Changes under way for library

Soon to retire, head of library speaks about challenges facing libraries

By Rebecca Martin
The Collegian

With less than a year left at Fresno State before retirement, Michael Gorman still has advice and ideas for current libraries and improving reading habits.

After nearly 50 years as a library professional, Fresno State Gorman, Dean of Library Services, plans to reitre in December.

Gorman’s retirement is the culmination of a variety of library-related jobs. Currently he is the President of the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library organization in the world with 64,000 members. Gorman began his one-year presidency in July of 2005.

Gorman’s presidency can be considered the culmination of a successful career. Yet he achieved a great deal before he was elected president of the ALA, including awards for books and articles he has written.

Originally from Britain, Gorman came to Fresno State to take charge of Library services in 1988 from the University of Illinois. Taking the job at Fresno State was significant not just to Gorman, but to Fresno State as well.

According to Gorman, he is the fourth person to take charge of the library, but the first Dean of Library Services. When he took the job in 1988, he requested that he be a dean, making him more involved in the academic affairs of Fresno State.

Gorman’s original plans did not include moving to the United States from Britain.

“Nearly 30 years ago, I was offered a job to teaching in Illinois,” Gorman said. He had only intended to stay in Illonois for the duration of the job, which was less than a year. He has stayed in the United States ever since.

“It’s amazing how much chance effects your life,” Gorman said. “There’s a saying that says, ‘successful people make their own luck,’ and I believe there’s truth to that.”

After 11 years of being in Illinois, Gorman moved to Fresno to head up the Henry Madden Library. The University of Illinois has eight million volumes in their library, while the Henry Madden Library has one million. Gorman said the more manageable library was a large part of the reason he decided to come to Fresno State from Illinois.

“There, I might as well be working for a big company,” Gorman said. “I wanted to work somewhere that I could use my library skills.”

Gorman’s long career as a librarian has allowed him to view a variety of controversial issues. In the last few years, librarians around the country have struggled with the Patriot Act’s influence on their libraries.

Gorman said the Patriot Act is a moral issue involving the government looking into citizen’s personal lives.

It allows the government to look at books American citizens have loaned. Under the law, they can request to see records, and librarians are instructed not tell the public what they are looking for.

Gorman said he does not agree with the idea that the government can look at what people are reading. He said libraries have always complied with the law, but their should be a reason for the information they ask for from libraries.

“The mark of a totalitarian society is when the government keeps tabs on what you read and write,” Gorman said during a Valley Press interview.

Gorman also said the government looking at what people read is wrong for another reason.

“People should be looked into and punished for what they do,” Gorman said. “ Not for what you read about.”

Another issue affecting both libraries and the United States is the lack of interest in reading. In order for college students and adults to read more, they need to start at an earlier age, Gorman said.

“They need to start reading at a younger age,” Gorman said. “If they’re not taught early, they will start reading.”

Gorman said that even if children begin to read intensively at a young age and then stop later, they will still come back to reading later in life.

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