Crisis in Public Librarianship - some local stories.

There's been a good discussion on SRRT and PLG circles about an ongoing crisis in Public Librarianship, and luckily for me, I was able to contribute something to that discussion from our local media, specifically our local mass market "indy" rag, The Houston Press.

here is the original local Houston story I contributed to the discussion:

Houston Public Library, Fondren Southwest gets a mini-library

As told to Richard Connelly

Published: June 21, 2007 (The Houston Press)

The Morris Frank branch of the Houston Public Library sits near the intersection of West Bellfort and Fondren, an area that's been ground zero for Katrina evacuees and ensuing problems with violence.

It's a tough environment for a kid — or anyone who likes reading, we guess — to grow up in, but the city has good news: You're getting a new library!!

Umm, just don't expect many books in it.

The library system was planning a renovation of the Frank branch, which has foundation problems. They discovered, unfortunately, that new studies now place the building squarely within the 100-year flood plain.

"We'd either have to lift the building up 18 inches or build a two-foot berm all the way around it, and there wasn't enough money to do that," says Tim Douglass, chief of staff for city council member Anne Clutterbuck.

There wasn't enough money to build a completely new similarly sized branch, so the neighborhood is getting what the Houston Public Library System is calling "an exciting concept" known as "HPL Express."

What's an HPL Express? It's a rented storefront that holds about half the 90,000 items that the Frank branch currently has.

"It'll have all the popular books, it just won't have a plethora of books," Douglass says.

But there'll be plenty of computers, says the HPL's Greg Simpson, and anyone who wants a book that isn't on the shelves can order it and pick it up a couple of days later.

On the one hand, this idea sounds like an innovative way to stretch scarce dollars. On the other hand, it sounds awfully like Metro, which promised light rail to low-income neighborhoods but is now instead offering special buses that kinda, sorta look like trains.

"Could somebody who doesn't know what they're talking about, who doesn't understand the concept, who doesn't see the betterness they're getting, could they complain?" says Douglass. "Maybe, but the alternative is nothing. The alternative is closing the Frank branch completely."

"I think it's just going to be a matter of us educating our customers how to use the facility," Simpson says. "But we're excited about it and think it's going to work great."

Future HPL Expresses — including one in the similarly troubled Gulfton neighborhood — might offer only a "very small collection" of books. Future sites might be entirely book-free. But those sites will be in addition to existing libraries, not replacing full facilities like the Frank branch.

Ah, what the hell — it's not like kids today are reading anyway. Maybe HPL should just set up a Facebook page and be done with it.

A colleague and close friend responded with these observations:

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Thanks for posting. This is something to be concerned about. We might call this HPL Express a Library Lite or a Fast Food Library. It appears it will function in a similar way that fast food functions to real food. I don't need to remind people on this list that customers love fast food, unfortunately it is not good for their health. And a library without intelligent books is not good for democracy.

This is a good illustration of a library getting out of the knowledge and education venue and moving to solely focus on entertaining (pacifying?) their "customers" with only popular works (known in some circles as crap or fluff). In theory, this HPL Express will feed the mind but it is really only full of empty calories. It will look like a library, but will most likely have none of those awkward resources that might actual assist a person in becoming an engaged citizen. I am betting that they will be sure to order a copy of Paris Hilton's autobiography as soon as it is published
-M

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I responded thus:
Thanks, M! It is also an illustration of our disposable consumer-culture mentality....there is no longer a willingness, as there was in the age of the great Carnegie Libraries, which coincided with the historical Beautiful City* (?) movement of the late 19th and early 20th century (now championed by the New Urbanism school of architecture, of which James Howard Kunstler is a passionate devotee)...there is no longer that willingness to build structures intended to last beyond the lifetimes of those building it, to pass down that permanent building as a legacy for the ages, etc....

There was money enough in HPL's budget to utterly renovate the downtown main Branch library (still ongoing as of this writing)...but the Main Branch library is in the heart of the downtown Business district, and has a not inconsiderable business clientelle, with a considerable ECON/BUSINESS section taking up most of the entire 2nd floor. So there are race and class issues that intersect here as well. The "either/or" choice posited is utterly false & misleading.

I suppose it would be also impertinent to ask if there is any Gates Foundation seed money propping up McLibrary projects like HPL Express storefronts, etc, since they will have "plenty of computers". Inquiring minds want to know.

There used to be a provocative show on KPFT 90.1, locally produced by some University of Houston faculty, called "Class Notes", which tackled local issues from a class perspective. Since its content was very intellectual, it did not have a broad appeal and perhaps because of its inability to raise more funding dollars compared to other programming (like World Music or Lone Star Jukebox or Democracy Now!), it was eventually dropped from the lineup. This Houston Press story would've been perfect for the "Class Notes" show to treat at length. I suppose we should be glad the Houston Press at least gave the blurb it did. I don't think the story even made it in the Houston Chronicle.

--JJR

*sorry, don't have a copy of GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE or HOME FROM NOWHERE handy to look this up and verify the name.

Incidentally, my own posting of the Houston Press story was inspired by an SRRT contributor who reposted this story to PLG/SRRT circles:

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"...Someone recently posted this article about Sacramento librarians
concerned that the Sacramento Public Library is becoming too 'pop-
fixated' :

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/190564.html

I am reposting it because what is happening at SPL is not an isolated
phenomenon. I have seen the same sort of restructuring taking place
at public libraries in PA..." [snip]

(-from a concerned SRRT member)
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POST-SCRIPT: The "Give 'em what they want" vs. "Give 'em what they need" argument goes as far back as Socrates/Plato, who expressed dismay at the position of the philosopher in society, comparing his position vis a vis the huckstering sophist to that of the nutritionist versus the confectionery-maker in trying to sway little children. The Confectionery-maker has what the kids ostensibly want ("sweets and treats" ) but the nutritionist knows what the children need (a well-balanced diet, with sweets only in moderation). And yet the nutritionist very much has an uphill battle to persuade the children to take what he's offering versus what the candy-man has.

-JJR, aka "Aggie Librarian"

PPS: All of this is bound up with issues discussed at length by the latest books from John Buschman (Dismantling the Public Sphere) and Ed D'Angelo (Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library). One wonders if HPL Express would be a hip/new "innovation" *shudder* of the sort that ISC's otherwise sensible John Pateman approves of, rather than fuddy-duddy "old fashioned" libraries serving only "narrow middle class interests".

More "Let them Eat Pixels!", In my view. (-jjr)