Access

(1) 1.  The State Library should take a leadership role to develop a library card forstatewide use.

(1) 2.  All libraries and vendors should work to increase the user-friendliness of on-line technology with multiple languages and the use of graphics and icons.

(12) 3.  Barriers to access should be addressed as follows:

• Library schools, the California Library Association (the California Library Association), and all libraries should work together to address and improve staff attitudes, lack of  skills, and staff's need for training.
  
  
• Public libraries should address the issue of fees for non-resident's library cards. 
  
  
• Public libraries should work to improve unsuitable library buildings and facilities that don't meet ADA¹ requirements, their lack of equipment, and services for special needs. 
  
  
• The State Library should address the inequities of TBR² subsidies. 
  
  
• The State Library, the California Library Association and public libraries should  address the issue of disparities in funding. 
  
  
• Public libraries should address the lack of public transportation, inadequate parking, and poor access to parking at the local level. 
  
  
• All libraries should respond to the language needs of their service areas.  
  
  
• The State Library and public libraries should work together to improve the literacy level of all Californians. 
  
  
• Public libraries should promote their services to non-users who have no previous experience/knowledge of public libraries. 
  
  
• Public libraries and the California Library Association should address the lack of policy/legislation ensuring every individual's right to library services. 
  
  
• The State Library should address the problem of "haves/have nots" in technology ownership by potential patrons. 
  
  
• Public libraries should work to eliminate electronic barriers (e.g., getting voice mail instead of a person).
  
  
• All libraries should provide adequate training for the public in use of new technology. 
  
  
• Public libraries should work to improve library rules (such as fines) and policies  (such as hiring criteria).

(1) 5.  All libraries should provide front line staff and volunteers with customer service and conflict resolution skills; and make it a priority to hire people with these skills.

(8) 6.  The State Library and all public libraries should support and facilitate community-based planning to determine their individual community's priorities for access.

(0) 7.  The State Library and public libraries should provide CORE-type³ training for the public on how to use the library, and tailor it to the needs of their communities in terms of languages and formats.

Collection Development and Resource Sharing

(0) 1.  The State Library and the California Library Association should revisit/research how libraries market their collections by learning from reading groups, book selling trends and the "Oprah Factor."

(7) 2.  The State Library should repeat the Immigrant Grant Program⁴ with small, easy-to-implement grants.

(12) 3.  The State Library should establish and maintain an Internet site that includes core lists of selected multicultural resources, plus hard-to-find materials, collection development policies, etc.

(5) 4.  Library schools should sponsor research on the implications of lifelonglearning on collection development e.g., career and job changes, welfare reform, the technologically illiterate.

(1) 5.  Library schools should research how and why underserved populations do or don't use information resources; and recommend how this research might be used to improve public library services.

(0) 6.  Library schools and the State Library should conduct research to demonstrate the benefits of resource sharing.

(4) 7.  The Library of Congress should continue to maintain standards for Spanish and Asian languages subject headings and other language subject headings e.g., Bilindex.

(0) 8.  The State Library and library schools should develop evaluation tools for multiformat, multilingual materials.

(12) 9.  The State Library should review multicultural grant programs⁵ to develop a list of what was purchased and distributed to all libraries throughout the state.

(22) 10.  The State Library and public libraries should develop collections and programs for ages 10-18 years, beyond homework assignments.

(4) 11.  The State Library should develop “Recommendations for Effective Library Service to Asian and Pacific Island Americans to complete the recommendations series on serving California’s major ethnic populations”⁶.

(2) 12.  The State Library should develop a needs assessment template for collection development and distribute it to all California public libraries.

(1) 13.  The State Library should develop strategies for dealing with the impact of school library inadequacies.

(1) 14.  The State Library should promote cataloging of resources in all California public libraries – for example, targeted grants for cataloging non-English language or non-traditional materials.

Community Collaboration

(7) 1.  The State Library and library schools should survey Partnerships for Change (PFC)⁷ libraries to determine the extent of impact on communities and library services and share findings statewide. This should be done with the idea that it may result in future grant projects.

(9) 2.  The State Library, working with library schools, should train all library staff on the value of community joint ventures, using regional workshops, a manual, and a “train the trainer” approach.

(15) 3.  The State Library should implement grant program for organizational joint ventures (institutional) to raise awareness of libraries in the community.

(6) 4.  The State Library should introduce at a public library directors’ forum the concept of managing organizational change, followed by a series of targeted programs that would enable libraries to receive customized assistance.

(0) 5.  Public libraries should promote and publicize the value of joint ventures with the library on an on-going basis.

(2) 6.  The State Library and public libraries should expand the PFC methodology to include children, young adults, aging baby boomers, seniors, etc.

Lifelong Learning

(0) 1.  Public libraries should develop strategies for customized lifelong learning.

(0) 2.  Public libraries should identify and collaborate with competitors and partners, especially other education providers.

(7) 3.  The State Library, the California Library Association, library schools and all public libraries should publicize the library’s unique role in lifelong learning, both to the profession and to the public.

(1) 4.  The State Library, the California Library Association, library schools and all public libraries should create techniques for developing individual learning plans using appropriate technology on and off-site.

(0) 5.  Public libraries should train staff to be facilitators/readers advisers.

(0) 6.  Public libraries should identify staff that have particular subject strengths and work to improve them.

(0) 7.  Public libraries should make customer service a priority by providing a friendly, welcoming environment, top to bottom.

(3) 8.  The State Library, the California Library Association and public libraries should develop bilingual, bicultural staff and work to empower a “feminine” profession.

