St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
November 17, 2012 Saturday
THIRD EDITION
Libraries are embracing 21st-century resources
By Jane Henderson [email protected] 314-340-8107
The photo of children listening to stories is clearly dated.
Old-fashioned clothing is the giveaway.
Although taken in 1912 at the St. Louis Public Library, the activity
itself – children’s storytime – has never gone out of style.
“Storytimes are as busy as ever, and we still do them well,” says
Waller McGuire, who has hung the 100-year-old photo outside his office
as executive director.
In the 21st century, however, stories might be read from iPads, which
hold dozens of books. Truck drivers download audio books to take on
the road, and lawyers in Singapore email a Midwest librarian for
information on trademarks.
“We’re like retail stores, banks, media,” McGuire says, “trying to
understand how we can best serve people using new technology.”
Curiously, however, studies show that residents are often unaware of
the vast updates, and challenges, as libraries grapple with
21st-century changes.
As the city’s historic Central Library finishes a $70 million
renovation, celebrating with a fancy party this weekend, the St. Louis
County Library begins planning its own construction projects.
County voters this month approved a tax rate increase, signaling
confidence in the future of their system’s 20 buildings. It will be a
“renaissance for libraries in the St. Louis region,” says Charles
Pace, the county library director.
Both directors say updated facilities are essential – but they are not
the only changes taking place in these public institutions.
BEYOND BOOKS
“I still get people who are surprised we have DVDs,” Pace says.
Not only do 21st-century public libraries have free movies, they also may:
– Help people start small businesses.
– Offer phone apps to download books from home.
– Lend out e-readers or show patrons how to use various devices.
– Offer free online courses or access to expensive genealogy databases.
In addition, even though much conventional wisdom brays that children
don’t read, evidence shows that library usage among teens and young
adults is strong.
A study released last month showed that readers under age 30 are more
likely to use public libraries. Sixty percent of those readers –
compared with 49 percent of people over 64 – said they visited the
public library at least once in the year before the survey, according
to a Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.
Overall, library users told Pew that they want it all: e-books and
print books, plus audiobooks, movies, magazines, newspapers, computers
and wireless service.
The Brentwood Public Library recently bought Kindle e-readers, which
patrons may take home (they have tracking devices inside so they don’t
disappear). Some of the Kindles come pre-loaded with several books in
a particular genre, such as mysteries or romances.
When the city’s Central Library reopens Dec. 9, it will have added
about 50 iPads, which it plans to circulate. Phone apps are being
developed to help patrons navigate the building.
Today’s public library is trying to be “nimble and stay in touch with
the community,” the county library’s Pace says.
In an email a week after voters approved the county tax increase, Pace
said the revenue is important not only to make repairs, but to
implement the “latest advances in the library industry.”
Although no final decisions have been made, Pace says the county
library’s future may include a “digital content creation lab,
small-business incubator space, (and) Makerspaces, which incorporate
3-D printing and other new technologies.”
The library is responding, as he says, to a world that has gone from
“information scarcity to information abundance,” and yet its
community-driven mission isn’t always that different from the one of
libraries a century ago.
THE CARNEGIE LEGACY
Some of the first public libraries had not only books, but billiard
rooms and basketball courts.
The Carnegie Library of Homestead in Pennsylvania still rents out a
heated indoor pool and holds concerts in its music hall.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, steel baron Andrew Carnegie
gave millions of dollars to help create thousands of public libraries.
Among his gifts was $1 million to help build a new St. Louis Public
Library and six branches. Central Library, a beautiful building
designed by architect Cass Gilbert, opened in January 1912.
Tonight, the library’s sold-out fundraising gala celebrates the
building’s centennial and features an honorary chairman: Vartan
Gregorian, current president of the Carnegie Corp. of New York and
past president of the New York Public Library (and father of
Post-Dispatch sports reporter Vahe Gregorian).
Gregorian, who will talk at the black-tie party about the future of
libraries, says he is coming to celebrate not only Carnegie’s legacy,
but St. Louis’ library as a symbol of the city’s “durability and
memory.”
In a recent telephone conversation from his home in New York, he
emphasized the grand, historical mission of America’s free public
libraries as a “symbol of lifelong learning” and a place providing
every person with privacy and access to information.
“They are the most democratic institutions,” he says.
Gregorian, born in Iran of Armenian heritage, recalls that when he
became president of the New York Public Library, it had thousands of
phone books from different countries. Rather than seeing these as
crumbling relics, he says some, such as a 1939 Warsaw directory, are
historic or legal documents.
“Libraries are not just about books,” Gregorian said. “They are about
the memory of a society.”
Gregorian, an expert at talking up the value of libraries, raised
hundreds of millions of dollars while head of the New York library,
which had been virtually bankrupt.
His fear is only that Americans today are more interested in
entertainment than learning.
He has an e-reader, which is used mostly by his wife. A self-described
“reading junkie,” he is always curious. But it doesn’t matter to him
whether people borrow print books or e-books: “The main thing is that
people read.”
USAGE GROWS
At the St. Louis County Library, usage has grown. Its 2011 report
shows total visits to all locations at 5.7 million, with more than
12.7 million items circulated.
E-media circulation has almost doubled, and e-book growth is a goal,
and a concern, for libraries across the country because some
publishers will not sell new e-books to libraries. In addition, e-book
versions sometimes cost libraries far more than a print book. (The
American Library Association continues to ask publishers for better
agreements.)
The county library added Wi-Fi to all of its libraries only six years
ago. Now it offers online classes to help patrons learn computer
programs such as Excel or Photoshop. This year, the library also
collaborated with the University of Missouri Extension office for
meetings to support those running a small businesses.
Even though 30 percent of the county library’s circulation is actually
people borrowing DVDs, library card holders also can go to the library
for free access to Ancestry.com, a database that millions of people
buy for genealogy research. Researchers can find rare genealogy
records held at the county headquarters, which has more than 18,000
family histories.
When Central Library reopens, it will include far more powerful
wireless service, power outlets on tables, a cafe, an auditorium and
more public space.
Eventually, the library may even rent out some of its space, although
don’t expect to book it for a wedding, like Carrie Bradshaw does the
New York library in Hollywood’s “Sex and the City.”
McGuire says that for at least the first six months, events there will
be only library events. He is interested in making renovated spaces
available for rent like those at the St. Louis Art Museum, but they
likely will be for organizations and corporations, not personal
parties.
Although the county and city systems’ renovations are the most visible
in the area, many other library systems continue to change and grow.
Maggie Preiss has been with the St. Charles City-County Library since
1973. “We’ve been building or expanding every other year for 35
years,” she says.
Like the other libraries, St. Charles’ system aims to be both a place
for people to meet and gather, and also to use remotely. The new
Spencer Road branch in St. Peters has about 17 meeting spaces – which
patrons go online to reserve.
Presiss says the biggest challenge is “being ready for whatever is
coming around the corner.”
The biggest surprise? “People still see the library as a place for books.”
From: Baghdasarian