Posts tagged ‘Uncategorized’
Educational Role of Libraries
In a comment regarding PeterB’s post on library CE, JanieH said:
“I hope there is someone out there that can answer your not-so-rhetorical of ‘what’s next’ for both our sakes. . .For what it’s worth, I do see the same trend happening in training for the public at our library — what they want and what they need is becoming an issue when planning classes.”
I’ve been thinking about this and I’m starting to conclude that the educational role of libraries might be the ‘next big thing.’ Where else can you go to ask a question of a real person on almost any topic? I know some of you are thinking of the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, but technically is that free? And of course you could call an 800-number and talk to a rep over the phone for problems or tutorials for your software, hardware, or communications technology, but we all know how ineffective that procedure can be in fulfilling our needs. Other than taking a course or a workshop (which often cost lots of $), there are relatively few other opportunities for patrons to receive just-in-time, real-person help for computer issues.
At libraries of every kind, anyone can walk up to the reference desk and ask a computer question, get help on using an application or receive assistance in finding information on how to solve a technological problem. If libraries capitalize on this aspect of service, for which a gaping hole exists in our society, we could rule the world! Most computer problems that I encounter at my high school library or at the university reference desk are easily solved and within my ability range. Students ask for help in converting files between applications, using some of the easier features of common software, troubleshooting connectivity issues, or searching effectively for something online. By providing patrons with both Q-and-A services, and short (5 minute) tutorials helping them to solve the computer problem they have just encountered, our value and worth in patrons’ eyes would expand exponentially. If we could market the library’s natural in-person and online “computer troubleshooting and tutoring services,” we would both fill a niche and meet our patrons’ needs, thereby encouraging them to come to us for any kind of
question!
Additionally, these types of computer questions — which are increasingly common areas of patron concern — are well within most librarians’ expertise. If they are not, they provide an opportunity for librarians to learn new skills and information that is immediately applicable on the job. If a technical problem cannot be solved in-house, it could encourage networking and mutual reliance on other organizations and resources, something we all agree is important.
Howdy from NJLA Conference
I’m sitting here at lunch overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on a beautiful, sunny day in Long Branch, NJ. Today is the final day of the NJLA conference which has been filled with wonderful programs and many great, spontaneous conversations with colleagues.
There are some good program summaries already posted at: http://blog.njla.org, the official NJLA blog managed by PGTL blogger Sophie Brookover. Sophie did a great program, along with Palinet’s John Iliff, “Feeding The World Information: Blogging, RSS, and Podcasting,” John did a wonderful program earlier in the day on Web 2.0 that was aimed at library administrators.
I was on a panel program, and I’ll have a summary of that program up on the blog soon, along with more goodies I collected at other programs.
Gotta run if I’m going get a seat for Maureen Sullivan on Appreciative Inquiry!
(ps, get the njla podcast feed at: http://podbasket.com/feeds/njla2006)
Technorati Tag: njla2006
Do Away with the Long Forms — Keep it Simple!
It seems to me that many libraries wrote policies and procedures for providing reference by email 5+ years ago and have not revisted them since. I did a quick informal survey of several library web sites and what I found was quite disheartening. I found lots of email policies with rule upon rule right up front that actually seemed to discourage the library customer from using the service. Or I found big long forms that act as a barrier to asking a question quickly. Perhaps back when email was a “new service” for the reference department these rules and forms had a place, but I believe it is time to break down the barriers.
We had a long, clunky form with lots of rules preceding it at my library for many years. Several months ago we had a departmental meeting where we discussed why we were holding on to the rules and form. We could find no good reason. So we did away with the rules and revised the form… and watched our email question statistics rise as a result. Here is our new form, it is quick and easy to use and a step in the right direction.
We still have a page with policies (several of which I do not agree with and would like to see gone and some of which have been added by administration recently), but at least the policy does not clutter up the main page and force the questioner to scroll forever to get to a form or email address.
