Retiring N.J. state librarian stresses libraries' continued relevance in digital age
As state librarian, Norma Blake has helped libraries around New Jersey shift their primary function from lending books to aiding in the economic recovery whether its teaching job seekers basic computer skills or serving as reference centers for research.
"Many years ago, people said, Oh, libraries will never last with the Internet, but that has proved to be the exact opposite," she said. "People are pouring into libraries."
Blake, 63, has announced she plans to retire at the end of June, after 11 years on the job. Thomas Edison State College, which oversees the state library, has begun a search for her replacement. Blake, who is paid a $155,300 annual salary, is charged with advocating and sharing information about libraries to the general public, organizations and government.
Two years ago, she helped secure more than $7 million in stimulus funds and grant money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to supply computer security, hardware and broadband to the states libraries. The New Jersey Knowledge Initiative, a project to make available specialized databases to small businesses and entrepreneurs, won the Innovation Award from the National Council of State Governments, but was largely discontinued due to state budget cuts.
"Librarians are fighting very hard to maintain their support from towns and municipalities in the state that are being fiscally stressed. People underestimate the importance of them," said George Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State College. "More people visit libraries in New Jersey than all the casinos in Atlantic City and the sports complex in the Meadowlands combined."
To help libraries stay relevant, the state library is starting up a "mobile tech to go" project to lend libraries hand-held gadgets, such as the Barnes & Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle e-readers, for two-month periods. The librarians can then show their patrons how to use them. Blake said she is also looking into a pilot program to bring iPad dispensing machines to local libraries.
But some of Blakes decisions have been criticized. Some librarians were upset that she ended the regional library cooperative system, which was in place for 25 years, and cut funding for the statewide "QandANJ" virtual reference project, which for a decade provided 24-7 access to librarians online.
Peter Bromberg, assistant director at Princeton Public Library, who helped create and manage QandNJ, said he thought Blake was a wonderful state librarian for many years, but he and others found it troubling that there was "very little input from the library community and a real lack of transparency around those decisions."
Two years ago, Blake said the state library lost 43 percent of its state funding for libraries, and in the past two years it has lost 14 percent of its federal money for libraries.
"These were purely business decisions that had to be made in tough times," Blake said.
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Retiring N.J. state librarian stresses libraries' continued relevance in digital age