Are You a 2.0 Library?

Presented online for METRO (www.metro.org) on 13 April 2009.

View more presentations from Michael Sauers.

23 Things @ SAPL

Nebraska's 23 Things program starts Monday. I wish we were talented enough to put a promo like this together:

Hi-Fi Sci-Fi Library

The genius that is David Lee King & Michael Porter, along with a cast of thousands (well, dozens maybe) have released the epic we've all been waiting for...

Meme: Passion Quilt

I haven't officially been tagged with this meme to my knowledge but I was inspired this morning by the combination of a quote from a book I'm reading and preparing for a Library 2.0 presentation next week. So, here's my entry:

Who am I tagging? Many I know have already done this but I'm sure I've missed a few so if you've already done this, my apologies:

1. laurak
2. mlibrarianus
3. rgarza
4. nirak
5. cjburns

3 Simple Meme Rules:

• Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about...and give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt" and link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Thing #15: What is Library 2.0?

I'm going to cheat on this one and post a screencast created by my friend Cindi Trainor since I agree with every word she has to say about the topic. (The text is small in the embedded version so you'll want to click the Full Screen icon once it starts playing or view it on blip.tv directly.)

Of 2.0 and staff workloads

When I was on the University of Nebraska, Lincoln east campus last week there was one thing I heard that I'd not mentioned in my previous blog post about the day; "re-staffing". Please allow me explain.

Often, especially during my Library 2.0 or Social Web presentations (both of which I was giving that day) I inevitably get the question "but how can I do my job and do all this new stuff too?" It's a legitimate question yet I dread it all the same. You see, it's my job to do all this new stuff. I don't have to pull a reference desk shift or meet with students. I do have to travel, teach, and present, but all the "new fun 2.0 stuff" I do is in complete support of said travel, teaching, and presenting. So, how have I answered the question?

In the past, and on that day, I mumbled my excuse about how my time is spent and then proceeded to mumble a bit more about "working it into your existing workflow" and "letting the decision of which 2.0 things to use/do be an 'organic' process". Both are legitimate answers but aren't very satisfying ones to either me or the audience.

But over lunch, after my social web presentation, one of the campus librarians said to another, "maybe we need to consider some re-staffing" in order to be able to do some of this stuff." At the time I don't recall reacting to the comment that much but it stuck with me enough to blog about it a week later.

Maybe at an institutional level adding the new social tools onto an already overloaded workflow isn't the answer. Granted, I firmly believe that some of the new tools can be integrated successfully and streamline the existing workflow, but what about larger tools like blogging. Instead of expecting staff to blog for the library in addition to their existing workload, how about redistributing the workload so the staff that will be blogging on behalf of the library have a little less of what they did before and now have the time to blog?

I'm not saying this would be easy, nor could I possibly claim to have a "plan" for something like that that you could implement in your library. (How could I, each library's solution would be completely different from every other.) However, maybe we should not look at this as an addition problem, but more of a rearrangement problem.

Your thoughts?

RCPL: On the right track

I've spent half my day so far presenting to and talking with the staff of the Rapid City Public Library and it's been a blast so far. What can I say, the library seems to be doing everything right as far as I'm concerned. They're making changes but not just for change's sake. Every time someone described a recent change to me it was followed by telling me (directly or indirectly) why the change was made and what went into the decision process. During one of the lunchtime discussions I mentioned that I felt that the staff gave off the impression that they were involved in the decisions being made and felt that their opinions were heard by the powers that be. Turns out that the library just completed an anonymous staff survey in which the staff reported that they indeed felt included in the decision making process. If someone from the outside can figure that out in just a few hours, that just shows how well the staff are exhibiting their happiness to their users, and how much management takes the staff into account. Bravo RCPL!

Oh, and did mention RCPL was recently declared one of the 10 great places to find a nook and read a book by USA Today? Another round of applause please for the staff of RCPL!

Who are we to decide

Continuing the theme of my last post, here's a college library in the UK in which "[u]sing the social networking site in the library is now banned" because "[d]uring peak times students had to queue for up to twenty minutes to get onto a PC in the library last week. Infuriated students were left standing in line watching their fellow students writing on each other’s Facebook walls and ‘poking’ each other." The funniest part is the response from students. Here's a common one:

“It pisses me off,” she said, referring to other students using Facebook. “But then I do the same sometimes.”

