The New OPL Sourcebook: A Guide for Solo and Small Libraries

Citation

Turner, R. (2006), "The New OPL Sourcebook: A Guide for Solo and Small Libraries", New Library World, Vol. 107 No. 9/10, pp. 456-458. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800610702651

This revised version of the 2001 The OPL Sourcebook aims to be an essential handbook for anyone working in a one‐person library (OPL). Not only does this work cover most of the key elements of running a solo or small information service, it is also full of useful practical, tips and case studies. For anyone working in a solo library, the major negative factor of such work is professional isolation. A book purporting to provide such wide‐ranging and practical assistance would be welcomed by many one‐person librarians.

The difficulty in producing a work on solo libraries is that the sector is just so broad in the types of libraries it covers. However, Seiss has confronted this issue head on by attempting to define the types of libraries it includes: hospital libraries; law libraries; public libraries; school libraries; prison libraries; zoo (!) or museum libraries; religious libraries; one person librarians who are not in libraries, such as consultants. Obviously, this covers a sizeable proportion of the library and information sector. The sector changes due to such issues as economic cutbacks, but this is countered by new opportunities in research, technology and smaller enterprises. “More OPLs are being created both by downsizing and the creation of new libraries”. From a UK perspective, it is perhaps surprising that charities and voluntary sector libraries are given only a cursory mention in the overview of one person libraries as they are a significant sector in the UK and other countries. And perhaps the opportunities for zoo librarianship in many countries are somewhat less than in the USA!

Following a rather chatty and personal introduction which is primarily about the development of this edition of the work, Seiss opens her work with a section explaining her understanding of what an OPL is. She lucidly states that the OPL is a librarian who does everything from shelving books to advanced management tasks, such as managing budgets. The role of the OPL is often challenging, but is frequently very rewarding too. The professional isolation can be a problem, but being your own boss also creates opportunities and the chance for excellent continuing professional development. To illustrate the nature of the OPL's job, the author provides a diary of the tasks she undertakes in a typical week.

In the international overview, the work broadly and briefly considers the situation regarding OPLs in the UK, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Latin America, Canada, Austria and a short section on the rest of the world, which includes the debatable statement that “The concept of one‐person librarianship in the rest of the world is somewhere between unknown and invisible”. Having emailed correspondents in New Zealand, Asia and Europe, the response to this quote was one of incredulity – what about school libraries, public library branch libraries, law companies, charities, health libraries et al.?

Part 1 of the book moves on to consider the management of OPLs, starting with general concepts such as client‐based service provision and understanding the wider organisation in which the library is situated. The chapters are well written, but could have been more clearly laid out with chapter plans, summaries, and chapter bibliographies and references. The general bibliography is adequate, but hardly comprehensive, and the index is functional.

A major issue of one‐person libraries is that all the tasks of running the service have to be dealt with by one person and so effective time management is absolutely essential. This work creditably moves on from general management considerations to look at time management, planning and prioritisation. This involves some management philosophy, but much more practical advice including avoiding procrastination, the art of saying no and many other ways to effectively organise the working day.

Because OPLs have no‐one to delegate to, they will also usually be responsible for budget management and this book devotes a short section to budgeting, bookkeeping and other financial matters.

Seiss really seems to have grasped the important issues that are faced by many one person librarians. She provides a useful overview of communication (“Almost nothing is more important to an OPL than communication.”), marketing and advocacy. This section considers reporting, networking and some useful promotional ideas.

Some relevant issues about the role of technology in aiding the one‐person librarian are discussed. The final main chapter in the first part of the book is a rather haphazard “Other issues” which includes such disparate issues as education and training, downsizing and outsourcing, and knowledge management. There is rather too much personal and often unsupported opinion on many of these issues, e.g. “I am, for the most part, disappointed in education for librarianship”. This rather chatty, general and colloquial style continues with a somewhat selective consideration of the future of one‐person librarianship, e.g. “We must realise that we are the only ones who can make our own future. We are responsible for our destiny.” I was frequently left feeling that there were too many blindingly obvious statements and little in the way of concrete solutions.

The second part of the book is about the resources available to one‐person librarians and is edited by John Welford. There is a change from the previous edition as the resources are now listed by subject, not resource type, and whether this works is a matter of taste. The subjects are Business, management, and economics; Computers and the web; Government; Journalism; Language, literature and the arts; Law; Libraryland stuff (“Libraryland” is meaningless to many non‐USA countries and “stuff” is hardly the correct word to describe resources); Medicine, health, nursing, and medical libraries; Science, engineering and technology; Social sciences; Miscellaneous. This may be useful to someone from a particular sector who just wishes to look at resources for their workplace. However, there is no consistency in the structure of the chapters and the review of resources, or the types of resources, is not comprehensive. There is a great deal of useful information in the chapters on resources but the lack of consistency of what is in each section is, quite frankly, infuriating.

Any handbook that purports to assist one person librarians in overcoming their professional isolation and in their everyday work is surely to be welcomed. This book does contain some excellent advice, especially on management of the one‐person library and the resources that are available to each sector. Seiss has grasped the major issues affecting almost all solo librarians. However, it is not comprehensive and this may be a result of trying to address such a broad and disparate collection of library and information services in so many sectors. The effort at looking beyond the USA could be seen as admirable, but the rather selective and general look at a few other countries rather creates an image of a blinkered world view and it would have been better not to have bothered. The writing is very informal and there is a great deal of personal opinion rather than observation, research and qualified information about one‐person libraries. The chapters are readable enough, but for a professional needing to access a handbook for a specific purpose, chapter summaries, abstracts, references and more use of bulletin points would have been preferable. The sections on resources are interesting for the general reader, but surely someone working in these sectors would already be aware of such an arbitrary and broad choice of resources? This is a decent book for someone looking for an overview of one‐person librarianship, but for the OPL working in a particular and specific sector there is little here that would be new or relevant, and it is rather a wasted opportunity.