PLA12: Library-To-Go: Putting your Library Virtually Anywhere

Melissa Carr, Library Director, Daniel Boone Regional Library (Columbus and Missouri)

Steven Potter, Mid-Continent Public Library

LTG is bringing the library to the people. It's not all about bricks and mortars anymore. We have to be out where the people are. They have an installation at MCPL. 24-7 hold pick up, wi-fi, public computing, browseable A/V collection. They have talked about doing other modules as well.

DBRL is different in that it provides better access to services in rural areas. They are convenient and work with a business partner. It has daily delivery and a browseable dvd collection.

They looked at what areas had high bookmobile circ and started there. Because these towns did not have community centers, they partnered with businesses (free) and where people would be comfortable stopping by.

How did they get here?

MCPL is a metropolitan library. They have 30 branches. In 2006 the Kansas City Parks Dept wanted the libraries to provide public access computers. They got brainstorming and figured there was more they could be doing than consultation work. Book drop? Yes! The library decided to supply the surplus computers and look like the library's public access computers. He spoke with an engineer and an anti-theft device/mailbox thing was made so people could pick up after-hours holds. Their staff worked well together to create a unique thing.

DBRL: They decided the same concept would work for them. They cover 1500 square miles. There was an election in 2007 and they wanted money to build two new branches. They lost big time. They did surveys and found out people really loved their libraries. Their new focus: How do we increase access and convenience to folks away from our facility without building new branches? They hooked up with MCPL The city, chambers and schools helped them generate partners.

How Does it Work?

MCPL: They supply the hardware and the internet connection. The partner supplies the overhead, furniture and staff to watch the equipment. They view this as a “staffless” library. A library employee maintains and stocks the location once a day (15 minutes) and computers are 100 % filtered. They send a staff person already at a branch to do this.

LTG uses a SIP2 protocol to communicate with the ILS. It's very similar to a self-check. The patron' items are not checked out until they are picked up. He then showed two examples of this, one on holds and one on browsing. I found them online here. http://vimeo.com/tag:library-to-go. Very cool!

DBRL: They used a business partner, Ed's Quik Stop, a family convenience store. The lockers were next to the fishing tackle. (haha). Ed's was very excited about this and did their own marketing. They had 36 lockers that didn't end up being enough. Each one holds 8 regular hardcovers and have never had a problem getting enough in.

Does it work?:

MCPL: Yes, they believe it does. They found an unserved population at Marlborough and were able to link with seniors in the Hillcrest community. They could have more volume if they get more foot traffic.

They have tried grocery stores, but the stores are concerned about losing money.

DBRL: The patron response has been really good. They had over 6500 items circ in a commuity of 1600 people. With gas going up, people are happy about it. A young boy once referred to it as the “magic” library. They expected their bookmobile circ to go down 50%, but it went down to 30% and the combination of both doubled the circ. Most of these people only use the LTG.

Challenges include finding a suitable location in another county. There might be ownership changes, which happened at Ed's. The new owners moved the location, but the circ has not been impacted. There might be some tech support issues and the patron demand is up. They are asking where they are going to put more lockers.

MCPL is now installing its fourth unit at the Kansas City North community Center. They want to have 20-30 of these in their small communities.

Cost? It cost about $30,000 to do one of these. This is real money, but compare that to a million-dollar library branch. If it goes bad, you can pick this up and move it.

I thought this session might be more about digital libraries, but I still found it informative. Most Melissa and Steven were great presenters.

Melissa Carr, mcarr@dbrl.org

Steven Potter, spotter@mymcpl.org

PLA12: Programs That Pack the Place: Successful Community Collaborations

Deborah Schneider, Public Programming Coordinator, King County Library System

Sharon Cox, Library Manager, Queens Library

Carolyn Anthony, Skokie Public Library

www.programminglibrarian.org – Good site to know and check out

Deborah started the session. She is from King County in the Seattle area. She focused on collaboration.