In other words, the students get upset if they have to wait yet admit they make other wait. So, the library decided to just ban Facebook since it obviously isn't a "legitimate" use of computers in the library. Oh, IM and gaming on library computers are banned to. "Exeter Students’ Union tried to ban Facebook on campus, but the plan was blocked by addicted undergraduates."

Teaching road safety by banning roads

Another topic I've been on the record with is my feeling that banning a technology (Wikipedia, Google, Social Networking services, Cell phones) as a result of some not using it "correctly" or "appropriately" is short-sighted at best, harmful at worst. This morning a co-worker forwarded me an article which says that the Ohio Education Association has officially "strongly discouraged teachers from using social-networking web sites such as MySpace and Facebook to create personal profiles or communicate with students." Why, because "the dangers of participating in these two sites outweigh the benefits.” [emphasis added]

It seems that a few teachers in Ohio have created seriously inappropriate MySpace profiles which their students had access to. The examples include "one [who] says she’s an 'aggressive freak in bed,' another says she has taken drugs and likes to party, and a third describes his mood as 'dirty'." As a result, no teacher should use these services. Yep, let's take the actions of a few and apply it to everyone. Hey, a few people have hit people with cars, let's ban everyone from cars. Better yet, let's ban roads! That's a great way to teach kids how to drive safely.

Well, one of the commenters to this post pointed out another blog post along these same lines. A Proposal for Banning Pencils was written by Doug Johnson, the Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato Public Schools, back in 2005. Why does he think pencils should be banned?

1. A student might use a pencil to poke out the eye of another student.
2. A student might write a dirty word or, worse yet, a threatening note to another student, with a pencil.
3. One student might have a mechanical pencil, making those with wooden ones feel bad.
4. The pencil might get stolen.
5. Pencils break and need repairing all the time.
6. Kids who have pencils might doodle instead of working on their assignments or listening to the teacher.

His justification? These are the same reasons for banning MP3 players in the classroom:

1. They might get stolen.
2. They make kids who can't afford them feel bad.
3. Kids might listen to them instead of to the teacher.
4. Who knows what kinds of lyrics the kids might be listening to?
5. Kids might listen to test answers.

Read both article and all the comments. Then think about your library's cell phone policy? Is the policy based in the reality of technology today or a knee-jerk reaction to the behavior of a few?

Signage improvements

I've gone on record with regards to my skepticisim about getting rid of Dewey. I believe that before we ditch Dewey (problems and all) completely, maybe we should try better signage. Here's an example of what I'm talking about from Sandy Kallunki, Supervisor, Children's Dept./Adult Fiction Dept./Teen Zone, Brown County Central Library. (Reprinted with her permission.)

As part of a project for making our department more "browser friendly" for people of all ages, reading levels and languages, we are re-doing our children's nonfiction shelf signage.  We are revising our "end of range" lists (signs) to include little images in addition to dewey numbers and the subject names, and then we are putting a matching image and subject name on shelf label holders where the actual books are.  So for instance, the list at the end of one set of shelves includes not just "567 Dinosaurs" but also a little picture of a dinosaur.  Initial reaction from kids and adults has been very positive.

We use the "grip on" shelf label holders from Demco and it is still a bit awkward sliding books over the top part. 

It has been a challenge to find images that kids and adults recognize and that are identifiable when shrunk down small.  Also, we looked for non-copyrighted stuff.  We are happy with most of the images that we've come up with, others less so.

The other tricky part is that this has forced us to look at what Dewey numbers we use to try to be more consistent where possible.  For instance, rather than having Titanic books in two different places (two different call numbers), let's put them all in one spot.

We also plan to use the shelf label holders to identify popular series and authors in our chapter books section.  And we have used them in our children's Spanish section to identify where the different types of Spanish books are--picture books as opposed to nonfiction.  There the challenge is translating the terms we use into Spanish.

In response to my request to reprint her e-mail here she also added:

Our new nonfiction signs/shelf labels are actually part of a 2007 LSTA grant project (almost finished) through which we are setting up a revitalized "Parent/Teacher Center" in our Children's Department as part of a broad-based local Community Partnership for Children. One of the objectives of the grant was to make the entire department easier to "self-navigate" for our very diverse customer base.

