More on neoliberalism in the library

Another aspect of the influence of neoliberalism in my library is the common use of the word "customer" to refer to patrons or users. I encountered this quite a while ago in library literature, as more and more articles seemed to focus on "customer" service. Most of these pieces tacitly accepted the bookstore model for running a library, and with it the notion that users get better service at bookstores than libraries. I find this problematic. As an example, consider direct interaction between users and staff: is a customer/patron treated better by an ill-paid, under-employed, should-be academic at B&N or an unfireable, union-protected, civil-service-hired clerk at the public library?

To be fair, this slightly negative comparison of public-service between libraries and bookstores is only a part of the model. Other concepts of the bookstore model are actually promising and can be applied to reference libraries as well those intended for browsing: users can find books more easily when library shelves aren't dusty or cluttered; books shelved face-out attract attention; there's no reason why old, battered items can't be rebound to make the books look nice; weeding can be done judiciously to keep material current (if guidelines aren't too focused on condition or circulation figures) or sent to stacks for reference-use retention. And getting back to "customer" service--patrons should be treated with respect and friendliness.

Still, despite these positive sides of the bookstore model, I can't see the overall advantage for treating the library as one. Except, of course, to library administrators who rather like the B&N staffing concept of paying minimum wage to under-employed academics. In the long run, though, they may be unable to pull that off. With the recession and decline in people's purchasing power, more folks are using libraries than ever. In fact, it may be possible that more books are being circulated by the nation's libraries than being bought at bookstores. The powers-that-be in the library world should remember--bookstores are designed for one thing: to sell books to customers. Libraries are intended for so much more.