Transcripts For CSPAN2 Panel Discussion On The Importance Of Libraries 20160721

Hello, good morning welcome to the seventh annual gaithersburg book festival. My name is gene taft khedama Committee Member the festival and the policy manager of Johns Hopkins university press. Please have you here but if i did make a couple of announcements here. Gaithersburg is a wonderful city that probably supports the arts and humanities will you please to bring the stay of this event thanks in part to generous support of our sponsors and volunteers. Our if you see our sponsors and volunteers please say thank you. Please silence all devices that might make any noise. If youre trading today pleasen use hashtag gpf really need your feedback. Surveys are available here and on our web site to give youan complete a survey you enter for a chance to win a 100 visa gift card. A quick word about buying books even though this is a free event it does help if you buy a book our friends at politics and prose are here on site and we appreciate your support. Our it supports our jobs and book festival. I hope you enjoy the festival on the program today and buy a book and come back and see us. I dont think im going out on a limb by saying if you were here or watching at home you are probably a book nerd. I wish being of book nerd was colon as a kid. Doesnt have the same connotation it has now been a member my first time going to library. My mother took my brother and i and we were probably two or three years old im a good barely walk. My brother distracted my mother and i ran out the other direction my found the most fabulous things. A place which is filled with stuff and two minutes into my venture the library and started yelling and my mother had to come running and pulled me out of the wishing well. Since then i have grown with the larger appreciation for libraries of all kinds, not just the wishing well. Libraries are great equalizer. They are open and free to the public and i also think one of the things i want to get to his libraries are not always what you think. They are not always the exact book line shelves and thats itn i do want to take a lot of time up here because we have bunch of great people here to talk about stuff so im going to give a real quick brief introduction to what their job titles are and let our panelists talk to about what they do and then move against questions. Do it like youd also ask questions later on so bear with me a minute here and i wanted his people and have them tell you about themselves. At the front of the table wet have becky clarke the director of Library Congress directing operas which collaborates with private sectors. For next to her we have Mary Ellen Icaza who is a Virtual Services manager in rockville maryland patient manages the Library Systems web and social social Media Presence as well as the Library System internet. Next to her we have Emily Sheketoff the executive director of the Washington Office of the American Library association where she has been for the past 17 years. L next to her we have Kiera Parrott to preview director for Library School general journal. Ldren so im going to start with becky on and and had to give them a quick synopsis of what they do beyond their title and then we will get to some of the fun. Thank you gene peer my name is Becky Brasington clark and im the director of publishing at the Library Congress party joined the library in march ofy this year so im still very new. I previously was one of genes colleagues at the Johns Hopkins press where i was director of marketing and institutional outreach for 12 and a half years and i can say that gene never stolen a change during a the time that we work together. Gene was the mission of the Publishing Office and that would include books as well as will be called sidelines in the industry calendars posters notecards that illuminate her shed light on the levers cannot collection. Most recent book is revealing new yorks other half and if you havent had enough literary Business Today and happened to be in washington monday theres going to be a hoax and beyonds pocket about the new book monday in the Madison Building at the library of congress and 12 00 to 1 00 so would be great to have either fear or just appeared out the events of the library are free. Im very happy to be here. My name is Mary Ellen Icaza and im from montgomery publicici am libraries. I managed our Virtual Services for the Library System. We have a very robust web site with access to our catalog and area ebooks, e. Magazine downloadable music and its all available for free with yourin library card anywhere where you are. We have 21 locations with active programming and activities for you to come to an and bring your children and families to and its all free. We also have are rich team here today so i hope that you will stop by and say hi to them at the table and they can tell you more about our services. T at running ims Emily Sheketoff and i have one of best jobs in the world because itss my job to make sure that the people in this country have access to the best libraries and so i get to talk to all kinds of librarians and find out the innovative things that they are doing and then make sure that Congress Passes no law that restricts them from continuing to make those things available to did i also tried and make sure that the funding is available so that everybody will matter where you live gets access to the best services because we are not your grandmothers library anymore. We are books, magazines and movies that we are also music, the internet, the computer, 3d printers. If its new and people in our Community Want it the library is going to work very hard to make sure its available to them and thats my job is to make sure that can happen. So in washington we do government relations. We work with the congress and the federal government. Also the legal system making sure if there is a law that is going to be restricted if we try to overturn it in the court and also supporting other lawsuits to make sure that services are available. We most recently were involved in the google book search suit to make sure the google could continue to make books available , all books available on line and also Information Technology policy. So 