Good News 1:  What’s Happening to the Library?

One of my earliest memories is of the library at the bottom of Court Farm Road.  About the size of a large house, I began going from a young age.  When you entered, the layout was simple.  The librarian’s desk was in front of you, facing the door.  To the left were children’s books and alongside young adult books (although we didn’t use that term then) and to the right was adult fiction.  I can’t remember where non-fiction was located.  The books were in stacks, large cases, with five shelves each.  Fiction was by author; children’s books were in age groupings; non-fiction by Dewey Decimal numbers.  To borrow, you needed library cards, small carboard pockets:  I had three, and each time I borrowed a book, a card from the book was put in one of my borrowers’ cards, and the two were kept at the library.  The building was quiet:  even borrowing was  completed in almost total silence.  You handed over the book with your borrower’s card, then the librarian stamped the sheet inside the book’s front cover with the return date, the only noise for the whole transaction!

As far as I was concerned, this convinced me a library was a sacred place, where precious volumes were held, and from which humble members of the public might borrow if they followed the rules.  Did that make me want to start my own collection?  I am sure it did.  Did it enhance my love of books and reading?  Certainly.  Was it welcoming?  Certainly not, and now I suspect the whole atmosphere was intended to provide active discouragement to all except the serious, well-behaved members of the community.  A temple for the privileged few.  I loved that library, imbued with the sense that I had been admitted as a provisional member of a select group.  Did it make me nervous?  Yes, it did, with a lingering worry my borrowing privileges could be withdrawn at any time.  I had to behave.

As I grew older, I started buying books, and slowly put together a work collection, some 3,000 books, and a similar number of fiction and non-fiction titles.  A mini library of my own, which I protected with just as much fervour as that librarian from my childhood.  I seldom allowed a book out of the house, and often wished I could issue borrowers cards. After a few disasters, I stopped lending books altogether.  That library was mine, all mine!

Much older, in the last couple of years I have been steadily disposing of my collection.  I must be down to less than 1,500 books now.  Those left are reference books, ones I can draw on when writing blogs, preparing for discussion groups, and for occasional teaching, together with some fiction and other non-fiction volumes, books I tell myself I will read again.  Today, I use the local library to borrow books, and I am enjoying my return to that old-fashioned system where you can request, place a hold on, and borrow books, especially fiction.  To return to what I used to do rather misses the point, however.  Libraries do have books to be borrowed and read, but around that function, much has changed.

Now that libraries have returned to being a central part of my life, I can see  they have improved in many ways.  Physically, the changes are obvious.  There are stacks, but they tend to be lower, and banished towards the back of the library spaces.  There are racks of magazines.  Lots of places for recommendations to be put on show.  In the foreground there are tables for reading, computers for accessing the catalogue, and many more for using the internet.  There’s a coffee shop, with cakes – people consuming food and drink in a library!  There are meeting rooms.  There are  collections of CDs and DVDs, all available for loan, together with puzzles, toys, and board games.  And people talk!

Having seldom used libraries for several years (except for academic libraries, which I used online for teaching materials), I discovered how much was changing when I learnt about activities in Melbourne as the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold.  One library began supplying books to accompany Meals on Wheels deliveries, calling recipients in advance to ascertain their reading tastes.  Before long, several were offering ‘book bundle’ services and curated book parcels for pick-up or delivery.  Can you imagine the delight at finding a box of books at the front door, and the pleasure from serendipitous successes:  in the box you might find works by authors you’d never have thought to read, others on unfamiliar topics, many that quickly became addictive!  Who could have imagined the library coming to you?

As COVID-19 began to have a greater impact,  many libraries came up with innovative ways to do what they had always done – fostering community.  During a lockdown which closed it as a community hub, one library identified its most vulnerable cohort as the elderly, regular library users sitting, reading, using the computers, or catching up with friends.  Concerned about the loss of that opportunity, the library staff researched the details of every one of its 8,000 members aged over 70.  Then they started calling them.  Later, the manager for public participation reported, “We called them to say hi, see how they were doing, and then see if there was anything they needed help with, such as access to services, counselling support, tech help, that kind of thing. We would then refer them to a service that would help them.  What we’ve found mostly is that people are up for the chat and love getting that call from the librarian. Some calls go for five minutes, and some go for half an hour or more.”  If there is one thing on which I can state with confidence, that scary lady manning the desk at my childhood library would never have done that.  Am I so certain?  Maybe she would have!

