In your conversations and communications with patrons, community members, and public officials, you might sometimes wish you had a great catchy top 10 list of library misperceptions, a passionate defense of libraries written by an author, or descriptions of what libraries actually provide (yes, we are more than books, you say over and over again).
Here’s some useful articles that do just that:
- Let-Them-Eat-Cake-Attitude Threatens to Destroy a Network of Public Assets (Author Scott Turow, Innocent) [February 15, 2011]
“For Americans facing job losses, working to gain new skills and seeking assistance in an increasingly digital world, U.S. public libraries are first responders. Two-thirds of libraries report they provide the only free access to computers and the Internet in their communities. Libraries function as crucial technology hubs, not merely for free Web access, but those who need computer training and assistance. Library business centers help support entrepreneurship and retraining.”
- Ten misperceptions about public libraries [February 13, 2011]
- You will be yelled at if you don’t whisper.
- It takes a long time for libraries to get newly released books, movies and CDs processed and on their shelves….
- Beyond books: what it takes to be a 21st Century Librarian [January 31, 2011]
“Books are only one aspect of what libraries and librarians are about. Librarianship is a people profession; a librarian’s job is to connect people with the information they are seeking, whatever format that may take. At their heart, all library jobs have a central purpose: to help people access and use information, for education, for work, or for pleasure.”
- What librarians make. A response to Dr. Bernstein and an homage to Taylor Mali. (Joyce Valenza, school librarian) [November 27, 2010]
- U.S. public libraries: We lose them at our peril (Author Marilyn Johnson, This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All) [July 6, 2010]
“But if you visit public libraries, you will see an essential service in action, as librarians help people who don’t have other ways to get online, can’t get the answers they urgently need, or simply need a safe place to bring their children. I’ve stood in the parking lot of the Topeka and Shawnee County Library in Kansas on a Sunday morning and watched families pour through doors and head in all directions to do homework or genealogical research, attend computer classes, read the newspapers.”
“I am here to introduce young people to a rich world of books and literature, options they can select themselves. I am here to see the joy on a kid’s face when she shares that she loved the book she borrowed last week. The one she stayed up all night reading. Recently saw that joy on a kid’s face when he borrowed his first e-reader.”
Also, NEKLS maintains a page of Advocacy resources. It’s always accessible from any page in the sidebar in the Most Used Resources box to the right.
Heather Braum is the Technology Librarian at NEKLS. She can be reached by phone, by email (hbraum (at) nekls.org), or through several online chat services (look Heather up by her email address). Visit the 