I've asked for some photos and hope to share them here in the future.

Coffee Shop in the (High School) Library

I've got to say I love this idea!

"Marketing students work as baristas in the Centennial cafe, which brings in about $200 a day. After expenses, the cafe should make about $10,000 during the school year, and that will be turned into scholarships for the 10 to 15 student employees."

Marketing, employment, scholarships, and all in the school library. Now, if they'll just stop tossing out the students for playing D&D (oh, wait, that's my bitter memory...)

Thanks Alanna

LBI @ IL2007

In case you missed "the Dutch boys'" presentation, here is my 10 edited version of the live portions of their presentation.

Who Drives Change?

Dr. Melmer from the SD Department of Education spoke at SDLA2007. At the end of his talk he drew an analogy between how banks have changed and how libraries need to change. I took that and made it a smidge more visual. Here's the result:

| View | Upload your own

Hire a librarian?

On Tuesday I was visiting the Morton-James Public Library in Nebraska City, NE and noticed this sign (right) in the computer lab. I asked about it and it turns out that they do offer the service of a librarian to "do the work for you" at the rate of $5 per 1/2 hour. They don't get many takers but there have been a few. Mainly they've found that it actually encourages people to learn how to do it for themselves instead of just expecting the staff to do it for them. (They do also offer free one-on-one computer classes.) Shelly from BCR has already left her opinion in flickr, what do you think?

I'm in Walt's index

I just got our copy of Walt Crawford's Balanced Libraries: Thoughts on Continuity and Change and lo, what do I find in the index, but my name!

"Do you have a carefully developed acceptable use policy for internet access within the library? Why? What makes internet resources different from books or magazines, in terms of acceptable use within a library setting? Wouldn't it be more straightforward to have an overall acceptable-use policy that applies to all library resources? Eliminating redundant policies saves time and makes application more consistent and defensible. For that matter, you might be able to simplify library policies in general by taking a different approach. Read "Don't doesn't work" by Michael Sauers. I find his case for consistent, simplified, behavioral policies compelling—and almost certainly time-saving."

Thanks Walt! I can't wait to read the rest of the book.

Shunning Dewey on NPR

Arizona Library Shuns Dewey System
Weekend Edition Saturday, June 16, 2007 · When a public library in Gilbert, Ariz., opened this month, the books had no Dewey decimals on their spines. The library is organized like a bookstore. Library official Marshall Shore explains why.
Listen to this story...

My response, every reason he gave for why they got rid of Dewey could have been down without getting rid of Dewey.

One library's solution

I visited the Scottsbluff Public Library in Scottsbluff, NE on Monday and I loved their solution to the Dewey "problem". To them, it just seemed like the right thing to do and have been doing it for years. I was told the public love it. (They also do something similar in fiction.)

If interested in doing this in your library, you can order them(well, a close version anyway) from DEMCO. They're called "DEMCO® Sturdy Colored Shelf Markers". Sorry, their site doesn't allow for linking directly to a product's page. (Hey Demco, fix that, I'm trying to sell some of your stuff here and you're not making it easy.)

Weinberger Interview

For those that missed it, the OPAL archive has an MP3 of yesterday's interview of David Weinberger, author of Everything is Miscellaneous.

Change, Transparancy, and a blog suggestion

When I tell people that I currently have more than 400 feeds in my aggregator most stare at me a bit slack-jawed. How could I possibly read that much content. Well, to be honest, I read a lot of headlines and skim the rest. I look for patterns and that leads me to what I need to read in more depth. However, after today, I will be reading every word of every post Meredith Farkas ever writes. (Oh, and there's a copy of Social Software in Libraries on my desk that I'll be starting just as soon as I'm done with Everything is Miscellaneous.)

Two days ago, Meredith posted a lengthy, yet worth the time to read, commentary on change and transparency, and how change for change's sake isn't necessarily good and how transparency only works if you're actually responding to the comments you're receiving. Go now and read her post. Be sure to read all the comments too. I'm sure there'll be more by the time you get there.

