It is essential that whatever rules we have in libraries for our patrons we don’t break them ourselves in front of them. Sure I realize that eating happens in libraries all the time but it should be in the staff break room if food is prohibited in the library.

Here is the Google restrictions from their Terms of Use:

You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, transfer, or assign your rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party except as expressly permitted by Google. Provided, however, that nothing in the Terms of Service shall prohibit any uses of Digital Content that would otherwise be permitted under the United States Copyright Act. In addition, you may not remove any watermarks, labels, or other proprietary notices on or in the Digital Content. If you have multiple Google accounts with different user names, you may transfer Digital Content out of an account and into another account, provided you are the owner of each such account and provided Google has enabled a feature of the Service allowing such transfers. You acknowledge and agree that Google may place limits on the number of Devices and/or software applications you may use to access Digital Content and that such limits may be set by Google at any time at Google’s discretion. You acknowledge and agree that Google may record and store the unique device identifier numbers of your Devices in order to enforce such limits.

What is most relevant to libraries? “If you have multiple Google accounts with different user names, you may transfer Digital Content out of an account and into another account, provided you are the owner of each such account and provided Google has enabled a feature of the Service allowing such transfers.”

It appears that Google is aware of the needs of individuals to transfer books from personal devices. Hopefully they will be open to talks with libraries who wish to share books with their users for short periods of time–or perhaps to have institutional logins which will allow all affiliated users with authentication to read (and one day download?) the content.

The next logical step is to offer rentals on demand without a subscription, just a flat rate depending on the video.

With the economy the way it is has been over the past year or so a lot of libraries have turned back to ILL as an alternative to shrinking book-buying budgets. I wonder if this is really working the way we want it to.

In the most recent study I could find about the cost for mediated ILL transactions the Association of Research Libraries showed that the average cost of ILL is about $27.00 USD. $17 for the borrowing library and $10 for the lending library. Even if we eliminate the lending library costs, $17 could purchase a fair amount of titles, especially popular but not necessarily brand-new ones.

If the study done in 2002 on patron-driven collection development can be duplicated in other libraries, 68% of titles requested through ILL which were purchased received at least one more use (see  Anderson, et al). In this study, the librarians limited their pilot to scholarly non-fiction titles (Anderson 10). Presumably popular reading titles would see even more usage which could be of particular interest to public libraries who are active ILL participants.

There can be even more benefit to ILL in cases where the borrowing library is requesting a title that they own but all copies are checked out. ILL and holds/recall operations really should work together. Some colleagues of mine and I have been looking at the holds queues in relation to ILL requests. In many instances it is more cost-effective to purchase another copy of a title to offset existing holds rather than spend money on ILL for the title. These kinds of items usually have a large usage potential automatically as is evident by the extended holds queues for local copies. Why spend $27 for one use when you could spend a comparable amount and get 10s if not 100s of uses?

If an item costs the same as an ILL request, purchasing it will at the very least be the same cost-per-use as ILL. But if it circulates even one more time, the borrowing library copy now effectively is 25% of the cost-per-use of ILL. Ordering the book twice through ILL would be almost $60 but if it was purchased once ($30), then used again, the cost-per-use drops to $15. For really popular items the holds queue essentially guarantees several uses, which would bring the cost-per-use down to mere cents instead of dollars.

If a library is not worried about shelf space it makes more sense economically to not ILL items which are popular–purchasing another copy or two for local users is potentially much cheaper in the long run.

Twitter user: chrisdude: “I was in the library and I went TO ‘the stacks,’ and I still don’t know what that means.”

For those who have heard this idiom used by librarians but have never learned what the phrase means, ‘the stacks’ refers to the open shelves that any library user can browse through (i.e., anywhere you can find a book, pick it up, and read it/check it out.).

Librarians have a lot of common terminology that can be confusing to anyone unfamiliar to it, just like any subculture. Yes, librarians have their own subculture just like skaters, tweeps, Twilight fans, and bloggers. I was a part-time employee for months before I learned what other librarians meant when they would tell me to “go look in the stacks.”

