Alyssa Resnick presentation for the "Survival Techniques for Art Librarians at Public Libraries" session at the VRA + ARLIS/NA 2nd Joint Conference in Minneapolis, MN.

1. Survival Techniques for Art Librarians at Public Libraries VRA + ARLIS/NA 2011 Sunday, March 27, 9:45am – 11:15am Marquette V Speakers: Alyssa G. Resnick, Glendale Public Library Public Library Subject Specialists Survey: Trends & Overview Cathy Billings, Brand Library & Art Center Indispensible: How to Buck the Generalization Trend and Keep doing What You Love Mary Stark, Beverly Hills Public Library Beverly Hills Public Library’s Art Research Library: The Writing on the Wall

2. Public Library Subject Specialists Survey

3. Public Library Subject Specialists survey60 responses Official Subject Specialist 42%

4. Public Library Subject Specialists survey60 responses Unofficial Subject Specialist 57%

5. General Trends About What Is Impacting Public Libraries Library Trends Administrators’ decisions Budgets Service Trends Technology Public Trends Perception Needs Technology

6. General Trends About What Is Impacting Public Libraries Library Trends Administrators’ decisions Generalization - Single, centralized reference services point Consolidation of services Review of Collections/ Weeding / Budgets Reduced hours of operation Reduced materials budgets Reduced staffing budgets/vacant positions not being filled

7. General Trends About What Is Impacting Public Libraries Library Trends (cont’d) Service Trends Youth Services Movies – Game tie-ins Spanish language services or other languages based on community Local collections Technology Ebooks Digital Media Online resources

8. General Trends About What Is Impacting Public Libraries Public Trends Perception All library staff are librarians & generalists All information is readily available online Needs Specialized staff are greatly appreciated (at some libraries) Public is using specialized subject departments & reference services less Technology Public wants electronic content; misunderstanding of what is available digitally. Public wants the librarian to be a computer tech & needs assistance to use online content. Public wants more access to computers & software.

9. How Public Librarian Jobs Are Changing: New Responsibilities By Assignment Circulation Clerical City Services Collection Development Collection Maintenance Database Maintenance Digitizing Collections Electronic Collections Local History Manager in Charge Marketing/Publicity Mergers Preservation Programming Reference Services Social Media Strategic Planning Technology Support Volunteers Young Adult & Teen Services

10. How Public Librarian Jobs Are Changing: New Responsibilities By “Volunteering” Advocacy Cataloging Committees Conferences Donations Grants Graphic design & publications Spanish language programming Teach computer classes Tutoring Website development Writing & research assistance to HS students

11. Digitization Projects 50% of respondents have been involved in digitization to make special local collections available online

13. Public art bibliographies

14. Science titles

15. Local collection of 500,000 pages

16. “Hidden” collections

17. Specialized collections related to local history

18. Local photographs, local art collections

19. Building survey conducted by the City

20. “Activating the Archive”

21. “Nebraska Memories”

22. California fiction index card file

24. Bookplate collection

25. Casey Fashion Plates

26. Fruit Crate Labels

27. Hollywood Movie Posters

28. Menu collection

29. Travel Posters

30. NYPL http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

31. Arts & Literature

32. Cities & Buildings

33. Culture & Society

34. History & Geography

35. Industry & Technology

36. Nature & Science

38. El Miradero Reception Hall 1906-1910?

39. Brand Library music reading room1956

40. Glendale Central Library

41. Conclusions Jobs ARE changing Services ARE changing Public needs ARE changing Librarians are lifelong learners

42. Alyssa G. Resnick Development, Technology & Collection Services Administrator Glendale Public Library 818-548-2180 aresnick@ci.glendale.ca.us