Tomorrow's Library: The American View

Introduction

Of all of its public institutions, perhaps America's most enduring are its public libraries. For more than 150 years, the mission of the public library in the U.S. has been to collect, organize, preserve and provide free and equal access to information, knowledge and entertainment in a variety of formats. Providing access to library collections, regardless of race, sex, economic status, religion or citizenship, is the single greatest reason that the public library is viewed by Americans as an essential community resource.

The incalculable freedom one experiences in a library derives from knowing that its collections are outs to sample, to enjoy, to ignore, to relish. The library opens a door into mankind's vast universe of knowledge and creativity and beckons us to enter. Who amongst us cannot pinpoint our first visit to a library, the day we received our library card or the summer we planned to read every book in the young adult section? Why do these images evoke such vivid memories in us and in people from all walks of life? It is because the library is the source of all possibilities; it does not judge the worth or the value of its users, and it allows each of us the freedom to determine what information or inspiration will be gained from each library visit.

If a vital society relies upon an informed citizenry, then the public library is assuredly a cornerstone of democracy and essential to its functioning. All else in librarianship flows from this fundamental principle.

The Mission of the American Public Library

In the next century, American public libraries will continue to acquire and disseminate books and other materials, conduct programs for children emphasizing reading and do outreach to all library users, especially the culturally disadvantaged. That is what the public wants us to do, and these services are central to our mission. Libraries also will continue to acquire and make accessible technology and online information, because our users rely upon their public libraries to be a primary information source, regardless of the format.

That is not to say that American libraries will remain static. To the contrary, libraries will continue to measure their missions against what the public wants, what the profession can offer and what the future of information access and retrieval will bring. American librarians understand implicitly that the only way for the public library to lessen the gap between the "information haves" and the "information have nots" (a traditional responsibility) is to provide both books and technology. Similarly, librarians know that whether their role is to conduct library programs for children, provide adult readers advisory, perform reference services or to be information navigators, we must be professionally educated and re-educated throughout our careers about how best to fulfill our myriad of responsibilities.

Free and equal access to library resources will continue to be central to all discussions, analyses and prognostications about the future of American libraries, In our collective efforts to accomplish this mission, libraries are faced with financial, societal and technological challenges, all of which must be assessed and accommodated or overcome. This reality will not change in the future regardless of the format of the materials or the sizes of the physical structures that constitute the library of the future. With these factors in mind, the American public library looks to the next century with a focus on funding, collections, technology, censorship, continuing professional development and outreach.

I asked a number of my colleagues in American urban public libraries to give me their thoughts on the current and future state of their library, its mission, challenges, collections, financial support and role in society. Each library expresses its mission differently; some briefly and some at length. Common themes are to assist people to develop their full potential and to preserve and enhance culture by providing books, electronic resources and programs that are free, accessible and that seek to inform, educate, entertain and inspire.¹

Three years ago, the Chicago Public Library discarded its lengthy mission statement in favor of a succinct statement reminds us why we became librarians and

*Mary A. Dempsey, Commissioner, Chicago Public Library. Presentation to 1997 Public Libraries Section and Reference and Information Services Section Conference of the Australian Library and Information Association, Brisbane, Australia on November 11, 1997.

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express how our institution is essential to intellectual growth and freedom.

The Mission of the Chicago Public Library

We welcome and support all people in their enjoyment of reading and pursuit of lifelong learning. Working together, we strive to provide equal access to information, ideas and knowledge through books, programs and other resources.

We believe in the freedom to read, to learn, to discover.

Each word of this mission statement was debated, evaluated and discussed before being adopted and incorporated by library staff. This is the philosophy by which we try to conduct our library. It is posted in all public service and backroom support staff areas, and it unites us in recognizing and fulfilling the role that our neighbors have entrusted to us as guardians of their public library.

Funding America's Library Collections and Buildings

In the U.S. today, there are 8,946 public libraries located in 15,981 buildings.² About 50 percent of metropolitan public libraries in the country are a department of a city or county government, just like the police and fire departments.³ Consequently, libraries are often required to compete for tax dollars with other city services. We have the ability, however, to generate recurring waves of emotional and financial support when fiscal crisis appears imminent. Although tax support for libraries may ebb and flow, libraries grow, prosper, change and endure because Americans believe that libraries, unlike any other government institution, help define the cultural and educational vitality of a city or region.

