A Public Library Culture to Complement Community Culture

Erica Gamble Management of Libraries & Information Centers Summer I June 2, 2011

Gamble The public library has a unique connection to its community's history, culture, and people. Individuals and organizations often turn to the library for information or support for facilitating both cultural and community services. Sarla Mugai describes how culture can form the foundation of an individual's lifestyle and personal choices: Different nations have different cultural heritages, which are values collectively held by a majority of the population (possibly differentiated by social classes), and these values are transferred from generation to generation through education, early childhood experiences in the family, schools, and through socialization in organizations and institutions.1 To ensure that the public library remains relevant to its community's dynamic culture (often comprised of many subcultures), the internal culture of the library must be adaptable, culturally inclusive, and encourage community participation. The Culture of a Community Peter Willmott states that community exists on three levels geography... attachment... and common interest.2 A geographic community includes individuals who interact with each other on a local basis, or citizens of a country who must conform to its laws. Communities connected by attachment include individuals who feel strong personal connections to each other (i.e. family and friends) and communicate in-person or by correspondence. Common interest (i.e. cultural tradition, religion, or hobbies) also creates communities of individuals. Therefore, the cultural patterns of a place-based community is framed by these three factors. The United States, comprised of a vast array of different religions, languages, and cultures, is symbolic of a true multicultural democracy with no universal traditions or language. The cultural heritage of the United States (after it was colonized by Europeans) is rooted in the ideas of freedom, equality, and representation in our society's government. Many immigrants to the United States share the common desires for equal rights, freedom of expression, and some

Gamble democratic power to shape the rules of society ideally, for the positive progress of the entire nation. Since the implementation of these lofty ideals centuries ago, the United States government continues to transform its educational and organizational culture to accommodate individuals from many diverse cultures around the world. The culturally inclusive attitude of the U.S. defines the present mission of our public library to meet the information needs of the multicultural community. As the U.S. provided other nations with a unique model for a free and diverse nation, the public library as information provider and local archive, meeting point for leisure, learning and entertainment, where people can socialize in a safe environment, gives the public library uniqueness among various institutions.3 The resources and services provided by U.S. public libraries are as diverse as the communities they serve. The Culture of the Library

In addition to understanding the diverse cultural contexts of their communities, librarians must understand the culture of their library in order to shape collections and services to meet the perpetually evolving information needs of their patrons. Libraries have many communities first their diverse user community, secondly the corporate or management community, thirdly their community of local service deliverers or partners. Each library staff team is another community.4 Of course the diverse needs of a multicultural patron community are priority. However, a public library with few neighborhood partnerships and a high-conflict, low communication stand-off between management and staff will find it difficult to offer patrons efficient service and relevant resources. Stueart and Moran paraphrase Edgar Schein's list of ways in which managers shape the internal culture of an organization: In addition to hiring individuals they think will fit into it, managers reinforce the organizational culture by (1) what they pay attention to; (2) the way they react to

Gamble critical incidents and crises; (3) how they allocate rewards; (4) the way they carry out role modeling and coaching; (5) what methods they use for selection, promotion, and removal; and (6) their various organizational rites, ceremonies, and stories. If an organization wishes to change its organizational culture, it has to restructure all of the factors listed previously.5

Sally Decker Smith highlights some of the underlying issues which can simultaneously harm the internal culture of the library and the public library's external relationships (i.e. local patrons, government partners, commercial partners).6 Our society is democratic, why should library management practice dictatorship? In 1970, branch librarian Marilyn Chandler stated that some library managers believe it is far easier to hide behind rules and regulations than it is to consider the community and its members as the most important thing at all times.7 Smith makes a case for universal empathy as she posts the anonymous viewpoints of the misunderstood library director and the overworked librarian. The candid viewpoints presented in Sally in Libraryland allows library directors and librarians in high-tension environments to swallow personal pride and consider the roll that each staff member plays in the larger cultural mission of the library. Maintaining a broad community perspective can help public libraries form neighborhood partnerships to enhance the cooperative culture of the local community. For example, the public library assists the government in communicating with its citizens. The United Kingdom's Minister of Culture, Margaret Hodge notes the key services that public libraries provide to their patron communities in helping people get online, improving literacy, providing services for families, helping people look for jobs, building community cohesion and libraries' flexible role in signposting all sorts of public initiatives and services.8 Thus, the government's cultural vision and programs are channeled through the public library in a cultural context relevant to the local citizens. Because public libraries are expected to partner with the government and local

