Public Libraries in Trouble

[PatsMom]

I've always been a library supporter and will be sad to see hours and services cut but I think it is inevitable. My mother lives in a larger town than me and her library had to curtail acquisitions last year (or the year before?) for budget reasons. I do donate both money and books to my library and my mother's library. Even if they cannot use the books for circulation, if they are new and salable, they have a rack of books for sale. Not much money comes in, but surely better than nothing.

A town north of me had severe budget troubles a few years back. The head librarian was an older woman who was quite a bit past the retirement age for participants in the NH Retirement System. She retired and came back as a full time volunteer so someone who needed a job worse than her could keep it. But we can't rely on volunteers to keep our libraries running. They provide so many valuable services - research, entertainment, etc. It will be a shame to see if cut but I think it is inevitable. As someone already said, they will fall in line behind vital services such as schools, firefighters, police, etc.

 

[Camicar]

Our town library was built less than 10 years ago; won all sorts of architectural awards.

That's great. BUT...

1. They have bascially axed the collections development position and order from jobbers. Which means that all we have are best sellers. Also, you can no longer request that they order an individual book not in the collection-- it has to have a 'demand' equivalent to the need to order a minimum of 3 books for the system. Which means that unless you want a bestseller, you are SOL. I am not a Danielle Steele or Norah Roberts of John Grisham reader, so I end up at Half Price Books or Amazon for more and more of my book reading. I know they feel this jobber-oriented collections development saves them money and gives more people what they want, but I wonder how many other folks they are cutting out. Or perhaps that won't matter but to those of us who are voracious readers and are looking for something new and different and we are in the minority so poop on us.

2. They bought a new and super expensive self check out system. Everyone hates it, including the librarians/clerks. It doesn't work, has never worked, and makes everyone craaaaazy. The library director refused to admit there was a problem, refused to return it and so we have wasted tens of thousands of dollars on a non-working system.

3. They have allowed themselves to become an illegal immigrant children day care center in the summer. Not only is this WRONG, it is a huge drain on the library's resources, especially the staff who cannot do professional activities because they "have" to watch these kids. It also means that instead of hiring people with MLS degrees, they are hiring anyone who can speak Spanish. The quality of service and the quality of the experience in the library has gone way down. Every time I go in there, I have some problem with poor service -- my dh actually went with me last time bec he couldn't believe my stories and let me assure you, he now believes! I will tell you that I really resent this PC attitude that has lessened the quality of service I pay for with my (very high) tax bill. I fail to see why CPS is not called when these parents -- like clockwork -- drop off their kids EVERY DAY at the libary.

4. They have imposed rule upon rule upon rule on the reading groups, of which I lead one. The big one, which will probably be the end of our group aftaer 6 years of faithful attendance, is that there must be a copy of the book in the system for every member of the group or you may not read the book. In the past, if there was only 1 or 2 copies, we were very responsible about reading the book and passing it on to the next person. Now, due to the rule and the fact that they are only buying bestsellers, it has become nearly impossible to read anything but bestsellers, which is exacty what the book club members do NOT want to read. Heck, they can find out about bestsellers by looking at the NYT list -- they go to book group to find and recommend books NOT on the list. So, sadly my book group and as I found out last week, most of the book groups, will probably end by the end of this year. Huge mistake -- you are losing the use and support of some of the most faithful patrons.

The way I see it, yes, there are some bad economic times, but these have been made so much worse by prior and continuing bad management.

 

[NotUrsula]

Our town library was built less than 10 years ago; won all sorts of architectural awards.

That's great. BUT...

1. They have basically axed the collections development position and order from jobbers. Which means that all we have are best sellers. Also, you can no longer request that they order an individual book not in the collection-- it has to have a 'demand' equivalent to the need to order a minimum of 3 books for the system. Which means that unless you want a bestseller, you are SOL. I am not a Danielle Steele or Norah Roberts of John Grisham reader, so I end up at Half Price Books or Amazon for more and more of my book reading. I know they feel this jobber-oriented collections development saves them money and gives more people what they want, but I wonder how many other folks they are cutting out. Or perhaps that won't matter but to those of us who are voracious readers and are looking for something new and different and we are in the minority so poop on us.

I'm amazed that a system has gone completely to statistics-driven vendor plans. They have their place, certainly, and are very useful as a way to save effort and money, but they are not meant to replace human review. (Not to mention that the way the logarithm is set up, you sometimes get some WAY OUT stuff turn up in the predictions list, and it needs to be taken out manually.) Of course, being what they are, you can fool them these things; just go check out and check right back in again everything by your favorite author a couple of dozen times. That author will shoot right onto the buy list.

