Interesting Presentation on Physical Library Spaces

http://grimmandparker.com/links/PDF/The%20Library%20of%20the%20Future%20VEFP%20G+P%20website%20version.pdf

Results and quotes from a survey about the future role of libraries and the likely future needs for library spaces. Not too long, and interesting reading.

Wonderland: The Library Experience for Book Lovers

Do you remember reading Roald Dahl's Matilda? (if not, go read it now. Dahl is still very good reading for adults.) Remember her library experience? For book lovers, that story still rings very true - the world of wonders just waiting in books. It's the same reason we love The Never-ending Story movie, and we identify with Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Books are magical for us, and libraries are wonderlands.

I've posted before about the clash between this nostalgic affection and the image of the "modern library." But I've come to realize that while our wonderland libraries do clash with the library-as-consulting-agency model, they are delightfully consistent with another new idea of libraries: the library-as-destination.

Library-as-destination is really a beguiling vision. Libraries from this vision are community centers, coffeehouses, hubs of literature and conversation. We'll have concerts and storytimes and philosophy discussion groups and many, many book clubs. One of the high points of this vision is that we don't have to give up our love of books! Literature will be a focal point of our passionate community centers. Our teen areas will be cool to hang out in, and our children's areas - well, they will be wonderlands! Bright, magical spaces with toys and climbing furniture and walls of bright, colorful books.

The best thing abut this vision? It's appealing to our most passionate users, our "core" group - book lovers. Book lovers would flock to this library. And it makes more sense, really, to build a library that appeals to the people who already love us, rather than trying to build libraries that will draw in people who are currently indifferent.

So what's in the way? Mainly conflicting visions. A library cannot brand itself as both a cool modern library of expertise and professionalism and as passionate literary hub. We have to pick one. And sadly, there are practical concerns at work here. Our governing body (also our source of funding) is the county government, and they are eager to prioritize economic development - which means that the consulting-library is easier to sell than the wonderland-library. We would need an amazing amount of community support to work towards a different vision. And I think we could get it- it's just a matter of selling the dream.

What I'm reading: Maggie Stiefvater

It's been a while since I've been this excited by finding a new author. Maggie Stiefvater writes Young Adult fiction. I've read two of her books in the past month, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

The Scorpio Races
Engaging, with appealing characters and the perfect level of magic. It's hard to suffuse a story with magic but keep the world believable, but this book manages it deftly.

The Raven Boys
I liked The Scorpio Races; I was utterly enchanted by The Raven Boys. For one thing, it's set in Virginia but rich with old-world magic. And the magic has that undefined and undefinable quality of being "right" - at least for me, this magic is plausible, believable, and real. "Yes," I think. "If magic was real, this is how it would manifest."

Character-wise, The Raven Boys was maybe weaker than Scorpio Races. I would love to hear a male opinion on this subject, but I felt like the expressions of maleness in The Raven Boys were a bit off - it rang like a woman writing about men, which of course it is.

But the appeal of the characters, the charm of the magic and the world, overcame all my reluctances. The Raven Boys - read it! Be charmed!

Portfolio Blog!

After years of shyness, procrastination and sloth, my design portfolio website is finally up and running! Yes, it's still under construction - but I have a web presence!

Find me at katedenwiddie.wordpress.com.

What I'm reading: "Under Heaven" by Guy Gavriel Kay

I'm still trying to decide if each of Kay's books focuses on a single theme, but this one definitely does: Under Heaven is all about power. Wealth, influence, physical strength, knowledge, family connections - all these and more run through Under Heaven, exploring how individual lives and the fate of nations are shaped by the power that people have over each other, and the ways they choose to use that power.

Kay's worldbuilding, as usual, is excellent - there's enough scenery to catch the imagination, without drowning you in detail, or telling the reader things just to prove that the author knows them. Characters are well-drawn, with a believable shared worldview, and extremely human. They might be more or less sympathetic, but they mainly avoid being caricatures.

On the topic of characters, however - there are just too many, and some of them are too random. I can see why you might want to narrate a scene from the point of view of the guy on top of the wall. I guess. But do I really need his backstory? In my opinion, I do not. In my opinion, it interferes with the story. Also because of the character-jumping, I had some trouble keeping track of who-was-supposed-to-know-what.

Overall, I enjoyed Under Heaven, but I didn't respond to it whole-heartedly. Perhaps that's because I don't care enough about the subtleties of power, or perhaps it's because this is one of the less fantastical of Kay's books (I like when there's lots of magic in my stories.) In any case: I cared what happened, but...not as much as I often do, with Kay's work.

I'm currently debating whether to go back and re-read a bunch of Kay's other work, to look for these recurring themes. It came to me, very clearly, that Tigana is about loyalty, and that I REALLY responded to that book. Off the top of my head, I would say that Fionavar Tapestry is about identity, the Sarantine Mosaic is about legacy and creation (what we leave behind us), and that Lions of Al-Rassan is probably about courage. Thoughts?

Pantone Color of the Year 2013

...Emerald!

Pantone.com

This is a trend prediction for next year, not an analysis of last year. We'll see how it goes - I thought their prediction for 2012, a reddish-orange, fell flat, while the prediction for 2011, a bright pink, was spot-on.

I'm always happy when green is involved!

Relevance

Recently, I discussed the issue of relevance with a group of librarians at our monthly "think tank" meeting. As we discussed the issue, it reinforced my personal opinion: that yes, we can be relevant, but we have to make some decisions about what makes us relevant - and then commit to those projects.

It seems to me that whenever someone says that libraries are becoming less important, someone from ALA stands up and shouts "We are so!", and then begins to list every reason they can think of for the relevance of libraries: we are job search support, computers and Internet for the low-income, we are more reliable than search engines, we are early literacy educators, financial literacy educators, a social hub, a meeting space, a haven for seniors, a place to learn ESL, educational support for schoolchildren, and on and on.

I fear that we're hurting ourselves with this lack of a coherent, cohesive message. In this economy, we are  in a position of needing to justify our continued existence and use of funds - not by shouting "How dare you?!" when someone questions that allocation, but by offering powerful, convincing reasons why donations and tax dollars given to the library are well-spent. Small projects and half-baked initiatives are not going to be convincing, not in the way we need them to be. 

I think we are going to need to narrow our focus. We might end up needing to spend less money and time on Financial Literacy in order to do a FANTASTIC job on early literacy. Because doing a fantastic job is the only way to win support, both from our users and from financial decision-makers.

Obviously, each library/library system will make different decisions about their raison d'être, leaving the ALA to give the same old list. But if we can choose and succeed at out own reasons for relevance, we won't need the ALA to justify our existence. We'll be demonstrating our value every day.