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citizens, library managers are responsible for incorporating effective and open communication in the internal culture of the library. Before the public library can complement and improve the culture of the community, the library must first be based on an internal culture of trust, collaboration, and shared planning. The responsibility rests on the library administration to ensure that staff communities are able to safely communicate and collaborate; that is, if the administration wishes to both build a strong library culture and enhance the culture of the larger community that interacts with the public library. If a public library's culture cannot shape itself to the culture of its community, it will die a slow useless death.9 Changes in Library Culture One role of the public library is to preserve its community's history and culture. This involves enhancing a communal culture with complementary events and accessibility instruction in the library building. Public librarians must keep pace with the evolving online community culture. In this digital era, 24/7 information access and emerging technologies are augmenting the culture of our patron communities as well as traditional library culture. As our library patrons incorporate time-saving information and communication technology into their busy lives, so must the librarian. Michael Buckland, in his introduction to Redesigning Library Services: A Manifesto, discusses the digital era and how it might affect the culture of public libraries: [There] is currently a healthy awareness that major changes are likely and a recognition, for example, of some convergence between library services, computing services, and telecommunications services, of probable changes in the publishing world, and that library management is, at least in part, concerned as much with the management of service as with the management of books.10 When planning for the future, libraries (like any other organization) must acknowledge the four

Gamble pillars of sustainability environment, economic, the social and cultural.11 The city of Port Phillip in Victoria includes cultural sustainability... as a core aspect of all planning and the potential cultural impact of initiatives, programs and services is assessed.12 Public library managers can implement an annual social audit to evaluate the effectiveness of the library's community-driven services. A social audit may be defined as an in-depth scrutiny and analysis of the working of any public utility vis--vis its social relevance.13 Social audits are an invaluable tool for public libraries to use when deliberating how to develop, redesign, and improve library performance.14 To remain relevant in an era of global communication and online communities, public librarians must complement the 24/7 information needs of patrons who have integrated the Internet into their communities and culture. Continuing education programs such as Learning 2.0, designed by Helene Blowers, can help librarians familiarize themselves with the sharing culture facilitated by social network communities.15 Learning 2.0 is a twelve week online selfdiscovery training program designed to encourage library staff to explore new web-based technologies like blogs, wikis, and podcasts.16 The Learning 2.0 program is integrated into the staff culture of the library by a manager who also participates in the program. While the entire library team is working through the program, sharing their learning experiences on blogs, and commenting on their coworkers experiences, they are also building a stronger internal library culture and gaining knowledge about social tools relevant to library patron culture. Public library culture must expand globally to reach people remotely. Simultaneously maintaining desired community services and events at the library enhances unique community cultures onsite and online. Increasingly diverse patron needs and humanity's growing collective knowledge ensures that public library culture will continue to evolve. With the availability and

Gamble use of the Internet, the trends in current librarianship have become inherently international. It is obviously in a librarian's best interest to pick the practices and to discover novel approaches used in other cultures that provide the best possible solutions.17 In a time when certain

journalists cannot remember why public libraries exist, the culture of each public library must be open to experimenting with best practice solutions that are compatible with the culture of the community. When considering the future goals of a public library, asking patrons for input and communicating ideas with library staff is best practice. This way, the library manager can holistically assess the cultural sustainability of change. Conclusion John Michael Day states that the very nature of public libraries is to serve their general population in their targeted geographic area.18 The three levels of community geographic, attachment, and common interest require public librarians to know more about their community than its mere geographic area. A deeper understanding of the diverse cultures and special needs of library patrons' geographic and online communities provides librarians with the insight to develop culturally harmonious services that complement and enhance the existing community cultures. The organizational culture of a public library must be based upon a respectful culture of collaboration and communication in order to both remain stable and establish neighborhood partnerships. To ensure that the partnerships and objectives of the public library are culturally sustainable and societally relevant, library managers can implement annual social audits which allow libraries to measure their social and cultural impact on its patron community. If a public library finds that its patrons are online and librarians start feeling left behind, the Learning 2.0 program can be completed by both library managers and library staff to build stronger cultural ties among library staff members and discover an appreciation for

Gamble patrons' evolving learning culture. There should be no question of the societal relevance of the public library and its positive impact on the educational and social culture of the communities they serve. In many communities, the public library has lost touch with its local educational and social culture. Addie Powell provides timeless advice for public librarians facing this dilemma; in regards to library patrons and partners, ask them, watch them, respond to them, help them, and your library will become the busy place you want it to be.19

