Situation Change

Hello dear readers (what is left of you)

I am now Senior Librarian at the Ferry Avenue Branch of the Camden County Library System.  Ferry Ave is located in the Centerville section of Camden City.  I've been with the system since February and am taking on a lot more responsibility and new challenges.  It is super exciting - and no, I have a feeling what you're thinking... it doesn't make me crazy to be excited about Camden!  It's a good neighborhood and we've really been making a lot of positive changes as the branch was just welcomed into the Camden County System a week before I started.

I hope to post some pictures of our branch soon.

Detroit Public Library asks community what they can't live without

After spotting an article about Detroit, I got a little curious about the state of their public library.

Take a look at what I found on their website:

The Detroit Public Library (DPL) hosted two (2) community forums last week to inform the community about its current funding crisis and to get ideas about how best to serve the citizens of Detroit.  The presentation focused on DPL's property taxes and its current challenge to provide services with less resources.

And following this message - a brief but very specific survey.

1. The Library considers the following before making recommendations for branch closures:
* Budget
* Size, age and condition of building
* Population of immediate community
* Distance from other library locations
* Usage

Are there other factors the library should consider?

2. The library's basic functions (from DPL's Mission Statement) are to:

* Provide access to information
* Provide access to technology
* Provide cultural & educational programs

Based on these functions, please suggest what DPL should:

A. Stop doing:
B. Start doing:
C. Do more of:
D. Do less of:

Budget cuts are terrible, but they're a reality.  Looks like Detroit is doing a very smart thing in inviting crowd-sourcing.  They'll get a good idea of what branches and services must stay - and the library, despite the cuts, reaffirms to the public that it is they who libraries exist to serve.