Library Revolution

I heard such a great story on NPR this evening as I raced to pick my son up at daycare. It seems that the long-standing rule against encores at the Metropolitan Opera was broken Monday night when the Met general manager, Peter Gelb, responded to the audience’s reaction to Juan Diego Florez’s incredible performance of the aria “Ah, Mes Amis” by greenlighting the first encore in 14 years.

For years, the practice of performing an encore at the Met has been forbidden. As Gelb said in the interview I heard today,

“In the ’20s and ’30s and ’40s, there was wording in the program books admonishing the audience with words saying ‘positively no encores allowed,’ kind of like no-smoking signs.”

But the audience went wild on Monday night after Florez’s rendition of the aria, and Gelb wanted to give them what they wanted- even if in doing so he had to break the rules.

“For me, and for the audience at the Met,” Gelb says, “it’s very important that opera be a theatrically satisfying and thrilling experience, and if the audience has a great time with a singer singing an aria like this, with an incredible run of nine high C’s, and they want to hear more of it, why not?”

Way to listen to customer feedback and act on it! Way to break down a barrier to customer satisfaction!

I think we should think of this in our libraries… what are our audiences clamoring for? What rules could we re-examine, re-write, or downright break in order to give our customers what they want?

Oh, and be sure to take a few minutes to listen to the encore - I can totally see why the crowd went wild!

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One point that kept coming up at Computers in Libraries is the importance of not asking for feedback unless you actually intend on doing something with it.

In this age when “transparency,” “collaboration” and “feedback” are the hot buzzwords everyone is trying to capitalize on, there is no faster way to wreck your credibility than saying you want to hear what your users or staff have to say, only to blow off the comments. That’s a sure-fire recipe for squashing any creativity or collaborative spirit faster than you can say “totalitarian regime.”

I think that we can really learn from a recent experience of the New York Mets on this one. See, the Mets organization asked fans to vote online for a new theme song to play during games, and they totally got rickrolled. Yes, indeed. An online viral campaign ensured that when the five million or so votes finally were tallied, the winner was Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

The results were obviously the result of a prank, but the Mets organization did something I can really respect. While they didn’t go so far as to actually declare the song the official winner for the season, they did play it at a game… where it was soundly booed. They were prepared to follow through based on the feedback they received, even if it was in a tongue-in cheek sort of way.

When you ask your staff, users, and colleagues for feedback, are you prepared to do something with that feedback? Do you have a mechanism in place for handling suggestions in a productive way? Are you ready to encourage the development of the ideas offered up, constructively criticize, and put forth the effort necessary to transform raw ideas into effective, creative, and innovative efforts? How do you prove that the suggestions you’re asking for will be taken seriously… even if they involve bad 80’s dance-pop one hit wonders?

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I can’t even say how excited I have been lately about a turn that a major project that I have been working on has recently taken.

See, it’s like this: I’ve been working on a huge project for the better part of a year, and the people who are now starting to look at it and evaluate the product of my efforts. And they are finding things that they don’t like about it!

I am far from being upset that people are finding faults with what I have produced, though. In fact, I am absolutely ecstatic and elated about it because rather than just complaining about the things they don’t like, I’ve had a number of people giving me very helpful suggestions for making my work better. And this kind of feedback has led to a very constructive process that is actually making the product better for everyone.

The lesson I’m learning: Complaining is one thing… but constructive criticism, accompanied by suggestions for solutions actually gets things done. It’s about moving from “complaint mode” to “collaboration mode.”

So I really identified with this post from Library Riot about this very topic:

“we can whine and complain all day, and we can even use the most guerilla methods to sabotage the status quo. But unless we have some kind of solution, or at least an alternative that we’re willing to defend, we sell ourselves and our ideas short. In the end, we only risk alienating ourselves and dooming our potentially great ideas to failure.”

Amen! It’s something we can all think about the next time we have a complaint. The next time I find myself ready to whine about something I don’t like, I’ll definitely take some time to think through some possible solutions before I open my big mouth. (Of course, it won’t stop me form opening my big mouth… that would take a miracle.)

There is great potential power to be found in complaining constructively. I’m learning this first hand.

BTW: What is this project? Maybe I’ll post about it soon.

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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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From the great blog Customers are Always, here is a terrific article about using a blog as a sort of a newfangled, interactive version of a F.A.Q. page. I really think that libraries could put this suggestion for corporate blog use to work for them in very effective ways.

The article comes at it from the perspective that companies can use a blog to communicate with their customers with the answers to the questions they are always being asked… in a way that invites participation, promotes that idea of “corporate transparency”, and will also serve as another line of advertising as the blog gets crawled and linked to on the Internet.

And all of that is fine and good for libraries. On a FAQ blog, we could start by answering questions about our hours, our facilities, our loan policies. I’d actually be pretty interested to see any comments our customers might leave regarding these topics… call it an online suggestion box. Then start answering questions about the library as they come in and watch the resource grow into something that patrons and staff alike can refer to.

