Author: Sofia Solares

Bookmobiles are Hyperlinked Environments.

I have been thinking a lot about how social media engagement has become such a central part of many people’s lives, mine included. I scroll on Instagram daily, and because I engage with it so much the algorithm knows about all the things I am interested, including libraries. So, since starting this MLIS program, I have come up on A LOT of library related content on social media. Some of the content I get most frequently comes from the Santa Clara City Library instagram account. As part of a marketing strategy, they post mostly comedy Instagram Reels and TikToks that follow current video trends and using trending audio, but make it library specific. They have a “cast of characters” that show up consistently in their videos, and one of them is the bookmobile librarian. Before I started seeing this content, I of course knew that bookmobiles existed and understood it as a “non-traditional” library settings, but it was the combination of the mobile library environment and the features on social media that really got me thinking about how all this very much falls under the Hyperlinked Library model.

I wanted to find out the history of the Santa Clara City Bookmobile specifically since it was their online content that really started the ball rolling for me. Unfortunately, the city library didn’t have much information online about their bookmobile other than it’s stop schedule, BUT the Santa Clara County library system which has their own bookmobile had an awesome webpage dedicated to their bookmobile that gave me a better idea about the historical and modern function of mobile libraries in the area. At the bottom of the page there was a timeline of the history of the county bookmobile, showing its start in 1953 and the immediate success and popularity it had among patrons. It goes on to discuss the expansion of the program, then the discontinuation of some services due to budget constraints. Further reductions happen at the same time that the program itself shifts to try and emulate the different services provided at library branches, such as access to technology and different forms of media other than books. Today, it is a full program with over 50 stops serving rural areas, isolated communities such as retirement homes and other care facilities, and preschools (About the Bookmobile Services, n.d.).

The bookmobile timeline is a great example of showing how in Santa Clara their bookmobile is a hyperlinked environment. They are engaging in constant and purposeful change, some of which was being forced due to budget changes, but some of it was in listening to patrons and wanting to fill gaps in materials and information access. You can sign up for a library card, check out DVDs and CDs and video games, request materials, and use technology like laptops all from a bookmobile like you could from a branch library, all because there was a need for it from the community and the library was creative enough with their resources to make it happen (About the Bookmobile Services, n.d.;Bookmobile| Santa Clara City Library, n.d.). The bookmobiles of the 1950s wouldn’t serve the community well today, but the program has continued because it has evolved and embraced the changes in the environment and community to remain relevant and useful.

References

For this module, I watched the lecture and had a lot of thoughts spark (see page of notes pictured below).

For this reflection blog I wanted to expand on some of the things I took notes about. Specifically as they relate to these 2 questions: How do these ideas connect with real-world library service? What assumptions are challenged, and what possibilities are sparked?

• Hyperlinks are people too

This lecture covered many of the ways that the Hyperlinked Library model is not just about integrating emerging tech and new online trends. It was focused on the ways that hyperlinks and people too. This is statement that I have already heard and read before in the course but each time it continues to stand out. This is such an important piece of the hyperlinked puzzle that I feel sometimes gets overlooked in this world of trying to keep up with trends in tech. It’s so easy to look at all the new tools emerging and see the trends in internet and tech use and focus on the statistics and clever features and how it can be beneficial for the system/organization but I find that these conversations can get lofty pretty quick and forget the why of it all. Why do we have to keep up with the new tech? Not just because it’s new, right? Shouldn’t we be keeping up with it because it will help library users and staff engage more with the services and supports the library offers? Shouldn’t it be that if a new trend is not fitting the needs of the community we recognize that and move on to something that will? I know this sounds very broad but that’s the headspace I’ve been in recently, thinking very big.

How does this connect to real life library service? In the lecture Michael mentioned YouTube vloggers and that got me thinking about how we see a lot of “booktok” content out there right now but most if not all of it is consumptive (i.e. promoting buying all the books you read instead of borrowing from friends or the library). In the spirit of the hyperlinked library and partnerships and outreach, can we get these booktok influencers working directly with the library to make borrowing books more fun and trendy? Maybe it’s just my algorithm but I am seeing lots of library accounts making funny videos and getting a lot of engagement but how much does that translate to actual patrons using the library? Could connecting the influencers to the libraries help?

• Summer Reading Challenges

Are summer reading programs #hyperlib? I have done summer reading challenges through my library all my life and for the past few years through the Santa Cruz Public Library it has been online through Beanstack. At my home public library (Multnomah County in Oregon) it is still on paper for all ages which requires the need to come into a library branch. My initial assumption was that the Beastack system is more hyperlinked due to the online aspect of it, but after reflecting on the materials of this module I think both are engaging in the model equally as I know that the choices to stay on paper for Multnomah County and to move the challenge online for SCPL came from feedback from the library patrons. They are both user centered in the end, and both pull in partnerships from the community to make it happen every year.