Gamble NOTES 1. Sarla R. Murgai. Motivation to Manage: A Comparative Study of Male and Female Library and Information Science Students in the United States of America, India, Singapore, and Japan. in International and Comparative Studies in Information and Library Science: A Focus on the United States and Asian Countries. eds. Yan Quan Liu and Xiaojun Cheng. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2008, 115. 2. Peter Willmott. Social Networks, Informal Care and Public Policy. London: Policy Studies Institute, 1986. 3. Aissa Issak. Public Libraries in Africa: A Report and Annotated Bibliography. Oxford, U.K.: International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), 2000, 17. 4. Sue Boaden. "Building Public Library Community Connections Through Cultural Planning." Australasian Public Library and Information Science 18, no. 1: March 2005, 29. 5. Robert D. Stueart and Barbara B. Moran. Library and Information Center Management. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2007, 151. 6. Sally Decker Smith. Sally In Libraryland. Illinois Library Association (ILA) Reporter, (April 2006), 18-22. 7. Marilyn Chandler. A Changing Library for a Changing Neighborhood. in Community Service: Innovations In Outreach At The Brooklyn Public Library. ed. Dorothy Nyren Curley. Chicago: American Library Association, 1970, 26.

8. Margaret Hodge. A Vision for Public Libraries. in The Modernisation Review of Public Libraries: A Policy Statement. London, England: Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, (March 2010), 3. 9. Chandler, 24. 10. Michael Buckland. Introduction. Redesigning Library Services: A Manifesto. American Library Association, 1997. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Library/Redesigning/introduction.html 11. Boaden, 30. 12. Ibid, 31. 13. Kurian Thomas. Social Audit. Institutions of Democratic Governance Network, 2010. http://www.idgnet.org/pdfs/Social%20Audit.pdf

Gamble 14. Issak, 15. 15. Helene Blowers. Learning 2.0: 23 Things You Can Do To Become Web 2.0 Savvy. Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/ 16. Ellen Forsyth, Mylee Joseph, and Leanne Perry. "Learning about Learning 2.0: Evaluating the New South Wales Public Library Learning 2.0 Program." Australian Academic & Research Libraries 40, no. 3 (September 2009), 173.

17. Yan Quan Liu and Xiaojun Cheng. International and Comparative Studies in Information and Library Science: A Focus on the United States and Asian Countries. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2008, xix. 18. John Michael Day. "Libraries Serving the General Public - Supporting Human Culture and Values." IFLA Conference Proceedings (November 2003), 2. 19. Addie Powell. Ask the People They Know Where It Is. in Community Service: Innovations In Outreach At The Brooklyn Public Library. ed. Dorothy Nyren Curley. Chicago: American Library Association, 1970, 42.

Gamble BIBLIOGRAPHY All URLs accessed July 13, 2011. Blowers, Helene. Learning 2.0: 23 Things You Can Do To Become Web 2.0 Savvy. Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/ Boaden, Sue. "Building Public Library Community Connections Through Cultural Planning." Australasian Public Library and Information Science 18, no. 1: March 2005, 29-36. Buckland, Michael. Introduction. Redesigning Library Services: A Manifesto. American Library Association, 1997. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Library/Redesigning/introduction.html Curley, Dorothy Nyren., eds. Community Service: Innovations In Outreach At The Brooklyn Public Library. Chicago: American Library Association, 1970, 24-30, 39-42. Day, John Michael. "Libraries Serving the General Public - Supporting Human Culture and Values." IFLA Conference Proceedings (November 2003), 1-5.

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Forsyth, Ellen, Mylee Joseph, and Leanne Perry.. "Learning about Learning 2.0: Evaluating the New South Wales Public Library Learning 2.0 Program." Australian Academic & Research Libraries 40, no. 3: 2009, 172-191. Hodge, Margaret. A Vision for Public Libraries. In The Modernisation Review of Public Libraries: A Policy Statement. London, England: Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, March 2010. Issak, Aissa. Public Libraries in Africa: A Report and Annotated Bibliography. Oxford, U.K.: International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), 2000. Liu, Yan Quan, and Xiaojun Cheng. International and Comparative Studies in Information and Library Science: A Focus on the United States and Asian Countries. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2008. Smith, Sally Decker. Sally In Libraryland. ILA Reporter, April 2006, 18-22. Stueart, Robert D., and Barbara B. Moran. Library and Information Center Management. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2007, 149-151. Thomas, Kurian. Social Audit. Institutions of Democratic Governance Network, 2010. http://www.idgnet.org/pdfs/Social%20Audit.pdf Willmott, Peter. Social Networks, Informal Care and Public Policy. London: Policy Studies Institute, 1986.