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The Public Library Are All Created Equal?. By Mary Susan Lucas and Shakira Weddington. Public Libraries. According to Richard Rubin public libraries are: Supported by taxes Governed by the board Open to all Voluntary Established by state law Provide services without charge to the user .
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The Public LibraryAre All Created Equal? By Mary Susan Lucas and Shakira Weddington
Public Libraries According to Richard Rubin public libraries are: • Supported by taxes • Governed by the board • Open to all • Voluntary • Established by state law • Provide services without charge to the user
Mission of PLCMC The Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County: • Expanding minds • Empowering individuals • Enriching our community Vision Statement • Aspiring to be America’s best public library. Core Values • Service Excellence • Innovation • Lifelong Learning • Freedom to Know • Integrity & Trust • Staff Appreciation
Mission of GLRL The Gaston-Lincoln Regional Library • Education: To provide opportunity, guidance , and stimulation for personal growth through self-directed learning efforts. • Information: to provide individuals with timely and accurate, up-to-date information. • Leisure: to improve the quality of life by providing materials and activities or the productive use of leisure time. • Culture: To serve as a meeting place for cultural activities, and to promote participation in, enjoyment of, and appreciation for the arts through library sponsored and co-sponsored programs
Organization PLCMC • The ultimate power behind PLCMC are the people of Mecklenburg County. Under the people are the Board of County Commissioners and the Board of Education. Then there are the Library Board of Trustees (11 positions), and the Director of Libraries. Then there are four other directors: Library Experiences, Organizational Resources, Community Engagement, and Research innovative and Strategy. • The Morrison Regional Library that I went to has a staff of 32 people. In charge is the branch manager Elly Tomlinson. Then there are 20 staff members in circulation, 6 in children's and 5 in reference.
Organization GLRL • Who is the ultimate power behind GLRL? Like PLCMC, it begins and ends with the people of Gaston and Lincoln counties. GLRL is a regional library; therefore, there are Regional Trustees (6 positions), Gaston County Trustees (7 positions) and Lincoln County Trustees (6 positions). There is a Regional Director, as well as a Gaston County Director and a Lincoln County Director.
Public Funding Funding Amount per capita • PLCMC $38.97 • GLRL $16.48 PLCMC spends over twice as much per person as GLRL!
PLCMC GLRL Total Funding: $29,963,005 $4,270,138 Federal: $543,013 $0.00 Local: $25,980,099 $3,754,995 State: $536,392 $430,644 Other: $2,903,501 $84,499
Public Internet Terminals Legal Service Population PLCMC: 768,789 GLRL: 259,078 Public Internet Terminal: Population Ratio PLCMC: 1:976 GLRL: 1:4112 • At PLCMC, there is one public internet terminal for every 976 people. • At GLRL, there is one public internet terminal for every 4112 people.
Programs Offered The Morrison Regional Library offers three main programs for the public. • Technology Programs which teaches people different computer skills like how to use power point, or create web pages. It also helps people with financial matters and teaches people how to use Microsoft Publisher. • Adult and teen programs where different languages, knitting and gardening among other skills are learned. For teens, they have game days, where games on the Wii, XBOX, laptops or board games are available. They even host a teen writer’s night. • Book Programs offer book clubs where patrons discuss a variety of books. They discuss different forms of poetry and follow the works of Mark Twain. With Mark Twain they discuss the locations in which his books are held.
Programs Offered • Story time • Community exhibits and displays • Summer Reading Programs • Performing Artist • Book talks • Lectures • Author Visits
What Morrison is Proud of • What the librarians at the Morrison Regional Library are most proud of are these programs. They believe that these programs not only help people deal with the present economic crisis, but also give them entertainment to relieve their stress. • They are also proud of their small business reference collection. They cherish this collection because most of their patrons are wealthy people who own businesses. This is a big part of their library.
What GLRL is Proud of • They are very proud of their preschool gatherings and their book clubs for 1st-3rd grade and 4th-6th grade. The preschool gatherings regularly have attendance of 30-50 kids and parents. • Everyone that the authors spoke to emphasized how much they all enjoyed helping patrons every day. Each one said that patron interaction was the best part of his/her job. Uniformly, the staff relished the opportunity to provide friendly, helpful, and kind services to patrons. Many patrons are on a first-name basis with staff.
Issues with Some Public Libraries Morrison Regional library • Their main concerns are that they don’t get a more variety of people to help because they are located in an upper class neighborhood. Unlike most libraries, they always have open terminals that can be used, but not enough people in that area need them. They understand how hard it is for people in the economy and want to be able to reach out to more people who are less fortunate.
Other Problems • Concerns among the staff at GLRL included a much-neglected young adult section that has little hope for expansion or improvement at this time. • The children’s staff also expressed a desire for more educational DVDs and audio books for children instead of just entertainment materials.
Young Adult Gaston-Lincoln Regional Morrison Regional
