By Alyssa M. Mandel

Because library patron records are now electronic, the risk of invasion of patron privacy is greater than ever before. Combined with the scope of the PATRIOT Act, which gives government investigators the authority to examine library records under certain circumstances, it is more important than ever that library staff be well-informed about privacy and how to protect it (Coyle, 2002).

Coyle (2002) recommends these steps as those necessary for overall privacy maintenance:
•Review state laws related to library records
•Review institutional (i.e. county, college, city) policy about records management
•Review the privacy policy of the library itself
•Conduct a comprehensive audit of the record-keeping system
•Meet regularly with library staff to review policies and procedures
•Designate one person to act as the privacy officer in charge of keeping up to date with changes in law and revisions to the privacy policy
•Promote privacy literacy among patrons within the library (Coyle, 2002).

These steps ensure that the policy in place is in concordance with local laws and institutional policy practices; that the policy is regularly revisited to maintain its currency; that it is well-understood by staff and most importantly, that library patrons understand their privacy is important and will be safeguarded as much as possible. Chmara (2001) recommends that libraries consult with attorneys when drawing up new policies or revising existing ones, to ensure that they comply with state law. Coyle (2002) points out that state laws were often written before the advent of the computer age and so how those laws relate to electronic information is sometimes open to interpretation. Chmara’s (2001) suggestion would free librarians from trying to be interpreters of law and instead allow them to draft appropriate policies that are legally sound.

Kaufman (2002) cites an example in which failure to appropriately circulate library policy and practice nearly resulted in an invasion of privacy at Columbia University. In 1987, FBI agents attempted to intimidate a science library clerk into providing them with information about the reading habits of people with foreign accents. The agents claimed they were aiming to educate librarians about the dangers of allowing readers to piece together potentially dangerous information based on what they could read in the library (Kaufman, 2002). This strikes at the true heart of intellectual curiosity, the very thing that causes the “chilling effect”: that we are judged on the basis of what we read. Preserving reader privacy must be at the core of what libraries do.

Chmara, T. (2001). Privacy and confidentiality issues in providing public access to the Internet. Library Administration and Management 15(1), 20-22.
Coyle, K. (2002). Make sure you are privacy literate. Library Journal 127(16), 55-57.
Kaufman, P. (2001). New encroachments recall old ones. Library Journal 127(16), 57.

By: Chezree Khandani 

The Dewey Decimal Classification scheme was first developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876. Today, the DDC is the most widely used classification system in 135 countries and has been translated into 30 languages. The problem with the DDC is that it is hardly consistent with many of the social changes that have taken place since the 19^th century, particularly in terms of the plurality of religion, language and literature. Even today, this classification system is still governed by the Christian and Western biases from that particular era (Rubin, 2004).

Kua (2004) argues that such a classification system is a dangerous and threatening problem because it “valorizes some point of view and silences another” (p. 256). Such categorization is a reflection on how some individuals arrange the order of things by creating a hierarchical scheme where one culture is deemed superior to another (Kua, 2004). Read the rest of this entry »

By: Chezree Khandani

Democracy Defined:

Democracy is best described as a way of respecting human rights for the whole of society. Each vote shares an equal value and each voice merits the equal right to be heard. Democracy is further based on the fundamental principle of human equality that serves to protect the right to fair treatment for all of its members, including the right to information and the free flow of ideas and, by extension, to be able to express ones own ideas in turn (Byrne, 2004).

As a democratic organization, the library has a responsibility to provide free and equal access to information to all members of society. The library serves the public by providing the widest possible range of opinions and ideas available, so that each individual has the opportunity to learn and to be informed. Because democracy invests supreme power in the people, libraries provide the information to its citizens so that every segment of society can make the decisions that are necessary to govern themselves, while resisting the threat of ignorance and conformity (de la Pena McCook & Phenix, 2006). Moreover, librarians demonstrate their commitment to defending intellectual freedom and equitable access to resources by providing information that reflects the plurality of society. Through institutional practice, the library resists any form of censorship; it promotes equitable access to all without discrimination for any reason, and protects the individual right to privacy and confidentiality (Byrne, 2004). Read the rest of this entry »

by Vanessa Rivera

One of the guidelines for providing ethical service to patrons as defined by the ALA is that librarians should provide equal access of information to all patrons. The challenge for librarians in America is providing equal access to the millions of citizens that English is their second language or do not speak English at all. The New York times reported that by the year 2042 ethnic and racial minorities will likely be the majority of the population in the Unites States. By the middle of this century the amount of immigrants that will migrate to the U.S. is projected to rise to 2 million which means that these immigrants will make up 15 percent of the population. These immigrants will not all speak English and this will provide a challenge for the libraries that serve these diverse populations (Hoffert, 2008).

