Kudos are in order for everybody involved in the Keep the Light On Levy, one of 30 successful library levies in Ohio this election season. Mahoning County residents obviously have their priorities straight when it comes to library funding, but the phenomenal effort exerted by the library’s supporters was, I’m sure, a key role in the levy’s passing.
What made this campaign so delightfully awesome? Let us count the ways:
The perfect slogan. Keep the light on. Could it be any clearer? Mood, imperative. Focuses on the positive. Uses one of humankind’s most primal metaphors, light, implying warmth, growth, safety, knowledge. Sheer genius.
Gorgeous web design. Love the simple primary colors. Love the inclusive photo on the front page that reflects the diverse makeup of the Mahoning Valley. Love the simple box arrangement that makes the page easy to navigate. Ditto on the tabs at the top.
Patrons are front and center. Two of the first things you see there are “The People’s Blog” and “Real Quotes From Real Library Users.” The scrolling list of library supporters is a nice touch, too, letting people see how much they’re appreciated. The only thing that could make this even better is moving the library usage calculator up higher, so people could see and use it more easily.
Transparency. As you navigate the site, you will see funding issues explained in a clear, concise fashion. The FAQ, in particular, explains where library funding comes from at the state and local levels, what cost-saving measures the library has already tried, and how much money fundraisers and other revenue-generators actually raise. Most importantly, the FAQ details what cost-saving measures the library has already taken, and what consequences would occur if the levy doesn’t pass. Here, in my opinion, is the money quote:
Levy FAQ 6. What effect has the loss of 31% of State funding had on Your Library? Thirty members of Your Library staff had to be laid off. Funding for books and other materials dropped dramatically. The entire staff, including the Director, took wage cuts. The library was forced to reduce hours at all locations.
Emphasis mine. Everybody. Took. Wage. Cuts. Wow. That is definitely one way to tell people that you are dead serious. Would you take a wage cut for your library? But I digress:
Good use of social media/web technologies. Content on YouTube. Strong Facebook and Twitter presences. Including PayPal as a donation option. An e-newsletter. Clearly this group “gets it” when it comes to reaching out to tech-savvy patrons and including them in their advocacy efforts.
[Aside: Yes, I'm biased. You can take the girl out of Youngstown, but you can't take the Youngstown out of the girl. And honestly, why would you want to?]
What insanely cool, awesome thing are you doing to rock the advocacy boat at your library? Leave a comment telling me about your creative/unusual “save the library” endeavors, and you’ll be eligible to win a copy of Keri Smith’s This Is Not A Book – I just happen to have stumbled into an extra copy, and I can’t think of a better way to reward hands-on advocacy than with a hands-on, not-a-book destructo-journal.
Leave a comment by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 to be in the running. And thanks in advance for everything you do to keep the light on in your libraries!
You know what’s almost as important as keeping the light on? Lightening up. Methinks my next post is going to be both fun and silly, because, quite frankly, there’s been a dearth of that around here lately. Stay tuned.
Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. What senses, then, do we lack that we cannot see and hear another world all around us?”
–Frank Herbert, Dune
The reference room is quiet tonight. The sound of my fingers flying over the keys is probably the loudest, although there are other typists. Readers rustle pages. Pencils skitter across notebooks. Occasionally someone asks a question, and your alchemist tries to answer in her indoor voice. Call it 4′ 33″ 2.0, if you will. Just don’t call it a scandal, or a sign of irrelevance, because it’s actually quite beautiful, if you open yourself up to it.
There have been a number of high-profile news articles lately about old-school vs. new-jack libraries; excitement and razzle-dazzle vs. “musty” books, and people with “strange attachments” to them. I ask, once again, why we must have an either-or library. I wonder why we cannot have both.
I am, as ever, biased. My craving for silence makes Jean Valjean’s bread-lust look downright tame. But we are now, for the most part, hyper-connected, 24/7, and working with technology makes me grow weary of it, occasionally. It is challenging, sometimes, to drag myself away from the tweets, the status updates, the never-ending flow of information and hype, and carve out space and time for quiet reflection.
