Jazz vs. Rock
At the public library the other day I was browsing the CDs in the music collection. If I wanted Contemporary Christian I'd have a pretty small selection (it all sounds like secular music to me), but since I don't know much about choral or orchestral, the collection suits my needs. Something seemed a bit odd. There were 17 drawers of jazz and 13 drawers of rock. So I asked a musician friend of mine about this. "Isn't rock a much larger, more popular genre of music than jazz?" She thought for a moment, and then said, "It probably reflects the taste of someone on the staff." Then she followed that with, "Well, jazz lovers are probably more likely to use the library, and people who like rock are using a different source--either purchasing or downloading or sharing." I didn't look for the break-out of rap or hip-hop, so I don't know how that is cataloged. I'll have to look the next time.I'm so glad my library allows journals to circulate. Some libraries don't. And good parking! I was talking to a Worthington Public Library user the other day and she said she likes to use ours just because the parking is so much better. Our new drive through drop off was a huge waste of money, however, as is the proposed coffee shop inside the library (at least I haven't heard that it has been removed from the proposed levy renewal) and the salary of a marketing director.
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4 comments:
I use the drive through drop off all the time! I volunteer once a week, too... If it weren't for the drive through drop off, I'd always have late books... oh yeah... I still always have late books.
I bet ours is bigger and fancier than yours! It cost $60,000 to replace the walk up that was about 10 ft from the driveway. Used up a nice landscaped green space too, because it requires a turn around. Not environmentally cool! And it's the wrong height. I've heard it will be redone.
Years ago at the university we took out all the drop off boxes and locations because the students would drop, hmmm, non-library material in them.
Libraries need to look for ways to bring people inside, not opportunities for them to stay in their cars, in my opinion.
But I'm glad it works for you!
My thought was that most cds in a library are donated. The proportions of different genres are way out of line with what is bought in the stores.
Maybe I'm wrong, but every library I've been in in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida are like that. Tons of jazz and classical. Almost an even mix of rock and country, and a couple of Christian cds thrown in there too.
Christian music far outsells jazz in the "real world."
Gee, I sure hope you're wrong. I know there was one settled law suit where CDs were dumped on libraries, but it is very expensive in staff time processing and maintenance to add gift material to a collection. I was a librarian for 23 years and every gift item accepted for the collection was carefully evaluated for its usefulness.
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