OLA experience... all about change and forward thinking...

Hello everyone,

Year after year the OLA offers great and innovative sessions. This year I had the opportunity to attend the Thursday workshops and found them all inspiring and stimulating.

Placemaking: Turning Your Library into a First Rate Destination was one of my favourite workshops. Anne Murphy from Mississauga Public Library and Gil Penalosa from the City of Mississauga did a great job presenting many ideas (some relatively simple, others a lot more complex) to help position the library within the community and turn the library into an important destination for its citizens. This workshop encouraged all participants to examine their libraries not just in terms of their physical locations (there is not much we can do to move a library to a more desired place), but also in terms of the physical layout. We often get trapped in seeing the layout of our collections and furniture set up as it has been for years and often fail to recognize what can be done to improve/enhance the space and make it more user friendly.

Stephen Heppell's session was truly a treat! Talking to a full house of conference delegates, I know Stephen blew my mind with his ideas and concepts for creativity and innovation.

Overall, the message I took away from this year's OLA had all to do with change in the workplace and within the organization. Many of us find change difficult to handle, however in order to make our libraries, collections and services more attractive, we must stay competitive and innovative, and strive to offer leading-edge services to our customers.

As always, OLA is a great place to network including seeing old friends and making new ones. I had the pleasure of running into some people which I remembered from my days at the Library School and previous co-workers.

Although it's sill very early, I'm already looking forward to the OLA Conference in 2008!

8:00 am - Do you know where your cell phone is?

The first session I attended at OLA was one of the most fun, and I give it full marks for using an upbeat format to get us going first thing in the morning. This all conference event titled Do you know your on-line patrons? (Session 200 Feb. 1) used a game show format and brought together a public librarian, a school librarian and an academic librarian as contestants to guess the results of an OLA online survey of 5000 customers conducted in 2006. Contestants' guesses were recorded in real time and projected onto huge screens at the front of the room.

Some of the most revealing things I learned include:

• 20% of our public library customers say they spend 2 hours or more daily on the Internet for personal use (however, this was an online survey....)
• the 1st priority for service for pl users is free borrowing (let's keep our focus on those collections)
• A whopping 98% of pl respondants said that an e-mail reminder of overdue materials would be very or somewhat helpful (let's get that e-mail service going asap!!). (this reminds me that in another session the ALA President who is also Library Director at the Princeton Public Library admitted to using her customers' e-mail addresses to send them an e-mail newsletter without asking them to subscribe first. They were given the option to opt out.)

The session had a time where we could also take part in the contest by text messaging from our cell phones, and I admit I never was able to figure out how to send the message before that part was over, even though there were helpful assistants to try to guide us through this part. I was annoyed about it all day, and before day end finally figured out where I had gone wrong and how to actually send a text message.

So the organizers' goals were met for at least one participant. I have been brought to some small degree into the Web 2.0 age, and here I am on a blog...

Judi

Lots of great sessions at OLA this year and really did confirm for me that MPL has a ticket on the “clue train”. Whether the speaker was a librarian, city planner, a placemaking consultant or retail marketing strategist there were recurring themes:

Community - As humans we have a natural instinct to community building, socializing and interacting with others.

Web 2.0 is intensely social and interactive. Does our own online presence reflect this? How do we create a virtual sense of place? We need to deliver relevant services at the customer’s point of need in the customer’s preferred language (ie. communication tool) We need to take part in the conversation by participating in blogs, wikis and emerging technologies. We need to start the conversation through IM, podcasts, rss feeds, etc.

Does our physical space reflect this desire for community engagement? Or are we still encouraging library use in our physical plants that’s largely encouraging quiet and solitary activities. What makes a great place?

Design of building

• inviting entrances and a warm, welcoming atmosphere
• "pathways" that pull the customer in and takes them on a journey
• No dead zones (blank walls, empty perimeter spaces)

Engagement of customers

• Gathering points, places to sit
• wide variety of uses and activities

Connect the design and engagement physically, emotionally, rationally

Customer Relationship Management – The investment we provide in the moment dictates our future value. Will the customer return? Will we be their preferred source for the product? Will they become our advocates? Libraries no longer "own" the product but we know how to manage the product. We need to transform from a product centric world (information) to a customer centric world. Let's now take our products, package them and serve them up to the customer in a way that's releavant to that customer. Technology has trained the consumer to want and expect fast, customized services at the time and place most convenient to them. Retail industry uses datamining and collaborative filtering technologies to research their market segments. Libraries could be using same techniques to segment our market and identify appropriate services and products (and communications) for each group.

