The Library: A Place to Gather

 

Bookshelves contain knowledge, but the building is a space for the community to learn from itself

By Baharak Yousefi, Vancouver Sun September 13, 2012

Libraries, such as the new Surrey Library, 'need to remain responsive to our supporters' says Baharak Yousefi.

Photograph by: Ian Smith, PNG , Vancouver Sun

I didn't grow up with books. My family didn't go to libraries. In fact, I don't come with any of the typical librarian origin stories of a childhood spent falling in love with the written word. The first library I ever visited was my school library in the eighth grade, the year my family immigrated to Canada. I went in and never left. I didn't care what they had on the shelves; I looked at every-thing. I looked because I couldn't yet read in English. A year later, I read.

Over the next few years, I made up for lost time: school libraries, public libraries, and the great big university library on top of the mountain. They held me while I grew up. They taught me history, geography, psychology, literature, politics, feminist theory, and other subjects in between. And all the while, they held me. I sat in large rooms with others and read by myself. And it is only now, years later, that I am beginning to understand the significance of public space, of "the commons," and of social consumption.

Libraries collect, preserve, and pro-vide access to knowledge and information, and it does not much matter if the shelves are real or virtual. It is by consuming books, films, music, and art that we learn to adopt a critical stance and begin to imagine a world that is different than what we know. But the most extraordinary thing about libraries, their raison d'être, goes beyond their role as collectors and access providers.

Libraries have been and must remain places where ordinary people can become aware of themselves as agents of change, and most significantly, collective agents of social change. If, as citizens, we take our role as change-makers seriously, then we must read, but also gather, listen, and do. Library shelves - whether physical or virtual - contain only a fraction of the knowledge we need to change the world.

Let us, for a moment, embrace a kind of techno-utopianism. Let us put aside the realities of class and inequitable access to technology and assume that, in the future, all British Columbians will be able to access digital copies of published books from the comfort of their homes. Even if this scenario were true, the assumption that all the knowledge that matters is written down, published, and accessible is false.

Communities are repositories of a different kind of knowledge. If libraries understand their role as stewards of this, a knowledge that has been historically disadvantaged and under-privileged, then their role in the world of ebooks and free Internet becomes abundantly clear. In an era of greater access to conventional knowledge, libraries must facilitate community engagement by providing citizens access to each other and to local communal knowledge, and seek ways to provide space and opportunities for future creation and capture of this knowledge.

A year ago, the Vancouver Foundation asked: "what is the issue of greatest concern in Metro Vancouver?" Vancouverites reported being most concerned about social isolation and disconnection. They found that "certain groups of people are struggling more than others to feel connected and engaged" and concluded that "ignoring their needs will cost our community." The Vancouver Foundation also reported an interesting statistic about library visits: 83 per cent of respondents reported visiting a local library, community, or recreation centre.

Many library users recognize libraries as one of the few remaining indoor public spaces where they can gather without having to buy something in order to stay. Time and again, in per-son and in the media, I've seen library users and citizen groups rally for their libraries.

"We love and need our libraries," they say. The generosity and goodwill is energizing.

Libraries need to remain responsive to our supporters and users who are coming through our doors, but we must also do better by those who don't see themselves reflected in our current services. Libraries must listen and better understand the needs of our communities. We must expand our role as conveners and facilitators of dialogue, joy, and social change. Our users may be coming to libraries asking for ebooks, but they are also coming to feel supported and connected, to be heard, to learn, to understand ... to be held.

Baharak Yousefi is head of the Fraser Library at SFU's Surrey Campus.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/library+place+gather/7235435/story.html#ixzz26RassauA

Jharkhand State library: A boon to students preparing for competitive exam

RANCHI: The state library has proved to be a boon to students who are preparing for competitive examinations.

More than 500 such students can be seen in the library anytime of the day. The library has had many students clearing various competitive examinations without tuition and good reading materials needed for these examinations.