But that doesn’t have to be the end of this idea… After all, we’re in the business of answering questions.

With the proliferation of library blogs, I’m always surprised to see how few libraries blog their reference questions… especially the common ones. Instead of a library blog consisting of a list of library events or books to read, why not show the world what we really have to offer?

A common theme I keep hearing lately from the public library Reference librarians I know is that they are getting fewer “easy” ready-reference type questions nowadays… and more really tough, time consuming, reasearch intensive ones. Which, in the words of one of my colleagues, means “More of the interesting stuff.”

Why not keep an ongoing blog where your reference staff can contribute some of the common, interesting, or downright bizarre questions they have worked on recently – with the answers and links to the resources that finally answered the questions? I think this would make another great, valuable resource for patrons to consult, Web surfers to trip over, and librarians to look to when faced with a similar tough question. And it’s one situation where I think comments would really work – conversation enriching the content of the post as folks share additional resources, tips, and feedback.

I can really see this sort of a blog becoming a real resource adding a lot of value to the library Web site. Posts that include actual information that people (or at least one person!) really want? This kind of content has value. And value attracts readers, comments, and customers.

Are we concerned with patron privacy on this one? I think there needs to be some judgment used when deciding what questions to include and how to phrase it – you obviously don’t want to share any personal information that the customer might not want “out there.” But I can’t imagine that this would be too hard to overcome, if even in conversation with the patron: “This is such an interesting question! Do you mind if I write about it on our library blog?” and with some internal policy about how and when (if ever) patrons are identified or discussed.

All too often, I don’t think that the public really knows much about the wonderful set of professional skills we librarians have to offer. Sharing the questions, the process, and the fruits of our efforts in a public forum like a blog would be great advertising for what we have to offer at the library: skills and information, not just books!

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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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Last night, I had a funny interaction with a woman giving a telephone survey about grocery stores. Now, I hate telemarketers as much as the next person, but surveys are OK by me, as long as they’re short and not too invasive into personal information. In case you haven’t noticed, I always seem to have an opinion to express.

Anyway, this lady called with a survey, and I was game to answer, so I did. (Of course, I lied on the first question: “Are you the person in your household who does most of the grocery shopping?” Hell no. My husband does that kind of stuff. For one, I hate it, and for another thing, I apparently exhibit an utter disregard for the cumulative value of cents-off coupons, especially combined with store sales. So I’m not allowed. But I digress.)

I actually had a good time answering the questions because the woman who called was personable and had a sense of humor, and we had a nice conversation. It was a good experience all around. She got the info she needed for hr survey, I got to express my opinion about the poor selection of baby food at one local market, and we both got a good laugh over a couple of silly answers. Plus, I updated her on the American Idol finale show, so she didn’t miss anything while at work. Hey, you have to have priorities.

So I got to wondering about libraries and phone surveys. I know that libraries tend to do a lot of paper surveys, and I think that’s a great step towards creating services based on the input of our customers. But phone surveys? I don’t now of library efforts at this around here… which doesn’t mean they don’t exist. At the very least, I don’t think they are all too common around this area.

At a very, very quick glance, phone surveys strike me as a good, relatively inexpensive way to reach out to the population your library serves, not just the active users and not just the folks who don’t ignore mass mailings/paper surveys. Sure, I’m a library user, but mass mailings and emails go right in the trash. End of story. End of survey.

I’d be interested to know about some libraries who have done phone surveys of their population… I know you must be out there. What did you do them for (New services? Building projects? Budget?)? What was the result? The community response? Legal issues in this age of “Do Not Call”? Would you do it again? Any advice for libraries thinking about this approach?

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Great post today from Pimp My Library about Perfection. Great post, Mary! From one reformed perfectionist to another!

Perfection has been on my mind lately, and I feel like it’s definitely not a concept we can effectively apply to all things library. This is not to say that we should not be detail oriented, or even exacting in many of the things we do as librarians. Please. You won’t find a more detail-oriented person than me!

But it’s time to stop obsessing about making things perfect before considering them usable for our libraries. (Because I am who I am and I do what I do, in my mind this has a lot to do with the way we develop, promote, use, and change Web-based library services. But I don’t see why this all couldn’t apply just as well to other areas of library service, too.)

Too often I see library services get nitpicked to death by people trying to make them perfect before bringing the service out to patrons. Too often the life of the project gets sucked out of it, and the timing gets all off… we tend to miss the boat a little, I think, when it comes to getting something started while people are still excited about it.

And most of all, building a library service in the back room, making it perfect, and then presenting it users for use and feedback after it has been more or less perfected… this model of development makes it so hard to make any real changes to the service based on user feedback. Sure, we can try to address user complaints, but the framework by that time is more or less set in stone, and all tweaks need to be done within that framework. And major changes down the road are hindered, since you’ve set up a development model that is a real bear, meaning any changes require a huge project and time commitment.

