Public libraries…the new old life boats of a sinking economy!
For the last five months or so my news wire service has been filling my inbox with news articles from around North America, reporting that public libraries in the United States have had a huge influx of people looking to use the free services of their libraries, from mega city or county library it doesn’t matter, the same in happening in Canada now. People are actually lining up early at the doors to get in!
Public libraries have gone from an almost silent service to an essential service over night! As people have lost or are losing their jobs, their homes or have just put a clamp on spending, they have turned to their libraries for free internet, WiFi, local and out of town newspapers for job hunting and preparing their resumes and DVDs, bestsellers! In other words, things that they can no longer afford!
Not our own Essex County Library or Windsor Public Library systems ( we could write an article like this today) but a good example of what is happening in public libraries all over the continent! From the article:
When the economy sinks, library traffic soars. (This is a well established fact of public libraries over the last one hundred years!)
Public libraries across Anne Arundel County have seen crowds grow over the past few months. People gather to search for jobs, to use the free Internet access after they have canceled home service to save money, or to get free homework help instead of paying tutors.
More than 3 million people visited the 15-branch system last year, and Web site use jumped by 27 percent in the past six months. Use of homework-help programs leaped by 60 percent, and this year is on pace to set record circulation numbers.
“It’s a valuable source for a lot of people,” said Denise Moore of Crofton, who said she visits the library about twice a week to use the computers to surf the Web. She spent some of Friday afternoon checking through employment sites at the Annapolis Library, and although her visits have not increased, she has had a lot more company recently.
“A lot more people are coming in,” she said.
And according to library officials, a lot of those people are new library users.
“Quite a few more people are showing up at the libraries with laptops, and we hear that people are canceling their Internet service and coming to get on the county’s Wi-Fi instead,” said Laurie Hayes, library spokesman. At some branches, librarians are struggling to find enough electrical outlets for all the laptops.
There is free internet in both the Windsor Public Library and the Essex County Library systems, and all branches of Windsor Public Library have free unlimited wireless access, if you have a laptop. Both systems have free word processing stations for your resume but there is a small cost for printing.
“Meanwhile, the checkout rate for DVDs is brisk, with circulation up by double digits.”
Both WPL and ECL have thousands of free DVDs in their catalogues which you can checkout for free. Windsor Public Library has the Grammy winning Naxos music database on their website, that allows you to stream classical, jazz, world music to your computer.
Essex County Library has downloadable ebooks (pdf and mobipocket) and eaudiobooks (wma) and in February 2009 added, mp3 format eaudiobooks (which supports iPods) and dowloadable emusic. Check it out at http://essexca.lib.overdrive.com. As always, all you need is an ECL card, which is FREE!!
Employment and education: Not a new idea for public libraries, they have always been there for the ones who believe in life long learning or those who have thought to change their lives with a new career.
… librarians have become (actually are and always have been!) teachers, helping unemployed workers set up e-mail accounts and submit job applications online. “Those who haven’t opened a book in ten or twenty years to study rather than to just read for recreation and finding themselves back in school or a retraining program, have turned to their libraries for help in doing research or materials for their courses.”
“Because we provide computer access and Internet access to the public, we’re (so are WPL and ECL) finding that some many of our users are coming to us to fill out job applications online,” said Marion Francis, administrator for the library system. “Many employers are requiring them to turn them in online. If they don’t have computers at home, we’re the first place they go.”
You could also be talking of both of our library systems above, this was happening before our economy sank but now the demand is increasing as we sink closer to a depression.
Public libraries are not just about “books” or “culture” these days, they are about “education and educating!” If your reading skills aren’t the best or you can’t read (the average education level in the Windsor Metropolitan Census Area) is grade 12, Windsor Public Library has the program; Read On…Adult Literacy Program or;
Windsor Public Library Adult Literacy Program Workforce Literacy Initiative” “Employment Ontario”
Investing in people and skills is a cornerstone of the Ontario government’s economic strategy.
The Literacy program can help develop the workplace skills and the literacy skills you need to achieve your goals in order to find employment. This initiative helps to ensure learners have the right skills for changing work and life demands. These skills are called “Essential Skills”. Essential Skills are the skills needed for work, learning and life. They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.
Essex County Library also has the Essential Skills program through their LiteracyLink web page, plus Learn English ESL
Windsor Public Library is also a centre for the Ontario Early Years program; A Place for Parents and Their Children
How low literacy narrows a person’s world In releasing his new study on the costs and benefits of investing in literacy, co-author Scott Murray says that “upgrading adult literacy could result in the greatest productivity boost to our economy since sewer and water were introduced in our cities over 100 years ago.” The study estimates that bringing all Canadians up to the level required to fully participate in the knowledge economy would yield an annual rate of return of 80 per cent to 250 per cent. If physical infrastructure built our competitive advantage in the 20th century, an effective literacy infrastructure will underpin success in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.
