Library Revolution

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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Wow, I wish I could have gone to this!!!

Reading the summary (thanks, Laura for posting it!), I was really struck by just how much I could identify with the comments of the panelists. I can’t even tell you how easily they could have come from my own family and friends… and some of them even from myself! My husband and I are really the only active library users among our immediate family members and in our social circle. And it’s not always easy to find incentives to stay active library users.

Yes, I am a librarian. But I’m also a busy working mother, and I do not work in a library. A lot of the time using the library is something I have to really make a conscious effort to do. And it’s often something that takes a pretty signifigant amount of effort, based on library hours (limited on the weekend), distance from my house (it’s FAR! and in completely in the wrong direction!), and program schedules (why, oh, why are there no weekend toddler programs??).

Of course, I do make an effort to use the library. But it’s not always easy to get what I need. Even as a fellow librarian, I often have a hard time figuring out the cryptic rules and regulations most public libraries (at least in this area) like to enact. You know: You can take out three dvds for seven days, unless they are new - that’s three days. Plus the fine rate for a late return on those is higher. Except for the foreign films. Take as many of those as you want. And that dvd owned by another library… that one is a 10-day loan but you can’t renew it and the fine is half as much as ours. Have a nice day!

The panelists in the session I linked to above also mentioned the issue of being intimidated by the library. I think that crazy confusing rules play a big part in creating a sense of intimidation, at least for me. For others less familiar with public library practices, I can only imagine that being confronted with a two-page handout outlining the rules for registering for children’s programs would make one’s head spin even more. Why do we wonder why folks find libraries intimidating when we make things so hard???

Another thing that makes using the library less than convenient for me is the utter lack of information about the library and it’s offerings that reaches many patrons. I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. The three public library newsletters that clutter up my mailbox go directly into the trash can with the rest of the junk mail. It’s jsut so much noise competing for my attention. And it loses every time. I’m not alone - I asked my neighbor the other day if she reads the library newsletter. She couldn’t really remember off hand if they even get one. When I told her that we get three on our street, she was confused… if she did pay attention and read it, which one would she read?

What’s really too bad is that so many public libraries depend entirely on a newsletter, a bulletin board in the library and Web site (I also do not go to the library Web site) to communicate their offerings to their patrons. But for many of us, this misses the mark entirely. The panelists suggested reaching out through the local pizza place… now that’s an idea. No matter how busy and distracted I am, there’s always time for pizza. Or the supermarket. Or Starbucks. That’s where I am. That’s where you’ll reach me. (Don’t make me come to you!!)

Librarians are always complaining about image problems faced by the library, and I’m not going to say there is a simple solution to this. But I really think that the problem lies less with the message the library tries to communicate with the community and more with the way that they try to deliver the message. You can have the coolest, hippest library with the greatest services in the world. But if whole segments of your community toss your primary mode of communication directly into the trash without even looking, what good does it do?

OMG! Am I talking about marketing?!?!?!?

For me, the bottom line is convenience. I’ve got 24 hours in my day, and if I take the whole “librarian” aspect of my life out of the equation, going to the library really falls into the “errands I have to do” category — like picking up the dry cleaning, going grocery shopping, and getting the dog groomed. So, for library services to fit into my lifestlye, they need to be fast. Easy. Convenient.

I shouldn’t have to put a lot of effort into informing myself as to what the library has to offer. Because I won’t.

I shouldn’t need a MLS to be able to find something on the shelf when I get there. Because I’d rather sit on my butt and have Amazon or Netflix deliver to my door.

I shouldn’t have to deal with a labyrinth of rules and regulations to sign my kid up for a 30-minute program. “Hi, Gymboree? We’ll be there on Saturday at 10.”

Free is not enough.

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From the OMG I wish I had written this file.

Seth Godin talks about “punishing” your customers for the sins of a few jerks who like to take advantage.

Read the post and think about your library.

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Michael Stephens blogged recently about librarians being timid, a theme Michael Casey wrote on in The Transparent Library.

To quote the article,

…getting new initiatives off the ground sometimes seems to need an act of God, simply because new services mean change. For some librarians, change represents the potential to fail. For others, it’s a fear of success, that a new service might be too popular and draw too many people.

