It’s Worth the Risk

I’m a sucker when it comes to visiting new or renovated libraries. I’m curious about all sorts of things—from the fun of experiencing fresh designs to learning about the choices the architects and librarians made to understanding how these libraries will be used by the public. So when I heard that ImaginOn, the new facility created by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, was opening in October 2005, I knew I had to see it.

I didn’t really understand the building before I visited it, nor how the collaboration between a library and a theater company would play out. I knew only that ImaginOn was a freestanding building the size of a city block, entirely devoted to serving children and young adults—reason enough for School Library Journal to head to North Carolina.

What I found knocked my socks off (see “Imagine This,” pp. 52–55). We sometimes talk about what a library would look like if we could create one entirely from scratch, without archetype or precedent or a skimpy budget. ImaginOn would be it. Sure, it has lots of familiar elements (preschool storytimes begin at 10 a.m.), but much of ImaginOn is radically different (for instance, there’s a really cool studio where teens can create and edit videos). Somehow, a process that began with the goal of moving the children’s and young adult services out of the main library and into their own structure turned into a risk-taking enterprise.

I had similar thoughts a month ago when I listened to risk takers in Ohio discuss their School Rooms project (see “A Web Portal Just for Kids,” pp. 22–23). Theresa Fredericka, the executive director of INFOhio (the state’s information network), along with a group of school librarians and leaders are creating something unprecedented: a rich, online multimedia collection—a type of library, really—designed to support K–12 learners. School Rooms will use the same digital vernacular that the generation “born with a chip” expects. And Ohio’s school librarians have borrowed tools from university libraries (portals, federated searching) to make it happen.

“Of course, you’d write about PLCMC,” a friend of mine said the other day, “they’ve got more money than God.” And Ohio libraries are the best supported in the nation, he added. I’m not sure if God has borrowing privileges at PLCMC (although I wouldn’t be surprised). But I can understand my friend’s perspective. He manages a children’s room in New York, where he fights each year just to retain his existing level of funding. He innovates and takes risks, but on a smaller scale.

But my pal is missing the point. There are other public libraries and school consortia that are well supported. But only a few, including PLCMC and INFOhio, realize that to survive libraries must evolve and choose to initiate change. As librarians we are better at charting “best practices” than “best risks.” When projects as daring as ImaginOn or as ambitious as School Rooms come along, we need to take notice, shine a spotlight on them, and, we hope, jump-start a national discussion about the important, new ways in which libraries are enriching children’s lives.

Will these bold experiments succeed? It’s far too early to say, although my hunch is yes—with some tweaking along the way. We’ll be sure to revisit them in a year or two and let you know. In the meantime, congratulations to both on jobs well started.

Brian Kenney
Editor-in-Chief
bkenney@reedbusiness.com