| SMALL LIBRARY ? Dr. William Taber NYSALB trustee I started this article with the intention of asking just how extensive should be the policies of a really small library? But the first step was to define the small library. I see small as basically a one or two room facility, chartered for a population of about 1,500, and staffed by one director. I know that some of you may say, "Call that small? I'll show you what a small library is!", and you will prove your point. But others, many others, are comfortable with the definition of small as defined by a population of 10,000, even 15,000 ---mammoth from our perspective, full of generous funding sources and available talents (and problems, do I hear?). My library's Director laughs when she sees many references on PUBLIB and NYLINE to such libraries as "small". I don't believe that mathematics is the key to all knowledge, but it does help to illustrate some problems. As the size of the library goes up, the details of its policies necessarily expand, and this increase is in more than simple proportion to the size of the staff. A staff of just ONE plus the Board President (representing Board policies) plus a patron (representing the public users) already gives us the structural complexity of three interpersonal relationships in each and every area of library policy and activity. Let's keep this simple: say there are six significant activity areas (acquisitions, internet use, circulation, meeting rooms, patron behavior, and fund raising). IF all these activities were entirely unrelated to each other and never impacted upon each other, we would have (3X6) eighteen areas of possible headaches. More than enough. However, these activities do overlap in many ways, including use of resources, time, conflicts of priorities, etc. Among the six activities, there are a minimum of fifteen activity interrelationships (draw a circle of six points; then draw and count the number of lines that connect each point to every other point) plus the six activity areas themselves. This gives us (15+6) twenty-one activity problems which are faced by each of the three interpersonal relationships within the "small" library; the product is (3X21) sixty-three headaches - ---just from the size and structure of the library. Maybe the answer to so many headaches is institutional growth: spread the work around and make it easier for everyone. So let's add to the mix just one more staff member (or a very active trustee, or a dramatically involved patron). Four interacting humans give us six interpersonal relationships. Assuming that the activity areas stay the same, we now have (6X21) one hundred and twenty-six headaches! With more staff and sixty-three more headaches than we had before, we will have to expand the activities list to cover complicated personnel issues --- divisions of labor, distinctions of jurisdiction, authority, responsibility, communication and coordination procedures. That will increase the headache index, but what can we do? Sounds like government, doesn't it. Aspirin anyone? More later. NYSALB TRUSTEE Essays For Library Trustees & Others Brief Biography & Career Line Personal Notes - World View Personal Notes - Travel: USA Personal Notes - Recent Personal Notes - Local Travel: New York State Personal Notes - Past: Interests Personal Notes - Moments HOME Map of this website |