Library Revolution

Library staff member: “That seems inefficient. A duplication of work. You do know that would NEVER happen in the business world.”

yeah. right.

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Read this blog post about the “Death of the Library.”

Can’t say that I agree… but it’s always good to read opposing viewpoints, especially when they may reflect what a good portion of the “non-library” population is thinking.

How can libraries use the knowledge that these arguments are floating around and becoming widespread among our potential users in a constructive way?

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For years, I have heard library professionals lament how much libraries “suck at marketing.” And I can’t disagree with that. We need to do a much better job in this area, which is, of course, much easier said than done.

It occurs to me, though, that one of the major obstacles that we may be facing is a widespread confusion among library professionals about the difference between marketing and advertising. Whenever I have a conversation about marketing with a librarian, it always ends up being a discussion of advertising.

Here’s the thing, though. Advertising is a component of marketing, but it is far from the whole enchilada. To quote a concise summary of the topic,

“The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy.”

Library marketing is not solely about advertising. It is also is not only about branding. Or PR. Or “Outreach.” Or social networking. Those are only parts of what should be an overall strategy for communicating with our customers and using that communication cycle to reach our ultimate organizational goals.

If we’re really going to get serious about library marketing, we need to forget advertising for a minute and think of the bigger picture.

What is your library’s marketing strategy?

Graphic via

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Question: Is there a changing table in your library’s public men’s room?

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Take a peek at this post from LibrarianInBlack. Sarah Houghton-Jan shares some very astute comments about the library “tech trends” she predicts for 2008, including tough budgetary times, an increasing awareness of the growing (and changing) digital divide, and my favorite: that librarians will have to get off of their high horse about technology and “stop being so bossy.”

“…we have taken on that holier-than-thou role when it comes to online services, where we are telling people repeatedly that we know the right way to behave online. We know what is safe. We know what is appropriate. We know what is cool. No…we…don’t. The mere fact that we put ourselves in to that patronizing role informs our users that we do not know what we’re talking about.”

Great predictions. The only thing I might add is something about library services becoming more mobile… but that is a thought for separate post…

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How about this story about the library that got a wrong delivery…  They opened a package containing book with no pages, but pot, porn, and a PlayStation inside.

Found via gamecouch.com. To quote their take on the situation, “Here’s hoping the librarians had a great weekend!”

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As we embark on a new season of conference and other presentations, I think it’s time for all of us to do a little thinking about our presentation skills and strategies. Check out presentationzen.com for some great tips on using powerpoint for an unsucky, effective presentation. I came across this via The Brand Builder Blog, which pointed me towards this great article about creating good powerpoint slides. I, for one, am guilty of not creating slides that don’t have much of a visual impact… which I think detracts from my presentations sometimes. I will have to rethink this a little. Call it a New Year’s Resolution.

Some other resources that have got me thinking about giving dynamic, interesting and effective presentations:

• Great Presentations Mean Business: I have found some great tips on this blog, along with good examples.
• Business Presentations: More good tips. I especially liked what they said about Doo Wop recently.
• SuccesCo: Boldness Rules: This little article brings up a good point I think a lot of librarians could learn from when they speak. Take some chances. Be bold.
• 10 Deep: Presentations by LIfehack.org: a list of 10 articles giving advice on good presentations. I especially liked the Use Your Audience one. Sometimes corny is good. At the very least, it’s bold.
• Great Public Speaking: Good tips here - especially about how to use humor. But if you need too many tips on this, I wonder if you’d be better off not trying to be funny.
• Speak Schmeak: A fun public speaking blog that often offers gems of advice as well as good examples and analogies. A favorite recent post explains the differences between being prepared and being over prepared. A lesson I could learn a lot from.

Those are just a few off the top of my head… What are some other good places for presentation advice?

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I have spent the first 8 days of 2008 trying to think of some goon New Year’s Resolutions, but I’ve had little luck. There are certainly things I’d like to turn over a new leaf on, things both in my personal and professional lives that I’d like to do differently this year. But I’ve had a hard time listing them – sometimes these sorts of things are so hard to define!