Kailash Kumar, a student, said, "My brother used to come to this library regularly and study. Currently, he holds a good post in a bank. Now I have started coming here to study as I am also preparing for competitive examinations." Kailash said the advantage of studying in the library is that his friends, who also visit the library, help him clear any doubts that he may have and vice-versa. "There is absolutely no need for extra tuition," he said.

The main reason behind students going to the library to study is the peaceful and study-friendly environment it offers. "When I see people around me studying it motivates me. I have even formed my own study group. We discuss whatever problem we may have in studies," said Mohit who is preparing for the UPSC civil services examinations.

Students also prefer the state library as it is cheaper than any other library in the city. Manoj, who a member of the library, said, "I have to pay only Rs 25 annually and Rs 50 as security money in return for good environment where I can study for hours together without being disturbed. It is affordable for people like me who are not financially strong."

Although the library offers a good environment, the lack of updated and properly maintained books is a problem. "Many times I can't find the book I need as there is no catalogue available in the library. Another problem which we face here is that the library do not have new books."

Amarnath Jha, the librarian in-charge, said: "The lack of adequate number of staff is the biggest problem in arranging the books. Moreover, as there is no catalogue available in the library, managing the books has become difficult."

As many books are unavailable in the library, many students usually bring their own reading materials. As for keeping themselves updated with current affairs they get the daily newspapers and monthly magazines in the library itself.

Sanjeev Kumar, a member, said, "We get almost a dozen newspapers and almost three dozen latest magazines to prepare for the examination. Many people I know have cleared several competitive examinations by studying the materials available here."

Read More News at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/State-library-A-boon-to-students-preparing-for-competitive-exams/articleshow/16231696.cms

Ten Reasons to Love the Library

Whether it’s here in New Delhi or somewhere else entirely, for National Libraries Day or all year round, here are 10 great reasons why using the public library service is a really good idea:

1. Because it gives a huge boost to your community

Libraries are fantastic community facilities – in a world where public space is shrinking almost daily. To visit the library you don’t need to take out an expensive subscription or spend money in order to be welcome. And you’ll meet people from all walks of life there too. Libraries have something to offer no matter what your goals and ambitions – you can find a wonderful, escapist novel to read or a magazine with advice on getting fit. You can get a book to help you with a favourite hobby or to learn the skills you need to run a business. You can catch up with current affairs, trace your family history or do a computer course. Libraries truly offer something for everyone, and their fantastic, free facilities make our communities better and more prosperous places to live.

2. Because if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it

The library service is judged on two things – how many people go through the doors and how many items are borrowed. The council is currently committed to transforming the way it offers services in the future and, make no mistake about this, if library services are not well-used then they will be cut. The single most effective way to support your library is to use it regularly, make sure you know what’s on offer and tell other people.

3. Because a library card gives you access to all kinds of online subscriptions that you can use from home

In New Delhi you can access a great collection of reference resources from your computer at home. These include historic newspapers, dictionaries and encyclopaedias, journals and business publications, arts and literature resources and public information. And more subscriptions, including family history websites, are available from computers in branches. 

4. Because using the library is more easy and flexible than ever before

These days you can manage your account in person, by telephone or online. You can visit big or small branches, use mobile libraries or make use of online subscriptions. You can borrow fiction and non-fiction, e-books, audiobooks, magazines, CDs and DVDs as well as using reference services. And, if you can’t get into a branch due to a disability or mobility problem, there’s the home library service. There is a way of being a library member that will suit you and your lifestyle – it’s just a question of finding out what suits you best.

5. Because buying all the latest bestsellers costs a bomb

But the library service stocks them. Usually with multiple copies, often displayed prominently as you walk through the door. And, if the book you want is not on the shelf, then it can usually be tracked down for a small reservation fee. Don’t even get us started on the cost of providing a heap of picture books to a story-hungry toddler every month. And where else are you absolutely welcome to browse through the magazines without having to buy them? Using the library can save you a load of money on leisure and entertainment – and we haven’t even mentioned cost-effective music and DVD rental.

