Our Libraries
October 22, 2008
Answers to 10 burning questions about how libraries work
Here are 10 library backroom secrets unmasked and revealed!
1. With so many wonderful books, magazines, DVDs, CDs and other items available, how do librarians decide what to buy?
All libraries have a policy outlining the focus for their purchases. There is usually something about quality and about materials representative of community interests. Often purchases are made from reviews.
2. How does the library know what it owns and how to find things?
Today, most libraries use computers and bar codes to keep track. Each new item is cataloged. This information is entered into the library's online catalog. Your library card also has a bar code. When you check out a book, the barcodes on the book and on your card are paired. In this way, the library knows who has what. Most public libraries use the Dewey Decimal System which serves as a location tool while grouping items on the same topic together.
3. Why do we need libraries when everyone has the Internet?
Libraries provide access to a wide range of culture, education and recreation as well as information in a human environment. Libraries are a community destination, a place for individuals and families. There are programs at the library as well as expert help. The librarian is a font of information with advice on the next book to read, how to find health information, or even how to use the Internet more effectively. Most libraries have free high-speed Internet access. Library usage has increased every year for the last five years. Historically as the economy goes down, library usage goes up.
4. Who pays for the library?
You do. In Illinois, public libraries are supported by property taxes.
5. But I thought it was the "free" public library?
It's free in the sense that you can freely borrow items.
6. I pay my local property taxes but when I went to the library closest to me, they wouldn't give me a card? In fact, they wanted to sell me a card!
It sounds like you live in an unincorporated area that does not support a library with property taxes. Unfortunately, about a million people in Illinois live in such areas.
7. Are all the people who work in the library librarians?
Technically, no. Only persons who have earned a masters degree in librarianship or information science are librarians. But lots of other people with related and supporting skills also work at the library.
8. How can I get a job at the library?
Ask! Go to the library where you'd like to work and ask about openings. In this area you can also find job ads in the weekly NSLS e-newsletter. The current issue can be accessed on the upper right section of the NSLS website, www.nsls.info. One way to get a library job is to volunteer. Then when openings are available, you'll hear about them first.
9. I asked for a book the library did not have. The staff got it for me but it came from the University of Illinois. How did that happen?
Libraries around the country and around the world cooperate. Thanks to shared computer catalogs, library staff can find libraries that own almost any item ever printed. Agreements among libraries enable the library to borrow what you need from another library.
10. Who really makes the decisions about the library? For example, who decides if the library is open on Sunday?
People in your community are either elected or appointed to serve as public library trustees. These are the folks who make the policies, including when the library will be open.
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Sarah Long's weekly column, Our Libraries, is published in the Chicago Daily Herald. The Herald is Chicagoland's third largest daily newspaper, with a circulation of approximately 128,000.
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