A “community-led” approach to literacy strengthens citizenship not only at the local level, but at the national and international levels as well. This is because literacy skills are fully portable. They travel with the learner wherever he or she may go; they are transferable from one arena to another. They are truly “skills for life.” As usual, Dr. Seuss had it right: “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go!”
No other institution or organization has mounted a quiet offensive to raise up a population in a time in which none of us has ever experienced but we have been trying to do it all along because we are on the front line of humanity for almost every day of the year. No other institution is as democratic and as open as a public library, libraries are the cross roads of the world in your community, where everyone is equal and treated equally with no conditions other than to be polite! Libraries are the great equalizers!
Project for Public Spaces places public libraries in the top ten places for 2008
- Libraries emerge as new town squares:
- Librarians represent a newly emerging force for placemaking. They already provide a resource center for their communities, but many of them are now pushing to turn their libraries into civic centers that foster a sense of community and offer a unique gathering place. Many librarians now envision their facilities as both virtual and literal town squares for their neighborhoods and downtowns. PPS recently offered workshops and keynote addresses at library conferences in four provinces, and in early 2009 will give a keynote presentation to the National Librarian Conference in Canada. We have learned a lot about the potential of placemaking from these innovative librarians.
You may have cut down on your spending, it doesn’t mean that you have to put a dent in your lifestyle. Free magazines, hot bestsellers, graphic novels, music, movies, children, teen and adult programs are available all for the cost of walking into any one of the 10 branches of the Windsor Public Library (click on Locations icon on the WPL’s homepage) or visit the 14 branches of the Essex County Library. and ask for a FREE library card!
There is so much that I want to tell you about your public libraries and how they are SO 21st century but there isn’t enough space! This isn’t the library of your parents. So go for a visit, get a very FREE LIBRARY CARD and find another world to explore! Look for a job, find the material to help you with your education, take your kids to a children’s program, get a movie ….just go! You don’t have to stay at home in this sinking economy …get in the lifeboat! There’s lots of room!
What else can public libraries do? They can make were you live stronger! Yes that’s right, stronger! Here’s how!
Want a quick lesson on researching the on-line databases available at each library system, go here!
And your Reference Librarians at Windsor Public Library have an idea of niche market tourism, that is a billion dollar plus business in the world.
Public Libraries in Canada pay their way, by providing these Dividends and from the U.S. Return On Investments, according to OCLC, “For every $1 spent on the library, a community sees an average of $4 in return.” If that is the case, then Windsor Public Library’s budget for 2008 was just under eight million dollars, then the ROI on average is …$32,000,000 in direct economic benefit to the citizens and the city of Windsor! Imagine if WPL was fully funded rather than being the lowest funded public library system in Canada! Windsor spends roughly $2.75 per person for its library system, while the average is $4.50 per person across Canada. We have the lifeboats but we don’t have the oars!
One last thought: Before Yahoo, long before Google, even before computers, and even in the ancient library in Alexandria, in Egypt, librarians were and are your original search engines and a very human gateway to the world! All you have to do is go up and say “Can you help me please!” And your journey begins!
“My guess is (it will be) about 300 years until computers are as good as, say, your local reference librarian in searching!” Craig Silverstien, Director of Technology at Google.com
This article was co-authored by two Librarians: Mark Bradley of the Windsor Public Library and Natalie Hatch of the Essex County Library.
“Sustaining the individual, families and the business community, is the first building block in sustaining a sustainable city, your public libraries are there to assist you!” MB
Tags: cities, ebooks, economy, Education, Employment Ontario, ESL, Essentials Skills, Essex County Library, internet, librarians, Libraries, literacy, Naxos, Ontario Early Years, Overdrive, Project for Public Spaces, public library, ROI, Sustainable, travel and tourism, WiFi, Windsor Public Library
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Big tip that I discovered last November: previously, non-Windsor residents were required to pay a $50 fee to be able to get a Windsor Public Library card to be able to check out items. That fee is no longer in place for county residents; the librarian told me that in Sept ‘08 that it was dropped.
You’re right Juxta, both systems now have free cards for everyone. I would like to have what they have in Alberta … One card for the whole province.
PEI has one card for the whole province! (Never mind that there are only 140,000 people in the province) It is very nice to be able order a book from anywhere on the Island into my local library. I have noticed that we, as a family, attend the library for more often — at least once a week now. There simply is no reason to buy a book, unless it is some sort of reference book or a yard sale find. Libraries are the perfect ‘try before you buy’ IMO.
(And they get their fair share of revenue out of me for late books, magazines and movies, in spite of our regular visits!)
What I found interesting is the ROIs of the various states and their public libraries. If as Mark states above that the average return on investment is $4.00 and Windsor Public Library returns 32 million in direct economic benefit to the city, what is the ROI for the golden palace and all other city departments or agencies? Has anybody done a similar study?
Excellent article Mark and Natalie…I believe that our libraries and especially our librarians are one of the most under-valued, underappreciated resources in our communities at this time.