What would we hear, I wonder, if we were more open to and accepting of silence in our libraries? Is it possible that the silence that’s become so reviled and scorned of late has something to teach us? That it gives shape to the sounds? What if we had libraries with warmer, more animated spaces for the extroverts and cooler, quieter places for the introverts? Just because you noisy lot outnumber us 3 to 1 doesn’t mean we don’t get a vote!
Perhaps that’s a stretch. Still, the concept of a media fast, as articulated by Julia Cameron and Gregg Levoy, is starting to sound awfully attractive to me. One week with no newspapers, no internet, no texts, no tweets, no cheeps, no beeps, not a single lux-ur-ee. Status update: unplugged. Achievement: serenity?
Let’s take that heretical thought and stretch it a wee bit further: could you go 40 days, say, with no e-mail, no cell phone, no emerging technologies? Would you feel alienated, disconnected? Or would you trust that the news you needed to know would find you?
A moment of silence, for silence, please. It’s an endangered species in a loud, crazymaking world. I am all for progress in the form of cheerful, welcoming spaces, and our libraries should most definitely have those. I would argue, however, that excising our remaining quiet sanctuaries is equally unwelcoming. If the user experience is meant to be paramount, then that should include all users, not just the ones who prefer noise.
I know, I know. Worst librarian 2.0 EVAR! My defense is that I’m aiming for 3.0.
Have the rowdy or restful weekend of your choice, and we’ll talk again soon.
Your alchemist is not the most graceful person on the planet. Ever since my childhood dance teacher suggested–not unkindly, mind you–that perhaps being a prima ballerina was not in my future, I’ve been a little leery of anything that requires physical coordination. When I do dance, it’s either in a dark, crowded room where nobody’s really looking at me, or in the privacy of my own apartment, where I can lace up my Doc Martens, crank up something gothtastic on iTunes, and let ‘er rip.
Dancing with vendors is a slightly different proposition, but, I would argue, only slightly. The same amount of grace and dexterity is required, and there’s certainly plenty of sweat involved. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick the best products and services for your library. This involves setting good boundaries, being able to say no without closing a door to future interactions, should your needs change, communicating your needs clearly, and, from time to time, letting poor behavior roll off your back.
All things considered, strapping on a pair of pointe shoes again sometimes seems preferable! That being said, though, I’ve been practicing this particular form of dance for about two years now, and I think I’m starting to get the hang of the basics. Maybe in a few more years, if this sort of thing continues to be part of my responsibilities, I’ll be able to execute the pas de deux with the best of ‘em (like our former deputy director, who was, arguably, the Martha Graham of database negotiation).
Here are some behaviors that work well for me in the sense of keeping me relatively sane when doing the vendor dance. I’d also like to offer some suggestions to vendors so that our dances together can be more enjoyable for both of us.
Dance Steps for Librarians
Try scheduling vendor calls. Your Outlook calendar can be your friend. If your life is as busy as mine, you can’t always take a call when the vendor wants to talk…and yet, sometimes, you really will be interested in what they have to say. Offer to schedule a time that’s convenient for you. This cuts down on random calls, and lets vendors know you’re willing to dance. If a vendor isn’t willing to work with you on your time, maybe it’s time to rethink that relationship.
Learn to say no. I know, I know. If we could all figure this one out, the world would be a magical place full of sunshine and rainbows. Still, the only way you’re going to get better at this is if you practice. There are a million ways to say no, and many of them are kind. “We’re going in a different direction right now” and “This doesn’t seem like the right solution for us at this time” are two examples. There’s something to be said, as well, for the basic, “No thank you, we’re not interested right now.” Pick your poison, but pick one (PA residents should feel free to invoke the state budget dilemma)!!
Screen your calls. This is a sticky wicket for me personally, because I don’t have a personal extension or voice mail. I hate asking my colleagues to run interference for me and take messages, but the fact of the matter is this: if you’re the vendor contact, and you take every single call that comes in for you, you will go stark raving mad in short order; in addition, you will never get anything else done. If you can screen calls, do it! If you can’t, talk to your boss and colleagues about what a good solution for your office might look like.