They had a Northwest Bookfest, with 200 authors, 50 author panels, 15 family events, 60 writing workshops, 6 venues and 15 community partners. Of course, this can be scaled down. She prefers to do panels or special events for authors because a single one might not draw a crowd.

She has done back-to-school bbqs. Festival-affair types of things is a great way to highlight collections.

They do a lot of school programs. Youth librarians are going to schools anyway, so the programs can be built into the curriculum. Even students who don't go to the library do start building a relationship, so then they might start going to the library. They are fortunate enough to let their youth librarians to focus on professional work and not as much on creating programs.

She encouraged us to think about doing things in “series.” SLP is an obvious one. Series give the public something to “latch” onto. She gets local artists to do art work and it's inexpensive because of the publicity. February-March is a multi-cultural series. In April and May, they do a “playing with words” series.

Another librarian was added in, Ms. Phillips from the Queens Library. This county is the most ethnically diverse, with over 100 languages spoken.

She spoke about a Science in the Stacks Concept Development (SIS). This was a new model for children's services. They focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) concepts, because at the time young girls were doing poorly in this area so they would fare better in school.

She started talking about a not-as-interesting program and my mind started wandering, but I wanted to hear Sharon, so I stayed in the room. Many people flocked.

Sharon started speaking. She talked about science programming. They do “Discovery Cart” activities and a Saturday Science Lab. They get students and their parents to drop in. They have done Science Fair Days.

This is when I left and went to listen in to another session.

PLA12: The Future of Libraries: Trends in Building Design, User Experience, and Community Partnerships

Dri Ralph and Ruth Baleiko

This session was fairly full. There was a rep from an architectural firm (Ruth) to talk about trends she is seeing in libraries. 

The librarian (Dri) from KCLS (King County Library System) said circulation is up and they have broken 10 million as far as patrons entering the buildings. Said 95,000 books were downloaded in 2011.

So how can these libraries address these trends? How do libraries display their wares? They showed a slide of an Apple store and how sparse it looked. Can we imagine changing displays every few weeks? But if we mend flexibility and infrastructure, we can make good changes. Seating should be modular. Touchscreens for browsing? Display ledges at an angle and use horizontal displays for easy viewing angles. Think about a shoe store where you can try shoes on right away....why not areas to sit near the aisles so people can read them?

How can libraries stay relevant? They are realizing that it's not one or the other. We need to do a little bit of the old and need to inject the new. She said when it snowed in Seattle, the library closed. Check outs were down, as well as circ, but downloads were up by 157% !

She showed a slide of the old floor plan of her library. Lots of stacks, and only about 30 chairs for a 10,000 square-foot library. When they doubled it to 19,000, they have about 240 seats. They really invested in “people space.”

Amazon: Our personal connection is our “Amazon.” The skill sets of our staff is how we will stay relevant.

One strategy is to put program and people on display. They created epic spaces in Vancouver, as well as intimate nooks and crannies (which Warren Graham would probably dislike). They included something for everyone. This library became a lot larger, so they enabled the staff to cope with change. They created mobile stations where staff could check out books.

How did they encourage discovery? They had a large piece of work in the atrium. How do we grow for the next generation?

Some examples were shown of “smaller” libraries. They put the people on display. People are the best advertisement for what's going on in your library. One library looks out onto a little league baseball field, which is great for sitting and watching. Fun fabrics are great. Light carpeting is bad for coffee spills. They put in a window so people can watch materials being handled. Windows at child heights can allow them to see out.

Renton Library: A project they are working on. The building sits over water, which has benefits and disadvantages. Here they made the computers a piece of the experience. They also brought the study rooms front and center, as well as the meeting rooms.

Libraries are still civic and important public spaces. The staff is also imperative in helping patrons connect, but our libraries need to have the infrastructure for the old and the new. Library activities can co-exist.