When you're done, leave a response, the go back to her first paragraph and follow the link (or this one) to the Library Suggestion Blog from Virginia Commonwealth University’s library. For those looking for a way to use blogging to be more transparent and more human, there's a spectacular example that I'll be subscribing to and demoing in my future blogging workshops.

Thanks Meridith! I'm glad I know you and I'm glad the profession has you!

And another thing...

Signs only work for those that read them.

What's the problem?

The problem isn't the Dewey Decimal System, the problem is us.

A new twist in the "bookstore model"

I generally support the "bookstore model" idea when it comes to libraries. However, I'm not sure that what the Gilbert (AZ) library is doing is a good idea.

"When the new Gilbert library opens next month, it will be the first public library in the nation whose entire collection will be categorized without the Dewey Decimal Classification System, Maricopa County librarians say. Instead, tens of thousands of books in the Perry Branch library will be shelved by topic, similar to the way bookstores arrange books."

I'm not anti-change, but might this just be going a little too far? I worked in bookstores for ten years and, despite the learning curve involved in learning how to count (which is basically all that need to be done to find a book once you have a Dewey number,) I've always found it easier to find books in a library than in a bookstore.

Granted, I'm looking at it from the "I need this particular book" POV while the article is coming from the "browsing" POV. Does Library 2.0 mean ditching standard classification systems all together? Are they allowing tagging in the OPAC to help support this new shelving method? I guess I'm left with more questions than answers at this point. I'll be interested in seeing how this works out in the long-term.

Denver Public Library: Summer of Reading

The Customer-Centered Library: How to stop tweaking and start doing it with new steps for 2007

Karen Hyman, South Jersey Library Cooperative
Columbus Public Library, Columbus, NE

• After today's session you will...
• see from the customer's point of view
• focus on user needs and expectations
• development & implement things that support a customer centered library
• operate the library for the convenience of your customer
• make customer service a way of life
• What makes a library really great?
• money?
• size?
• luck?
• use?
• Really great for whom?
• Customer's have choices
• Google
• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble
• Movies on demand
• WiFi @ Starbucks
• Cell phones & PDAs
• The big fear
• libraries (and what they can offer) will be irelevant and invisible to the majority of people
• New opportunities to...
• provide value-added service
• embrace new roles
• be a "third place"
• take the library to new people
• fail to take advantage of new opportunities
• provide poor service in new and irritating wasy
• Value added equals
• current
• relevant
• in tune with customer needs
• beneficial from the customer's point of view
• defined by the quality of the result
• Service can be your competitive edge
• intelligent
• responsive
• personal
• Quote from OCLC Perspectives report
• Customer service basics
• first, do no harm
• everyone here is an expert on customer service because everyone here is a customer
• get a grip
• Of course there are other strategies
• you can change riders
• you can get a committee to study the dead horse
• you can benchmark how other companies rise dead horses
• you can declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse
• you car harness several dead horses together
• But after you've tried all of these things, you're still going to have to dismount
• change
• some people love change
• excitement
• anticipation
• curiosity
• some people hate change
• dread
• disorientation
  
  
• loss
• nobody gets to choose how they feel
• dealing with change is a learned skill
• all predicitions haev equal value
• we can all join each other on the edge of the unknown
• Step one: Care
• Caring
• some people just care
• some people just don't
• most of us fall in the middle
• caring and not caring is contageous
• blaming is the enemy of caring
• everything flows from caring
• the key to quality customer service is creative problem solving
• the key to quality problem solving is having a problem
• most care more when we...
• know and like the other person
• don't feel tired
• don't feel threatened
• aren't having a bad day
• get support and rewards for caring
• take pride in caring, or appearing to care
• try caring
• can improve your day
• uses your skills
• can increase energy
• can be fun
• you're paid to care
• make it a habit, and caring gets easier.
• caring begets attention, attention begets curiosity and curiosity is the fount from which all knowledge flows
• Step two: Think like a customer
• why don't we think like customers?
• we work at the library
• we don't understand the customer
• we're not trying hard enough
• we don't focus on results
• we hear but don't listen
• we think we know better
• we don't see options as options
• when you think like a customer you...
• put yourself in their place
• make it your business to see results for the customer
• make customer service a way of life and a part of every decision
• step three: see the problem(s)
• to define problems from the customer's perspective...
• somebody wants something and they're not getting it
• somebody's getting something they don't want
• step four: change your approach, not the customer
• why not change the customer?
• what do you do with someone who...?
• why can't people...?
• shouldn't people...?
• people used to...?
• children used to...?
• Because you can't!
  