IME, these days all but the biggest public systems tend to function without dedicated collection development positions. The Reference librarians normally do the review work, divvying it up by subject area. Collections Development in the true sense has been mostly an academic-only job description for nearly 20 years now.

2. They bought a new and super expensive self check out system. Everyone hates it, including the librarians/clerks. It doesn't work, has never worked, and makes everyone craaaaazy. The library director refused to admit there was a problem, refused to return it and so we have wasted tens of thousands of dollars on a non-working system.

3. They have allowed themselves to become an illegal immigrant children day care center in the summer. Not only is this WRONG, it is a huge drain on the library's resources, especially the staff who cannot do professional activities because they "have" to watch these kids. It also means that instead of hiring people with MLS degrees, they are hiring anyone who can speak Spanish. The quality of service and the quality of the experience in the library has gone way down. Every time I go in there, I have some problem with poor service -- my dh actually went with me last time bec he couldn't believe my stories and let me assure you, he now believes! I will tell you that I really resent this PC attitude that has lessened the quality of service I pay for with my (very high) tax bill. I fail to see why CPS is not called when these parents -- like clockwork -- drop off their kids EVERY DAY at the libary.

These two are issues to be brought to the attention of the board if you have tried and failed to get a response from the Director. The issue of the unsupervised children, in particular, is an insurance liability issue -- the board NEEDS to do something about it because odds are that the library system is NOT insured to cover the situation. I've dealt with the abandoned kids issue myself, and it is not pretty, but IME, once you involve the police on a regular basis, the problem disappears. (Being taken to the police station is a bit traumatic for the kids, but it can't be helped. Some parents will not accept that the library staff means business until they end up having to claim little Johnny from DFS.)

The self-check should be repaired to the circ. manager's satisfaction, and if it does not function properly, then the board should seek to have it removed and have it's value rebated to the library in terms of next year's automation system service contract fees.

4. They have imposed rule upon rule upon rule on the reading groups, of which I lead one. The big one, which will probably be the end of our group aftaer 6 years of faithful attendance, is that there must be a copy of the book in the system for every member of the group or you may not read the book. In the past, if there was only 1 or 2 copies, we were very responsible about reading the book and passing it on to the next person. Now, due to the rule and the fact that they are only buying bestsellers, it has become nearly impossible to read anything but bestsellers, which is exacty what the book club members do NOT want to read. Heck, they can find out about bestsellers by looking at the NYT list -- they go to book group to find and recommend books NOT on the list. So, sadly my book group and as I found out last week, most of the book groups, will probably end by the end of this year. Huge mistake -- you are losing the use and support of some of the most faithful patrons.

In my professional opinion, what you have there is an attempt to get rid of your reading groups. Are they putting reserves on your materials for you? This is the sort of thing that can originate with one staff member who has a certain amount of power that his/her underlings don't question. The Director may not be aware, or it may originate with the Director, but it is wrong if it isn't justified. The system needs to justify decisions like this, or have the guts to openly admit that they don't have the resources to support book groups. IME, this kind of rule-creep almost always comes down to a personality issue -- someone on the staff is having a conflict with one of the group leaders; I'd put a week's pay on it.

The way I see it, yes, there are some bad economic times, but these have been made so much worse by prior and continuing bad management.

I won't ask where you are, but based on what you said, I could probably guess if I thought hard about it. News travels in our small world, and we know where the bad systems are. I'm sorry that you are dealing with this one. They ARE pretty rare, thank goodness.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

I've been to some lovely private "public" libraries, quaint, certainly hard-pressed for funds, but so devoted to their mission in the community. If I weren't already funding ours through my tax payments, I would happily fund such a private enterprise.

Ours is that way because our town, up until about 5-6 years ago only had about 5,000 residents. As the town has grown, so has the library..barely. They moved into a bigger space, but they still need room. Right now they are so pressed for space they have asked people NOT to donate ANYTHING except money. Period.
The librarians are a hardworking bunch though, esp the head librarian. I swear she never leaves that place. She is ALWAYS there and always willing to listen or help you find something. I also really like her assistant, the research librarian. She is THE person to go to for research help for school papers, etc.

