The End of Library Resources

The Ithaca Journal
March 26, 2007
by Janet Steiner, Library Director

Our library profession, like other professions, frequently uses jargon as a short hand way of talking about ourselves. Jargon is not user-friendly. It suggests that there is an in group (us) and out group (you). It’s hard work to transcribe jargon into plain English and so we often continue on using our favorite words like databases and resources, and wonder why no one understands what we are talking about.

Our new favorite phrase is “federated searching” and someone cleverer than I will have to take the time to explain what it is and why you might like to actually do a federated search.

My least favorite word associated with libraries is “resources.” My second least favorite word is “databases,” and we’ll tackle that one next month,

But resources? Too vague, too broad, too meaningless. Our library has many resources but until we move from the general to the specific, no one really cares.

So what can I tell you about the breadth and depth of our library, its riches, its value, its products and services that you might not know about?

Our library has a collection of books which are free to any person to borrow. But books come in many flavors— books to make you laugh, books help you plan your wedding, books about famous people, books about politics, books about how to fix your car.

But more than books, our library collects stories. Sometimes the story is printed in a book format and sometimes the story is listened to in an audio format and sometimes the story is told through film. Stories are mankind’s way of preserving our history, and giving meaning to our lives. Some of the most powerful books in our library are labeled Fiction, and some of the most popular bestsellers whose popularity will soon fade are labeled Inspirational.

But you knew that libraries have books, didn’t you? And videos and DVDs and magazines, newspapers, music CDs and books on CD. But did you know that our library has software to help people learn English? Or a place for the visually impaired which can scan documents, enlarge text documents and read everything on the screen so that someone can actually navigate the web without being able to see it?

Perhaps you didn’t know about the large collection of local newspapers on microfilm, dating back to the 1820’s which are used daily by genealogists and those researching local history topics—and that the microfilm can be digitally scanned and stored on your flash drive?

We’re sure you know that the library has offered public Internet access since 1995, with more than 75,000 sessions used during 2006? But perhaps you missed the fact that we have high speed wireless throughout the building. Or that the Ezra Cornell Reading Room is one of the quietest places in Tompkins County, great for reading, researching or just thinking.

And maybe you didn’t know that we keep a newspaper business clipping file on local businesses and commerce. And the library often acts a repository for local or state agencies which need to place documents in public places prior to public hearings. These resources (oops!) are cataloged and made available within 24 hours of receipt, since the public needs timely access to them.

Perhaps the most important resource of all is the knowledge and skill of our staff who know how to find information effectively and expediently. While most of us have come to depend upon Google as a primary source of information, our professional librarians are unparalleled when it comes to determining the best and most accurate sources of information.

To give you just a flavor of what we can do, here are some of the reference questions and information inquires that we answered last month:

• Home tanning and leather working
• Organic farming and nutritional aspects
• Baby and toddler development
• Talent agents in Orlando and Naples, Florida
• Stock trading summary 2004
• African-American dance troupes
• How to build a ceramic kiln
• Grandiflora rose characteristics
• Building a computer
• Travel agencies run by major department stores
• Vietnamese phrasebook
• Patron wished to Fax to South America
• 18th century Jewish European life
• Rectocele and Cystocele medical information
• Care giving guides for people who have lost someone to suicide
• How to start a magazine
• Migration of early man
• History of gay/lesbian movement - 1950's & 1960's
• Nurses in the civil war
• Barrel race training
• How to donate a car to charity
• How to make a pet snake eat
• Where are several military academies located
• Foreign social customs and etiquette
• Working for presidential candidates
• Peruvian photographers
• Hyperspectral imagery
• Korean/Japanese dining rooms and/or home décor
• Parenting a cerebral palsy child

Our library contains a wealth of information, with talented people available to help you navigate through all of it. Maybe that’s the best definition of our library resources. We invite you to come visit us in person or visit our website at http://www.tcp.org/.