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'Online branch' library opens in Newburyport
(The Daily News of Newburyport (Newburyport, Mass.) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 19--NEWBURYPORT -- Look up your family tree, download an audio book for your MP3 player or ask a librarian questions at 3 a.m. The library of the 21st century has arrived and is open 24 hours online.
"The online resources really complement the collection," Newburyport Public Library assistant director Giselle Stevens said. "We are continuing to meet the mission of the library and provide the public with information and educational resources."
Manual card catalogs and the Dewey decimal system are passe; libraries today are online and continually evolving to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
"Some people like to be independent and manage their library account online," Stevens said. "Now, the library is open 24 hours, and you can decide late at night you want to bring your kids to the Museum of Science the next day and request the pass rather than wait until we're open."
On Friday, Stevens and the Newburyport Public Library staff put the finishing touches on a newly updated library Web site, which will offer even more resources. They expect the site to be up and running in the coming week.
"We have test preparations; more online databases; a wonderful new calendar feature where you can search all the library programming, including kids and teens. You can also reserve your museum passes online," Stevens said, noting while some of the features will stay the same, the look of the Web site will be improved.
"We are looking at the site as a branch of the library," Stevens said. "It is an online branch."
The opening of online branches and the push to go online has been ongoing over the past several years as libraries, such as Newburyport and Amesbury, join larger networks of libraries, like the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium and the statewide Massachusetts Library Directory, in order to share resources.
In the local library coalition, there are 32 automated libraries and four that are partially automated. Users who come to any participating branch can access all library catalogs and information.
"You can just do everything online now," Stevens said. "You can request books from other libraries online, renew your books online and make a wish list of books you want to get."
Stevens became a professional librarian nine years ago and already has seen the profession change. Librarians now have to be versed in technology just as much as in the latest fiction and memoir.
"The library will always be a source for reading. But we are expanding our online offerings, and we offer free wireless Internet access," Stevens said, noting the written word is still the main focus of libraries.
At Amesbury Public Library, assistant director Patty DiTullio says use of her city's library has increased 10 percent each year for the past three years, a telling sign libraries are still a mainstay in society.
DiTullio notes while the institution is the same, the roles of librarians and the library are much-discussed topics.
"We talk about this all the time in the field," DiTullio said. "Our role isn't changing, but our tools are. Our mission is the same."
DiTullio has worked as a librarian for 13 years and remembers a time when the Internet was just a tool used in select fields and occupations.
"The Internet has increased our options and in some ways has made the role of the librarian even more valuable because finding what you're looking for is more difficult when sorting through more information."
Another challenge librarians face as technology becomes ingrained in their daily lives is educating the community.
As it becomes increasingly easier to publish opinions and articles online, DiTullio said showing people the difference between sources is a key component of her job.
"Evaluating the sources is something in line with our mission, such as showing people how to cite their sources and to evaluate and compare opinions," DiTullio said. "These are things people should be doing but sometimes neglect to do."
Both DiTullio and Stevens agree that the future of the library is a certain one as librarians are constantly evolving to keep up.
"Our role will become more diverse as we will be providing different types of services, but we will never stop providing the traditional ones," DiTullio said. "In difficult economic times, library usership typically spikes. Whatever the future might look like, we expect usership to continue to increase. Libraries won't become obsolete, just asked to do a wider variety of things."
To see more of The Eagle-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newburyportnews.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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