I think I have a couple of "good stories," mainly about engaging children,
faculty, and the religious school with library use. I think Rachel Kamin is
someone to advise on the question raised by Ann, as she does a great deal of
programming and promotion and maintains what looks to be a very active
institution. Perhaps we should talk about this in DC. I also think that
having a group of people (us) bombard the board of the temple in NYC w/
objections to their decision is pointless and makes us look silly, at best.
What would it accomplish? What Board of Trustees would care that a group of
people with no connection to their institution and who know nothing of the
thinking behind their decision or the factors that went into it (even if the
thinking was misguided) is unhappy with the decision that they made? I can't
believe I'm the only one who thinks this.Andrea Rapp
From: Emily Goldberg <[email protected]>
To: Ann Abrams <[email protected]>
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>;
Lisa Silverman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2015 2:36 PM
Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Library position eliminated
Have any synagogue libraries moved to ebooks and if so, what has been the
response?
Emily [email protected]
On Monday, June 1, 2015, Ann Abrams <[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you, Lisa, for this very thoughtful and insightful post. The sentence I
find the most thought provoking is: FROM LISA:Synagogues clearly need to save
money and move forward with the things that engage the most members and cut
funding from things that don’t. Period. Sentiment is not a reason to pour money
into old models of synagogue engagement. The problem for libraries is that the
decision-makers are not seeing beyond the old model and are not offering
funding for librarians to create new models. FROM ANN:I’m wondering if there
are synagogue librarians who have created new models, that are doing WELL, and
that have the enthusiastic support of your institutions; and, that you’d be
willing to share with the rest of us? I’d be happy to serve as central station
to collect your narratives, as perhaps it’s not necessary to inform all of
AJL/Hasafran about what synagogue libraries are doing, but I would share them
with all SSC members, or anyone else who’s interested. But, my main point
is, are there any GOOD stories out there? Maybe we can cause something
constructive to come out of these terrible occurrences. From: Hasafran
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lisa
Silverman
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 7:58 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Library position eliminated Excuse the long post, but
I would like to weigh in to this discussion because of the similar changes
going on here at Sinai Temple, which mirror what is happening everywhere. In
our case, 100 letters from people outside our organization, especially if they
had come from different cities, would have been an interesting social
experiment, but would not have changed a thing. A year ago, our temple board
decided that due to economic reasons beyond their control, they decided to
remove all funding for the library. It was explained to me that due to the
recession there had been a severe downturn in donations, and, along with our
major building upgrade and renovations, the temple was in the fiscal red. Our
professional staff of 4.5 employees was cut to…zero. The library and its
needs, budget, and staffing, was handed over to the Pre-K-8 day school, because
it was common knowledge that the majority of patrons were day school students,
staff, and parents. The day school had only enough money to offer two positions
to librarians and I was retained as the day school librarian and another school
librarian was hired as associate. With my knowledge of adult sources, I was
encouraged to still help the synagogue patrons, when or if they continued to
come in. All adult programming was cut because I am now working for the school
and do programming solely related to school needs, which are considerable. (I
made the personal choice to continue with my evening adult book group because
this group has been meeting regularly for 15 years, even though the temple did
not pay me for it. It was suggested that I charge for attendance at this
group, which I rejected as absurd.) We are now in the process of reducing our
adult collection considerably, and moving these items to the soon-to-open
Sperber Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles, which is now part of American
Jewish University. I have been serving as consultant for them, and will begin
working there next year as the community librarian. Our adult collection here
will still be accessible to all patrons, although it will be run by the school
librarian and not kept up by a professional Judaic librarian. Since working as
Sinai Akiba Academy school librarian this year, no longer as the temple
librarian, I have come away with some observations I would like to share: 1.
Synagogues clearly need to save money and move forward with the things that
engage the most members and cut funding from things that don’t. Period.
Sentiment is not a reason to pour money into old models of synagogue
engagement. The problem for libraries is that the decision-makers are not
seeing beyond the old model and are not offering funding for librarians to
create new models.2. Protesting to the powers that be does not work when
boards have already made difficult decisions. If a library is a beloved part of
an institution, board members do not make these decisions lightly, but when
they do, they are rarely swayed to change their minds because by that time they
have heard all the sides they are going to hear and have thought it all
through. (We had many letters written in opposition, and members spoke their
minds at meetings—the decision to close library funding stuck.)3. Our
school/student/parent engagement has gone up this year and we keep quite busy.
These people are also members of our temple, which should be noted. The
authors/literary and film programming is now the responsibility of the
programming department. Those people who are missing out on what used to be are
the mostly older, retired, literary minded folk who liked to come into the
library for such things. Hopefully, they have been absorbed by other
programming of the temple, but if not, it seems their numbers are not
significant for the board to reinstate funding. This library will still be run
well after I leave next year, but it will no longer be a leader among synagogue
libraries and the go-to catalog for Elazar system users. Adult patrons will
still be served, but eventually it will turn into a fine school library, and
the people of Los Angeles will turn to the Jewish Community Library at AJU for
Jewish-themed books, book and film clubs, literary events and programs.
| | Lisa Silverman Library Director, Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library10400
WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES, CA 90024310-481-3215 (direct) 310-481-3218
(main) library.sinaitemple.org |
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Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
==================================
Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to:
[email protected]
To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here:
https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected]
Ha-Safran Archives:
Current:
http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html
Earlier Listserver:
http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html
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