6. Because it’s a really simple, cost-free way to try out e-books

E-books can be quite worrying. For instance, do you have the right kind of device? Do you understand exactly what you are buying and what you can do with it? Are you getting value for money? How secure is the information you’ve provided to the publisher, and will you be bombarded with advertising messages? But use the library’s ebook borrowing service and many of these problems disappear. Hertfordshire offer ebooks in PDF and audio books in MP3 formats that work with a wide variety of devices. And they cost nothing to borrow.

7. Because libraries can help you keep up with interests, hobbies and current affairs

What do you like doing? Reading fat thrillers, escapist romances or the latest candidates for a literary prize? Catching up with memoirs or biographies of famous or interesting people? Flicking through glossy magazines or reading the supplements of broadsheets in detail? Pursuing hobbies like cooking, gardening, walking, travel, DIY, sport, fitness, fashion, pets, art, history, family history, crafts or collecting? Reading blogs and online news sites? Catching up with films or TV shows on DVD? Grabbing an audiobook to make your daily commute or a long journey more tolerable? You can access all these things (and many more) at your local library, either for free or for a very small charge.

8. Because you can get essential, reliable information to help you achieve your goals

What do you want to achieve? The local library can help you with personal goals like better fitness or a more healthy lifestyle. It can offer resources for learning a new language, improving your literacy and numeracy or mastering English as a second language. You can find out how to do important business tasks like accounting, project management or personnel management. You can learn more about your ancestors, understand how to manage a medical condition so it has less impact on your life, improve your computer skills, find out how to write an effective CV or brush up your interview technique, as well as checking job listings in local, national or specialist publications. You can master the driving theory or citizenship test, find out about educational courses, courses for fun, local groups and events going on in your community. Whatever you want to do to make your life better, there’s likely to be some help on offer.

9. Because you can get fast, easy Internet and PC access as well as free Wi-Fi

You’ve got Internet access and a computer at home, so why would you possibly need to use the library facilities? Because computers break like any other appliance and need time-consuming repair or replacement. Because Internet connections sometimes also break down, or other members of your household need to use the equipment at the same time you do. Because you occasionally need to make a copy or scan a document – but not often enough to invest in the equipment yourself. Where do you turn if any of this happens, just as you have an urgent task to complete? In Delhi Public Library, library members can enjoy a free hour’s PC and Internet use a day with just a small charge for non-members.

10. Because you never know what you’ll find until you look

One of the greatest pleasures of visiting the library is the fact you will be constantly surprised. Browse along the shelves and you never know what you might find there. It’s this sense of potential that makes library fans love their libraries so much. From a great new author to an interest you’ve been meaning to follow for years, a magazine you never knew about before or an undiscovered film by your favourite director, there’s always something wonderful and unexpected waiting for you at the library, however big or small it is. And long may it continue.

A library in every school, please

By Susan Elkin

Books are to education and learning what air and water are to life. Every child needs access to the printed word and lots of encouragement to explore it in order to develop properly.

You might, therefore, be surprised to learn that many schools do not have a library or a librarian – which seems a contradiction in terms. How can you have an organisation whose raison d’ ê tre is learning if it has no library? It’s like a restaurant without a kitchen or a zoo without any animals.

There is no law requiring schools to have libraries either. I worked in a Kent secondary school in the 1990s which had a reasonable – if not wonderful – library extensively used by pupils until the head, clearly not a real educationist, decided that it was, quite literally a waste of space. She decreed that the books be shelved (marginalised?) in the back of English classrooms because she wanted to use the former library room for something else. Result? Reduced emphasis on wider reading and much less access to fewer books for students.

The Society of Authors, which represents over 9,000 writers, is campaigning with other organisations for school libraries to be a legal requirement.

A recent open letter from the Society to schools minister Nick Gibb   asserted, among other things, that ‘Primary and secondary schools should be required by law to have a school library and a trained librarian.’

Out of the question for small schools? The letter acknowledges that ‘While we think dedicated librarians should be compulsory in secondary schools and all but the smallest primary schools, we recognise that librarians are an expensive resource and at the very least a designated teacher should get specialist training in such schools.’

To Gibb’s credit he said at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference in April: ‘I passionately believe that every school should have a library.’ But one man’s passionate belief is a long way from the complete change of mindset – and financial investment – that a proper school library provision needs.

