Here\’s an interesting essay from The Chronicle written by Wayne A. Wiegand,a professor at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
He says people go to the library to find stories to read. Folks are looking for material that inspires them or affirms their identities. Mr. Wiegand says the problem is librarians have little knowledge of why people read what they do, therefore librarians tend to lack a deeper understanding of how libraries serve some readers. This is a missed opportunity to show evidence to state legislatures and other sources of financial support that spending money on stories is important. Librarians are also often not able to help people find the right story to read and don\’t develop enough programs to connect readers to one another. He puts part of the blame on library and information-science programs, that have ignored the literature on reading usually undervalue the reading of stories.
What about you, do you know why people come in, what they are reading and why?
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