What’s so wrong with letting your users in on a new service (or an old service, revised!) that isn’t really “done” yet? As long as you put that service out with the goal of getting feedback that can be used in refining the service, and then really do it, then what’s the big deal?

Put out your library blog without forming a committee to discuss (for months!) the exact content, layout, structure, etc. Just get some basic guidelines and go! Then see how your public reacts (by asking them and listening to their answers!) and make changes accordingly!

Start your new literacy/homebound/outreach/whatever service without a giant to-do (there is a lot to be said for the so-called “soft roll-out”). Then have some meaningful conversations with the first users, and see where that leads!

Skip the focus groups and committee meetings with your new OPAC design… put something together, and do a little usability testing in your library. Nothing fancy, just communicating with your customers. Then you don’t feel like you’re limited to  “the plan” whensomethign pops up that just doesn’t work.

Businesses, especially Web-based ones, are moving towards this sort of a “throw it out there and be ready to be flexible” model, and it’s really working for them. And no, their products aren’t perfect. But by skipping initial perfection, I think we can more effectively work towards the eventual goal of creating more perfect library services.

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As became obvious with my Cookie Monster post, After 25 years away from it, Sesame Street has once again become an extremely important part of my life. (Go ahead. Ask me what Elmo was thinking about today. I will know. )

As I watch it each morning, I find that after all these years I’m still impressed by what I can learn from the show. The lessons may be simple, but they are important, and sometimes we can all be reminded of the simple, important lessons in life.

Here’s one example of a SS sketch that conveys a simple, but important message… one that libraries could really think about.

Maybe I’m just too library-obsessed, but when I see this, I think about the way some libraries operate when it comes to listening. I’ve seen banana-ear syndrome affecting library staff who can’t seem to hear what one another are saying. I’ve seen it with librarians not really listening to colleagues in their field. And most of all, I see this all the time with libraries who just can’t seem to hear what their patrons are saying.

Library customers and potential library customers everywhere are talking to you. They have something important to say. Are you listening??

I mean really listening and hearing what they have to say about your library, the services they are getting, the services they want, and their lives and interests. And if you’re listening, are you taking that next step and doing something about it? And I don’t mean making a change based on a complaint from an obnoxious patron.

When was the last time your library reexamined policies and procedures in order to address general rumblings from the patrons rather than to quiet specific screaming rants? When was the last time you picked a patron’s brain about what they want from your library? When was the last time you spoke to a non-user and listened to the reasons why they don’t use the library… rather than trying to convince them to do so? When was the last time you went out into the community to find out what matters to the people you serve outside of LibraryWorld?

If you’re not sure, maybe it’s time to take the banana out of your ear.

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I resisted the temptation (the BIG temptation, I must admit!) to leave the Long Island Library Conference after lunch. I could have enjoyed the rest of a gorgeous day digging around in my garden before picking up the little terror from daycare. But there was one more program I wanted to attend before I went home. So I gave up my gardening dreams and persevered through the end of the conference. I was glad that I did!

Sophie Brookover and Liz Burns of Pop Goes the Library gave a great presentation that ended up being the highlight of my day. Using a broad definition of “pop culture” (one that encompasses anything that is of interest to your patrons), Sophie and Liz presented an entertaining and engaging program centered around a general principle I hold very dear. To summarize (and over simplify!), they were talking about creating user centered services based on opening the lines of communication with your customers.

This is the essential lesson of the so-called library 2.0 movement, and its something I think that the libraries of our area should think long and hard about.

Let me put it this way. At the very same conference, as I was walking around and talking to people, I had a conversation with some folks from my own local library. They wanted to know when I was going to bring my son in for some children’s programs. “When you have them on a Saturday,” I replied. (This is not the first time we’ve had this discussion.) No dice. They just don’t offer programs for his age group on the weekend. End of conversation.

I was checking my email on my PDA (the country club had a great WiFi connection), when I overheard a conversation between two conference attendees about how their teen patrons are overly attached to their phones. “I wish I had a laser beam to knock the phones out of their hands!” one person said passionately. Then they started a long conversation about devising new ways to ban cell phones from the library so that the teens could concentrate on more worthwhile pursuits.

By the conference dessert bar, I happened to start chatting with two librarians I know, who were discussing downloadable audio books. “We’re really not too interested in them because so many of our patrons are elderly,” one woman said. I stuffed a brownie in my mouth and walked away.

So I think the message of the Pop Goes the Library talk is one that is sorely needed around here. The only thing was that I wished they had spent less time talking about what “pop culture” is, and more about how we can communicate with our users (and potential users) about what their needs are and where their interests lie. This is where many libraries seem to have a real hang up – in actually engaging out customers in a productive dialog and putting the feedback we get to good use. But that’s a minor point. Sophie and Liz did a great job, and I hope that their message got through to some of the people I saw in the audience!!!

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