Take a good look at this one representative example. I could list dozens that are similar to this, but this example is from a public library that won a “National Award for Library Service” (and I have edited out several sentences for the sake of brevity):
E-Mail Reference Service is designed to answer your brief, factual questions. We can also provide suggestions to help you find the answer you need, assist you with search strategies, and help you learn more about the library’s collections and services. Please fill in the form below to request information.
You can ask us to:
*look up dates, names, spellings, definitions, brief biographical or historical information
*locate addresses/phone numbers for businesses, associations and government
*suggest other information sources for your question.
Remember: You can search our Library Catalog, check availability of books and other materials in our collection, renew your checked out items, and place holds. Please note our many Electronic Resources that can be accessed from home by library cardholders.
We will send an e-mail to update you on the status of your request if more than 2 business days are needed to answer your question.
If your question is in-depth, or you need a faster answer, please call us! You can always speak directly to a reference librarian during our open hours by visiting or calling Reference Services Department.
If I came across this as a library customer it is likely I would not ask my questions as it seems like they don’t really want to provide email service. They have put forth so many rules that I would feel uncertain if my questions met the parameters. To make matters worse, this lengthy preamble is followed by an even lengthier form that tries to simulate a reference interview.
Why do so many libraries insist that only “brief factual” questions can be answered via email? To me, it makes more sense to have in-depth questions come in via email so that staff has time to research without the pressure of the person standing in front of them.
The example I gave is doing one thing right, letting patrons know that they will respond in a somewhat timely fashion. I have noticed several libraries that have policies in place that say they will answer in 2-3 working days and not on weekends at all. In our “instant everything” society having a turnaround more than an hour or two is not acceptable. If you are going to provide email reference service, you need to check the inbox continually and reply as soon as possible (even if that reply is just a confirmation that you have received or are working on the question). If a library customer leaves a message on voice mail we never wait 2-3 days to reply to that question. Why do we wait so long to reply to email questions? Do they not deserve the same courtesy as telephone reference questions?
I urge everyone to look at their email reference service (I will be challenging my library to do the same) and see how we can turn this Library 1.0 service in to something that is more user-friendly in a 2.0 World.
What Libraries Can Learn from ‘Snakes on a Plane’
OK, so even CNN (search for ‘Snake Appeal;’ video clip aired Apr. 14) has picked up the story about how bloggers are affecting Hollywood. . . Excitement about the truly simple title and plot of the forthcoming movie Snakes on a Plane is amazing; use your favorite search engine to find “Snakes on a plane blog” (warning: foul language ensues). Libraries truly have much to learn from this phenomenon!
Imagine your library users getting this excited about your collection, facility, or services. . .
- They understand what you’re offering right from its title, and
- They help create it, modify it, and market it to others
What could be better?! Somehow the traditional model of libraries — in which we collect stuff and then loan it out to folks only via strict rule-governed interpersonal or technological exchanges — is not this exciting. The concept of Snakes on a Plane is simple and easy for everyone to understand. In fact, it simultaneously works on several levels (perhaps for different “users”) — the literal, the horrific, the ironic, and the twisted. It engenders creativity, personalization, and a multidirectional flow of discussion. Apparently, it spawns dynamic change and improvements, and gives “users” a feeling of ownership and co-creation whether they influenced the final product or not. Talk about customer service lessons!
On underwear, beanies, and other fashion statements…
Since Pete is planning on a series dealing with topics related to customer experience for his next few posts, I thought I would toss this in to the ring for discussion. File it under “news of the weird” or some such title. The headline certainly caught my eye! I certainly would not want to be a student and have to use this library for my research. It doth seem to me that the library staff at this school has found several great ways to deter use of the library! Way to go!
Librarians ban visible underwear
A Swedish school library is refusing to lend books to pupils if their underwear is showing.
Pupils of Tullbro School in Falkenberg do not have to wear a uniform but librarians are clamping down on some teenage fashions.
Children who wear hipsters which show off their underwear are not allowed to borrow books, reports Hallands Nyheter newspaper.
Wearers of baseball caps and beanies are also banned from using the library.
Source: Anonova
"Levee for Life" Pictures from Princeton
This is such a cool project that is happening just up the street from where I work that I want to give it some more PR.
