Director of the Garfield Library in Brunswick, New York, and author of A Practical Guide to Internet Filters (Neal-Schuman, 1997)
Column for June/July 1997
A funny thing happened on my way to interview Marvin Scilken, an articulate, urbane retired librarian and editor of the ever-useful Unabashed Librarian (subtitled “The 'How I Run My Library Good' Letter”), and one of the last librarians not connected to the Internet (at least according to the two dozen e-mail messages I received identifying him as an online Johnny-Come-Lately). With the technical assistance of Dean Saud Matta and Charles Rubenstein of Pratt Institute's School of Information and Library Science, Marvin was finally about to go online; so I needed to get to him quickly, while his unwired status still applied.
I was sure that I could persuade Marvin that he really needed the Internet. However, after two days of phone and fax interviews (the first time I haven't used e-mail to interview someone for this column), I came to a rather humbling conclusion: It's not that Marvin needs the Internet—he probably doesn't—but that the Internet needs Marvin.
We need Marvin online in part because his experience is a reminder that the Internet is just one more information/communication medium, and one that is only as good as its content and organization. Marvin lives in New York, a town sparkling with cultural treasures, where it's easy to lead an intellectually rich life without the Internet. Marvin, busy with a vigorous lifelong reading habit, news discussion groups, visits to museums, and concerts, not to mention his journalistic duties (which include sending frequent letters-to-the-editor to the New York Times), can't quite figure out where the Internet fits into this busy life—and who can blame him?
During his initial sojourn online, Marvin tried to find the date of the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and information about national wildflower-related activities. Though this information is on the Web, it wasn't easily or quickly accessible to Marvin, who ended up using the phone. It doesn't help that Marvin can't type—and that's not uncommon among older people, not to mention those who can't see or don't have use of their hands. We make a lot of assumptions when we offer information online.
The other reason we need Marvin online—and all the other older and retired librarians—has to do with librarianship in general, and the particular communication activities that the Internet enables. Our two days of interviews were a crash course for me on a range of topics from adult-user behavior to intellectual freedom. Nothing teaches like the wisdom of someone who has been in the trenches since Melvil Dewey was a circ clerk.
We had a long debate about the best approach to promoting America's libraries (Marvin favors paying for ad space in major papers, as Albert Shanker's blurbs for the United Federation of Teachers did for 25 years, while I lean toward a Madison Avenue "Got Milk?" approach). Marvin was startled to discover that librarians had carried on exactly this discussion on Web4Lib—and I bet most librarians on Web4Lib would be startled to discover that Marvin, an at-large ALA Council member, had submitted the idea of an ad campaign at the 1997 ALA presidential candidates forum, as he has several times in the past.
Marvin was also surprised to discover that many publications currently have free online counterparts. The fact that this is news to Marvin is something else to heed; how well have we communicated to our senior and retired librarians what the Internet really offers, and do we help them get online? Maybe we need to ditch the traditional gold watches in favor of Pentiums with modems and a few hours of training.
Marvin's skepticism is instructive. Noting that most adult out-of-school public library users “read for pleasure,” Marvin shared his test for the validity of any library service, which he calls Scilken's Law: “If the service in question was the only service offered, could the library get local tax dollars to do it?” Before you jump up to defend the Internet, pay attention: Marvin was referring to reference services—and I think he has a point. A public library that offered only reference services, however important they are, wouldn't survive long. He thinks video lending “might make it” in some communities, as would, of course, books. As for the Internet, unless the book is replaced by a networked digital equivalent, which won't happen soon, even I—a militant Cyber-booster—can't see a community funding an Internet-only public library.
Marvin's point is not that we shouldn't use the Internet or offer it to our patrons; he's talking about understanding what the public wants and tailoring our services and our messages accordingly so the people get the services they want and we get the funding we need. That's a good message in responsible pragmatism to share with the young pups fresh out of library school.
A final note: Several days after I interviewed Marvin, the New York Times published a letter on Internet filters that Marvin had encouraged me to write. Because of the interest generated by this letter, I started a Web-based project, which caught my book editor's eye, that led to writing a book (A Practical Guide to Internet Filters, from Neal Schuman).
Meanwhile, a few days after that, I received an e-mail from Marvin asking for better instructions for subscribing to library-related discussion lists, and pretty soon I saw his e-mail address sail into the PUBLIB database. We both gained from sharing our skills and experiences. As for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden—it's still just another pretty Web site; if they're smart, they'll hire Marvin as a usability consultant.