The first way libraries can provide service for multicultural and ethnic populations is to buy material in different languages. Libraries need to research the demographics of their communities and decide which languages they need to buy materials in. Currently Spanish is the most important to libraries. So far 98% of libraries that hold non-English material include Spanish material in their collections. Spanish may be one of the top languages but it is not the only one. Among the popular languages are: Polish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Ukrainian, Serbian, Croatian, German, Italian and French. The language with the second highest demand is currently Chinese. Libraries need to ensure that they are closely monitoring the demographics of their community and supplying material in the languages that are in demand (Hoffert, 2008).

Another part of providing equal access to all patrons is finding staff that is multilingual. There are several benefits to hiring staff that can speak in these different languages. The staff can help communicate with patrons that do not speak English. The staff can also help with building a collection and cataloging it into the correct subject headings. It can be difficult for a library to find qualified people who speak other languages to hire. It may be beneficial for the library to encourage the present staff to learn a new language by paying for the language courses (Hoffert, 2008).

With changing demographics of the United States librarians have to adapt. Libraries need to focus on acquiring material in popular languages and find staff that can help support patrons that cannot speak English. To provide excellent service as the ALA ethics subscribes libraries need to ensure that they are addressing the concerns of their multicultural and ethnic patrons (Hoffert, 2008).

Reference:
Hoffert, Barbara. (2008). Immigrant Nation. Library Journal; 133:14, 34-36.

by Vanessa Rivera

Ethical service is defined by the American Library Association (ALA) as “appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests” (ALA Council 2008).

Patrons tend to define good service on the amount of time they had to wait, quality of collection and the knowledge of the staff. Every time a patron visits a library the library has an opportunity to create a bond of loyalty with a patron. Libraries are just like any other service base industry in this regard, every patron is a chance to create a lifelong loyal customer. All it takes is great service (Martin, 2009).

This article provided some interesting ethical questions about service in a library to ponder. Using the ALA definition of ethical service as a guideline to provide some insight into ethical dilemmas that librarians face there are some answers included to the questions (Martin, 2009).

What does the library staff do to bring customers back and send them away happy (Martin, 2009)?

Does a library have control on how their customers feel? If libraries handled their patrons as retail managers handle their customers, then their focus would always be on service. Patrons are concerned with efficiency in libraries. Libraries need to have a well trained staff with enough staff to provide service efficiently to all patrons. Many libraries have discovered that adding amenities to the library building also attracts patrons (Siess, 2003). These amenities include computer terminals, television and coffee shops. The dilemma with offering all these to patrons is that somehow the library has to pay for all of this. How can a library provide great customer service within the boundaries of their budget? All of these services would be great to offer to every patron, but there has to be financial support for the library to afford these services.

Is the library leadership conveying philosophically and by example that customer service is important (Martin, 2009)?

In the new Index of Library Public Service to measure service a library provides LJ interviewed library administrators and discovered that the administrators that focus on service had libraries that ranked higher in service then other libraries. This shows that there is a high correlation between what library management finds important and what librarians will focus on. For libraries to provide great customer service they need to ensure that every member of the staff is focused on providing great service (Lyons, 2009).

References:
American Library Association Council. 2008. Code of Ethics of the American Library Association, (accessed July 11, 2009).

Lyons, Ray and Lance, Keith Curry. (2009). America’s Star Libraries: The LJ Index of Public Library Service 2009. Library Journal; 134:3, 26-33.

Martin, Anne M. (2009). Leadership: Integrity and the ALA Code of Ethics. Knowledge Quest; 37:3, 6-11.

Siess, Judith. (2003). A Coffee Shop in the Library? One-Person Library; 20:6, 3-5.

By Alyssa M. Mandel

The USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law in October 2001 in response to what many saw as a government failing to collect enough information from a variety of sources to keep the American people safe (Pike, 2007). Its intent was to allow government agencies to expand their information-gathering methods. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act is usually the part of the provision that gives librarians the most pause, for it is Section 215 that allows investigators to obtain secret warrants allowing them to examine a variety of documents, including patron records at libraries.

A predecessor to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act are National Security Letters (NSLs), which originally were intended to give investigators the opportunity to examine documents relevant to acts of foreign intelligence. However, the PATRIOT Act expanded the scope of NSLs to allow them to be used to target US citizens as well as foreign agents (Pike, 2007).

After the initial shock and horror of 9/11 wore off, for many people the shock and horror that accompanied the broadly invasive potential of the PATRIOT Act also wore off. It seems that much of the public, with the exception of the information community, simply forgot about it unless some major new event brought it to the fore again.