It was interesting for me to listen to this session, as a lot of things Ruth said contradicted the things Warren said in the earlier session. Can the ideas co-exist or can there be a compromise? What is more important? Safety or a pretty library?

PLA12: Warren Graham Session

I'm always excited to get the opportunity to listen to Warren. He was at our system in 2010, and I'm still hearing great things about his training. He just wrote an updated Blackbelt guide. I got the chance to chat with him a bit before the session, and he told me he thinks of us during football season. Yay!

This is Warren's fourth PLA in a row. He said he has been busy, and has been to every state but three. He has been to libraries of all sizes, including ones with zip codes eieio. :) He said his workshops/training has grown. He has been busy with self-defense and analyzing procedures. He talked about how the library was a special place for him as a kid, even a sacred place. You have people working at the library, just waiting to help you with answers. And I think that's pretty cool.

This is a new topic for him. He is going to talk about planning a new building and planning for an existing building, from security standpoints.

Planning a New Building:

He thinks architects are brilliant, but many times their sense of “art” gets in the way of a functional building. They don't have to work there every day. He said lots of librarians have mentioned this over the years. If he were building a library, he would call around to the newest libraries and see how needs were met from their architects. You don't want to go in and fight your building every day. You have to be ready to compromise with the plan, because lots of officials have an idea of what a library should be. With that said, be aggressive and know what does NOT work in your library. Stand up for the things you know.

Things/Issues You Should Consider with a New Building:

1. Echo-chamber effect: Design can impact this and reduce it.
2. Circulation desks are typically too far from the door. What do you do when the book alarm goes off? Have it closer!
3. Bathrooms in a vestibule, where staff can't see what is happening. Put the bathrooms where they can be seen by the front desk. It adds more control over what is going on.
4. Teen areas: Should be seen and/or supervised. If you want trouble, put your teen area where it can't be seen by staff. Put some kids in a room and you will have “teen growth.”
5. Have doors on staff areas. A big open wall with a sign says “staff only” is bad. Doors need to be locked at all times. He has seen/heard horror stories about this.
6. Children's areas that have done overboard with a “playland” environment. They encourage kids to play. Make the areas fun and interesting without giving them 1,000 ways to kill themselves. The area SHOULD be for kids and providers only. Separate it. Same thing for the teen area. Kids bathrooms should also be away from the adult area. Shelving should be low. He said Brentwood, TN has a great children's area.
7. Computer areas should be set up where screens can be seen. The best way to do this line them up in a crescent shape with screens facing the reference desk. You're not being the internet police, but it gives you a better sense of control. The “bad guy” is going to take the computer where he can look at you.
8. Staff should have lockers or places to secure stuff.
9. Multiple ways in and out of the building. The more ways you have in and out, the more security issues you have. Limit these.
10. If you have security, you need a small office off the circulation area. You can handle issues in the office.
11. Make the emergency exits just that. These should also be alarmed.
12. Office/desk placement to enhance foot traffic in all areas. As much as possible, put storage or staff stuff in these areas. Watch for little nooks and crannies, because they only cause trouble.
13. Outside benches and tables. Try not to make these areas too “comfy,” or else you will attract all kinds of problems.
14. Let someone else from the outside objectively look at these new plans from a safety standpoint.

Things to Think about in an Existing Building:

