For a good part of her day, reference librarian Laure Haule is often found standing next to patrons at the St. Charles Public Library, directing them to materials that may hold the answers to their questions.
Lately, she has been helping a few patrons in a different way–on-line.
During certain times of the day, patrons–from their homes or offices or schools–can seek Haule’s reference expertise through an on-line service called “Ask A Librarian.”
Haule communicates to the patrons via a chat box that pops up on the library’s Web site (www.st-charles.lib.il.us).
“The patron can type in a question and request information, and I’ll provide that information to them through that answer box,” she said.
“For example, a student was recently looking for background about a particular author. He contacted me on-line, and I started helping him out by pointing [him] to our on-line author database accessible through our Web page. Then, I instant-messaged the student with Web-page addresses that also had information about the author.
“It’s a nice system because the patron gets hand-holding from a librarian, but they don’t have to leave the Internet.”
The virtual reference librarian is one way local libraries have been trying to address the new needs of their patrons.
Keeping up with technology
“The greatest challenge we face is keeping up with the technology and keeping up with a growing population,” said Diana Brown, director of the St. Charles library.
“The Internet provides challenges of its own related to content and filtering and not filtering,” said Jeanne Hintz, director of the Geneva Public Library.
“How do you protect people and keep everybody happy? It’s just such a controversial issue. I see that one of our main rules with the Internet is to provide access and to guide people through using it, because it is such a huge, complex tool.”
Librarians also need to address changing technology, such as “CDs changing to DVDs and videos changing to DVDs,” Hintz said.
“It’s a real challenge just trying to keep up and knowing what’s going to be a lasting format. We do spend lots of dollars on these and you don’t want them becoming obsolete.”
Books and more
“Books are the staple of any library,” said Margo Cooper, director of the Batavia Public Library. But it’s not just about books anymore. Materials-wise, it’s about books on audio, CD-ROMs, DVDs, videotapes and much more.”
The directors noted that there’s also more of a need for librarians to guide patrons through the abundance, yet confusing array, of information.
“People see us in the teaching role, particularly seniors,” Hintz said.
“We are exploring all sorts of new technology to deliver our services, but we put a lot of energy into our very active Web site,” Brown said.
Another challenge the libraries face is the growth occurring in the area.
“There are more people in the area and because of the economy, more people are staying closer to home and coming to the library,” Brown said. “Our circulation figures are up from just a year ago.”
The St. Charles library, established in 1906, has a collection of more than a quarter-million items in a 54,000-square-foot building. It lends 70,000 to 80,000 items a year, Brown said.
“To accommodate this demand, we buy more copies of books and other items, and we borrow more copies from other libraries,” she said.
For the Batavia library, the growing population translated into a space challenge.
That was remedied earlier this year when the library moved into a new building at 10 S. Batavia Ave. The 54,000-square-foot building replaced a 19,000-square-foot structure a block away that the library used for 20 years.
“We more than doubled our size with the new facility,” Cooper said
The new library has two computer labs, two group-studies rooms and a conference room for community meetings.
“Our circulation has been 30 percent higher for the months this year versus the same months last year. About 34,000 items per month are going out,” Cooper said.
The population is not only growing, but also demographics are changing, Geneva’s Hintz said.
“When I first came to Geneva, it had 10,000 people and was an older community,” she said. “You just didn’t see strollers on the street.
“In the last 15 years, things have flip-flopped. The number of checkouts went from two-thirds adults to two-thirds children. Kids are everywhere.”
The directors added they are carefully watching the growth of two demographics: Spanish-speaking patrons and seniors.
“We want to establish a good Spanish-language collections of books and maps,” Batavia’s Cooper said.
“[Having] Spanish-language materials is now a common thread in libraries.”
Connecting to patrons vital
“There’s just more of everything now,” St. Charles’ Brown said.
“We’re trying to connect to as many people possible, whether it’s the professional via the Internet or the senior citizen via a visit to their home.”
The directors stressed they will continue that outreach to their patrons.
“Our patrons are our focus,” Cooper said. “There are so many ways that we will undoubtedly be helping our patrons in the future–whether it’s guiding them around the library to find a specific book or helping them navigate the Internet for information.”
“The role of the library and the librarian is changing as the needs of our patrons change,” Hintz said.
“We will be there to assist our patrons either in person or virtually,” Brown said.
What patrons often overlook at their libraries
As libraries expand their scope and reach, patrons sometimes can overlook available services and programs.
The directors of the Geneva, St. Charles and Batavia Public Libraries were asked to name the top three things patrons don’t realize their libraries do for them.
Here’s what they said.
Geneva Public Library
– If patrons can’t come to the library, it can come to them. “We provide service outside of our walls,” director Jeanne Hintz said. “One of the main things is if someone needs us to bring materials to them because they can’t get to the library either permanently or temporarily, we will take things to them or the hospital. Automatically, you think of the elderly, but right now we’re delivering to a mom who is pregnant and has been ordered to bed.”
– The library has a relationship with dozens of other suburban libraries. “We can borrow books from other libraries, and patrons can use their card at other libraries,” Hintz said. “People can come in here and within our own computer consortium, they can look up materials on our on-line catalog and place orders directly. The book will often come the next day from another library.”
– An art gallery can be reserved by patrons to display their artwork. It’s located on the lower level. Currently, the photography of a resident is on display. (A cat collection also is on display in the children’s department, Hintz said.)
St. Charles Public Library
– The vast range of on-line resources. “We have a very eclectic array of on-line services, several dozen in fact,” director Diana Brown said. “There’s everything from Gale Contemporary Authors, which is a database for people doing research on authors to financial information to telephone directories for across the country.”
– Reference desk questions don’t have to be made in person. “People can e-mail, fax or telephone the reference desk,” Brown said.
– The outreach service for people who are temporarily or permanently homebound.
Batavia Public Library
– The outreach service. “Our librarian who runs the service will go out to nursing homes, retirement centers and private homes and finds out what people are reading and comes back with requested materials,” director Margo Cooper said.
– The Reader Advisory program. “People who are looking for something good to read can talk to our librarians,” Cooper said. “For example, you may love Tom Clancy, but you’ve read all of his books. Our librarians will point you to authors who write similar stories.”
– The broad range of on-line resources. “There’s so much available on our Web page,” Cooper said. “You can even use our Web page to reserve books and check records to see which books may be out.”
— Jim Sulski
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For more information on:
– The Geneva Public Library, call 630-232-0780 or visit www.geneva.lib.il.us.
– The St. Charles Public Library, call 630-584-0076 or visit www.st-charles.lib.il.us.
– The Batavia Public Library, call 630-879-1393 or visit www.batavia.lib.il.us/home/bataviapubliclibraryhome.htm.
