透過疫情，展望新時代
——美國印第安納波利斯公共圖書館館長訪談

訪談對象：杰基·尼特斯（Jackie Nytes），美國印第安納波利斯公共圖書館館長，她從2012年開始擔任這一職務，是這座歷史悠久的圖書館的第14任館長。她擁有威斯康星大學政治學學士和圖書館學碩士學位，還是印第安納州最高榮譽薩加莫爾（Sagamore of Wabash）勛章的獲得者。從1987年開始，她一直參與國際寄宿家庭項目，累計接待了130多名國際學生。

本刊：新冠疫情給我們的工作、生活都帶來很大的影響，您和您的圖書館是如何應對疫情帶來的挑戰的？為了在疫情期間繼續保持對公眾服務，圖書館都做了哪些改變？

杰基·尼特斯：沒有人能預料到我們的圖書館和我們的城市在過去的一年里會經歷這樣的變化。2020年3月到6月，我們關閉了所有的圖書館，但大部分員工仍然可以通過復雜的安排繼續維持遠程工作，比如訂購新的館藏資料；經過嚴格的培訓之后提供在線服務、遠程交付等公共服務。在城市封閉期間，我們為保障設施能夠正常運行，為在外出禁令下到館來上班的員工支付了額外的工資。

我們有20多名員工退休了，這意味著我們失去了很多寶貴的經驗和專業知識，而此時外部招聘又被限縮，空缺的職位無法得到填補。

為了重新開放，我們對建筑空間進行了一些重大改造。我們減少了普通座位和可用電腦的數量，以保持社交距離；設置了有機玻璃隔板，讓員工和用戶可以在保證安全的情況下互動；還建立了門禁計數系統，嚴格限制每個區域的人員數量。

早期個人防護用品（PPE）供應不足，我們的工作人員縫制了600個手工口罩，為圖書館的重新開放做準備。還用3D打印機制作了面罩，并制定了新的用戶協議，期望在為用戶服務的同時能保持安全的社交距離！

目前，新冠肺炎患者人數呈明顯下降趨勢，我們圖書館目前只有少數非公共服務人員仍在家中辦公，對于這一模式是否會繼續也還存有諸多疑問。盡管現在所有員工都可以隨時獲得疫苗，但大家仍然對病毒感到焦慮。我們目前還沒有接到有員工在工作場所感染病毒的報告，所以我們有信心現在的工作流程可以充分保障員工的安全。

除了物理空間的變化，兒童和成人活動也從線下轉向了線上的虛擬形式。我們開展了527場線上活動，獲得了27 429次瀏覽量。我們相信，這是一種有價值的轉變，即使回歸到可以正常舉辦線下活動的時期，線上活動仍然具有一席之地。我們還提供了“路邊取書”服務，用戶可以在盡量少與人接觸的情況下將他們需要的資料搬到他們的汽車上去，這一服務非常受歡迎。

去年，我們損失了大約34%的開放時間，用戶的資源需求也呈現出了明顯的變化。館際互借量下降了74%，實體資源的流通量下降了20%。從積極的一面來看，電子資源的使用量增長了31%，而且有跡象表明，許多新的電子資源用戶將會繼續保持這一使用習慣。 因此，我們將更多的預算轉向了電子資源。

杰基·尼特斯

在行政管理方面，我們也有一些調整。我們的人力資源團隊必須了解和執行聯邦政府針對新冠疫情制定的一系列福利政策和工作保護計劃。我們的財務團隊反復調整預算，為建筑空間的改造和員工購置個人防護用品提供資金，我們還通過尋求更多的贈款來幫助支付這些費用。圖書館董事會嘗試通過ZOOM會議處理業務工作，同時仍然保證對公眾的公開透明。

本刊：在疫情的影響之下，您覺得接下來圖書館會面臨更嚴重的資金問題嗎？如果是，圖書館應該怎么想辦法去緩解這一問題？

杰基·尼特斯：美國的一些圖書館正在因為資金問題苦苦掙扎。例如，一部分由所得稅資助的圖書館，如俄亥俄州的圖書館，由于所得稅收入下降而境況不佳。然而，我們圖書館80%以上的資金基于財產稅。這是一種波動性較小的稅收機制，因此我們在公共資金方面并沒有什么損失。但我們確實失去了一些用戶在圖書館打印、傳真、預訂會議室和支付停車費方面的收入。我們認為，鑒于疫情給低收入家庭帶來的壓力，圖書館現在應該免除用戶的圖書資料逾期費。雖然這會導致部分收入上的損失，但在這個時候，這些特殊的家庭更加需要公共機構理解他們面臨的困境，并努力為他們訪問圖書館創造條件，而不是制造障礙。