1. Move tables and chairs where you can deter things from happening.
2. Move the public information desk in better sightlines, if they are not locked down.
3. Create storage/office areas in your dead zones without foot traffic.
4. Remove outside picnic tables/benches if you can.
5. Camera systems should be in place and be a deterent. Our patrons are used to security. This is 2012. Technology has changed and they have become fairly inexpensive. Or use a mirror in the corner.
6. There should not be one staff person in the entire building. If you have low staff, put ringers on the door, and this can help. You are aware of someone's presence. Block an entrance if you can.
7. Watch money handling. Think like a bad guy for one day and see where vulnerability is in your library. A few dollars is a lot of money to people. Don't make it easy for people to steal. Lock the money drawer!
8. Lock the staff doors. Many staff don't think about security, and many don't like to change their habits. But again, it's 2012. Pocket books, purses and brief cases need to be locked up. Patrons are one thing, but we also have to watch out for employee theft.
9. Remove posters and signs from windows, as they block sight lines. Have control over this.
10. Secure things down, especially dvd cases.
11. Keep your keys always with you. One time the master keys of a director was stolen. If you have so many keys that you can keep them on a lanyard, you need to re-key your building.
12. Keep your building clean. If it's trashy on the outside, it will be on the inside. Patrons need to respect your building. Filthy carpets should be removed. Filthy bathrooms lends itself to bad things. They should be checked on a regular basis and not just at 9 pm. Bushes and shrubs should be maintained for safety. One time he found a cot behind a bush where a guy was living.
13. Remember the basic fundamentals: Simple rules- don't say something in 30 words that you can say with five. You need to be aware even if you have security and cameras. Nothing takes the place of basic, smart fundamentals! As far as not using the word “no” and sounding un-welcoming, he said, a crazy, unsafe environment is a lot more un-welcoming. He also said having the right staff in the right branches also makes a difference. There is also no such thing as a “dummy” camera. A camera is a camera. The priority is the entrance/exits.

He mentioned a quote he really likes from Ann Rand: You can avoid reality, but you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

Warren ended the presentation with audience questions.

PLA12: The Alt+ Library: Designing Programs for the 20s-30s Audience

Presented by Lori Easterwood and Jessican Zaker

There were about 100 people smashed into this room probably meant for 30. I guess this was a ConverStation and not technically a session, but.....I wanted to attend because this is my demographic, and I think it's an area where libraries are lacking.

They said they do this kind of programming because we “assume” this is an under-served population. They weren't visible in their branches. This wasn't as much the young parents but more the single folks. One in five people are in their 20s and 30s.

Programs:

Punk-rock Aerobics: free and lots of media coverage.

Women in Rock program: every day she plays a woman's rock song in March at a certain time. Doesn't cost anything and has also received recognition.

Speed Dating and Speed Friending: They use Meet up.com for these events.

BrokeA** Holidays: Clean out your closet and make stuff. People liked the name of it and showed up!

Speed Dating over the Lunch Hour

Bingo!

Pub Quizzes at bars (bar donates the prize because people come in to eat and drink)

Mixology 101: Bartender comes in and talks about cool drink recipes

Let's Make Beer: have a home brewer come in and make beer

Speed Dating for Book Lovers

Same-Sex Speed Dating

Bollywood Spectacular

Bad Art Night – they provide canvasses and it's judged

Raw Foods- very popular because people wanted to try them

Haunted Stacks – movies like Ghostbusters, when the library is closed

Call of Duty- controversial program. Violent video games, but they had 60 guys attend.

Histographs: big failure

Things should have a collection tie in. This also helps with people saying these things shouldn't be going on in the library.

They said Denver Public Library does a great job with programs, but they do more at the grassroots level.

Try to capitalize on your own talents and skills!

Marketing:

It's hard to get stuff that looks pretty. They have used coasters, and they make it as a contest.

They call it the alt.com library.

Need to market in bars and coffee shops. They have found that Friday nights work, as well as Sunday afternoons. You have to aim for after work.

Marketing is online, and the print stuff is usually a waste of time. Facebook and Twitter works great. Put things on free online calendars. Ask people for favors who can do nice graphics and marketing.

This audience is in and out of the library quickly, and they don't like too much “sale.”

Focus groups during business lunch hours.

You can also poll your own Facebook friends on what they might want.

Set up a booth at certain fairs....craft fairs? Those same people probably like books. Farmers Markets?

Making connections with businesses.

They are starting an Alt Library Friends Group, for people interested in these programs. They do creative fund raising and this has worked well with serving alcohol at events.