Leslie Burger, President-Elect of the ALA and the Director at MPOW, wrote about it in great detail earlier this month in her blog. Information on how you can donate books to the cause is found on the Katrina Project page. The before and after pictures of the library in New Orleans will break your heart.
Special Thanks to Bob Keith for taking a walk to campus today to get these pictures for this post.
MySpace and Social Networking Sites
Thank you, Karen and Janie, for your posts earlier this week which mentioned MySpace,IM, and other social networking sites as primary means of communication among high school and college students and other patrons of our libraries, especially teens and young adults. I totally agree that if we want to better connect with many of them, we need to at least be familiar with these “tools” for communication and sharing. If you are not familiar with and have little interest in MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking sites, you might reconsider:
These interactive networks of photos, blogs, user profiles, groups, and internal email systems have been interconnecting people for a few years now and their use and popularity have been explosive! Believe it or not, these social networks have become some of the highest traffic sites on the Web in 2006. Millions of people, especially high school and college students, have joined them because of the ease of interactivity between the site’s users. Consider these stats from Alexa Internet:
In February 2006, MySpace was ranked as the world’s 7th most popular English language website and the most popular English language social networking website with higher traffic and over 56 million users–now, as of April 2006, it is ranked 5th in the world. Facebook, another very popular social network was listed as the world’s 66th most popular English language website, but in April, it has risen to number 28.
As a librarian and professor, I joined Facebook last year when I found out that the students in my public speaking class were communicating with each other via that tool, instead of our university’s email system. It was amazing how much more open and willing the students were to sharing information about each other and their individual and group projects in our class, via Facebook. They were thrilled that I was willing to join Facebook, and they loved that I used it to find out and celebrate their birthdays, for instance, as they came up during the semester.
Anyway, I for one, am quite interested in seeing how Karen, her library, and other libraries incorporate and use MySpace and other social networks to better connect with their patrons and students.
Opening Day for Webaroo
For those who travel to remote locations or just travel a lot and are never sure when or where they will be able to find a connection a new service being launched today promises a solution for finding information when you can’t get online. Webaroo is a new search service that relies on caching to bring the Internet to mobile devices even when there’s no Internet connection. The ZDNet blog and CNET News both offer up more inforomation on Webaroo — a company that I will definitely be keeping my eye on.
Bringing in the Big Guns for Fines!
An interesting article about libraries hiring collection agencies just got posted on MSNBC. It provides a balanced view of the issue. Personally, my gut reaction is that this flies in the face of everything that I would like a library to be to its community. Realistically, I can understand the temptation to take such a drastic step.
It seems that most libraries who have resorted to using a collection service are using Unique Management Services, a company based in Jeffersonville, IN. I had never heard of them before I read this article. A quick bit of sleuthing reveals that they have partnered with TLC. You can have the services of Unique as an enhancement to your online catalog. According to the TLC web site:
Unique Management Services, Inc., a company in Jeffersonville , Indiana that partners with libraries to recover overdue funds and materials, offers its Debt Collection service to TLC customers – an efficient yet gentle way for libraries to recover funds.
I am really curious how they are more effective if they only use gentle means to collect the fines or overdue materials. It almost makes me want to get a fine at a Unique library to go through the experience of dealing with a “gentle” collection agent. I have never dealt with a collection agency, but from what I hear they are usually quite annoying and relentless and far from “gentle”. It seems that others share my doubts.
Back to the original article… they do interview the director at MPOW and it seems as if she is against the idea of a collection agency. whew.
I.M.
Sometimes less is more when it comes to titling a post and writing the entry. This will be one of those times.
If you are reading this and you work at a library that is resisting I.M. as a means of providing reference service or if your library will not allow installing I.M. clients for either staff use or on public computers, then I urge you to show this article on the I.M. Generation from the NYT to the powers that be.
My favorite quote from the article:
e-mail is woefully inadequate for guaranteed message delivery, and clumsy when it comes to conducting business in real time.
Nuff said.
Library Garden 