They have basically axed the collections development position and order from jobbers. Which means that all we have are best sellers. Also, you can no longer request that they order an individual book not in the collection-- it has to have a 'demand' equivalent to the need to order a minimum of 3 books for the system. Which means that unless you want a bestseller, you are SOL.

Wait..am I reading this right? If you want a certain book through interlibrary loan they won't do it unless it's in demand? That is MESSED up. That is so messed up I don't even have a word for it. I don't think I'd continue to go to that library if that were the case, because I LOVE interlibrary loan. I've gotten all kinds of things through that system and been voted (unofficially) the patron with the most unusual reading list.

We also have several 'for sale' carts and SOMEBODY must've dumped a ton of Star Trek paperbacks because every couple of months I'll find a half dozen more, so I pick them up for a bargain.

They have allowed themselves to become an illegal immigrant children day care center in the summer. Not only is this WRONG, it is a huge drain on the library's resources, especially the staff who cannot do professional activities because they "have" to watch these kids. It also means that instead of hiring people with MLS degrees, they are hiring anyone who can speak Spanish. The quality of service and the quality of the experience in the library has gone way down. Every time I go in there, I have some problem with poor service -- my dh actually went with me last time bec he couldn't believe my stories and let me assure you, he now believes! I will tell you that I really resent this PC attitude that has lessened the quality of service I pay for with my (very high) tax bill. I fail to see why CPS is not called when these parents -- like clockwork -- drop off their kids EVERY DAY at the libary.

Our town's lone branch is about a mile from three schools (one elem, one intermediary and one jr high) so there tend to be a LOT of kids who end up spending all their afterschool hours in the library on a daily basis. The staff ends up having to play daycare when they should be working sadly, but there's nothing we can do about it (even though the police dept is right across the hall).
I actually AVOID the library during the afterschool hours if I can because of the number of kids who just hang out there and do nothing. The head librarian, bless her, has bought a used Wii and a used PS3 to keep them occupied and has instituted several gaming clubs (Magic:The Gathering and Bakugan) for the same reason.

 

[Camicar]

I'm amazed that a system has gone completely to statistics-driven vendor plans.

I was amazed too. I think I stood there dumbfounded when the reference librarian told me that - in part bec collections development was my biz, back when I was in the biz so that one less job available for me!

Of course, being what they are, you can fool them these things; just go check out and check right back in again everything by your favorite author a couple of dozen times. That author will shoot right onto the buy list.

Ha, I was so aggravated, I never thought of that -- thanks for the tip!

These two are issues to be brought to the attention of the board if you have tried and failed to get a response from the Director. The issue of the unsupervised children, in particular, is an insurance liability issue -- the board NEEDS to do something about it because odds are that the library system is NOT insured to cover the situation. I've dealt with the abandoned kids issue myself, and it is not pretty, but IME, once you involve the police on a regular basis, the problem disappears. (Being taken to the police station is a bit traumatic for the kids, but it can't be helped. Some parents will not accept that the library staff means business until they end up having to claim little Johnny from DFS.)

The board is well aware of it and has done nothing. Heck -- anyone who goes into the library during the summer knows about it -- it's a madhouse in there sometimes and gets worse after the pool down the street closes and the kids who used THAT for all day day care then come into the library. I know this for a fact because after I applied for a job there, the director and a board member called me up to apologize that I didn't get it because I didn't speak Spanish, so of course I asked why speaking Spanish was necessary since it was not listed any where on the position information. They told me about the heretofore undisclosed day care duties. At this point, I knew I no longer wanted the job, but asked why they weren't calling CPS or the cops about abandoned children and was told that "TPTB didn't want to make waves about the illegals." I also pointed out that since this was a civil service position, it was a violation to reject me solely for a qualification not listed ANYWHERE on the job listing or position description and that they needed to relist the job. They freely admitted that they broken regs but "it's more important to get a Spanish speaker in here than meet regs." They told me how much they regretted having to reject someone with a MLS and years of experience in favor of a Spanish major who couldn't get a teaching job, but 'there you have it, what can you do?"

The self-check should be repaired to the circ. manager's satisfaction, and if it does not function properly, then the board should seek to have it removed and have it's value rebated to the library in terms of next year's automation system service contract fees.

Yup. That's what should happen. Going on 3 years now and still hasn't. I found out about it after I complained for the umpteenth time to the circ manager and she told me to fill out a complain form then sighed and "That will be put in the pile with the approx 400 complaints PER MONTH we get on the new system and nothing will happen then either."