Take calls when you can. Vendors are human beings with a job to do, so you should treat them with the same respect you would ask for yourself. That means actually taking their calls when you can. If you aren’t interested in the product, see #2. If you’re interested, but the timing isn’t right, say so, and suggest you talk again in X number of months, or next year, or next budget cycle.
Have FAQ information organized and ready. Vendors often need to know certain things in order to quote us prices accurately. Often this information includes population served, number of cardholders, city/county population, and/or number of public computers available. Write these things on an index card and keep it handy. That way you can make the most of your phone time by being prepared for questions.
Be able to articulate specifically what your users want and need. By the same token, there are certain things you’re looking for in a product. Make a list of these and ask about them right away. If the vendor cannot fulfill your needs, it’s better to find out right up front. Then you can go straight to #2 for the polite “no.”
Don’t take bad behavior personally. Selling something for a living–and some folks are solely on commission–can really stink, especially during these economic times. If you’re working with a vendor who dances clumsily, please try to remember that they did not get up this morning hell-bent on ruining your workday. A vendor’s job is to sell you things. That’s just how it is. If their behavior bugs you, please go find a colleague to vent to, or watch a funny kittens video on YouTube, or make an ice cream run, or whatever will get you through the day. Just don’t take it personally, because, quite frankly, it isn’t.
Dance Steps for Vendors
Dear library product vendors: Your job is a tough one, and I know I wouldn’t do it very well, so I appreciate the hard work you do. Here are some suggestions I would like to make that could improve our relationship all around, and make for better business transactions.
Please don’t send me presents. I don’t know you very well, and getting a gift from somebody I don’t know is a little awkward and doesn’t feel ethically correct. On top of that, giving me a present is not likely to influence my purchase decisions, especially if your product isn’t what my patrons need right now. I’d much rather the money you spent on presents went toward improving your product, and making sure all your employees get a fair wage.
Please don’t call me 3 times in 30 minutes. If I can’t take your call, it’s because I have another committment. Working in a large public library is delightfully insane, and it doesn’t make for predictable phone availability. Repeat calls in a short period of time doesn’t make me enthusiastic about your persistence or your product. I know you’ve been burned on this one before, but I’d appreciate it if you could trust me.
Please learn to spell and pronounce my name. It’s a little tricky, I’ll grant you, but it’s not like they call me Chasmodeus Czyrwilmeninczky. I accept that I’ll probably have to explain it once or twice. Once we hit three times, however, it just seems like you’re not listening.
Please don’t write me long, friendly e-mails full of chit-chat if we’ve just met. If I’ve contacted you for information, I’d like just that information. I know that the current business emphasis on making the customer feel valuable has resulted in a lot of friendly gestures designed to make us feel comfortable with you as people. A good working relationship, however, is built over time. If I buy your product, and we work together a lot, a level of informality will grow naturally. Being overly folksy right out of the gate is somewhat off-putting, however.
Please answer the questions we actually have. I know you’re really proud of your product, and you want to tell me everything about how it’s going to change my life. But if I have a question, I’d really like the answer to just that question, and not an explanation of all the other great things. If I ask about a feature you don’t have, don’t tell me about the other four features you DO have. If I have questions about those features, I will ask you.
Please don’t take “no” personally. If your product isn’t right for us, or we have to cancel your product due to budget cuts, or whatever reason we’re saying “no” at this time…it’s not personal. You didn’t do anything wrong, per se, and you should take our “no” at face value. Calling repeatedly to find out the “real” reason why we canceled is kind of stalkerish, and doesn’t inspire a change of heart.
If we ask for a trial, please don’t offer us a live demo. This is especially applicable to vendors who are just now discovering the library market, and don’t know public libraries or their users very well. We want to get our hands on your product and playtest it against the realities we face every day. Live demos can be interesting, but there isn’t always time in the day for them. On top of that, a lot of time can be wasted in a live demo trying to get you to cut to the chase. I know you’ve worked very hard on your presentation, but there are certain things we look for that only a good playtesting will assess accurately. If we have questions, or want a live demo, we will ask for them. Pinky swear.
