By Mary Corrado
Editor
In an exclusive interview, the Chicago Public Library management has clarified its position on the elimination of some of the video collection at Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave. According to Maggie Killackey, press secretary, 25 percent of the videos are now gone and 25 percent more must be gone by the end of the year. However, she says there are no plans to reduce the collection further than by one-half. "There are no plans to throw out the whole collection." She added that because there will be some videos remaining, Sulzer will not have its collection shrink to be as small as that of a branch library.
Why take fully half of the popular, award-winning collection? "It hasn't been weeded in several years, and so we evaluated them, and got rid of those that were no longer relevant: 'Resumé Writing in the '90s,' medical documentaries 15 years old. We also got rid of videos that once were heavily circulated, but are no longer appealing: 'Crocodile Dundee II,' 'Howard the Duck.'
"We needed to take a large chunk. There is only a limited amount of space," she added, calling it "spring cleaning." "Some weren't circulating, and some weren't timely...we constantly weed our collections," she said.
"Fifty percent is a lot!" said North Side resident Jean McDavid, who visits Sulzer every week. “That is entirely too much. That’s about
10,000 tapes.”
The space once occupied by videos will be used for the new DVD collection, she said, which is the original shipment of 220 videos, plus 16 a month. In addition, a couple times a year some classic and educational DVDs possibly may be ordered to supplement the collection. Among the new DVDs are some PBS (Public Broadcasting System) items and some stories by Emily Brontë.
"Patrons have been clamoring for DVDs," and it would be irresponsible to order any future videos or to have too many videos occupying space in Sulzer, according to Killackey. If Sulzer no longer has something but there is still a copy downtown, people can request that the desired title be sent up to Sulzer from downtown. Eventually it will arrive, and then people can return to Sulzer to check it out.
"That would require two trips to Sulzer so it would require double effort," said McDavid. "This is more cumbersome and less spontaneous than it needs to be."
In an article titled "Library brass celebrates Sulzer's 20th with destruction of award winning video collection" on May 4-10, 2005, Inside pointed out that Chicago Public Schools are generally equipped with VCRs but virtually never have DVD players, and teachers account for a great deal of the circulation of Sulzer's videos. "We don't purchase VHS with public school lesson plans in mind," responded Killackey. "Chicago Public Schools has a healthy budget to get their
own videos."
The weeding of Books On Tape is separate from the weeding of videos, she said. Like the collection of videos, the collection of Books On Tape was overdue for weeding, the collection was "bloated," and the library was "running out of space" for it, in the opinion of CPL management.
While Inside has reliable information that some media was thrown out, the policy now in place is to make discards available for purchase, about 25 at a time, generally for $1 each. Films such as "SOS Coast Guard" (1937) with Bela Lugosi were recently on
the shelf.
Will the reduction in the number of videos reduce Sulzer's circulation figures? Killackey responded that "video and book circulation is not the only indicator of library usage. There is a lot of in-house use, and electronic database use, and community meeting use."
Killackey addressed some of the other points Inside brought up in the previously mentioned article as well as in "Two thumbs down for ongoing Sulzer video purge," May 18-24, 2005. (Both articles can be read at Insideonline.com.) The earlier articles correctly mentioned that there is no longer anyone with the rank of Librarian V — the highest possible rank — in Sulzer. Killackey said that every Lib V was eliminated system-wide several years ago to save money, clarifying that it was not just Sulzer being targeted.
Also, Inside correctly stated that six Lib IVs — a high rank that represents a lot of experience and knowledge — have left Sulzer, the article incorrectly stated that there are no librarians left there at this rank. There is one, Suzanne James, director of adult services. Also, the position of director of children's services, which is currently unoccupied, is expected to be filled by the end of 2005 with a Lib IV. At that time there will be two Lib IVs at Sulzer, matching the number of Lib IVs at Woodson, the other regional library in Chicago, which is located on the South Side.
Asked if recently losing the six Lib IVs — who were all unit heads — from Sulzer was a loss to the library, Killackey said, "In any industry people come and go. We fill the slots with people specializing in different areas," in this case, people who are Lib IIIs. She pointed out that some of those gone are now heads of branch libraries and said, "They were glad to go" because being a branch head is something librarians aspire to do. "It would be unfair to keep them from moving ahead." However, most of these people were "detailed" to branches and did not request the transfer.
Donations of books, even new bestsellers, is no longer permitted, and Killackey explained why. "We don't accept donations. We have a healthy book and material budget. We get them already cataloged. It's not efficient for staff to be cataloging books."
Mentioned in Inside's article "History of affronts to Sulzer," on May 4-10, 2005, was the study by Holabird and Root that was conducted in 2001. Killackey was asked if that will be released, and said, "I don't know." Was the second, more comprehensive study planned by Mary Dempsey ever done? "I don't know." What happened to all the books taken away in 2001? "I wasn't here then." What is the current circulation at Sulzer, Harold Washington, and overall? "I'll get back to you on that." Will CPL permit the Friends of Sulzer to donate the funds they have raised to Sulzer? "I have no idea."
Have the leaks which cause mold and cracks been stopped? Killackey says "Yes." However, visitors to Sulzer on rainy days can still see soggy carpet in the children's department and the video department, and staff members can still see gray water running down the walls in the basement and new
mold growing.
Inside will report on these matters as information is forthcoming from Chicago Public Library Management. |
