(image source from Reddit)
In this week's readings, we came across, via many methods and modalities, a form of understanding that brings us ever closer to a better picture of what and how a library works.
When I tried to get a better sense of how policy and governance interact, how they are embedded within each other yet significantly separate structures, nothing reminded me more of such a metaphor as the Long Island Railroad.
For folks who don't live on Long Island, the Long Island Railroad (or LIRR, as we call it), is a standard structure that brings most commuters to their city jobs, and offers us Long Islanders an easily accessible doorway into NYC from the comfort of our neighborhood train stations.
The Long Island Railroad has historically been known to have trouble in telling most of its residents accurate train schedules, whereby many of us have waited for a train that was late, or time changed or moved, train cars that were extremely crowded, or moved to another time altogether, or that a line had changed its stops without warning.
Now, before I answer, would you think these issues would qualify as problems of policy or governance?
Within this metaphor, one could say that policy sets the direction and expectations for the system (e.g., "trains to Ronkonkoma should be on time 95% of the time").
However, would this scenario then qualify as policy?
Well, if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had established language within its policies that promised timely schedules, crowd control, and schedule changes, then by default, the problem lies within the other category, governance.
Governance involves operating the system on a day-to-day basis, including addressing why the Bethpage trains are late, why schedules change, and/or whether the policies (like on-time expectations) are being met.
Identifying types of criticisms us Long Islanders have had with LIRR, would still be understood then, as a form or governance, based on the equation of how we understand each definition, then!
However, does making this distinction help us understand who/what must change to understand and change the LIRR's problems? I think this is equally what many libraries face in who or what is responsible when a system or structure doesn't work, and similarly, we need to take the time, as librarians, in figuring out what it means to understand where these two ideas meet.
Hi Tova, thanks for sharing this post! As a Long Islander who loves going into the city, I deal with the LIRR on a weekly basis. I have been burned by it many times, and I think the key is communication. If a message pops up that says train times may be delayed due to construction (which I've seen before on my MTA app), then they're off the hook but I agree that it seems like an issue of governance if there's constant confusion within the organization itself of what the schedule is. Hopefully the policies or governance is improved and the LIRR will become more consistent.
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