When asked, all but one of my survey respondents identified "funding" — for collections, technology, new and renovated buildings and staff training — as the greatest challenge facing libraries today. On average, 78 percent of the funding for public libraries is derived from local tax dollars, 12.5 percent from state government and 1.1 percent from federal government. ⁴ In 1995, in 24 large U.S. cities (populations in excess of 1 million) the average operating expenditure for public libraries was $30,456,316 (US), an expenditure per capita of $17.66. Within that group, the highest annual operating budget was $101,841,000 (branch libraries of New York) for an expenditure per capita of $33.17, and the lowest of $5,217,133 (Providence, RI), at $5.20 expenditure per capita. At the Chicago Public Library, our total operating expenditures from public sources in 1995 was $66,349,456, for an expenditure per capita of $23.83.⁵ In 1997, it rose to $73,234,667.00, an expenditure per capita of $26.31.

On average, 52.7 percent of the operating budgets in large urban public libraries (populations in excess of 1 million people) are allocated to salaries and benefits. The averages for smaller American cities are within 1 percentage point, and none averages less than 50 percent of operating budget for salaries. Expenditures for library materials —books, periodicals, databases — averaged 12.7 percent of the largest libraries' operating budgets in 1995, an average expenditure per capita for library materials of $2.24. Libraries in smaller cities were able to devote larger portions of their operating budgets to materials. For example, libraries serving cities of medium size (populations 250,000 to 499,999) devoted on average 50.4 percent for salaries and 15 percent for library materials, an annual materials expenditure per capita of $3.03.⁶

The trend for library finances is generally favorable, except where a region of a city is experiencing fiscal constraint due either to a downward business cycle or self-imposed local tax caps. Despite these fiscal obstacles, the picture for library financing in America is still considerably better than in countries where a network of free public libraries is either uncommon or a relatively new development. In 1996, 90 percent of 93 urban public library directors surveyed by the Urban Libraries Council reported an average increase of 31 percent in operating budgets during the past five years.⁷ According to a 1997 national survey of library directors and public officials conducted by the State Library, less than 10 percent of either group believes that tax support for libraries will be lower in five years, and more than 44 percent of library directors and public officials expect tax support to increase during the next five years.⁸ These are positive signs, but it is also significant to note that the costs of library materials continue to increase at a higher rate than the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI). While the CPI rose 2.9 percent in 1995, the cost of periodicals rose by 10.8 percent, serials rose by 6.6 percent and hardcover books rose by more than 27 percent. Only the cost of mass market paperbacks dropped.⁹

Despite the rising cost of print materials, American libraries will continue to buy books and periodicals because Americans strongly support maintaining these traditional library services and collections.¹⁰ In 1996, libraries purchased $1.8 billion worth of books, roughly 10 percent of publishers' domestic book sales.¹¹ Right now, books are undergoing an incredible resurgence in popularity in America thanks to the growth of "megabookstores," strong circulation figures in public libraries, increased popularity of book discussion groups and efforts of a popular television talk show hostess who has encouraged her viewers, especially working class women, to start reading again. Nevertheless, our illiteracy rates remain unacceptably high, especially in minority and immigrant communities,

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which rely most heavily on the public library to provide literacy services, books and other reading materials.

Not surprisingly, many urban library directors believe that meeting the library needs of the changing demographic face of America is perhaps one of the greatest challenges for libraries for the 21st century. Well stocked, well staffed public libraries are essential if we are to make any headway in attacking illiteracy, if we are to play a significant role in the education of students and if the public library is going to continue to serve as a catalyst for economic development and community improvement. If our schools continue to produce students who cannot read and have no job skills, the role of the library as the learning resource for these forgotten populations will expand dramatically in the next century. For an illiterate adult population, the public library is often the most reliable option for literacy services in both urban and rural America. Therefore, it is our responsibility as library leaders to advocate funding for the library needs of all citizens, especially those who have no other educational options or opportunities for intellectual growth.

