A Piece of My Mind: Whose Library Is It Anyway?
Whose Library Is It Anyway?
Our local branch of the county library system is the second oldest and second smallest of seven branches, but second busiest in the number of visitors. The Library Commission has announced intentions to “modernize the library, enhance accessibility, and improve functionality”. But what is meant by “Modernize”, “Accessibility”, and “Functionality”? Forty users responded to a survey about needs, but our library has more than 600 visitors daily.
Modernize – Does this mean new carpets? New furniture to replace the institutionally uncomfortable naugahyde and vinyl chairs? Does it mean replacing the heating/air conditioning system with efficient heat pump technologies? Does it mean providing modern DVD and video-streaming equipment so that researchers can take advantage of the library’s collections without having to take the materials from the library?
Accessibility – does this mean widening doors and the space between book shelves? Does it mean adding multi-lingual signage? Does it mean adding services and features to attract a more diverse cross-section of the community? Or do these get in the way of the library’s research and study purposes? Does the Passport Office really belong in the library?
Functionality – On a recent visit to the library, a friend and I passed through the lobby where a group of young women and children in strollers were sharing lunch and gossiping. “What do they think this is, a free day care center?” he fumed. “It’s a library. It’s supposed to be quiet.” Is the success of the library’s story hours and the availability of snacks in the lobby a detriment to other functions? Or is this addressing the needs of an underserved section of our community?
And how about the users of the library who bring their laptops, sit around a table, and conduct a business meeting at normal volumes? Is providing meeting space a library function? Do we need sound-proof study carrels where a small group can work on a project or hold a meeting together?
What space do we reserve for our chief fund-raisers, the Friends of the Library (FOL)? I’m personally addicted to checking out their 25-cent book cart, but I was surprised when a second book cart appeared recently, impeding access to the community bulletin board, the battery recycling container, and the free magazines. The FoL Sale bookshelves are expanding also, with a third book cart dedicated to teen lit, a table laden with puzzles, and additional tables for seasonal offerings or out-dated magazines. Is this a library benefit, or is it FOL mission creep?
The Orchard Room is the only large meeting space in the library, and it is booked months in advance. Do we need more large meeting spaces? Will the proposed patio enhancement funded by the Los Altos Library Endowment help satisfy the need for more meeting space? Or should we consign large meetings to the adjacent Los Altos Community Center and reserve our precious square footage for study and research?
The old-fashioned library lampooned in “The Music Man” where “the civilized world accepts as unforgivable sin/ any talking out LOUD to any librarian” is gone with the traveling salesman. But we need more than a survey of less than 1% of the library’s users to determine what the library should be today.
Allyson Johnson 
Hello Allyson ! No comment about the “improvements” of the librairie, but it’s just nice to hear about it and to hear from you. Hope all is well with you and your family. Love always, Chantal❤️ (everything fine around here- besides the heat wave!🤪)
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I’ve always enjoyed your Town Crier columns because you have so much common sense — a rare trait these days. Your library column today is the best yet. I’ve often asked many of those questions myself, e.g., why does a library need meeting rooms for knitting circles, why so much space for FOL, why so much empty space for a lobby?
And why was the patio planned separately from the library building remodel? The Chou family’s original donation was intended to put solar panels on the library roof, but were told the roof wouldn’t support the panels. With the remodel, there will be a new roof. Too late! Instead we’ll have a $2M patio that will theoretically accommodate 100 people (in the rain?). It was supposed to be adjacent to the Orchard Room to allow for a gathering of 200, but I don’t know what the plan is with the remodel.
The main reason for needing a space larger than the Orchard Room is for Story Time. When someone suggested having stories in the community center, they were told it was too far to walk for the children!
I know the world of print books and magazines is changing. DVDs are going the way of the buggy whip. Almost everyone has a smart phone and internet access. People do their own research online. So what is the function of a modern library?
The answer seems to be meeting spaces. As you point out, we have a great new community center with multiple meeting rooms. When I remind people of this they say, “Yes, but you have to pay to rent them and the library rooms are free.”
II think NCLA and LALE and FOL have their own ideas about the library and it wouldn’t make much difference whether 40 people or 600 people took a survey.
Thank you for raising important questions that I fear will never be answered.
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Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Pat. When I moved to Los Altos as a teen the library was a hole-in-the-wall on State Street. It has gone through several transformations since then and I reckon we will see a few more.
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High Allyson, Lou Wolner here, I am Nancy Shardell’s Husband. Many times I learn about different perspective from you column. My observations about SCC Libraries as follows, then I will I zero in on the LA Main branch.
First, besides Los Altos, I have utilized County Libraries services in Campbell, Gilroy, Milpitas, Saratoga and Alum Rock in San Jose
Los Altos is the only city that can’t get the square footage needed for expanding populations.
Your pragmatic check list and questions to be answered in your column was exceptional and professional.
I have lived Santa Clara County for 58 years, and Los Altos for 14 of them. I worked for Hewlett Packard and sent my kids to private schools near here. I mention the above so you understand I have much different perspectives than many who live here.
What can be done to expand to the square footage to meet the needs you have identified? How will the local political decisions work out in your opinion.
Thank you, Allyson
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