Free computer access, Harry Potter parties and cheap coffee.
At the Allen County Public Library, patrons want it all, and they want it now.
“It’s just a totally different world than 20 years ago. There are so many things people expect the library to provide now. It’s not just books, …” says Rosie Stier, manager of Little Turtle branch.
And many of those things are expensive, such as Blu-ray discs, Wii and Xbox 360 games and audio books on CD, some of which can cost about $100 a title.
“With today’s world, with everybody living on a tight budget, (patrons) obviously want the things the library has to provide. … Why not use your tax dollar as best you can?” Stier asks.
That’s why circulation in the downtown art, music and media department has increased in the past few years, from 11,000 items to 18,000 items a week, manager Stacey Pearson says.
“That is a really clear sign to me that people need entertainment that’s free, because they’re not working,” she says.
The other hot commodity is information that’s free, provided by librarians as quickly as possible.
Despite staff and budget cutbacks, those who work in the library system try to meet everyone’s demands, even when those demands might seem a bit unreasonable.
Some patrons don’t understand that even the wondrous Internet still requires time and skill to find a particular fact or gather a large amount of information.
Stier, who’s been a librarian since the 1960s and at the Little Turtle branch since 1990, has plenty of examples, including one woman who called an hour before closing on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
She wanted “a rough synopsis of the philosophy of all the U.S. presidents, and their years in office … and how their presidency stacked up against the Constitution. And she was upset when I said, ‘I can do that for you, but it’s going to take me a little time.’ ”
Stier offered to do the research and call her back the following week.
“No, she wanted it now. … They just think you can go on the Internet and it’s right there,” Stier says.
And it is, in some cases. Other times, not so much.
“Of course, information is just overflowing with the Internet,” Pearson says.
“Filtering through that information is what we try to help people with. There are limitations – we can’t give people legal information; we can only show them where they can find it,” Pearson says.
Obviously, many patrons do their own research or need to look for jobs and complete unemployment forms.
“That’s really stressful. Many people, especially those over 50, aren’t always computer savvy,” Stier says. “You get them started and they have lots of questions and they get frustrated easily.”
At Eckhart Public Library in Auburn, computer use has jumped 55 percent in the past year, and new patrons have increased by 26 percent.
“We are really the community center; people are coming here for everything,” operations manager Chris Grogg says.
They come to get tax forms, look for online love, update their MySpace page, download music and more.
In a 2007 survey of public libraries, 73 percent reported their facility was the only place in the community with free computer and Internet access, according to the American Library Association.
Last year, the Auburn library opened a separate location for teens a block away.
“They have been wonderful. They treat that as their place. Before, teens were always welcome; now, we have embraced them,” Grogg says.
That’s also the philosophy at the Young Adult Services department at Allen County Public Library.
“We try to market to them, not just ‘tolerate’ them,” manager Mari Hardacre says.
Here, cardboard cutouts of pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) line up against one wall. Large orange and purple sofas dot the room. A bookshelf is filled with board games.
And an area in the back features a large-screen TV and colorful mood lighting for video game parties and anime movie nights, plus booths with tables for those who bring in snacks.
Yes, eating is allowed in the main library these days, except for the computer areas and genealogy department.
“We consider this to be a ‘third space’ for teens,” Hardacre says. (The first and second spaces are home and school or work.)
The monthly event calendar is crammed full with meetings for chess club and book clubs, “Guitar Hero” or gaming gatherings, craft days and poetry/rap slams. The young-adult department also has a blog and a Facebook page.
For the most part, the teens are good patrons, but they’re not above a prank every now and then, such as the time someone baked a library stapler into a cake, then brought it in to share and photograph.
Sure, it’s all fun and games, until someone takes out his teeth.
That happened to Pearson many years ago when she was working in the periodicals department.
The library kept some of the more expensive magazines in a separate area and required identification from patrons who wanted to read them.
One day, a man wanted to read Billboard but didn’t have an ID. So he popped out his dentures instead. Pearson decided it was a fair trade.
“We figured he’s got to have his teeth” and that he wouldn’t leave without returning the magazine and reclaiming his unusual deposit.
Moments like that make the job interesting, says Pearson, who’s been a librarian for more than 20 years.
Once, someone left a kitten in the book return box at Little Turtle branch, back when the boxes weren’t attached to the building. The cat found a good home and is still alive, Stier says.
One ongoing trend is related to the weather. When it’s really hot or really cold, there are plenty of patrons, including kids, who stop in just to appreciate the indoor climate.
“There are so many people that flow through our buildings; … we still have some characters,” Stier says, chuckling.
And whenever they’re there, some kids need help finding something to do, which often results in long computer wait lists in the afternoon.
While the downtown library has plenty of programs for all ages, that’s not something all branches can replicate, with their smaller staffs and budgets.
“Some of us just can’t stretch that thin. It’s hard to make your money touch all of those bases to make everybody happy,” Stier says.
At Auburn’s Eckhart Public Library, staff members have decided to invest most of their materials budget in books, which means they add to their DVD collection only when movies are donated, Grogg says.
If a popular title gets “lost” – a growing problem – then they might buy a replacement.
And the periodicals collection has changed a bit over the years, too.
