But...there is no room

I know this doesn’t really follow the topics of the book since we discussed space in libraries a little while ago, however; while working on my interview with a librarian, I got to thinking about the role space really takes in a library. In class we saw pictures of libraries cluttered to the brink and were told that if libraries were not libraries they would be considered hoarders. It’s funny because I never thought of it that way. The libraries I grew up with had massive amounts of books, so it didn’t accrue to me that libraries should not be a room with huge piles and piles of books. I think back to the libraries I have been in where the book shelves were so tall that you needed a step stool just to see what was on the top shelf. Now this may seem fine for a few shelves, but all the shelves were really tall and there weren’t nearly enough step stools. Why must a library have so many books that they have to stack them on ridiculously tall shelves where no one can see the books anyway?

                When I did my interview with a librarian we discussed various trends in libraries and how she would change the library.  The librarian simply stated that what she wanted most was to invest in a media room or buy game console for teens to use. The problem wasn’t that her fellow librarians were interested in doing that; it was that there was no room! The library had been built to house books, and therefore didn’t have a room where there were lots of electrical outlets or even storage space for game consoles. The librarians had great ideas of what they wanted to do with the library, but all of those ideas involved altering things around the library to fit the new media. In other words, they would have to (dun dun dun) get rid of some of the books! (Insert shock and horror here). But seriously, I and many librarians know that the collection isn’t driving libraries forward anymore. It is what the library is doing for the community and if the library and the community are interested in a media room or a space to store video games and they have to remove some of the collection to do it, why not? The librarian’s response threw me for a loop; it was the patrons who did not like the idea of getting rid of books. Regardless of the fact that they wanted the new technology, if it came at the expense of getting rid of books then the answer was no. Ironically, most of the books were books that were not used and that patrons would probably never have picked off the shelf. Still, the concept of removing books was a “no no.”

                So instead we have libraries that either don’t have the newest things, because there is no room, or there are libraries that just try to fit everything. In that case it’s more of a maze to figure out where everything is. So what happens when space in a library is a problem? How do we fix it? What do we do if there simply is no room? Can libraries move their programs somewhere else? Will patrons still come if the program isn’t in the library? Just food for thought.