3d printers, we are working on all of that and thats why i love my job and you should love your library. Hi at morning my name is Kiera Parrott on the news director for a publication called Library Journal and school every journal. If you havent heard of them thats okay because their publications or. Mostly by the librarians. My job is to be in charge of the Editorial Team that reviews several thousand books every year in excess of 12,000 books and different materials, publishers, the big sized publishers, mediumsizedal bavarian dependent and self publishers send us all the books and all the materials in our job is to review it. Librarians when they are building their collections and making material available to the public they need to know that what they are buying is good and they need to know they are spending their budget dollars on materials that are going to behe useful and appreciated and used by their communities who are publications help them do that. Thank you all for introducing yourself and you did a much better job than i could have done. F what we are going to do is askve questions starting with specific questions but everyone feel free to jump in or however you might want to react. I thought we would start with kiera all that you are now curating the front end, you have also worked in the library, several libraries they believe. Can you tell us a little bit ofr behindthescenes how you comeon if you were to start a library today how would you start a . Every library is different because every community is different and when you are talking about building a a collection really your first turning point is your community, its your patrons and looking at the demographics in the community and what do the people want, what do people need, what are the age groups that areat ae mostly coming into kaminsky centers and starting there. If youre looking at a Specialized Library like a law word library it would have deep collection sort of the narrow tight focus and within a subject area super deep many materials for digging into that one feel. Your average Public Library is maybe not as much depth. We have a piece coming in with parents may be for story time. For we have teams working on assignments that need research and you might have businesslo leaders in the community needing access to Financial Information or job seekers that depending on your Community Needs that will determine what kind of collection you want. Thats the broad answer. More specifically when you start looking at here budget and how much money you have to spend and as i said libraries are not just a material but a huge part of our budget in a big part of what we do is get stuffing giveaway for free but its also services and programs and trying to figure out the balance in your spaces. Can you take a quick secondit in to talk about the Library Journal and as a publisher the publications you work for are just the basic fundamental first step. Can you explain that . The magazines i work for we feature stories and columns of whats happening in the Library Field and what are the innovative libraries doing and what are the programs andin services happening but the bulk of it is material review. That we have a core of several thousand librarians who arel th volunteering to send them the books and they think about it and they write their reviewshi with that audience in mind to its peers writing to peers. When a librarian since dont you think okay i need to buy some new fiction lets say for my collection they want to know what the book is about first of all because there are tens of thousands of books being published every single year. There are thousands, tens of thousands of books being published every single year and more and more it seems like. If you heard the reports that print is dead or dying dont believe it, print is alive and well. Come to my book room and i will show you the many boxes of books we get every single week. Librarians are faced with a deluge of material coming out, what do i buy, how do i buy it, that is what reviews do, give them a book they need so they dont have to read every single title and understand what they are getting. That is our main purpose but a Great Library and will never read one review. Other sources like publishers weekly, kirkus reviews, a Great Library and will never just read one source, she will be as diverse as possible and try to get diversity of opinion before making a selection. You were saying earlier you might not be familiar with the magazine. The reason you should be familiar with a magazine like Library Journal or publishers work lee is they do three publication reviews. When looking at your local newspaper, their reviews tell you the book is coming out months down the road. Savvy book people who want to get ahead of the curve i recommend looking at Library Journal. When we talk about libraries we often times, at least i tend to think more of Public Libraries. The second you talk a little more about the role of academic libraries. The most important thing a library can do is serve the community that surrounds us. For a Public Library that is a geographic face for geographic library, academic library, scholars and students who are on campus or within a campus system. Last week i heard a conference speaker discussed the difference between information and knowledge and i think that is a distinction that is really helpful in appreciating the importance of libraries. At their most basic level libraries are repositories of information but it is what they do to share that information through lending, programming and publishing that enables their patrons to transform that information into knowledge that is meaningful to their lives. The libraries cant fulfill that role effectively without understanding the needs of the communities they serve so the constituents of academic libraries are scholars and students and the activities that inform and support knowledge transformation in the Campus Library are focused on Effective Research and Scholarly Communication so in recent years academic libraries have become less quiet than they used to be. When i was in college a long time ago the library on campus was very very quiet. If you went in there to study you went in there to study