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March 19, 2007

Public preference shows changing face of libraries

When I got my first library job in 1967 as a school librarian, the big news was audiovisual (AV) materials.

Essentially that meant film strips and 33º long-play vinyl recordings. We had a vertical file with folders of pictures in it. And we had access to a cooperative collection of 16-millimeter films, mostly on educational topics. These were far too expensive for any one school library to own.

Now, if a librarian talks about AV, he or she probably means books or music on CDs, DVDs of films and access to downloadable electronic books. The film strips and vinyl are long gone. In between were the Beta and VHS videotapes and books on tape. The AV world is ever changing.

But perhaps more significant than the format changes is the public's growing appetite for anything audiovisual. In 2001, the NSLS conducted an informal survey of member public libraries and found that in a few libraries, loans of AV materials were about 40 percent of all loans. The same survey was just repeated and the numbers have grown. Many libraries now report that AV borrowing is in the 40 percent range. The Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin said that almost 57 percent of their loans were for AV materials and the Glencoe Public Library reported that AV accounted for 63 percent of all items borrowed.

There is a lot of good news in this interest in audiovisual materials. Libraries are reaching different audiences with larger and more extensive collections of audiovisual materials in popular formats. People have different learning styles. Some are more comfortable reading, but some prefer listening or viewing. Statistics such as these show that libraries are being responsive to their users. Audiovisual materials are especially valuable to those learning English as a second language because learners can hear words and maybe see them spoken at the same time they see the word on the page.

As libraries increasingly go digital, with major reference works online rather than in print and the growth of downloadable e-audio books, the library is virtually available any time, anywhere. Perhaps including digital media is a broader interpretation of what we have traditionally thought of as audiovisual material but maybe what is happening is that AV is becoming defined as information in a format that is not print on paper.

This growth in the public's usage of AV materials has prompted library staff to change the way libraries advertise themselves. In the past, library advertisement was confined to print on paper in the form of flier, posters, bookmarks, library newsletters and notices and stories in newspapers. Now, many libraries are finding that they reach many more people with an electronic newsletter and building exciting, interactive Web sites featuring blogs and wikis.

At the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, the use of vlogs or video logs on its Web site has attracted attention from the general public and the entire library world. These approaches are necessary and especially important to reach younger audiences. We need to engage young people with their preferred media. Kids are much more visual today than they were when I grew up. We have to speak their language, in a sense, to attract them to the library.

Many area libraries have put AV to work for them. The Cary Area Public Library filmed a tour of the library. It's available on the library's Web site and is especially useful for first time visitors. The Glenview Public Library filmed a controversial public hearing and made DVD copies available to the community for those who could not be present. The Gail Borden Public Library has featured videos created by people in their community on its Storypalooza Web site, via YouTube.

This little walk down memory lane is just another reminder that today's library is probably very different from the library you remember as a child. Notice how your library advertises itself and visit today if you haven't in a while. I think you will be excited about what you see and I bet you can't leave without borrowing something, maybe even a book.

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