  
• ditch the rules
• have a bonfire for the signs
• root out negatives
• solve problems when they happen
• work as a team
• what are the rules?
• do we really need this rule at all?
• can we say the same thing in a more positive way
• share expectations and look again
• to change your approach
• provide customers the opportunities to do what you want
• skateboard rack
• baskets for books
• try doing what they want
• express checkout
• eating in the library
• when it comes to customer service...
• every choice has a down side
• err on the side of customer services that is positive, welcoming, and empowering for the consumer
• step five: abandon victimhood
• is your library a culture of victimhood?
• we never get any more money
• we never get any respect
• why are we always the last to know?
• nobody understands all the great things we do
• we always have to clean up after these slobs
• Victimhood...
• obscures facts
• is powerless
• is personal
• saps your energy
• takes you nowhere
• Try telling the same story in a different way
  
  
• Step six: Organize your library to support quality service
• to support quality service
• easy to use continuous communication system
• morning briefings
• library blogs
• whiteboard in staff area
• email to customers
• newsletters, recommendations
  
  
• flexible, helpful, friendly signage
• create systems that support consistent great service
• make it fun
• create a supporting culture for risk, flexibility, curiosity, etc.
  
  
• set specific targets & measure results
• Deliver the goods
  
  
• step seven: walk through everything
• walk through every process
• in the building, on the web, phone
• to share the customer's experience
• to see what works and what doesn't
• to get your vendors on the customers' side
• to five vendor responses
• the default is...
• go to another source for support
• help notes explain that in section. 1.A.3(b)7
  
  
• it works here
• nobody else has complained
• in your library
• what makes it easy to find things
• what makes it difficult to find things
• what alerts or obscures possibilities
  
  
• what makes navigation a breeze or a chore
• easy/alerts to possibilities
  
  
• very open, spacious, neat, etc
• shelves well organized and documented
• overhead signs in adult stacks
• natural light, large windows
• large signs on soffits
• difficult, obscures possibilities
• lobby is dark & dull
• "NO" signs in the library
• nothing hits you when you walk in
• no encouragement to ask for help
• etc...
• self service library
• easy and intuitive
  
  
• helpful & friendly signage
• alerts to possibilities
  
  
• direct online interaction
• self-checkout
• drive-up window
• 24/7/365 access
• step eight: Get the book into the customers' hands
• if books are the brand, what could you be doing with books that you're not doing now?
• reduce processing time
• grab-and-go collection
• buy when it's fast and affordable
• float the collection
• Netflix model
• Weed!
• merchandise the collection
  
  
• Through merchandising you can
• transform the library experience
• find out what sells
• sell what you want to buy
• find out what nobody will read as part of the everyday process
• make it easier for your public to discover materials, "impulse buy"
• make it a little harder for your staff to find specific titles
• [photos of merchandising examples]
• Step nine: Transform the library experience
• find five things that would surprise and delight your customers and put them in the center
• a warm, inviting 21st century environment
• has a greeter
• comfortable
• allows food
• provides public computers & WiFi
• allows cell phones
• avoids too many rules
• the destination library
• enjoyable, friendly, fun environment
• comfortable seating
• extended hours
• hi tech, hi touch
• browsing, book clubs, author events
• drop in story hours
• supports personal use of technology
• community center
• fosters collegiality
• serve kids
• does your children's area have a percentage of floor space that equals their percentage of circulation?
• play fair
• Step ten: Overcome overdues
• reexamining the rules
• pay when $10 threshold is reached
• Fine Free Fridays
  
  
• no overdues -- but we love donations
  
  
• courtesy reminders -- consider Library Elf
• multiple renewals
• new motto: "Late is great!"
• step eleven: take the library to the people
• have an online application process and mail the card with the library info
• provide live online services
• put satellite libraries in the community
• experiment with mobile communication to cellphone & PDA
• [screenshots of examples]
• Step twelve: Make something happen
• did anything happen?
• depends on results for the customer, not the library
• depends on fit with everyday life of the customer
• how many things have to "go right" for this to work?
  
