and you wouldn't want x bank just taking any volunteer off the street to run their cash desks. Our staff have access to confidential and privileged information -- and have responsibilities not to divulge this. Just as an example, it may be more embarrassing for the community to know that someone has books on pregnancy, than that she has an overdraft. Wherever public information is collected, we have a responsibility to deal with this in a secure way. Volunteers do a great job in our city -- [talk about any volunteer programs that the library is involved in]. But it's important to know where to draw the line between voluntary work, and professional responsibilities. By definition, volunteers have other priorities which come first; information access for our community is too important to be relegated to second place. 9. Libraries are white elephants. (private sigh) Libraries provide.....community center....haven...peace....I think I need an aspirin (said internally)! [Ann Ryan] Facts and figures again! Libraries are used by x% of the population including y% of households [if you have this info] We have z number of visitors each week/month/year. N% of the population think that we do a good job. If we're a white elephant, we're a pretty popular one! Libraries are actively shifting to provide access to information in different ways -- but library buildings are going to remain important community spaces. It's pretty difficult to run a story time for 60 kids via the Internet -- and in any case, both kids and mothers would rather come and meet each other in their library. What do you see replacing libraries as community spaces in the future? #### --------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Include in body: unsubscribe ctls-l For information on CTLS-L please visit: http://www.ctls.net/document/ctls-l.htm
