I have quoted again the last part of the article that Melissa posted because it is exactly what we talked about for a week at PLA Boot Camp 2. I hope that each one of us will ask ourselves these questions and re-think exactly what our libraries will look like. We have a great opportunity now to really make a difference in how we do business and I hope that we take it! Mindy
“But, just how much are the differences between bookstores and today’s libraries worth to our customers–those who have to foot the bill?
If we were brave enough to ask, do you think our clients would willingly continue to spend the extra $149 per hour it costs to operate their libraries? Or would they prefer having the library open an extra two or even three days per week under a bookstore model?
Would they sacrifice the materials budget if there wasn’t enough money to pay for both high-priced employees and new books? Would they cheerfully sacrifice some 30-40 additional hours of service a week in exchange for professional reference service?
This is not just idle speculation. These are the real costs we ask our customers to pay every day to run our libraries per the status quo. But would they concur with our judgment if they were aware of the alternatives?
As a person who has spent a considerable amount of time in the private sector as a bookseller for $3.35 - $5.75 an hour, I believe that I have a unique perspective on the comparison between a B&N and a library.
From 1990 to 2001 I spent at least 20 hours a week at some retail bookstore. I’ve worked for B&N, B. Dalton’s, Waldenbooks, and Media Play. I’ve run poetry readings where we all wore black and berets and snapped fingers instead of clapping, classical appreciation evenings where we’ve listened to whole concertos or symphonies and discussed form and style and period, I’ve participated in writing groups, monthly contests, concerts, author signings, readings from bestsellers and Dungeons and Dragons parties. In all that time I can count the number of truly knowledgeable booksellers on one hand with fingers left over.
As someone intensely interested in books of all formats (but especially fiction – the trashy romance, the freaky sci-fi, the horrific horror) I can honestly say that even librarians who didn’t like the same books as I did, knew more about them than a teenager making minimum wage that could be working in a grocery store rather than a book store.
There are things that happen at B&N and other booksellers which could be easily added to the calendar at a public library. For a bare minimum of cost we could have adult programs coming out our ears. Pat, Holly and I have increased adult services since June by using already owned material and offering programs which take nothing but time on the part of the staff. We have two writing groups, month-long demonstrations of skills like fly-fishing, bluegrass and chili cook-off, Int’l Talk Like a Pirate Day etc.
I know authors on visits to B&N in Grand Junction could be bribed to come to Garfield County Libraries on their way from Denver to GJ. We could have Anne Rice or Nora Roberts…big bestseller names stopping here if we worked it right. All we would have to do is find out what other libraries and booksellers are doing and do them ourselves.
This comparison of how B&N is like a library is right in some respects, but in others…B&N loses every time.
Beret - using Pat’s sign on
Comment by PatJ — November 30, 2006 @ 3:35 pm