Last week two public librarians, Eli Neiburger and Meg Backus, spoke to our class. Hearing about what's currently going on in their libraries and what they think about the future of public libraries was extremely informative.
Two things that Eli said have stuck with me this week. The first was that the libraries "can't be all things for all people but have to be something for everybody." Public libraries are facing diminishing resources and budgets so it's important to apply this sort of utilitarian approach to decision making. The other thing that stuck with me was the idea that librarians need to create unique value to stay relevant. An example of this was gaming in libraries. It's not enough to provide video games for library members to check out. The social experience of playing games and competing with other people is something that libraries can add. This got me thinking about other ways librarians can bring things of unique value to the community. Meg Backus's idea of having people check out her therapy dog for twenty minutes is a good example. Learning Commons are another way of providing unique value, particularly in academic libraries. Providing spaces for students to meet and work is necessary. A challenge for libraries will be to get members to recognize that the services and space that librarians provide are more valuable than the stuff.
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