WWW.LIBRARIESLIVE.COM
A Plan to Reactivate and Reinvigorate the State’s Public Libraries
The future of learning is not in the classroom alone.
Introduction
There are 81 public libraries in Chicago and, at last count - quite some time ago - there were approximately 6450 in the entire State of Illinois. It’s very complicated to precisely determine how many of these libraries - following the COVID-19 pandemic – have reopened and been restaffed and how many are once again fully operational. For funding and job security reasons, among others, the degree of accuracy of the reports made by various branch libraries varies considerably. These are all matters for further inquiry, but the data – although not readily confirmable - will not ultimately be too difficult to assemble and analyze.
While some larger public libraries have returned to pre-pandemic levels of activity, the truth is that even those renewed levels of activity on their best days represent only a very modest fraction of the volume of traffic and use of the facilities which was typical a decade or more ago. (See https://data.cityofchicago.org/Education/Libraries-2022-Visitors-by-Location/ykhx-yxn9.) Worldwide library use has consistently declined for the last 25 years, and the trend is not encouraging.
It’s fairly clear that, while the two years of COVID-19 disruption had a very unfortunate and severely negative impact on every library in terms of access limitations, user traffic, and overall operations, the physical on-site utilization of Illinois’s libraries (and libraries everywhere else in the country) has dramatically plummeted over the last 10 years largely due to the impact of the Internet, the digitization of every form of content, and the ubiquity of the smart phone.
Simply stated, kids (7th grade and older) and young adults don’t care about libraries any longer but, even worse, that indifference and apathy isn’t limited to the younger generations. Most Americans under the age of 40 haven’t visited a library for any reason (other than to carpool their own kids) since they were in high school and report that they have no intention, inclination, or reason to do so any time in the future except in cases where those libraries are being used from time to time as voting locations.
Bricks and mortar libraries today are expensive, inefficient, and terribly under-utilized civic and community resources which are wasting and rapidly depreciating assets and which have become increasingly irrelevant – even as “social” gathering places – for students and readers of any and every age. We still read, but not physical books; we still need the news, but not newspapers; and we no longer need to go anywhere to gain or gather knowledge because it now resides at our fingertips on our phones and in our other digital devices.
If our libraries no longer matter in any material respect to our lives and especially to the upcoming generations, it’s not clear how or why they will continue to survive and be economically viable and justifiable. We need an immediate plan to reimagine and transform these buildings into new, attractive, and important community learning centers for digital media creation and vocational/adult education (lifelong learning) if we want to keep them alive. This is the primary goal of the Libraries Live program.
Digital Media is the Message
While there are a wide variety of worthwhile suggestions, strategies, and approaches to expanding, enhancing, and enlivening the offerings and activities of our libraries, the focus of the Libraries Live program is limited and focused on a primary proposition: the universal magnetism of music. Music today is a powerful presence and attractor in all walks of life and learning to make music and music videos is one of the most persistent dreams of tens of millions of kids across the world. Millions of U.S. teens (13-17) are making their own music every day. TikTok music videos are now more pervasive and widely used, distributed, and shared by them than thru similar activities on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Twitch. Most importantly, a rapidly emerging trend is that millions of these short videos are more focused on demonstrating, teaching, and training their viewers on a wide variety of subjects and skills rather than on the earlier more trivial and escapist content. In addition, tens of millions of adults are also actively engaged in creating daily digital media as a new and highly flexible revenue source and, in many cases, as a form of alternative employment.
While the students can learn and experiment with some programs and systems on their own phones (and make their “beats”), the next steps up in terms of preparation, quality, equipment, production, and professionalism are largely beyond their individual training and financial resources and are only rarely available in their local junior high and high schools. There are already local libraries in other cities like Boston and San Jose that are creating recording studios to address this need (See https://www.sjpl.org/teenhq-record.) but the larger objective here is to create a template and scalable model that can be used throughout the country. This is the primary opportunity which Libraries Live wants to seize along with our Illinois libraries as a tool and path to encourage and incent digital “musicians” of all ages to return to their local libraries in order to take advantage of upgraded and more professional equipment and facilities in order to work on their own projects and to work collaboratively with other peers, musicians, mentors, and educators to create all kinds of digital media.
