Great post about libraries and marketing on "The 'M' Word" blog, sharing about a talk given by Wayne Disher, director of Hemet Public Library in Hemet, Calif. It focuses on the mixed messages libraries send, often unintentionally, through intimidatingly prohibitive policies, appearance and general attitudes.
Basically, libraries are saying, "Welcome! Everyone come in; we have information galore and we're here to serve you for free - just ask!" at the same time as they're posting NO CELL PHONES and NO FOOD and turning a library card application into a process as convoluted as a visa request (okay, maybe not that complicated). Some of these policies are necessary, of course, but you can always tweak the 'sell' in order to make things more palatable for patrons -- instead of saying NO CELL PHONES, you could put a sign with "Please take your cell phone conversations to the Cell Phone Lounge."* Heck, throw in some free coffee dispensers there, too.^
One point I loved was Disher's explanation that having to paste signs saying NO/DON'T ______ usually indicates a problem somewhere else -- if you keep telling people this bin is NOT FOR TRASH, RECYCLING ONLY, maybe you need to put out more trash bins...
Overall, a great reminder about the importance of presentation and attitude when it comes to serving patrons; not to mention that libraries aren't really 'free' to them -- they have invested time and effort to get here, so we should really be operating on a 'paying service' model as much as we can.
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*This brings up a few tricky issues when it comes to serving multilingual populations, of course (a picture of an x-ed out cell phone translates a lot easier).
^Of course, I know it's always easier to talk about these things than actually implement them -- the next thing you'll get is patrons complaining about cold free coffee.
What I've Learned from ALA 2010
- Beware the Mad Rush of the Exhibit Hall openings. You have been warned
- Publishers are not interested in you unless you are a Public Library Director/Collections Manager/Reviewer/Adorable Child
- Wheeled carts are Not Allowed. You will see them Everywhere Anyway.
- Avoid the Exhibit Halls after one or two runs. Especially Monday morning; nothing new is put out for free, and everyone is just waiting for the 'giveaway' around 4 pm
- If at all possible, demagnetize your card (I discovered this one by accident). With luck, vendors will assume that their machine is broken, so you will a) still get free stuff and b) avoid junk mail
- When approaching someone, try to figure out their area of interest and pitch your introduction to that
- Chat with fellow librarians! They are generally surprisingly eager to share their tips and experience with you
- Talk with your fellow newbie colleagues as well, even though none of you has a job. Relationships are valuable no matter what; you can't predict what will come down the road
- Paula Poundstone is hilarious
- Give away your business cards like they are on fire (it will generally take 10 conversations/contacts for every 'connection' made)
Day One Point Five ALA
So I have already failed in the goal of Not Permanently Crippling Oneself For the Sake Of ARCs (i.e. free books). But then I look at all these lovely books and decide that the sacrifice was well worth it. But today I shall try to improve, and my strategy will consist of Avoiding the Exhibit Halls, since my willpower obviously isn't up to the task.
We'll see how that goes.
I did strike up some conversations, and everyone seemed quite friendly despite the 'running of the bulls' atmosphere at exhibit opening time. I spoke to David Serchay, author of two guides to graphic novels for librarians (including a section on graphic novels in academia, which I had never considered) -- he generously shared his conference experiences, including the mind-boggling fact that the Book Expo is ten times the crazy, since basically all of the books are free.
What glorious madness...
On to the next day!
We'll see how that goes.
I did strike up some conversations, and everyone seemed quite friendly despite the 'running of the bulls' atmosphere at exhibit opening time. I spoke to David Serchay, author of two guides to graphic novels for librarians (including a section on graphic novels in academia, which I had never considered) -- he generously shared his conference experiences, including the mind-boggling fact that the Book Expo is ten times the crazy, since basically all of the books are free.
What glorious madness...
On to the next day!
Cranky Trains and the Undead
So I am finally in D.C., after a train 'signaling issue' had us crawling along the tracks just outside of Philadelphia. Fortunately, I was well-supplied with snacks and Mira Grant's Feed, a novel about bloggers and zombies.
Yes, they go together perfectly. And I'm not finished yet, but right now I would highly recommend it.
Books like these are making me think about the new publishing/news paradigm; Grant has created a scenario where bloggers are basically ruling the newsfeeds, largely because of the advantages of a) speed b) first-hand experience and c) lack of a corporate agenda. When the zombie Rising begins, it's the bloggers who first break the news and keep spreading the world, despite the mainstream media's attempt to downplay the incidents (after all, it's just too crazy to be true, right?).
True, there are lots of nutcases out there, and lots of them have blogs. But there are ways to 'triangulate' authentic information, from the 'mass numbers' approach (if enough different sources are saying it, it's probably true) to the 'trusted' bloggers and platforms who have earned reputations of integrity and accuracy.