Among librarians, however, the invasive nature of the act remained clear. In July 2005, George Christian, executive director of a Connecticut consortium called Library Connection, was served with an NSL requesting all the access logs of any person who used a specific computer at one of the branches managed by Library Connection (Matz, 2009). Christian noted that the letter was dated two months prior to it being served and it was addressed to a subordinate. This suggested to Christian that it was not urgent nor very well-researched (Matz, 2008). Christian refused, and the ACLU filed suit on behalf of Library Connection to force the debate into a more public sphere. The case is now known as Doe vs. Gonzalez. (Matz, 2008). Ultimately, Christian and ACLU prevailed: the FBI dropped its NSL request and rescinded the gag order that accompanied it and prevented Christian from discussing the matter publicly (Coolidge, 2009).

Congress renewed the PATRIOT Act in March 2006, with what Matz calls a “new flavor, [but the] same old aftertaste” (Matz, 2008, p. 81). Essentially it allows government investigators the same scope to examine records of many kinds, including patron library records; it is simply a repackaging of the previous Act (Matz, 2008).

Though most of the PATRIOT Act has now become law, Section 215 is one of two areas of the act that is actually open to review through December 31 of this year (Coolidge, 2009). Perhaps after the sun sets on the last day of 2009, a new day will dawn, one in which the intellectual curiosity of the nation’s readers is more assured.

References
Coolidge, K. (2009) The USA patriot act revisited. AALL Spectrum, 13(8), 23-25. retrieved July 9, 2009 from Library Literature and Information Science Full Text.

Matz, C. (2008). Libraries and the USA patriot act: Values in conflict. Journal of Library Administration, 47(3/4), 69-87. Retrieved July 9, 2009 from OCLC FirstSearch.

Pike, G. (2007) The PATRIOT Act illuminated. Information Today, 24(5), 17-18. Retrieved July 9, 2009 from EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier.

by Vanessa Rivera

A new assessment tool for public libraries has been created, the Index of Public Library Service. LJ created this assessment to measure the quality of service libraries provide for their patrons. The libraries are ranked by star tiers: 5 star, 4 star, 3 star and so on. The libraries rankings are based on 2006 data reported by local libraries to their state library agencies and compiled by the institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). There is always room for improvement when it comes to using statistical information to rank any attribute, but this new assessment is a start to get libraries pointed in the right direction and get them focused on service (Fialkoff, 2009).

There are several categories that contribute to libraries providing five star service to their patrons. The goal of the assessment is to measure these attributes that contribute to the library obtaining a five star ranking and guide other libraries in making decisions that will help them provide great service to their patrons. One of the contributing factors is the community that the library serves. The demographics that a library serves contribute to the type of service the library provides. Libraries in highly educated and influential areas have patrons that visit the library more frequently and provide better funding to the library. Libraries that serve a demographic of patrons that visit the library more frequently have a better political position to ensure the funding and continual running of the library (Lyons, 2009).

A factor that contributes to libraries’ service is organization and funding. Many of the ranked libraries have secure funding even in this turmoil time. These libraries are securely funded and do not have to compete with other government agencies to get funding. These libraries are not afraid to try new endeavors and take risks. This assessment shows that patrons benefit from libraries that are securely funded. Many of the five star rated libraries are organized in a fashion that benefits their patrons. Books are bought and organized in accordance with patrons that the library serves (Lyons, 2009).

A major influence on how a library views patrons and the service they provide is the people that run the library. When LJ interviewed the administrations of the high ranked libraries, they noted that the libraries’ administrations all had common characteristics. All of the different administrations had one major focus; they focused their librarians on providing great service to their patrons. The administrations made it clear to their librarians that providing great service to the patrons was the number one goal. Without that focus they would not be ranked as five star libraries (Lyons, 2009).

This assessment is not flawless, but it is designed to choose the libraries that provide the best service to their patrons. This assessment can also provide proof that funding, administration and library organization all contribute to the service a library provides. There are already plans to improve how accurate this assessment can indicate a library that provides great customer service and define what creates great customer service in a library. The most important part of this assessment is that it brings into focus what is important in the library, service to patrons (Fialkoff, 2009) .

References:
Fialkoff, Francine. (2009). Better than Hennen. Library Journal, 134:3,8.
Lyons, Ray and Lance, Keith Curry. (2009). America’s Star Libraries: The LJ Index of Public Library Service 2009. Library Journal, 134:3, 26-33.

