A Not So Silent Plea for Libraries and coming into the 21st Century
Movement (#BLM). You are doing a research paper on civil rights and the election of Barack Obama 
(the last sane president this country remembers).
How can the library help you?
Sure you can be a google detective and find tons of info online, but this is for a school assignment remember. No #FakeNews!!
Lets start by keeping in mind we are still social distancing and most buildings are still not open to the public to try to flatten that COVID CURVE. No trips to the physical library for you...uh oh... No problem tho! Nowadays you can log into your library online and chat with a librarian via tablet, smartphone, or pc and see whats available to you all thanks to Online Public Access Cataloging (OPAC). All you need is a library card to unlock a world of resources. And lets say you haven't had a library card since you kept it in your Hello Kitty wallet next to your Justice League membership card which your mom tossed out a few years ago (just me?)... you can sign up online and in most cases start using most benefits right away.
You let your friendly librarian know you are doing this civil rights paper and need info about Obama's election. Your librarian who serves as the reference desk and is there to help you points you to some journal articles about the Civil Rights Movement and periodicals about Barack Obama winning election...not to mention resources about #BLM, Black Experience in America, Local and Federal laws, and local history accounts of the 1960's.
Thanks to your shiny new (digital) library card you can access the journals at $0 and read the articles about Obama following his journey from back when he was in Hawaii as a child to meeting his #BAE Michelle Obama
In this time of uncertainty, what with COVID-19 still looming on us, 4 months after we shut down the nation and before what experts are touting as a looming recession, I've been thinking a lot about money and funds. 💸 People who haven't already been stressing about rent or food with the help of the CARES act Congress passed back at the end of March, will soon start freaking out as its additional aid to unemployment comes to an end NEXT WEEK.
How will we pay for basic necessities? I can't be the only one feeling the prestress-stress 😠 about where we are going to be 5 months from now at the end of the insanity 2020 has turned out to be. The belt tightening is about to get BRUTAL. Furloughed employees may never be called back and some business will never open their doors again. Services we have all enjoyed and taken for granted are a big part of those major cuts we are going to face. Some of those jobs just aren't going to be seen as priority when people are losing homes and can't feed their kids. This goes for the government as well. And although all services have merit and provide something for their communities, libraries have a unique place in our hearts and in shaping those communities. I mean okay, when was the last time you were in a library? Maybe not recently, but think back to when you were a kid or student. How important has the library been when you look back to research you've had to do or when you have had to find a quiet place to study?
As a latch-key kid generation myself in 90's South LA when we still didn't have smart phones and the streets were a place we did not want to be, the library was a safe haven home away form home filled with story times, CD's, magazines and friends "doing homework" together. But its been longer than I care to admit and there is a lot different and yet the same since then. But do they need funding considerations? What do they do at a library?
Lets imagine this scenario: You are a young adult affected by the current Black Lives Matter
(the last sane president this country remembers).
How can the library help you?
Sure you can be a google detective and find tons of info online, but this is for a school assignment remember. No #FakeNews!!
Lets start by keeping in mind we are still social distancing and most buildings are still not open to the public to try to flatten that COVID CURVE. No trips to the physical library for you...uh oh... No problem tho! Nowadays you can log into your library online and chat with a librarian via tablet, smartphone, or pc and see whats available to you all thanks to Online Public Access Cataloging (OPAC). All you need is a library card to unlock a world of resources. And lets say you haven't had a library card since you kept it in your Hello Kitty wallet next to your Justice League membership card which your mom tossed out a few years ago (just me?)... you can sign up online and in most cases start using most benefits right away.
You let your friendly librarian know you are doing this civil rights paper and need info about Obama's election. Your librarian who serves as the reference desk and is there to help you points you to some journal articles about the Civil Rights Movement and periodicals about Barack Obama winning election...not to mention resources about #BLM, Black Experience in America, Local and Federal laws, and local history accounts of the 1960's.
Thanks to your shiny new (digital) library card you can access the journals at $0 and read the articles about Obama following his journey from back when he was in Hawaii as a child to meeting his #BAE Michelle Obama
💖😍
💖😍
and becoming 44th president of the USA....again at total charge of $0 because the library has done a wonderful job in acquisitions, collection and development. They took the time to find what the community needs were and paid $$$ to TIME and NY TIMES and ANCESTRY ARCHIVES and have kept all those articles from periodicals for you. Podcasts and videos are all a click away. And did I mention its... 💖😍
You access your items by entering your library card # and login which serves as the circulation "check out" which was the little card with a date stamped on it in an envelope on the first page of the book a million years ago, and you are good to go! Ready to write a school worthy paper with valid sources and tons of things you might not have been able to find or access on your own. All in one place.
so lets imagine libraries which are already some of the first institutions to get budget cuts in public service, get a major axe in funds post COVID...
