The library and the community: North York public library (2) information services

Int. Libr. Rev. (1971) 3, 315-32I

THE LIBRARY AND THE COMMUNITY: NORTH YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

(2) I n f o r m a t i o n Services DOROTHY B. CHATWIN In the last 20 to 30 years there have been numerous changes and developments in library work, but no area of it has experienced such drastic changes as reference or information services. The population explosion with its resultant increased demands and pressures on libraries, changes in the education system, rapid technological development, broadening fields of knowledge, new media both audiovisual and computer, vastly improved means of communication, and a publications explosion, all these have compounded library problems in general and information services in particular. Add to that uncertainty as to the likely speed of computer development in information retrieval and the phenomenal costs of sophisticated computer operations and it is easy to understand the atmosphere of uncertainty evident in all libraries today, particularly in large and medium sized libraries. Information services have many facets. (1) The main and traditional function of providing requested information (recreational and research) to the individual in the form of book, pamphlet, magazine, document, film, record, microforms of various kinds, photocopies, teaching machines, etc. (2) Reaching areas of the community where needs exist but are not recognized, and library resources are unknown to the public, or are simply not being provided by the library, e.g. business and technical information. (3) Extension activities with (a) programmes sponsored and run by the library and closely linked to the services the library can provide, "~This paper, together with the three companion papers (1), (3) and (4), is published by kind permission of John E. Dutton, Chief Librarian, North York Public Library, 5126 Yonge St, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada

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(b) programmes sponsored by outside organizations--hobbies, continuing education, art exhibits and similar activities-all closely linked to services available in the library; (c) recreational programmes. My paper will be limited to (1) the general aspects of information services. The following papers by Leonard Chester and the North York Librarian will deal with (2) and (3). The essentials of library based information services are relevant material, expert assistance and convenient access. RESOURCES

In the last 10 years emphasis in this system has been on building collections in our various units. We have now reached the stage of fairly adequate general coverage of subjects. This brings us to the point where we need to consider seriously what type of service we aim to give, and can afford financially to give. We have a choice of: (1) a general, thin, surface coverage of most subjects, with emphasis on recreational, school and university; in other words a little of everything and nothing extensive on anything--responsive to overt pressures only, (2) fairly extensive collections in equal area branches, with no real depth in any, but adequate to meet the average demand; (3) a strong central library, incorporating a Reference Centre (with "in depth" reference collection, including business and technical, a Canadiana collection, an extensive government document collection with all available North York and Metro documents and possibly an Audio Visual Centre; with a strong central circulating and general student reference on the main floor, the Reference Centre being on the upper floors. Another alternative is to have the Reference Centre and Circulating Library (Willowdale) in separate buildings. The Reference Centre should be staffed by subject specialists, experts with in depth knowledge of the areas they serve, both as to acquisition and public service. At present, increasing pressures fom community branches for more and more high school and university materials are gradually changing the original concept of the community branch. With four (and soon five) area branches providing a full range of information service, seven community branches, and three bookmobiles, the cost of book and other resources, plus staff, plant and plant maintenance becomes prohibitive. Even maintaining adequate reference collections in five area branches is impossible without greatly increased budget. The reference stock survey of the 600's, recently made in the area branches, showed this very clearly

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when it came to rounding out and deepening the collection. In many cases it was possible to buy only one copy of the more expensive items. Until we have a Reference Centre the most practical solution seems to be to use Willowdale as the central collection it already has the largest collection of both reference and circulation materials, is the centre of the inter]ibrary loan teletype operation, is the most centrally located of our branches, and is located on the most convenient traffic artery for both public transportation and private car. The public has always regarded Willowdale as the main collection. This became very obvious when a survey of reference use was made late in 1967. The survey showed that ~illowdale handled as many reference questions as the other three area branches put together, while its telephone questions amounted to 74.8 per cent of total telephone questions handled. A recent pamphlet use survey reinforced the previo.us findings--63-5 per cent of pamphlet use was in Willowdale. Demands for information increased steadily each year, in the six years from 1963 to 1968 questions answered increased 65 per cent from 103,768 to 171,276. In building our resources beyond the basic coverage the knowledge of subject specialists (with or without library training, preferably with) is essential, particularly in the sciences, applied sciences, and business and technology. PROPOSED REFERENCE

