Saša Luković Vasiljević
Narodna biblioteka „Stevan Sremac“, Niš
sasa_bib@yahoo.com

No. 28 (May 2016), p. 43-50

With Wide Open Doors: Public Library System in Houston

Summary

Public libraries of Houston, the largest town in Texas, welcome their members with wide open doors. The Houston houses of books have been completely open to the public and ready for positive changes since the opening of the first public library in this town, in 1904. With their open neighborhood library concept, they are a vital member of the local, national and global surrounding. Covering the entire territory of Houston, this net of libraries enables each member of the community to have easy access to numerous services, by simply visiting the nearest library. In addition to books, the libraries offer different programs, events and classes. In their libraries, users can also get valuable advises and finish some administrative procedures. The libraries are places to relax, but also places for education, intended for members of all ages. They take care quite equally of children, teenagers and elders, of employed and unemployed, as well as of persons with disabilities. According to the statistics, the library members make 12 percent of the total population of Houston. This large number of users is being successfully served by a few library employees, which also testifies to the good organization of work in these libraries. This paper, written by a librarian who visited three out of forty-four Houston libraries, presents the Houston Central Library “Jesse H. Jones“ and its neighborhood libraries “Belle Sherman Kendall Neighborhood Library“ and “John P. McGovern-Stella Link Regional Library“. Examples of good practice carried out by these libraries, presented in the paper, illustrate the way they organize and perform their activities, providing us with the opportunity to learn and apply some of them in our libraries.

Keywords:

Houston, Texas, United States of America, public libraries, neighborhood libraries, programs, services, users, adults, children, teenagers, organization, vision, library work, library friends

Submitted: 24th June 2015
Correction to the manuscript: 7th August 2015
Accepted for publication: 10th January 2016.

With Wide Open Doors: Public Library System in Houston by Saša Luković Vasiljević is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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