Free Range Librarian

Great ideas here! I am loving the move towards user-centered tools and services.

One comment I would make is that I actually envision a move back to more closed stacks. If we are using the tools avialable to share our collections online, then we might not need stacks that use a classification system to facilitate browsing. The problem is that any system of classification whose main purpose is to collocate like physical resources in such a way as to allow browsing (be it by subject, author, whatever) prevents or limits other grouping actions.

For example, two of the more popular primary classifications of fiction are by author or genre. And yet each of those has serious limitations for authors whose works go beyond a single genre or for someone who wants a new mystery book. In non-fiction, it gets even more complicated.

So what about closed stacks and then a comprehensive electronic browsing system where the virtual library becomes the OPAC. Where you can walk from room to room and have it shift to display a newly desired grouping. When I think about this, I can’t help but recall Roger Zelazny’s Books of Amber and the Amberites ability to walk the shadows. With a mental thought, an Amberite could take a step and shift something about their surroundings…take a step and you are in a room with all the resources about the Civil War (fiction, non-fiction, geneologies, periodicals, letters, etc).

I’ve always been a fan of patron suggestions. I think that public libraries are great at collecting stuff that nobody reads, especially ones that don’t solicit or accept suggestions, or that don’t act on them immediately. After I became library director, I started spreading the book buying (or materials purchasing) responsibilities to all the staff, such that now any staff member who thinks we should have a particular book can enter it on an Ingram iPage order, and this is most effective when done with the reader who requested it standing along side. We can usually tell the reader when it will arrive and be ready for them. This staff freedom has expanded from just iPage to any purveyor — amazon, bookstores, publishers, online sellers, etc. We even have a credit card for purchases, which is essential in this age of online commerce. I admit that this may not be for every library. We’re small (staff of 10-11), and I’m blessed with a staff that can be trusted to do this well. But since they can do it well, the library is much better for it. After years of this, we have a patron base that keeps in touch with us, so that it’s hard for us to stay ahead of them, though we try. And this approach does not preclude “collection development.” Many requests for items or subjects that we can’t provide are effectively red flags marking holes in our collection. We can take the opportunity to get the book a patron wants and then maybe a couple of others to fill in the hole. Whoops … gotta go.