While I love seeing the media write about libraries, I cringe every time I see a headline along the lines of “Libraries aren’t just about books anymore” or “Libraries aren’t just quiet places anymore”. Because those are really outdated perceptions of libraries.
At least… according to us librarians.
And don’t even get me started on people who (still?!) think librarians just read or shelve books.
Are we librarians successfully changing public (take that to mean any library patron and stakeholder group) perceptions about libraries? Are we successfully informing the public about the ever-changing innovative services, products, and expertise that we offer? Are we successfully defining and selling our value to current and potential sources of funding? Are we successfully convincing external key decision makers of our relevancy in an era of on-demand conveniences such as Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube?
Or are we just preaching to the choir (the library professionals’ choir)?
According to a new post from TechSoup for Libraries:
Libraries know all about how libraries support access to and use of technology. Unfortunately, in many cases the same can’t be said of your legislators, local voters, the mainstream media, and others who may influence public library funding and support.
Read more from TechSoup for Libraries about why Common Craft produced this video and licensed it via Creative Commons.
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