alone. You were not there to talk about anything with your fellow students. He went into a study room and locked yourself in and didnt say a word to anybody. Today that is very different. There is a recognition on campus, it is a social process of academic libraries who created spaces for students and faculty members can come together and have conversations, study together, do work groups. I was attending a seminar at the university of north texas just yesterday and we were in a seminar room and there was a Student Group in the seminar room next to us and i dont know, i think they were doing a roleplay of some sort because they were really loud and animated and at first we were tempted to knock on the window and shush them the way librarians are supposed to do, used to do. But that social process, that information and exchange is what transforms information into knowledge. Anyone who wants to jump and jump in but i want to work through some questions i was interested in knowing. One of the things you were talking about earlier is you were talking about funding and a lot of interesting stuff in this area of the country. In the dc office whether it is lobbying or policy your bills, what are the things, you mentioned google books. What are the topics you are working on as far as issues right now . The big issues for us ivy implementation of the new Education Bill every Student Succeeds at. We need to make sure as this bill moves forward and is implement across the country that School Libraries are integrated into the learning environment at every school. Because we know a student who starts out in Elementary School, having access to an Effective School Library Program graduates from High School Ready to go on to Higher Learning or to begin a career. If they dont have access to an Effective School Library Program, when they go to college, it takes a year of remediation until they are on the same level with other students at that college and they have a great deal of difficulty finding 20 jobs because they dont have the Digital Literacy skills and other collaborative skills that you learn from a School Librarian. We are very focused on implementing that bill in a way that has School Libraries integrated right through it starting in Elementary School right through high school. We are also very concerned with workforce innovation and opportunity act which passed two years ago and we are waiting for the department of labor and the department of education to release the regulations to tell us how this bill is going to be implemented because as any of you who have been unemployed know, the place people go for assistance when they are out of work or looking to improve their skills is their local Public Library or Community College library. We want to make sure as the congress did when they passed this bill that in the 21 stoop century libraries are integrated within this nations Workforce Development system so that is for the state and local level. We are also very interested in cybersecurity and privacy. We are involved in student privacy, we are concerned with cataloguing at the library of congress and we want to make sure that as i said, no laws are passed that restrict librarians from doing their job and at the moment there is an appropriations bill with a rider that would restrict the library of congress from doing its job of updating catalog cataloguing headings which you would think is a boring subject, but because of what some members of congress are doing it makes it a quite interesting subject and so we are concerned about that. Every day there is something new. When i first started 17 years ago i thought it was going to be all about books. Boy was i wrong. Every day some new issue comes up and i think thank goodness i will not have to deal with that but there is a library component to it. Nothing goes on in this country that doesnt impact libraries. And that is why i love my job because every day is different and every day there is Something Big happening. Thank you for your work on the bill, which is huge actually having School Libraries be part of legislation. One thing we are doing is looking at that act and talking to librarians and schools about what that means practically because a room in a school filled with books is not it. It is a start. There are a lot of Public Schools that over the last decade lost their School Librarians and that has huge impact on students and faculty and teachers. A room with books is not a library. The heart of the school is that room with those books and a Certified School librarian who can make those connections among the materials with the students and the teachers. That is a huge piece of it. I should have said, dont mean to dominate the conversation but to the School Library it is so important for the student but also so important for the teachers because teachers have experts, expertise, content expertise in a certain issue but not all teachers, who are good teachers, really know how to integrate technology into their lesson plans, really know how to find interesting electronic resources that will enhance their lesson plans. That is the job of the School Librarian. If you have a School Librarian and the teacher is able to work with that librarian, every teachers classes are going to be better. When the class is more interesting more students Pay Attention. When more students Pay Attention they learn more. That is why it is so important for every class every year that you are in school to have access to that School Library and for every teacher in the school to have access to that School Librarian so that that librarian can enhance the Student Experience but also can enhance the curriculum and teachers ability to really teach in a 21 stoop century way. I want to chime in on what the Public Library is doing for the process, Public Libraries today are places of learning, where learning happens for people of all ages from birth through Senior Citizens but we do have a Major Initiative going on right now related directly to schools. We are participating in president obamas connect and initiative and this is to put a library card in the hands of every School Student in the county. Last spring we had a very positive partnership with gaithersburg elementary