Working With Your Community --
An Interview with Judy Consales and Gary Strong
The National Library of Medicine is encouraging health sciences libraries to collaborate with public libraries in improving access to health information by the general public. To support this effort, PSRML invited Gary E. Strong, UCLA's University Librarian, to share his viewpoints regarding working with public libraries and developing community partnerships. Prior to Gary's UCLA appointment last September, he served as Library Director of the Queens Borough Public Library in New York (1994 to 2003) and as California State Librarian (1980 to 1994). Judy Consales conducted the following interview with Gary for this issue of Latitudes.
 |  | ||
| Judy Consales Director, PSRML | Gary E. Strong UCLA University Librarian |
JC: Before coming to UCLA, you were Library Director at Queens Public Library, the busiest public library in the nation. Many of our health sciences libraries are beginning to work more closely with public libraries. What makes a successful partnership from the public library perspective? How can we best work with each other?
GES: I know it will sound odd, but both sides need to look at the other as a real partner. Everyone is into "partnerships" these days. I guess it looks good on the résumé or something. But there are real gains that can be made by public and health sciences/hospital libraries working closely together. At Queens, we built a very good relationship with the Queens Health Network to provide enhanced services to our common customers. We established some very important joint efforts over the three years of the partnership, and it is still alive and prospering. We found we had a lot to do together in reaching basically the same people. In addition, the public library could assist in providing literacy training (and ESOL classes) for hospital and clinic staff who needed to improve their skills. Most importantly, we both brought resources to the table, we were willing to work on projects which were accomplishable, and there was strong support from the top of both organizations. Programs like "Ask a Pediatrician", asthma and TB screenings, diabetes clinics, and well baby forums were all very successful collaborations. Most of all, we believed we were important organizations to the life of the community and that by working together we could make a bigger difference than by going it alone.
JC: You reached out to many community groups at Queens. What talking points are particularly effective in working with such groups?
GES: I always started by talking about the strength of the public library and our resources. With a public library branch in every community, we could offer a focal point for gathering and for dissemination of information. Many groups were seeking membership and a place to meet. The branch libraries were critical spots for this to happen. I would stress that we had talented and professional staff to assist groups in developing programs, building reading lists, and providing access to the Internet. We became a resource for many immigrant-serving agencies because many immigrants, in particular, came to the public library as soon as they arrived in the US. Working together we could accomplish much more than working alone.
JC: As California State Librarian and as Library Director at Queens, you have experienced difficult budget times, as our state and local governments are now facing. What advice can you give based on your past experience?
GES: Never assume it will be the same again. It certainly has not been after Proposition 13. The economic downturn in New York City is resulting in much the same impact. And now, our current budget situation in California calls for new resolve to fight for the basics of each library and its service responsibility to the community. We have much to contribute toward the health and welfare of those who live in our communities and we need to speak out forcefully to be heard.
JC: The medical community is becoming more and more concerned about the impact of low literacy levels on patient health care follow-through. What role should we libraries play in promoting health literacy?
GES: As I mentioned, the Queens Health Network and the Queens Library's literacy program worked together to make sure that hospital staff who needed help were enrolled in the appropriate classes to give them new literacy skills to improve the workforce providing services. We were careful to include health, nutrition, and child development sections in all of our children's and toddler programs, calling on specialists to assist the Children's Librarians in providing the programs.
In California the California Literacy Campaign and the Families for Literacy Program are great resources for partnership in developing appropriate health literacy modules for inclusion in the curricula that is used in these programs. At Queens we added a number of such components in our after school programs reaching the children directly and parents indirectly.
JC: What do you think will be the most important trends to affect libraries of all kinds in the next three years?
GES: Money, money, and money! That aside, I believe our greatest challenge is to articulate our place and importance in the game, whether in the community, on the campus, or in the health sciences center. So many people believe that information will magically appear on their desktop. We must continue to inform our users of our role in bringing it there and take credit when we do it well. Second, we need agile, dedicated staff who can adjust and change with the times, and third, we must focus on customer-centered services which are relevant to those we serve.
JC: What is the most important quality for the 21st century library to have in today's environment?
GES: A sense of place and an assured sense of what we are and what role we play in our respective communities.
JC: Gary, thank you for your insight! I think an important starting point for health sciences libraries is to build our advocacy toolbox. We need to understand our communities and to know the key players, both inside and outside of the institutions we serve directly. We need to articulate our roles and our resources to these potential partners and to use our contacts within the healthcare fields. As librarians we all share similar values; we can build on this through collaboration. I am really interested in feedback about these issues from our network members! Please send me your ideas at consales@library.ucla.edu.