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