On this day in 1997: Middleton Wisconsin

Middleton Public Library staff

We just returned home from Andy’s basketball game at the old Elm Lawn School.  We walked the few blocks and back in spite of the glaze of ice on the sidewalks.  Yesterday the temperature reached the low 40s, melting some of our snow cover, the runoff pooling on the sidewalks and driveways and freezing overnight.

Andy’s team won handily, 28-17.  He scored 6 points, 4 of them in the final quarter, to help keep the other team at bay.  Before that his shooting was atrocious.  He had plenty of opportunities to score points but always rushed his shots, releasing the ball without thinking where it should go.  JoAnna was hoping she might be able to practice with him after the game, but the gym wasn’t available.

At the library, we’ve been working on a rather ambitious project for which the initial discussion and planning began about a year ago.  The library’s current long-range plan for service covers the years 1993-1997, so the library board and Area Leaders staff (myself, Adult Services Librarian, Youth Services Librarian, and 3 fulltime Library Assistants III – Circulation Services, Technical Services, and Computer Operations) have been looking at ways to revise the document.  Actually, the library has three planning documents to guide our development:  the above-mentioned long-range plan, a technology plan, and a space need evaluation. 

The long-range plan contains specific goals and objectives for improving and expanding library services.  For example, we would like to add another fulltime librarian to the organizational chart:  Young Adult Services Librarian.  In the case of our particular needs, I have broadly defined young adults to include anyone from ages 10 to 30.  And there is a very good reason for this.  Currently, our Youth Services Librarian does a very good job in reaching preschoolers and children in the early elementary grades with an ambitious series of storytimes and family programs during the school year and a popular summer reading program in June and July.   In the upper elementary grades and into middle school (grades 6-8), we have a very noticeable drop-off in participation.  I’m sure there are a variety of reasons for this, but there are two that seem most compelling to me.  First of all, kids in the 4th, 5th grades and 6th grades start to get involved in a range of activities:  sports, school clubs, music, etc.  JoAnna and I already see this pattern developing with Andy.  He has a smorgasbord of interests, which reduces the amount of time he has for recreational reading.  We at the library can’t change the natural process of childhood development.

On the other hand, our present level of staffing places a limit on what we can do.  Studies have shown that the earlier a library can reach a child, the more likely he or she will become a lifelong user.  As a result, we feel it is very important to develop a program that emphasizes services to preschoolers and children in the early elementary grades. Our Youth Services Librarian can only do so much.  The additional of a Young Adult Services Librarian will allow us to develop programs and services not only for middle- and high-school students but also for people in their 20s who are just entering the job market and looking to enhance their marketability.  One of my ideas that I take great pride in is a decision to develop a career and education section in the library, an area where people will find resume books, college catalogs, civil service test guides, scholarship information, and a variety of job listings.  On Monday, we’ll be unveiling a public-access Internet computer station that will allow people to search a variety of employment databases – or simple to explore the vast resources of the Internet.  A Young Adult Services Librarian would allow us to promote this service more effectively and provide a more personalized level of informal instruction in the library.

Another major goal  in the library’s long-range plan is to integrate the travel collection.  In other words, we would shelve books, videos, pamphlets, and perhaps even related magazines in one location.  Middleton’s travel collection is consistently one of the 2 or 3 most popular subject areas of nonfiction.  So it makes sense to segregate it.  The problem is – we are running out of room to implement this idea.

Which brings us to the library’s space needs plan.

During the initial development of the library’s building program statement in the late 1980s, the committee of library board members and city officials realized we had some long-term growth issues to consider.  Consequently, we made sure that the final design of the library included room for future expansion.  If you recall from your attendance at the library’s dedication, the site that the city chose offers no room for outward expansion.  Railroad tracks to the south.  A parking lot to the west.  Hubbard Avenue to the north.  St. Luke’s Lutheran Church to the east.  That limits the library’s expansion to a very tight site, either a lower or upper level.  The committee agreed upon the construction of a full basement, which, because of the natural north-to-south slope of the site, provides some natural light to filter into this level.

The basement, or ‘lower level’ of the library, as we prefer to call it, is now divided into four distinct areas:  a meeting room that will accommodate up to 140 persons theater-style (chairs in rows), the ‘boiler room’ (HVAC, telephone), a 2,000-square-foot storage area which the Friends of the Library use for their 3-to-4 times a year book sales, the 10,000 square feet of unfinished space.

One of the most consistent complaints we’ve had since the library opened in 1990 is that we’re too noisy.  And there is a good reason for that.  Although the city approved the construction of a new library, we know that any additional staffing to go with it would be minimal.  Consequently, we needed an open floor plan.  In other words, most of the public space of the library had to be visible from the circulation desk, since that was the only service desk staffed every hour we were opened.  We couldn’t afford the cost of a separate, walled-off children’ area since we realized from the state the city would never ante up for the additional staff.  As a result, we tend to be a very noisy library whenever children’s programs are scheduled and, for that matter, at many other times of the day.  To address this problem, the board and staff have talked above moving the reference desk, the adult nonfiction, and the current and back issues of magazines to the lower level, and reconfiguring our popular materials collections (new books, paperbacks, videos, audiocassettes, books on tape, CDs, and books on tape) and Youth Services on the main level.  In that way, we confine the noise to the main level and create a quiet place on the lower level.

