Several years ago I worked with a librarian at our college, crafting a strategic plan for the library, when he said something that made me sit up and take notice. “Everyone says nice things about a library, but no one will tell you anything real.” I pressed him, curious about his frustration. Libraries are hard to figure out, he explained. People like to have them around. But no one really gives them much thought or listens to librarians, he complained. Our college’s multi-year plan for the library was implemented and deemed a success. Students said that they liked the new services and layout. The number of people visiting the library increased. Nevertheless, my colleague’s complaint lingered. Do people really know or care about what happens in the library?
After reading Amanda Oliver’s book Overdue: Reckoning with Public Libraries, I would reckon not. In fact, I would assert that knowledge of what happens in libraries and what librarians do is neither widely known nor widely appreciated. The lack of attention is significant in public libraries, probably even more than in higher education libraries. Overdue is eye-opening. Memoir, history, study of professional practice and scholarly examination, Overdue does not so much blur genres as ignore them. Oliver writes critically and from the heart.
Oliver recounts her journey to librarianship. Not a child of privilege, she held multiple jobs before earning a Masters in Library Science from the University at Buffalo. Her can do attitude extended to her search for a professional position, applying nationally, and finding a position with the Washington, DC public schools. She worked at several public schools in the system and then for the DC public libraries. Oliver is a keen observer. In the book she describes her day to day in these roles, her colleagues and importantly, the libraries’ interaction with its patrons. Libraries, especially in poor areas, are often at the fringes of public space and service to the community. This is particularly true when it comes to public libraries.
Oliver’s account of her time in a northwest DC public library is intense. Located in a poverty-stricken area with limited “safe” spaces, the library struggled every day with the city’s unhoused and mentally ill. The staff faced tremendous burdens, as did the library itself as an institution grounded in inclusion and service. The stress is awful and drove many librarians, Oliver included, away from their chosen profession. The problems are endemic. There were no massive change in policy, funding or priorities during Oliver’s tenure or in recent years. Yet even with these complicated difficulties, Oliver sees and celebrates the many benefits of public libraries. Her optimism remains.
Overdue, accordingly, works towards several different aims. It explains what public libraries do, grounded in a historical context that elevates and critiques their evolving missions. For centuries libraries were far from open or inclusive. That historical legacy, from expectations to funding structures, contributes to problems today. Nonetheless, the public’s faith in inclusive libraries, and the potential of that mission realized, continues to resonate. It matters greatly to Oliver. I expect that many who will pick up the book, share that sentiment. Importantly, though, Oliver’s book makes clear that libraries cannot be all and do all for everyone.
The trauma experienced by Oliver and her colleagues is simply unacceptable. Staffing public libraries with security guards and regularly phoning 911 are clear evidence of deep problems with community and support. The problems faced on a daily basis by Oliver and her colleagues are a far cry from assisting patrons access to databases. Public librarians face near impossible tasks and expectations. Oliver wrestles with this as she explains her decision to leave library work and move across the country to become a teacher and writer. Overdue concludes with Oliver’s reflections on broader societal, and personal, questions. Issues of agency, equity and value matter to institutions like public libraries, and to our author. I expect that many public librarians engage with similar questions about their profession and impact. Oliver concludes Overdue with thoughts about current day inequities and a plea for hope.
Overdue is an interesting book. It will make you think about public libraries differently and place your local public librarian in a new light. For me, the book highlighted a question that has been skulking around since that college library planning session: what are the things that we want our libraries to do? Perhaps if we could come to some clarity about that, we would be much more effective in supporting libraries and the librarians who make them possible. They deserve it.
David Potash