The concept of change was the most important thing I took away from this chapter. There were actually a couple of times where I wanted to throw my hands in the air and say, "Yes! I know! You're so right!" (I didn't.)
Evans talks about change in a variety of ways, both within and outside the walls of the library. He notes that often the taxpayers (and thus supporters) of the library often don't understand that libraries aren't going the way of the dodo. They are so much more than a museum for books, but many taxpayers who haven't used the library in a significant period of time may not understand what kind of progress has happened in the last 50 years. Remember my first entry? Some people actually believe I work at a library to stamp books. This idea is beyond outdated. But what about when it comes from a patron?
I generally don't work in circulation but did so last week to help out. A woman I served inquired about recent budget cuts. I explained the urgency of the matter to her and stressed the impact of the potential 52% cut Ohio's governor Ted Strickland is proposing. Check out the Save Ohio Libraries webpage for more information. I told her we rely on our patrons to help support us; we are they're library. Her response was one of confusion: "But aren't you all volunteers?" The library at which I work employs over 100 people in addition to its volunteer program. As our conversation went on, it became clear to me that this patron, who regularly used library resources had little to no idea how they operated. (To make matters worse, she also believed that none of our jobs required any education beyond a high school diploma.)
So here's the question: How on earth do we bridge this gap?
Evans explained how difficult it is to get everyone on board when change needs to occur and even how it should be considered a gift to be able to help others through a potentially traumatizing transition. I've personally encountered a lot of resistance to change within our library and really hope to be able to develop skills throughout my degree to help me better cope with this. When I see a more efficient or cost-effective way of doing something, I have a hard time letting things continue simply because they are tradition. I wish Evans had given a little more advice on how to encourage others and help them change. If we constantly rely on how things have always been done, we prevent ourselves from making progress. Putting this into practice is a lot more difficult than recognizing what needs to change. I've noticed with some older age groups in all fields that technology can be seen as the enemy. But this doesn't have to be the case.
My mom returned to graduate school after years of working in a medical lab and realized the importance of being aware of technological advances. (She completed her MBA even though she worked in microbiology precisely because she knew how beneficial being technologically savvy would be.) This kind of training clearly wasn't mandatory. But can libraries make this kind of training mandatory? That's where we enter sticky ground. Not every librarian has gone to graduate school, and sometimes learning has to happen on the job. But what if that group of people aren't willing to learn new ways of doing things? I honestly don't know how to approach those kinds of situations yet and I run into that kind of resistance daily.
While Evans discusses change in relation to collection development, I think it's also applicable to other areas of the library. Change is an enormous challenge for everyone at times and I really hope I can learn how to encourage progress in a helpful manner.
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