Answers to Go: The permanance of libraries

Dear Readers –

This will be the last “Answers to Go” column for a while. I am retiring at the end of the month and because summer is the library’s busiest time of the year and we have some vacancies (besides mine), we do not have the staff available to write the column until my position is hired. Today’s column is my “exit” column and 100% my opinion.

I volunteered and worked as a clerk at a library for 10 years before I got my Masters In Library and Information Science (MLIS) at the University of Texas Austin’s iSchool. At the time I was in school, libraries were under enormous pressure to demonstrate their importance to their communities. With the advent of the Internet and technology, people were certain that libraries would no longer be necessary. After all — just google it. The University of Texas even changed the name of their library school from “School of Library and Information Science” to “The iSchool.” This was an attempt to brand the school as current, relevant and to highlight its connection to the greater world of technology. This was, I believe, a hasty decision brought about by a change in school administration and a precipitous decision by university staff. In the words of Mark Twain, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” The upshot is this: Libraries are not going anywhere. The Internet is 40 years old, computers less than 80 years old and smartphones have been around for only 30 years. Libraries have been around over FIVE THOUSAND YEARS. It is ridiculous to think that recent advances will eliminate libraries rather than enhance them.

The idea that libraries are no longer necessary is a false narrative — a myth — perpetrated by those who have little or no idea what public libraries currently provide.

Here are a few more myths about public libraries and information:

• Libraries don’t have what I need. They are old-fashioned and irrelevant to my life.

My answer to that is… Have you even been to a library lately!? If you live in San Marcos, have you been to this library in the past two years!? If not — hold your tongue until you have visited. If you can’t come here in person, check out our services online at sanmarcostx.gov/library or visit our calendar page at sanmarcostx.libcal. com or call us at 512393-8200. Not only do we have materials to check out, but we produce over 100 programs a month — every month. Program staples like storytime are still provided (we offer at least four a week) but we have much more. Chess club, retirement and aging seminars, finance workshops, HVAC classes and accounting classes through ACC, mental health programs, technology programs, craft programs — the list goes on.

The San Marcos Public Library (SMPL) not only has thousands and thousands of things you can touch like books, magazines, DVDs and books on CD, but it also has thousands of digital books, audio books, magazines, newspapers and databases to use. Want the “New York Times?” Yes — you can get it digitally. Want to learn a new language like Spanish, Greek, Arabic or any one of 70 different languages? Yes — Mango Languages is for you.Want to research your history? Yes — Heritage Quest is for you. Want to work on your old car? Yes — Chilton’s database is for you. All this and more for the price of a library card (which for Hays County residents is free.)

• What about a space to meet, study, or just read?

SMPL has nine meeting rooms that can be utilized by the public (nonprofit) at no charge.

• I can’t get to the library when it is open. No one will help me, anyway. Balderdash. The library is open 70 hours a week, every day of the week. If you call us when we are open, a real human being will answer. Ask for the reference librarian (SMPL has nine librarians on staff) and get help with anything from filling out a government form, finding a job, how to use your phone, scanning paperwork, or anything in between. We very rarely tell people “No” or turn them away. This is the San Marcos model of librarianship.

• I need a quiet place and the library is just not quiet anymore. You are mistaken. Not only do we offer study spaces, but we even have a “silent” room. It was designed for quiet with baffling in the rafters and special exterior walls to maintain quiet. You may not talk in this room. While other places in the library may not be quiet — especially the children’s area — the quiet room and the study rooms are always quiet.

Ultimately, the public library does whatever is necessary to provide FREE information IN WHATEVER FORMS NECESSARY for our patrons.

Free and open access to information is essential to the health of our democracy and the public library is at the forefront of the struggle to provide this essential service. We will be here for many generations to come because we are not about books. We are about people. Always have been — always will be.

I suggest one article for you to read. It is from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is titled “The Complicated Role of the Modern Public Library” written by Jennifer Howard and found at neh.gov/article/ complicated-role-modern- public-library