Library Revolution

OK, so I’m lumping two sessions together here. But they were back-to-back sessions in the “Industries Using Hot Tech” track, so I don’t feel too bad.

I’m glad to have attended these two programs, as I am a huge believer of looking outside of LibraryLand for inspiration.

The first, “Learning From Newspaper Publishing,” featured a look at changes to the New York Observer’s online presence (check out their “head cloud!”). David Free wrote up a great rundown of the basic points from the presentation.

My take:

Libraries can learn so much by looking at what other industries have done, the challenges they have faced, and the concerns they are thinking about when building these online community interfaces.

Especially helpful here was the notion of examining your users in terms of basic “types” and examining ways the site could address the habits and needs of those kinds of customers. For example, “Loyal Readers” tend to go straight to the home page and browse… so they need content on the home page to cater to those habits in much different ways from “Accidental readers” who find the content based on a search and have a single article focus… and therefore need different features to engage them.

Libraries: How often do we really aggressively study the habits of our users when it comes to our online resources? Do we have good data to back up the assumptions we make about how patrons use our services? Are we providing use options aimed at different kinds of users with different goals and habits?

Also, the idea of pulling in third party apps to meet users needs is something libraries need to pay attention to. If somebody else does it better, why do we always seem to want to re-invent the wheel?

Third, I was glad the presenter talked about aggressively marketing the services once they were built. And he wasn’t just talking about ads, but an entire marketing strategy for attracting users and encouraging use. This includes complimentary services and features to further engage potential users, and seems integrated with the whole community atmosphere now created by the site.

After the Newspaper session, I stayed on for the “Learning from Politics” session featuring Justine Lam, the eCampaign Director from the Ron Paul campaign.

This fascinating session looked primarily at the fundraising initiatives of the campaign, and definitely had a few interesting ideas for libraries.

For one, I was intrigued by what the speaker referred to as the “hub and spoke” model for the online campaign. She stressed that what they created was not a new social network, but a means by which existing social networking tools were connected for a common cause. YouTube, Meetup.com, Facebook, etc. already exist and are a part of users lives. So the strategy was to reach out and use these existing networks to spread the word in an efficient, low-cost way.

She also spoke a lot about transparency and the way that the campaign used graphics using real time fundraising figures to (very successfully) encourage fundraising efforts. This was one of the real community building features that helped the campaign site become a collaborative effort between the campaign and its supporters.

The campaign also used a strategy of helping teach supporters to create, collaborate and share – giving them the tools to spread the campaign message and then letting them more or less do the work for them. Giving the supporters ownership and letting them go was the thing that really made this campaign revolutionary and successful.

Of course, the speaker did mention that once you put the campaign in the public’s hands, you can no longer control the message… and she pointed out that while it is great to let the users solve your problems, that of course means that you then need to let them know what your problems are. How many libraries are ready to deal with this???

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One thing people ask me pretty often id how I find the time to “do it all.” Well, the short answer is that I don’t. None of us do. But I do put a lot of effort into making time for the important things. Which means prioritizing.

So during these last few weeks, I haven’t posted much… there were just too many other important things to take care of. Hopefully things wills start to calm down a little, now, though, and I’ll get to put blogging back on my “things to get done” list without going completely crazy.

To summarize what’s been going on with me, here are a few of the highlights of the last two weeks for me:

Long Island Economic Trends Forums: OK, so speaker Martin Cantor was a bit of a blatant name dropper (it was pretty funny, actually). But he gave a very interesting talk about the economic trends he sees on Long Island’s horizon. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, either. And the really important part, I think was that it was real food for thought in terms of where we can imagine libraries fitting in with the economic landscape of this area. Some of the reports he referenced can be found here.

Suffolk County YA Librarians meeting: This was the first time I’ve attended a YA librarian’s meeting (as I’m not a YA librarian), and it was so much fun! It was considerably more spirited than the meetings I’m accustomed to, including salsa music and mango chutney (thanks, Barbara!) I was there to do a presentation about some of the new and exciting OPAC features that are going to be introduced for the county soon (shhh… it’s top secret!). The feedback I got from this group was so positive and constructive, which made it such a pleasure. Plus, I’ve since heard from a number of the people who were at the meeting that day – folks who sought me out to work on other projects or ask questions they might otherwise not have asked. One of the great things about my job is that I get opportunities like this to connect with the folks out in our libraries. It’s fun when I get a chance to do that with new groups and people I didn’t know before!

Helene Blowers: Helene came to visit SCLS last week and gave two excellent presentations to the staff and directors of our libraries. I can not even begin to say how awesome it was to hear her speak… and even more awesome to hear the buzz that has resulted from those talks. Most awesome of all was the chance to meet Helene… I hope our paths cross again soon!

Sharon Cates-Williams: I also got a chance to hear the Suffolk County CIO and Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology speak about the WiFi Long Island project. I have to say I’ve been really skeptical about the whole project, both in terms of feasibility and sustainability. But her presentation sure did sound convincing. Maybe too good to be true… or is that just me being a cynic? Hey, if they can make it work, make it affordable, and keep it going, then I’m all for the idea.

Feedback: I love getting feedback on the projects I work on, and these last few weeks have been really great for that. Thanks to everyone who has been so great about giving me positive, constructive commentary, especially on the OPAC design I’ve been working so hard on. I love the feeling of getting somewhere… and often the best way to make progress is to get involved in a good feedback cycle.

