Beyond the Walls
One of the general charges for those of us working for the library is to recruit business. It's not phrased in quite those terms, but that's the general idea. We're to be visible in the community. Give presentations at schools and day cares and the like. Take part in area festivals, march in parades, go to chamber of commerce meetings. Have booths at events. Send letters, emails, and newsletter to area schools and try to get invited into the buildings. Market our programs on the radio and in the newspaper. Find other organizations to partner with. We have an outreach department for those who can't make it into the library themselves. Research shows those most in need of our early literacy efforts are those who don't come to the library, so we're supposed to go out and find them. In our programs and services we're to try to be innovative and bring in new people. Part of the reason the video game initiative was approved is that it was supposed to draw in teens who don't come to the library to read. We're always trying to reach new people.
In theory I agree with these efforts. Philosophically it makes sense that we offer a service and we should try to be as relevant and widespread as possible. We can help people in ways they don't realize, so what's wrong with trying to help them learn to appreciate it? Yet whenever it comes time to do something outreachy, I always find myself feeling resistant. I'm not sure why. Some of it is my shy, introverted nature, I'm sure. It's a lot easier to wait for people to come to me than having to reach out to them. Some of it is laziness, too, because it's easier to sit back and help the willing. Yet some of it is the reason I work for the library and not in the profit-driven business world. I don't want to be a salesman. I don't want to always be on the prowl for customers. I want to help people enjoy literature and find information. I can't quite put me finger on why, but for some reason always trying to reach new people feels vaguely foreign to what I enjoy about my job. Is it just me?
posted by Degolar @ 3:05 PM
2 Comments:
No.
And sometimes I'm afraid I'm offering services that can't be delivered. My letters to schools resulted in at least four requests to come visit that we couldn't do due to "staffing issues." And what I mean is we didn't fill any requests. Also, although we tell students we can get materials for them, it takes a week because we don't have enough staff to process everything on a daily basis.
I wonder how much of this outreach is driven by the fear of remaining relevant in our age of online accessible information. Not to mention, we are in a county with more services and entertainment options than most places. We are publicly funded and the public needs to, well, feel they need us for the money to keep coming so we need to sell ourselves.
I do enjoying working when there is a nice buzz in the building, people working, talking, enjoying, but also miss the things that drew me to libraries. The quiet so I could think my own thoughts, the chance to browse for books and sit and read and escape for a while. Is there a place for people like me now?
It's the feeling that we're not relevant in terms of people visiting us, even if circulation is increasing and online usage exponentially growing. If people don't physically see what a library is, they won't give money to it or maintain it.
In short. Fear.
Should we advertise? Yeah, we do a lot of fun stuff. Have a program every day of the month at every location? No.
Personally, I'm tired of the "look at me and what I can do!" routine, and much rather have a, "what can I do for you routine."
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