The building planning committee originally predicted a twenty-year time line between the opening of the new library and the need for additional space.  After almost seven years in a new facility (hard to believe that much time has passed), we have literally run out of space for some of the things we’d like to do, such as a major expansion of the audiovisual collection.  At this point, if we add another range of shelving to display more titles, we’ll need to reduce our display space for new magazines or the amount of seating space we offer.  Tough decisions, ones we face ahead of schedule due to the immense popularity of the Middleton Public Library.  It's decisions like these that make my responsibilities increasingly more challenging and interesting as I approach the end of my 11th year of employment.  Why would I want to do anything else?  I can’t think of a single reason.  When JoAnna and I moved to Middleton, I found the perfect fit for my library ambitions.  

Which brings us to the library’s technology plan.

When I first started working at the Middleton Public Library, a typewriter was still a commonly used piece of equipment.  We checked out books and other materials electronically and had a couple of personal computers.  Now we own at least a dozen PCs, plus CD-ROM drives, modems, and printers.  There is an ongoing need for staff training to ensure that we are using off this equipment efficiently and a staff member who can be responsible for training, troubleshooting, inventory, and other related tasks.  In our last budget, a request to promote a staff member to a newly created position of Library Assistant III for Computer Operations was approved by the city council in December.  As a result, we will be able to quickly achieve many of the goals and objectives in our technology plan.

One important aspect of the review and consolidation of these three documents is to gather community input on satisfaction with current library services and support for the development of future library services.  To accomplish this, the library board hired a consultant to conduct a series of six focus group discussions.  These are scheduled for the week of February 24-March 1 in the lower level meeting room.  During a staff meeting with the consultant, we developed the following cluster of questions that will guide the discussions:

1.      What do you think the Middleton Public Library does really well?  What do y you think is really outstanding about the library?

2.     What suggestions do you have for improving any of the library’s services and programs?   In what areas might the library improve?

3.     The Middleton Public Library has operated out of its present facility for nearly seven years.  What do you think work well in terms of the facility?       

4.     The library has approximately 10,000 square feet of unfinished space on the lower level of the building.  What suggestions do you have for reconfiguring the whole building for library use?

5.     Let’s talk about automation at the library.  Does there seem to be enough computers and terminals to use?  Are they in convenient locations for you?  How comfortable are you using the computers at the library?  Has there been adequate training available to you?

Once these six discussion groups have been conducted – and, obviously, no library staff will be present at any of these sessions since we don’t want to inhibit the discussion – the consultant will prepare a report in time for review at the March library board meeting.  I certainly hope that it will have some concrete suggestions as to how we should move forward to improve services.

We had planned to catch the first showing of Star Wars at the Point Cinemas this afternoon, but an article on the front page of this morning’s Capital Times made us reconsider our plans:  Fans line up for hours to see Star Wars.  How early?  Well, at University Square, a 4-screen multiplex bordering the UW campus, people started to line up at 8 a.m.  Eight hours later, all tickets for the day’s showings were sold out.  After reading this, I figured a phone call to Point was in order.   Surprisingly, I was able to reach a real person instead of a recorded message.  The young woman who answered informed me that all four shows were sold out.  The boys took the news in stride.  After all, I would have told them if they went ballistic, “It’s only a movie, and one that you’ve seen many times already.  We’ll go next weekend when the initial hoopla has died down.”

The Star Wars saga continued.  It’s a crazy commercial world we live in.  Tuesday’s New York Times featured a perceptive article on the merchandising aspects of the phenomenon:  “The Return of the Merchandiser:  As the Millennium Approaches, Star Wars Is Back on Screen  and in Stores”.  It’s obvious that some of the people interviewed for this article are living in a fantasyland.

Example #1.   Jeffrey Galsick, a 20th-Century Fox spokesperson:  “This isn’t just about marketing.  It’s something for the fans, and we don’t want to lose sight of that.”

Example #2.  Lynn Hale, a Lucasfilm spokesperson:  “This really doesn’t have anything to do with the film coming out.  All of this is independent of the film release.”

“All of this” is the marketing blitz accompanying the re-release of the Star Wars trilogy.  Obviously, Ms. Hale is single and has no nieces and nephews – or any contact with young children.  Actually, we know she’s just a paid mouthpiece for George Lucas, who is either the most naïve man in the world or under the impression that everyone else is an acquisitive moron.

I remember seeing Star Wars in Springfield, 20 years ago when it was first released.  In spite of the dazzling special effects, I walked away less than impressed.  I don’t need explosions and whooshing spaceships to keep my attention.  I enjoy a film that dares to emphasize characterization and a sense of place.  Unfortunately, I seem to be in a very distinct minority.

            To me, the key piece of information in the Times article is that George Lucas, the creator the Star Wars empire, prepared a marketing plan for merchandising that extends into the 21^st century.  It includes television advertising, theme park “Star tours”, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut promotions, a Smithsonianexhibition, and more.  I’m not complaining.  Eddie hasn’t turned into a basket case as a result of his fascination with Star Wars.  Still, though, it’s an amazing piece of Americana that will very likely infect Andy’s and Eddie’s children.  I’m convinced it has that kind of longevity.