CHAPTER THREE – LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Library service model
3.1.5 Library Outpost model
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others say that music has “chased” away some patrons especially the older ones who, for instance, complain that they cannot concentrate on choosing their books because of the “thumping background beat” (Berlins 2009). Others also suggest that those who want music while they browse can have their own, for example by using iPods, without disturbing anyone else or the library staff having to overcome the difficulties of reconciling differing tastes (Roper 2009).
Staff members of a bookstore model library are trained to offer any service in the library. They are able to assist the customers promptly without directing them elsewhere. As with an actual bookstore where the shop attendants are sufficiently knowledgeable to assist any customer on the aisles, bookstore model libraries ensure that all the librarians are cross-trained. This training also yields many benefits. For instance, training circulation and reference staff in the technicalities of interlibrary loan would enhance their ability to answer questions and advise patrons about the interlibrary loan process. Similarly, cross-training cataloguers and reference staff could yield better cataloguing for use by reference staff and improve reference staff‟s understanding of the access facilitated by cataloguing (Rippel 2003).
The major disadvantage of this model is that sometimes it is hard to locate a book once it has been misplaced. In the conventional model, the use of call numbers makes it easier to detect a missing book and pick it out from where it may have been mis-shelved. Again, it tends to be more expensive than the other models given that the focus is on new information resources which are generally more expensive. This library model is most suitable for special libraries and some categories of public libraries (Rippel 2003; Woodward 2005). It works better for libraries with smaller collections.
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1. Strategic location – The Outpost is a small (not more than 1500sq ft) “storefront” library located in central commercial areas, a business improvement district, or a transportation hub.
Rather than bring the patrons to the library, the Outpost model seeks to take the library to the patrons through physical proximity. The outpost library space, though small, is easily transformable; one moment it may be a silent reading room, another moment it may become a performance art space, and another moment a platform for a community group meeting.
2. Extended service hours – The Outpost library ordinarily remains open from 8am until 10pm, giving the user community longer access to library materials, exhibitions, and programmes during the times most convenient to them.
3. Collection available via online holds system – Rather than providing a localized browsing collection, the Outpost connects users to all library materials via the catalogue.
4. Reference service – Outpost staff provide exceptional reference services using online databases and Internet searching strategies. All reference sources are electronic.
5. Wireless access and digital library content – The Outpost is a comfortable Wi-Fi58 zone to work in from a table or play in from a lounge chair. Through the patrons‟ portable devices they can access digital content via the library website and other online resources.
6. Programming and exhibition space – The Outpost features exhibitions that pair the library‟s collection and services with art related to the community interests. The space is also flexible enough to accommodate performances, lectures, concerts, discussions, and even meals during evening hours.
Hill (2008: Now the longer explanation) also explains that the unique feature of the Outpost model is that it has no local collection and adds that “every single piece of print material (with the exception of magazines and newspapers) is an item that was requested online for pickup at the Outpost location.” This in turn frees up most of the 1500 sq. ft. library space for programmes, exhibitions, classes, movies, concerts, community meetings, serving coffee, and virtually any community-building, social capital-creating activity. Hill (2008) concludes that the library of the 21st Century has to maintain a physical presence, but that presence cannot always be in the form of a well-organized, publicly accessible book “warehouse” with specially-strengthened floors to support the physical collection. He is quick to add, however, that these Outpost model libraries will not
58 Wireless network technology facilitating easy Internet connectivity. It is used here to imply a convenient Internet connectivity zone which the library patrons can use to access the Internet.
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replace or work in isolation from the physical libraries but will operate as nodes in that network. He says:
An Outpost is just one node in a network of different physical service points. Just as the car-culture era bookmobiles didn‟t replace library branches, neither will Outposts. The important thing is getting these little service nodes into the community in the right places, and giving people as much as we possibly can out of them. Location is everything in the urban environment (Hill 2008: Now the longer explanation).
To justify the need for this model, Hill (2008: Now the longer explanation) uses the example of the Brooklyn Public Library to explain that most library branches were built in the “first two decades of the 20th century” and since then entire communities have “moved, disappeared, shifted, and grown”
but library facilities have not been able to follow the people as community centres and business districts migrated to new areas. He points out that many large, beautiful public libraries are located in desolate and remote corners of their neighbourhoods. Regrettably, the working adults who live and labour in the rapidly developing communities have moved out of reach of the libraries and have become potential patrons rather than active patrons. In his view, this is where this model comes in to take the library to the people. He says:
Libraries need diversified service points that address the needs of their immediate communities, not cookie- cutter branded environments. In some locations, a good Outpost facility could be nothing more than a room full of public access computers because that is what THAT community needs (Hill 2008: Now the longer explanation).
Hill (2008) explains that storefront library facilities have been tested in the past with limited success but adds that the Outpost model takes advantage of emerging technologies to reconsider the distribution of library content and materials and invent itself as something entirely different. Hill (2008) also claims that presently a few libraries such as Houston Public Library which has a few small, tech-heavy locations; and Contra Costa Public Library which offers material vending machines in the BART59 stations, have opened some storefront facilities that have been received enthusiastically by their communities.
59 BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit which is a heavy rail rapid transport system
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Kesselman and Anfenson (2008) aver that the Library Outpost model generates some benefits for wider library service delivery. Basically, the model enables librarians to: 1) Extend services and access to users; 2) Be where the users are; 3) Be moveable and flexible; 4) Be visible affordably; 5) Help users overwhelmed by libraries; and 6) Partner with the library communities in offering services suitable for their contexts. They add that from their experience in experimenting with the model, many people like the services. They also find that these outposts constitute important outreach efforts for the libraries and play a critical role in marketing the library and librarians. However, to succeed, the Library Outpost model needs to be developed in partnership with the communities.
User studies to establish the real needs and contexts of the neighbourhood as well as publicity are also critical to its success. However, they (Kesselman and Anfenson 2008) warn that the Library Outpost model employs inefficient use of staffing and therefore requires more people. The model is also not scalable to other locations. Blumenstein (2008) also points out that implementing the Library Outpost model is expensive leading some libraries to drop it midstream.