Some other terms we use that spaz our users (and ourselves):

• monograph
• patron
• reference
• information literacy
• resource sharing
• collection
• OPAC :: Library catalog :: “The catalog”

]]> http://shapinglibraries.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/i-cant-understand-my-librarian/feed/ 0 Gerrit http://shapinglibraries.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/library-catalogs-are-broken/ http://shapinglibraries.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/library-catalogs-are-broken/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:40:08 +0000 Gerrit http://shapinglibraries.wordpress.com/?p=474 ]]>

“I hate the library!! Why are you telling me you have things when I can’t find them stupid system!” twitter user: andrewmoore24

OPACs continue to be obstacles to finding. Sometimes I wonder if our users wouldn’t just be better served by searching in WorldCat or Google and having a “Get at My Library” link which sends them back to the local catalog. I have written before about Bookburro. BB really does this well (for books only) from any site with an ISBN then uses WorldCat to point to local libraries. As a librarian I may be stoned for saying this but sometimes it is just plain easier and faster and yes, even more effective and scholarly (i.e., I find better materials) to not use our OPAC but start at Amazoogle for books. Until recently I had a similar sentiment for bypassing databases and going to GoogleScholar for citations but it has become so bogged down with unscholarly material (a pdf, ANY pdf, makes the cut) or books when I want articles that I am not as impressed as I used to be.

I feel sorry for our patrons.

In a way this is a cool positive response from a user but I am always a little chagrined when the handy-dandy bibliographic generator tools (e.g., Endnote, RefWorks, etc) are the only things remembered. Aren’t we past 20th century citation fascism now that we can actually link back to many articles in full text and at least a bib record on Amazon or a library OPAC record for monographs? MLA, APA, and crew were for a print world. Our resources should give the “ooohs” and “aaaahs” in library instruction sessions, shouldn’t they?

Here is something that I have been thinking about for a few months now.

When a user can’t find an item in our catalog they go to ILL. ILL then contacts various libraries to see if they would lend the item in question. What if ILL instead contacted local users who have volunteered their personal library “holdings” as potential lenders?

I am calling this Patron-to-Patron Lending. Here’s what it would look like: The loaning local user would bring their book to the ILL office. ILL would then check out the book for a typical checkout period to the borrowing local user. When finished with the item, the borrower would then return the book to the ILL office to be returned to the loaner.

The borrowing patron would never know their request was filled by a local user; ILL would be the full mediator of the exchange.

This could also have implications for items that we do own but are currently checked out. This could be a way to alleviate pressure on long queues for holds on popular items.

Is anybody doing something like this? I have done some extensive searches but come up empty. Maybe not using the correct keywords? I would be really shocked if no one has ever thought of this.

RT @bethsteadman: “Did the icky librarian really just tell my son not to read aloud to himself in a faraway corner of the children’s section near NO ONE?”

This is unbelievable. I have to stifle the rage welling up in my soul over this.

Do these 20th century librarians still exist? It’s the 21st century; let’s try to champion a young boy reading over absolute quiet in a library.

Cool.

Assuming for size difficulties, the sheet music is recommended (“optimized”) for the Kindle DX, but it can presumably be read on the earlier devices. To see some of the titles available go to the Kindle Store and put in FreeHand Music and a composer. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue no.21 from Well-tempered Clavier is available here.

Lowest price for a score in the Kindle? $1.20.

Not bad.

RT @girlfromPBO “I think stopping by the library on a whim and finding the EXACT RIGHT BOOK you have been pining for is one of life’s most awesome moments.”

Um, no.

Actually its a game show where contestants have to be silent while their friends and competitors perform wise-cracking pranks. What about the title? Doesn’t it have anything to do with libraries? Well that’s just it.

Aside from being filmed in a room with books (again, is this all there is to libraries?), the library connection is “SILENCE.”

Yeah. Thanks, MTV for maintaining last century’s tradition. Apparently to MTV, the defining characteristic of a library is that it is absolutely silent. I wonder if the show hosts hold up their index fingers and “shush.”

I have been using Bookburro for about a year now and am finally able to write a review. Bookburro is an extension for flock or Firefox that searches multiple bookseller sites to compare prices on the same item. If Amazon has a high price, you can see what Half.com offers as well as eBay, Barnes & Noble, etc. Very convenient.

As a librarian, this extension is even cooler because it will search large library catalogs (e.g., Boston Public) and WorldCat while it is searching booksellers. So, have you heard about a great book but you don’t know if your library owns it? Instead of going to an online bookseller to search for the title to get the bibliographic information you then paste into your local library catalog, Bookburro searches WorldCat for you. You click on the WorldCat link and WorldCat displays the libraries closest to you which have the book. If you local one doesn’t have it, you can submit an Interlibrary Loan request if your library uses ILLiad.

Super time saver.

