Mummy Mummy. It was too much fun!
A young girl’s squeal of delight brightens up an overcast morning. She has found the final soccer ball in a Treasure Hunt in the children’s section of the library (8 cut-out images of sporting equipment pasted on the shelves and walls – just ask the Librarian for a copy and off you go). Her parents smile to one another as they all sit down to read a book together.
Two days earlier Linda sat in the same library and told us what the library meant to her. “It’s my lifeline.” When you’re a single woman in her 50s in a regional town there aren’t that many places you can go to be around other people, to spend a few hours in a long lonely day. Sometimes she goes to the club and plays the pokies. She prefers to come to the library and read a magazine, attend a Book Club or author talk, watch the monthly movies, just be. “It uplifts you. The staff know your name. I’d rather be here than sitting home alone.”
Connor’s Mum wished the library could host a gathering of young people playing a tabletop and digital collectable card game. It used to happen at a games shop on a Saturday morning but the shop closed down. The players are still keen, the guy who ran the game is still keen, the shop just didn’t work out.
Kate travels into town once a week. “The library can take your mind all around the world. You can always keep learning if you have a library.” She likes the warm welcoming atmosphere at the library. She thinks the staff “bristle intelligence out of their eyeballs.” It’s a phrase I’ve never heard before and may never hear again, but it’s said with the deepest respect and admiration. Her parting words are more straight to the point. “The computers are shit. And don’t put books on the bottom shelf.”
We often say that we have the best job in the world. We get paid to hang out in libraries – to listen, to watch, to reflect, to imagine. And then to turn all we find into meaningful advice to improve the way a library can support, nurture and empower its community. The thing is (and I know this because I’ve been in the consulting business for nearly 30 years), much of what we tell our clients they could figure out for themselves if they just made the time to do what we do.* But they seldom do that, tending to muddle on and occasionally calling on people like us to give them some informed and critical guidance.
I believe this is a massive missed opportunity. Not for me the consultant, but for the wonderful librarians who deliver the service. A great form of professional development for library staff is to be tasked with going to another library – in their own network or at a neighbouring LGA – and to observe what’s going on.
Who is in the library? Who is not in the library?
What’s the vibe? How does it feel to be in this place?
Is it light and welcoming? Colourful or drab?
How is it laid out? Do all the pieces connect? Can you see the different zones, including the informal ones created by the users?
Are the collections accessible? Are they in good condition? Can you navigate them?
What programs are offered to different community cohorts? How are they delivered?
How good is the wifi?
How do the staff engage with the customers? And the customers with one another?
… and so on …
And what can I learn from this to take back to where I work?
Sometimes this process generates ideas. Sometimes it reinforces what is already being done. But approached in the right manner, with an open and enquiring mind, it is never a waste of time. Inspiration. Stimulation. Challenge. Perspective. Life is full of learning opportunities if you are prepared to take the time to grasp them.
So invariably one of the recommendations that comes out of our work is to suggest that library managers and staff be given time to go and see other libraries. Not any particular libraries, just other libraries. For no single library is better at everything than any other and none is the worst at everything. And maybe the most instructive ones for staff to visit are those that serve similar communities as any lessons learned are likely to be applicable to their context.
Every library has a story to tell if you just look for it, just as every Linda, Connor and Kate have a story to tell. If you stop and listen to those stories they can fill you with hope. Because libraries really are too much fun!
* I am not saying that consultants don’t add value. I’d like to think that good consultants bring a wealth of experience and observations to the table, a large list of examples that are relevant to a given context, a deep awareness of industry trends, a preparedness to ask the hard questions and a capacity to articulate a way forward in simple compelling language. But much of the content knowledge … that’s already there.