Packing Heat 065: Check it Out
Posted by Jordan Castillo Price at 8/2/2009 1:50 PM 
Categories: Inspiration, Recommendation
Tags: Stephen King royalties research day job
Categories: Inspiration, Recommendation
Tags: Stephen King royalties research day job
Download | Duration: 00:32:40
Explaining Libraries
Judging by the questions I get at my day job on a regular basis, I suspect most people haven't really thought about how public libraries work. I can't speak for every library in the world, but here's a sampling of how things work around here, and how your choices and actions eventually affect what you see on the shelves:
- a customer/patron record
- an item record
- circulation statistics
- collection development
- being part of a consortium
- royalties/residuals
- donations
- borrowing within your system
- interlibrary loans
Your assignment
Go to your local library, even if for ten minutes, and poke around. What do you see? What interests you? What are book covers like on best-sellers nowadays, and what seems to be in high demand in your community?
I was in my local library over the weekend (I was just passing and decided to pop in on a whim - which is odd, I must have expected this question!). It is Winter here, so there was no sign of holiday activities (the Winter two week holiday for schools has just finished), instead there was a fair amount of display space given over to local affairs - the expansion of the motorway out near us (I live in a rural area that is only about 30km from the largest city in the country) and the housing/shopping development (about 5000 homes!!!!) planned for a new subdivision out this way. The New Releases and Rec'd Reads are as expected (Oprah/media reviewer and Big Name recent releases). The library has had a major refurbishment and remodelling over the last two years (it is a modern building, but space was an issue, so they have expanded it considerably) and is a pleasant, airy space.
As usual, things of local (and this means national) interest are emphasised (we are a small country and at times I think our media/celebrity/prominent people collectively suffer from a sort of Napoleonic complex. *g*
Everyone seems to use the workstations to locate and reserve titles more readily these days and it is not as intimidating a space for children as libraries were when I was child ... the children's section used to be in another room, even in small libraries.
Interlibrary load is free for titles withing the same library system, but as that limits it to 4 other libraries in this county, it means that in order to access the fabulousness (it is so a word!) of the city library system, a paid annual subscription is required (and unless one collects the reserved titles from the library actually holding the copy, a $1 fee is charged to send it to the library (with the same group) of your choice.
None of the titles on special display/posters/stands appeal to me (but then that is hardly a surprise!). When we moved here 10 years ago, I was down at the library at least once a week and online ordering titles and adding them to my wish List a couple of times a week .... I've been there perhaps 3 times in the last 6 years ...
That is appalling, on the face of it, especially when one considers how much I read and love reading - then again, my spending of time and money in brick and mortar bookshops has all but stopped, as most of my reading material (usually in eformat) is bought online. In a weird way, the internet, with fanfic communitites and publishers/bookshops/authors online, has replaced, to a considerable extent (for me) both library and bookshop. If I could no longer use the internet, I'd be back down at the library and spending my days off browsing in bookshops, new and used, with Wish Lists clutched in my hand.
Cheers!
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I agree, it seems like it's easier these days to help yourself, and more kid-friendly at the library. (Some would say too kid friendly. And some who work there would say I guess we're free day care.) How much is your subscription to the city system? Would you say it was an acceptable amount if you got stuff from the library once a week?
We instituted something similar so the neighboring system could borrow and it's $100/year--including all the DVDs you want. So it's about the cost of Netflix. Some customers were fine with it and some were outraged. We saw all our usage going one way into an adjoining county when it was supposed to be reciprocal. Since all the usage was tracked, that county could have paid for its residents' usage.
Eventually something convoluted happened where it now pays for residents' usage but only if they're outside village limits or in a village with no library.
I'm fascinated by the idea that internet totally replaced the library for you. The only areas I can think of where the library has a clear advantage over other venues is nonfiction, mainstream fiction and audio books. I like Netflix better for movies, though it is nice to get some movies free-free-free.
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The subs were (for a time I joined the the main city system and later the nearest other county) were around NZ$180-ish a year in both cases - and well worth it for someone reading as much as I did/do. When I changed jobs, it became too difficult to get to the library as regularly.
I don't read much in the way of mainstrean fiction, I no longer "need" audio books (I was working outdoors for a couple of years and loved being able to listen to books from the library) and although I missed my non-fiction reading before, there are increasing number of non-fiction titles available online, so that is also getting sorted. It may be that living where I do (30km from the city centre isn't far, but the road I live on has private properties on only one side, we "face" a pinus radiata forest, it takes 10 minutes (and the speed limit is 100km for most of the way) to get to the nearest shops by car, so time and access to the library became like another thing I had to "schedule".
I don't have Netflix, the equivalent here is not worth subscribing to (I just popped to their site, the cheapest option is $9.95 for two titles a month, one title at a time. Several people have seen "Shelter" and enjoyed it, so I checked to see if it is available ... nope. Also checked for "Haven" ... nope.).
I (happily) paid more than that for the library services, but would not do it for films on DVD (unless they really did have almost everything I wanted to watch .. and that isn't the case, it seems). As I dropped my satellite tv subscription earlier this year (it was an utter waste - I watched almost nothing and when I did, I would just fall asleep on the sofa!), I only watch films/series I already have on DVD or rental ones - I would watch more if the selection was wider, but have been buying most of these online from overseas (QAF from both US & UK , frex).
I read rather than watch and use the internet for snaffliing fanfic and buying books (usually in eformat). I love libraries and have spent a lot of time in them,but I'm not going to find much m/m to read out here!
Cheers.
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