AshtabulaGuy writes “Lifestyles Editor Carl E. Feather wrote recently in The Star Beacon about Kingsville Public Library, headed by Kathy Pape who lacks not only a duly-accredited master’s degree in library science but even a baccalaureate degree, and its conversion from a library to a community center on a six-month trial basis.
Pape appears to be an advocate of maintain a library similar to the express branches discussed recently for Philadelphia as she is quoted stating:
‘The Welcome Center outreach is driven by the changing role of the library. It’s no longer about being a place that stocks every book.
‘“The way the library works now, we don’t need a lot of space for books,â€? Kathy says. “We share with all the libraries in Ohio. We can get any book any time
When does a library become more of a community center that also owns a pile of books? Is this necessarily a good way to go? And no, no duly-accredited master’s degrees in library science are seemingly held by anyone at the library.”
Lack of Support
If you read the History of the Kingsville Ohio Library it doesn’t seem to come as a surprise that the library ended up in such dire straits. It seems to have relied almost exclusively on community and state support with no help from local governments.
user-focused
They seem to me to be a very reponsive public library, especially given the small size of the community (2-3 thousand). They have 3 different book clubs, circulate a bunch of DVDs, and let people check out magazines. My community of 10,000+ could learn a few things.
Re:Lack of Support
This is typical of how many of the small community libraries are funded in Ohio. Everytime the state threatens to cut the state funding towards libraries, many community have said that their libraries would need to close.