Cautionary words from JesHolbrook about library chat reference. Libraries should go through great lengths to ensure that someone is actually monitoring IM at all times or that the service goes “offline” or “busy” if the librarian is away for longer than a few minutes.

Although libraries going green has become a hot topic recently, WOWchoice points to a post at thedailygreen.com about how checking out items instead of buying them helps global sustainability.

Rationale

We looked at the number of requests facutly requests which we had to cancel, either because they were too new or too popular (no other library would lend them). We found that about 10% of these requests could have been filled by purchasing a Kindle Book. Why not try to fill these in a faster, and often, cheaper way?

An interesting sidenote: almost half of the requests we could have filled through the Kindle Store were scholarly monographs.

Audience

So far we are limiting the service to faculty only but this is just to keep the demand down. If it takes off we will buy more devices and open it up to other university populations (staff, grad students, etc).

Basic Checkout and Checkin

The ILL staff search for any book that is a popular title or too new to see if Amazon has a Kindle version. If so, the item is purchased, uploaded to a device, the device is then deregistered (this prevents users from purchasing on our Amazon account) and delivered along with a charger through our faculty delivery service to the patron.

Upon return, the device is emptied of all titles (except for the Kindle user guide), reregistered to our ILL Amazon account, and plugged into a charger, to await the next request.

So far this has worked ok. We are excited to provide a new service which will hopefully fill a need and prevent over-lending and borrowing of popular/too new titles, as well as (eventually) saving money.

— UPDATE 6/16/09 —

Since Amazon has continued to deny any written agreement with us, we have decided to discontinued our (brief) pilot. I hope to update further in the future.

Aside from helping with computers, the “anything else” could be anything from directions to the bathroom to a twenty-minute research transaction. Some libraries try to solve this issue by “roving” or “roaming” librarians but it is still sad when we work so hard to promote ourselves and how eager we are to help…but then we aren’t around to do it. I have written before about doing a service well, if we claim to do it well. As a service profession, we really need to ensure that we are giving the best possible assistance to our patrons.

Light

There is just something nice about the feeling of natural light while you study or do research. Why do libraries have to be dark and archaic? The openness is inviting and encourages long periods of study instead of a desire to leave as soon as possible, like some of the more light-restrictive and oppressive library atmospheres.

Spaciousness

Very few places seem cramped. The ceilings are purposefully high and in some cases open two or three stories up. It is also really clean looking but part of that is of course how new the facility is.

Food court

I love the idea of being able to eat in libraries. UVU pulls this off really well. Somehow even though there is study areas all throughout the food court and around it, the area is still very quiet and conducive to thoughtful study (I am in the food court writing this). However, this does not mean one cannot talk in groups.

Comfort

There is a place to study everywhere. I have walked all through the building and I can always see somewhere to sit, plug in, and work, chat, or socialize.

Utility

You can collaborate, you can study in private; there is even a large playroom for students who have children but still want to get some studying done.

Go here to see the other pictures I have of the library.

UVU Library Food Court

Study Area

Holding up a large book with bright illustrations and the touch of the pages as you turn them. The sound of the simple words as you read them out loud. The feeling of the child in you lap leaning forward to take in the whole scene depicted, eyes wide and intent. These are essential parts of the picture book experience.

Unfortunately, these are exactly the parts that ebooks and ebook readers cannot duplicate. Color is not so much an issue anymore now that the flepia has come out (undoubtedly other readers will follow suit).

Today, Amazon is advertising Curious George books for the Kindle so I thought I would share some pics of how it looks.

There is something missing when you have to page over to see a picture that is meant to be viewed as one combined image.

This is possibly the most jarring example of how picture book conversion to ebook format is problematic. How does your four-year old scrawl her name on the line?

Whatever your brand is, you will lose followers if you say you are great at something but you actually don’t deliver. Even seemingly trivial mistakes can alienate the public. A fly in a soup at a restaurant can be catastrophic (because food is their brand). A misplaced gas tank in a Pinto? some might say that was the beginning of the end of Ford’s credibility (because cars are their brand).

For librarians who claim a special knack in literacy and research, basic spelling and grammar errors do not bode well. I looked at the site in question and there doesn’t seem to be errors “abounding” (maybe in the comments?), but the principle is still the same. Be good at what you claim to be good at or expect to be marginalized.

Wrong.

The entire app just shushes those around you if they are being loud. It is sad when this tired image of the shusher (re)defines our profession to the public. Even more ironic: one of the fans of the app calls themselves a librarian:

Please, please, please—-program this for the ITOUCH too. I love this idea and would love to use it in my library!!

