A Few Reasons You Should Care about #BOOKGATE Even If You're Not from Urbana

I had a moment (or two) this evening. I wanted to encapsulate in a few tweets why what's going on / wrong at Urbana Free Library matters to everyone. This brief list isn't intended to be comprehensive, but I hope it will provoke conversation.

1. Public libraries are public institutions intended for the public good. We must ensure they remain responsive to the public.
2. Public libraries have always had to respond to competing needs, but libraries must understand those needs first!
3. Public libraries must remain a bulwark against digital / device divide; streaming & downloadable content don't work for all (and aren't desirable for others).
4. False dichotomies (e.g. change vs tradition, analog vs digital, space vs materials) should not drive strategic planning.
5. Librarians & library staff serve the public. It's not about pay or glamor or recognition. Their expertise & service ethic matter. They should not be bullied or belittled. They should have a meaningful voice in planning and implementation of services.
6. Strategic planning which is rushed, is not driven by genuine needs, and fails to include stakeholder and community voices is neither strategic nor planned. 
7. Public libraries should steward public resources for public good. That does not mean, however, they should be run like a business.

I do not want to send my LIS students out into a world of cookie-cutter, corporatized public libraries. This is my Howard Beale / Network moment: I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore.

If you're mad as hell too, do something. 

Trustees Meeting!

The next meeting of the Urbana Free Library's Board of Trustees is scheduled for Tuesday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Library's ground floor auditorium. There has been some indication that the start time for the meeting might be moved to 6:30 p.m., so please check back here for the most current information.

If you are interested in speaking at this meeting during the public comment portion, please note the following guidelines from the Trustees' By-Laws:

Designated comment period 

Public comments are the first items addressed under Petitions and Communications in the agenda. The presiding chair may require persons wishing to speak to sign in before the start of the meeting and to provide their names, addresses, and topics to be discussed. Prior to speaking, each person must be recognized by the presiding chair and must state his or her name and address for the public record.

Time limits
Public comment is limited to no more than five minutes per person and to no more than two hours per meeting, unless extended by consent of a majority vote of the members present. The presiding chair shall monitor each speaker’s use of time and shall notify the speaker when the time allotted has expired.
Limits on group comments
If the presiding chair recognizes that more than twenty persons desire to speak, he or she may limit each speaker to comments of no more than three minutes. 

Whenever any group of persons wishes to address the Board on the same topic, the presiding chair may ask that a spokesperson be chosen from the group. If additional matters are to be presented by other persons in the group, the presiding chair may limit the number of such persons and may limit the presentation to information not already presented by the group spokesperson.

Invited comments Persons invited by the presiding chair to address the Board are subject to such time
limits as the majority of the members present may prescribe.