Music, music videos, podcasts, PSAs, documentaries, and other educational and vocational materials (including self-published material such as blogs) would all be part of the explosion of new content made possible by the Libraries Live program. We believe that the shortest path to scalable and long-term success is not to persuade patrons to change their behaviors or their interests, but to enable and enhance their ability to pursue their given goals, desires, and objectives at the library. We want to ride the horse in the direction that it’s already headed.
Kids today don’t just want to make music, they need to learn to understand and appreciate the preparation, perseverance, perspiration, and patience that it takes to craft and create music that they can be proud to share with their peers, parents, and the world. Much like teaching students to code, where which type of coding language they learn may be irrelevant in a couple of years, the thought processes, organizational skills, focused attention, and iterative (trial and error) practices are lifetime and lifelong capabilities which they will retain forever and build their futures and careers upon.
This is why the prospect of reactivating, enriching, and showering the libraries in a deluge of exciting new user-created and widely shared digital content as well as a continuing and substantial influx of new, returning, and reawakened patrons of all ages desiring to explore and employ the library’s novel and accessible tools and technologies to discover and create their own dreams is only an important part and the initial impact of the LL program.
To truly succeed, the program needs to serve not only the interests and objectives of the libraries, but those of the students and other patrons as well and especially those desires, needs and interests which can be awakened and directed toward these individuals’ long-term livelihoods. Digitally oriented vocational training of millions of highly motivated and excited teens is the slightly subversive silver lining of the LL program. We want kids who can’t wait for the school day to end so they can get back to their “real” work at the neighborhood library.
A New Way Forward
Historically, for generations of youths from underserved urban communities, and for better but mainly worse, the largely mythical and “legitimate” paths forward - escapes from the poverty and trauma that so often surrounded them - were limited to two primary careers: rock or jock - music or sports. Military service was and is rarely considered (except as a court-directed alternative to incarceration) and, of course, joining one of the neighborhood’s gangs was frowned upon. So, millions of black and brown kids aspired (against any and all realistic odds) to become the next Jay Z, Walter Payton, or Michael Jordan.
Needless to say, this was an extremely poor bet and a fantastical life plan that led to early and regular disappointment for millions of young people. In addition, it was almost always an entirely selfish dream – a very narrow and particular path – all about becoming a standout – a star – an exception to the rule - rather than an important part of a team, a member of a group making or building something, or even part of a family. Only after they succeed, do the best and strongest athletes look back and acknowledge that they would never have reached the heights they achieved without the help of a dedicated and committed team which had their backs.
The good news, however, is that especially in the last 10 years, an enormous change in the perception among teens and young adults of what success looks like and how it can be achieved has taken place. This presents all of us with a once-in-many-lifetimes chance to help millions of these kids find a third way forward - a new career path - with the active and aggressive support of the very sports and music celebrities that they continue to adore and idolize. Every kid today wants to be an entrepreneur - to create and control their own destinies - and to make something that matters – in whatever field or area of interest might be their greatest passion. And, for millions of them, music and media top the list.
Entrepreneurs of every size, shape, gender, and color have become the new rock stars of the digital economy. And the proof of the pudding - as well as all the validation and confirmation ever required - is that there’s not a single performer, celebrity, athlete, or other star who doesn’t think of themselves and describe themselves on every possible occasion as an entrepreneur and businessperson as well as an extraordinary talent and performer. Jay Z says: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man!” And that says it all to today’s teens. They know that you can’t build a business by yourself.