This is something I struggle with all the time when working with librarians on new initiatives, so it really struck a nerve with me.

Actually, it really gave me one of those “AHA!” moments. He’s right. Most of the librarians I work with and have trouble motivating to try anything new aren’t afraid of failure at all. It’s success that scares them to death.

Then I saw this commercial during the Mets braodcast:

I think that this is exactly what we are like a lot of the time.

Oh my God, if we succeed in this new project, we’ll have to deal with the consequences! We’ll have to make decisions, set new priorities, and (gasp!) make some changes!

I don’t mean to belittle the feeling. It’s potentially overwhelming. Especially if we start succeeding all the time.

But as the guy in the commercial sums it up, “Isn’t that kind of the idea?”

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Here’s a post on the “Customer Review Effect” on the Church of the Consumer Blog.

The long and short of it is that retailers in the US, UK, and Europe report an interesting effect resulting from their providing a product review component to their retail Web sites.  According to the full article,

Over three-quarters said their site traffic had increased. Only 5% said it had fallen. Average order values rose for 42% of the responding online retailers, and only 6% said they had decreased.

Ben at Church of the Consmer comments,

Personally, I don’t buy anything or visit any new merchant today without first locating a number of customer-generated reviews for it.

That sounds awfully familiar. My gut feeling is that a lot of us feel that way. I can’t remember the last time I read a book without reading a bunch of consumer reviews before deciding if it was worth my time or not (professional reviews, too, but sometimes I just want to see what other “real people” had to say!). I try to find out what people are saying about the product/service/provider before every major purchase I make (and many minor ones, too!). And even though I haven’t kept track, I have a feeling that the sites where I find those reviews are the ones that get my business in the end.

Writing reviews is something I generally enjoy as well, if I have time. I’m not one of those manic reviewers who seems to have all the time in the world to write detailed reviews of every single product they have ever purchased, but from time to time I do like to express my opinion. And I don’t think I’m alone in that.

So what does this mean for libraries? Do we allow our patrons to review our materials in the OPAC? (I’m cool with the idea, but I know that not every librarian is.) Do we provide other public forums for our users to share their impressions of our services? What about giving them some sort of a venue for sharing reviews/opinions/impressions of non-library services, products, etc. How do we assist our patrons looking for information in the form of amateur, consumer-created reviews? Does this assistance include assistance with authoring reviews? … Moderation? … Professional reviews? … Library neutrality?… I could go on and on with questions….

Once again, I think it comes back to the idea of entering into a two-way conversation with our patrons… and in this case, encouraging them to converse with other members of their community.  Now how do we make this work?

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So I spent the day at the hospital today with my husband, who was getting surgery for a herniated disc. Nothing major, and he’s already recovering well at home.

Anyway, I don’t spend a lot of time in hospitals. Whenever I do, it’s a bit of a shock to the system for me. I mean, the people who work in a hospital, everyone from the little old lady volunteer in the waiting room to the nurses, to the surgeon have such a responsibility.

They are in charge of peoples lives, their health, their peace of mind. If they make mistakes, people suffer. I mean, they really physically suffer. I got a little taste of this when I worked for a cancer treatment center several years ago. Even though I was working with their records and sometimes answering the phone, I felt a lot of pressure to always get it right. If I didn’t, the consequences could be disastrous for someone, or at the very least could make someone’s suffering worse. I was a bit releived when, after about a year, I left to pursue other interests.

So I’m not really cut out to be a medical professional. Too much pressure. Too much at stake.

Which is why (in part) I became a librarian.

As a librarian, I certainly have certain responsibilities that could impact people negatively if I don’t perform them perfectly every time. But if I do have an of day, nobody is going to be paralyzed. Or disfigured. Or killed. They might just be a little grumpy.

This is what I want to say to a lot of library staff: Relax.

You are not a surgeon. Or a military officer. Or an air traffic controller. Getting that book on the shelf STAT will not prevent someone from losing a limb. Making sure that hold gets fixed so that Mrs. So-And-So gets the new James Patterson ASAP will not bring about world peace. Relax.
Yes, you can genuinely and deeply effect your patrons with what you do professionally. You can influence people’s lives with the information and services you provide. You can educate, inform, entertain, and  really make a difference to your patron and your community. But you also have the luxury of knowing that you are not in a life or death situation, and not every little thing needs to be made a Federal Case. Relax.