在疫情期間，我們基金會籌得的款項超出了預期的目標，這是我們之前沒有想到的，但確實是一件幸運的事。我們認為，在這一特殊時期，學校關閉、公眾因社交距離要求被困在家中，人們看到了圖書館的作用、價值和努力，并且迅速增加了對我們的支持。

所有這一切的關鍵經驗是，我們要有多樣化的資金來源。這樣，在困難時期，就不會因為過于依賴某一種類型的資金而遭受巨大的風險。還值得一提的是，圖書館日益關注通過聯合服務來降低運營成本。

本刊：數字化一直是圖書館非常重要的一個發展戰略，我們想聽聽您對未來圖書館數字化發展的觀點，您覺得圖書館數字化的重點應該放在哪些方面？

杰基·尼特斯：數字通信和數字化的迅速發展改變了當今圖書館的運作方式，對我們如何建立館藏，以及如何與社區建立聯系都產生了重要的影響。

展望圖書館在保存社會記憶方面的角色，我們有機會也有責任去追蹤、整理那些被書寫下來的記錄，并將之數字化，就像我們曾經建立了大量照片、回憶錄、會議錄和市場營銷材料的檔案收藏一樣。這項工作是圖書館之間開展合作的偉大舞臺，因為技術提供了共享最終產品的絕佳手段。在美國，可以通過美國數字公共圖書館（DPLA）的工作（在印第安納州是印第安納記憶項目@https://digital.library.in.gov/）來舉例說明。印第安納波利斯公共圖書館在其中投入了巨大的精力，以數字格式記錄了眾多藝術機構和多個政府部門的歷史，包括我們的警察和消防部門、公園部門和公立學校。可以在http://www.digitalindy.org/上看到這個不斷增長的收藏。

出版數字產品是建立在數字館藏基礎上的圖書館新任務。今年，印第安納波利斯公共圖書館將與印第安納波利斯的大學信息學院合作，創建一個新的“印第安納波利斯數字百科全書”，計劃于今年夏天推出。公共圖書館擁有該百科全書的版權，并將隨著城市的發展不斷更新。我們的市民積極參與了這項新的資源建設計劃，這有助于確保通過廣泛的技術應用（例如時間軸以及視頻和文本關聯）以更加真實、客觀的方式講述我們城市的故事。該項目采用了聯合共建的方式，可以鏈接到有關該城市的許多其他數字資源，并為讀者和研究人員帶來更豐富的體驗。與印刷版本相比，這一形式可以以更少的精力和成本投入保持資源處于一個最新的狀態。

雖然我們已經基本掌握了如何數字化那些先前出版的資料，但我們仍然面臨挑戰：如何理解我們在處理新的數字化材料中扮演的角色？這些材料存在的時間可能很短暫，或者難以追蹤和保存，尤其是考慮到目前很多學術著作以及自出版物僅在互聯網上發布的趨勢。位于印第安納波利斯的印第安納—普渡聯合大學正在深入研究這項工作，并且協助教師和研究人員制定相關標準。我們希望向他們學習在這一領域的先進經驗。

今天，我們與公眾溝通圖書館工作的方式以及我們可以提供的服務也變得越來越數字化。我們再也不能只是打印宣傳單，然后期望人們在走進圖書館的時候把他們拿起來……我們的一些用戶已經很少親自來圖書館了。我們必須讓我們的信息直達用戶，并且更加個性化。為此我們推出了一個名為Communico的新產品，該產品允許我們根據用戶的選擇偏好、郵政編碼以及市場劃分的其他指標來為用戶定制信息。圖書館一旦訂購了新的資源，用戶馬上就能知道。社交媒體的影響力每天都在增長！

本刊：圖書館和數字出版商之間存在著一些矛盾，比如之前有報道麥克米倫公司對公共圖書館實施了部分電子書禁令，您是怎么看這一問題的？您覺得需要如何來緩解這種矛盾？另外您是怎么看待數字化可能會導致的網絡安全和隱私問題的？

