Mary W. Karshner
Director
Royal Oak Public Library
“For
pre-schoolers, think of a book as a toy.” . . . “Young moms network
when they bring in their tots.” . . “Seniors, as well as young adults,
attend our weekly technology
seminars, to learn about everything from smart phone apps to how to
get the most out of our electronic
catalog.”. . . “CD’s. e-books,
the Internet: People think ‘book,’ but a library is so much more.”
Sure,
Library Director Mary Karshner talked about budgets and parking
problems, but she was upbeat and enthusiastic through most of our
coffee conversation at Jimi’s. The enthusiasm carried over from our
warm-up chatter during which she reminisced about her five years of
archaeological digs in
Iran, Spain, England, and Italy, which preceded her career-track to
library director.
A
resident of Royal Oak who grew up in Huntington Woods, Karshner,
60, worked at the St. Clair Shores Public Library and Detroit Public
Library’s Burton Historical Collection before starting at Royal Oak
Public Library in 2002. She is the mother of two
college-aged
children who
have reached “a wonderful stage of being good company
and continually widening my horizons.” She and She and her husband also
host high school
foreign exchange students during the school year.
More than 54,000 persons a month visited the library, 2009-2010,
totaling 653,000 for the year. The
monthly average for 2006-2007 was
about 25,000 and for 2007-2008 reached 40,000. “Sure, our services
and
our programs account for much of that growth, but we recognize
that bad economic times increase attendance,” Mary
acknowledges. As
in any conversation, we bounced from topic to topic, so in no
particular order:
That
bit about pre-school literacy. “Think about it. Every time a child
turns a page, she encounters different illustrations, colors, words,
even textures.
She comes to understand that there is new information presented with
each page-turn. So her first exposure to a book is as
a toy.” The
moms who bring in their toddlers socialize, so being at the library
serves both age groups.
The
Strategic Plan developed in 2008, before Mary became director, has
served well but needs to be “revisited,” as one result of the
substantial drop in property values. Library revenue from its
dedicated millage dropped 3%, 2009-2010; 10%, 2010-2011; and is
expected
to drop 3.5%, 2011-2012. Total revenue has dropped
$300,000 over the last several years, with millage revenue falling
below $2 million
for the first time. “We are operating on a very
tight budget,” Mary says. “Unlike most city departments,
the library
is open 6 days a week
including 4 evenings for a total of 60 open
hours a week. It is a constant challenge to staff the public
service desks and the behind-the-scenes
functions like processing
new books while working in furlough days and other time off.”
As an
example of other city offices that are being stretched, Karshner
said, “Think about it. The city manager and the city attorney share
a
secretary four days a week and have no secretary on Friday.” The
conversation here drifted off into brief chatter about furlough days
and the
impact of collective bargaining on the overall situation.
That
led to talk of the occasionally mentioned strategy to “go-District,”
to join with one or more other entities (another library, the school
district)
to seek a dedicated millage and have an elected board. For
one of the very few times during our conversation, Mary grew
silently thoughtful
before her words made it clear that the pluses
and minuses of going-district make the strategy questionable for
Royal Oak at this time.
Practical considerations of providing
services that are now handled by the city such as payroll and other
financial services like accounts
payable and auditing; building and
grounds maintenance; not to mention the need for new contracts and
benefits for employees of the new
district library would make it a
very complicated transition.
I
mentioned the long-time institutional animosity between the Library
and City Hall, especially the city commission. Karshner maintains
that
the situation is much improved as people changed on both the
library board and CITCOM.
How
about those suggestions from residents that the grassy area outside
the library be converted into sort of a public park? “To begin with,
it’s
the city’s park, not the library’s. Converting it to a
Veterans Memorial Plaza has created a beautiful and functional area.
We have
considered
adding a bench or two to our emerging butterfly
garden, but the funds aren’t there.”
Tight
money means the library hasn’t hired or replaced a fulltime employee
since 2004. “We have no depth,” Mary said, “We
now have 10
fulltime
employees and 25 part-time (that equal about 11 full-time
equivalents). That compares to 15 full time and 28
part-time in
2002. All
of our service measures like card holders, visits,
lending transactions, reference questions, and programs have
increased significantly since
2002 but we are covering it with less
staff.”
Talking about a park made me ask about parking.
Former director Metta Lansdale had rejected any suggestion that the
library get involved in monitoring parking in any way (voucher,
validation,
whatever). Karshner sees no reason to alter that
decision. The library is adversely impacted on Thursday night, when
it is open till
9 o’clock.
It closes at six on Friday and Saturday, so downtown
activity doesn’t impact it. “I have to say though, because Clawson
and Berkley have free
nearby parking, some of our cardholders use
the services of those libraries rather than feed the parking
meters. They put books on hold to be
picked up at the neighboring
library. In some instances, Royal Oak residents live closer to
Berkley
or Clawson’s libraries. We are all part of the
same library
cooperative so the libraries honor each other’s cards.”
How
has the mandated
Internet filtering
affected the who-and-what of
computer use?
”We’re still patrolling since there are no perfect filters,” Mary
answered. She explained that the computer time management system is
library
co-op wide, so that the
Royal Oak’s 4-hour limit includes computer time used at other
Library Network libraries like Clawson or Berkley.
Karshner boasts about the library’s “strong” youth and teen
programs, including “programs to build pre-literacy and literacy
skills at no cost to
participants (hence, her “a book can be a toy”
comment, above). The programs are much more than librarians sharing
books with the
audience; they include age-appropriate activities and
crafts, some with a strong science and math element to them. One
that Karshner
mentioned was a family program she did about popcorn
because she realized many children have not seen popcorn actually
popping since
it all happens out of sight in the microwave popcorn
bag. Even many of the adults had no idea that you can grow popcorn
plants. So, Mary
germinated some popcorn seeds in the weeks leading
up to the program and equipped with her old hot air popcorn popper,
she had an
entertaining, educational, and edible program about
popcorn.
Budget problems aside, a primary concern for Mary Karshner is
“getting the word out.”
Even regulars from the library’s 31,000 cardholders say, “I didn’t
know you did that,” about many of the library’s services.
"The
library offers programs for all ages and averages about 45 programs
per month. The library has many 24/7 remote access services and
databases that people can use without even coming to the library.
Library card holders can download e-books and audio books or access
databases that provide everything from learning a foreign language
to practicing standardized tests to auto repair information - All
for free and
from the comfort of your home at any time of the day or
night."
Some people don’t realize they can access their library
account from home to check due dates, renew books, and place holds,
too.
Karshner
sums it up by saying “Royal Oak Public Library is a
tremendous resource for all residents. The people of
Royal Oak get a very good
return on the
millage that they approved
in 2003 to give the library a dedicated source of revenue. If you
aren’t currently using the Library,
come and see
what it has for
you.”
I
left Jimi’s certain that one of the Library’s future programs will
be an archaeological dig in one of Royal Oak’s 52 parks or some
deserted
brown field.
-- May
2011