In terms of our Strat Plan and moving MPL forward how do we build community and create a culture of service?

• Relentlessly challenge the status quo – develop a vision that exceeds the current technologies or infrastructures ability to deliver
• Use technology to maximize efficiencies and customer convenience
• Communicate our promise – our value - to the customer. Consistently deliver that message (“same voice”, consistent look across all aspects of communication)
• Build process and measurement to assess how well we’re fulfilling our promise
• Enable and empower staff - provide staff with the knowledge and authority to deliver on our promise/ to answer the customers need.
  
  Diane

OLA Presentations now available

Session material is now online at
http://www.accessola.com/superconference2007/sessions.html

Developmental Assets and Youth: how libraries can give teens the tools they need to succeed!

A very informative and insightful session on how to make teens' lives better. It listed 40 developmental assets for youth that help them grow up healthy, caring and responsible. External assets include Support, Empowerment, Boundaries & Expectations, Constructive Use of Time; while internal assets include Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies and Positive Identity. The more assets young people have, the more likely they are to engage in positive behaviors. They are the foundation kids need in order to survive.

Principles of Youth Development - "It takes a whole village to raise a child" (African proverb). Youth development is about hope and making a difference. Involve them, work with them and teach them. It's the job of the whole community.

Youth need:-
1. a sense of competence : being able to do something well.
2. a sense of usefulness: having something to contribute.
3. a sense of power: having control over one's future.
4. a sense of belonging: being part of a community.

Youth make up 25% of our coustomers. Always relate what you do with youth. We can provide an environment for caring and self acceptance, show them learning can be fun, provide them with opportunities to contribute through volunteer work, provide an atmosphere of safety and support, empower them with opportunity such as TAG, and offer programs that will engage them.

The five building blocks include programming, outreach and partnership, volunteerism, creative expression and networking. Programming can be literacy based such as book clubs or a performance such as concerts or drama. Other creative programs can be teen toastmasters, craft programs, or Santa Claus parade. Outreach & Partnership include class visits, exhibits, fairs, community events, and Youth Week. Connect and build relationship with school boards, YMCA, youth serving groups etc. Volunteerism include TAG, homework programs, reading buddies. Creative expression include poetry, photography, writing, cartooning, poster contests, and teen art exhibitions. Networking involves sharing best practices and taking time to build relationships and trust.

Relationship is the key to asset building. We need to learn their names, support them, encourage them. When we form relationships, we help kids succeed. One important message I got is "libraries are not in the book business, but in people business". Libraries don't change lives. Librarians do!

Eyes on the horizon...feet on the ground - OLA 2007

Hi everyone,

Well, if you did not get to Stephen Heppell's session at OLA, you missed a treat indeed!!! I was due to attend another session, but Angela persuaded me to attend the above session, saying that she had heard him before and that it would be worth it. Well, was it ever.

I can not even begin to do justice in words to his innovative ideas - he is a veritable mine of information and mind-blowing ideas on education, quoted as "Europe's leading online education expert"(Microsoft 2006) and "the most influential academic of recent years in the field of technology and education"(Guardian 2004) and all delivered in the most amusing, easygoing and entertaining manner - I was just sorry when his presentation came to an end.

Stephen spoke about his involvement in many key projects all over the world in both the public, as well as the private sector and also how he advises both rich and poor governments on issues of education and technology. Some of the many projects with which he has been involved include: "World classrooms", "Think.com", Learnometer project", "Teachers' TV", the virtual school "Notschool.net"

He established Ultralab, a world renowned learning technology research centre which pioneered "leading edge applications in support of proven educational precepts" and recently left there to head his own policy, research and practice consultancy - Heppell.net.

All I can say in conclusion is: please, please go to his website to find out much more about his fascinating ideas and work - MPL can only benefit from his kind of "forward thinking".

Thanks,

Cheryl.