We need to get as many advocates as possible! This is a great group of people who are voters and can support the library.

How do we try to recruit friends at the library? After hours wine and cheese and offer a discount for the library friends. Show the value of the membership!

Final thoughts:

Have a good title, good timing, good design, good marketing and don't have speed dating on Super Bowl Sunday!

PLA12: No-Fear Management: Dealing with Difficult People, Difficult Patrons, Difficult Conversations

Program Organizer and Speaker : Manya Shorr, Central Library Supervisor, Sacramento Public Library Speaker : Rivkah Sass, Director, Sacramento Public Library Speaker : Stacey Aldrich, State Librarian of California, California State Library

All of the speakers have managed a lot of people.

They started by asking why we are here, what wakes us up at 3 am and what keeps us from managing the way you think you should manage? We talked amongst ourselves.

She asked why we don't manage the way we think we should manage?

• fear of sensitivity
• managing people who older
• managing unionized staff
• dealing with staff pettiness/personality conflicts
• managing from the top and from the bottom
• Letting people go and not replacing them in a department
• Dealing with folks who don't work
• Wrangling with the board on staff salaries
• Employees who don't want to change
• Don't want to get sued
• Challenge of building a new culture
• Staff who want to work in the “old” library model
• Differences in managing men and women
• Working with people who want change and with folks who are overwhelmed
• Managing staff who are technologically challenged.

Take aways for us:

1. Know the Rules. If you're unionized, know the contract. Know the basics, like FMLA. Understand the governance structure. Also know the rules on how you deal with bad situations. Treat everyone the same and make sure things are fair for everyone. They talked about the importance of documenting. If you don't document, you're starting from square one. Putting together a documentation template ahead of time is helpful for staff.
   
   
2. Sometimes you have to be a hard ass.
   “Don't Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor is a good book about behavioral reinforcement. We are tax-supported institutions, and it's not ok to waste that money. We have to know why were are working at the library and what we are doing. We have to remember that we do have to take care of business. But being a hard ass also doesn't mean acting like one. 
   
   
3. Compartmentalize your relationships.
   You can draw a line in the sand, but that can be hard. It's also hard to supervise those who are older than we. Know your own bias. If you know you are biased, be aware of it. 
   
   
4. Develop a hard candy coating. This develops with experience. If we constantly take things personally, it will ruin our souls. Focus on what we want the organization to be and how we can move it in that direction. 
   
   
5. Put on your big girl pants or your big boy drawers. Try to get to know people's operational styles. We are distracted with lots of things, so keep things simple.

PLA12: Tell Me Something I Don't Know: Meaningful Community Management

Presented by: George and Joan

This session was held in a huge room, which is a good thing as it was pretty full. George and Joan always attract a large crowd.

George started out by saying how we put a lot of time and money on getting their patrons involved, and lots of stuff doesn't work. So they want to talk about what works. Joan said it is not ok to “skip community engagement.” It's everyone's responsibility and money is too scare to guess. We have to know what the public does want. Pay attention!

Joan rants: :)

1. Demographics are not enough. We spend a lot of time with these, but they are narrow predictors. They don't tell us how people will behave in libraries.
2. Satisfaction surveys are not useful. They ignore people who aren't using the library! This provides some stuff for our egos, but not much else.
   Who Speaks for our communities? What is the community? Randomly selected people speak at the design of one individual, not the community. We need to find those who represent people who are part of a constituency. Talk to people who speak FOR someone.
   What does the community value? Lots of effort is put into our “elevator speech.” But we need to learn how to ask really good questions.

If you want to get people talking, ask them to talk about what they know. Why are we asking them how to “run” the library?”

Good questions are: What is great about living in this city? What would you change? What do they care about? What are their issues? What kinds of things do you want for your kids? They can answer this stuff ! Don't ask what should do, ask for results!

We have to listen rather than tell. “We can't do that, because....” Listen and take in the information.