Technology and the Library

Our society needs libraries capable of purchasing and maintaining both print collections and technology. Librarians know that it is illogical to choose between the two formats, and we know that tipping the balance too far in either direction is a signal that the library has lost touch with its users and its mission. Contrary to the "library romantics" who yearn for silent, dusty libraries and who mourn the replacement of card catalogs with online bibliographic databases, public libraries have listened to the requests of its users and are responding by approaching technology thoughtfully, not at the expense of traditional print collections.

Among those library colleagues who responded to my survey, none spends less than 60 percent of its materials budget on print materials nor more than 40 percent on technology, with most spending at a ratio of 70 percent to 30 percent. Most predict the same or slightly higher percentages devoted to technology by the year 2005. In Chicago, we have averaged materials expenditures of 80 percent ($9 million) on print and 20 percent ($2 million) on technology annually during the past three years, and we will probably maintain that ratio into the year 2000. As with print materials, it is the cost of telecommunications delivery that raises one of the greatest obstacles to access for public libraries and public library users.

Of critical importance for the future of technology in libraries will be the successful implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Recognizing that the public will benefit from expanded access to information, the Snowe, Rockefeller Amendment to the Act requires the Federal Communications Commission to ensure telecommunications discount rates of between 20 percent and 90 percent, up to maximum value of $2.25 billion annually, for schools and libraries. Discounts depend upon economic and geographic factors.

The Snowe, Rockefeller Amendment will reduce a major obstacle to telecommunications access now facing most public libraries, especially in urban areas. Much has been written lately about whether technology will doom the public library. The answer is no. Every previous technological "revolution" of the 20th century, such as the transfer of data to microfilm, the introduction of the copy machine, the addition of film and video collections, the creation of OCLC and the development of online catalogs, has enhanced rather than diminished library services. As America becomes more computer literate, its libraries will do the same, while continuing to provide access to the broadcast array of materials in multiple formats.

Capital Improvements

As further proof that we are not about to become extinct, major American cities continue to build new libraries. In the past seven years, Chicago, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver have constructed new central public libraries. The New York Public Library has opened a new Science, Business and Industry Library, the Cleveland Public Library has added a ten story wing to its central library, and the County Central Library in Portland Oregon has undergone a major renovation. Many libraries are constructing or renovating neighborhood branch libraries, including Chicago where 18 new or renovated branches have opened since 1994 and 20 more projects are under construction or in planning. In Los Angeles, 13 neighborhood library projects have been built in the past decade, and thousands more library capital projects nationwide are ongoing or just completed.

These projects involve hundreds of millions of dollars for capital construction and ongoing operating budgets. In Chicago, our $50 million capital program for the next three years is being financed through a tax increase that was passed by an overwhelming majority last year. This library construction boom is occurring because government officials, the library community and especially the other citizens believe that public libraries foster intellectual growth, encourage human and cultural interaction and reflect the faces of a city, a community and a neighborhood.

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Challenges to Intellectual Freedom

There is perhaps nothing that reassures a library of its relevance more than an attempt to remove something from its shelves on grounds that it is "obscene." In 1996, the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association recorded 664 challenges to books and other library materials, down from 700 in 1995. The Internet seems to have inspired a heightened interest in obscenity challenges. A number of American libraries are now fielding inquiries and complaints about the materials accessible by children on the Internet in libraries. The hot topic today in library circles is whether to install filtering software in a cosmetic attempt to placate worried parents.

Consistent with the American Library Association's policies on freedom to read, most libraries inform patrons that the library is not responsible for the content of the Internet, provide open access without restrictions and believe that, as with print materials, parents and not librarians are responsible for regulating their own child's use of the Internet. Interestingly, none of the libraries I surveyed for this article, believes that it has received a serious challenge to its library computer access policy. Perhaps the librarians know best that the current focus on the Internet, like the debates generated by books such as The Turn of the Screw, Catcher in the Rye, Portnoy's Complaint or Madonna's Sex, will also fade as more people are exposed to the benefits of the technology, compliments of their public library. In five years, it is likely that challenges to open access to the Internet at the library will be greeted with no more comment than is reserved today for the occasional complaint about the presence of a particular book on our shelves.