CENTRE

If we are to have a Reference Centre in North York, a great deal of long term planning and budgeting will have to precede it. Building a reference collection is a long and costly process. The use of well qualified subject specialists would be essential in the selection of the collection. A good standard basic collection in all subject fields, with the possible exception of science and technology, could be built up by experienced general reference librarians, but a first rate in depth reference centre today requires subject specialists. This was evident in the criticisms of the Toronto Reference collection made by Lee Ash in his report on that collection. The selection, acquisition and cataloguing of such a collection would have to be under way years before there was any thought of opening the Centre. The Yonge Redevelopment Plan, with its estimated population increase of 60,000 in the Plan area over the first two stages and a final total district population of 237,400, could have a tremendous impact on any library (area branch or reference) within the redevelopment area. Whether or not the Plan goes into effect we should specialize extensively in the following areas.

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(1) Local government materials of all kinds: t (a) as complete a collection as possible of all publications, from the beginning, of the Borough of North York, Metropolitan Toronto, City of Toronto (possibly a selected group here) ; (b) maps of the area--population, electoral, historical, topographical, geological, education, etc. ; (c) city directories of the area (from the earliest period) ; (d) books and other materials on local and metropolitan government anywhere in the world; (e) statistical reports (current and retrospective) likely to be used by borough officials and representatives. The local government collection, in particular, must provide efficient, expert, knowledgeable and quick service. It requires a top grade specialist working in this area only, and in close cooperation with a Canadiana expert. (2) Business and technical materials, slanted to give in depth service to the types of business and service planned for the Development area, and those developing in other parts of the Borough. (3) Social services collection. (4) Performing Arts collection, keeping in mind other simi]ar collections in Metro. STAFF

The organization of our professional and subprofessional staffis excellent in theory, and would work well with three levels of professional staff: division heads and their assistants; team leaders with considerable experience; experienced general librarians and subprofessionals; provided we had a stable staffwith moderate turnover. Not only do we lack the middle experienced level but the high turnover necessitates an exhorbitant amount of time spent in training new staffat the expense of the public service. The weakest link in our information services today is staff. We need to take a long and penetrating look at the staff situation to see why we have such a high professional staff turnover, and what can be done about it. Also we don't seem to be attracting experienced librarians from other systems. I don't think these problems stem from dissatisfaction with I" This collection should be started immediately, even if materials have to be stored tbr the present.

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salaries or even, to any extent, dissatisfaction with physical working conditions. I think the root of the problem is lack of j o b satisfaction--the opportunity to develop special skills and experience (either as a subject specialist or a librarian with special competence in some area). Recognition of special abilities or developed skills is lacking, except through promotion to administration on one level or another. Even promotion to team leader involves the librarian in organization, supervision and training which removes him from direct work with the public. Very frequently this means that as soon as a librarian attains reasonable competency he is removed (to a large degree) from service to the public. Also most librarians with any interest in information services prefer working with the public to administering and supervising. Both administrators and specialists are essential to the effective operation of information services. Until we recognize this we are giving answers (more or less) to the public, but not true service, and it is doubtful if we will be able to attract experienced staffto any except top level administrative positions. The "professional specialist" position described by Asheim in a study sponsored by the American Library Association supports this point of view: " I f administration is seen as one area of specialization in librarianship, it is only one of many equally valuable specializations towards which the librarian can aspire. There are many scholarly librarians such as the curator of rare books, or professional experts, like the reference and information specialist, whose expertise may bear little relation to the usual skills of management and administration. These are deserving of rewards and prestige equal to that now accorded to the administrator, and it is hoped that the professional specialist classification may help to confer that status on them. It is a strong recommendation of this paper that librarians should not be required to abandon for administration important aspects of library, bibliographic, or information work for which they have an outstanding aptitude in order to receive the recognition and the financial rewards they deserve." To illustrate the lack of experience among those dealing with the public in our system--of the 17 trained librarians in the three area branches and Willowdale Adult Services seven have been on stafftwo years or more, two between one and two years, and seven less than a year. To my knowledge eight of the 17 have come to us straight from library school, with no experience in any other library system. We need to go out and offer jobs to competent librarians working elsewhere in Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Breadth and variety of experience add greatly to the quality of reference service.