We can't expect the people we are speaking to to be psychic. They don't know what will happen.

One thing we can do is talk by analogy. If someone likes a farmer's market, think about a library that way instead of saying “imagine a library of the future.” Civilians are great talking about EXPERIENCES and why. Ask them to talk about non-library experiences, because they will most likely be just polite with us. We have to point people toward outcomes. The techniques and tools and how we do our work is the staff's job. The patron need to articulate the outcome and how they want something to end up.

How do we avoid wasting time? Here are some techniques.

• Don't ask about Library predictions. They will talk about their library of the 60s. They don't know “our” future.
• Don't ask the question, if we did x.....would you come? Consumers are poor are predicting behavior. The single biggest reason we do anything is because our friends do it. Most people are on social networks because our friends are on it. Grandparents are on Facebook and Skype because their grandkids are on the other side of the screen.
• Do not offer “free ice cream.” 4,000 computers? Great! Open all hours? Great! Would you like this, is not a good question for choice. Strategic plans should also not have “free ice cream.” Don't confuse a plan with your wishlist. Offer people choices with context.

What Should we Do:

• Connect effectively: Community meetings work well, except for free range. The movers and shakers need to deliver on an issue, especially from the private sector. Doing the big meeting rarely works.
• Use Social Media well. Post to other walls and sights. Feed on information. We don't need to do it all ourselves. Post information with a minimum frequency. Set up alerts using Google. Just because we don't control the channel doesn't mean it's not a valid channel.
• Do effective interviews. Ask what is keeping you awake at night? Then ask what do you wish you knew more about? The last question is who else should we talk with? What changes have been made to show there has been positive progress? Ask these questions specifically so the data can be collated. Take information in their words, not ours.
• Do an effective focus group. Use them to probe a certain issue. Don't use more than 12 people and it shouldn't last more than 90 minutes. Make sure your moderator is objective and not judging participants. Someone also needs to take notes, but not interrupt. If possible, use a digital recorder for verification. Limit the questions to six, and not a laundry list.
• Do an effective survey. Most library surveys are pretty bad. They are too much about popularity and too random. Ask experience-type questions or “would you work with this person again.” These are tough questions to ask, but they are the important ones. Do not use the scale with no “middle.” Make them choose. Surveys do give people an equal chance for feedback.
• Thank people for their “service.” Not time, money, support.

How do we make sense of the input?

- Understand that all input is not equal. Input is like a gift from an in-law. You can take it gracefully, but you don't have to use it.

• Decide what people have in common. We shouldn't think are communities are homogenous. We need to spend more time finding things that people can agree on. Eighteen-year-olds looking for jobs have a lot in common with a 50-year-old looking for a job.
• Decide what generates the most enthusiasm. Avoid apathy if possible. The things that fire people up are worth doing.
• Do what surprises you.
• Look at what comes up most often. When we hear the same things over and over it's because they don't think it's soaking in. We have to deal with these issues or the comments will always be made.
• Learn from the inaccuracies. There has to be a way to the truth. Yes, and....keeps a conversation going. Yes, but....stops a conversation. Say “say more about that,” instead of “why do you think so?”

Constant engagement with the community needs to be repeated! It's not something we do every 5 years. Look at everything that is changing...technology, economy, social media, etc. These conversations don't cost us anything. People want to be heard and hear that we do care.

At this point they asked for questions or feedback. They said Urban Libraries Council has a lot of great information. This presentation will also be on InfoPeople in a few weeks.

How do we reach out to immigrants? Joan suggested we make house calls. Don't expect them to come to you. Or partner up and find someone to go with you. Also, what we do for services is easier than building the relationship. 

They said more marketing is not the answer for databases. George said it is important, but it's doing it right. Library marketing is too broad and generic. It needs to be more specific and situational and outcomes-based. This marketing is more effective. We do too much “selling” and pushing of products.

Great presentation!