Investing in Ourselves

I have discussed the need to be able to build and expand library collections. Equally as important to funding for books and technology is sufficient funding to hire and sustain our most important resource — librarians. Regardless of whether we are conductors of childrens' reading programs, literacy promoters or "information navigators," it is the librarian who will guide the library into the next century and who will be responsible for maintaining the library's relevance in our increasingly complex society.

In order to do those things well, library education should continue during a librarian's career. Regardless of the skill levels of new and veteran librarians, libraries must develop and maintain strong staff development and continuing education programs for librarians. Those library directors responding to my survey are unanimous in recognizing the need to offer more continuing education and training for their staffs. Although new graduates are equipped with strong information retrieval skills, those skills will need to be updated throughout their careers. Similarly, for those thousands of us who graduated from library school more than 20 years ago, staff development and training classes should be mandatory to introduce veteran librarians to technology and information retrieval as well as to reinforce traditional principles of public service and librarianship.

In the Chicago Public Library's five-year strategic plan, now in its third year, our own staff identified ongoing training for purposes of serving our external and internal customers — our own colleagues on staff — as a priority. Consequently, last year we offered more than 5,000 hours of training to our staff of 1,500, stressing technology, reference services, circulation policies, fundamentals of public service, dealing with the difficult patron and, perhaps most importantly, team building. We are now seeing the benefits of offering three years of these opportunities and classes: a higher competency level of public service; advancement of trained staff members; a greater sense of camaraderie, collegiality, self confidence and professionalism, among our staff members; and a sense of pride in themselves and their library. The last two alone would be reasons enough for us to continue to offer training and development; that it has also translated into excellence in library services for our patrons simply means that our instincts were correct. An investment in ourselves enhances our ability to serve patrons better, and the greater the investment, the better our library.

The Importance of Library Outreach

Perhaps the most important library services we bring to the next century are innovative outreach programs for children, immigrants, the elderly, adults, the illiterate and the often forgotten young adult population. These programs allow us to actively use our library collections to enhance the quality of life in our communities. After school homework help centers in libraries assist students and provide opportunities for senior citizens to become tutors. Citizenship and English as a Second Language classes conducted in libraries strengthen the fabric of our country and reinforce a role that libraries have played for more than a century — introducing immigrants to the least threatening and the most bountiful of all government run institutions.

Not surprisingly, access to library collections and services, especially by children and young adults are a priority. In America today, three out of five library users are children or young adults.¹⁴ By encouraging this population to use the library, we are hoping to

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improve national reading levels and encourage teens to remain active library users as they mature.

Library programming for young adults is most successful when it is developed by the library and the teens together. Sometimes this results in unconventional programming: job readiness training, teen parenting classes and mentoring projects. Why do we do it? The answer is, why wouldn't we? On weekends and each weekday after classes end, it is the libraries that remain open. In Chicago and other American cities, we would rather attract these young adults to our doors with innovative programming than see them hang around street corners with nothing positive to do and run the risk of losing them forever.

The public library is a gateway for young people to learn about art, dance and music through library-sponsored partnerships with other cultural institutions and museums. In some communities, the library has become the afterschool and weekend science laboratory with book collections, programs and workshops designed to assist science fair participants. Young adults meet authors and illustrators, join poetry workshops, learn how to play chess and build Web pages, join teen peer counseling groups and mentor young library users. In most libraries, especially where services to children and young adults are concerned, their success is not passive. They actively seek out and engage library users to enhance their quality of life by using both human and material resources at their local public library.

Private Sector Partnerships

Even the healthiest of public library budgets cannot support all these services and outreach programs. Many of us rely upon grants from private corporations and foundations to support our programs and library collections. Grant writing in libraries today is the norm, not the exception, but this is not new. Between 1890 and 1917, industrialist Andrew Carnegie contributed $41.2 million (estimate value in 1997 dollars: $505 million) to construct libraries in both urban and rural America.¹⁵ Many of those libraries continue to operate today.

