The Rationale for Non-Book Materials in Libraries, Part IV

In the realm of public libraries, Stephen Abram offers some figures that were culled from the American Library Association's 2009-2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study.

ALA's 2009-2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study

These numbers represent public libraries in New York State. The majority of other states in the Union registered participation rates for the following activities in the 80 percent to 90 percent range:

• NYS public libraries offering Information Technology training to patrons: 96 percent.

• NYS public libraries offering wireless Internet service: nearly 93 percent.

• NYS public libraries that assist patrons in using e-government Web sites: almost 90 percent.

• NYS public libraries that offer e-books: 71 percent (Abram, 2010).

While sufficient platforms have been built in America's public libraries for the activities of transliteracy, several academic libraries have taken the initiative to provide access to non-print media that enable information consumers to have an active role in producing knowledge. In his article, "Twenty-first Century Academic Media Center: Killer App or Chindogu?" John Vallier profiles several media centers at academic libraries that have transformed their roles from mere repositories of non-print media to crossroads of creativity.

The University of Minnesota Libraries' traditional media center has been reimagined as a "Learning Commons" where "audio and video materials can be cut, edited, and remixed, into new works" (Vallier, 2010, p.384).

University of Minnesota Libraries' Learning Commons

The University of Washington Libraries' Media Center "is reconfiguring itself as a space where audio and video isn't only accessed, it's also being created." Through certain projects, "students were directly involved with the development of the collection" (Vallier, 2010, p. 384-385).

University of Washington Libraries' Media Center

Finally, the UCLA Film and Television Archive Research & Study Center has librarians and faculty co-developing undergraduate classes that are based on the archives' specific media collections. A post course survey that was conducted by the Research & Study Center found that 88 percent of student respondents indicated that they had a "greatly increased awareness" of the UCLA Film & Television Archive as a "research resource for students" (Vallier, 2010, p. 385).

UCLA Film and Television Archive Research & Study Center

These scenarios of libraries that facilitate and encourage the creation of new media illustrate Vallier's statement that libraries need "to identify and assert their unique competitive advantage in terms of setting digitization standards and promoting best practices" (2010, p. 381). These success stories also illuminate Ipri's statements about transliteracy. Ipri (2010) states that such new media creation stations demonstrate that "collective authorship and collective intelligence are modes of active learning and discovery that present new dynamics between individuals and groups with respect to knowledge" (p. 533). And yet for all the positive examples of functioning non-book services that can be documented in scholarly literature, for every library it all comes down to the practical matter of whether it should commit time, effort, and money to a particular format. Fortunately, there are still more significant factors and anecdotes for library staff to mull over when considering to make such a financial investment.

Abram, S. (2010). Getting our game on: Library futures [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://stephenslighthouse.com/

Ipri,T. (2010). Introducing transliteracy: What does it mean to academic libraries? College & Research Libraries News, 71 (10), 532-533, 567.

Vallier, J. (2010). Twenty-first century academic media center: Killer app or chindogu? Library Trends, 58(3), 378-90.