COVID Reflections. Why, more than ever, it’s important to ‘Ask a Librarian’.
It wasn’t my plan to write about COVID this week, but having just watched the Libraries Change Lives: Libraries in COVID-19 Showcase from Victoria (https://librarieschangelives.org.au/libraries-in-covid-19/), and recently read the NSW Public Libraries - the COVID-19 Response report (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/public-library-services/covid-19-survey) I’ve been reflecting on what Australian public libraries have done during COVID-19 shutdowns. And let’s face it, there are some great stories (which include among many others):
pop-up home delivery services to people of all ages who were desperate for reading material
phone and online help for people (many of them older Australians) who were trying to download an ebook for the first time
staff, authors and featured guests filing online Story Time sessions from their own homes and posting them on social media and library websites so that children and families across the country can listen, sing, dance and be joyful
a 50% increase in downloads of ebooks, emagazines and eaudiobooks
tens of thousands of phone calls to library members to help them overcome the gripping sense of social isolation
online English Conversation Classes
assistance for people at the Victorian NSW border to obtain travel permits
job support for newly unemployed people accessing online government services, searching for work and writing resumes
lending access to sewing machines so people can make themselves a mask.
But to be honest, are people who work in public libraries really surprised at the creativity, commitment and compassion for community that has been demonstrated in the past six months? I’m not. It’s exactly what I would have expected.
The bigger question for me is not WHAT have libraries done during COVID, but WHY have they been so successful? And it was comments from SLV CEO Kate Torney in the Showcase that caught my attention when she spoke about the agility of libraries and their capacity to develop bespoke solutions. For one of the most impressive features of the shutdowns was how quickly libraries were able to adapt their service offering. Within days of the doors being closed home deliveries were happening and Story Time activities were posted online. And the innovation just kept coming.
I know that library collections are an unrivalled resource, and library staff are always telling me that they are the special ingredient that makes a library ‘great’. But there is something else here. Very few organisations have the depth and breadth of knowledge of their local community that public libraries have.
No other local, State or Commonwealth government service has the volume and spread of users that walk through a library every day. More than 300,000 people visit an Australian public library every day (https://www.nsla.org.au/news/2018-19-australian-public-libraries-statistics). And this includes every imaginable type of person by age, gender, socio-economic status, literacy level, cultural background, family structure and shoe size. Not schools, not Council Customer Service desks, not neighbourhood houses, not Centrelink. Maybe you get that mix of people in a supermarket or a doctor’s clinic, but those places and the interactions that occur are very transactional and functional. Maybe you’d find that mix in parks and playgrounds and ovals, but much of that activity is done alone or within a family/friend group. Cinemas? Separated and dark.
When that cross-section of the community goes to their library there is someone there to help them, to look out for them, to chat with them and to make a personal connection. As a result, the staff in a library collectively know more about their community – its circumstances and particular needs – than just about any other organisation. So when COVID restrictions kicked in public libraries were able to respond very quickly because they ALREADY KNEW what different groups within the community would be looking for. Some wanted a book (or forty). Some wanted to be entertained and engaged. Some wanted tech support. Some wanted to belong. And some wanted, no, needed a friendly voice on the end of the phone.
National and state public library guidelines make a point of stressing the importance of libraries engaging their communities in service planning. It’s good practice, but it’s also an attribute that has critical application in times like these.
The most successful health, economic and community responses to COVID, in towns and cities in Australia and around the world, have been ones which took a widely agreed framework and applied it with local knowledge, understanding and sensitivity. Which is exactly the approach that libraries have demonstrated from the beginning. Public libraries already operate collaboratively – they talk to one another and openly share ideas and resources. And librarians know their communities like no-one else. Which is why they are widely trusted and why there have been thousands of cards and letters and comments and posts from library users who are thankful that they have a public library.
Given this local knowledge and understanding, I can’t help but wonder if we (all around the world) might have worked our way through this minefield with greater clarity, speed and efficiency if our civic leaders had taken a moment to ‘Ask a Librarian’.
Note: And can I give a special call out to library managers and staff whose Councils chose to stand them down during the shutdowns. This was ignorant short-sighted action that deprived you of the opportunity to demonstrate your creativity and resilience, and more importantly deprived your community of much-needed resources and support.