杰基·尼特斯：這是兩個很大的話題！

我們非常幸運，就在新冠疫情大爆發之前，一個主要的供應商在宣布對圖書館實行電子圖書禁令的三個月后主動放棄了這一做法。出于公民的責任意識，許多出版商在疫情最嚴重的時期都做出了一些特別的安排，以使人們能以更實惠的價格訪問電子書。

但是今天，電子書的定價仍然很高，計量訪問的限時使用電子書也仍然是一個問題。一些供應商正在提供更方便的購買方式和計量方式。這意味著我們可以購買1或2個副本用于永久保存，然后購買一些限時使用的電子書以滿足最初的高需求。越來越多的內容也會以“每次借閱成本”來計算，這也有助于滿足最初的高需求。由于OverDrive在去年收購了RBDigital，原來RBDigital平臺上的電子雜志移到了OverDrive，我們現在能夠使用的電子雜志比以前更多了。我們還購買了部分Flipster的數字雜志。越來越多的供應商正在試圖進入電子書市場——Vox books剛剛宣布了“iVox”計劃，這是針對Tumblebooks早期讀者的電子書。隨著市場的發展，平臺數量不斷增多，可能會給用戶帶來困擾。總的來說，因為目前大家都在關注其他問題，所以還沒有關于電子書定價模式變化的重大新聞。

對于我們以及那些越來越多在數字領域開展工作的機構來說，網絡安全是一個非常現實的問題，也是當下主要的關注點。我們的工作必須從對員工的培訓開始，重點關注網絡的安全性是如何受到破壞的問題。這已經變得越來越具有威脅性，網絡釣魚和看似無害的電子郵件都可以使圖書館及其利益相關人暴露在重大的安全隱患之下。許多圖書館都購買了保險以幫助更好地處理此類風險的善后工作，但是最重要的仍然是避免此類問題的發生。

在我們的圖書館中，我們安裝了更強大的防火墻來保護我們的服務器，并制定了政策和實施方案，以幫助員工避免在無意中導致館內網絡遭到破壞的情況發生。

本刊：印第安納公共圖書館的使命是“通過終身學習來豐富生活和構建社區”，您的圖書館是如何來推動這一使命的實現的？隨著社會的發展，圖書館支持人們終身學習的方式應該怎樣與時俱進？

杰基·尼特斯：我們剛剛發布了新的“2021-2023年戰略規劃”，您提到的這一點仍然是我們的使命，但其中有一個重要變化——我們在使命中添加了“為所有人”這一短語。大家可以在我們圖書館的官網上找到這一新的規劃。我們致力于與社區中其他組織的合作，希望共同努力支持人們的持續成長和學習。我們尤其關注邊緣化群體，更加重視那些當下最被需要的領域，例如數字/技術、教育、閱讀和寫作、健康與保健以及金融素養等。

本刊：圖書館一直處于信息需求的最前沿，您是怎樣考慮信息服務的公平性問題的？尤其是在新冠疫情這種不確定的時期？面對虛假信息泛濫的狀況又是如何考慮信息服務的真實性的？

杰基·尼特斯：新冠疫情向我們揭示了整個社會在信息獲取方面存在的諸多不平等。無論是對互聯網本身的訪問，還是所提供資源存在的語言障礙——并非每個人都有同樣的機會。圖書館必須關注并幫助解決這個問題。我們一直在一些我們所知道的互聯網訪問量特別低的社區中提供移動熱點服務。鑒于手機上網并不能滿足學齡兒童的學習需求，我們也一直在社區開展分發谷歌網絡筆記本的活動，供那些可能只能通過手機上網的家庭借用。

美國最近發生的事使人們比以往任何時候都更加懷疑他們在電視上看到的、在網上讀到的或是那些印刷出來的東西的真實性。在這個每個人都有發言平臺的時代，那些確保信息可信的舊方法都被繞過了。作為圖書館，我們仍然必須設法驗證我們提供信息的可信度，并為社區提供工具，幫助他們自己辨別信息的可靠性。

本刊：美國是個多元文化社會，有來自各個國家的移民，也有豐富的土著文化。印第安那波利斯公共圖書館是如何保持城市文化的多樣性并為此服務的？

杰基·尼特斯：我們很幸運，印第安那波利斯的人口非常多樣化。趨勢表明，在未來的20年中，印第安納波利斯的有色人種（黑人和棕色人種）將超過歷史上占多數的白色人種。我們已經處于一個多樣化的時代了！但隨之而來的是，人們也越來越意識到我們對真正的多樣化存在著傳統認知障礙。

