Library and community interaction

At a meeting recently, there was talk about how we use technology to save time and supplies. By doing this we also seem to be getting farther away from our patrons. We send email notices, leave messages on answering machines and allow patrons to register for a library card online. It has been a long time since I knew the names of most of our patrons. There is an interesting article on this subject in the September 15, 2007, pg 37, Library Journal by Harold N. Boyer. He believes that the library should strive to be a "focal point for neighborhood interaction".

In my library, we are doing more programs for different segments of the community in an effort to bring more people into the library. Even if no one attends a program, the fact that we tried is good PR. Keeping our name out there in a positive way, is a good thing.

NYLA 2007 Last Day

Well, I finally made it to the last day of the conference. Of course, the first session I wanted to attend was at 8 am. It was Community Reads--Making Community Connections. My board has been thinking of doing this. I brought home lots of material on how other libraries managed their community reads. I then looked over the Poster Session. More info on community reads. I also picked up some material on the 3 Apples Award. We are working on this again this year. I went to the session on For Adults Only: Programming Tips and Tricks. Not much new but did get a list of helpful links. Then it was off to the Farewell Luncheon. The speaker was David Goldsmith who is a business forecaster. What will libraries be like in the future? He was very interesting. I wasn't able to stay for the whole speech so maybe someone else can fill me in.

Final thoughts -- I always learn something new. I came away feeling enthused, refreshed and inspired. I am ready to take on some new challenges and feel that I am better equipped to handle some old frustrations. Would I go to NYLA again? You bet.