American Libraries is reporting a surprise announcement by Nashville’s mayor that the Nashville Public Library system would begin taking over the city’s school libraries in 2009.  Funnily enough, they didn’t ask any school librarians or school officials:

Nashville Public Library Director Donna Nicely confirmed … that she and Mayor Dean had been conferring with each other for several months about the prospect of combining public and school library operations … “[H]ere’s an idea that truly could transform the public library and the school libraries because we would be enfolding them into the public library structure,” Nicely said, explaining that the idea was “strictly a proposal at this point.” However, she told CBS affiliate WTVF-TV at the press conference, “It‘s just a matter of organizing it and understanding how it all works and going forward with it.”

But school officials seem to have been left out of the loop. “We can’t say whether or not this is something we could do or could not do,” MNPS spokesperson Olivia Brown told AL. “At this point, we’ve not had any discussion, we’ve not had any proposal presented to the school board.”

The plan as envisioned by Nicely and Dean starts with the public library taking on the acquisition of materials for high school libraries “because Ms. Nicely says those libraries most reflect, in size and setup, what our branch libraries are like. So those would be the easiest to enfold into our library system,” mayoral Public Information Officer Janel Lacey told AL …

The next day [after the November 20 press conference], Dean and school officials disclosed letters dated November 20 that they had just exchanged. Dean’s letter to MNPS Acting Director Chris Henson cited a prior conversation between the two about “the benefits of consolidating the library services of Metro Schools and the Nashville Public Library” and advised Henson that library Director Donna Nicely “is prepared to move forward with this endeavor . . . with preparation starting in January 2009 and the first phase, primarily focused on combining the procurement of materials [for the public library and high school libraries], taking effect July 1.” Asserting that “this decision is common sense,“ Dean went on to say, “I know the libraries in Metro Schools have staff devoted to supporting the education we give our students in the classroom, and I believe this collaboration will greatly enhance their ability to do so.” (MNPS spokesperson Brown told AL that the system of 137 schools currently budgets for almost 200 librarians and aides.)

…[S]chool board Chairman David A. Fox … emphasized, there had not yet been any “meaningful conversation” between city and school officials about a library merger aside from comments that “seemed to be just exploratory and . . . confidential.”

Anticipating that “we’ll be sitting down with school officials soon to talk over what this means,” with the phase-in of consolidation starting by the end of 2009, Nicely told AL that idea of NPL overseeing school-library services emerged from a series of public hearings about the public library’s 5–10-year plan that began eight months ago. “We heard such a strong concern from people in the city about the teenagers. What are they doing after school? Could the public library assist them with after-school activities?” she explained, characterizing citizens’ comments as reflecting “an urgent concern, worrying about gangs.” Asked repeatedly by members of the public “how much more closely could we work with the public schools,” Nicely said she and Dean began to discuss the possibilities.

Nicely added that she saw enormous benefits for high-school students, who would have access from their school-library catalogs to Nashville Public Library’s 1.5-million holdings and—thanks to NPL’s online link to the records of area universities—a gateway to an additional 5 million items “if we can merge the automation systems.” Noting “all the programming that goes on in these public libraries after school for our teens,” she asked rhetorically, “Why can’t all of those programs be across the city in all the libraries,” with school libraries remaining open after hours thanks to the merger.

“If we’re going to make this work, then the school libraries need to be under the purview of the public library,” Nicely mused, adding, “If you think about all the staff as one entity, then you’re moving among and strengthening all the libraries.” Citing the profession’s often-expressed dream of “making [libraries] the center of life in the schools and the community,” Nicely predicted, “This is going to do it.”

I don’t know the specifics of this case, but I do know one thing: nobody asked what was “wrong” with school libraries that could only be fixed if the public libraries took them over.   I’m working hard to tamp down my feelings of public library colonialism. I am fighting my fingers as they yearn to type words like “presumptive” as I struggle to describe the behaviors of officials who went so far as to create a timeline for project implementation without ever consulting the schools or school librarians to assess their current or future needs. 

There are a few small towns in Michigan where the public and school libraries share space, generally with a combined public/school library staff. I know a family who lives in one of these communities and enjoys how they can feel connectd to the school via the library, even though they no longer have school-aged children.  Those projects are partnerships with mutual responsibilities and benefits.

As reported in AL, this isn’t.  It takes chutzpah to announce a takeover without even asking the other folks if they want to surrender.  And it is a narrow vision when one limits the role of school libraries to acquisitions, programming, and a union catalog.   And the assumption that the only solution to finding after-school options or teens is if the public schools take over – not share, collaborate, or combine resources?  I’m speechless.  Even reading the interview with Nicely in Library Journal doesn’t ease all of my concerns.

Someone please leave me a comment telling me I’ve read this story wrong and that this was just a bad dream.  Please.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 8:34 am and is filed under Collection Development, Public Libraries, Collaboration, Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.