  
• focus on results for the customer will help you to...
• chose among the flawed options
• avoid "compromises" that produce no results
• handle the down side of a great choice
• do the extra work that makes a real difference
• 5 things you can start today
• look at the rules and remove or restate
  
  
• look at what people want & find ways to deliver it. ask them and listen when they answer
  
  
• walk through your building and fix what doesn't work for the customer
• incorporate customer service into every decision and problem solving process
• treat every customer like a person

Breakout groups: Five things your library can do to surprise your customers

• Suggestion box
• free paperback for every $1 in fines paid
• address customer by name
• more color in the library (too much tan)
  
  
• MySpace page
• check out off items: GPS, Projectors, Laptops
• WiFi
• "Check Us Out" sign
• Gaming Night
• AccuCut machine for public use
• No fines
• Allow cell phones
• Automatic reminders
• Recommendations in the OPAC
• Put holds in an ordered queue
• More classes for the public
• Audio book during a knitting circle
• Open 5-midnight one night
• 5-cent fine on unfriendly staff
• Live mystery at the library
• DVD checkout length as book
• group computer space
• public fax machine
• food allowed area
• fine free day
• cake pans
• door greeter / roving staff member
  
  
• allow food
• emphasize the e-resources
• teen hangout
• "We settle bar bets"
• new baby program
• book delivery program
• movie nights
• Director "open door"
• treat drawer
• no rural membership fee
  
  
• background music

• 
  
  

Brooklyn Public Library Says Not So Fast

According to Library Journal BPL isn't as close to partnering with NetFlix as a New York Post article proclaimed.

Amazon 1, Libraries 0

Seth Godin points out a new feature in Amazon that links citations but distinctly points out that you won't find this feature at your library.

Libraries and Netflix

Can't afford to replace all those DVDs that your patrons seem to chew on? Why not outsource your DVD collection to Netflix? Brooklyn PL is considering doing just that.

"In what would be a first in the United States, the Brooklyn Public Library hopes to team up with Netflix to deliver DVDs and videos to anyone in the borough with a library card, The Post has learned. The price would be unbeatable - free."

Denver Public Library Video Contest Winners

I'm not sure I blogged about this before but I did post a screenshot of the contest on flickr. DPL was holding a video contest for teens and have posted the winning videos.

Be a librarian, get paid in L$

If you don't know what I mean by "L$" this position isn't for you but if you're very into Second Life, you can be the librarian for Rockcliffe University in-world. Now this is a Library 2.0 position!

Rockcliffe University SecondLife Campus (RUSLC) is associated with the Rockcliffe School of Business due to launch in the fall of 2008. The school's purpose is to provide online education in the fields of Organizational Design and Management. RUSLC is a proof of concept school within Secondlife to test various elements of education design and delivery compared to other online techniques.

On December 5th, 2006, RUSLC opened its doors to SL residents through the offering of programs specifically tailored to the SL environment. These classes are free of charge to all SecondLife residents and are sponsored by the Rockcliffe School of Business and Knomaze Corporation. These courses will be the forerunner to additional courses aimed at a college level of education in the fall of 2008 (including tax receipts, college credit hours, certifications and all that good stuff).

Open Position: Librarian

Rockcliffe is looking for a Librarian to assist us in establishing the underlying library infrastructure services necessary to provide support to our business objects. That is, in order to develop a world class set of business courses, we require someone that understands the ins and outs of how to access peer-reveiwed publications and is interested in experimenting with how those services can be delivered through various communication mechanisms, including the Second Life platform.

The inital starting conditions of this venture however will not be that grandious at the get go. We are building this school up from game play to real-world business only as quickly as venture capital and revenues allow. To start we are looking for someone to help guide us in the possibilities of what library services may offer beyond the obvious sorting and cataloguing of resources, objects, scripts, etc within Second Life.

The position will be mostly volunteer to start. Compensation will consist of a weekly stippend in line with what others currently working on this project are receiving. Depending on the effort required we are looking at a range of between $500 and $1000L/wk.

If interested please forward a brief resume to Phelan Corrimal including some idea of both SL and RL history in Library Services.