In my professional opinion, what you have there is an attempt to get rid of your reading groups. Are they putting reserves on your materials for you? This is the sort of thing that can originate with one staff member who has a certain amount of power that his/her underlings don't question. The Director may not be aware, or it may originate with the Director, but it is wrong if it isn't justified. The system needs to justify decisions like this, or have the guts to openly admit that they don't have the resources to support book groups. IME, this kind of rule-creep almost always comes down to a personality issue -- someone on the staff is having a conflict with one of the group leaders; I'd put a week's pay on it.

The books are put on reserve. The librarian in charge of the book groups also leads one and she is distraught about what is going on and tells me that it's once again, "TPTB" who are doing this in the name of cost savings (forcing us to read the books they buy -- best sellers). They have told us all that if we don't read the bestsellers, they can't help us any more and we should go elsewhere. Again, as I've said, this is a penny wise, pound foolish decision since book club members are amongst the most ardent of library supporters.

So yeah, we have this amaaaaaaaaazing building. Chock full of screaming abandoned children and best sellers.

And don't even get me started on the inconsistent, haphazard, insane cataloguing of fiction materials they do in that system. It's unbelievable.

 

[java]

Our library has been packed lately. Everyone is using them for things like books/magazines/ newspapers/cds/dvds/games....the list goes on and on.

In fact I wanted a book that they didn't have. They looked it up and decided to BUY IT!! And I just got my call that the book is in and I get to be the first one to take it out(nerd alert that I am excited about this)
So we would be lost without our library and I think ours is actually seeing a big uptick in rentals as a result of the economy.

 

[Ephany]

We also have several 'for sale' carts and SOMEBODY must've dumped a ton of Star Trek paperbacks because every couple of months I'll find a half dozen more, so I pick them up for a bargain.

If you're in Georgia, we might be neighbors and those may have been DH's. He took a ton of books into the library and asked if they wanted them last year. Ours is a great library, they were very helpful helping me research my assignments and papers when I was working on my undergraduate. DD loves to go browse the children's section and we have a good time with their children's programs in the summer.

 

[harleyquinn]

Another Master's degreed librarian here. Luckily I'm in Ohio, which has the best libraries in the country. Ohio libraries are funded by a portion of the state budget, which of course is in dire straights right now.

We went through the same thing in 2001 when they first froze our budgets. There were articles just like that everywhere. So what did we do? We went to the voters and are now partitially funded by property taxes. Of course with all the foreclosures, those monies are decreasing too.

I've worked in my system (right next to the cuyahoga county system quoted in the article! ) for 9 years and we have gotten busier and busier every single year. Our free programs like storytime are always full, our computers are always full and our circulation grows and grows. We just find ways to do more with less.

I do fear that libraries will no longer exist they way we know them by the time I'm ready to retire (20 years), but I'm hopeful. I think we'll see libraries close and cut back on hours/staff/materials, but hopefully the economy will turn around.

I love my job and really don't want to try anything else!

 

[NotUrsula]

I was amazed too. I think I stood there dumbfounded when the reference librarian told me that - in part bec collections development was my biz, back when I was in the biz so that one less job available for me!

Ha, I was so aggravated, I never thought of that -- thanks for the tip!


The board is well aware of it and has done nothing. Heck -- anyone who goes into the library during the summer knows about it -- it's a madhouse in there sometimes and gets worse after the pool down the street closes and the kids who used THAT for all day day care then come into the library. I know this for a fact because after I applied for a job there, the director and a board member called me up to apologize that I didn't get it because I didn't speak Spanish, so of course I asked why speaking Spanish was necessary since it was not listed any where on the position information. They told me about the heretofore undisclosed day care duties. At this point, I knew I no longer wanted the job, but asked why they weren't calling CPS or the cops about abandoned children and was told that "TPTB didn't want to make waves about the illegals." I also pointed out that since this was a civil service position, it was a violation to reject me solely for a qualification not listed ANYWHERE on the job listing or position description and that they needed to relist the job. They freely admitted that they broken regs but "it's more important to get a Spanish speaker in here than meet regs." They told me how much they regretted having to reject someone with a MLS and years of experience in favor of a Spanish major who couldn't get a teaching job, but 'there you have it, what can you do?"

Yup. That's what should happen. Going on 3 years now and still hasn't. I found out about it after I complained for the umpteenth time to the circ manager and she told me to fill out a complain form then sighed and "That will be put in the pile with the approx 400 complaints PER MONTH we get on the new system and nothing will happen then either."



