The Shape of Things to Come?

Last year I had the good fortune to travel to England, and, being a librarian, I, of course, visited a number of libraries.  What I discovered was discouraging.  Public Libraries in the U.K. are being gutted by funding cuts. A case in point is the Library of Birmingham. Opened in 2013 to great acclaim, it is the largest public library in the European Union--ten stories tall--with a large collection, public meeting spaces, and a Shakespeare Memorial Room at it apex that houses one of the most important collections of Shakespeariana in the world.



Then, one year later, Birmingham Council announced that it was slashing the library budget, forcing the library to lay off half its staff and reduce its opening hours from 74 to 40 per week. What happened in Birmingham is happening all across the U.K..  324 libraries have closed since 2011. 400 libraries are now run entirely by volunteers with varying levels of local support.  It's no wonder that a research study  conducted in 2014 showed that library visits across the U.K. had declined by 40 million visitors in 4 years.  It's the old vicious circle: cut the funding and the libraries can't offer the same levels of service they used to, so people stop coming. Then funding is pulled altogether because attendance is down. And of course the areas that are most affected are those with the poorest economies, where the libraries are really needed.

Fortunately, things have not reached this state in Canada.  Support for public libraries remains high. Even non-library users, when asked, tend to feel that a public library is an important public institution and worthy of public support. But it is important to keep the British example in mind, if only as a warning of how things might go, if we do not take care.

Where we do need to worry in Canada is at the national level, where numerous science libraries have been closed and funding cutbacks to the National Library and Archives of Canada have left the institution seriously compromised.

--Ken Haigh

Print vs Digital

There is nothing a librarian enjoys more than receiving a bundle of slick new publishers' catalogues.  It's like Christmas, seeing the new titles publishers are bringing out for the fall season--new titles by favorite authors or intriguing new books on interesting subjects. We go through the catalogues, highlighter in hand, noting the titles we think our patrons will enjoy reading.  Small town libraries are actually quite good at this.  We are close enough to our patrons to have learned their reading tastes.  However, we can't afford to buy everything we see, but we do the best we can on our limited budgets.

In recent years, this process has become complicated by the introduction of eBooks. We already purchase popular titles in multiple formats: hardcover, large print, audio book, and paperback. Now we are adding eBooks and downloadable audio books. Our budget isn't getting any bigger, so hard choices have to made.  The problem is exacerbated by the fact that not all eBook titles are available for public libraries to purchase (see earlier post).  

A recent Washington Post article noted that libraries are feeling the pressure: "Around the country, libraries are slashing their print collections in favor of e-books, prompting battles between library systems and print purists, including not only the pre-pixel generation but digital natives who represent a sizable portion of the 1.5 billion library visits a years and prefer print for serious reading." The most extreme example of this trend are libraries that only carry digital collections, such as the new library in San Antonio, Texas. 

My feeling is that we need to provide some eBooks, but that print is far from dead. EBook sales in Canada have leveled off at about 20% of the total book market, which would suggest that many people read in both formats, and most people still prefer print.  The challenge for libraries is striking a balance in a world of shrinking library budgets.

It is challenging to be working in a public library in the twenty-first century. There is no doubt about that. Libraries are being forced to constantly re-invent themselves, but we have to be careful not to fix what isn't broken.

--Ken Haigh