Twenty-seven years and counting

Twenty-seven years ago this month, I was hired as the library technology & training manager, a new position, under longtime library manager M.T. Allen. It was a time of transition in public libraries. While I was in library school, most digital resources weren’t cloud-based but networked to CD-ROMs in a closet. We used telnet to communicate with the university’s email server. We were required to learn HTML in bibliography courses, which wasn’t what a lot of students had in mind when they started library school. I was semi-comfortable with it having played around on the internet at home, but some students were so distressed by it that they dropped out of the program. 

There was a lot written around that time about public libraries becoming a thing of the past, but the exact opposite happened. When I started working for Peachtree City, we had three dial-up connections at the library. It was slow and clunky; but once we upgraded to a dedicated fiber optic connection—something that wasn’t available in homes at that time—we were the hottest place in town.  

It seems like every few years there is revived talk about libraries becoming obsolete. Many thought eBooks were the nail in the coffin, but, once again, public libraries rose to the occasion and found a way to provide that service too. Next up—streaming content. Be on the lookout for a special announcement in December! 

Another thing that’s changed: Reference services. Back in 1998, Reference work could be grueling in the afternoons and evenings, especially during the school year. It was all about helping students find literary criticisms (lit crits) for English papers and assisting with citations. Now the same lit crit resources are available 24/7 online. Most platforms even provide the citations! Our Reference librarians have since transitioned to providing information literacy instruction and first-line tech support.  

Our acquisition of materials continues to be robust, although we hit a bit of a speed bump when Baker & Taylor, once the largest supplier of books to public libraries, announced its upcoming closure. We limped through October, but shipments have picked up over the last two weeks, and we expect to be caught up on book orders by the end of the year. We’ve also been aggressively weeding the collection over the last two to three years, which I will expound upon below. 

Every newly elected councilmember in Peachtree City goes through an orientation during which each division director presents an overview of their department(s). Last week I met with new councilmember Michael Polacek, who asked me what I thought would be the biggest needs at the library in the next five to ten years. I told him building maintenance was probably number one with our facility approaching twenty-five years old. Almost every year we apply for a major repair and renovation (MRR) matching grant through Georgia Public Library Service. This year we’ll be replacing our HVAC system with funding from one of these grants. We have submitted an application to replace our skylights and walkway awning next year. 

As far as service delivery, I think we can expect to see continued growth of digital services. Our traditional print circulation seems to have recovered from the dip it took during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it remains to be seen whether it will reach pre-Covid heights. What continues to climb is eBook circulation—over 400% over the last ten years. Although print continues to be our bread and butter, eBooks now account for over one-third of our total circulation. The challenge going forward will be finding a balance in our acquisition of print and digital materials. (Note: eBooks licensed for public libraries are more expensive than the ones available for purchase by individuals, but I’ll save that for another column.)  

Foot traffic is trending upward. Just what are all these people doing? They are using the public library as their “third place”—a place to gather and interact with others. Our study rooms stay busy all day. In fact, all of our seating areas stay busy. We’ve seen tremendous growth in our adult programming. From crochet, yoga, and sip and paint events to book clubs, art exhibits, and writers’ workshops, there is always something happening at the library. Now that Reference services are predominantly digital, we were able to collapse that print collection in favor of more seating. Remember that bit about weeding the collection? It helps keep the collection fresh, but it also can create more space for other things. Don’t worry, print books aren’t going anywhere. But maybe we won’t need as many print copies of a title as we once did. Tray tables full of DVDs will eventually disappear in favor of streaming media. Think more activity areas for children, more small group study, more places to plug in and work independently or engage with others. Oh, and that drive-thru book return you’ve been asking for? We have something in mind to remedy that situation too. The future of Peachtree City Library is brighter than ever. Won’t you join us?