No money to update the cataloging so because the physical building is closed...no access online to resources. Just a sad message on the library website about hoping to be back when they can. Budget cuts eliminate important librarian positions, so no helpful chat to help get you started on your research or pointing you to special resources you have access to as a member. No money for annual subscriptions to magazines, or journals or periodicals and archives so you lose access to important databases because you don't have the $$$ to pay big bucks for just one research paper, especially when they can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars for individual access a year. You can't even take advantage of the inter-library loans where library institutions share resources with each others for things they don't have and cannot afford on their own. Any break in this loop can result in not having the ease of information needed to complete a simple research paper. Quelle nightmare!!
I can already see the F++ for effort as you rely on Wikipedia. And not to knock Wikipedia, it is an amazing source of collective human data and experience we all have access to and can contribute to, but definitely low ranking on the spectrum of credibility for those very same reasons.
This is why we as the community need to prepare and need to stand up for these institutions. We need to remember the warm fuzzies reading a good book can give us. We need to remember that they are more than just books, but languages, music, technology, experiences, not to mention AC when global warming makes it too hot to be outside
All with no expectation of spending any money as a patron. In this unprecedented time where the country seems like it doubts science and you cannot survive on minimum wage for basic necessities. Learning critical thinking skills and how to tell a valid resource from 5G Cancer Tower conspiracies has never been more important and these are all life skills that can be taught and cultivated.....you guessed it...at your local library.
Libraries and Librarians need to do their parts too however, they need to keep a pulse on the community, anticipate needs and think about the future and staying relevant. As delicious as the smell of an old books is, it is no longer enough to have dusty tomb lined shelves to keep paced in these fast paced times and I'm sure once social distancing is over, children and their parents will be chomping at the bit to find wholesome, budget friendly activities they can engage in together. Its keep up or get left behind.
But what can we do to help prevent this sad, uninformed, idiocracy future?
This is an older article, but still relevant so CHECK THIS OUT. Tweet it out, post about it, blog about it, bring it up and don't let this fall to the wayside. Communities themselves are what libraries open or closed.
I can already see the F++ for effort as you rely on Wikipedia. And not to knock Wikipedia, it is an amazing source of collective human data and experience we all have access to and can contribute to, but definitely low ranking on the spectrum of credibility for those very same reasons.
This is why we as the community need to prepare and need to stand up for these institutions. We need to remember the warm fuzzies reading a good book can give us. We need to remember that they are more than just books, but languages, music, technology, experiences, not to mention AC when global warming makes it too hot to be outside
Libraries and Librarians need to do their parts too however, they need to keep a pulse on the community, anticipate needs and think about the future and staying relevant. As delicious as the smell of an old books is, it is no longer enough to have dusty tomb lined shelves to keep paced in these fast paced times and I'm sure once social distancing is over, children and their parents will be chomping at the bit to find wholesome, budget friendly activities they can engage in together. Its keep up or get left behind.
But what can we do to help prevent this sad, uninformed, idiocracy future?
Also, If you want to track who is funding libraries, find possible gaps in funding and opportunities or just are a nerd like me who gets off stats, check out this page.
I hope, like me, your mind is on a positive change post COVID. The fact that life will be changed is fact. Some things will never go back to how they were, and I guess that's not all bad. That's what we call evolution. The type of change that happens is in our control however. A few months from now is the 2020 ELECTIONS. Every voice matters. Let your voice be heard and even if we have different opinions lets crack a good book and have some coffee and discuss. REGISTER TO VOTE and be a part of the change and direction we steer this ship!
I leave you with this awesome Sesame Library Clip!
I hope, like me, your mind is on a positive change post COVID. The fact that life will be changed is fact. Some things will never go back to how they were, and I guess that's not all bad. That's what we call evolution. The type of change that happens is in our control however. A few months from now is the 2020 ELECTIONS. Every voice matters. Let your voice be heard and even if we have different opinions lets crack a good book and have some coffee and discuss. REGISTER TO VOTE and be a part of the change and direction we steer this ship!
I leave you with this awesome Sesame Library Clip!
