Public Libraries Past and Present and their Role in the Community

Heather Phillips
LIS 771-01
January 24, 2013

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With so many changes in the world we live in through our most recent history, it would
seem that public libraries of the past have no place in such a modern society. By looking at the
documents Upon the Objects to be Attained by the Establishment of a Public Library and
Exploring public library contributions to urban resiliency by Dr. Glen Holt, it can be seen that
public libraries still retain some of the basic missions and functions that were originally intended
for them to fulfill, but have also made some drastic changes to remain relevant to the
communities that they serve.
In the 1852 document written for the purpose of convincing the community leaders to
build a public library for Boston, there were many basic purposes stated that such an institution
would provide for its community. The main role the Trustees announced this library would offer
was the opportunity for continuing education and literacy. They made the point that there was
nowhere for people who had received a basic education to continue learning other than expensive
private colleges or purchasing costly books. This is where a public library would be valuable; it
would be able to provide the members of the community, no matter their social, financial, or
educational position in the world, with materials that would help them be successful in their
lives. It is of paramount importance that the means of general information should be so diffused
that the largest possible number of persons should be induced to read and understand questions
going down to the very foundations of social order (Seaver 1852, 8). This statement is still true
for a main goal of public libraries today: whether a patron wants to know a basic fact or needs
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help writing a resume, the library should provide information that helps the users achieve their
goals.
Another purpose that both past and present public libraries serve is that no matter who
you are and what your situation in life is, if you have a library card you are entitled to use that
library: it is a public provision for all; affording equal advantages to poor and rich (Seaver
1852, 4). Public libraries are equalizers; they provide services that help people of all
backgrounds be successful, like homework help and computer/technology literacy programs
(Holt 49). Additionally, providing the users with both popular and educational/informational
materials has remained a basic function of the library. Despite the speculations that books and
maybe even libraries themselves will no longer be necessary in the digital age where one can
get everything online, libraries still are giving access to the materials that the users want. Its
no longer just about books, but has reformed to encompass all types of materials, from books and
e-books, wireless internet and computer access, CDs and movies, and even the library space
itself.
However, the shift into our modern world and the current state of the economy has
impacted how public libraries are perceived and has called into question their necessity. Holt
says we work in an age of accountability (Holt 41); American society has become focused on
the numbers and statistics and other such quantifiable proof that something is meeting its
expectations. In public libraries, numbers are very important in proving how effective the library
is, from circulation counts of materials, the number of people helped at the reference desk, to the
number of items shelved during a workers shift (which is something I personally have to do at
my current job). This brings up several questions: how can a librarys impact on its community
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be measured just through facts and data? Does focusing on the numbers aspect of library service
effect library service? Does being accountable effect job performance in a library?
In response to the first question, I dont think its possible to solely measure a librarys
impact on its patrons and community simply through numbers. How can a number show the
enjoyment a child has listening to a book in a storytime program? How can a number validate a
patron discovering a love of reading? The ones who need to see just the quantitative data a
library produces should also be looking at the qualitative data. As for being accountable for
numerical data from a staff perspective, I think that it can be helpful to keep track of some
numbers (like the number of people the reference desk helps in a day), but there can be instances
of going overboard with acquiring data. For instance, at my job as a shelver at a public library, I
have to keep track of the number of library materials I put away during a shift. I enter these
counts into a spreadsheet, which my supervisor keeps track of. During my job performance
reviews, this data is averaged to see how efficiently Im putting materials away (whether Im
above, below, or meeting the average compared to the other shelvers). This can have a negative
impact on job performance; from my perspective, counting every book and movie I put back on
the shelf is tedious, and if I for some reason my counts are lower than average during a shift, I
worry that my job performance could be questioned.
Another major difference between past and present public libraries is that libraries are
constantly having to prove that they are important to their community, which goes along with the
accountability and numerical data aspect. In the 1852 document for the Boston public library,
the Trustees were trying to convince the citys leaders that a public library would be beneficial to
the community. This is what we are still doing today, but I think that public libraries have to be
more focused on constantly proving that they are worthy of being a part of the community, that
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the money that is put towards the library is being put to good use. And in a world where
everything can be found online, this is more important than ever. It might not feel like
something that libraries should have to do, but they will have to continue proving how they are a
benefit to the community and staying in agreement with all the new changes that are constantly
coming about in this digital era so that they dont become invisible or purposeless to the users.













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References
Holt, Dr. Glen. Exploring public library contributions to urban resiliency, 37-56.
Seaver, Benjamin. 1852. Upon the objects to be attained by the establishment of a public library.
Boston.