I mean it. Take a deep breath. Ask yourself, “Is anyone going to die from this?” And Relax.

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Take a look at this excellent post at Library Nation.

Kathleen puts it so well, that I don’t have much to add, and I won’t try to paraphrase when you should just go over and read it for yourself.

I will,  however, say that I agree 100%. And it all comes back to engaging in meaningful conversations with our patrons (or our potential patrons). We really, really, really, really need to listen to what they have to say and use their comments as constructive criticism. No matter how we come across the comments, and whether or not the actual commenter pays taxes in our particular library district or not. It’s so hard to get good, usable feedback… let’s embrace it when we find it and then do something with it!

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I was in a library the other day, sort of hanging out near the circ desk while I waited for the person I was supposed to be training. (In case you haven’t noticed from my other posts, I spend a lot of time like this!) As I was standing there, the phone rang.

Here is the conversation I overheard – or at least the half I heard (paraphrased a little, sorry!):

Circ Clerk: (with a smile) Hello! Public Library!

<pause>

CC: (smile fades)Well… (uncertainly) I’m not really sure.

<pause>

CC: Um… I just don’t know. (frowning) On the main highway I suppose. You know, Main Street.

<pause>

CC: It depends on where you are coming from. I don’t really know…

<pause>

CC: East or West? What town are you coming from?

<pause>

CC: Oh, I don’t know where that is. I don’t live right around here…

<pause>

CC: Well, you could ask someone when you get close. We’re really right on Main Street.

<pause>

CC: (with a sudden look of utter confusion) Our Web site? I don’t know… maybe it’s there…

<pause>

CC: OK. Sorry about that. Goodbye.

I felt kind of bad… for the clerk (a really nice lady) and for the poor, lost patron on the other end of that conversation. I almost wanted to ask her to hand me the phone so I could give the directions myself.

I’m sure this not the first (nor the last) time someone has called this library for directions. I’m also guessing that they get calls for library hours, event information, renewals, policy questions, and other routine inquiries. Most of which have simple, consistent answers that could be given easily and clearly… if they were pre-scripted.

Do any of your libraries keep a set of typed, canned answers to typical questions somewhere near the main phone? I’ve seen this at libraries from time to time, but it doesn’t strike me as all that widespread a practice. But maybe that’s just my impression.

Nothing so long and complicated that staff would panic trying to find the right answer in a tall stack of densely printed pages… just a short summary of what to say to those questions. Something for the clerks answering the phone to fall back on when they don’t readily know the answer, they forget, there has been a change, or they just space out (we all have those moments!).

This poor lady could have really used a copy of the directions right near the phone… and so could her patron!

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Several weeks ago I was in a library, waiting behind the circ desk for the person I was meeting with. She was tied up for a few minutes, so I took a look around… I always find interesting things behind the desk!

This time what I saw was a little radio/CD/tape player that they use for various in-library programs. It was your standard little white radio, retailing for about $35.00 at Target. Really basic. No frills, nothing really tricky about it.

But they had made one modification to this little machine.

You know those little icons on audio/visual devices that represent Play, Fast Forward, etc? These had all been coveredup with little white stickers, which were meticulously labeled with the words Play, Fast Forward, etc. (These words were also printed on the machine by the manufacturer - right under the buttons.) In addition to these little stickers covering the symbols, there were longer stickers all over the radio, pointing out the different features, including instructions on how to use each feature.

It was stuff like:

“VOLUME CONTROL —-> Turn dial to the right to increase volume. Turn dial to the left to reduce volume.”

“Press Eject Button to Open this Door. Insert tape here.”

“Insert headphones here —->”

You could hardly see the radio for all of the instructions. And all of the little white labels had been typed out on a typewriter.

So my question is this: How often do we over-explain our library services?

It seems like libraries I visit are awash in little brochures explaining what the library has to offer (in great detail!!) and walking patrons step-by-step through everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I half expect to go into the ladies room and see a little tri-fold pamphlet explaining the importance of toilet paper and how to use it.