(3) 9.  All public libraries should develop adequate resources in terms of staff, material and hours.

(0) 10.  All public libraries should work to create a welcoming environment that includes sufficient physical space.
 

Promoting the Value of Libraries

(41) 1.  The State Library should take a leadership role (working with the California Library Association and membership, ALA⁸, CALTA⁹, Friends, and partners) to develop a statewide public relations campaign. This would include a grant to develop a 3-5 year plan of ongoing activities, and a millennium conference. The campaign should tap major metropolitan areas of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles and include messages that could be replicated locally, with a cost/benefit analysis.

(5) 2.  The State Library should create and fill a principal librarian position that specializes in development, public relations, networking and fundraising.

(0) 3.  The State Library should develop integrated training and strategies for simultaneous use at the local level.

(17) 4.  The State Library and public libraries should establish LSTA¹⁰ minigrants for promoting local libraries and community awareness activities.

Staffing

(1) 1.  The State Library and the California Library Association should develop a statewide model of groups of job skills for library staff.

(2) 2.  All public libraries should reexamine and redefine staff duties and expectations so that being flexible, adapting to change, and being creative with the community equals success.

(1) 3.  All public libraries should redefine hiring habits and job qualifications that have been based on traditional fields of librarianship.  This could include non-traditional employment methods such as contracting for short term needs or outsourcing.

(3) 4.  The State Library should bring library schools and public librarians together for discussion of core competencies.

(19) 5.  The California Library Association should take a leadership role (with the State Library providing funding) to develop opportunities for internships, models and programs that develop managers into directors. This would include release time grants to go to school plus tuition, while working to remove local restrictions.

(2) 6.  The State Library should fund internships for high school students at local public libraries.

(0) 7.  All public libraries should establish internal mentoring systems.

(4) 8.  The State Library, the California Library Association and all public libraries should provide training for all library staff in customer service, technology, and working with diverse communities, particularly but not exclusively ethnic communities.

(1) 9.  The State Library should coordinate training with greater emphasis on including all libraries and library systems, by providing state dollars for release time for staff to attend training.

(0) 10.  All libraries should match job skills and job classifications to redefine them. Library schools and all public libraries should redefine library education via a dialogue between library faculty and public libraries.

Technology

(5) 1.  The State Library should provide technology consulting services to public libraries, including a list of qualified consultants.

(11) 2.  The State Library and library schools should provide comprehensive technology training in a “train the trainers” format.

(9) 3.  All public libraries should provide technology and information literacy training for the public in group and individual instruction with support from the State Library and library schools.

(8) 4.  The State Library should expand Internet access in local public libraries through the InfoPeople project and other appropriate initiatives.

(1) 5.  The State Library, the California Library Association, library schools, the library community, and other intellectual freedom organizations should provide assistance (e.g., forums, clearinghouse, conference, etc.) and support to local libraries on intellectual freedom in the on-line, digital environment.

(12) 6.  the California Library Association should establish minimum levels of technology standards for public libraries in order to ensure equity of access.  This should also include an assessment of current technology levels in California public libraries.

(0) 7.  Public libraries should continue to explore and expand cooperating on the implementation of technology in their region.

(10) 8.  The State Library, the California Library Association and library schools should continue to develop tools for organizing the World Wide Web to support language and cultural diversity in California.

(4) 9.  The State Library should encourage the formation of a task force to create new performance measures for electronic library services.

(1) 10.  The State Library, the California Library Association, library schools and all public libraries should recognize and respond to the need for continuing education in the areas of managing technology.

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¹Americans with Disabilities Act

²The Transaction Based Reimbursement (TBR) program reimburses local libraries for a portion of the costs they incur when they extend lending services beyond their normal clientele. There are three types of loans supported: equal access, universal borrowing, and interlibrary loans. Equal access and universal borrowing are loans made directly to individuals who are not residents of the jurisdiction of the lending library; interlibrary loans are loans made from one library jurisdiction to another in order to fill a patron’s request made at the borrowing library.

³California Opportunities for Reference Excellence (CORE) is a federally funded grant project targeted at improving the quality of library reference services in the state through the provision of a series of statewide workshops focusing on improvement of reference skills and increased knowledge of reference tools.

⁴From FY 1990/91 to 1993/94, the State Library’s Immigrant Grant Program provided training and $5,000 grants to public libraries for collection development to enable them to better serve their immigrant populations.

⁵It is not possible to implement this recommendation because: (1) core collections were distributed only in the first year of the Immigrant Grant Program, and are therefore dated; and (2) State Library philosophy recommends that collection development issues be addressed at the local level, based on the information and language needs of the library's service area population.

⁶The State Library has already published recommendations for African-Americans (Keeping the Promise), and Spanish-speaking communities (Adelante).

⁷The Partnerships for Change (PFC) Program was designed to help public library staff to reach out to their changing communities, to better understand them and their information and recreation needs, and then to restructure their library service plans to meet the needs of these changing populations. The California State Library worked with 26 public libraries between 1989 and 1995 and provided grants and training to assist libraries in creating public library services that were meaningful and relevant for their communities

⁸American Library Association.

⁹California Association of Library Trustees and Commissioners.

¹⁰The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), a federal grants-in-aid program for local libraries, is the successor to the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), and is administered in California by the State Librarian. Each year the California State Librarian awards approximately $10.6 million for local assistance awards on a competitive basis in response to locally initiated proposals which meet the purposes of the Act. The program extends LSCA in the area of information services to special populations, expands the emphasis on technology in libraries, and encourages resource sharing and interlibrary networking and cooperation