Interview with a Public or Academic Librarian
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Mod 1 08/31/2014 Interview with a Public or Academic Librarian Interview with Amy Alexander - Teen and Reference Librarian - 08/28/2014 Buckhead Branch - Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System - 269 Buckhead Avenue - Atlanta, GA 30305 On August 28th, I visited the Buckhead Public Library, one of the 34 branches of the Atlanta Fulton Public Library System (AFPLS) and interviewed Amy Alexander, the Teen and Reference Librarian. Non only this meeting was a great opportunity to connect with our school neighbor public library, but was also very instructive to understand challenges and occasions these two types of libraries meet when trying to collaborate. Even though school and public libraries missions, resources and programs are different, school and public librarians have similar role and responsibilities as collection development manager to meet the needs of their own communities and to optimize their resources both in time and in budget constraints. As stated in the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System (AFPLS) website, the mission of AFPLS is to serve "as a cultural and intellectual center that enriches the community and empowers all residents with essential tools for lifelong learning." According to this mission, the Buckhead Public Library opened 5 days a week from 10am to 8pm, serves children, teens and adults of an upper class neighborhood and offers a great variety of resources and programs: books, DVD, e-Books, an e-Campus including multiple databases and a training center as well as weekly events for adults and children (Story time, ESOL and Spanish classes, exhibitions...) According to Amy Alexander, the main category of patrons to visit the library are adults and seniors interested in recreational resources but surprisingly more than 60 % of the circulated items are from the juvenile collection. "In this area, parents are very involved in their children's education and development. They come and check out resources for their kids," she said. As a consequence the collection priority at this branch focuses on fiction books and e-books for the Adults, Children and Young Adults collections. The branch autonomy for buying resources is limited as purchases are made at the Fulton and Atlanta districts level. Branch librarians may allocate their own but drastically cut budgets to develop floating collections which consist to buy 5 to 40 copies of best sellers for a year long period to comply with patrons demand and to reduce holding queues. In a school library, main patrons are students and teachers. As stated in the New Jersey Library Association article, school libraries mission is to "prepare students to become effective, efficient, and ethical users of the information and ideas, capable of lifelong learning, problem solving, knowledge creation and communication." This mission fully complies with our school mission at Atlanta International School. To fulfill this mission, the collection priorities go first to support the curriculum and the reading program. Fiction and nonfiction books are still our priority format for elementary students while e-resources and e-books have the main focus in secondary school. The last few years, our library budget decreased. This encouraged us to analyze better our patrons’ needs and cut resources non-used. Even though school and public libraries serve different patrons and seem to have different priorities, there are many opportunities of cooperation and collaboration, which might help them to make the best use of their resources and to serve better their communities. Asking Amy Alexander if the Buckhead library had collaboration projects with school libraries, her first and immediate answer was: "Schools don't have TIME!" This statement reinforces Lauren Collen's comment about the barriers to collaboration "Often-mentioned barriers are lack of time, interest, and support. Lack of time is understandable - Many libraries are understaffed, stretched thin by lack of funding and a demand for their services; they do what they can" (18). Amy continued saying they have no time at a branch level to investigate curriculum and are not really involved in students achievements. However following our discussion, it appears the Buckhead library offers several initiatives and programs targeting school libraries, which can totally fit in collaboration projects-types and impact students achievements. Indeed, the librarians run Library Cards Drives in schools to encourage students to get a library account. They organize summer reading programs for children and middle school students and SAT/ACT preps for junior and senior students. Digging even more into collaboration opportunities, it showed that probably the most efficient and visible initiatives are run at a district level. Indeed, there is an AFPLS e-Campus coordinator visiting school libraries to present and train school media specialists on e-resources purchased at the district level such as databases, eBooks collections, professional development and student training center available at school and at home for students and adults having a library card. Galileo, the Georgia's Virtual Library, GALE Cengage Learning resources and Overdrive are the main components of this e-Campus. These virtual resources are definitely the best tools to promote collaboration between school and public libraries and to share resources despite location and access considerations. It could be definitely a response to taxpayers who question the duplication of services in the two library types. In this context, Library Card Drives organized at the public library branch level are a really important component of this collaboration initiative. This example probably confirms Collen's comment: "It seems like the public library offered replacement programs for what was already being done in the schools, thereby creating a duplication of services. Perhaps alternative programs that extend and expand on what schools already provide would be a better public library approach" (24). Sharing virtual resources is definitely a good example of useful and meaningful collaboration at a large city scale as Atlanta. In conclusion, although the mission and the communities served are different in school and public libraries, there are many opportunities to develop efficient collaboration in a meaningful and complementary manner. Both school and public librarians have the responsibility and the willingness to serve their patrons needs the best they can with the resources allocated but budget cuts make this mission difficult. Collaboration is a key element to help both libraries to survive and provide the services essential in the 21st century information world. Sometimes collaboration initiatives might be seen inadequate or duplicate ones. But they might be really powerful if based on real need analysis and coordinated at a district level to give an appropriate and optimized answer to the whole community. In this respect, communication between the different partners is crucial. Works Cited "About AFPLS." Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014. Collen, Lauren. "Critical Collaboration: Public Library and School District Partnerships in Illinois." ILA Reporter 31.4 (2013): 14-18. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 31 Aug. 2014. Collen, Lauren. "How Does Your Garden Grow?" ILA Reporter 31.4 (2013): 24-25. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 31 Aug. 2014. New Jersey Library Association. "Fact Sheet: About Public and School Libraries." 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