在內部，我們已經開始了一些行動，幫助我們的員工意識到他們的偏見，以及在與邊緣人群相處時不自覺地表現出來的小冒犯。我們列了精選書單，要求所有的員工閱讀，這將有助于我們對美國種族主義的歷史達成某種共識。我們還建立了眾多內部流程，以進一步在更廣泛的員工群體中放權。我們將繼續努力，增加工作人員的多樣性，使我們的用戶能夠在為他們服務的圖書館員身上看到自己的影子。在我們所有的項目規劃中，我們都要求員工考慮對不同社區的影響和參與度。

在外部，我們將繼續珍視我們的姊妹城市關系，并期待有一天可以再次共同舉辦活動。與此同時，我們也在與當地組織合作，開展更多的聯合項目，例如與墨西哥領事館共同推出“社區廣場”，讓這些拉美裔美國人有機會用他們的母語完成基礎和中等教育。現在，我們的中央圖書館將成為“移民歡迎中心”的所在地，這是一個非營利性的地方組織，致力于確保所有移民都能在印第安納州有良好的發展機會。

本刊：印第安那波利斯公共圖書館的中心館是著名的歷史建筑，后來又經過了擴建，圖書館是如何將這種歷史和現代融合在一起的？在文化遺產的保護方面，圖書館做了哪些工作？

杰基·尼特斯：尊重歷史很重要。我們的翻新工程使我們能夠像展示美麗的珠寶一樣向公眾展示古老的建筑，并在其后附上深色天鵝絨布，確保它能耀眼地呈現！保羅·克雷特（1917年建筑的建筑師）是我們前面的那一顆珠寶，而埃文斯·伍爾大樓（埃文斯·伍爾是2007年擴建的六層塔樓的建筑師）則成為了提供未來服務的關鍵。在這座新老建筑結合在一起的機構投入運行十年后，我們調整了館藏和服務，以反映新的需求。例如我們在一個古老的克雷特閱覽室建立了黑人文學和文化中心，它集技術收藏、展覽和大量藏書于一體，功能的多樣令人驚嘆。除了為孩子們提供更多的技術服務外，塔樓內的藏書、計算機實驗室和傳統兒童服務也得到了擴展。在塔樓的頂層可以欣賞到整個城市的風景，這使它成為了游客“必看”的景點！

本刊：您是如何理解公共圖書館員現在和未來的角色的？

杰基·尼特斯：今天，公共圖書館員的角色正在發生迅速的變化，并且這種變化將在未來的一段時間內持續。傳統的參考服務已經不那么重要了，因為人們有了多種獲取信息和獲得指導的途徑——對初學者來說是網絡和YouTube。但是，這種巨大的變化也為圖書館員提供了機會，他們可以在信息獲取的技術上提供指導和建議，幫助辨別哪些信息是最準確和真實的。人們很容易接觸到新的信息，但也面臨著越來越大的數字鴻溝，在這個時候，圖書館員比以往任何時候都更加需要促進信息的獲取，根據公眾所需展開技能培訓。

圖書館員將會需要越來越多的技能，不僅僅是關于閱讀或參考服務的，還包括技術、STEM活動、網絡和鏈接資源等，這些都要求我們的員工保持與時俱進的能力并了解可能發生的情況。指導年輕讀者需要的技能仍然非常重要，因為閱讀和體會閱讀樂趣的能力是需要和花園里的幼苗一樣培養的。這將仍然是圖書館員能為我們社區提供的最好的禮物之一。

本刊：印第安那波利斯和杭州是友好城市，印第安那波利斯公共圖書館和杭州圖書館之間也有過諸多合作，對于未來中美圖書館之間的交流和合作，您有什么期許？

杰基·尼特斯：我們渴望有一天能再次訪問杭州，希望在之前合作的基礎上再續前緣。我們相信，一旦疫情的陰霾散去，我們兩國就將能夠再次專注于共同的機會，未來合作的前景是非常光明的。

以下為訪談的英文原文：

COVID-19 has been seriously impacting our daily work and life, how are you and your library reacting to the challenges coming with the pandemic?What changes have your library made to continue serving the public during the pandemic?

