Bette Ammon: Connecting people with the world

Bette Ammon has been a librarian for 30 years, eight of them served as Library Director of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. When she talked about her profession, her enthusiasm was instantly apparent. Books, she will tell you, are only one of the many community services provided by today's libraries.

Did you grow up wanting to be a librarian?

Not at all. When I was young, I wanted to be a telephone operator and run a PBX board - I wanted to connect people.

After that, I made plans to be the world's best English teacher.

When I got my teaching certificate, however, there were English teachers galore in Boulder, Colo., so I substitute-taught for a year. I never did get a full-time teaching job.

What drew you to a career in libraries?

I grew up in a small town of about 2000 people and my mom's best friend was the local librarian. The library was tiny, but it was big to me until I'd read every book in it.

It was through taking my kids to story-time at the local library, though, that I realized that being a librarian was what I should have been doing all along.

And that was when I had my aha! moment - the one that tells you what you should have been from the start.

Those are the types of moments you hope your kids will have.

What makes a librarian special?

Our job is about connecting people with the world - making those connections between people and books and information and everything else.

Basically, it's about helping people to have their aha! moments. It's doing meaningful work that can make a difference in everyday life.

Tell me about the Coeur d'Alene library building.

I think it's the most important building in town.

It's six years old and continues to have 1,000 people a day coming through.

It's a community center and a meeting place, in addition to being an information place.

I think we could handle even more people. We always have open computers with free Internet access seven days a week - we planned for that situation ahead of time.

And then there are the books, right?

We've currently got 70,000 books and it's never enough. We're part of the Cooperative Information Network and we're partners with the district library all the way east to Mullan. We share our materials and our resources. It's the epitome of great library service.

We also have Interlibrary Loan and we can get books for our patrons on loan from all over the country at no fee.

How do you decide what to purchase?

I'm like all city departments - frugal. My total budget for everything - books and videos - is $92,000. We make it last very carefully and try to make strong selections.

We select excellent materials that are reviewed professionally and we buy a lot of popular materials. A library is programmed by the community. We have four selectors who choose from a variety of possibilities, including patron requests. I'm one of those four.

We have to be relevant.

It sounds like a huge responsibility.

It is. In a public library setting, non-fiction, for example, is a university of the people - how-to books, self-help books and just ongoing education.

How does the library fit in with the electronic-social-media age?

I think the future looks good for us as long as the library stays relevant - it has to provide what people want. We also have to engage young adults, so that when they grow up they'll see the library as important.

There is excellence in every medium and good writers throughout. No matter what, people will find and demand good writing. If libraries want to be in the game, they'll have to provide it.

I think our collection has become more and more honed to the community we serve. Part of it is trying to guess what people want - book format, paper format or something for someone who only wants to watch the movie version.

What won't you buy?

There are lots of different books for different readers. We may not all always agree.

But we do have a policy that we don't buy pornographic materials. We are programmed by the community and we certainly have multiple copies of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and they're always out.

Popular demand is a criteria for ordering. If there are a lot of people asking for a certain thing, that's how you fulfill the needs of the community.

And I will buy R-rated movies when they are new releases and popular.

How much has the concept of "library" changed over the years?

You know, every day something changes here. That's the dynamic in this job - it's both a blessing and a curse. We're flexible and we adjust.

Media, for instance, is certainly taking up more of the budget than it used to - especially the online aspect of it.

Take Freegal, for instance, which is a pretty new service for us. We have an online subscription to it and we pay an annual amount so that every library patron can download up to three free songs a week. And after the patron downloads them, they own them. They can download here or remotely. Last month there were over 2,000 songs downloaded. In terms of budget, those are all CDs I now don't have to buy.

What about electronic books?

We do have audiobooks and books people can download to portable devices or computers.

People can borrow those items for two weeks and then they simply go away. This has become a heavily used service and people can borrow up to five at a time. We add between 30 and 60 titles every month. So that's also something for us to spend money on.

What about your employees?

I think a library staff should be a microcosm of the community they serve. We work for the people and, quite simply, we are the people. I have 25 employees.

Volunteers are invaluable to us. They run our bookstore, do shelving and help us with our programs. We have a great Friends bookstore and they support the library very well as does our library foundation.

Any dreams for the future?

I want a continuation of the library as a beneficial institution. I want it to remain an exciting place to go to with a staff who are happy to be there and are continually thinking up grand plans.

We are here for everybody. We have a varied community and everyone is welcome here.

Libraries can change lives.

Information: CDAlibrary.org