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In general the use ofsubprofessionals is not satisfactory, unless they are subject specialists working in the area of their specialty. Here the turnover is great and training has to be repeated with each new group, in effect turning the library into an inferior library school. For subprofessionals the job is a stepping stone--to marriage, to library school- or a means of adding a few dollars to the family budget. It is not a career. The above problems are not by any means peculiar to our system, most libraries today are experiencing them to a greater or lesser degree. For us they are aggravated by the extraordinary rate of growth of this system. Even so the problem in North York is a serious one and has to be resolved within its own context. METRO REFERENCE

Today, when no single library or library system can be self-sufficient, the pooling of resources becomes a necessity for first class service. Coordination and co-operation are the key words in library operations. In Metro we have made some progress toward co-operation with the installation of the teleprinter network and the metro (pickup service) for public libraries which greatly increase and speed up the exchange of books and films among the public libraries in Metro. But when it comes to anything affecting borough budgets or borough library practices we make little or no progress. Co-operation of reference resources on a Metro level would seem best served by a Metropolitan Reference Library network, with a central Metro Reference Library and a Reference Centre in each of the boroughs, administered and financed centrally. This would avoid unnecessary duplication and would provide planned co-ordination of reference resources in the Metro area. Under the present political set up this is not workable with six autonomous bodies concerned. Another alternative would be a Metro Reference Library, a substantlal Reference Centre in each of the boroughs, and a central pool of seldom-used or very expensive reference tools purchased co-operatively by the boroughs and housed in the Metro Reference Library but not part of ks collection. Books in this pool would be available on loan as reference books to any of tile boroughs. Failing this each borough goes its own way with resultant greater expenditures and fewer total resources. An extension of public library co-operation in Metro would be metro co-operation of all types of libraries--public, special and university. This could also be extended on a regional and provincial basis. Special libraries are usually only too pleased to co-operate but university libraries are like the Cabots and the Lodges, they communicate only with each other. They are also the only libraries, other than a few large special

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libraries, able to afford computer operation in the information field. Only concerted efforts by professional associations, library boards, and provincial library services are likely to result in any sharing of the benefits of these operations. In brief, this system is suffering from growing pains after a period of phenomenal growth in less than 10 years from one library and three bookmobiles to 11 libraries and three bookmobiles. We are due for a period of re-assessment of aims and objectives and consolidation of gains. Major immediate action is required on staffing and, for Willowdale, space problems. Both these problems have reached a crisis stage. Once these are solved we should be able to turn with confidence to long term plans for a borough Reference Centre and the broadening of our resources by co-operation with other libraries, particularly Metro libraries. SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

L. E. Asheim (1968). A.L.A. Bull. pp. 1096-1106. Education and manpower for librarianship, first steps toward a statement of policy. L. Carnovsky, ed. (1968). Libr. Q., entire January issue. The public library in the urban setting. M. K. Goggin, ed. (1964). Libr. Trends, entire January issue. Current trends in reference services. H. Goldstein, ed. (1966). The Changing Environmentfor Library Services in the Metropolitan Area. Chicago: Illini Union Bookstore. A collection of papers presented at an institute conducted by the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science, 31 October to 3 November 1965 at Champaign, Ill. M. V. Jones et al. (1968). Yonge Redevelopment Study, prepared for the Planning Board of the Borough of North York. 3rd and final report. W. B. Linderman (1967). Present Status and Future Prospects of Reference/Information Service. American Library Association. Arthur D. Little Inc. (1967). The 3R's Program: Meeting Industry's Informational Needs. Report to the Division of Library Development, New York State Library. D. M. Sinclair (1968). A.L.A. Bull. pp. 57-63. Next ten years of reference service. C. W. Stone, ed. (1967). Libr. Trends, entire October issue. Library uses of the new media of communication. R. W. Conant, ed. (1965). The Public Library and the City, a symposium on Library functions in the changing metropolis at Dedham, Mass., 1963. Boston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Center for Urban Studies.