The last year has been a journey no one could have predicted for our library and our city. We closed all of our libraries from March until June of 2020.During that time, the majority of our employees remained on payroll through a complicated plan to continue work remotely such as accounting and ordering new materials for the collection, or for those who had worked in the public areas-a rigorous schedule of remotely delivered staff training and on line patron service. During closure we provided premium pay for essential workers to come in during travel bans so that our facilities would be safely maintained.

Two dozen employees retired and that represented a loss of valuable experience and expertise at a time when all hiring from outside to fill vacancies was curtailed.

In order to reopen, we made major building modifications eliminating general seating and the number of computers available to increase social distancing, constructing plexi glass partitions to facilitate safe interactions between staff and patrons, and creating a system of door counters to limit attendance to proscribed safe numbers at each location.

Staff sewed 600 handmade masks for re-opening in the early days when Personal Protection Equipment(PPE) was hard to purchase. They produced shields on the 3D Printers and instituted new protocols for assisting patrons while maintaining social distancing!

Now that Covid numbers are trending downward significantly, only a small number of nonpublic service staff are still working at home and many questions are being asked about whether that model might continue.Staff remains anxious about the virus, even though vaccines are now readily available for all employees.We have had no reports of any employees contracting the virus while at the workplace however so we are confident that our processes provided ample safety forour employees!

In addition to the physical plant changes, we pivoted from in person to all virtual programming for children and adults. This new approach resulted in 527 programs being presented virtually! We recorded 27,429 views of them by our patrons. This is one change that we believe will continue to have a place in our world even when we return to in- person library programming. We also offered “Curbside” service where patrons could request materials and have them delivered to their car with minimal interaction—this service has become very popular!

In total, we lost 34% of our open hours last year and as a result the demand for materials changed significantly. Interlibrary loans were down 74% and conventional physical circulation was down 20%. On the bright side, electronic content use was up 31% and we have indications that many of those new e resource users will stay in those formats. We have moved significant amounts of budget from print to e-materials as a result.

For the administration there were also adjustments. Our Human Resources team had to learn about and administer the many federal programs of benefits and job protections that were created in response to Covid. Our Finance team adjusted budgets repeatedly to fund the changes in the buildings and the acquisition of PPE for the staff, while chasing grant dollars to help pay for it all. And the Library Board learned to conduct all of its business over ZOOM calls while still providing ample transparency for the public.

Under the impact of the pandemic, do you think libraries will face more serious funding difficulties?If so, how could libraries do to solve or ease this issue?

Some American libraries have struggled depending on the source of their revenues. For example, income tax funded libraries such as those in the State of Ohio fared poorly as income tax collections dropped. However our funding is 80%+ property taxbased. That is a less volatile taxing mechanism so we did not lose revenue on the public funding side. We did lose incremental monies that patrons spent at the library for printing and faxing, booking meeting rooms and paying parking. We concluded, given the pressures of the pandemic on low income families, that the time was right for the library to abandon the practice of charging late fees for materials returned past their due date. While this results in a loss of income to us, we feel that at this time in particular families need public institutions to understand their challenges and work to increase access to the Library not block it.

Our Foundation actually exceeded their charitable fund raising goals during the pandemic which is counter intuitive but a real blessing. We believe that many donors appreciated the heightened importance of the public library during a time when schools were closed and families were home bound and were quick to increase their support of our efforts.

The key lesson in all of this is to have a blended array of funding sources so that in a difficult time,you do not risk great losses by having too great a dependency on one type of funding resource. There is also renewed interest in consortiums to deliver services at lesser costs.

Digitalization has always been a very important development strategy for libraries. We would like to hear your views on the future digital development of libraries. What aspects shall we focus on?

Digital communications and the move to digital formats for information are rapidly increasing and transforming the way our libraries function today. This trend impacts how we build our collections and how we reach out to our communities.

Looking to the library’s role in maintaining the record of society, we have the wonderful opportunity and the responsibility to track down, organize and digitize the written record much as we once built large archival collections of photographs, memoirs,minute books and marketing materials. This work isa great arena for collaboration among libraries as the technologies offer excellent means of sharing the end product. In the US, this is exemplified by the work of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and here in Indiana by Indiana Memory @https://digital.library.in.gov/.The Indianapolis Public Library is heavily into this work having documented in digital format the history of a myriad of arts organizations and multiple government departments including our police and fire departments, parks department and public schools. You can see this growing collection athttp://www.digitalindy.org/.