Children need protecting from philistinism just as prisoners did thirteen years ago. As in schools today, library provision in prisons must have been patchy. The Prison Rules came into force on 1 ^st April 1999 and were made under the power delegated to the Secretary of State by Section 47 of the Prison Act 1952.

Rule 33 states: ‘A library shall be provided in every prison and, subject to any direction of the Secretary of State, every prisoner shall be allowed to have library books and to exchange them.’ Separate, but similar, rules govern Young Offenders’ Institutions.

Now, I am one hundred per cent in favour of education and books for people who have landed themselves in prison. It is almost certainly their best hope of rehabilitation to a non-criminal life.

But it seems absurd that, although there is no definition of the term ‘library’ for prisons – so provision could still be pretty poor – prisoners have in general a better protected right to libraries and books than school children.

Yes, school libraries and librarians cost money so what about some imaginative thinking?

Many public libraries are closing – to the outrage of civilised people and those who care about education and learning. If local authorities and schools were to work together it would be possible to combine local and school libraries. The community library is then run within the school by a designated librarian and is open to both the public and school pupils.

Variations of this idea have been tried quite successfully in some places – at Sawston in Cambridgeshire, for example, where the local library is part of Sawston Village College. Let’s have much more of it.

Another thought: Surely very small schools could combine library resources and share a librarian? If one school housed the library children from elsewhere in the group could be transported there once a week to choose and exchange books. And teachers could take resource boxes back to their own schools for limited periods. Not ideal or perfect but a great deal better than nothing.

Books, libraries and access to the printed word are not only the key to all other learning and educational achievement, they are also a basic human right. It is scandalous that many of our children are being denied. Legislation please, Mr Gibb. ASAP.

Courtesy:http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/11/a-library-in-every-school-please/ 

Libraries Have a Key Role in Academic Accountability

By Jennifer Howard

The continuing drive for more accountability in academe presents “a unique opportunity” for libraries, which are well placed to connect students, faculty members, and administrators. That was the takeaway from two summits on the value of academic libraries organized by the Association of College & Research Libraries, or ACRL. The association today released a report, “Connect, Collaborate, and Communicate,” that recaps the summit conversations and offers a few recommendations.

The summits grew out of a major 2010 ACRL report on the value of academic libraries, part of the association’s effort to help its members document and demonstrate that value. Convened late last year in Chicago, the meetings brought librarians and administrators from 22 institutions together to talk about the broader landscape of assessment and where libraries fit into it. According to the new report, participants at the summits acknowledged the importance of faculty research but mainly focused on “student learning and success, an issue facing increasing public scrutiny.”

The report lists five “overarching recommendations for the library profession” that came out of the gatherings. Participants stressed the importance of helping librarians understand and measure how their libraries affect student success, and the need to develop “assessment competencies” to help put effective practices in place. They wanted to see more professional-development opportunities for librarians to learn about assessment practices. They saw a need to expand partnerships with other groups on campus who are also interested in assessment. And they wanted more integration of existing ACRL assessment tools into what librarians are doing at individual institutions.

The report suggests that libraries can make the most of the current accountability push and “spark communities of action” around the question of assessment. “Academic librarians can serve as connectors and integrators, promoting a unified approach to assessment,” it concludes. “As a neutral and well-regarded place on campus, the academic library can help break down traditional institutional silos and foster increased communication across the institutional community.”

Karen Brown, an associate professor of library and information science at Dominican University, and Kara J. Malenfant, the association’s senior strategist for special initiatives, wrote the report. Summit participants included teams of provosts and library directors from a variety of state universities and smaller colleges, including California State University, Drexel University, Grinnell College, Kansas State University, Linfield College, Moraine Valley Community College, Mount Holyoke College, Pennsylvania State University, Rio Salado College, San Diego State University, the University of West Florida, and Utah State University, among others.

