Reflections on Mary Baykan’s presentation at Association for Rural and Small Libraries Annual Conference, Columbus, Ohio, September 26-29, 2007 by Rich Boulet for the Maine Library Community
Excellent professional development experience
With help from the Maine State Library and support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation I recently attended to the annual conference of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries in Columbus Ohio. There were about 160 attendees for this compact, focused conference and it was among the best professional development experiences I have had to date. There were 6 of us from Maine who made the trip: Valerie Osborne and Bonnie Dwyer representing the northern and central district consultants, and Sonja Plummer-Morgan (Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle), Jeanne Benedict (Henry D. Moore Library in Steuben), Maureen Cole (Hollis Center Public Library) and myself from Blue Hill Public Library.
Maine libraries have MARVEL! and other statewide infrastructure
While there I learned a number of things and came back with a sense that we are most fortunate in Maine relative to lots of library destinations around the country. Important library infrastructure such as MARVEL!, MaineCat, and MSLNthat we use every day is by no means commonplace around the country. Lots of libraries struggle on their own with basic database subscriptions (that we can almost take for granted in MARVEL!), finding a suitable ISP (a day does not go by that I am not reminded of what a great resource MSLN is) and streamlining resource sharing (where would we be without Minerva, SOLAR, URSUS, etc.?). Many areas of the country have even fewer resources than Maine to put into library services, leaving libraries there with very large service areas to cover and fewer tools to do so.
Survey on the value of libraries
One of the most useful sessions that I attended was a presentation by the 2007 Library Journal Librarian of the Year, Mary Baykan from the Washington County Free Library in Maryland. Mary shared with us how she and her colleagues realized a significant increase in state funding for library services in the face of almost certain budget cuts.
Baykan hired a nationally known polling agency to survey Maryland’s residents about their perceived value of library services. Questions in the Maryland Poll included ones about attitudes toward library service: are libraries essential, or are they viewed as cultural amenities on par with theaters. There were also questions about the economic impact of libraries. For example:
“When was the last time that someone in your household visited a local public library in person? Was it within the last week, the last couple months, last year or longer?”44 percent stated that they visited within the last week, an additional 36 percent stated that they visited within the last couple of months, and a final 9 percent stated they visited sometime within the last year. The median times used equaled 12 per year.
[Baykan, M. (2006, September). Maryland’s Successful Campaign to Increase Library Funding. Retrieved 10 28, 2007, from Information Today, Inc.]
The vast majority of respondents to this poll highly valued library services and responded quite favorably. The few negative data she received were used in-house use to improve library services.
The effectiveness of the study is particularly convincing when you look at the costs and the return on investment. The poll cost a total of $57,000, but according to Ms. Baykan, resulted in an additional $35 million (over 4 years) in additional funding for Maryland’s libraries. This is an incredible return on the initial investment to Maryland’s library patrons- 614 times over!
My gratitude goes to the Maine State Library and the Bill and Melinda Foundation for underwriting this engaging professional development experience.
Rich Boulet is the the Maine Library Association President and Library Director at Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill, Maine