Library Revolution

Now how on Earth did I get myself mixed up in this???

Anybody who lurks around business and marketing blogs like I do may have seen mention of the Conversation Age eBook project. It’s a collaborative project organized by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton. It will contain more than 100 essays about conversation, social media, etc. written by some really terrific creative minds… many of whom I read regularly to get fresh perspectives on issues that libraries face these days. Here is the list of contributors:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK

Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Mindblob (Luc)
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Krishna De
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Pollinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman

I’m contributing an article about libraries, changing information needs, and conversation… a big topic to address in a small article, let me tell you! I hope my little submission can stand up to the undoubtedly amazing chapters these folks are adding to the mix.

And the best part of this exciting project is that all proceeds going to Variety - The Children’s Charity. Are we cool, or what?

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So the baby is sick today, out for the count with an ear infection. Plus it’s pouring rain and just gross out. So I was delighted to realize that there was a local pharmacy with a drive through window where I could get my son’s prescription filled.

No need to get my cranky, sick, finally sleeping baby out of his carseat, wrestle him from the car into the store, wait 20 minutes trying to keep him from destroying the place, balance him on one hip (squirming and screaming) while I signed the pharmacy paperwork, then schlep him back out through the rain, and wrestle him back into the carseat. I drove up and handed the nice lady the prescription. My son slept while I drove over to the drive-through Starbucks for a cup of coffee. By the time I drove back to the pharmacy, the prescription was ready. I paid, signed, and we went home. And little Robbie got a good nap in. If you have to have a sick baby, this is definietly the way to go!

It made me think how nice it would be if my library had a drive-through window for the hold shelf. I’m definitely a “Drive-by” patron — I do my research online, request the books I want myself, and generally go to the library just to pick stuff up from the hold shelf and drop off the stuff I picked up last time. Browsing rarely factors in, and I’m just not a reference user or program attender (that’s a whole other blog post, let me tell you!). So I’d love anything that would make my drop off/pickup transaction quicker and more efficient.

As much as I like the idea of self checks, I never use the one at my library because they do not have a self serve hold shelf. (Another thing I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.) So I have to trek into the building, stand in line, etc. waiting for someone to help me every single time. That wasn’t such a big deal pre-baby. But now that I have to deal with the aforementioned wrestle in and out of the carseat, the stroller, the toddler ready to wreak havoc, and so on, it is a big deal. Actually, now that I think of it, it really became a big deal when I was pregnant and hated dragging my elephantine ass out off the car and into the building at all. What a difference a drive through would have made then… and what a difference now!!

I can’t imagine that  I’m the only one that would appreciate something like this. Busy parents, the elderly, and people with physical limitations might all take advantage of a service like this, I think. Am I just being lazy? maybe. But I’d like to think I’m also being practical. I lead a busy life, and time is at a premium. So is my sanity, which would be saved a little if I didn’t have to deal with getting in and out of the car to do what is for me a weekly errand along the lines of dropping off dry cleaning (don’t some dry cleaners have drive-throughs?) or doing banking (they definitely have a drive through!). Anything that helps me do errands is welcome because it makes my life easier. And if library pick ups got easier, perhaps I would do it more… that’s good news for the library, right???

OK, OK… so maybe it’s not 100% practical for all libraries. Maybe you don;t have the space or a good building layout to accommodate a drive through. Who knows, maybe there are insurance issues with bringing cars right up to a public building with lots of pedestrians involved. I don’t know - I didn’t really research it. But the point is that we need to think about different ways to make library services easier to use.

As librarians, the library might be the center of our universe, but we really need to remember that for the rest of the population, it’s just another errand among many tasks and duties crowding our lives. Is there a way to make this particular task easier, faster, more efficient? If so, let’s do it! Then let’s make sure people know about it! I think we would all be surprised at the results!!

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So here is an interesting discussion at Slashdot. The question is how we can define “the Internet” succinctly and in layman’s terms? This is a particularly interesting question/discussion for librarians and other information professionals to consider.

How would you define “the Internet” in such a way that the average person might understand it and not completely glaze over and tune out while it is explained?

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It happened again last week.

I was chatting with a librarian friend of mine about general library stuff. I happened to mention a statistic I had read in a recent article – one I got through my aggregator, of course. In response, my friend groaned and rolled her eyes.

The stat itself wasn’t the problem… it made the point we were discussing more convincing and validated our shared opinion. But the fact that I had come across it online through a feed like that was what elicited her apparent disapproval. Well, maybe “disapproval” is the wrong word.

“Ugh,” she said, “I don’t know how you have time to do all of that stuff.”

I was confused. “What stuff?”

“Oh, reading all those blogs and online articles and research and stuff,” she replied, “I know I don’t have time. I’m way too busy with my job. I guess they let you have time to read things like that?”

Well, that was the beginning of a much longer conversation that ended up bringing out several points:

1.  It really doesn’t take that much time. I have all of my subscriptions in my aggregator, and I peruse them when I’m on the phone with people, killing a few minutes before a meeting, and (gasp!) at home when I’m not actually “on the clock.” If something looks really interesting and I don’t have time for an in-depth read, I keep it as new and hit it later. And if I don’t have time, I don’t sweat it. Or I just dump some of the more expendable stuff. And I don’t sweat that, either.
2. We need to keep informed. Sometimes librarians get so busy “doing our jobs” that we forget the responsibility we have to our profession. And a big part of being good professionals is keeping current and well informed, even if it takes you away from day-to-day tasks now and then, and even if it means you have to devote some of your personal time to doing so.
3. We need to rethink our priorities. I think this is true for most of us in life, not just librarians. But when you find that you are missing out on something important in your profession because you “don’t have time,” I think some of the things that are eating up your time need to be reevaluated. If I could have a nickel every time a librarian who “doesn’t have time” explains in the next breath the weird, complicated procedure they use for this-or-that function in their library… Are those strange work-arounds and time consuming procedures so important and necessary? How can you streamline your job so that you can accommodate your professional responsibility to keep current?
4. Employers and supervisors need to support professional development. For real. I think that most of our supervisors talk a good game about how we all need to engage in “professional development” and keep abreast of Libraryworld happenings and trends. So they need to stick to that. If you are a supervisor, what are you doing to encourage your staff to keep themselves informed? If you’re a “supervisee,” what are you doing to keep your boss honest about this one? And how can we be supportive of our colleagues in this endeavor?

