This collection of 32 short pieces is aimed at librarians serving populations of fewer than 25,000 people, which makes a refreshing change, as librarianship publications tend not to address this market. The articles are grouped into several broad areas of interest – fundraising, technology, management, user services and so on – with particular emphasis on achieving results with minimal resources. The disadvantages of small library services are well rehearsed. Advances in technology have flattened out some of the problems, but others remain or have worsened. How is it possible for small authorities to achieve economies in database purchasing, for example?
Several familiar approaches are outlined. Patron-facilitated programming, where the library is the venue and the patrons, or a mixture of library staff and volunteers, run the event, has been a staple of libraries for years. (The advice to forbid firearms is more applicable to Ohio.) Other articles reflect the very different organisational model of US libraries, where so much of their budget comes from fundraising and grant-sourcing. This, together with some of the sugary advice on empowering staff, does not translate to other countries very readily.
Inevitably the essays are a mixed bag; one or two are not worth their place, and one or two have insufficient connection with the book’s theme. Joshua Johnson offers valuable tips on producing statistics that are relevant to how the library serves its community, and David Robinson gives advice tailored to the needs of small libraries on introducing and supporting the use of e-readers. Sharon Miller’s account of a San Francisco library’s self-publishing group is intriguing. Sometimes a hobby-horse can be ridden off into the distance, though, and the concluding article on a branch library that lends out Halloween costumes from a collection of over 200 left me lost for words.
This is not a collection that could be called outward looking and it makes little reference to activities outside the US, but the contributors do come from a wide spread of states. There would certainly be scope for a similar collection looking at best practice internationally. What advances have been made in Scandinavia or Singapore? What creative, or should that be crisis, management is happening in Britain? Are potluck suppers really the answer?
Manly Library
© 2015, John MacRitchie
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2015.1100238