A new role for libraries that builds on this digital collection building is the actual act of publishing digital products. This year the Indianapolis Public Library is working with POLIS at the School of Informatics here at the University to create a new Digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis which will launch in the summer of 2021. The Public Library holds the copyright to this new publication and will continue to add to it over time as the story of our city continues forward. Extensive citizen involvement in the planning of this new resource helps to insure that the story of our City is told in a factual and objective manner, utilizing a wide variety of techniques such as time lines and video linked to the text. It is a federated construction linking to numerous other digital resources across the city and producing a richer experience for the reader and researcher, one that can stay current with less effort and cost than a print encyclopedia could ever achieve.

And while we understand how to digitize the previously published record of mankind, our next challenge is understanding our role in working with the material that is born digital and seems at time to be either fleeting and ephemeral or at a minimum difficult to track down and retain given the trend now to publish scholarly work as well as many self-published titles only on the internet. The Indiana University Purdue University Library here in Indianapolis is delving deeply into this work and assisting both the faculty and the researchers in established standards for this work.We hope to learn from their leadership in this field.

How we reach out to the public to communicate about the work of libraries and what we can offer is also becoming more digital today. No longer can we just print flyers and hope people will pick them up when they come in to visit the Library…some of our patrons will seldom come to visit us in person. Our messaging must reach out to people and customize what we communicate more than ever. We have launched a new product called Communico that allows us to customize messaging to sub groups of recipients based on choices they have selected, zip codes, or other aspects of market segmentation. WOWBRARY let’s patrons know of our new materials as soon as we order them. And social media grows in impact every day!

There are some contradictions between libraries and digital publishers, such as Macmillan’s pending embargo on new e book titles for libraries. What do you think about this? What could be done to mitigate this conflict? What is your opinion about cyber security and privacy issues that digitalization may bring?

These are two big topics!

The main vendor that put the embargo one books for the first three months after release dropped the idea right before the pandemic really hit which was fortunate. Many publishers made special arrangements to access e books more affordably during the worst of the pandemic out of a sense of civic responsibility.

But today, pricing still remains high, and metered access expiring content is still an issue. However,some vendors are making things available for purchase AND metered access. This means we can purchase 1 or 2 copies to retain in perpetuity and then purchase the expiring content for the initial high demand. More content is becoming available as “cost per circ”as well, which also helps to serve that initial high demand. The shift of magazines from RBDigital to OverDrive was a big event this year, and has resulted in more discovery and usage of e magazines. We still have some content on Flipster as well. More vendors are trying to get into the market for e books--Vox books just announced “iVox” which are e books for the Tumblebooks early reader audience. SO many platforms can be confusing for patrons as the market develops. Overall, there has been no major news about changes in e book pricing models, as everyone has been focused on other issues.

Cyber security is a very real concern and a major focus for us now as it must be for all organizations who are increasingly working in the digital realms.Our efforts must begin with education for staff especially about the way that security is breached now days. This has become more and more threatening as phishing tricks and seemingly harmless emails can expose a library and its patrons to significant security exposures. Many libraries have purchased insurance to assist with the aftermath of such exposures, but the most important work is the work to avoid and ward offsuch exposures.

At our library we have installed stronger firewalls to protect our servers, and instituted policies and practices to help staff avoid situations when they might unwittingly expose us to cyber breaches.

Indianapolis Public Library’s mission is to"enrich lives and build communities through lifelong learning", how do you contribute to this mission?With the development of society, how should libraries support people's lifelong learning in line with the times?

We have just launched a new Strategic Plan for 2021-2023 and this continues to be our mission with one important change—we have added the phrase “for everyone” to the mission statement. This new plan can be found at www.indypl.org and in it you will see that we are committed to work with other organizations in the community who share the effort to support continued growth and learning. We are especially sensitive to the extent to which some groups have been marginalized and excluded from these opportunities,and we are being more intentional in focusing on areas that are of greatest need—Digital/Technology,Education, Reading and Writing, Health and Wellness,and Financial Literacy.

Libraries are always at the forefront of information needs. How do you consider the fairness of information services, especially in an uncertain period like COVID-19 epidemic? And what about the authenticity of information services?

