Once upon a time...

“History is not only philosophy, teaching by example; its true purpose is, also, to illustrate the general progress of society in knowledge and the arts, and the changes of manners and pursuits of men.” Daniel Webster, 1852.

In studying the manners and pursuits of the people in the state of Georgia, I would have to comment that while our state as a whole lags in educational statistics, our people have cared about education and literacy. As I mentioned in previous posts the majority of our libraries were sponsored by private groups and supplemented with WPA funds. Our limitations to education and library service have been due to scattered population over a large geographical area and a lack of funds to adequately develop these services.

In addition to our private citizens showing their concern for bringing books to our people, the state of Georgia has had moments in history where they led other states in public library development. In 1974, 32.6% of funding for Georgia public libraries came from the state, 10.8% from the federal government and 56.6% came from local resources. Only four states surpassed Georgia’s percentage level of state funding for public libraries: Hawaii, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. On a dollars per capita basis, Georgia ranked first.

State ------------Dollars Per capita

Georgia ---------1.41
New Jersey-----1.25
New York-------1.24
Illinois ----------0.90
Pennsylvania---0.62


Brown, Patricia L. & Beverly A. Rawles. “Public Libraries in Georgia: A Working Paper.” Battelle,1975.

Harris, Susie M. "Regional Library Development in Georgia." North Georgia College, 1948.

Literacy in Georgia

Reading is not just a hobby it is a passion. My husband is just the opposite and does not like it and would much rather watch a movie. We have spent many nights with him watching a movie and me on the couch next to him reading a book. I get lost in the mystery or the romance that develops in the pages and I can't wait to find out 'who done it' or if the characters have their happily ever after. With this mind it is hard for me to wrap my mind around illiteracy. I know it exists but I find the statistics depressing. As I continue my research for the Environmental Scan of Gerogia I will share both the good and the needs improving areas in Georgia. Today I am going to share some education statistics with you from the Facts About Georgians: Our Health Depends on it (November 2005).

• Georgia has historically lagged behind the nation in educational status, and data suggest that the state still has much work to do in this arena
• Georgia has the lowest high school graduation rates in the country. The graduation rate varies by race, with 44% of black, 32% of Hispanic and 61% of white students graduating from high school.
• On a daily basis, 74,000 students in Georgia’s public schools are absent. Absenteeism is a major indicator of the number of students at high risk for becoming future dropouts.
• In 2004, the high school dropout rate was 12%. Rates among counties varied from a low of 2% to as high as 44%.
• Nearly one-fourth of Georgia adults may be illiterate (Literacy Level 1).

These statistics may look like lemons but we can still make lemonade in the future. Together we can work to improve our State.

Leslie James

Researching Georgia library history

I began my research paper using two papers written in the past to aid with library development and some annual reports. I have also read several newspaper articles. Last night I discovered the Georgia Library History Project online. So, today I am looking into that and obtaining more resources. While I am focusing on the last twenty years, I still want to be sure I hit the highlights in the earlier times. The majority of interesting things I read probably will never make the paper though. It would be too long. For example, I was reading an article today about the public library opening for the first time on St. Simons Island. The library was being run by a local boy scout. He shelved the books and checked them out to the locals. The local garden club sponsored the library along with assistance from the WPA. A lot of the public libraries in Georgia were faith, hope, and charity libraries sponsored by some local group. But, mentioning them all in the paper might be a bit much.

Coordinating strategic planning efforts

In The New Planning for Results, Sandra Nelson outlines a results driven process to enable libraries to respond quickly to changing environments. During this process, she mentions identifying the future and imagining possibilities like we just did. She then suggests deciding which needs are actually within reach. She takes it a step further and says that once a committee decides it is well suited to meet these needs, they would also want to think about whether other organizations are meeting the needs in question.

I’m sure that GPLS is already considering what other organizations are doing since Cal works for SOLINET. But, since the large notebook I was given only had information about GPLS and what GPLS is doing, I personally did not know if other organizations may be addressing some of the same needs or how aware members of the strategic planning team were of other library organizations.

We had endless ideas about what libraries should have but not an endless budget to fulfill those needs. For example, we mentioned the need to market to politicians among others. One of SELA’s primary purposes is to provide a unifying force strong enough to influence legislation and to attract funding. Marketing to politicians could be a need SELA could meet or GPLS could coordinate their efforts to work with SELA. Perhaps we should not only look at the future of libraries and what GPLS can do but broaden the focus to see what others are doing too.

Georgia Then and Now

Then...

1936

71% of the population was without any(paid or free) library service
2,079,793 people without a local public library
115 counties without a single library within their borders

1975

36 regional public library systems served 147 counties
11 single-county library systems
1 county not in any library system, supported only by local funds

Now...

58 library systems
100% of Georgia public libraries have free high speed Internet
5,804 public access work stations



Brown, Patrica L., and Beverly A. Rawles. "Public Libraries in Georgia: a Working Paper." Battelle Columbus Laboratories, 1975.

Did You Know? Facts About Georgia's Public Libraries. Georgia Public Library Service, 2007.

Harris, Susie M. "Regional Library Development in Georgia." North Georgia College, 1948.

Hopper, Lyn. "Tools for Trustees: the Georgia Public Library Manual." Georgia Public Library Service: Geogia's Library State Agency. 2007. Georgia Public Library Service. 16 Mar. 2007 .