Making and producing music, even in this time of super powerful and sophisticated technology, is basically a collaborative enterprise. The musician is an essential part of the process to be sure, but so are the several other crucial jobs which are required to complete the production. This is a critical consideration and part of the Libraries Live program because the intention is that the LL program should promote, enable and inform the patrons about all of these various roles and opportunities for future growth and employment rather than simply being a solitary enterprise for the individual musician. This is the central idea of programs like Find Your Grind which help students identify, learn about, and get interested/excited about pursuing careers in vocational areas which they may have considerable aptitudes for but never previously considered for a variety of reasons including primarily lack of information and lack of encouragement/mentorship. (See https://findyourgrind.com/ )
Obviously, this approach opens up dozens of additional career paths regardless of any individual’s particular musical performance skills. Similar programs like Guns Over Guitars (See https://www.guitarsoverguns.org/ ) which have already had substantial success are basically focused on the performer in particular. Our vocational target – the focal point – is accessing and gaining eventual employment in the overall music business, not merely the music itself. You do the work because, as Diddy would say, “it’s all about the Benjamins, baby”. But, even more importantly, once these kinds of digital creation and production skills are mastered, they are readily transferable to well-paid positions in dozens of other industries – all of which are actively engaged in the transition of every part of their communication strategies to the digital world.
The biggest stars, the best athletes, and the most celebrated celebrities and influencers all talk far more these days about their work ethic, discipline, and craft than simply about their raw talent and creativity. The message is clear: you don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for – all day, every day, and in every possible way.
Effort and attitude are what make the ultimate difference, but none of this is possible without resources, education and training, and a safe and supportive environment in which to pursue your dreams. Everyone starts somewhere and for millions of young people interested in making music that place can be their neighborhood library. And that library can be a gateway and a steppingstone to important vocational training in a variety of related and adjacent fields and a solid future.
We don’t want the LL program to be a mile wide and an inch deep. We don’t believe that you can be (or should try to be) all things to all people. But to be very clear, in a time where lifelong learning is essential to continued employment and security, there are future patrons and users of these kinds of library resources of all ages desiring to learn critical digital media creation and production skills in a low-stress, inexpensive and hands-on environment. The kids won’t be the only ones learning and having fun at the same time. There are approximately 3 million podcasts today and the number continues to grow exponentially.
The Pilot Program
BACKGROUND – NO NEED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL
There are several very successful student media programs across the country which are focused on the creation and production of digital music and thereby avoid all the issues and costs associated with the acquisition, storage, security, and fragility of physical instruments and also – even more importantly – permit participation in various ways by far more students who do not require any prior training and/or performance skill with one or more instruments.
The existing programs have developed age-appropriate curricula, and some have even assembled low-cost digital equipment packages which can be assembled and replicated anywhere. These kits have the additional virtue of being portable (and often battery powered) so they are easily moveable and securable in instances where the space dedicated to the music program is shared with other uses.
While the underlying technology is constantly advancing and often becoming more robust and less costly at the same time, the good news is that the lion’s share of the “smarts” is software based so that the equipment itself can be used for many years and regularly upgraded through newly developed and delivered programs.
ECONOMICS – LOW OR NO COST FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE GEAR
The basic expenses of the program (apart from the equipment which should cost about $1500 per location) would be the attributed sunk cost of allocating some likely unused space in each facility to this program (on a dedicated or shared basis if necessary) and the costs of a part-time or full-time mentor, supervisor or instructor who could also be a regular existing employee of the library and who perform other services throughout the day when the prime users (teens 13-17) would generally be in school. It’s likely that some portion of the mentors and instructors for the LL program could also be drawn from and/or provided by local schools and could be either other students or teachers interested in and/or teaching music at the schools.
LOCATIONS OF THE PILOT PROGRAM – PHASE ONE
The Pilot Program would be based in the Chicagoland area at roughly twelve of the most-heavily visiting libraries willing to participate in the program. These venues would be distributed across the north half of the city (as indicated by the Ex. A map) with an emphasis on being located fairly close to one or more major high schools which would serve as feeders for the program as well as a source of potential instructors and mentors. The Ex. B map shows the locations of the largest high schools located within reasonable proximity to the target libraries. Having the libraries somewhat concentrated geographically makes it easier and considerably less costly to have regular visitation and any necessary maintenance and upgrading handled by a small LL support team during the pilot.
COSTS, PERSONNEL, AND BUDGET FOR THE INITIAL PILOT PROGRAM
TBD…There are a great number of variables, and the available in-place resources will differ significantly from place to place (and ultimately state to state) so the program costs are not finalized at this point even for the Pilot program which we expect to begin formally in January, 2023 after several months of planning, training and preparation of materials.