TOP TECH CHALLENGES FOR SMALL LIBRARIES

摘要

The key to running a successful small library is adaptability. Boards, directors, and staffers must all be creative and flexible in finding ways to meet the varying needs of residents, particularly in places where access to city amenities is difficult. Staff members in small libraries such as ours must become adept at balancing multiple job duties and taking on various roles to make up for a lack of funding for contractors. They must become masters at stretching budgets and ruthlessly selecting materials to develop a small, but well-rounded, collection that will last. We have learned how to expertly create flexible spaces to accommodate story time, lectures, quiet study, and group work-often simultaneously. It would not be unusual for the director of a small library to address a leaking roof, teach a patron how to use an online resource, help a parent find picture books for his or her children, and troubleshoot a malfunctioning printer-all before lunch.