COIVD-19 has revealed to us the inequities that exist in access to information across society. Whether it be access to the internet itself or barriers in the languages that are offered for various resources, not everyone has the same opportunity and the Library must call attention to this and help address it. We have been circulating mobile hot spots in neighborhoods where we know access to the internet is especially low.In some communities we have been circulating Chrome books for families to borrow who have perhaps had internet access only on their phones and found that does not meet the need of their school age children.

Recent history in the United States has caused people to be more suspect than ever before about the validity of what they see on television and read on line or in print. Old methods of ensuring the credibility of information have been bypassed in this age of everyone having a platform from which to speak. As libraries, we must still seek to provide validation of the credibility of information that we offer and provide the community with tools to discern that credibility for themselves.

How does Indianapolis Public Library serve and maintain the cultural diversity of the city, as the US is a multicultural society with immigrants from various countries and a rich indigenous culture?

We are blessed here in Indy to have a very diverse population and the trends indicate that in the next twenty years, Indianapolis will have more population of color (Black and Brown people) than its historicCaucasian majority. Our diversity has diversified! And with it has come increased awareness of the traditional barriers we have had in place to authentic diversity.

Internally we have begun work to help our staff become aware of their biases and the unintended micro aggressions we display when interacting with folks who are in any way different from the majority population.We are asking all staff to read from selected lists of books that will help us gain a shared understanding of the history of racism in America, and we have instituted numerous internal processes to further share power across the wider employee group. We continue to strive for a more diverse staff so that our patrons can see themselves in the folks who serve them at the Library. And in all of our program planning we ask staff to consider the impact on and engagement with diverse communities in designing library activities.

Externally we continue to value our Sister Cities and look forward to the day when we can again plan activities together. Meanwhile we are doing more with local organizations to offer joint programming such as launching the Plaza Comunitaria with the Mexican Consulate to give Hispanic Hoosiers a chance to complete elementary and secondary educations in their first language. Our Central Library will now be the home of the Immigrant Welcome Center, a local not for profit that specializes in insuring that all immigrants can thrive in Indiana.

Your Central Library showcases renowned architecture. The original 1917 building was considered one of the most outstanding secular buildings in the U.S., and the new addition opened in 2007. How did your library well merge the history with the modernity?

Honoring the history is important—our renovation allows us to show case the old building like a beautiful jewel that you display with a dark velvet cloth behind it to allow it to really show off! The Paul Cret (architect of the 1917 building) is our jewel in the front and the Evans Woolen Building (architect of the 6story tower added in 2007) became the new backdrop that offers the key to future services. Both have proven to be very flexible…after the first ten years of operation of the joint facility, we rearranged many collections and services to reflect new needs and it has opened us up to additional opportunity—we created a Center for Black Literature and Culture in what was one of the original Cret reading rooms. It is stunning and integrates technology collections and exhibits along with a large book collection. The Tower has seen the expansion of the overall book collection, computer labs, and conventional children’s services in addition to the integration of more technology for children. And the views of the City from the top floor of the Tower make it a tourist “must see” stop!

How do you understand the role of public librarians today and in the future?

The role of public librarians is changing rapidly today and will continue to for some time to come.Traditional reference service is less important as people have multiple sources for information and instruction –the web and YouTube for starters. But that very vastness also creates opportunity for librarians to offer guidance and advice in techniques of access and discerning what information is the most accurate and factual. As we face an increasing digital divide in ourcountry between those with easy access to these new worlds of information, the Librarian is called upon more than ever to increase access and identify the skills and training that the public needs.

Multiple skill sets will continue to be required of librarians, it is not just about reading or reference, but it is also about technology, STEM activity, networking and linking resources calling out our staff’s abilities to stay current and aware of what is possible. Our work in guiding young readers will continue to play an important role as the skill and ultimately the joy of reading is something that needs cultivation like a young plant in a garden. That gift continues to be something that the Librarian will continue to be able to give our community.

Indianapolis and Hangzhou are sister cities.Indianapolis Public Library and Hangzhou Public Library have cooperated a lot in the past. What are your expectations for future exchanges and cooperations in libraries between China and the US?

We long for the day when we can again visit Haugzhou and hope to build on our earlier work together. We believe that once we have the health concerns behind us, and our respective countries are again able to focus on shared opportunities, the future for collaboration will be bright!