I’ve been traveling and have my radar tuned to libraries. As usual. (This will be the first of several posts. Can you hear me now?) Like many librarians, I’m always scanning the news for mention of libraries. In a recent Seattle Weekly, there was a letter about the downtown Seattle Library. (Sorry, I couldn’t find the letter online on the Seattle Weekly website, so I’ll have to summarize what I remember.)

The letter essentially said this: “Help! I’m on the top floor of the library and can’t find the way down!” Anyone who’s been to the downtown library can sympathize. It seems you either love it or hate it, or as my daughter says “get used to it.” I didn’t like it, mainly because of the acoustics in the children’s area. Concrete and low ceilings make 6 children speaking in normal kid voices sound like 20.

The answer in Seattle Weekly told the writer how to get down to street level and also reminded the person that sometimes the journey is as important as the destination. That’s something we’ve always wrestled with in public libraries: when someone comes in and wants information, do we give it to them (destination) or teach them how to find it (journey)?

Everyone comes up with their own answer to that, and it often depends oin circumstances. Nevertheless, going back to the Seattle Library letter, I would say don’t forget Ranganathan’s Fourth Law, save the time of the user.