Assignment X: Participatory Service

“Libraries should keep stories, share stories, and make stories.”

-Erik from DOK in Hyperlinked Library Participatory Service & Transparency (Stephens, n.d.)

This quote stood out to me and perfectly encapsulates what a participatory library should be: a living and breathing organism of people, not books or things, but a foundation of community. I have worked in libraries since I was a teenager, so I have witnessed the slow migration from libraries being a collection-based entity to one that has incorporated service-based products such as fax machines, printing, and Maker Spaces. It is essential to note that my library system is situated in a small Midwest town, where change does not occur quickly and is often met with resistance, not just from staff, but also from the community. Don’t get me wrong, I love books, but, as Michael Stephens noted, “Libraries are for people, not books” (Stephens, n.d.). This quote, along with Erik’s quote from DOK, is what drew me to participatory service, and I knew I needed to learn more. This post will explore participatory service and how it can be implemented in a library.  

As everywhere else in the world, my library’s circulation, reference questions, and door count continue to trend down, but numbers for non-reference-related services and e-books have risen in the past ten years. Librarianship and libraries are no longer just about books and reference (Stephens, 2016). If libraries and librarians do not wake up and adjust to meet the user’s needs, then the information profession risks becoming irrelevant, and libraries will have to close their doors. We have already seen this during COVID when some libraries refused to embrace virtual services. If libraries exist for the user and their needs, then libraries need to “transform the user experience to meet the user” (Schneider, 2006). My initial reaction to participatory service in libraries was to shout, “YES!”. (Sidebar: this reaction scared my partner and my dog, and they both looked at me like I was crazy.) I wholeheartedly believe that “The user is the sun” (Schneider, 2006). While my library system has some services that are participatory, such as a Seed Library and a Library of Things, we need to do more, and we need to shift the old internal message that the basis of a library is still books. After reading about so many different examples of participatory service, I think that participatory service could re-establish a library as the heart of the community.  

(Example of a Library of Things. This library offers tools, kitchen items, and children’s toys.)

I am currently working on a system-wide project that is installing a play-based early learning center for ages zero through five in each of our branches. I have loved working on this project, and I can see how participatory service could fit into this initiative. These spaces promote learning, which is fundamental to our library’s mission (Stephens, 2016, p. 99). We have incorporated themes and community elements into each playspace that are unique to each community, but I think we could go deeper, inviting the community into the early stages of planning and asking what the community wants to see through surveys and focus groups. Another way we could invite participatory service into our libraries is by providing passes to community attractions. Our patrons have asked our library system to carry free passes that they can check out to visit our local zoo, state parks, gardens, and more (Ferrell, 2022). After reading about the San Francisco Library’s free passes, I am wondering why we aren’t doing that. The answer staff have been given by managers is that local businesses are not willing to work with the public library. What do you do in situations like that? How do you get local businesses on board? As Stephen (n.d.) noted in his lecture, if libraries are adjusting to meet people’s needs, then they are going to go somewhere else that does (Stephens, n.d.). 

Like many library systems around the US, our library system is undergoing a series of budget cuts over the next months. This has placed more pressure on library staff to make sure that the library is seen as valuable and needed to the community. I think it is vital for my library to embrace participatory service not only to survive, but to flourish. I loved how the San Francisco Library is fundamentally changing how the library looks and what services they offer, such as making the staff space smaller to create a larger teen area, longer open hours for the homeless, and including Spanish storytime at a particular branch (O’Brian, 2019). Some libraries are embracing self-service branches where users can scan their library card to get access to the library outside of staff hours (Zulkey, 2019). Self-service hours can repurpose staff hours that normally would have been at the library’s physical location to serve the community in alternative places such as nursing homes and homeless shelters/communities. I see this being implemented at certain library locations in my community. We installed an outdoor item locker outside at one of our largest branches, and it was immediately a hit with the community. Users still want library materials; however, their work hours might overlap with the library’s, so they are unable to get their materials during regular hours. Another popular use is our wifi. We leave our wifi on 24 hours a day, and there are cars sitting outside the library daily so users can utilize the wifi. Why do users have to sit in their cars as opposed to having a section of the library available outside normal hours with comfortable seating?

(The video highlights participatory spaces as opposed to the physical collection, such as study spaces, 3-D printing, smart boards available to the students, and more.)

A comment I get frequently when people learn that I am a Librarian is, “You must like books!” or “It must be nice to read books all day.”. This scares me as an information professional looking towards the future. However, I draw hope from seeing the outpouring of community support during COVID, and the continued support in recent years as the library has fought to remain a safe and welcoming space with rich, diverse, and accessible materials, services, and resources. I also treasure the moments with children and their caregivers at a school outreach when they are so excited to tell me that they love their library. This is the library that I will continue to strive and fight for.      

References

O’Brian, C. (2019). How san francisco libraries are embracing their changing role. Shareable. https://www.shareable.net/how-san-francisco-public-libraries-are-embracing-their-changing-role/  

Schneider, K. (2006, June 3). The user is not broken. Free Range Librarian. https://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/06/03/the-user-is-not-broken-a-meme-masquerading-as-a-manifesto/   

Stephens, M. (2016). The heart of librarianship. ALA Editions. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/26cn6o86m5i0vcpcznebf/HeartofLibrarianship.pdf?rlkey=ozp68co4gmafmfvcu2tv4ec7p&e=1&dl=0  

Stephens, M. (n.d.). Hyperlinked library participatory service & transparency [lecture recording]. Canvas. https://sjsu-ischool.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=2a19a4b6-e945-4d2e-abf1-aef3014172a5 

Zulkey, C. (2019, September 3). Automatic for the people. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/09/03/automatic-people-self-service-libraries/