COMMENTARY | Will’s World
A Child Shall Lead Them Spoil the rich kids, spare the budget cuts If you want to serve
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december 2008
f you want adults to flock to your library, take money from the adult services budget and put it into children’s programming. If you want to serve people who are underprivileged and disenfranchised, focus your attention on the affluent and influential. Smart administrators and trustees understand that while this advice might seem rather counterintuitive, it is also quite powerful. Consider the yuppie couple that lives down the street. Eighteen months ago they had a baby. In that time, their Mini Cooper convertible and the BMW Z have been replaced with a Prius (got to save the planet for Baby) and a Saab SUV (the highest-safety-rated vehicle). The slicers and dicers in their gourmet kitchen have been pushed aside for bottle warmers, nursery sterilizers,
“Don’t you have any picture books by Picasso or Monet?”
and the latest in “Baby Barack” adults, put money portable high chair will be the into children’s technology. The Next Big programming. surround-sound Thing.) music system that Libraries permeates the house has been suthat do not emphasize innovative perseded by microphones and mon- services for all those gifted little itors connecting Baby’s bedroom constituents are missing a megaand nursery with the rest of the trend. Do you have an infant sleepy house. The living room, which had time story hour? A sign language been a showcase of postmodern class for 6-month-olds? An explosleekness, now resembles a highration center for 12–18-monthtech romper room. The family room olds? Creative activity stations for has been transformed into a parking 2–4-year-olds? What about a nanny lot for state-of-the-art trams, database and a nursery school netstrollers, and carriers. working program? Baby has become the couple’s You say you can’t afford it? You newest and most important project. can’t afford not to—not when The consensus of the proud parents, libraries’ relevance has been as well as nanny, grandparents, unshrinking over the past decade, decles, and aunts,is that Baby is defispite the recent circulation boost. nitely gifted. In fact, with the right Allocating funds is a lot like growing educational resources and the prop- your 401(k): Put the funds where er cultural experiences, Baby could you’ll get the most return. If the cirreach a genius-level I.Q. The culation of your adult nonfiction key is to not waste a second: collection is down, be bold. Transfer Research shows that a child’s some resources to those economiintellectual ability is develcally privileged children. Their oped before he or she begins folks will become your most influkindergarten. Baby needs ential advocates when your bosses stimulation now. divvy up the annual budget pie. Savvy entrepreneurs unIf you lack the courage to take derstand the potential gold from the old and the poor to give to mine in marketing to yuppie the young and the rich, then at least parents because they regard try projecting a new image. Wouldn’t their babies as highly intelli“Preschool Story Hour” sound a gent and fear that they’ve whole lot hipper rebranded as “Baby failed Baby if the playpen is Plato Playtime”? z devoid of “Baby Einstein,” “Baby DaVinci,” “Baby MoWILL MANLEY has furnished provocative commentary on librarianship for over 25 years zart,” “Baby Shakespeare,” or and nine books on the lighter side of library “Baby Galileo.” (I predict that science. Write him at wmanley7@att.net.
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by Will Manley
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11/18/2008 2:50:46 PM