Now, all of that being said? I work with some really cool vendors. I’m Facebook friends with one of our reps, and she’s been insanely helpful in terms of training, answering questions, tech support, etc. She also understands the boundaries of our professional relationship and doesn’t feel the need to comment on every conversation I have. There’s another vendor with whom I wish we were doing business (stupid PA budget) because she’s perfected the art of knowing how often to call to see if our situation has changed, and she’s clearly done her homework on public libraries because she knows what’s important to us and what’s not. Doing the vendor dance doesn’t have to be a hair-pulling, migraine-headache inducing experience; it can be pleasant, cvil, calm, and–dare I say it?–even fun on occasion. It only works, though, when we all strive to dance well.
As ever, I would like to hear your take on these things, and I’m open to other perspectives. Do you work with vendors at your library? How’s that working out for you? Do you have any tips for an intermediate, still slightly clumsy, alchemist?
Oh, and I wasn’t kidding about the Docs or the dancing. Might I suggest A Life Less Lived? To see if it would be your cup of tea, here’s a representative sample:
The fine folks at TechCrunch recently blogged about two tell-all books on social media. As the pop-culture collection developer, I put these on my Outlook calendar to remember for later. But it was the last paragraph of the article that raised my eyebrows.
Books about current events are starting to make less and less sense. By the time they’re finished the stories in them are usually old news. That’s certainly the case with Angwin’s MySpace book. Perhaps Kirkpatrick will write a little more quickly.
The implication here seems to be that unless a book on pop culture is hip, happening and with it, it’s of no use to anyone. Given that all history was, at one point, “current events,” methinks somebody forgot that we’re also supposed to be preserving the Long Tail. Does Arrington think future generations won’t want to know what on earth we were thinking, way back in the Spring of Aught Nine?
At any rate, I did a quick catalog check to see what goodies we currently have to offer on these two popular social networks. Most of our collection consists of practical user manuals or money-making guides, but one intriguing title appears from Connie Neal. What makes this guide interesting is that a) it’s published by Zondervan, which specializes in Christian books, and b) Neal has already served as a successful pop-culture apologist for another worldwide social phenomenon. Can she provide effective counterarguments to Andrew Keen’s pessimism? I think I’m going to have to order the book and find out!
Cleaning up the newsreader after being away is always fun, especially when you’ve got stuff marked “keep as new,” to read later. It’s always worth making time for, though.
Let’s take, for example, the phenomenon of “friending” on social media. A recentseries of posts on this topic made me smile and sigh with relief. You see, I was worried I was doing it all wrong because I wasn’t running around friending everybody on the planet and promoting my library.
[Truth be told, I'm surprised my Twitter feed has gained the modest measure of success it has. Steely MacBeam and WDVE friended me, but it's not like we've ever hung out on the South Side, or sipped a lovely beverage in Crazy Mocha together. Who knew the Steelers mascot and the kings of classic rock would find my refdesk updates intriguing? She said, tongue wedged firmly in cheek.]
In addition to the many excellent points King makes in his posts on friending and social media, I would argue that the old-fashioned art of being a good writer is the way to attract an audience. It’s not enough just to create content, I’m thinking. You’ve got to create interesting content. Otherwise, you’re just another voice in the crowd saying “look at me!” Given that Facebook status updates and Tweets are extremely short, it becomes something of a challenge–almost an art–to make them amusing and interesting, especially when you’re pinging in between transactions. Also, there are only so many ways to say “Handed someone the stapler,” no matter how gifted you are!
Just one librarian’s theory. Of course, the more I write, in any medium, the more I realize how much I have to learn about writing. That, however, is a post for a different blog at a different time.
Returning to the point at hand–how could CLP use social media for outreach–I suppose the first step would be to find out if our users Tweet or follow in the first place. Based on casual observation, I’d say most of the Ref. Services users are far more fond of MySpace. I would, however, like to see some empirical evidence to back that up.
Informally training folks on the Meebo widget that goes live…tomorrow!
Eek. I’m a little nervous about this, but it’s good nervous. After all, this is the test of all the Library 2.0 theorizing that’s floating about: if this is something our patrons want, we can build on it. If it’s not something they want, we’ve still learned something. I feel like I’ve definitely refined my project planning skills, and learned a bit more about the way my organization works.
