Howard Boksenbaum was appointed Chief Library Officer for the
State of Rhode Island
in December 2006 and began work at the Office of Library and Information
Services on January 22, 2007. Following are Howard's reflections
on his first year at OLIS.
In 1992 the Rhode Island Department of State Library Services
Newsletter devoted its March-April issue to proposing a Library
of Rhode Island – a
virtual library that would let every library user – avail themselves
of all of the library resources in our state. “. . .the
State [would have] responsibility for the infrastructure for this
virtual library, while individual communities, academic institutions,
schools and other organizations [would be] responsible for tailoring
their local resources and facilities to their local needs and institutional
mission.” Although the world has changed much in the
ensuing years, I believe that concept still pertains to the world
of Rhode Island libraries today. When I was asked to be Rhode
Island’s Chief Library Officer almost one year ago, I was happy
to discover how much progress had been made in the development
of the Library of Rhode Island. Of the much work that is left
to be done, the better part will be concerned with devising creative
responses to the changes in the librarians tools of the trade and
the public’s need for one or another aspect of the astoundingly
diverse menu of library services.
Last January I knew that in accepting the position of Chief Library
Officer I was facing some difficult times. I didn’t expect
to be presiding over the diminution of the state library agency,
however, quite to the extent that has come to pass. The resources
available from both state and federal sources have been in a steep
decline and the Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS)
has had to make some quick and unpleasant twists and turns, leaving
Rhode Island libraries with some critical questions.
- Just what is a library anymore anyway?
In the abstract,
we will only ever have a kaleidoscope of answers to this question,
changing rapidly and repeatedly as the world around us changes. Practically
speaking, though, every library every day has to find the appropriate
present and practical answer. Public libraries, which form
the backbone of library service everywhere, have perhaps, the most
difficult decisions to make as they have no curriculum, no portfolio
of lines of business, to directly support.
As OCLC has recently told us again, in the minds and eyes of our
public, libraries = books. But it can’t and doesn’t
end with that equation. What are books? ‘Books’ are
the myriad of programs that connect people with books, from summer
reading program and book discussion groups to literacy training and
computer labs. ‘Books’ are on paper on CDs and
online. ‘Books’ are mass produced pulps and unique
manuscripts. ‘Books’ are in the drug store, the
supermarket, the bookstore and far off libraries halfway around the
world. ‘Books’ are in French, Spanish, Tagalog and Chinese. ‘Books’ are
published one at a time, in series irregularly over many years, monthly,
weekly. Every library must decide over and over again which
of those ‘books’ are relevant to its community and how
it will approach the rest.
People connect with books alone, in families, in age cohorts, in
neighborhoods, political parties, religious groups, classes. People
connect with books by listening in their cars, reading along on their
mothers’ laps, meeting in their church basements, taking courses
at their schools. Each library must decide over and over again
which of these connections it can facilitate to best effect and how
it will approach the rest.
Each library must, then, have adequate housing for its programs,
collections, and deliberations. Each must have an adequate
supply of the tools including technology, connectivity and skills,
necessary to operation. Each must have an understanding of
its community and an understanding of why it offers that community
some services and not others, where it needs to put its emphasis
and where it must withdraw. Each must have a sense of what
is coming next and how it will have to change in response.
A library is bigger than the web because it includes it, bigger
than its users because they grow there. Unlike a school, a library
is elective, unlike a store, a library belongs to its users, unlike
the world wide web, a library is people, is history, is culture,
is connection. A library is the past and the present and will
be changing again to be the future.
- How is library service changing?
Some very specific
library services are feeling the pinch of the world’s changes and diminishing. Ready
reference has certainly given way to the world wide web even in the least computer-saturated
communities. Current books are more available than ever as bookstores
in brick and mortar, big-box and online proliferate. Netflix, BookSwim
and Amazon deliver books and media right to your address.
On the other hand, there are fewer safe welcoming third places
in most communities where the sense and empowerment of community,
where civic engagement, can thrive. Although ready reference
is omnipresent, opportunities for deeper examination of topics are
rare outside the library. Although current popular books are
overwhelmingly in every mall, less well sold, more local and older
works are largely unavailable outside the library and its ILL network. Except
for the most specialized, libraries may now, perhaps, spend less
time and effort being the “information place” and focus
on its role as the “opportunity place”, making room for
those experiences that only a library can embody. Literacy
learning, ESL, programs for kids and families and communities. What
other institution can facilitate a connection to people past present
distant and near, who else can be the intellectual help desk for
the Internet?
