Hi  – just a message to say I’m signing off here to pursue a new level of advocacy in 2011. This will be my last post. As anyone who has ever trekked through new territory knows, it’s important to step off the trail now and then to nourish yourself and check your compass. After nearly 2 years, it’s a good time for me to do so.

I began blogging in early 2009, uncertain of who might tune in and what might help the cause. So I put a range of material out there: posts about why I love libraries, reports of libraries in crisis, analyses and calls to action. I also read extensively and contacted people throughout the ecosystem to ask questions and share ideas. By year-end I’d recognized that library staff represented the blog’s small but steadily growing readership and also that much of my content was redundant; material in the “I Love Libraries” vein was plentiful as was surveillance of funding struggles.

So I changed things up for 2010. My research turned to the inner workings of the Institution, including its knowledge creation practices. This helped dissolve my ideological stance and mythological view of libraries and enhanced my ability to appreciate the challenges and opportunities before them. I crafted content for a library audience, made it more analytical and focused on topics and viewpoints that were not widely covered by other advocates or library bloggers. These were productive changes. Readership grew and communication with the library community became bi-directional; I continued to reach out and people began to contact me as well. Phone and email dialogue with library folk from around the country became more frequent. Library Journal solicited a few essays and asked me to be a panelist in their first virtual summit. I also received some speaking invitations and was able to attend the 3-day Reference Renaissance Conference in August.

I’m very pleased with the results this year. The blog content was better and has a longer shelf-life. Posts on participatory librarianship offer new ideas for how libraries can serve the public good in this age of information abundance. My proposal for a National Public Library Corporation is a feasible approach for reducing inefficiencies baked into our existing patchwork of library systems, making libraries more prominent in the public consciousness and alleviating some of the funding problems that threaten their viability. Most importantly, my work has seeded a new form of dialogue about our libraries – one that considers them nationally as well as locally and has greater porosity between the library community and the people it serves.

So why am I signing off if the results have been good? It’s mostly because the blog has served its purpose: to catalyze new conversations about libraries. If I published another 60 posts here in 2011, it’s hard to imagine they would have much impact on the health of our libraries. Also, plenty of library folk now know me as an advocate and new people find Radical Patron content every day via search, therefore additional posts would have diminishing returns as an outreach mechanism. So I’m changing things up again. Over the next year, I hope to deepen my relationships within the library community and would love to hear from folks about how I can help. I’ll also work to attract the public to dialogue about what we want from our libraries and how we can provide resources so they can deliver the services we’ve said are important.

The blog will remain accessible and people can reach me via the the contact form. I’ll also continue pointing to sources outside the library industry that may inform funding and practice via Twitter. And though I have no idea where this next leg of the journey will take me, I’m happy to send an update now and again. Sign-up for them via the form at the top of the sidebar if you’re interested. Your information will be kept private and used only for periodic messages about library advocacy.

I am excited by the prospect of reaching new heights in 2011 and sincerely hope our paths cross along the way. My best, Jean

I recently stumbled upon the work of Anthony Verdesca, Jr., of Warren Library, Palm Beach Atlantic University, FL. His faculty profile reveals one reason I’m drawn to his work:

[Mr. Verdesca's] interests lie in the nature of librarianship, its past, present and future. Of particular interest is the future of the library and the nature of the library of the future. That future, he believes, begins with constructive criticism of present practice.

The more persuasive reason is because his words are the most beautifully written, eloquent and erudite explication of libraries and librarianship I’ve had the pleasure of reading. They delineate the core functions of a library from its ancillaries as community center or employment office. Similarly, they distinguish librarians from teachers, or social workers, or web developers — though librarians may sometimes perform duties that constitute the primary work of these other professionals. For me, Verdesca’s essays speak about more than libraries. They describe the finer qualities of the human species; the root of my passion for libraries and my efforts to help them thrive and grow.

Some selections from this meaningful body of work:

A library is like a piano in its design, in its apparatus of catalog and call numbers, indexes and periodicals, back issues and bibliographies, indeed, in its sturdily bound, first-rate works of reference, out of which learning is wrenched and rendered (instead of copied and pasted) into one’s own. The beauty of a piano, as with a library, is that it has its limitations. That a piano
is limited to only 88 keys is no hindrance to becoming a virtuoso, and the “limitation” of a library is no hindrance to becoming a scholar. The student must begin somewhere. Outside of the home, outside of the classroom, the library becomes the place where students stand alone with their questions, and it is here novices begin their single-minded quest, their adventure in
learning. It takes discipline to learn how to make use of a library, just as it takes discipline to learn how to play the piano. A degree of expertise develops, after which the work (and the pleasure) of interpreting music—or literature—begins. “The roots of education are bitter,” said Aristotle, “but its fruit is sweet.”

Verdesca, Anthony F.. 2009. The Internet Is Not the Library. Journal of Access Services. 6(3):418-422.

Books cataloged and in their place are all that is required to serve the reader who, it must be said, is served not so much by the books in the library’s collection but precisely by those not in the collection. Definition and discrimination—what librarians call collection development—render a library serviceable. This bibliographic control is the behind-the-scenes side of the library the reader never sees nor need he, and is what differentiates a library from an attic.

Verdesca, Anthony F.. 2008. The Great Conversation. Journal of Access Services. 4(3):195-198.

An open book in the empath-librarian’s hand is a powerful image of human interaction. The provision of access, reference style, is more than mere access. It represents nurture. It represents care. It has been, up to now, the library’s good-faith attempt to personify democracy, extending a human hand to all comers, regardless of language, creed, color, or party. The provision of traditional access has represented hope and new beginnings, the American ideal, inspired and initiated in a prosaic little corner of the world called the Reference Desk.

Verdesca, Anthony F.. 2010. Does a Library Provide Access or Meaning? and Other Reference Questions . Journal of Access Services. 7(1):58-63.

** ADDITIONAL READING **

Verdesca, Anthony F.. August 2009. The Accidental Credential. This is a terrific essay on Anthony’s institutional web page regarding what a librarian is and does.

Welcome to photo Friday! Click on image to enlarge.
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I’d love to broaden the gallery with more photos and other image types that exude a love of libraries and help reinforce the brand.

Are you a visual person? Please consider becoming a guest artist.