and every gaithersburg elementary student received a library card which allowed them to borrow books, come to our programs and use all Library Resources and in spring we kicked off the partnership for the whole district so there is over 150,000 students in our district, over 220 schools and we are working with those schools to make sure every student has a library card. We kicked it off with Elementary School students and we will move through middle and high school. One of the important things for us with this initiative is to recognize that learning takes place in all kinds of places. It can take place formally in the classroom but not all kids learn that way. Sometimes informal learning and handson learning is the way to attract those students. We offer a lot of different programs at Montgomery County. We have a lot of programs for them to learn about science, technology, engineering, the process of creation and making things. We also offer book clubs for kids to participate in, poetry writing, we have a wide variety of programs available and it is not only the School Students, we also offer things for students, people who mightve left school and are looking to get into another career. We have online courses for them to train for new careers and we are doing a lot recently in the workforce developed area and the library is one of the first places people come to if they are jobhunting and need to learn to work on a resume or how to find a job and it is through our programs and computers that they are able to gain access to new career paths. I also wanted to add that we are much more than books. Books i just the beginning. A lot of you would be surprised to see what Community Hubs we are today. We are all about collaboration and being a place for the community to come to gather. We offer a lot of meeting space and a lot of opportunities for people to come in and learn about new subject and find out about different ideas. That is great. I would like you to take away a lot of themes from today but one thing that makes sense to me that i alluded to earlier and we all touched on a little bit. Libraries are more than books. I have an Elementary School daughter, when she went to her first day of kindergarten, where is the library . We dont have a library, we have a media center. Why cant we call it a library . It is more than books. Back in the stone age when i was a kid it was more than books then too. There is nothing new under the sun. We could probably spend the rest of the day talking about technology, what is going on. Anyone did we miss any piece of the technology to talk about . I can tell you what we are doing in Montgomery County with technology. We have opened two Digital Media labs. They are focused on helping teens gain Digital Literacy skills, ready for 21 stoop century workforce and in those Technology Labs teens have access to software and technology they may not of been able to afford on their own so they can create music, record videos. We have 3d printing which most people dont have their own 3d printer at home. They can see a demo of how it works and they can also learn how to design their own 3d creation. They also offer a lot of clinics and services for people to learn to use wireless devices. That is the way we really Bring Technology to everybody because a lot of people are making the transition from print to using an e reader or ebook or somebodys kid gave them their old ipad and they are learning to use it. We provide the personal connection for people so that they can learn to use the new technology. The 3d printer is more than just a toy. A 3d printer is crucial for entrepreneurs and innovators working on trying to come up with new inventions and that sort of thing. They can use a 3d printer to create their first creation as they take it to try to sell a business or business idea. As far as innovators and entrepreneurs go having that 3d printer is crucial for them to be more successful. We know in the 21st century that Small Business is where all of the new jobs are coming so having those innovators and entrepreneurs have access at the library to this free resource which really allows them to jump ahead, to move forward with their inventions is really important. If you havent seen a 3d printer in action, it is fascinating, really amazing. Something i want to talk about, we talked a lot about this is new, this is new, we talked a little bit online, what is the same . What are the things that are still the same . It is not your Fathers Library but there are a lot of good things that exist that have always existed. What would you point out . One of the things we talk about is the third space, this theory that most people have two major places, their home and adults working for kids, school. It is important on an emotional and sociological level to have a third place at a thirdplace is starbucks or a community center. Many communities the Public Library is that third space where you are not in school or at work or at home with your family but you can find inspiration, you can find a 3d printer or a quiet spot to sit down and talk about a great new book. That service, that important third piece of modern life that is so important is still the same and Library Still provide that space for people and we still have many books and materials in addition to the cool programs and technology and 3d printing, there are many many books and it is a great di. Achieve browsing an online site. You walk through the stacks and find a display or something and discover a new author or collection of poetry or whatever it is at your library and that is something really special and important that is never going aw another thing is a personal connection with the Library Staff in the library. Library st but i find people that worked in libraries really does care about those customers that they are serving and Customer Services the first point of concern they want to reassure everybody thatt comes in the door feels welcome to get access to the information and resources that they need. What has unchanged is the library and in every library. Is the library and that is treated to serve you in thee best way that you need. What has changed is the service so libraries have always offered story time