In the mail

Library Administrator's Digest, Feb 2003 by Robinson, Charles W

From the Editor's Desk

Arch Lustberg, the communications guru well-known to the many librarians who have heard him talk at many conferences, writes:

"December's LAD inspired a few thoughts:

1. Top Ten List: Selective use of the 'hold' button. If possible, come back to the holder in 20-30 seconds, even if it's just to ask them to please continue to hold while you finish a previous call.

2. Foreign Languages/Community Languages: How about trying `Other Languages'?

3. Your Maine library tour: You end with the all-too-reasonable statement 'another instance of libraries failing in the perception of elected officials as an important educational agency.' Librarians aren't the only professionals who believe that numbers and statistics are the lifeblood of funding. Most people have forgotten the old adages 'What have you done for me lately?' or 'What's in it for me?' or 'How have you made a difference in someone's life?' Remind your readers over and over again that the funding source (legislators, town council, county officials, friends, corporate sponsors) need to hear how this library changed a life, made a difference, helped someone in need. Stories. Anecdotes. Examples. Similes and metaphors. Personal experiences. Simply put, it's easy to ignore a request from someone who gives circulation figures. It's harder to turn down a request for funding from someone who tells the story of a person who lost a job and was unemployed but then, using the resources of the library, developed a craft or a new career and is now a gratified taxpaying member of the community. Get staff sharing stories and be ready to tell them. Every library has them but they often remain untold."

As usual, Arch is right on. I think people have a thousand-year ingrained need to hear stories, and that's what gets their attention. Statistics may be the dry account of the downfall of Enron, but it's the greed and lifestyle offen Lay and his fellow thieves that keep people glued to the TV and papers. At the other end of the scale, feel-good stories about children learning to read or the jobless getting a job by using a library are always good at budget hearings. Never mention adults and best sellers.

Anne Humphreys, of the Free Library of Philadelphia, writes:

"I'm a fan and always read LAD. I feel close to you because in some bizarro kind of way I've been in your footsteps. Born and raised in Towson, I remember the Towson branch of BCPL when it was a two-story box not on York Road. I remember when the kids' books were all very old and/or very good for you. I remember when the new building opened and people were flabbergasted over the spiral ramp and the amount of empty space. I remember when the sex books were hidden behind the information desk and were replaced on the shelves with wooden blocks. Just wanting to learn more about sex could give one splinters.

"I have been with the Free Library of Philadelphia for almost 13 years. Choosing FLP was easy: everything I read about Elliot (Shelkrot) spoke so well of him and from his stated goals and from having lived in Baltimore County. I had a good notion of the direction FLP would take. I even had your old job, as special assistant in Elliot's office when most of our Big Change branch renovations were taking place.

"Now I've established that we are practically related, please let me argue the point that something very basic can be done about librarians' salaries. Posting salaries in every ALA source for filling positions would help a good deal. Have all job listings post salaries would do much to inform everyone of the range of salaries at every level of the profession. Perhaps some libraries that only pay a pittance would not easily fill positions if other pay options were known and a nearby county paid better. I realize that salary is only one of several factors, but it is perhaps the easiest factor to quantify. There were three main reasons I chose FLP: 1) the salary did get my attention; 2) researching all directors who made offers put Elliot at the top; and 3) Philadelphia's civil protections for lesbians and gays, plus the city's availability of affordable housing.

"So, gentle Geezer, thanks for all your good works and words."

Well, thank you too, Anne, for the memories. Actually, ALA does what it can to encourage just what you want. If you look in the front of the "Career Leads" section of American Libraries, you'll see that "a salary range is requested for all job recruitment ads per guidelines of the American Library Association." Having noted that, I guess they really don't enforce the policy. While almost all the ads actually do quote a salary or a range, some do not. For example, in the December 2002 issue the ads for the directors of Rochester/Monroe County, NY and, just below it, for Cuyahoga County, OH list no salaries posted. I guess one could assume that both were in the $100,000plus range, but you never know. In the same issue is an ad for the Bucks County (PA) Free Library for a director, offering a salary of $65,000 to $70,000. The library system, located in one of the most affluent areas of the state, has a budget of some $9 million. If they pay the director what amounts these days to a branch manager's salary in like systems, one wonders what the staff of the Bucks County system gets paid. It's going to be interesting to see who finally settles for that kind of salary. Probably a member of the present staff, I'd guess, who already has a house in Bucks County.