By Elli Thompson

More than a decade ago, Chris Batt cautioned people at an International Federation of Library Associations conference that libraries would need to evolve with the times to survive. His vision for libraries included a web of connections.

Thirteen years later, Wisconsin Reference Klatch wrote on her blogspot that staff in the state’s South Central Library System are using Yahoo and other IM accounts to talk to one another.

The library field of the early to mid-1990s may have feared its place in the Internet revolution, but these professionals seem to have found their sweet spot in a networked world.

Room to grow

The Madison area has seen its libraries undergo significant changes in recent years – from the incorporation of new technology to interior redecorating to constructing entirely new buildings. While holding on to their sacred and traditional functions, local public libraries have transformed into something much more and have acquired new visitors in the process.

“The bar is continually being raised because the public wants a comfortable space,” said Margie Navarre Saaf, supervisor for Madison Public Library’s Alicia Ashman and Lakeview Branches. “And more and more the library is being used as a community center.”

Several libraries in the Madison area have recently undergone substantial changes to fill their newer, far-reaching role. Monona Public Library and Lakeview Branch underwent expansions in 2002 and 2003, respectively; Verona Public Library built a new building in 2006; and both the Sequoya Branch and the South Madison Branch of the MPL are in the process of creating new facilities.

“People don’t walk in here and get their books and leave anymore,” Navarre Saaf said. “Now you wouldn’t even think of building a library without meeting room space.”

Different uses of the library have also lead to people staying for longer periods of time, requiring more table space and comfortable seating. The recent decision to extend hours at the South Madison and Hawthorne Branches also helped accommodate more community members.
“It’s a delicate balancing act between books, computers, seating, space for other functions,” said Jane Roughen, branch coordinator for MPL. “As public libraries have expanded their reach, we need more space to do it.”

High-speed changes

Much of the demand for reconfigured space has come about with the addition of more computers. The Internet has been perhaps the most noticeable and significant change to the traditional library, with wireless connection available and rooms designated for Internet-accessible computers. Of the 160 computers available at Madison Public Libraries in 2006, 155 had Internet connection. This development brings in members of the community who may not have Internet access or a computer at home. The MPL saw approximately 425,000 sessions of computer, word processing and multimedia work station use in 2007, according to Roughen. It has changed how some people access the library’s materials, in some cases making it easier.

“I generally have stopped looking, going up and down the rows, and am on the Internet,” said Curtis Whittwer, a Central Branch user. “If I’m looking for a specific book, then I reserve it, and they tell me when it’s in…I don’t have to be searching and waiting and all that kind of stuff.”

The library has also provided for those not familiar or savvy with the new technology. Users of the Monona Public Library can make a reservation for a reference librarian who will take half-hour sessions to teach or help them use e-mail or make advanced online searches. Lakeview Branch also provides training sessions on computer and Internet use taught by its staff members.

“What I think the public library’s job is, is to help people who are not as comfortable negotiating this technology feel comfortable with it,” said Demita Gerber, director of Monona Public Library, “[and…] to actually use the array of technology to provide as much information to the local community [as possible].”

Reaching out to youth

Beyond connecting traditional library users to the newest technological resources, local libraries have embarked on initiatives to connect to an age group that has, in the past, tended to feel distant from and sometimes unwelcome in the public library environment: teens and pre-teens.

“We are seeing a trend not just in Madison but across the county that more and more kids are coming in to the libraries and using the libraries, but not necessarily in a traditional way,” said Navarre Saaf.

According to Navarre Saaf, that means libraries often become social gathering places, which can lead to problematic situations.

Whittwer has seen these difficulties. “Some of the kids get a little rowdy, I know, and they don’t treat it as a quiet area,” he said.

But some local libraries are embracing youth culture and their high-tech requests.

Lakeview Branch has begun holding monthly “parties” for teens, setting up the popular Wii gaming system and Dance Dance Revolution video game. The Hawthorne Branch recently hired a user services outreach librarian and has started programs to attract youth. The Monona Public Library created a room especially for teens called Teen Escape. Since the designation of this space, the library has seen an 11 percent increase in circulation of young adult material, according to Gerber.

“[Young adults] are figuring out that we want them here, and we want to be proactive in keeping them as literate as possible,” Gerber said.

According to Norma Hanson, supervising librarian at MPL’s Pinney Branch, librarians hope that, once drawn in by the modern entertainment, youth will recognize other resources the library has to offer. Gerber agreed, saying a quick peak around the library when teens are already there, “invites them to consider that there’s other things they might be doing with their time.”

The goal of better involving youth is a vision that extends beyond the present. Navarre Saaf sees the early teen years as a crucial age to instill a desire to read and learn using not only new resources, such as those the Internet provides, but also print books.

“What public libraries are responsible for [are] to support the joy of reading through all ages,” she said. “That’s what makes it a challenge, and at the same time, it’s a really great pleasure…to see if you can keep people involved in life-long learning.”

Most importantly, according to Gerber, engaging young adults fosters what she sites as the democratic purpose of the library: “keeping people connected with an objective source of information; to hear, see and consume different points of view. If you can get kids in the habit of reading…it actually enrolls them into being a reader and a consumer of information and culture.”

Embracing the future

Although the public libraries have strong roots in the history of communities, they cannot rely only on that foundation. To provide the most for community members today means “not resist[ing] new technology, but embracing it as fully as we possibly can,” Gerber said, and allowing new means of learning to take libraries in new directions.

“You can’t sit on one format for long because other formats are coming out again,” Gerber said. “It’s amazing how the world is coming to us so rapidly.”

But it’s exactly these changes that has caused a thrill in those closely tied to the library and has left them feeling thankful.

“Technology has actually been a great gift,” Gerber said.

Elli Thompson is assistant editor of Madison Commons and a student in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at University of Wisconsin-Madison.