As I continue working through the summer reading challenge this year I’m going to keep thinking about how it falls under participatory service and community engagement. I’ll leave you with some of my challenge progress so far.

“Change has been constant for libraries. But why does this change feel so much faster, so much deeper? This change feels faster because in many ways it is faster. Technology has played a key role in this perception of change, but it is by no means the only factor. Shifting population centers, changing demographics, and the cyclical ups and downs of the economic roller coaster all contribute to the change with which libraries must deal.” (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p.2)

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Theme: “Constant and Purposeful Change”

This theme has stuck out to me a lot so far in this course because to me it is not a new concept. I know that’s a bit ironic or maybe oxymoronic to say, but I really mean that this is a theme that I have seen come through every single one of my classes in this MLIS program so far (at least a little but) and that I have seen in my work in libraries and archives before I started this program. Change is a central theme in the world of libraries and information organizations.

What has motivated me to write about it here, is the way it is being discussed. The quote that opened this blog post, as well as the title for the assignment and theme comes from Michael Casey and Laura Savastinuk’s book Library 2.0: A Guide to Participatory Library Service (2007). This book discusses the “essential ingredients” of the Library 2.0 model, one of them being “Constant and Purposeful Change” (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p.12). These foundational concepts were created with the idea that libraries have a goal to meet the needs of their patrons and do so in a sustainable fashion that is good for the patrons and the library staff as well. It also stems from the understanding that technology is evolving and becoming ever-so interconnected with every aspect of our lives. So that means that patrons are going to have technology related needs, and they are going to expect their libraries to help them.

While the truth of technological evolution is certainly a factor of both the creation of the Library 2.0 and The Hyperlinked library model, what I really appreciate is how both models refuse to let tech be the biggest and/or only motivator for change. As it says in the quote above, population changes, political influence and events, cultural shifts, and more non-tech related things have influence over why things in the world of libraries is changing.

Now a counter to this thought could be that everything today has been influenced by tech. The participatory web, social-internet, etc. has permeated everything in modern society, including how populations are changing and culture is shifting. Michael himself even said so in some of the lectures from these first few modules so far. I understand this and see it myself. And yet, I believe there is influencing going the other way too. There is no participatory web without people to participate, right? So that’s all to say that while the web/tech is important to take into consideration, changes that are made in libraries can’t and shouldn’t be completely based on technology changes. This is reflected in the Library 2.0 and The Hyperlinked library through their concentration on people and access being the main goals of the models.

Another reason I’ve chosen to write about the theme of change here and now is that I’ve already done a lot of thinking and writing about change in libraries before. When I took INFO 204: Information Professions, there were at least 3 (and probably more) modules that discussed change, change management, strategic planning, and evaluation of changes. If the idea of constant and purposeful change wasn’t so important for libraries, then why was so much time spent on discussing and understanding it in a foundational class of this program? From that class I took away that being able to make change, be comfortable with change, and being able to effectively communicate about changes makes for a very strong information professional. It’s these lessons that I see again here in the sources from this class so far.

Finally, I write about change here because I know that this is something that will continue to come up so I should be familiar with why and how to handle it. I see through the study of the Library 2.0 and The Hyperlinked library models that change is necessary and important. I see in my workplace in a public middle school library that change is not always chosen it is often inherited. These are the reasons to think about change.

More thoughts I have but am running out of space so I will open up to the comments:

• Where does the trap of “we’ve always done it this way” come into the conversation of constant and purposeful change? Can some of the “old ways” be incorporated?
• Change is almost always easier said than done.
• I didn’t even begin to think about the changes that Gen AI is prompting…
• Constant, I think, can be up for interpretation when it comes to making organizational changes. Does the definition of constant differ when we’re thinking large scale (like strategic plans) and small scale (like where to move the furniture)? Should it?

References

Hi all!

My Name is Sofia, this summer is my 3rd term/semester of classes at the iSchool working toward my MLIS and I am so excited to me taking this course!

During the school year I work as a Middle School Library Media Assistant at 2 different schools in my district. I have worked in school libraries for 3 years now and while I love my job and working with middle schoolers, I have come to realize that long term, school libraries are not for me. I started this program with the intention of becoming an academic librarian, but through all the courses I’ve taken so far in this program, I feel have found my self being drawn to public libraries and adult education.

I am very much looking forward to this class and getting “up to speed” so to speak with all the current and emerging trends of the library world. I feel like this is going to be a very valuable learning experience for me and I am excited to get started.