So I’ve decided to choose a mantra for 2008 instead. Something I can repeat to myself whenever I make those difficult decisions and face the challenges ahead. The mantra is simply this: I Am Not Afraid.

Afraid of what?

I am Not Afraid…

• Of change
• Of taking chances
• Of trying new things
• Of reassessing old things
• Of making tough choices
• Of sticking my neck out
• Of being wrong
• Of pissing off some people
• Of failure
• Of success

 
2008 will be a big year for Emily. And I’m not afraid of that.

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From the “things I wanted to blog when I first read them but never quite got around to it until now” file.

As my son, Robert, approaches his second birthday, I can’t get over how incredible it is to watch his development. Not only is it fascinating to watch him learn to put words, concepts, and actions together, it is also amazing to see the ways in which his experiences are shaping him in ways that would never have been possible when I was a child. In short, it’s really cool to watch a true “digital native” develop.

He is just now learning that a mouse (”Mowwwwws”) can also mean a small furry creature that causes Mommy to call the exterminator. He thinks Mommy’s laptop is cool… until he touches the screen and nothing happens (unlike his cousin’s Nintendo DS.) Lame. Anything long and skinny (yarn, the dog leash, a belt) is a cord and must be plugged in somewhere. Cameras must be handed to him each time a picture is taken so that he can see the “Bay-beeeee.” Cameras are not held up to the eye, but are used at arm’s length. I have received text messages from my son… mostly reading “44444444″. Elmo lives in the TV and can be brought up at any time. He also vacations in the computer, where specific songs can be viewed at will. His cousin’s Webkinz live next to the computer. You can call Pop-Pop from anywhere at any time. A glimpse of ear buds causes wild dancing.

Robert is an avid “EYEbrarrrr” user already, looking forward to visits to the place where books, “PUZZZ-ulllls” and computer games “clik! clik! beeeeep!” are available for his use. My hope is that his attachment will grow in the next few years of his life (although I hope he outgrows the tantrums as we leave…)

Anyway, to get to the point…

A while back Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix listed a number of things that marketers can learn from a 10-year old. To summarize, marketers should consider the upcoming generation and observe their values and how they operate a little. The basic findings:

1- Kids know a lot more about what’s happening online that you may think.

2- Kids do social networking naturally.

3- Being boring is the cardinal sin.

4- Kids like multi-media experiences.

5- Kids ignore online ads.

6 - Do not underestimate young people.

7 - Kids rock.

Maybe I just don’t have that much experience with kids. But I thought this was a great post… and I can really see this beginning to be the case with my little Digital Native. (The article even describes an incident where the 10-year old in question does a little tech trouble shooting to solve his Runescape problem!)

So let me throw something out there for discussion. I was told by a Children’s librarian a few months ago that while Adult services have been changed dramatically by technological advancements and social networking, Children’s services have basically not changed, and she didn’t see the central goals and missions of Children’s librarianship changing much in the near future. This was a very excellent, experienced and well-respected librarian who I admire very much. But I had to wonder about this…

Maybe this post is a little random, but it’s a question that interest me as a parent and as a librarian…

What do folks think?

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Not all users do things the same way we do… especially when it comes to the use of technology. It’s a simple yet important point for librarians to keep in mind. Jenica Rogers-Urbanek wrote a great post about getting out and taking a look at different technology users. Not only do folks use different technologies, but the ways in which they are used varies significantly from user to user.

I feel like technology use is a very personal thing - it fits into the lives of our patrons in such vastly different ways! It’s so important to take the time now and then to look at the different ways people use technology so that we don’t get over-saturated with the narrow definition of technology use we have established for ourselves. To quote Jenica: “We, with our particularly echo-y vision of technology, are not our users.” (And yet, we are!)

BTW I love the list of different users she encountered… if you haven’t already, read her post!

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