Library
Excavations #5: A Handbook of Library Ideas
Dale E. Shaffer
38 pages * 1977
/ 2017
Public
Collectors has reissued a significant booklet by library consultant Dale E.
Shaffer. A Handbook of Library Ideas collects
156 projects & possibilities for the 1970’s library looking to expand its
horizons. Today, many of these ideas are already antiquated (such as creating a
VHS collection), yet many are relevant and innovative ways of engaging the
wider community.
The typewritten
format is true to the original booklet, essentially presented unaltered here. In
his preface, Shaffer discusses characteristics of a creative librarian:
imaginative, original, fluent in information technology, undaunted by chaos and
going with the flow. He writes “Creative librarians are givers. Their minds act
as channels through which ideas pass along to others – not as static
storehouses. They have thoughts and ideas and carry them into action. They live
creatively and productively. Hopefully the ideas presented herein will
encourage the reader to try new methods for making the library more valuable to
patrons.”
Shaffer mixes
practicality with brainstorming and develops concepts that I would love to see
in my town library. A health club, guitar jams, soil testing kits, and (at my
age) retirement planning workshops. Mr. Shaffer’s love for libraries is evident
and his willingness to think outside the box is still refreshing in 2017. We
need libraries now more than ever, as we drown in the information /
misinformation age. We still need sanctuaries where we can learn, study, play, stretch
ourselves and breathe.
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