It happens from time to time. A quote of mine makes the rounds and then a somewhat predictable conversation occurs.
The quote is “Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.” This tends to lead to three reactions from librarians:
- 1. Yeah!
- 2. Collections aren’t bad
- 3. There’s no such thing as a bad library
This quote has been around for a long time, and I even came up with a standard reply 14 years ago: https://davidlankes.org/beyond-the-bullet-points-bad-libraries-build-collections-good-libraries-build-services-great-libraries-build-communities/
But, it happened again, and it went right to the “no such thing as a bad library.” I get it. Particularly in these times of attacks on libraries, the acknowledgement that they’re not all great seems like a guilty admission. But take it from an expert witness on a first amendment case against a public library, NOT acknowledging libraries can be bad is not just silly, it’s dangerous.
So, one more time for the folks in the back. There are no good or great libraries without bad libraries. An inability to admit that not every institution, even if formed to serve the greater good, is successful means you are complicit in lackluster service. Acknowledging that is how we get better, not blamed. There are bad doctors, there are bad fathers, there are bad apple pies. Your definition may be different than mine, but we have to at least begin with terms we agree to use.
If your school library has a dated and politically driven collection in a moldy room with no professional support – that’s a bad school library. If you want to say it’s no library at all, then fine. But then you are not saying there is a path to improve, simply a resignation to a horrible status quo. When the state of Texas took over Houston Independent School District and used the libraries as a place to sideline troubled youth, it was BAD. The fact that the students could still get books after hours didn’t redeem it. The fact that they called these daytime prisons libraries is BAD. Was this the fault of the school librarians? Absolutely not.
If your academic library sets aside 70% of its space for staff and does zero outreach to academic departments, that’s bad. If your public library is outsourced to a for-profit company to remove resistance to censorship: bad.
Admitting that libraries can be bad is why we support lawsuits against libraries to counter censorship. Admitting there are bad libraries is why we sue for open meetings, why we advocate for policies of transparency, why we fight for staff care.
And here is where I’ll lose some people: if you have built a library with the best of intentions but it doesn’t meet the needs of its community, that’s bad. If you see the role of your library as empowering people, but you refuse to collect controversial materials to avoid difficult conversations, that is bad.
And finally, yes, it is bad to treat the collection as paramount and ignore our first duty: helping our communities. Bad.