Do you know any librarians who think that “keeping up with professional literature” means circling some reviews in Library Journal every now and then? Are you that librarian? Do you ever feel in over your head when it comes to “keeping up” with what’s going on in Libraryworld? Are you ever too busy “doing your job” to cultivate your professional knowledge?

What are you going to do about it??

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But who cares if nobody goes there?

Since the Web usability seminar last week, I’ve found myself engaged in a lot of conversations about how public libraries can make their Web sites more usable. Lots of great ideas have been flying around, and I’m really excited to see what kinds of changes will be coming down the road for the sites of public libraries in my area.

But there was one thing that wasn’t discussed at the seminar, and thus hasn’t gotten much attention around here. That’s the issue of findability.

OK, maybe this wasn’t 100% within the purview of the seminar, and maybe we have to tackle one problem at a time. There was limited time for the session, and we all have enough on our plates in trying to make our sites more usable.

But I think that while we try to create a more perfect Web presence for our libraries, we always have to have findability in the back of our minds. You can have the greatest site in the world, but if nobody is finding it, going to it, and actually using it, what’s the point? We need to keep this issue in mind while we’re embarking on redesigns - making our sites findable via searching, browsing, and completely by accident.

I’ve come to really like using Google Analytics. This was mentioned in the Web usability seminar, but in terms of the site overlay that you can use to see what parts of your site people clicking on. But it goes so much farther than that. I personally prefer the parts that tell you how people found your site to the parts that tell you what they did there. Armed with the knowledge of the sites they were referred from, the keywords they searched, and so on, it’s much easier to improve your site’s findability among your target audience. “How are they finding us?” Quickly turns into “How can we make finding us easier?”

That’s just an easy first step… I’d be interested to know what kinds of strategies libraries use to ensure that their sites are reaching their users??

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Remember what I said just this evening about Twitter and how it might not have too many practical applications in the library?

So then I stumbled on this post.

Maybe, just maybe it’s not so useless after all. Perhaps we just need to think outside the box a little more. Usually, this is my specialty, but I think I need a little help on this one. Any good ideas on how these excellent ideas can be applied in a library setting?

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I came across this video today, outlining RSS and aggregator use in a really clear, basic sort of way.

I wish I could get some librarians I know to watch this… and then start playing around with RSS. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but so many otherwise great librarians could benefit from learning this stuff and starting to use it to keep up with the trends and advances in their field.

Usually, when I mention the idea of incorporating reading online professional literature to “non-techie” librarians, I either get a blank stare or a simple, “oh, I don’t have time for that!” Or both. Of course, using an aggregator is designed to save you time… provided you don’t use it like I do and fall into the trap of reading absolutely everything!! But it can really work to keep you up to date and in the loop while not eating your entire day away at the same time. And I know some librarians who could use some strategies for keeping up with their profession!

So if I had a chance to sit down and teach an RSS/”keeping up with professional trends in the 21st century” class, I might start with this video. It’s short, clear, and non-technical enough to not be intimidating for people who get a little scared off by buzzwords and techie talk.

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So, after a long time of resisting the siren call, I’ve finally started playing around with Twitter. (See my updates on my sidebar???) I’m still not sure how this is useful, but maybe that’s not the important part. Does everything have to be useful for it to appeal to librarians? Or normal people? Maybe it’s enough that it’s fun.

And maybe, like I talked about a little while ago, trying new things isn’t always about finding something that you’re going to find great uses for from now on. Maybe it’s more important that we keep up with new fun things just so that we’re ready for the next “next big thing.” So now, when the Twitter fad fades away, I’ll be ready to try the next fun thing… armed with the knowledge and comfort level my Twitter experience gave me.

Seriously, though… I have no friends! Who wants to help me remedy that???

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I loved this little video when Martha posted it last week on The Vital Library.

I thought that was so cute… especially the shot of the librarians with their saws.

Sure, it doesn’t have much of a moral lesson to it, as we have had with other LR Film Festival entries, but I thought this was to cute to leave out.

And it reminds me of a library I worked with recently - they were trying like mad to get their in-house OPACs to print out little strips of paper for the patrons with basically just the title, author, and call number on them. You know, so patrons could look up the title they wanted, press print, and have something to take with them to the stacks. Sure, they could get it to print, but it never quite got to be exactly what they wanted. The paper was too big. Then too small. The type wasn’t the right size. It printed out too much info, then too little. One thing after another.

Then they finally got the setup tweaked enough so that it was printing what they wanted. But the patrons still weren’t using them. Not all the signage in the world would prompt the patrons to hit the print key, and they were too impatient to wait for the printout. Turns out all the patrons wanted was a pile of scrap paper and some little pencils. Maybe low-tech is the way to go, sometimes!

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It was such a beautiful weekend that I took some time off from library-ing to spend time with my family! Here I am with my son, Robert. We had a great time playing with sand and rocks at the beach near our house.

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