The doors re-opened at the Seattle Public Library yesterday after an eight day closure aimed at saving $650,000, thereby closing about two-thirds of the library's budget short fall this year. The City of Seattle says there is more to come. It is already planning to furlough 6,400 city employees for 10 days later this year to save an estimated $20 million.
The scenario is not unique. Governments all across the country are confronted with the same harsh budget realities and many are opting for temporary closures and furloughs. What makes the Seattle Public Library noteworthy is its decision to shut down its website for the week too.
The site was replaced with a single page of multilingual notices of the closure, the reason for the shut down and a phone number where users could leave a comment for the library board. When the site returned yesterday, it was business as usual -- without a word of explanation or regret.
In the midst of the closure, I sparked a bit of a debate with one of my Twitter friends with this tweet:
I protested:
To which she responded:
On that we can agree. We are past service as usual. Given that the city has already signaled to do it again -- and do it bigger next time -- it is not too early to plan.
I don't think the blunt force approach to its web presence is sustainable. Next time, the site should carry a notice of what will not be available during the closure. Obviously, there will be no librarians to staff the 24/7 ask a librarian chat service -- nor will be there anybody to process inter library loan reservations.
That said, the library's online offerings of databases and web sites and digital books & media can and should stay up when everything else is down. In fact, these services should be expanded in anticipation of service delivery in the post "service-as-usual" era.
Does this raise the specter of libraries without librarians during furloughs? Perhaps. I am not unsympathetic to the professional concerns about job security and staffing levels. But the Internet did not jeopardize these jobs. A financial crisis did.
The Internet will not replace library science professionals or administrative staff. But the latter can use the former to maintain even a diminished level of service delivery during tough financial times. It will require structural change. Between now and the next shut down, this library and other public agencies have an opportunity to realign their service offerings with surgical precision. Because the next time, and there will be a next time, the blunt instrument will be wielded by external players. The choice is to design the future -- again, even a diminished one -- by making tough decisions now or have a future not of our making imposed on us later.
The scenario is not unique. Governments all across the country are confronted with the same harsh budget realities and many are opting for temporary closures and furloughs. What makes the Seattle Public Library noteworthy is its decision to shut down its website for the week too.
The site was replaced with a single page of multilingual notices of the closure, the reason for the shut down and a phone number where users could leave a comment for the library board. When the site returned yesterday, it was business as usual -- without a word of explanation or regret.
In the midst of the closure, I sparked a bit of a debate with one of my Twitter friends with this tweet:
Seattle Libraries closed this week due to budget cuts -- took its website down too to make sure everybody feels the pain. Good move?My correspondent disagreed with the premise of my tweet:
I don't think that was the reason. The one week full closure was cheaper than anything else, and the website takes staff.
I protested:
Keeping the site up would have been a better strategy long term - has the feeling of all or nothing ... so much for self serve.
To which she responded:
I think they analyzed that.... Cuts are hard for all now. We're past service as usual.
On that we can agree. We are past service as usual. Given that the city has already signaled to do it again -- and do it bigger next time -- it is not too early to plan.
I don't think the blunt force approach to its web presence is sustainable. Next time, the site should carry a notice of what will not be available during the closure. Obviously, there will be no librarians to staff the 24/7 ask a librarian chat service -- nor will be there anybody to process inter library loan reservations.
That said, the library's online offerings of databases and web sites and digital books & media can and should stay up when everything else is down. In fact, these services should be expanded in anticipation of service delivery in the post "service-as-usual" era.
Does this raise the specter of libraries without librarians during furloughs? Perhaps. I am not unsympathetic to the professional concerns about job security and staffing levels. But the Internet did not jeopardize these jobs. A financial crisis did.
The Internet will not replace library science professionals or administrative staff. But the latter can use the former to maintain even a diminished level of service delivery during tough financial times. It will require structural change. Between now and the next shut down, this library and other public agencies have an opportunity to realign their service offerings with surgical precision. Because the next time, and there will be a next time, the blunt instrument will be wielded by external players. The choice is to design the future -- again, even a diminished one -- by making tough decisions now or have a future not of our making imposed on us later.
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