Seems to me libraries are the softest target not only because most government decision makers are either illiterate themselves or have the analytical skills of an amoeba, prerequisite of self interest aside, but that librarians cannot unitedly put forward an indisuptable argument based on readily available hard facts on the REAL value of investment in their common good provision. Still I suppose the analytically amoebic wouldn’t understand anyway. Any ideas on how to make libraries seem as important to save as the Giant Panda. Libraries might not be quite as cute but they are still marginally more useful to the “common man” and a damned sight closer to extinction. Now there’s a money making opportunity going begging.

We are public librarians- not ESL teachers or adult educators. Most of all the librarians I know are completely unqualified to teach anything- with the exception of research skills- but not so much teaching here as using.

So, we are here to help people get e-mail addresses. Great. We’re a social services directory. Great. We’re story time readers. Great. We’re preschool supplements. Great. We subsidize leisure reading. Great. Sorry if I’m not giddy about what kind of clear mission statement that’s going to bring about.

In San Franciso people pay almost $70 per capita for these services, and these are the types of justifications we find.

(i’m not picking on you- it’s just these are the arguments I hear from many people and I just don’t think they hold a lot of water.)

That’s very nice for him. Shouldn’t that be something the workforce commission or unemployment office helps with? Is that what we are now? I didn’t get my master’s in social work.

Aren’t schools supposed to educate? We are not adult education centers/ged centers, are we? Is that what we do now? I didn’t get my adult teaching certificate from Grad school.

Are we just providing services that other people already provide? If that is what we’re providing, then why are we spending all our money on summer blockbuster DVDs and romance novels?

Yes, libraries need a clear mission statement, and if they don’t make one well, someone else will take up these causes individually, or we’ll just continue to deteriorate as a society.

It’s up to us.

I met someone last night who works at the dollar store and who got his job because he used the internet at the library to fill out the application. Otherwise, it may not have worked out for him.

Yes, libraries are needed to provide support services and real education. The unemployed are especially in need right now, and libraries can help.

I have been thinking about the mission of libraries, public and otherwise, a lot recently, particularly due to the recent trend in the UK of transferring management of public libraries to charitable trusts. Some local authorities are also transferring management of school libraries to trusts, whilst others are choosing to retain in-house management.

The decision to transfer management is meant to save money and increase efficiency, but it does make me wonder if the mission of public libraries will be diluted further. UK public libraries are frequently measured by superficial indicators such as issue statistics, rather than focusing on the educational mission of libraries. There is an obvious danger in managing the value of public and school libraries in this manner, so I agree with you AL when you state that librarians need to deliver a coherent measure regarding the value of libraries.

High issue statistics/website hits and high quality, educational library services are not mutually exclusive, but the former does not necessarily indicate the latter.