DC Libraries Can Escape Insignificance

Anonymous Patron writes “A good followup to Sunday’s feature in the Washington Post on the D.C. Public Library system, from a Metro columnist.

In a city where children keep getting killed and more than half the teenagers who start ninth grade vanish from the student rolls by the end of high school, why should anyone care that the District’s public libraries are, with rare exceptions, dank pits with leaky roofs, outdated books and sullen staffers?

For starters, many biographies of great Americans include a scene in which our hero finds sanctuary and inspiration by using the local library to escape from unsavory friends, wayward parents or the ravages of an anti-intellectual pop culture.

continued at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/08/01/AR2005080101586.html“

August 2, 2005 by Uncategorized 3

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3 Responses

  1. p-man says:
    August 3, 2005 at 12:58 am

    Feeling sullen today
    Mr. Fisher has written about the library several times over the years, but this column struck me as more mean-spirited than the others. I don’t doubt that there are some of us who are sometimes not as helpful as we could be with every customer, but most of us try to provide the best service we can with limited resources. Yes, the system has had serious problems for the entire time I’ve been employed there. I’m not sold on public-private partnerships being the panacea he seems to believe it would be; after developers get their hand on the property will they be helping to pay for maintenance? After all, deferred maintenance due to insufficient funding has left us with badly deteriorating buildings. It would be nice if one of his columns could focus on something positive DCPL has done.

    Reply
  2. Porch Geese says:
    August 3, 2005 at 2:13 am

    Re:Feeling sullen today

    I don’t doubt that there are some of us who are sometimes not as helpful as we could be with every customer …

    Boy, as soon as you call me a customer, things have already gotten off on the wrong foot.

    I’d like to think that the relationship I have with a librarian who is assisting me is in a completely different class from the kind that may include “would you like to supersize that?”. Should I tip you for providing good service? Can I take my money elsewhere if your collection doesn’t match my tastes?

    The US Patent and Trademark Office is in awful shape currently (high turnover rate for examiners, giving patents away for arbitrary and trivial techniques) in part because they made a move to consider patent applicants as “customers”. As a result, “good customer service” basically meant granting as many patents as quickly as possible. After some bad publicity, they took down their “The customer is always right” signs, but the attitude prevails.

    Reply
  3. p-man says:
    August 3, 2005 at 11:54 pm

    Re:Feeling sullen today
    Yeah, the “customer” thing is something that got pounded into us a few years ago. I don’t like it, but sometimes I slip up and say it without thinking. There’s a reason a library shouldnt’ be run like a business- it’s not one. I don’t expect a tip, but our patrons are welcome to call the director’s office and demand that I be given a raise for my exemplary service.

    Reply

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