|
|
|
Uticaod
Looking for a good read? The book lovers group from Dunham Public Library in Whitesboro might have a suggestion.
How Effective is Your Public Library?
email print
About this blog
By Judy Jerome
Judy has been in the information business all her life. She began her professional career at Dunham Public Library in the '70s and -- after a decade away living in England -- eventually came full circle, retiring at the end of June 2013 as the ...
X
Carpe Librum (Seize the Book)
Judy has been in the information business all her life. She began her professional career at Dunham Public Library in the '70s and -- after a decade away living in England -- eventually came full circle, retiring at the end of June 2013 as the library's director. She is an avid reader and likes nothing better than to discuss good books with others.
Recent Posts
Dec. 30, 2014 6:20 p.m.
Dec. 3, 2014 6:20 p.m.
Nov. 12, 2014 12:01 a.m.
Nov. 6, 2014 6:25 p.m.
Oct. 30, 2014 12:01 a.m.
Nov. 19, 2013 12:01 a.m.

Knowing that I have been in the library business all of my life, many people have asked me “What makes a really good public library.” Excellent
www.imcpl.org" zc_id="8991533765400989205" zc_size="full" zc_type="photo">
question. In this and subsequent blog posts, I will attempt to provide readers with some guidelines for assessing the effectiveness of their local public libraries.
A public library becomes a public library when it is granted a charter by the New York State Department of Education. The main purpose of that public library is to provide services for the community which it is chartered to serve. Therefore, the single most defining question a patron can ask of both a library’s governing board and administration is:
  1. How do you evaluate the needs of your local community? The answer which you receive should be solid explanations of the way community needs are assessed, measured and implemented. Feel free to ask to see the data which supports this response and the strategic plan which drives the assessment.
    The following questions provide additional insight into your library’s effectiveness.
    1. How helpful and welcoming are the staff? Library staff at all levels, but especially professional librarians, are imbued with a doctrine of public service to the community. Service is paramount and responses to the questions of library patrons should be professional, factual and non-discriminatory. Support staff should be accommodating, straightforward and polite. All staff should be well-trained.
      1. What is the materials budget and how are library materials selected? This relates to question number 1. Perhaps the main function of libraries is still the provision of resources and materials i.e. books, CDs, databases etc. How much money is allocated to the purchase of these books and other materials is a primary indicator of the worth of a public library. A corollary to that question is how those materials are selected? What is the internal process by which materials are reviewed and purchased? How does this process relate to the assessment of community needs? For instance, if the answer is: “We purchase those materials which are boxed and selected by the Literary Guild or the Jr. Literary Guild”, you have a right to register a complaint. Appropriate book selection is not happening at the community level. It has been effectively outsourced to a commercial vendor.
        Please stay tuned for more discussion on this topic. With budget season approaching and tax payers being asked to front more and more money for public services of all kinds, including libraries, everyone has a right to ask how their tax money is being spent. To be continued.

        Recent Posts

          latest blogs

          • Community
          • National


          Events Calendar
http://www.uticaod.com/article/20131119/BLOGS/311199902/1701
www.uticaod.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2015-40
89629
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:52AXTWGU2TESEC6G44KV6VOVN7NGORWO
<urn:uuid:928a33dd-422c-41f7-af67-3bbb8584329e>
2015-10-05T17:19:06Z
54.86.60.70
sha1:XWWDZOLAW5NEQSLT5VBEZSVXQY4Z47XU
<urn:uuid:798ef6f7-1aaa-480f-be0d-7969e9644fd2>
http://www.uticaod.com/article/20131119/BLOGS/311199902/1701
response
<urn:uuid:5798f63c-4b9d-44d5-b4c4-8ea30b239489>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2015-40
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for September 2015
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf