I’m writing this a week after attending Library Advocacy Day in Albany. Although I had mentioned this as an example of an idea that wasn’t quite “sticky” in my context book report, I still find it important to make ourselves and our value known to our representatives at the county and state level. I luckily have very supportive representatives in my districts (County Legislature, State Senate, State Assembly) but I know others have been a harder sell. The best quote of the day, from a Long Island representative, was “Libraries are like the Swiss Army knife of the community….they do everything!” so obviously she gets it too. Even though we have to go back each year to make our case, on a positive note NYLA reports that since 2011 the rallies have resulted in more than $11 million in library aid be added or restored. This year’s focus was on maintaining the amount available for construction aid. It doesn’t matter what services we offer if we are unable to have spaces to meet our needs and those of our communities, and this is a common theme.
One of the reasons I try to participate in these efforts is that I truly feel that we are all parts of a greater whole and I make a point of joining in with the greater whole whenever I can. In my personal life this is demonstrated by becoming involved in church activities that extend to the diocesan level with my work on the youth council and to a national level by bringing a group of teens on an inter-denominational mission trip each summer. As Presiding Bishop Michael Curry says
We all have a common mission regardless of how we worship in our individual churches and denominations and that’s vital for people to be able to come together and work together for the common good.
In Library Land this means that even though we each have our own libraries, regardless of size or location, we all have a common mission to connect people and information to the best of our abilities. My library (Hazard Library Association) is part of a County Group (Cayuga Connect), a 5-county Library System (Finger Lakes Library System), the New York Library Association (NYLA), and the American Library Association (ALA). I personally belong to a number of other sub-groups as well. As I embarked on my “choose your own adventure” in Module 6 I chose to focus on both Public Libraries and Global Communities & Global Librarianship. While I find the architecture for both DOKK1 (Denmark) and Oodi (Finland) to be somewhat overwhelming, the idea of the library being the center of the community is such an exciting idea. In a small, rural community we are in a prime position to be that center due to few other resources available.
The “Four Space Model” which includes overlapping areas for Inspiration, Learning, Meeting, and Performance is something I can take into consideration as we embark on our expansion project. I think our space is always going to be limited but what we do with that space can be new and exciting. Just yesterday we received an architectural rendering which will allow us to move to the next step of our plan!
In looking at the information regarding other global libraries it was comforting to know that libraries across the world have similar concerns to those we face in our own libraries here in the United States. Everyone is trying to meet the needs of their patrons, even if the methods vary.
We met the needs of bringing books to our youth who did not have access over the summer using this “Bookmobile”, while Columbia has its “Biblioburro” and in Jagodina, Serbia they have a “Bibliocycle”
I went to our State Capitol to advocate for library funding while the Serbian librarians held a 4-day workshop on “Advocacy, Raising Awareness, and Communication for Libraries”. We did not have broadband service in our community until 2016 while at the same time Australia was also working towards digital inclusion. An interesting variance I noted was that while European libraries seem to be invested in cafes, the Oak Park Public Library in Illinois repurposed their cafe into their Idea Box.
Regardless of their size or location, each library is part of the greater whole of international librarianship, and we can all learn from one another.
Postscript: I wrote everything above this point earlier in the day and then headed to church for Ash Wednesday. Here is a quote from the homily, “We are connected to everything in creation. Sisters to the Stars, Brothers to the Moon” (Rev. Kathlyn Schofield). Yes, we are all parts of a greater whole.
References:
Digital Inclusion in Australia. (2016) Retrieved from https://digitalinclusionindex.org.au/about/about-digital-inclusion/
DOKK1 Website. (2019). Retrieved from https://dokk1.dk/english
The Four Spaces of the public library. (2016). Retrieved from https://blogs.ifla.org/public-libraries/2016/03/29/the-four-spaces-of-the-public-library/
Helsinki invests in its people with a library that reinvents itself. (2019). Retrieved from https://finland.fi/life-society/helsinki-invests-in-its-people-with-a-library-that-reinvents-the-genre/?fbclid=IwAR02YiMMaUOXanedOfFbDrzhou_4s1_oHQInvzYDk3bPJeu9Vx3D_ItX5Zs
Jagodina Public Library & AgroLib Ja project. (2016). Retrieved from http://jagodinalibrary.blogspot.com/
The Jesus Movement. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.episcopalchurch.org/jesus-movement
Librarians to rally in Albany for funding on Wednesday. (2019). Retrieved from http://dailyorange.com/2019/02/librarians-rally-albany-funding-wednesday/
Oak Park Public Library Idea Box. (2019). Retrieved from https://oppl.org/visit/idea-box/
Lisa's Library World 
That photo is great and I am thrilled to see the “Libraries are for Everyone” art used. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your ideas about participation and global initiatives. Dokk1 feels huge sometimes but other times, like when I saw a mom reading to her young child in the children’s area, it felt very cozy.
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Hi @lisasemenza I really like how you drew attention to the global community of libraries by outlining a comparative timeline of co-current library movements and missions for digital inclusion and advocacy for access to information and ability to provide services to meet their patron’s needs.
Beautiful message and love all the pictures. Thanks for sharing!
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@futuregreta – Thanks for the feedback. For INFO 200 I had chosen the Rural Library Community and all my initial research was bringing back information about rural libraries across the world. That really tuned me into the fact that libraries are all trying to meet the same needs and are having the same concerns and roadblocks regardless of where they are located.
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