Pasadena’s New Library Director Says It’s Adapting With the Times, Here to Stay

The City’s new Director of the Pasadena Public Library and Information Services Department, Michelle Perera, brings a healthy dose of optimism alongside 24 years of professional experience to an institution that she says is more relevant than ever.

With a new year and a fresh start, Perera aims to keep the Pasadena Library moving forward and adapt to the digital age — a phenomenon which surprisingly doesn’t dampen the community’s love of books and its libraries.

“Right now my biggest goal is to really familiarize myself with the Pasadena community, get to know as many people as I can, find out what the community wants out of their library,” said Perera. “On the internal side I want to really get to know my staff and what their skills are, and what their passion is,and see how we can bring all that together to meet the needs of the community.”

Perera has held different positions within the Rancho Cucamonga Library Department since 1997 and, prior, worked for the public libraries for the cities of San Marino and Glendora. She has a master’s degree in library science from California State University, San Jose; a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside, and, in 2001, she completed the Institute for 21st Century Librarianship training at Stanford University.

A lot has changed in the library field since her early days two decades ago that is mainly due to the integration of technology within a historically printed institution, according to Perera, who says does not pose as a problem unless libraries learn to adapt to what is needed.

“I don’t think libraries are competing with technology. Libraries are offering technology and they’re offering resources through technology,” explained Perera. “We’re offering material but we’re doing it by using the most current technology.”

Perera gave examples of popular 21st century options that the Pasadena Library has to offer such as digital book downloads for busy people on the go or readers who prefer their gadgets.

“If you don’t want to be the one to have that actual physical book in your hand you can check out one of our e-books and read it on your Kindle or on your iPad or whatever device you have,” Perera explained.

How far can technology really go inside a library? According to an article by Public Libraries Online, sophisticated technology that uses huge piles of information much too vast for standard computers to catalog and analyze called “big data” as a means to identify library goers, their late fee balances and much more is right around the corner.

Most of this data is created by users of social media, the Internet, smartphones, and almost any app that is location enabled and can come in the form as stealthy as facial recognition.

This technology is unlikely to be a reality in Pasadena anytime soon, according to Perera.

“I don’t see it changing. We want to make sure that our customers that come in here feel comfortable, feel that their privacy is being maintained. They can check out what they want. We are not watching to see what people are reading. We just want to make sure that we provide the resources that the community wants,” explained Perera.

“I think things are working pretty well,” Perera added. “Of course we’re going to always try to adapt to new technology, but it’s always going to be as we provide service to the community. Whatever technology is out there that is going to help us improve our service to the community—we will look at that, absolutely.”

As with any city services the only way to give the community what it needs it through adequate funding.

According to Perera, potential budget cuts that could arise from a new Presidential administration do not pose as a threat to the Pasadena Library.

“I’m sure things will be different, however we are funded locally so we are not getting federal dollars towards what we do here as the Pasadena Library. Having said that, there’s certainly the California State Library and they do get a lot of federal funds that they then pass through local libraries through grants. That’s something we’ll definitely keep an eye on and as longs as it’s there we will take advantage of it,” explained Perera.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m not concerned. We always want to make sure that we have a strong budget that can help meet the needs of the community, but we are locally funded,” added Perera.

The Pasadena Public Library Department currently includes the Central Library and nine branches, collectively serving about 1.2 million people per year and about 500,000 online customers with more than 2,300 on-site programs—something Perera says are what likely attribute to keeping people coming through the library doors.

“The programming is so strong here regardless of which branch—there’s just an amazing lineup of programs for people of all ages and interest,” said Perera.

“Libraries are always going to be about learning and we’re going to be about lifelong learning and that takes shape in a different way for different people. For some people it’s curling up in a quiet moment with a good book, for some people it’s coming in and studying and using the resources, for someone else it’s learning through some of our online databases and for others it’s about that connection and coming to a program and listening and learning and interacting,” explained Perera.

The Pasadena public libraries are for anyone and everyone.

“It’s a place where any member of the community regardless of who you are, what you do, your ethnic background — you are able to come in and use those resources for no charge and we really think that is the most important thing that a library does,” said Perera.