Pictured: Professor Donald "Mack" Hassler, Liz Murphy, Ed Rossman & Cari Baker Dubiel
On Thursday May 6, 2010 the Twinsburg Library in Twinsburg, Ohio presented The Future of Libraries, Books, and Reading. The event occurred during the library's 100th anniversary celebration.
Three passionate presenters shared their perspective on the topic:
- Donald "Mack" Hassler, PhD- Professor of English at Kent State University (KSU).
- Liz Murphy-Owner of The Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio.
- Ed Rossman-Adult Services Librarian at Shaker Heights Public Library. He's also the author of Castles Against Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments.
Carrie Baker Dubiel, reference librarian at Twinsburg Library, moderated the discussion.
Dubiel began by asking the panel to define their vision of a library's future community role:
Rossman sees libraries as "champions of literacy." They have an increasing role to locate, evaluate, and communicate information. Libraries will also need to service patrons on three levels:
- Low Tech-One-on-one service, i.e. personal conversation. Asking about needs and past experiences. Not only talking to people in the library but out in the community. Doing outreach to book clubs PTO's chambers, anywhere people gather.
- Medium Tech-Creative use of print materials. Always having something on hand for "second chances" for them to request a good book. Using a website like "Fantastic Fiction" to print easy to read lists of an authors' work, so the patron can read a whole series.
- High Tech-Reaching Customers who are comfortable using computers, blogs, twitter, and any other Web 2.0 tools, including Library Thing.
Murphy believes bookstores and libraries should work together (the Summit County libraries in Hudson, Stow, and Twinsburg formed a consortium to better serve their communities). She thinks independent bookstores can survive by being attuned to industry changes. Google recently announced they'll start selling ebooks; and Murphy's Learned Owl will participate (Murphy prefers the term eReader to Kindle, as the latter is proprietary and exclusive). "Books will never go away," says Murphy.
Dubiel noted that libraries will continue to serve in both a physical and electronic capacity.
The panel also addressed reading trends:
Hassler's earned an impressive legacy at KSU. He's been on the faculty since 1965. He sees more of his students reading "formulaic fiction," like Michael Connelly. He believes more students are moving into the virtual world, thus removing themselves from books/papers he'd encourage them to read. He says students during the 1960's and 70's were more aggressive, confrontational and physical, which often got them in trouble. He sees today's online community more intellectually-based.
Rossman countered that in the last 5 years, he's seen more polarization of ideas on the Internet. This behavior can foster a variety of forms of violence too.
Q and A brought discussion on trends in Nonfiction reading:
Murphy says The Learned Owl is selling more History titles and Nonfiction than ever before. She endorsed the highly popular Little Bee by Chris Cleave and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
American God by Neil Gaiman was selected for One Book, One Twitter.
Amish-niche author, Linda Castillo will be signing books at The Learned Owl, Tuesday, June 22 at 7 pm.
Literary aficionado and Learned Owl associate, Brad Davis hosts Ink, Pulp, and Caffeine Friday evenings at the book shop. You can follow Davis on Twitter: @thecolorblue.
Dubiel concluded the evening and thanked everyone for attending. She reminded patrons that "we're very fortunate to have local tax payer support as well as state funding."
In July, 2009, the Twinsburg Public Library was again ranked #1 by the Hennen Library Association for a library serving its population size-a fitting award during its Centennial celebration.
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