That’s something I think many new librarians could use a little more experience with. Alas, the only way to learn it is to dive in and take risks (and, sometimes, lumps). At any rate, wish us luck. If I get a chance tomorrow, between the breathless hand-wringing and obsessive monitoring, I’ll let you know how the first day of Meebo went!
Although it doesn’t look I’ll be working on any official Facebook projects in ‘08, I just can’t seem to put aside its fascinations. Especially when it up and does something like introduce a WorldCat app.
Kudos to OCLC for creating the app, and to Sarah Houghton-Jan for posting about it. It’s with good reason that she’s a widely-read library blogger!
When I stumbled across Research Bitch in Facebook yesterday, I blinked. The app that advertises the service is called DoResearch4Me; here’s an excerpt from the description:
Are you tired of submitting keywords to the same old standard search engines? Do you want to find the information you need without skimming through hundreds of websites? Do you want to locate great quotes fast? Are you writing a research paper? Whether you are in high school or college, Researchbitch.com will help you get your research done faster and easier.
Researchbitch.com is a revolutionary search engine that does your research for you. With this search engine you do not use keywords, but instead, use whole thesis statements or instructions from your syllabus. You can also use 100 or more words from your outline, class notes, assignment, or even random thoughts. The more words you submit, the better the results.
The research results will show you only information that relates to your theme or topic. The results will be listed with a full description that allows you to see just the information you exactly need.
Could it be true? If so, students and librarians would definitely benefit. So I tried it out by submitting cut and pastes of twoassignments I found while surfing the web. In the second example, I submitted option A.
Results were swift, to be sure. I submitted my samples before heading to the reference desk, and the next time I had a chance to check the site, the results were ready. You can check them out here and here.
Some thoughts:
After the enthusiastic pitch about avoiding the same old search engines, I was a little surprised to see ResearchBitch using the mother of same-olds, Google, as an additional search option.
Furthermore, the “Feed to Google” button still delivers triple-digit search results, in many cases. While 300+ hits is a decided improvement over 3 million, there’s still no guarantee that the 300 links are better or more relevant than the average EBSCO search might turn up.
If EBSCO were the only option, you might call it a draw. However, a library like ours, with access to Gale’s History Resource Center (World) could make the search even faster and better.
Instructor guidelines are treated as if they were part of the assignment, making for some interesting, non-relevant results. This criticism might seem unfair, given that students, could, arguably, leave those out of their submissions, if they liked. However, the average student, told s/he can use “instructions from your syllabus” will do just that, without a second thought.
There is also, of course, the name. Those of you put off by the moniker, which was clearly designed to entice students, can learn more here, at the sister site geared toward adult professionals.
Now, all that being said, for natural-language searching? The service isn’t bad. However, the reason my hackles went up is that, much like with Mahalo, I’ve once again turned up a service that professional librarians already do better. The difference?
It’s in Facebook, and we’re not.
Just something to ponder. Tomorrow we’ll go back to the fun and useful.
Some things I’ve added to my Facebook profile recently, for experimentation’s sake:
Meebo Me. My Meebo obsession continues. If we ever do build a Facebook Page someday, this could be yet another way to chat with patrons in a venue with which they’re comfortable.
Patient Research (beta), from Elsevier. Search for medical articles, download for (at least) $4.95 a pop. I’m very curious about how this will pan out, given how much credible medical information is now available for free.
SLIS Student. An interesting blidget (widget created from a blog) from San Jose State’s SLIS. Contains great screencasts/tutorials for newcomers to 2.0 concepts.
JSTOR Search. If you’ve got JSTOR in your library, your patrons can search it from their Facebook profiles. Will they ever need to? Maybe not. But if you’ve got a presence, you’ve got a better chance at building trust.
I’ve been using Flickr and del.icio.us apps almost from the get-go, but they’re still worth mentioning as potentially useful items. There are also many library catalog widgets, from public and academic resources. Theoretically, you could make your entire Facebook profile a mini-library.
Doesn’t that make you want to dive right in and play with Facebook? No? This announcement from Stanford might force you to reconsider. If the database companies and universities are heading this way, will the public libraries have any choice but to follow?
Tune in tomorrow for some old-fashioned hand-wringing over another service with a Facebook app: Research Bitch.