I have written about the need for group work space in libraries but also how this trend has made some users even more annoyed with “loud” libraries.

Afraid this just reinforces the 20th century librarian stereotype.

Am I wrong in believing that librarians have evolved past this?

librarian shushing image from Guidance is Internal

Goodreads now offers a link to previews of books through Google Book Search when available. You can view and search the text while still inside Goodreads. One thing that would be nice is a jump-to-page option, but that’s okay. For more of the GoogleBook functionality, Goodreads also links out to the GoogleBook page for the book.

This is part of the reason why I love Goodreads. It’s not that they are innovative–it’s that their innovations are so useful (e.g., does anyone else think it’s cool that it will search WorldCat?).

As an old cataloger,  I wish our OPACs were as versatile and useful as Goodreads and other book-lover sites.

Unless specifically indicated otherwise, you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content.

Amazon said this only applies to for-profit ventures. “If you’re gonna let someone borrow the Kindle just to read a book, you should be fine.”

Since my interlibrary loan department does not charge for interlibrary loan use, we would essentially be loaning for free. Good news to our library and many others I would guess. I am looking forward to seeing how this affects our collection development and patron reaction when we implement the service.

– UPDATE 3/16/2009–

Since there has been a lot of traction on this post, I want to share a word of caution that may or may not have been implicit in my original post:

Amazon states in its Terms of Use that each agreement is sort of in perpetual Beta:

Amazon reserves the right to amend any of the terms of this Agreement at its sole discretion by posting the revised terms on the Kindle Store or the Amazon.com website. Your continued use of the Device and Software after the effective date of any such amendment shall be deemed your agreement to be bound by such amendment.

I recommend everyone who is interested in loaning Kindles in libraries first contact Amazon for the customized OK. Again, I would hope that this update is redundant and you would have already done this .

We have met the enemy and he is us.

Ping is not really a great collaboration tool, but I thought I would include it in the presentation because it is about reaching multiple communities simultaneously.

Application: this is useful to anyone who feels like they want to update multiple communities simultaneously telling them about new services etc., so lets say you have followers at twitter, facebook, linkedIn, hi5, myspace, etc and you don’t want to update just one community about a new service the library is providing, you can use ping.fm to update them all.

Application: this can be a new kind of subject page: new web results in your topic: you then share the page with your constituents. You can import a feed from a subscription database and allow access to the content to anyone at your campus through their campus id and password (so you could have a feed of anything at Academic Search Premiere, for example, that you generated with a search on your specific subject or topic). How is this any different from just sharing the from GoogleReader to other Google users? well this is set up so you don’t have to click share every article–it would be automatically. Also, of course anyone of your users could grab the RSS feed and put it into their individual reader but you see, you have already saved them time by doing it.

Similarly, you could have a widget with podcasts, flickr photos, and youtube videos that have your search terms in them and they are updated regularly.

Many librarians have heard of FF and it is becoming more and more popular. Essentially it allows you to import up to about 60 different software status updates from friends or colleagues that you want to keep track of. The community is more limited but you would be surprised how many librarians are there.
Application: this is a little tougher to sell for librarianship; I would say its main usefulness would be if you want to friend other librarians in your field who have similar interests and just find out what kinds of things they are sharing in your subject.

It is really sad when people wait for books that they could get really easily from another library through interlibrary loan services; many libraries do this for free for their patrons! To @averageAlanna and others like her: call your local library and ask about interlibrary loan

Actually, felixmortimer, libraries today offer these spaces more and more; some have individual rooms for groups to study and discuss in; some even an open great room where various conversations are go on simultaneously. Libraries can be great places to meet and work on projects or just debate interests.

On the flip side, it is noteworthy that we are seeing the backlash of contemporary “noisy” library spaces:

See some other examples here and here (though technically not for a library).

To @drewlaplante and any others out there who would love to have the library in their home: we are getting closer and closer everyday. Of course what I am talking about is electronic journal access and ebooks but my guess is Drew still is thinking Library 1.0 (aka, books).

Libraries are getting closer and closer to supporting that mindset, too, however. We have all heard of home delivery but the process is becoming easier, quicker, and more libraries are doing it. On top of the traditional delivery book mobile, OCLC is partnering with Better World Books now (and hopes to get other book vendors like Amazon on board someday) to let users make an interlibrary loan request and have the book come straight to their house complete with a return envelope with paid postage…just due back in 30 days.

