First of all I do not like the term "should have",
but being a "classical" old fogey (who still laments
the fact that the card catalogue died, that old musty smell
of dust and olden days and wisdom, when you had to remember
a lot of stuff,) I do think that a modern public library
should have:
- Much of the current fiction from the last five-ten years:
persuade customers for a longer wait of the new titles
the library is not a book store and due to current economic
restraint we cannot buy that many copies of a book, because
once the interest dies down, the library has a lot of duds
on its shelves and that does not bode well for seriousness.
- Certainly most of the classic novels and short stories
including many of the world classics from prior centuries
- a variety of good translations of foreign modern and
most of the classical literature (including plays and poetry)
- many experimental novels and short stories (for the eclectic
borrower) That means a deep selection should be desired
- a broad variety of the current non-fiction and a sparingly
choice of dvds,supplementing the collections, but not take over
the books, because even though you can see a feature on Peru,
the person who is looking for a guidebook is not going to have
any use for the dvd, except as a background material.
Computer books should not be over 5 years old, some not even over three.
The classical texts of the economy and then in today's world
newer solutions the current economic mess. The same goes for
the political books.
The music on various media, now cd's, should be held to the same criteria
as the written material. However, in the opera field, it is brilliant
to have all dvds of most known operas.
Audiobooks in multiple media, again should be held to the same criteria
as the written books, but maybe only the newer texts.
Selectors should be people who works not only as librarians, but
come in contact with the real folks. Of course, each branch
should also have some special selectors, because each branch
in any library system is different due to the catering of a different
population of that branch, and, therefore, you can utilize the special
knowledge that the branch people have. Do not assume that one branch's needs
is similar to another. That way the system can actually have more titles,
just not as many copies.
Last, but not least: a public library cannot aspire to have everything,
none are like the Library of Congress. The only item one can hope for with
the current economic restraints is that with the reduced budgets smart choices
can be made without giving up the quality. After all, a public library
should still, first and foremost, educate, inspire, inform, and become
a community center where people can gather and learn and be enlighted.
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2 comments:
At this point what you ask is but a dream.:)
After years of DVD frenzy here in the branch, I've come to accept that this is part of our life. Checkout numbers are the lifeblood of our funding, DVDs help a lot. I no longer watch TV, only DVDs from the library. And not Balto Co, with 2 day checkout and fees!
Perhaps we could have a branch that specializes in Classics. If there can be a college in the state of Maryland that specializes in the study of the classics, the least we can do is provide them.
Computer books are considered obsolete by the time they're published, that world moves so fast. Two years maybe on our shelves...?
I had a conversation with someone who felt our collection catered more to the "snooty" than Balto Co. I never found what I was looking for there. Here is more my style, I'm not a best-seller kind of reader, I'm a non-fiction reader (which I recently found out isn't considered in numbers of readers--apparantly I'm supposed to be illiterate, another argument entirely)
Good to read your dream
I know we get people in for our DVD collection, but as an experiment, then we should have only a DVD library, or is that too far out? Your comment as to snootyness I can tell you that a certain part of the population cannot find their books here, and those books are both fiction and non-fiction, and granted they are based on reading lists from the Evergreen society, but still.
Thanks for your comment keep them coming - I for one thing think a debate is healthy. Also, you always tell me that our non-fiction readership in terms of numbers beat the fiction numbers every time, well, maybe it would be fun to break those numbers down by sex. I bet you that men read non-fiction doubly than do women!!
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