The Bottom Line

Times are chanding in libraries, in schools, in child care across the country. While change in and of itself is merely a neutral and inevitable fact, it raises questions for us all about what to keep and what to discard in our professional priorities and practices. In these hard economic times, we face new realities that require the most thoughtful reflection. What are our most essential services? What is our role in connecting young people with books? Is that role important?

And who better to give us some guidance and advice than the Dear Abby of library advocacy.

Dear Abby, I am a harried children's librarian with more things to do than there is time or money to support. Is it still important for me as a professional to read children's books? Conflicted Librarian

Dear Conflicted,

YES, absolutely. While you obviously can't know all the books in your collection, intimate firsthand knowledge of some of them gives you a base for your authority on the collection. Those books provide you with touchstones of excellence, child appeal, and good writing. Because you have experienced their power to move you to laughter or tears or their ability to provoke thoughtful reflection or deepen your understanding of life, you are both empowered and inspired to connect these books to young readers. Because you know the pleasures and rewards of these books, you know the potential that rests in what you haven't read. Your credibility and expertise to recommend and select books depends upon your reading as widely and deeply as possible. It is, after all, only common sense for an expert to be as familiar as possible with the subject of that expertise. Furthermore, I would suggest that you periodically review books. It hones your skills, makes you a better consumer of other people's reviews, and builds your professional confidence.

Dear Abby, Kids and their parents appear to be content with the services and selections from mega-bookstores. Are jobbers' recommendations the way to go? Is book selection a thing of the past? Unappreciated Librarian

Dear Unappreciated,

Libraries are different from bookstores and have a different mission. While there are many similarities, they have different objectives, different funding sources, and different obligations to their users. Libraries are nonprofit institutions created for the public good to store, organize, and provide access to ideas and information in a variety of formats. While they are expected to meet popular demand for items, they are expected to make available materials that may be less in demand, but are nevertheless relevant to the members of that community. While profit must always be the bottom line of business (and bookstores are a business), the public good in the case of libraries—while open to interpretation as to individual items and focus of each collection—is about free access to ideas and information for all. Public libraries have always had an obligation to educate as well as to entertain.

In addition, they have a special obligation to young patrons. Youth services librarians, while not classroom teachers, are nevertheless informally teaching and guiding youngsters. Whether it is readers' advisory or reference help, whether it is a storyhour or book-discussion group, you are "teaching" children the value of literature and how to be consumers of information.

There are critical times in young lives when "the right book" makes all the difference. These books can play a role in the emotional, spiritual, and moral lives of children. There is also a cumulative effect, in that over the course of time, these books awaken and provoke a child's developing moral imagination. They may accompany and inspire a developing sense of right and wrong, inviting a child to speculate on what kind of person he or she wants to be. These books often depend upon a librarian to select them and then make sure they move from library shelves to readers' hands.

And yes, Dear Unappreciated, book selection still matters.

Literature is one of the foundations of our civilization and democracy. Good books are a conduit of great ideas, powerful insights, and profound emotional and cognitive growth. Childhood does not offer infinite time. At best, how many books can a child read annually? It's not anachronistic to want some of that childhood reading time to be filled with the best literature of the day.

Jobbers, however well intentioned, are a business—with a natural conflict of interest when they also serve as book selectors. It may well be that librarians must find ever more efficient ways to select books. But inattentive book selection inevitably turns out to be the most inefficient.

With about 8000 trade books and 3000 series titles published annually, most books receive one review (and some not even that). The number of titles that get multiple reviews is in the minority. The implications for book selection are clear, making it harder for librarians to make informed choices. It is tempting to order from catalogs, jobbers' recommendations, and best-seller lists. It would certainly be easier. But would that be better? Would that even be "as good" or "good enough?" And what is "good enough" for the kids under our aegis?

It takes time and skill to select books that are entertaining (if books aren't appealing, kids won't keep turning the pages), eye-catching, accurate, inspiring, and relevant. There is a lot of junk out there, a lot of mediocre and banal reading material. While these books may have a purpose and a place, a steady diet of mediocrity will not lead our children to excellence. Which of us is willing to settle for less than the best? To treat young patrons as if they were our own children, to care about their reading, should be highly valued. The respect and appreciation you are asking for must begin with self-respect, your professional integrity fueled by your own appreciation of what is important.

Dear Abby, Is it important (and if so, why) that I know and care about children's books; that I am an expert in children's literature? I have been called an elitist and a dinosaur by some of my professional colleagues. Are my priorities out of step with today's libraries? Pressured Librarian

Dear Pressured,

YES, it is still important for librarians to know and care about children's books and to be an expert in children's literature. It is neither elitist nor are you a dinosaur for doing so. If that makes you out of step with the priorities of today's libraries, then these institutions are out of step with what children need.

Listen to speakers at any library event and how they remember and thank their children's librarian for turning them on to books, for helping them through school. We are a society that professes to idolize its children. But how do we really value them? If the best mark of a society that values its children is the respect and support for those who care for children—teachers, day-care workers, children's librarians—what does that say about us as a society? What does that say about the real priorities of our libraries?

Children are labor intensive. They need skilled adults to interact with, to guide and help them, to encourage them. In libraries, that means adults passionate and knowledgeable about literature to help them become readers.

Reading–the ability to read–is the single most important factor for success in school. Reading milestones are now part of doctor visits. Teenage illiteracy or underliteracy is correlated with public health issues and risky behaviors. Even success on the Internet presupposes the ability to read.

Children's librarians have an obligation, a special role in this process of creating and nurturing skilled, empowered readers.

Alas, dear Pressured, the pressure you feel is real. Librarians must continuously hone their expertise in literature, their knowledge of books, and their ability to select books–not as elitist gatekeepers–but as enthusiasts who need to actively offer access to wonderful books.

You are being pressured. More and more is being demanded of youth services librarians—from fluency in a second language to computer proficiency and the ability to conduct programs for infants, toddlers, teens, and in between. And, I want to make yet another demand.

I would demand that the highest priority of youth services librarians be a commitment to connecting young people and literature. That at a time when kids are bombarded by information and by entertainment options beyond number, and are relentlessly pursued as consumers—I would demand that librarians keep in mind the public good, the welfare of the young, by offering them the best possible reading experiences.

While I can't take away the pressure you feel, allow me to refocus it. Books are important—they matter to the individual, to society. To help young people engage with books is a priority worthy of a paycheck, a position, and appreciation. The pressure is real, but it comes not only from having too much to juggle—it also comes from maintaining your professional integrity by focusing on what is most important, even when it brings more pressure and little appreciation.

In difficult times, it is especially critical to take a stand for what is important. The bottom line—the most important thing that public libraries offer young patrons and the one that they are in the unique position to fulfill—is to help kids develop their capacities as readers. If we forget this, we are indeed dinosaurs, on the way to becoming irrelevant.

Dear Conflicted, Unappreciated, and Pressured,

Most of us chose this field out of a deeply held conviction that though books might not change or save the world, they help to make those who read them more informed, thoughtful, better people. What a great way to spend a professional life. I hope you feel proud. You're doing a fine job.

Use your conflictedness as fuel to reflect on how you can do better. Appreciate yourself. If you don't, no one else will. And remember, pressure sometimes makes diamonds.