Borrowing Value from a Library

I stumbled across an article this past week about a guy by the name of Chuck Finley of Orlando, Florida. Chuck is an avid reader, I mean, voracious. He makes good use of his local library. Over 9 months last year, he checked out 2,361 books. His story has been picked up by NPR, Associated Press, BBC. There is even a subreddit discussing Mr. Finley’s habits. Twitter users are heralding #ChuckFinley as “…the hope America needs right now” and a “library phantom and patron saint of dusty tomes”.

But who is Chuck Finley? 

Mr. Finley is a fake, a fraud, a construct of the minds of two librarians created to save books from “the machine”. The library system in East Lake County uses automated software that measures circulation as an indicator of what to pull off of the shelves. Seeing that some of their most valued yet underutilized books would be in danger of being abandoned, the librarians used the “Chuck Finley” account to save the books from being purged by checking them out.

At face value, the Florida library story looks like a cut and dry case of bibliophile hubris. As in the books those librarians were trying to save, motivations are more nuanced than that. I’ve seen Chuck around before. Libraries are not the only place that he owns a membership. Chuck can be found in many of our museums. That is not to say that museums have fictional membership rosters to boost visitation numbers, but the tension between value and use that inspires staff to create a “Chuck Finley” is a daily reality in our organizations. Chuck may not really have all those books, but his story offers some insights into the museum world and the questions we wrestle with.

·       What stories and objects do we value as staff and how does that intersect with what is popular?  

·       How is success measured and do our measurement tools really align with our values?

·       Would our communities care if the “classics” were purged?

·       Is “presence” just as important as “use”?

·       Who decides what is of value, the public or the critic?

Most recently, I have been wrestling with these questions as we develop a new approach to our historic house at Minnetrista. How does “circulation” of our offerings impact their implied value? Do some objects and stories get preserved because of their inherent value regardless of interest and use? If value is by popular opinion, what right does the majority have to dictate value? What right do I have to determine what has value? 

As museums determine the stories and methods that matter, I think it is important that we don’t lean in either the direction of popular opinion or in institutional control, but find a third option that makes space for both, even in a way that can openly discuss these very questions of value with the public. I’d love to hear more stories about that kind of meaningful interaction. 

On a more personal note, I‘ll be going to my local library this afternoon and checking out one of my favorites,  Fahrenheit 451. I’d like to get it before Chuck Finley does.