Facebook app: After much playing around and with great thanks to everyone who helped me out on this one (especially Lou at SCLS and Graham at Reyerson University), the Suffolk County Catalog Search application for Facebook is now available. With over 43,000 members belonging to the Suffolk County network (not to mention all of the other networks Suffolk residents belong to!), I thought it would be a real shame not to have an app. So now we do, and folks are starting to add it to their profiles…

So that’s some of the stuff I’ve been doing. And, of course, there’s work. You know, the regular day-to day stuff that you do all the time, so it doesn’t seem to count… but it has to because it takes up all of your time. And there’s the whole sick toddler screaming his lungs out because his ear hurts and he wants to play with the toaster and I’m the meanest Mommy ever and where is Daddy??? And of course, the Holidays, which means shopping, errands and ten million office parties. Plus that whole birthday thing.

Well, hopefully things will calm down a little in the next few weeks, and my priorities will get another chance to shift. I’m well overdue for a good rant.

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A little item on Slashdot today touched on something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

Their take: Web 2.0 may be a threat to IT job security. (Interesting comments on this!)

My take: Web 2.0 empowers folks to get many jobs done themselves “without involving IT.”

It’s something I think about every time I hear someone in a library talking about “giving that to the tech guy” when it comes to posting something to the Web site, blog, wiki, whatever.

These technologies are designed to be easy to use, learn, and maintain. But we’re so used to giving the assignment to the “person who handles that,” that I often see librarians who could have done the job themselves in about two minutes playing the handoff game - which starts to add up to days and weeks of waiting for the task to get done.

Yes, we’re all busy. Yes, we should be able to delegate duties as necessary. Yes, the library’s “tech guy” is very important to it’s survival and shouldn’t be ushered out the door (please no! We need you!!!) But we’re very lucky to have access to great technologies and resources that give us the power to stop relying so much on other people when it comes to using technology.

We don’t need a specialized person to handle everything remotely connected to a computer. We can do it ourselves. We don’t have to wait. We can put our professional skills to use in designing and maintaining many of our services without a middleman.

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She** is frustrated. She and her colleagues spent a lot of time designing their library’s blog, determining content, establishing tone, making sure that every aspect projected the correct image for the library. It was supposed to open up communication with the patrons. It was supposed to bring in new users and make the community more aware of the library and its services. It was supposed to just work.

When I spoke to her the other day, she was ready to throw in the towel.

“Nobody comments. Nobody reads. I don’t think anyone even knows it’s there.”

And I know that she isn’t alone… I’ve heard the “Library Blog Blues” many times before. Unfortunately, there isn’t one single answer. Does blogging work for businesses and libraries? Yes. Is it easy? NO. Creating a “successful” blog is an extremely complex endeavor, and I think that too many libraries are suckered by the myth that if you put a blog together for your organization, the right people will just find it and use it. But in real life it’s not nearly that easy.

We discussed this, and talked about some of the thing she might experiment with to jump start things a little. We talked about the blogs we personally liked to read, the things we perceive as making a blog “successful.” We talked about some of the things other libraries are doing that they felt were really working for them. She still seemed daunted.

Then I mentioned marketers and how they always talk about “telling a story.” You know, presenting something authentic and compelling that your readers can identify with. Not necessarily a narrative (or maybe so!), but writing something your readers can connect with emotionally and that will engage people.

“We don’t really tell stories,” She said with a thoughtful expression, “We just tell people what’s new in the library. Maybe there’s something to that…”

So we brainstormed.

Instead of a post like this (I see these posts every day!):

“XYZ Public Library has just expanded their collection of knitting books. If you are interested in learning more about knitting, take a look at these new titles: (List Of Books)

Also, out Tuesday Night Knitting Club is always looking for new members. Contact the Reference Desk for more information – XYZReference”

What if the post read more like this:

“Not long ago, while doing my regular Wednesday night reference shift, I realized I had helped seven different patrons that week track down books about knitting. As I was helping them, I realized that only one of the seven knew that our XZY Library has a knitting group that meets on Tuesday evenings!

As an avid knitter myself, I helped coordinate this group about four years ago. We have about 9 men and women from all over CommunityXYZ who just love getting together each week to knit and talk. It’s a great social experience and the members are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to knitting. Just last week, one of our members had a problem with an afghan she was working on, and the rest of the group put their heads together to help her get out of the jam. Just look at the beautiful finished product! (Picture of afghan)

This group is always ready to welcome new members, and since it looks like we may have a knitting craze going on, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some new faces! Drop in on Tuesday evening around 6 pm, or for more information, make sure to contact us at xzylibraryreference@xzylibrary.com .

With the run on our knitting books, I also thought it might be time to refresh our collection a little and add some more current books to interest knitters. Here are just a few of the books we now have to offer our growing population of avid knitters. (List of titles with links to catalog – maybe a short blurb on each?)

Don’t worry about availability on these books. Put one of them on hold if it is checked out!

–Emily the Librarian”

OK, OK. It’s not the perfect post. And it took a lot longer to write. But this is the sort of thing we brainstormed that day, and it definitely tells more of a story. A story about the library, the community, the individuals involved, and the resources available. (Plus, if I’m a knitter in XYZ Community and I Google XYZ knitting, maybe just maybe I’ll come up with this!!)

She and I brainstormed what other kinds of stories her current library blog might tell, and I think something clicked. She was excited again.

I got an email from her today:

“I got 6 comments yesterday!!! :)”

Does your Library’s blog tell a story?

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** This librarian didn’t want to be identified… yet.

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