Library Revolution

Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

Here are a few anecdotes (true, each one of them!) that will hopefully make my point for me.

• I know of one library where patrons were dropping items off at the circ desk, then running straight over to the OPAC to check to see if their record was clear. The problem was that they did this so quickly that the OPAC display of the patron record did not yet show the items removed from their accounts. The process was about 5 seconds too slow. What did they do? They shifted the nearest OPAC terminal about five feet further away from the circ desk.

• Another library was having problems with the traffic patterns in their beautiful new reference room.  The layout was beautiful, but patrons were unthinkingly cutting behind the reference desks to get from one side of the library to another. The renovations (including immovable, built in desks!) had cost a fortune and the library didn’t really want to reorganize all over again, but this was starting to really cause problems. So they shifted the position of a couple of reading chairs so that they formed a mini reading area right in the path the patrons were absentmindedly using as a cut through.

• After a software upgrade, a library found that their circulation system automatically printed receipts for renewals.  They loved this for most transactions, but complained to a particularly charming and brilliant system administrator that they didn’t want this feature on one of their computers… the one by the phone that was used only for phone renewals. The system administrator (did I mention that she was charming and brilliant?) suggested a fix that worked like a charm and made everyone happy - without a major software rewrite. She told them to unplug the receipt printer on that machine.

• I visited a library that had a lovely built in bulletin board in a somewhat secluded area near to the circulation desk. Unfortunately, patrons were completely missing the program announcements and information posted there. The staff there had resorted to taping flyers to the wall in a more high traffic area (which looked terrible) and the nice bulletin board was basically not used. When I visited again a short time later, I noticed that the situation had changed… the ugly flyers were gone, and patrons were flocking around the bulletin board. Someone had the bright idea to move the cart with newly returned DVDs on it waiting to be shelved so that the cart was directly under the bulletin board. 

• All of the informational brochures in the world didn’t seem to hep one library explain to their patrons how to access their online catalog from home. They had a beautiful, professionally designed Web site and many savvy users, but the catalog just wasn’t getting the use anyone expected. What helped? They outlined the “Catalog” button in a contrasting color. Suddenly it leapt off the page… and patrons started using more!

Sometimes the smallest, simplest changes make all the difference in the world. No complexity required.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Etc., Library Administration, Library Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.