Source: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/libraries-have-a-key-role-in-academic-accountability/36497

Libraries are great places for savers

By SAMANTHA MAZ IARZ CHRISTMANN

BUFFALO NEWS

In the past, it was always thrilling to think that, if my closest branch didn’t have a copy of a book I was looking for, they would arrange for it to be delivered there for me. What service!

So how much more incredible is it now that my library magically beams free books directly to my e-reader? It’s like an episode of “Star Trek.”

It’s easier to appreciate just how awesome the entire concept of libraries is if you imagine it applied to items other than books.

But what if there were a library of kitchen gadgets where I could just bring my library card and check out whatever I needed?

Not only would I be able to borrow it, but there would be someone there –a kitchen librarian –to show me where to find it and how to use it. Best of all, it wouldn’t cost me a cent.

The only time money would come into the equation would be if I failed to return my mixer on time. Even then, the penalties would be a pittance. How cool would that be?

You hear a lot about how much money libraries cost because politicians are always trying to cut them out of their budgets. But have you ever stopped to think about how much money libraries save the people who need them?

A recent report released by the Buffalo&Erie County Public Library shows that every $1 of funding received by our public library system returns a minimum of $6.70 in services.

That’s better than money in the bank –literally –considering the average interest rate on a standard local savings account runs between 0.01 percent and 0.10 percent.

In total, Erie County’s library system estimates it saved borrowers more than $76 million in 2011, including more than $10 million in computer usage and more than$727,000 in children and adult programming.

And that just accounts for one county in Western New York. Libraries in Niagara County and elsewhere are similarly spinning straw into gold.

source: The Buffalo News

पुस्तकालय व प्रयोगशाला की भूमिका अहम

पिथौरागढ़, जागरण कार्यालय : जिला शिक्षाधिकारी मुकुल सती ने विद्यालयों में शैक्षिक स्तर सुधारने के लिए पुस्तकालयों और विज्ञान प्रयोगशालाओंका अधिकाधिक उपयोग करने पर जोर दिया है। वह रविवार को प्रधानाचार्यो के पांच दिवसीय प्रशिक्षण कार्यक्रम के समापन अवसर पर बोल रहे थे।

विकास खंड मूनाकोट में आयोजित प्रशिक्षण में प्रधानाचार्यो को शैक्षिक नियोजन, राष्ट्रीय माध्यमिक शिक्षा अभियान का परिचय, विद्यालय विकास योजना, सतत एवं व्यापक मूल्यांकन, विज्ञान एवं गणित प्रयोगशाला, पुस्तकालय स्थापना आदि विषयों पर विस्तार से जानकारी दी गई। विषयों पर समूहवार चर्चाएं कराई गई और शैक्षिक स्तर सुधारने के लिए नवाचार की आवश्यकता पर बल दिया गया।

समापन अवसर पर जिला शिक्षाधिकारी सती ने प्रधानाचार्यो से कहा वह विद्यालयों में शैक्षिक स्तर को सुधारने के लिए पुस्तकालयों की स्थापना एवं विज्ञान प्रयोगशालाओं का अधिकाधिक उपयोग करने पर जोर दिया। उन्होंने प्रधानाचार्यो को बालनिधि एवं छात्रवृत्तियों से संबंधित जानकारी दी। प्रशिक्षण में प्रसार प्रशिक्षण केन्द्र के प्रभारी जेसी पंत ने सूचना अधिकार अधिनियम की जानकारी प्रदान की। प्रशिक्षण में विकास खंड विण के 22 तथा मूनाकोट के 23 प्रधानाचार्यो ने प्रतिभाग किया। प्रशिक्षण में कुल 20 सत्र आयोजित किए गए। सत्रों का संचालन संदर्भदाता प्रकाश चन्द्र पंत और राजेन्द्र सिंह बड़वाल ने किया। समापन अवसर पर खंड विकास अधिकारी एचआर कोहली, डा.हरीश बोहरा, डा.सीएस जोशी, बसंती मर्तोलिया, टीसी भट्ट सहित तमाम लोग मौजूद थे। संचालन ब्लाक समन्वयक हरीश पांडेय ने किया।

Source: http://www.jagran.com/uttarakhand/pithoragarh-9305849.html