You Own Me

I work for a county government. An overall wealthy, educated, suburban, midwestern county. Pretty balanced politically between left and right. While maybe not everyone here loves our local government, I'm guessing that it's less unpopular than government in many places. We successfully provide services that contribute to the high quality of life that people want. And the county department that regularly rates the highest in citizen satisfaction surveys is the library. We are a highly appreciated and generally loved institution.

My impression is that is the general case with libraries everywhere. Those who love us, really love us, and most everyone else seems to at least value what we do on some level. We represent many values that are at the core of democratic societies. We like to think we're government at its best.

I'm thinking about this today after sharing Stop Being Reality-Based on Facebook. That post is about how much of what we take for granted as objective reality is actually constructed, shared, intersubjective belief. My examples in the post are some of the current fantasies coming from the right that are being widely accepted. A friend responded with a dialogue* from a Terry Pratchett book to present "the positive side of the concept. You need to believe in constructs; choosing the construct is very important." You're going to believe in fantasies no matter what, so make sure to believe ones that are constructive and not destructive. I'm in complete agreement (and have many posts on this blog making just that case).

The exchange has me thinking about the story I tell about the library when presenting to groups of kids, the narrative I use to describe what a library is. I realized that, though I have a definite mental script I follow each time, and I alluded to it in Connected Libraries, I've never actually written it down (that I can remember). Whether talking to groups who have come to us at the library or when I'm invited to present at a school, a small group or big, kids young or not-as-young, I usually open with some version of what follows.

Who owns the library?

[I always try to get them immediately involved and talking to me to create a comfortable dialogue in the hopes of keeping them from tuning out a one-way information dump. This simple question almost always stumps them for a while, with many incorrect responses, so I guide them through their guesses until we finally get there.]

The citizens of our county own the library. Everyone who lives in our county. A small part of their property taxes each year pays for the library. If they own their home, it is direct; if they rent, it goes through the property owner; but, either way, everyone who lives here pays into it.

That's why everyone can use the books for free, because they've already paid for them. The books belong to them. And you know what? You live in our county. So that means you own the library. You. This book belongs to you. It's yours. However, it also belongs to him and to her and her and him. Which means it's yours, but you have to share it with the rest of us because it also belongs to us. We take turns using it.

And that's what a library is at its heart: sharing.

We each might each be able to buy a few books if we bought them by ourselves with our own money, but if we put all our money together we can buy all of these books together, so many more than any one of us could buy alone. Not just the thousands you see in this building, but the ones in all of our other locations across the county. We share these thousands and thousands of books, and they are here for you to use whenever you want a turn.

A question: Is the library only books? You're right. We have newspapers and magazines and DVDs and CDs and more. And access to digital versions of all of those through computers: ebooks and downloadable audiobooks and streaming movies and music and more. If you think about books for a second, some are fiction (which is . . . ?) and some are nonfiction (which is . . . ?) I like to think of it as some books have stories and some have information. And that is what the library really provides--not books, but information and stories. In any form. In books, in computers, in movies, etc. If it has information or stories, we try to provide it for you. (We even have video games.)

That's the library's collection, but the library is also another thing: buildings. This room we're in right now? You own it. This whole building belongs to you. That's why you can come use it anytime you want for free. We do our best to make our buildings into spaces everyone can use in the ways they need. Comfortable seating for everyone, early literacy activities in the preschool space, quiet areas for studying, and rooms for more private needs. They all belong to all the citizens of the county.

And the library is one more thing: people. People who have information and know stories, and want to share them with you. Librarians read to little ones in storytime; people like me talk to people like you; we lead book discussions; and sometimes we have events where outside experts present information or stories in other ways.

Speaking of people, one more question: Who do I work for? Who is my boss? [Usually lots of guessing and dialogue.] Ultimately, I work for the people who own the library, who are the citizens of the county, who are: you! I work for you. You are my bosses.

Now, there's a procedure to it, you do it by voting to elect officials who direct the county and the library; but, ultimately, I work for you. It's my job to connect you to all of the information and stories we have. I read the books you like so I can make good recommendations. I practice finding information so I can help you find it. Never be afraid to approach a librarian to ask for help, because it's our job to work for you.

What questions do you have?

That's the basic story I try to tell. Libraries are shared community information, stories, and resources, and they belong to you.

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*The positive side of the concept is a Terry Pratchett dialogue:

Susan: “All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

Death: REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

Susan: "Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

Death: YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

Susan: "So we can believe the big ones?"

Death: YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

Susan: "They're not the same at all!"

Death: YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET — Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

Susan: "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

Death: MY POINT EXACTLY.