The model isn't perfect, but it works (for surviving a zombie attack, anyhow). And the Rising, the loss of trust in the mainstream media, and the surge of autonomous investigation and reporting that followed has drastically shifted the balance of influence -- now bloggers have serious clout, even to the point of being invited on the campaign trail on the next presidential race.
What I've found most interesting about this book is that it seems pretty plausible -- substitute 'zombies' for 'widespread disaster' and you can already see similar things happening today. People on the ground, in the moment, are spreading news the quickest ways they can, thanks to technology. And since we're social animals, we're all involved in this transmission of information (and yes, the 'viral' implications are completely apt, here).
I'm really interested to see if I can get in on some of this crowd/social tech action at the conference, from Twitter feeds to blog updates, and see how this changes or enhances my ALA experience.
If I can keep my head attached, anyway. I hear the opening of the Exhibit Hall is more dangerous than a crowd of zombies at a meat market.
Yes, they go together perfectly. And I'm not finished yet, but right now I would highly recommend it.
Books like these are making me think about the new publishing/news paradigm; Grant has created a scenario where bloggers are basically ruling the newsfeeds, largely because of the advantages of a) speed b) first-hand experience and c) lack of a corporate agenda. When the zombie Rising begins, it's the bloggers who first break the news and keep spreading the world, despite the mainstream media's attempt to downplay the incidents (after all, it's just too crazy to be true, right?).
True, there are lots of nutcases out there, and lots of them have blogs. But there are ways to 'triangulate' authentic information, from the 'mass numbers' approach (if enough different sources are saying it, it's probably true) to the 'trusted' bloggers and platforms who have earned reputations of integrity and accuracy.
The model isn't perfect, but it works (for surviving a zombie attack, anyhow). And the Rising, the loss of trust in the mainstream media, and the surge of autonomous investigation and reporting that followed has drastically shifted the balance of influence -- now bloggers have serious clout, even to the point of being invited on the campaign trail on the next presidential race.
What I've found most interesting about this book is that it seems pretty plausible -- substitute 'zombies' for 'widespread disaster' and you can already see similar things happening today. People on the ground, in the moment, are spreading news the quickest ways they can, thanks to technology. And since we're social animals, we're all involved in this transmission of information (and yes, the 'viral' implications are completely apt, here).
I'm really interested to see if I can get in on some of this crowd/social tech action at the conference, from Twitter feeds to blog updates, and see how this changes or enhances my ALA experience.
If I can keep my head attached, anyway. I hear the opening of the Exhibit Hall is more dangerous than a crowd of zombies at a meat market.
ALA Madness
So I'm now in the midst of trying to plan for my first-ever annual librarian conference down in D.C., and the sheer number of programs is making my head spin. I am trying to follow the advice of more experienced, wiser librarians in my preparations, such as:
Oh, who am I kidding? Just try to avoid permanent spinal damage at least.
- wear comfortable shoes (you will not want to be limping through the convention halls)
- attend some discussion/committee groups - it's a great way to participate instead of just sitting in presentations
- bring business cards and then use them
- have several backups in case your program is canceled/too far away/demolished by giant library-hating locusts
- talk to people: yes, it's scary, but try striking up some conversations (you never know where things will lead -- so long as you do not hyperventilate and vomit over someone's shoes. Then it's pretty much a foregone conclusion)
- make notes during the conference and blog about what's happening
- take breaks! otherwise you will become a Conference Zombie, wandering the halls and moaning quietly (and that isn't productive or fun)
Oh, who am I kidding? Just try to avoid permanent spinal damage at least.
Let My Ebooks Go!
Just came across this excellent post on ebooks and DRM by the Librarian in Black - she makes a compelling case for librarians banding together and forcing a change in the current ebooks landscape (where everything is so locked down by DRM that users don't have a chance of borrowing the ebooks they want at libraries within a reasonable timeframe).
I really hope this gains some momentum - otherwise, we are going to lose our users on the digital front. Because no one wants to spend that much pain and effort to get an ebook or audiobook, even if it is 'free' - the temporal and emotional costs are going to send people to Amazon, B&N, iTunes, and pretty much anywhere else.
And that would be a terrible waste - why bother adding ebooks to our collection if we can't let our users really use them?
I really hope this gains some momentum - otherwise, we are going to lose our users on the digital front. Because no one wants to spend that much pain and effort to get an ebook or audiobook, even if it is 'free' - the temporal and emotional costs are going to send people to Amazon, B&N, iTunes, and pretty much anywhere else.
And that would be a terrible waste - why bother adding ebooks to our collection if we can't let our users really use them?
Can Use My Catalog...
This has officially made my morning.
Librarians Do Gaga.
That song is going to be in my head all day now...
Librarians Do Gaga.
That song is going to be in my head all day now...
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