Michael McGroty pointed to a short Voices Column from the LA Times that raises some interesting questions on collection development for public libraries.
The author Steven Rosen, a Los Angeles writer, says while he has supported the growth of library video/DVD collections, he believes that the public needs an accessible repository for classic and art films, documentaries, PBS programs and the like. In short, we needed a library to collect and make accessible “good” videos. But “Runaway Bride”? “Mission: Impossible”? “Dude, Where’s My Car”? (Denver has three copies of it.)
He adds Libraries are populist institutions that evolve with times, and part of that change is to embrace the “fun” aspects of their collections.
His questions: “Why is a public library carrying these films and loaning them free? What is the artistic worth and the public need? Don’t commercial movie-rental stores have this market covered? And aren’t they diverting precious shelf space away from books?”
So what of the notion that public libraries circulate too many “Dude, Where’s My Car?” DVDs, too many romance novels, Harry Potter, and not enough “serious” literature?
Ya gotta stay relevant…
Goddess above, I hope I spelled relevant correctly…
It is my opinion, which along with $3.00 gets you expensive coffee at Starbucks, that libraries should make an effort to balance their collection with academic and fun stuff. After all, what exactly is the draw for your public when all you have is just boring old tomes full of information? Sure, we all need the boring tomes, but sometimes, I just wanna read something completely lacking in academic integrity. Sure, I need to go to the library to get that book on theoretical mathematics and that video on the history of space exploration. But I want to go to the library to get some space opera, romance, and mystery novels. And, oh look, they have a copy of Episode II in! (Christopher Lee is the man.)
I hate comparing libraries to businesses, but it some ways darn it they have a lot in common. A book store that stocks nothing but books on science, history, art, and academics and stocks classical CDs only, and refuses to buy any videos/DVDs except documentaries is going to fail miserably. Libraries are the same way. If you want people to actually come to your library more often than they have to, you need to have things they actually want to read/view/listen to for fun, not just for study. Science can be boring, but science fiction is almost always fun.
People have needs and wants and usually the needs are boring and they’re more interested in the wants. I need a CD with classical music for a report, but I want the Kylie Minogue album.
So libraries should stock popular fair but they should be careful not to overdo it on either side. Get a lot of documentaries. Video stores aren’t going to have that and people need documentaries for research, reports, whatever. (Unless you’re me and you keep the TV on the Discovery Channel 24/7) But while your patrons are in, they’re going to want something to take the edge off that Shakespeareian play they’re being forced to watch. Titus Andronicus sucks, so after that, I’m gonna watch me some Avengers.
Fun stuff…
As long as the library has the reference stuff, and the classic things, then having “fun stuff” is fine. If it’s just a book co-op, then they’ll only have the Dude Where’s my Car?, but if you’re a library, you’ll have astronomical charts, medical diction aries, biographies, 1984 & Brazil, as well as Beethoven, and yes, Dude Where’s my Car.
Pop culture is not something that shouldn’t be studied. However, it shouldn’t be studied to the exclusion of other things. And if you’re gonna be studying it, you really should get annotated copies of Simpsons episodes.
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
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Re:Fun stuff…
I find it interesting that “the fiction question” which was so important at the beginning of the 20th C is no longer really an issue for librarians (even in term of new media like VHS and DVD), but now it’s the “public” (as represented by commentators) that get upset about it.