The books are put on reserve. The librarian in charge of the book groups also leads one and she is distraught about what is going on and tells me that it's once again, "TPTB" who are doing this in the name of cost savings (forcing us to read the books they buy -- best sellers). They have told us all that if we don't read the bestsellers, they can't help us any more and we should go elsewhere. Again, as I've said, this is a penny wise, pound foolish decision since book club members are amongst the most ardent of library supporters.

So yeah, we have this amaaaaaaaaazing building. Chock full of screaming abandoned children and best sellers.

And don't even get me started on the inconsistent, haphazard, insane cataloguing of fiction materials they do in that system. It's unbelievable.

Good lord. Of course you're livid; I'd be past that, myself. I haven't worked for a PL in years (I'm a Special solo now, though I was a PL branch manager for a long time), but I spent half my career working for a major automation vendor; I've been inside more than half the systems in the US one way or another. Have you considered running for the Board? That place is a major lawsuit waiting to happen. Perhaps the city attorney would be interested in the situation re: the children?

It sounds like you've got a lot of cronyism and hiding of heads in sand. You know what happens when their butts are the most exposed body part in those cases -- something is surely going to bite them. Best of luck.

 

[Mr Man]

When people whine about "socialism" (and boy do they whine ) they forget about institutions like public libraries. Of course, if it came down to having to choose between public safety and expanding a library I would choose public safety. However, I believe that Americans won't let their libraries die without a fight. People will raise money and they will volunteer. Libraries will suffer while the economy suffers, just as we all do, but they will rebound as well.

Yes, public libraries. These same libraries who appeared in the USA miraculously at around the same time many of the great American fortunes were made and corporations began their capitalistic strangling of the common man (hehe sarcasm hehe).

In short, Socialists didn't endow the library system here in the US. That would be the "Robber Barons" and their ilk. By the time their "evil" work was done, there were over 2,000 libraries in the US (circa 1900).

I am glad they did too.

I have a suggestion. Let's look to the private sector to continue this proud tradition, instead of handing the money over to an increasingly large and inefficient Government who will make a hash of it.

It worked before. It can work again.

Of course, this means that Government would have to take a pay cut......

Which is the question of the day, is it not?

 

[dispor]

Up until this year, I had never voted against:

Public Library
Metro Parks
Schools
Community College

Then, our public library, which is a beautiful new building - probably about 6-7 years old - decided to renovate the perfectly-fine children's area. Not to add more books or computers... To make it look like there was a barn built right inside the library! They also replaced all the perfectly-fine bookshelves with ones that look like hay-bales - they have such an awful design to them that you can hardly get to the books on the lower shelf of these units. It was such a terrible waste of money, that I will not NOT be voting for the next library levy.

Sarah - you probably know which branch I'm talking about...

 

[harleyquinn]

Up until this year, I had never voted against:

Public Library
Metro Parks
Schools
Community College

Then, our public library, which is a beautiful new building - probably about 6-7 years old - decided to renovate the perfectly-fine children's area. Not to add more books or computers... To make it look like there was a barn built right inside the library! They also replaced all the perfectly-fine bookshelves with ones that look like hay-bales - they have such an awful design to them that you can hardly get to the books on the lower shelf of these units. It was such a terrible waste of money, that I will not NOT be voting for the next library levy.

Sarah - you probably know which branch I'm talking about...

Thank you for adding that! I was thinking there can't possibly be another library that did that! And I don't blame you a bit. I would LOVE to have the money they wasted. But we did get some of their old shelving. As I understand it the money for the renovation came from a outside-specific donation, but I really don't know for sure.

That kind of thing REALLY bugs me though. It's so hard to watch libraries around us really struggle and then others do things like that. I really hope it was a donation that specified remodeling the children's section.

 

[agnes!]

Up until this year, I had never voted against:

Public Library
Metro Parks
Schools
Community College

Then, our public library, which is a beautiful new building - probably about 6-7 years old - decided to renovate the perfectly-fine children's area. Not to add more books or computers... To make it look like there was a barn built right inside the library! They also replaced all the perfectly-fine bookshelves with ones that look like hay-bales - they have such an awful design to them that you can hardly get to the books on the lower shelf of these units. It was such a terrible waste of money, that I will not NOT be voting for the next library levy.

Sarah - you probably know which branch I'm talking about...

Oh yeah, nothing says love of reading like a BARN . And HAY.

agnes!