OLA Superconference Blog

OLA itself has begun experimenting with conference blogs. See
http://olasuper2007.blogspot.com/

Information is Not Enough: Shaping the User Experience

Great session, all about changing libraries to adapt to changes in our customers, or the "civilians" as Joan Frye Williams puts it. Confirms for me that MPL is moving in the right direction.

See Powerpoint at http://www.accessola2.com/superconference2007/thurs/400/jfw.ppt

• LIBRARIES' CHANGING LANDSCAPE - WHEN INFORMATION IS ABUNDANT:
  Why is information not enough? It used to be enough, when information was scarce and librarians were positioned as gatekeepers, and our professional practices were based on the concept of scarcity. But now, information is abundant and ubiquitous - the information landscape has changed, and our customers have changed.
  
  CHANGING LANDSCAPE - HOW DO "CIVILIANS " EXPERIENCE OUR LIBRARIES?
  Joan Frye Williams refers to everyone outside the library world (our customers, and non-users) as "civilians" who are not trained in library jargon or Dewey and are turned off by traditional library rules and environments. They are not like us. They do not want to be like us. Only librarians like searching. Civilians like finding. We cannot change the civilians. So we have to change to align ourselves with the civilians' realities.
  
  USER EXPERIENCES IN LIBRARIES - WHEN CIVILIANS WALK IN OUR DOORS, WHAT DO THEY THINK?
  1. Is this my kind of place? Do I belong here, do I fit in, do they want me here?
  SOLUTIONS TO GET THE ANSWER "YES":
  
• Warm and welcoming. MPL - Angus Glen exemplifies this concept, and all our branches are moving towards it.
  
• Nicer than home.
  
• An aspirational place, a place that is so desirable a destination that it makes civlians feel proud to be associated with it.
  
• Customers shouldn't have to guess where to go - provide easy wayfinding and signage in civilian language, not libary jargon. At MPL - how can we improve wayfinding and signage?
• Treat civilians like guests in your house - it's OK to talk, OK to eat and drink, etc. All our "no" rules send a message that "we don't trust you to be responsible". At MPL - what message do our Rules of Conduct send?
• Set up library space so that the customer can succeed (rather than a way that makes the customer feel stupid and we feel smart).
  
• Key message - we will save you time.
• Browsable collections that support serendipidous discovery and learning. MPL - on the right track with merchandising.

2. Does the Library integrate well with my busy life? Is what I get back from the Library worth my time? Customers make decisions based on convenience. If a service is not convenient, they will opt out. Librarians tend to be perfectionists - always have to find the perfect answer. For civilians, good enough is good enough.
SOLUTIONS:

• Civilians want search engines. They don't want OPACs and multiple ways of searching. They want us to expose our resources to the search engine of their choice.
• Civilians want our content podcast/webcast, so that they can use it and share it with their friends when it is convenient to them.
• Civilians communicate through text messaging, and do not want to leave their routine to communicate with us through a different channel. We need to insert our message into their routine, into the devices they are checking anyway, e.g. a hold notification by text message.
• Alternative information services - IM Reference in real time, with instant turnaround - Anticipated Reference (Hot Topics) - Extreme Googling (exhaust the civilian's tool of choice before going to electronic resources) - Roving - Reference appointments (rather than just walkup services).

All these ideas are relevant to ispressotogo http://ispressotogo.blogspot.com/index.html

3. Am I trusted to participate? Do they want me to contribute my perspective?

SOLUTIONS:

• 2.0 services - invite civilians to share their discoveries and expand on our content.
  
• In the creative idea economy - don't force civilians to come into our world. We should hang out online, go to where customers are online and add to the discussion, taking our skills and inserting them where people are gathering. Give civilians an opportunity to see how the library fits into their life.
• We need to get used to outcomes we don't control.

MORE STRATEGIES MOVING FORWARD:

• Listen to the civilians.
• Serve the community as a whole, not just the current customers. Understand what they value, and fit into that.
• Resist perfectionism - it holds us back. Library culture needs to be messier. Fear of error holds us back.
• Provide options that the customer can choose among - rather than the one right way.
• You cannot lead the people if you do not love the people.
• Our original deal (the gatekeeper) is off the table now.

Great concepts for 2007 strat planning.