It seems to me that most of the time the things we try so had to explain to our patrons fall in one of two categories. Either they really don’t need much explaining in the first place or they shouldn’t need much explaining.

I see the little labels on the radio as falling in the first category… I really think that librarians need to resist the urge to over-explain everything. I mean, come on. If you really end up with someone who can’t figure out how to play a tape in the thing, then help them out in person. But it’s more likely that people will figure it out without some condescending set of instructions that practically scream “you are too stupid to figure this out, so we have to hold your hand.”

The other group of instructions we tend to give out is for things that are overly complex, and perhaps shouldn’t be. In this case, how about focusing on making our services more user friendly instead? One library I know hands out lengthy pamphlets explaining the procedures for signing up for children’s programs. I’ve read them, and it’s a huge turnoff. It makes me want to call Gymboree and forget all about the library for good. And it’s a symptom of a broken system. If you need that much verbiage to explain program signups, then your signup procedures are no good. Plain and simple. Fix the policies and procedures instead of publishing another stupid tri-fold. That, or be prepared to see your customers walk out the door.

I guess what I’m getting at is this: The next time you’re tempted to cover a radio with instruction stickers, ask youself if they are really necessary for the bulk of your users. If the answer is still yes, then fix the underlying problem instead.

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I came across an interesting site today via a BoingBoing mention. The Laws of Simplicity blog offers some interesting ideas centering around the idea (or the ideal?) of simplicity.

The post that caught my eye featured a picture of this light switch:

I took one look at this ultra complex interpretation of such a normally simple device, and I just had to laugh. I mean, come on. You shouldn’t need a users manual  to operate a light switch. There are many things in life that benefit from enhancement, improvement, the addition of features and all of the complexity that comes along with all of that. Light switches are not in this category.

For me, that is a basic problem I often see in LibraryWorld. Yes, there are many aspects of library service that can use enhancement these days. But there are many that just don’t. They are what they are and don’t need to be made any more complex than they are. Doing so would just screw them up and make them unusable. Or, like I suspect would happen with this light switch, virtually all users will skip all of the fancy features (those that took a lot of hard work to design!) and just go for plain old ON/OFF.

The trick is in determining which category your various projects/services/etc. fall - and in creating a balance between complexity and simplicity whenever “improvements” are made.

Those of us who tend to be overzealous about implementing change must constantly ask ourselves if change in this particular instance is the best thing - and be sure that we aren’t unnecessarily making things more complicated for ourselves and our users. Change shouldn’t be made for change’s sake alone - and complexity shouldn’t be introduced without a benefit resulting. Sure, it would be great if I could easily dim my lights, preset lighting levels, and so on… but is a complicated redesign of my switch really necessary? Is the end goal achieved by introducing change where it may not have been needed?

Those who tend to resist change should similarly assess the individual situation. I am often surprised at how often those who resist change make things way more complicated for themselves and their users by doing so. Just as we shouldn’t introduce unnecessary complexity in the name of moving forward, we should also avoid the trap of making things more complicated by clinging to “the way we do things here” or “the way it’s always been done.”

Balance.

I was working with someone the other day who has long kept “secret” paper files on all of  her library’s holds. As far as I was concerned, she could throw all of that paper in the trash and replace all of that work filing and keeping track of little slips of paper with some regular reports and some new procedures. As far as she was concerned, the paper file needed to be maintained… only it was getting to be so much work! Clinging to the “old, simple way” was just too complicated!

But it’s not always as easy as all that to just dump the old system. Once we talked it out a bit and went through a little of my way and a little of hers, I think we found some good solutions for her… taking a bit from each method. Big chunks of the “old way” are going to get dumped in favor of aspects of my “new way.” But not all of them. Frankly, some of the old procedures work just fine for them, and changing would just be introducing complexity where it isn’t needed. So why not keep them? This way, I think she can achieve a balance that will work for her and her library.

I’m interested in what John Maeda has to say on his blog - and I want to thumb through his book, too.

Of course, when I went to request the book from my local library system, I found that the only library in my area will not lend it to me. So now I have to jump through some hoops, call in some favors… no simplicity here.

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