New Kindle

Textbooks and kindle

licensing

licensing discussion private blog

more licensing

discussion on patrons purchasing direct with the Kindle and how to prevent this

new jersey library loaning kindle

This is sort of a surprise because I tend to be pretty sentimental (that and I read Dickens’ Christmas Carol annually). Spalding admits that this feature has some kinks:

How good is it? Meh. It’sokay.

This is a devilishly hard algorithm to get right. I have some ideas for improvement, but it’s fundamentally a lark and a conversation piece at present, so I don’t want to waste too much time on it.

Still something more that is fun about LibraryThing.

Publishing in Library Science

Improving the Librarian Image

Lincoln Dounglas Debates

My favorite posts of the year were:

Facebook Free

“Library Instruction is Boring”

How Virtual Trumps F2F

Food and beverages would not be allowed all over the library, however; food and drinks would be restricted to just the cafe area. The proposed area for the cafe is our Periodicals section which has comfortable chairs, tables for study, and a lot of natural light, so I think it would be ideal.

If food is in the library, is it better to be allowed everywhere in the library or just one area?

View This Poll

Image originally uploaded by 46137

Males

• fun stuff, funny and interesting facts, things that apply to college students
• events on campus/around Atlanta, study tips, facts
• cool books or websites
• websites for students, info on library, good books, resources
• new things on campus, events, good books
• cool websites, ideas for things to do on campus and in library
• jokes, word teasers, info about tech, website resources for students
• funny facts, happenings around tech, info on library

Females

• campus info
• interesting facts about tech, events at the library
• events on campus, interesting facts, jokes
• good books, events on campus, spotlight an organization
• events in Atlanta, events sponsored by tech groups, info on the library
• things going on at library, facts people don’t know about the library
• advice, events on campus, info about the library
• map of library, where you can find certain things within library, humor
• cool books or magazines, people’s opinions, jokes, interesting facts
• stuff about tech

Although I am not sure how often a print newsletter would be picked up by students outside of the library doors, I do think this list can help in deciding what kinds of news announcements to post on the webpage/blog and what updates could be tweeted or txted to students.

I expected the large amount of responses about highlighting little-known services or cool books but it surprised me how much technology news was mentioned. Some librarians are more tech-saavy than their users but I am surprised that this seems to be an expectation: “libraries should help users learn technology as well as research skills.”

I also noted how often general campus news came up. Students still feel like we are a window to campus life. We should keep it that way.

How can we liven up our library instruction/info literacy sessions so our students really internalize the extremely valuable information we try convey?

For now, we will have to use email while I sit in terror for the phone to ring next to me.

So when is virtual always better than f2f? When your voice is gone.

On the flipside, one thing really breaks down when one works virtually: my poor office plant was dry as a bone all week.

A group in our library has been reading Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think over the past few weeks. It is an excellent resource for anyone considering building or redesigning a website. Anyhow, we just got through discussing the chapters on usability testing. I think that we really feel that usability testing is important.  I know that we really, truly, want to find out what our users think about our website and our services.  However, I also hear among the hallways of our library and in other library discussions, phrases like this: “ Why do we have to do what our users think? We are the professionals. We know what they need.” Sometimes I also hear conversations like this:

Usability tester: “This is what our users are asking for.”

Librarian: “Well, that may be what you found out, but I still won’t do it.”

So I posed a question at our meeting “How do we deal with sort of stigma in our libraries?” The ideas offered were very useful:

1. We could invite individuals who are skeptical to attend some of the testing.  Let them see what our users really do with the website and how they’re really conducting research.
2. We could record the usability testing and having them freely available on the library intranet. Librarians would be able to see for themselves on their own time what users do with our site.
3. We could also show some usability recordings at a library-wide meeting and discuss as a group implications.

One of my colleagues mentioned that this really is a philosophical issue in our field in general. I agree. As professionals, do we really no more than our users? In many cases these users are have more experience in their particular field and we do. How do we get away from feeling like we as professionals are the experts and that all others must use our methods? Have we get away from the negative feeling that students and young users don’t do “proper” research and “lazy?” If we do a usability test shouldn’t we be listening to what our users say? Yes, even if that means taking a resource off the main library page and putting it on a subpage?

Following the trail of patron usage could help us know where service, technology, or access breaks down. Working a day in a patron’s shoes would be particularly valuable for any library administrator who can really push for change, but even a library page could make some useful recommendations about improvements. This is one of the reasons why having an advisory group in a library of student employees works well in an academic library. These students are researching during off-hours for their classes. Their ideas for better service can be really compelling.

