Library Revolution

As a contributing author for the book The Age of Conversation, I was recently able to host a celebrity guest as he makes his worldwide tour. That’s right, Curious George (one of my son’s favorite celebrities) spent some time in my home and at work with me, getting to know a little more about libraries, the “Conversation Age”, and how it all fits together.

George and I have learned a lot of lessons about the value of conversation when it comes to customer service, marketing, and public relations by reading this book and engaging with the other authors in (you guessed it!) conversation. As I’ve said before, we librarians have a lot to learn from marketing folks… stuff that can really have effective applications for our libraries. And don’t underestimate the value of what we have to say for these folks. As I have learned in recent months, conversation is really a two-way street, and we have as much to offer folks in other professions as they do for us.

Here are a couple of pictures of the little scamp frolicking in the stacks at my office, and among some of Suffolk County’s historic newspapers.

Where else has George been? Where is he headed? Keep an eye on Flickr to see!

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Last week, I was home sick for a few days, which means a couple of things:

1. My son now has several new knit caps that he can refuse to wear this winter.
2. I’ve been rotting my brain with a lot of daytime TV (OMG is Sami really going to marry EJ?)

But watching daytime TV last week wasn’t TOTALLY brain-numbing (only mostly). This was due in large part to last week’s “Green is Universal” themed programming on NBC. I actually learned a lot of things about being more environmentally conscious from the “green” themed shows I watched. It was pretty interesting, and I thought many of the tips might translate nicely into Library World.

Two recycling tips I thought particularly suited to a library environment:

1. Recycling “techno trash”: Dell, HP, Apple, Gateway, and Toshiba all have programs for recycling old computer components. That’s pretty convenient! Clean out that old closet full of cables, monitors, keyboards, handheld devices, etc that you (or your tech department) kept “just in case.” Let’s face it. Most of it won’t ever see the light of day again. Keep what you might ACTUALLY use. Recycle the rest and enjoy your new storage space. More info here and here.

2. Recycling old VHS/DVDs: Most libraries I visit just junk VHS and DVDs when they’re discarded. Look Here! I had no idea that they could be recycled. I think this is an especially helpful tip for all those libraries out there that are phasing out (or just downright getting rid of) their VHS tapes. Forget paying for a dumpster. Get a recycling box instead. And to take it a step further, maybe put one of these out for your patrons? Depending on how you present it, it might be a good way to deal with unwanted donations, or for taking stuff off the patron’s hands that they don’t want. Plus, you get a chance to show the community how environmentally friendly you are.

Here are some links to online resources that give some more really good tips for creating “greener” small businesses - really good stuff for libraries.

About business tips

Greenbiz toolbox/primer

General principles followed by Greenbiz

eHow: series of 8 articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

I’m not much of a gung-ho environmentalist, I must admit. But after seeing all of the good tips for saving energy, etc. this week on TV, I have to agree that it could be a really great idea for libraries. Besides the obvious altruistic motivations for using more environmentally sound practices at the library, there are also three other practical reasons for thinking about starting a library “greening” project:

1. It’s good PR. Here we are, public libraries, telling everyone that we are an important, beneficial part of the community and that we care about our patrons’ education and well being. A “green” campaign fits right into that message in an overt way that your patrons can understand and even perhaps participate in.
2. It’s on your customer’s minds. “Going Green” is the hot thing these days, and if NBC is any indication, it’s something that is on your patron’s minds. We can learn a lot about our patrons and what is on their minds, I think, by looking at what they watch on TV all day. Since their research and marketing departments make the big bucks, I’d venture to say that they know what they’re talking about when it comes to topics that appeal to the general public. You can bet your life that if Ann Curry is going to the South Pole to learn about global warming, it’s because folk out there are interested. Or at least, they are now. Let’s bring that into the library!

3. Saving energy=saving money. Does it get simpler than that?

It think it’s a great idea to tap into the interest a campaign like NBC’s “Green is Universal” generates among the general public, and join in. I know that I, for one, found myself looking for more information about some of the topics I saw covered this week, such as the pollution associated with cotton production and the benefits of purchasing organic produce. I’d love it if I walked into the library this evening to find a display of resources associated with these topics. Or if my library’s blog published some links to online tips for making my life a little “greener.”

This whole “going Green” thing could be a good way to engage your customers. But it’s also something your library could go a step or two further with: Engage in a campaign to make your library “Greener”.

What tips and ideas do you have for making your library a “greener” place, letting your public know about it, and engaging them to be active participants in the project?

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Someone asked me the other day if I ever get tired of being nice all the time. I had to laugh. Is that what people really think of me? If only they knew.

How many people came out of the closet today as The Annoyed Librarian? I lost count at about 12. And we are really no closer to discovering who the man/woman/group behind the AL really is. It could even be me…

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Copyblogger had an interesting post yesterday about indirect selling. (Read the article!) The main idea is that blogs promoting products and services (such as your library’s blog) are the most effective if they aren’t always in heavy sales mode. As the article points out,

“…if you spend all your time relentlessly pitching your wares, you’ll find that you alienate a good portion of your prospective audience.”

Using a set of “prospect awareness categories” first introduced back in 1966, the article gives some  sound advice and strategies for reaching different parts of your readership and “sell” your business (or library) to them in a more subtle way. I thought this was an approach that lent itself particularly nicely to public library bloggers, who often grapple with the challenges associated with communicating with a widely diverse potential audience.

The bottom line, though?

“The blogs that attract audiences in the first place offer valuable content—it’s as simple as that. While pitching relentlessly from your blog may work for a limited group of Internet marketing types, it likely will ruin your blogging effectiveness for most businesses.”

Got that? Offer valuable content. Maybe that’s easier said than done (OK, definitely that’s easier said than done!). But it’s key. If your blog isn’t worth reading, no one will read it. And that doesn’t convert your effort into use by your community of the services you’re trying to promote. Then it’s just all a big waste of time.

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This little item from CNN.com details a brilliant class project assigned by a University of Washington-Bothell professor: write a Wikipedia article. Way to adapt the old group research project into something that not only teaches research and writing skills, but also engages students with social media, tackles the issues involved with evaluating internet sources, and exposes the students to important lessons about collaboration and technology.

Best of all,

“The exercise also gave students a taste of working in the real world of peer-reviewed research.”

It’s nice to see that educators are finding ways to handle the era of Wikipedia in constructive, practical ways.

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