In these days of cuts to social services, libraries, particularly small, local libraries, are among those bits of so-called “government waste” that are getting sliced from the meatless bone of public funding for social programs. Although I personally can’t see how the government can afford billion-dollar boondoggles (such as the missile “defense” systems that don’t work even under artificially favorable conditions), yet not be able to afford the much cheaper and extremely effective bulwark to our democracy that is a library, the fact remains: small libraries around the country are being closed because of lack of direct or indirect federal support. Philanthropists are attempting to juggle their dollars to where they will do the most good, and there are a thousand urgent cries for help from all those other worthy social programs that no longer have help from us, the taxpayers. Books, in this climate, seem unimportant, or less important, to those picking up the tab for what is our collective responsibility.
So the smaller libraries close. No neighborhood library? Oh, that’s okay, you can drive into town to the main library, if your town is big enough to afford a library. No car? Well, we have a library van, so you can hitch a ride to the once-a-month delivery site. What, no library van anymore? It got cut? Or maybe your village was too far away to get library van service, or it’s off the road system? Hmm. Well, let’s see, maybe your main library will allow you get your book by mail. Not enough money in the budget for postage? Gee. That’s too bad.
But there are some alternatives. They require a place to put the books, and a few people to contribute them, and maybe a volunteer to help organize them.
Option one: the book exchange
For decades, Ester has had a book exchange shelf. (From time to time, we’ve had two book exchanges going, with the shelves in different locations.) The shelf is in a more or less public place, and anyone who is done with a book and doesn’t want to keep it drops it off there for someone else to read. The ettiquette is simple: drop books off if you pick them up (or at least try to), bring back the books you borrow, don’t trash them, don’t take them and sell them to the local used book store or at a garage sale (they aren’t your books). Some book exchanges, like Book Crossing, are worldwide affairs with websites. Others, like the one here in Ester, are small, local exchanges. These work pretty well and are self-maintaining. But they mean you never know what the reading material will be, and if you’ll ever see a particular book twice. They will reflect what your neighbors are reading, but not necessarily what you might want to read. The selection at any given time is small. And sometimes people do grab the books and sell them, since there is nothing to stop them but their own conscience. Sometimes it is hard to find a place where you can safely have the exchange shelf, or the shelf might have to move and find a new home. But they are free.
Option two: the private library
This is great, if you can afford all the books and have the space to put them. Some people will loan out books from their private collections, but I’ve learned the hard way that loaned books can vanish, never to return. I forget who I gave them to, the borrower forgot who they got them from, or moved away, or can’t find my address. Philanthropists might set up a private library for the public to use (this used to be the only kind of public library there was), along the lines of a public library, but the focus may be restricted or one might not be able to take the books from the library.
Option three: the volunteer or membership library
A membership library is like a private library, but semipublic, and paid for by dues and/or donations from its membership. The staff may be paid or volunteers. We also have this type of library, staffed by volunteers, here in Ester. It and the book exchange are mutually supportive: duplicates or beat-up books from the library go to the book exchange, and books might get picked up from the exchange shelf and put in the library. The John Trigg Ester Library (JTEL) has a very broad criterion for membership: you pays your dues, you is a member. It is a part of the Ester Community Association, and therefore a nonprofit and designed to serve the residents of the Ester area (although we have a few members from Goldstream or Fairbanks or Nenana). Other membership libraries may have more restrictive criteria.
The JTEL is a do-it-yourself library: that is, no librarians hang out in the library all day to help you check out a book, or whack you on the head with a ruler for talking too loud, or show you where a book might be. Library members have to figure it out themselves.
Making our local library a volunteer library is lots cheaper and less complicated than paying for staff, if less reliable or consistent. But it has worked for more than five years.
So let’s say your small town has decided that it needs a library, and decides to follow the route Ester has taken. Where will the library be housed? Where will you get all the books? Who will decide what books should be in it, and how the membership should be determined? Who owns the books? Who’s going to organize them?
Using the JTEL as my example again, I’ll outline the steps to building your local library:
First, find a bibiliophile. You want some person who really likes books, who thinks books and reading and literacy are really great, and thinks everybody should have their nose in a book. The person should be public-spirited, easily suckered into volunteering, and not so busy that they won’t be able to follow through on what they volunteer for.
Then, casually mention what a shame it is that there isn’t a local library within your patsy’s—sorry, public-minded individual’s—hearing. Maybe add a few comments about book exchanges, or the books you saw at the dumpster site.
Wait for a while.
Find another person with a similar zest for books. Repeat, only this time add something like, gee, I bet So-and-So (your first sucker) would be interested in trying to set up something like this. When the second person points out that you could do it, protest that you are way too busy, and rush off to that appointment you forgot about that starts in ten minutes.
Eventually, you will find that the local book nuts will take this on, and you won’t have to worry about it—unless, of course, you are the local book nut. In that case, here’s what you need to do next:
1. Find a place to house the books. A benefactor willing to provide a room or a small building, or even a bookshelf in a more or less public place, for free or on the cheap, is vital. Otherwise, you might have to do this yourself. A local business or philanthropy association might be willing to provide space. This may be the most difficult part, so assure your potential landlord that it won’t take up much room. It won’t—at first.
2. Find the books. This shouldn’t be a problem, unless you are picky. The JTEL is supplied by dumpster divers, who regularly find tons of books at the recycle platforms at the transfer sites. The JTEL had a book drive in its first year, and people brought books from all over. The university libraries, Noel Wien library, and the Literacy Council all have regular book sales, and cull their shelves from time to time. Real gems can be found for free or not much money. In communities with no college libraries, it may take longer to build up your collection, but it still shouldn’t be a problem.
3. Find help. Once your library is started, you will need help unless you are independently wealthy and unemployed. Even then, you’ll probably need library volunteers. Teachers, parents, and the aforementioned books nuts are your best bet.
4. Ask for donations and make sure people pay their dues. A library is a good thing that benefits the entire community, and people will be glad to help, even if it is only a dollar or two. Don’t be afraid to ask. Spread the word about the library, invite people to join. Use the money to buy supplies. The JTEL uses card pockets, and before we were given three boxes of library cards, we used 3x5 index cards. The card pockets are the biggest expense, after rent. People will donate supplies, too: bookends, pens, bookmarks, tape, glue sticks, card pockets, library cards, envelopes, stamps, paper, computers, bookshelves.
5. Get organized. The JTEL was originally simply a place where people stored their books for the public to use, and the donors were really still the owners of the books. Or no one owned the books, depending on how you looked at it. Once the collection gets beyond a few hundred titles and the membership gets beyond a few tens of people, you may want to form or join a nonprofit corporation. The JTEL joined the ECA, and formed a library board, which is following the informal and very open collections policy of the orginal.
6. Eventually, you may want to throw a fundraiser. Have a clear goal in mind, and get help. Then get some more, and delegate. Make sure it’s fun, and send out thank-you cards to everyone who helped.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that a library is more than just a bunch of books, particularly a library built from books donated by members of the community. A library like the JTEL is a tangible expression of a community’s intellectual life. Its members’ politics, entertainment, fantasy, religions, philosophies, occupations, and hobbies are all expressed in the items donated, and every book is meaningful to the membership. They come to the library and recognize a book they donated, or see that a neighbor’s name is in a book on the shelf. The mutual support represented by those books, the gift from one neighbor to another, brings a town closer together, and makes the library not just a guardian of literacy and freedom of thought (and therefore democracy), but of the very sense of community itself.
http://esterrepublic.com/Editorials/editorial71.html
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