From fine amnesties to boosting the prominence of digital offerings, to simply putting books in the post, libraries have drastically changed the way they operate to accommodate the massive social changes during the CPOVID-19 pandemic.  Many have transitioned from in-person services, like their onsite storytime sessions for babies and toddlers to online sessions; it isn’t only adults listening to webinars!  Some offer sessions in community languages, pre-recorded presentations ranging from Italian and Greek to the less well-known, including Mandarin and Auslan.  Similar services are offered for adults, with webinars including author talks.  The library as a building is becoming less important.

However, it is easy to forget how the physical space had been changing before COVID-19 arrived.  While physical books have their place, access to a library’s online resources from borrowing of audio and e-books, free film streaming services and other services has been growing dramatically.  My local library even offers a printing service:  I can email a document and have it printed and ready for collection within a couple of hours.  I can use a library computer to check the catalogue, and, if mine has stopped working, I know I can go into the library and work there for a while.  I sure some users run their offices there.

The pandemic has accelerated these changes.  Several have been distributing stockpiles of mobile technology to the digitally needy; strengthening partnerships with schools and food donation sites; even helping prepare the homeless population with alternatives for shelter; and more.  Others have ensured their wi-fi services are accessible outside the building.  There’s been a dramatic growth in libraries offering their own online magazines, often a resource for community-sourced artwork, poetry, photos, and stories, as well as observations about life during the pandemic.  Another shift has been to offer drop-off and pick-up services.

Many libraries have been running a variety of webinars, the topics range from renters’ rights and responsibilities, seminars in partnership with the tax office to help people with their tax returns, to online literary salons where you can hear Australian short stories or novel extracts.  Some had been offered before, but in a changed world, some needs aren’t literary any longer.  One library reported, “We had a social worker in the library to help identify and reach out to people who were spending time in the library who might have been homeless or victims of domestic violence.  During lockdown that social worker has been reaching out to those regulars that we know, to keep them connected with the services they need.”  In the US, libraries have moved immigrant support services online, with legal help to complete citizenship applications and prepare for citizenship interviews.

Many school systems and the libraries have identified the gaps in how schools deliver their distance learning, especially where families lack the hardware or internet access or familiarity with technology to help their children do their schoolwork, including putting hardware in the hands of more students, offering more connectivity through Wi-Fi hotspots, and offering tech help to guide households through the processes.  At the same time, library staff are making  telephone calls to students who used to show up at the library for help with their homework, calling to ask if they can assist them over the phone.

Quite clearly, libraries are ‘Good News’.  What’s happening to the library?  An explosion in new services and new approaches.  What will happen next?  What expectations will users have once they are open again. Will people want all the virtual offerings and the extra help, hardware, and services to continue? Will they want more?  How will libraries support these expanded services?  The online explosion has been exciting, but as one librarian reminded users,  “Each time a library user accesses our streaming services at no cost (to the user), there is actually a charge to the library.  Nothing is free.  Our streaming services usage has gone up dramatically, which impacts our materials budget, which impacts how much we spend on actual books.”  After the pandemic, that trade-off may come under scrutiny.

I have always loved the concept of a portal (it’s used in many fantasy stories).  Years ago, the library portal was the entrance that took you into the building.  Now, libraries are offering a knowledge portal, and the physical door is only one way in.  The fantasy sense of a portal isn’t a doorway into a building, but into another world.  Libraries are that kind of portal, a way to access all kinds of activities and services, some in the physical world, many virtually.  In my (probably overheated) imagination, I can see a more in the future.  Here are some.

First, and most obviously, is the expanding notion of a collection.  Libraries collect and make accessible books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, and CD.  What about recordings of seminars, webinars, storytime sessions, as well as technical, business, and personal advice.  For some time, I have been convinced we should be using wikis.  For libraries, the response to every query becomes a knowledge datum, made available to other users, and which can be added to, amplified, enhanced, and improved.  Managing wikis is an important task and requires both experts and decisions makers:  issues include what should be included, whether this item is factual, the extent to which it can be improved, the degree to which this is a legitimate item of knowledge or information, and so on.  But the benefit of a growing a knowledge base for the community, a local ‘wikisource’ run by the library, is immense.