Growing in Georgia

We who travel the congested roads and wait in long department store lines know Georgia is growing rapidly. The evidence of this growth can be seen in the road construction that delays our daily commute. The Georgia 2015 report states that by 2015 half of the population of Georgia will be living in just 10 counties and 1 in 11 persons will live in Gwinnett County. Whether or not these predictions come true or not remains to be seen.

I see evidence of growth daily in the library where I work. Most afternoons all public access computers are in use and of course all the summer reading list books are checked out (and on hold). Things are changing. I am not a native of Georgia but I have witnessed a lot of growth over the past 17 years. Take our library system for example. In Hall County several new branches have opened and a new one is scheduled to open early next year. I truly enjoy living in Georgia even with the challenges new growth brings. We live in an exciting time with lots of opportunities.

Till next time
Leslie

WHAT IF…IMAGINE…SUPPOSE???

Please excuse the long post. There was so much to comment on and this is in no way reflective of everything I have seen or heard. But, this is a start.

06/13 The Focus Group meeting

In the focus group, scenarios were used to develop a plausible set of futures for Georgia libraries. Each table discussed a different scenario. After reading the scenario we were to discuss what about the scenario was realistic for our library or not likely to happen. We also discussed what we see in our libraries that were not mentioned in the scenario at all and perhaps should be added to the model. Then, we discussed all of the groups’ scenarios.

Afterward we discussed what is that we desired in our libraries and what we needed. Both groups had similar answers as to what they wanted. There were a few differences between groups but our primary desires were about the same. Both groups wanted an increase in budget…who wouldn’t? We also saw a need for staff development, more marketing and advocacy and to develop the library as a place.

We then discussed what we thought GPLS could do to help achieve those goals. We thought GPLS should focus on service training, provide marketing assistance, provide training for staff as well as training for trustees, provide support for trustees and friends of the library. We also thought it was important for GPLS to do a return on investment study.

During the focus group, I was not surprised to hear the difference between rural and urban libraries. I expected public librarians and GPLS to see and do things differently than the academic libraries. But, the thing that I really was surprised by was the relationship between GPLS and the BOR or at least how that relationship was perceived during the focus group. Because they are such as a small part of the BOR budget, they do not feel that they are always understood anymore than the rural librarians do with their tiny budgets. This relationship is even included on their list of weaknesses as well as their strengths. From where I sit, both BOR and GPLS look big. They are both agencies whose work reaches throughout the entire state. They both operate from a distance and I am sure I misunderstand them both. I would have thought that since the education of the state is a primary goal for both and since GALILEO is a strong part of both the academic and public libraries this relationship could only be positive. I guess its all relative.



06/20 The Planning Team Meeting:

Today the planning team met. This time there were several people I knew from throughout the state. So, it wasn’t all new. A lot of information was briefly reviewed and discussed. Mainly we just went over some highlights and were to study the documents more in depth before the next meeting.

LSTA Survey results

Of all the documents presented, I was most interested in this one. I guess because I actually participated in the survey. The other documents were just as important if not more so but, this is the one that caught my attention first. Some of my primary choices seemed to be the popular choices. I was really surprised at the amount of write in comments there were. I think there was a good variety of respondents and responses. I was a little disheartened that no state elected officials answered the survey. I wasn’t surprised but I would have liked to have been.

SWOT results from GPLS staff, Planning Team, and Public Library Directors

As I mentioned earlier, I found the relationship with BOR surprising. But, I did want to comment on two more things. I noticed that the strategic planning committee and the GPLS staff found Google to be a threat. But, the directors did not? And on May 17th, the directors also found that not having an ALA accredited MLIS program in Georgia was a threat. But that is no longer a threat. :)

Vision of Georgia libraries activity

We were divided into groups and given the task of imagining that the front page headlines in the newspaper said libraries in the state of Georgia were rated number one. Then, we were to imagine WHY they were number one. Then, we were supposed to put what we saw in our #1 libraries on a poster and hang it up on the room with the other groups’ posters. We then discussed what we saw for our libraries in the future. My group decided to draw our vision of the states libraries while the other groups created a list of attributes the libraries would have. It was exciting to see all the ideas people had. Today was the fun day. Today was full of possibilities. The next meeting is where all the hard work and the reality kick in.

Tour of GPLS:

Lyn gave me a tour of the GPLS building. I met a lot of nice people and I was able to see the library. I knew this library was the professional resource for VSU MLIS’s program but I never used it because it was through Pines and the public library. Since I work in an academic library, I do what’s easiest and get my resources at the most convenient location…the place I am already going to everyday. I visit my public library’s website to view which activities are going on there but I never check out a book there. Pine does make all the resources for this library readily accessible but, a borrower agreement between academic and public libraries would have been one less step for me to go through. Apparently I have been missing out; there were a lot of helpful resources at the GPLS library. I found several items for the paper on the history of library planning in the state of Georgia. But, that’s another blog…


The Ride Home:

Atlanta traffic scares me, John Lennon’s on the car radio, and Georgia’s libraries #1…


Imagine…

Imagine a library
It’s easy if you try
Statewide library card
Circulation is high
Imagine all the patrons
Accessing through the web
Imagine digital services
It isn’t hard to do
Staff members who are well trained
Computers and coffee too
Imagine all the patrons
Getting books they need

I’m just strategic planning
But I’m not the only one
G.P.L.S. is busy
And it’s only just begun

Imagine all the funding
I wonder if you can
Extensive item holdings
Community programs
Imagine all the patrons
The library as a place

I’m just strategic planning
But I’m not the only one
G.P.L.S. is busy
And it’s only just begun