 

[dispor]

Thank you for adding that! I was thinking there can't possibly be another library that did that! And I don't blame you a bit. I would LOVE to have the money they wasted. But we did get some of their old shelving. As I understand it the money for the renovation came from a outside-specific donation, but I really don't know for sure.

That kind of thing REALLY bugs me though. It's so hard to watch libraries around us really struggle and then others do things like that. I really hope it was a donation that specified remodeling the children's section.

Oh, I had not heard that. Interesting, and I hope it is true. If so, they should have posted a GIANT sign in the library saying where the funds came from, because I am sure there are others that wonder, too!

 

[harleyquinn]

Oh, I had not heard that. Interesting, and I hope it is true. If so, they should have posted a GIANT sign in the library saying where the funds came from, because I am sure there are others that wonder, too!

Honestly? If I were you I would ask one of the librarians. Just say something like, "Did the library receive a donation to renovate the children's area?" Or "what made the library decide to renovate the children's area?" That sounds lame, but I know very few libraries that have renovated so quickly after a new build without the money coming from a donation. Especially something so obviously cosmetic and not functional.

Maybe I can find out for you...I'll PM you if I can.

 

[dispor]

Oh yeah, nothing says love of reading like a BARN . And HAY.

 

[golfgal]

I have to admit I haven't been to a library for years. I grew up across the street from the public library in our town and spent a large part of my childhood in the library. Our town doesn't have a library, for now, so I just buy books, HOWEVER, our brand spanking new library opens on February 9th . The town was smart and built the library 3 blocks from the high school, 1 block from the middle school and 2 blocks from the elementary school-right in downtown. I think it will be well used. The schools have very good libraries so the kids have access to those but now most research they can do on the computer so they don't "need" the library like we did.

 

[WhereOWhere]

The internet was the beginning of the end for libraries. Now with technology like the Kindle out there, even those that read lots of books might not need to go to a library anymore.

When I was a kid, I spent so much time in libraries, I can't even tell you. That being said, I haven't been to a library in almost 10 years now.

Of course there will always be libraries, but they will never be what they were to all of us. Libraries were the central repositories of information, but within the span of a decade, the internet has replaced and surpassed any library.

 

[NotUrsula]

Libraries were the central repositories of information, but within the span of a decade, the internet has replaced and surpassed any library.

Except that without the public-supported funding of a library system, no one is getting to the good stuff.

The buildings are going to turn into two things: public electronic commons' facilities for the electronic have-nots (and there are a LOT of them), and also what they are now; storage for hard-copy entertainment collections for adults and children. Paperback books will still have a cost and convenience advantage over electronic formats for leisure use for the foreseeable future, and for young children, who are hard on electronic formats. I think that hard-copy editions of anything "serious" are not long for this world, but the fluff will endure for a long time yet.

Many, if not most Americans today are under the impression that the information resources available on the Web replace those found in Libraries. That is only true in the physical sense. Libraries used to buy the paper editions for you, and now they buy the electronic ones. Full access to Morningstar, for example, is $180/yr. Morningstar is a VERY cheap thing, compared to the sort of thing that I have to buy for the research laboratory that I work for. Our scientists must have access to journals that average nearly $2K each for a year's subscription, and some of them go to more than $5K for the year. Want to use the Thompson company's ISI Web of Knowledge Index? That will $30K for the year, please. Trust me, Google only lets you access about 10% of the full-text scholarly information indexed in Web of Knowledge. MOST of the good stuff out there is behind locked gates, and you are only getting in if someone is paying your way.

Up until now the standard practice was to make it possible for anyone who is physically present in a subscribing library to use a subscription service, but that is starting to change. Many information vendors now have developed security that allows them to insist that university contracts specify that people off the street must be locked out of these resources -- only students and faculty may have access id's. If the general public needs to get access to this stuff, then public libraries will need to subscribe for their taxpayer base, and it is NOT cheap. Most systems already subscribe to some services, and demand grows every day as more people get used to being able to do research from home.

Another challenge is the sheer volume of information now available. The vast majority of it is invisible to engines like Google. If it isn't indexed, you won't find it. A large percentage of what is indexed is garbage, too; inaccurate, not authoritative, and my favorite peeve: totally undated.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

Ephany--nope. Not in Georgia but I snapped those books up as soon as I saw them. Every time I go in there, I check the sale cart to see if there are any more.

Yes I'm a dork. :transport: Beam me up Scotty.