- What then is OLIS’s role in library service?
OLIS is the local library agent of the federal government and the
local library agency of the state government. At minimum, we
must provide for those library infrastructures, supports and services
most appropriately maintained at a statewide scale. Presently
those comprise five primary arenas, services to libraries, services
to the public, continuing education (CE), R&D and grants.
LORI comprises OLIS’ services to people through their libraries. OLIS
provides administration for LORI. LORI in turn manages the
interlibrary delivery, ILL clearinghouse, and, perhaps most important,
keeps open and active the communications routes between and among
librarians and libraries statewide. Administration certifies
LORI membership and public library standards ensuring that libraries
sharing resources are capable of playing their part in the network.
It also maintains interinstitutional agreements that facilitate ILL,
NELINET consortial sponsor statewide membership (First Search, NELINET
CE programs, software sandbox, etc.) WebJunction and the OLIS
website that ties it all together.
Services to the public include the Talking Books Plus statewide
library for people with disabilities and the OLIS library serving
librarians and state agency employees with a professional collection.
CE is OLIS’ active professional development continuing education
program aimed at keeping libraries and librarians up to date on the
cutting edge of technology and library management and aware of developments
in best practices and opportunities for collaboration.
Research and development is the collection, analysis and presentation
of data about libraries in support of library decisionmaking. See
the new ROI calculator.
OLIS distributes over $7.5 million in grants to municipalities
for public and state institution library services, to Providence
for the Statewide Reference Resource Center, to literacy programs
and to network building efforts such as RILINK every year. OLIS
also administers nearly $3 million in reimbursement for library
construction and renovation annually.
This is not quite enough to build the library future that Rhode
Islanders deserve. It is not enough to continue building LORI
into a single catalog with a transparent ILL system and effective
delivery not only to the library but to home or office as well. It
is not enough to build a user friendly collection of online resources
users can get to from home or school as well as from the library. It
is not enough to ensure that every Rhode Islander has a route to
his or her lifelong learning destiny, a well-staffed place to pursue
it and the connectivity to followup online.
- Who is interested in OLIS and library services? Rhode
Island is fortunate to have a rich and well organized library constituency
continually striving to find the ways and means to improve library services. OLIS
will continue to participate as much as possible in their efforts, and to provide
the leadership that will make the library message coherent statewide. The
Library Board of Rhode Island has been instrumental in keeping OLIS alive and
functioning. The LibFutures group continues to look ahead trying to see
around the corner to the next challenge. The Karla Harry Commission is
in place to make the legislature aware of the library needs of Rhode Islanders. RILA,
RIEMA, SLA and COLA bring librarians and library supporters together to address
professional concerns. The URI GSLIS is building the next generation
of librarians to carry on. Working together these resources make
community and will make a big difference in the state’s library future
irrespective of the state’s financial woes.
As important as all of those is the staff at OLIS, who, few as
they are, continue to create and maintain a library environment in
which excellent service is the norm.
So, for the most part my first year as Chief Library Officer has
found OLIS able to keep up the state’s end of the LORI bargain
and continue to provide statewide scale public services and the grants
that support public library services and facilities. The state’s
current fiscal crisis has required that OLIS begin to look critically
at its priorities. Some activities have already been curtailed
or eliminated; e.g., library services to other state agencies, support
for Summer Reading Program performances, media services to other
state agencies and to libraries. Some of our services on the
other hand must remain sacrosanct:
- LORI multitype library networking -- certification of members,
interlibrary delivery and interlibrary loan support, further development
of a statewide catalog
- Public Services at statewide scale: Talking Book Plus, the
regional library for the blind and physically handicapped, statewide
database licenses
- Public library standards certification, data collection grants-in-aid,
construction and renovation reimbursement program
- Library 2.0 leadership including continuing education efforts
and technology trials via the OLIS website, WebJunction, etc.
- Statewide
program support, such as state membership in the Collaborative
Summer Reading Program, L-TV and grant development efforts such
as Connecting to Collections.
- Other services such as support for programming at individual libraries
will receive more or less support accordingly as OLIS resources are
available.
OLIS will be focusing, then, on ways to bring the library community
together to maintain and improve the statewide library infrastructure,
maintain and expand services at statewide scale, lead the way to
Library 2.0 and assist individual libraries in “. . .
tailoring their local services and facilities to their local needs.
. . .” I am looking forward to a second year that, despite
a shortfall in people and money at OLIS, nevertheless takes Rhode
Island a step farther in the direction of the LORI ideal.
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