Not a World Apart

Last Tuesday we at PPL had one of those days that inspires, energizes and reminds you why at a very, very basic level librarianship is a noble and true profession.  Maria and Esther, librarians from Busia County, Kenya came to visit us for the day.  They are on a mission to create a community library that will become the cultural center for their community and to positively impact every aspect of community life.  The day was jam packed and as these things often go we learned much more from them than I suspect they learned from us. The day was initiated by Eva Kaplan, a Portland native now working in support of Maria’s Libraries.  We face similar challenges differing only somewhat in scale.  The qualities needed to meet the challenges were the same: enthusiasm, intelligence, sense of purpose and humor. 

But Eva and the crew can recount their trip much better than I, but we were honored to have hosted their visit and privileged to learn from them. http://mariaslibraries.org/2012/10/23/maria-and-esther-visit-portland-public-library/

Art Everywhere

I have recently returned from a 4 month sabbatical, the intent of which was to get some perspective as to the future of Portland Public Library.  I interviewed colleagues in various parts of the country, sat, thought and read all kinds of things.  One of my major areas of investigation involved creativity.  I have come to the strong conclusion that, in going forward, the major asset required in employees and to be expressed organizationally is creativity.  You need starting points of curiosity and intelligence, both individually and organizationally, but I think you also need to make it possible for people to be creative by caring about the physical work environment and having the right structure.

When I returned from my time away, the first thing that I appreciated was the quality of the Main Library and the building as a whole.  On Friday May 4th, Alice Spencer of the City’s Public Art Committee gave a talk on the Little Water Girl, a public art work featured prominently in the Library.  By early June it will have been seen by one million visitors since the reopening in April 2010.  And even more special was the award received by our architects, Scott Simons and Associates, on Monday, May 7.   At the Maine Chapter of the American Institute of Architects biennial awards ceremony, held at the Portland Museum of Art, the Library received one of three Honor Awards and was the only non residential structure to be so honored.

http://aiamaine.org/awards2012/2012-award-winners/

It is good to be back.

At Your Service

Over the past three years we have been having many conversations within the library system as to how best to respond to an external environment that has been and remains unpredictable from a fiscal, programmatic and technological viewpoint. It has become important to understand in-depth – beyond assumptions and clichés – who it is we are serving, not serving and what resources do we have available to employ in that service.

There is a great deal of talent in the Library system and PPL faces a challenge as to how to best take advantage of that talent. One of the barriers is the traditional library organizational structure that focuses more on how (lending, public computing, reference, etc.) we do things versus concentrating on the who we are trying to serve. We have taken a big step going forward in redesigning our structure to identify the who and the topics that we intend to concentrate on over the next few years. To begin this engagement we have created Teams of staff that have skills and expertise associated with the scope of each Team.

The Teams are:

Business and Government
Children
City of Readers
Cultural Center (Arts and Humanities)
Health
Portland History
Science and Technology
Teens

Over the next few months we will publicize each of these Teams and describe in more detail their mission and scope. We will be looking for volunteers to support the efforts of each Team.

AMPED!

“It is not a tsunami we are running from; it is a wave we are riding.”


A colleague at Portland Public Library made this comment as part of her post mortem of the recent MPBN Maine Watch program called
“Public Libraries Evolving." At odds with the continued and decades long prediction of the demise of public libraries was an articulation by the public librarians on the show that was upbeat, realistic and most of all ringing in the reality of record public library use. So whatever the next wave is – no matter how high – we have the attitude and skill to ride.

We’ll be here.

“To be Sharp, Yet Open”

I like the woods in any season which leads me to read a lot of nature writing.  I am re-reading Bernd Heinrich’s A Year in the Maine Woods  at the moment.  In the prose of the best nature writers there are many passages such as the one below that resonate with a broader application beyond the purposes of the book.

“Very few people know the birds exist here at all, so I feel like I am delving into a deep secret.  If I can find out how they do it, then I’ll know something that nobody in the world knows, and that prospect excites me.  I do not yet want to form a hypothesis to test, because as soon as you make a hypothesis, you become prejudiced.  Your mind slides into a groove, and once it is in that groove, has difficulty noticing anything outside of it.  During this time, my senses must be sharp; that is the main thing – to be sharp, yet open.”

Portland Public Library, like all public libraries, is undergoing tremendous and complicated change and the need to stay sharp, engage, observe, see clearly and yet be wide open (stay out of the organizational and personal ruts) to the possibilities and potential within the current environment is our critical and essential bundle of qualities.  The assertion that the role of libraries is in fact changing may or my not be accurate depending on your perspective. One thing that is abundantly clear to even fairly casual observers is that the HOW part has already, and is now daily, changing hugely and I would argue for the better.

Portland Public Library, at this moment in its history, has never been better equipped to respond to the needs of the community.  We have the information tools – digital and print - and the needed infrastructure that, thanks partnerships and networks of funders, present a potential to be an even greater force in the daily lives of our users.  I would not suggest that we have enough staff but that is the ever present ‘complaint” of all organizations now.  But, I do believe that the imperative that we become true experts in the knowledge and effective use of all tools at our disposal is a critical competency that we need to acquire.  It is easy to get bleary eyed at the enormous number of electronic journals in a data base and to not delve deeply into the value of the content and then deliver it to meet user needs.  The recently completed community survey strongly stated the public expectation that PPL have great collections, safe, comfortable and productive environments and a staff that is helpful, skilled and committed.

Farewell to Some Friends

The impending retirements next spring of Richard D’Abate, Executive Director of Maine Historical Society (MHS) and Jim Morse, Superintendent of Portland Public Schools, will have an impact on PPL. Both men are first rate and approachable colleagues and thinkers and always interested in ways to work with PPL. Our relationship with MHS has helped to inform our building planning and the evolution of the Portland Room collecting. Jim Morse has been a big supporter of PPL through the budget and planning processes since his arrival three years ago. Most recently he vocally supported the funding for the Riverton Branch of PPL even though there was potential for the schools to benefit from additional space.

A lot of what makes PPL effective comes through our various partnerships and those relationships are only able to develop due to creative leadership of various partners and the ability to recognize mutual benefits.

I am very grateful for all that they have done to support PPL and I will miss both of them as will my colleagues at PPL.

PPL: The gift that keeps on giving

Budget discussions in any organization are an annual ritual but the perspective, if a business or organization is going to thrive, has to be on long term return on investment. Portland Public Library has the same ritual yet often we speak publicly only of the last year’s performance which is a limited view and articulation of our value.


People are dead right to ask “what are we getting for our money?” The answers echo over the generations and among tens of thousands of people. A couple of quick facts serve to illustrate the year after year pay back:

The 1,000,000th visit to the renovated Main Library will take place at some point next spring;

Among the 48,413 active card holders who live in Cumberland County only, 7,010,225 items have been borrowed over the life of their relationship with PPL with more borrowed every day. And, there were thousands of other people who preceded them over many years who are no longer active card holders.

Who uses PPL? Is it still relevant?

Case closed.