but now we have morere targeted story time. We hobble lease offered helping parents and encouraging them to read ite to their children but now we teach the caregivers have to affectively read to their children. It might change but improving upon those classic lessons that are sooving upon to important to give up of Building Block because it is so important for everything in life you are a good reader and enjoy reading that is the libraries are about to enjoy and learn. Our andy always have the wonderful warm feeling withat an activity you can fall back on and enjoy whether 10t ir minutes reading the newspaper or three or four hours with your favorite novel is always there for you. Readers advisory has theg reader in french if you and then of course, of that melinda of mind goes blank the president is nominated and heads of the baltimore library. Will she be confirmed . Yes. [applause] a fabulous librarian she will bring to that job, new energy and new ideas. So this country is in for a treat because she industry is the librarian of congress is a leader of the unitedin states than to the rest of the world to show other countries how great libraries are in the United States and to open them up in give ideas how they can ideat aspire to americas version of the library. Give me a couple things that the people dont know a couple of hidden gems. We had 21 locations and if you have not visited it we heautiful. N. V. Have touched on this before but come on i yancey what we have to offer we have a branch of mind 24 hours a day available wherever you are as low as you have your library card. If any event learned how to talk like a pirate. [laughter] or to a class is to help you prepare for eight Career Change your project neededlp to repasses. To head with the driver education is given the Library System to take skills behind the and last year we started the online readers to Advisory Service i chhis is one of the long list hings we really do enjoy a providing that service you have to send them an email in the lastth thing i will mention is ever is right around the corner that will kick off june 1st of program for everyone babies all the way through adults there is something for everyone with an online component you did person component as well. Hooked. For those in the viewingcheca audience there is a Reading Program in every Community Across the country and please enroll your children and the local summer Reading Program. We are a little spoiled not onlyarea. With local librarys one of the greatest if not the greatest event the library is the oldest culturalnstitutioi institution, and if you have visited the library ofary of cos congress . So i went to ask the kids how many miles of shelving hold the librarys books . How many miles . 2000 . That is pretty good. Give 40,000 . Now why will disappoint you. 838 miles. Pretty huge. 40 million photographs. If you know, of the iconic kn photograph migrant mother may not know that 170,000 photographs from the depression era from the Armed Services administration. The library also has the of abrah of the Abraham Lincoln from when he was assassinated was in his pocket a linen handkerchief and a Brown Leather wallet containing nine newspaper clippings in the 5 confederate no and you can see a three dimensional digital expedition on the i willte. One more is the library has five instruments one from stradivari from the stradivarius collection. Ry. They said they should not be displayed as relics but they are pulled out the erotically offered to professional musicians to play in concerts open to the public. Flute collec there is also nearly 1700 flutes in the collection at the library of congress. And one other the Worlds Largest of collection of comic books. Thats great. Is the Library Journal is a great source. But to educate yourself you cannot do better. Although they would not be opposed to use subscribing. But what can we all do you even the tv world to support our libraries . Is there a plate to support that library of congress . What can we do . We need your help because libraries are expensive although a good investment, they are expensive. 16,400 Public Libraries in the country almost 100,000 libraries so that takes a lot of investment. You can go to our web site. There is the button for the legislative Action Center that will link you directly we are not wealthy people of we depend on grassroots. Grassrt normal people picking up the phone or ealing their member of congress are senator or governor to say we want you to support libraries. Not just that you love them because that gets you nothing but we need support that the bills are passed in the appropriation for us when the mayor cut the budget he doesnt cut the Library First but last. They are nice things to have we are essentials to make sure everybody in the community can have the best possible. That and resp so Congress Needs to respect thousaoing forward. That takes hundreds and thousands of calls from people like us. I could not have said it better. A great point. Does anybody have a question . O thank you thanks for your comment about dr. Carla i love to hear your response to that another thing about the Montgomery County Library System which is important here. One of three People Living here were boarded another country, so here we have the English Conversation Club where we teach immigrants english folk them learn the, hep culture war get a drivers license and become citizens. Started to broadcaster meetings live we have had thousands around the world watching the meetings from the county library in its. Y one of the best things is the Library System with an expanding and never variety of services had the make dash mission not be too vague or a catchall . New Strategic Plan the mission is to provideli Lifelong Learning for peoples s is regardless of what type of format and whether thats an takes place or in person so even though we may deliver those services haswe doa changed in you can see how we try to better reach the community. A quick second to thank talk aody we could go on forever to becky from the library of congress, mary ellen and the american in Library Association go to the web site and helps any way that you can. Such as books are but graphic novels are films or audio books