More broadly, I see the future in terms of the library’s mission ‘to keep people productive, safe, healthy, informed, and connected to each other’.  The building matters, but many of those aims will be achieved by continuing to develop an online presence.  Libraries can provide lists of resources:  ideas for children’s activities; plans for improving adult job skills and dealing with job loss; hobby ideas; reading lists; ways to sleep better, meditate, and stay calm; ways to exercise; and ideas for virtual, social interaction.  Equally important,  a critical role is for libraries to continue to offer trusted sources of information. Many are scaling up their social media to bring in more users and market their diverse, digitally available holdings; to post timely, accurate, curated information; and to offer up-to-date public-service information on issues like city services, public notices, health advisories, directives and requests, tax, and unemployment issues, and of course, COVID-19 resources.  The library can be a bastion for verification, scientific evidence, and trustworthy sources of analysis and commentary.  As one librarian was quoted as saying, “We’re working swiftly to become a virtual town square—a place of information and connection.”

To say the last two years have been times of disruption and change is an understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused extensive alterations in people’s daily lives and spurred rapid technological change. With this in mind, it’s worth reviewing the library’s current technology landscape, and how it might develop into the future.  It seems clear to me virtual programs and courses, from MOOCS to webinars, are here to stay.  As we emerge from the pandemic, libraries will be responding the needs of new audiences who find themselves unable to attend traditional programming, as well as providing its established users with convenient alternatives.  Digital collections will keep growing, with contactless services, safe and convenient, from digital library cards in your mobile phone wallet to self-checkout.

However, it is not just digital media.  Library users are living in an environment with an expanded range of services, from telemedicine, virtual learning, to telecommuting.  As this is happening, library services are also changing.  Appointment-based services like career counselling, technical help, and advice to readers can take place via video conferencing.  Online chat can be added to complement phone, email, and text reference services.  Libraries are already investing in their IT infrastructure to meet the growing demands of their users and ensure library devices are ready to support future video conferencing.  Spaces in the library will include quiet conversation rooms for online meetings.  There’ll be facilities for virtual learning, as well as classes on online resume building, and online job searching.  Programs about selling online, using Etsy or eBay as examples, will be available to help users build up new and secure additional sources of income, complemented by online chat support.

All that is where we are today.  In the future some other technologies and opportunities will grow.  One will be the increased use of augmented reality (AR).  In the last few years, Android and Apple released augmented reality frameworks for developers which will enable mobile devices to become AR capable devices.  With that, we can expect to see libraries offer AR learning programs, books, and children’s games and activities, and just as many for adults!   Similar steps forward in virtual reality (VR) will see new kinds of meetings, travel, and so much more.  Seeing, learning, and participating in virtual space will become more familiar.  Libraries won’t be a portal; they’ll be a gateway.

Close to the library I use, there’s a major building program taking place to establish a ‘hub’, a place where all government services and functions are be co-located.  Perhaps that is a better term than a gateway or a portal, which imply going to a particular place.  In my mind, a hub sits behind numerous spokes, reaching into different parts of the community.  If the library will be functioning like a hub, so it will reach out and be part of the community in many different ways.  In the past, we went to the library.  Today, the library is coming to us.  In the future, the library will be an even more important part of our lives.  That’s ‘Good News’.

Feedback and Comments:

One reader reminded me that libraries weren’t always buildings.  In his and my time, Mobile Libraries were common, usually a converted coach or truck, with a tempting selection of books inside.  I am sure they still travel around rural areas.

Also, I was told book bundles don’t have to be random.  Librarians can identify your reading preferences from your loans, and so the book bundle can be carefully curated, adding books on similar topics or genres – and avoiding sending a volume that was clearly irrelevant or inappropriate.  Asking around, I am sure that’s true.  Book bundle recipients seem to have found their selection matched many of their interests, with just one or two books that were close to familiar, but offering a new topic or style.