In 2005 Book Storage Module 2 opened as an addition to the Library’s state of the art preservation facility at Fort Meade (Finberg, 2006). This facility will extend the life of government books, documents, and periodicals from 40 to 240 years. There are 13 more of these modules being planned for the future. Stephen J. Herman, chief of the Collections, Access, Loan and Management (CALM) stated the over crowded conditions on Capital Hill where the annual intake of more than 350,000 volumes stack up in the Library buildings, needed this new module (Fineberg, 2006). Module 2 will hold 2 million books in the 12,000 square foot facility. The environmental conditions will include temperature at a steady 50 degrees and the humidity at 30 percent. There are particle and gas filters in the air system to filter out air pollutants and special sodium vapor lighting to eliminate ultra-violet rays. All collections have security and fire systems directly linked to Fort Meade (Fineberg, 2006). This endeavor took many partnerships, including the Army Corps of Engineers as well of many local architects.
Having enough storage facilities has been an issue for the Library since its inception in 1800, when there were 740 volumes and three maps, the estimate is now over 130 million items (Fineberg, 2006). Hopefully funding will be approved to continue building these important facilities. Without them much of our current history will be lost to future citizens,

Fineberg, G. (2006). Storage Behemoth Rises at Fort Meade: Second Book Module Will Preserve 2 Million Books.Library of Congress Information Bulletin, 64(6/7/8), 136-7. Retrieved 11 July 2009, from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database.

by Vanessa Rivera

In this current environment of cutting cost and downsizing libraries, administrators have started to hire paraprofessionals to not only shelve books but to run the reference desk of libraries. What does this mean for patrons? The American Library Association (ALA) states in its code of ethics that librarians should strive to provide the highest quality of service to all patrons. If paraprofessionals are running the reference desk, is that a violation of the ALA code of ethics? (Mckinzie, 2002)

Reference Librarians have a master’s degree in library and information science. They are trained to handle inquires from patrons and know the difference between questions they should answer and questions that require a professional in that field such as a lawyer or a doctor. Librarians understand how to help student’s with research papers without doing their work for them. They understand and follow the ethics that the ALA has given for library service. Librarians help answer questions on the phone, internet and live chats. Reference librarians also help maintain the library’s collection of reference books, ensuring that the material is kept up to date and relevant. Paraprofessionals are trained to work in a library but they do not have a LIS degree and they are not librarians. With such a vast difference in these two groups why are paraprofessionals being used to staff reference desks? Mainly it is the cost of running the reference desk. A reference librarian cost more than a paraprofessional. Recently a large amount of money has been cut from libraries’ budgets and administrators are attempting to save money in any manner possible (McKinzie, 2002).

The library may save money using paraprofessionals but are they trading integrity for economy? Librarians are professionals; they have been trained to handle reference questions and provide excellent service to their patrons. They strive to follow the ALA ethical code and ensure that the service they provided abides by these expectations. Can all of this be said about paraprofessionals?

Reference librarians are not the on being replaced by paraprofessionals; but also reading coaches, media specialist, and catalogers have all started to be replaced by people with no degree in these fields because it saves money (McKinzie, 2002). There are very few cases where paraprofessionals are better trained then the people they are replacing. If the goal of the library is to give their patrons the best service possible then it might be time to reconsider this practice.

References:
McKinzie, Steve. (2002). For Ethical Reference, Pare the Paraprofessionals. American Libraries 33:9, 42-43.

by Vanessa Rivera

Has technology made service at libraries better or worse? Technology has made great improvements in library service; it has improved record keeping, helped with interlibrary loans, and has helped create collaboration between libraries. Patrons no longer have to visit a library to get the information they need, they can go online and order the information and have it delivered to their house (Lancaster, 2000). Despite all of these technological advances, has the library really improved the service it provides for its patrons?
Libraries help patrons find the information they need. The problem is that with all of the technological advances patrons have access to more information than ever but it is not necessarily information that they need. Card catalogues have been replaced with electronic catalogues which give patrons access to all the titles the library carries and there are thousands of search engines but still patrons do not always find the information that they seek. Many times patrons feel that these services provide more information than they can understand and they go through a sensory overload of information. There is also no guarantee that information patrons find is accurate and current. Some patrons find the electronic catalogs harder to use then the card catalogs they replaced. One example of this is a library in Paris where the car catalog was referred to as an “extraordinary computerized obstacle course that prevents all but the most determined from obtaining any of the 11 million tomes stored.”(Lancaster, 2000) All of this information is useless if it does not answer the patron’s query. The service a library provides is not about the amount of information but the quality of information provided (Lancaster, 2000).
Providing service for patrons is not just about giving them access to thousands of books and a ton of information, it is about helping them find the information that they need. Electronic catalogs and search engines cannot replace a trained librarian. Librarians help their patrons narrow their searches and find information from dependable resources. Technology has helped us gain access to vast amounts of information, but it does not provide a filter to help patrons organize and decipher that information. Librarians must focus on ensuring the technological advances are actually helping patrons (Lancaster, 2000). Librarians need to learn about technology and make it a part of their library program, but they should not lose focus on the main idea which is to provide great service to their patrons.

Reference:
Lancaster, F.W. (2000). Second Thoughts on the Paperless Society. Library Journal 124:15,48-50.