Since December 1995, Libraries Online!, funded by Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation, has brought $15 million worth of information resources and Internet access to 200 American public libraries. The new Gates Library Foundation, founded in June 1997, will invest $200 million in cash and $200 million in computer equipment in public libraries in low income communities in the U.S. and Canada.¹⁶ Through his staggering generosity, Bill Gates has put public libraries in the spotlight in a way that none of us could have imagined or engineered on our own. Incredibly, one of the most successful business leaders in the world believes that healthy public libraries are critical to the success of our society, and he is willing to help fund technology for our benefit.

Private corporate and foundation support for libraries is neither inappropriate nor unprecedented. Libraries need the financial assistance, and the private sector benefits from the local exposure that a public library partner supplies. It is our responsibility to select partners whose reputations are consistent with our own, and whose recognition needs are not unreasonable. For those foundations or corporations that fund programs to improve or rebuild the quality of America, the public library is a logical choice. We represent the most sophisticated local level networks imaginable. Libraries reach across the spectrum of ages, religions, races and economic levels; librarians are adept at designing innovative outreach programs with measurable outputs; and libraries enjoy a reputation for integrity and openness that is perhaps without parallel among governmental institutions. Entering into responsible public/private partnerships for the purpose of being able to improve library services is not only reasonable, it has become a necessity.

How we approach the future

Many new challenges face us today. Digitization, encouraging diversity within the profession, the changing demographics of American society, out-sourcing of library services and how we manage change are among the most provocative. Regardless of the choices we make, nothing we do will irreparably jeopardize the integrity of the American public library. The institution and the profession will thrive so long as we continue to incorporate humanity, ingenuity and flexibility into our decisionmaking.

Throughout its evolution, the American public library has continued to act as deliverer of knowledge, preserver of intellectual freedom and the source of all possibilities. As a profession, we must take advantage of every reasonable financial opportunity to bring current and varied materials to our users, to develop outreach programs that underscore our relevance in the community, and to remember that the vast array of resources and formats now available to libraries is an opportunity and not a deficit. It is our responsibility to guide our great institutions thoughtfully, rationally and boldly into the next century for the benefit of those who succeed us. The same characteristics that have served us well for the past 150 years will guide us in shaping the American public library of the 21st century. The tools may change, but the mission remains the same. Just as those who come before us did, we must ensure and preserve for present and future generations their right to access the knowledge and the

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unlimited possibilities of the public library. We owe them nothing less.

Footnotes

1. Mary A. Dempsey, Public Library Survey, June 1997, Respondents: Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, New York; Broward County Public Library, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, Ohio; Davenport Public Library, Davenport, Iowa; Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado; Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan; Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Illinois State Library, Springfield, Illinois; Miami-Dade Public Library, Miami, Florida; Minneapolis Public Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Omaha Public Library, Omaha, Nebraska; Public Library of Nashville and Davidson County, Nashville, Tennessee; Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, New York; Schaumburg Public Library, Schaumburg, Illinois.

2. George M. Eberhart, compiler, Whole Library Handbook 2, Chicago: American Library Association, 1995.

3. Urban Libraries Council, Governing and Funding Metropolitan Public Libraries, Evanston: ULC, 1997.

4. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries.

5. Public Library Association, Statistical Report '96, Chicago: Public Library Association, 1996.

6. Id.

7. Urban Libraries Council, Governing and Funding Metropolitan Public Libraries.

8. Illinois State Library, A Survey of Public Libraries and Local Government, Special Report Series, vol. 4, issue 1 (1997).

9. R.R. Bowker, The Bowker Annual, 41st edition. New Jersey: R.R. Bowker, 1996.

10. Benton Foundation, Buildings books and bytes, Libraries and communities in the digital age, Washington, D.C.: 1997.

11. Library Hotline, XXVI, no. 36 (September 8,1997): 1.

12. Janet Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, No. 96-511, Supreme Court of the United States, June 26,1997.

13. Id.

14. Mary K. Chelton, "Three in Five Public Library Users are Youth," Implications of Survey Results, Public Libraries, 36, no. 2 (March/April 1997): 104-108.

15. "Gates Foundation to Invest $400 Million in Libraries," American Libraries, 28 no. 7 (August 1997): 14-15.

16. Id.

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