On October 15th, I am going to do work from a public computer (if I hide far enough away, no one will be able to find me and I can actually get some work done maybe…), and set up a meeting for my staff in one of the public study rooms.

In the process I discovered something out already: only students can reserve group study rooms. I guess that makes sense…to be honest I felt kind of guilt setting it up because I knew I would be taking a room that students might need while I have a perfectly good office to meet with my staff.

Some things this concept could help change:

• Outlet locations
• WiFi coverage
• Lighting
• Noise
• Comfort

Some things this just can’t fix:

• Library OPACs
  • No matter how user-friendly we want our libraries to be, the OPAC will continue to be a huge obstacle
• Restroom location
  • Not much you can do here without a lot of $
• Speed?
  • We may not be able to improve how fast the OPAC searches…but could we find a way to streamline check-out or library card application?

Regardless of the word choice, Maas brings up a valid point. Libraries are not all about books anymore. The question that no one has really been able to answer, though, is what do we do about our name?

Library Science nomenclature really is an issue in a 21st century library. We have tried “informational professional” but that hasn’t really stuck outside of our own sub-culture. Most users still call us “librarian.” Any time you talk about renaming a traditional service in any field there is a lot to consider. I work in Interlibrary Loan, but we don’t just deal in loans anymore. Sometimes we purchase the item outright and just give it to the patron. We also work with a lot of electronic PDFs which we allow our patrons to copy for their personal use–again, not a loan, since they do not have to return it. Resource sharing is a new buzz word in my field because we are more than loans, just like libraries are more than books. I suppose this is a more accurate, but similarly nebulous, description of what we do; however, to add more complication, our department section also includes campus delivery to faculty and graduates. We deliver books and articles our library owns or borrows to the various campus departments. I have considered switching our name to Resource Sharing and Delivery, but there is no Interlibrary Loan in that title. The main concern: will our users even know what we do?

Inevitable conversation I (at an awkward family reunion):

“What do you do for work?”

“Oh, I am an information professional.”

“Huh?”

“You know, people who help others find research materials. I work with books, journals and databases to try to find the best information out there for my patrons.”

“Oh, you mean you’re a librarian.”

Inevitable conversation II (on campus):

“Where do you work?”

“I work in the Resource Sharing and Delivery department.”

“Okay…”

“I find research materials for users at other universities or public libraries. The other libraries send their stuff to me so I can check them out temporarily to my patrons.”

“Hey–I know that place…interlibrary loan, right? I love that!”

“Well, we also deliver the materials to faculty and graduates around campus.”

“Oh really? So you do interlibrary loan and delivery? That’s cool.”

Inevitable conversation III (at the main desk):

“Hi, I am returning a book I borrowed through Interlibrary Loan. I tried to take it back to the place I picked it up but there is a new department there now–Resource Sharing something-er-other. Can you tell me where ILL relocated?”

“Actually that is just its shiny new name. The department still does the same thing.”

I wonder if the switch from stewardess to flight attendant shook up the airline industry as much as a switch to Resident Scholar would the librarian world… I mean the “information professional” world. All jokes aside, at least flight attendant has an internal explanation of the service built in, in fact, it is even more descriptive than its genderized predecessor. How do you define what a librarian does in one to two terms…and still have non-librarians know intuitively who/what you are talking about?

For now, I am a librarian and I work in the library in interlibrary loan.

Image originally uploaded by Faeryan

While I am writing this my wife has IMed me about how she forgot her library card so she wasn’t able to check anything out this morning at our local public library. Was there no way to answer “yes” instead of “no”? She is a regular at this library and the people recognize her. She came home with two disappointed children, empty handed.

A more positive real-life example of this comes from Jenny at The Shifted Librarian. Jenny has a great post about how she was impressed by the Marriott Metaire in New Orleans. Apparently, the hotel not only provides power and internet access but A/V plugs which are fully-functional. Commenting her positive experience, she writes:

This whole concept is a great example of saying “yes” and making things easier for customers, as opposed to saying “no,” which is what most hotels do by disabling the ports on the back of the TV in the room. It’s a good lesson for libraries how easy it is to make the user experience better.

Check out her post for some great screen shots and discussion.

What are we doing in our libraries that send a negative message to our patrons? How do we answer some of the following questions?

• Will you let me check out media and take it out of the library?
• Will you let me bring food into the library?
• Will you let me use my cell phone in the library?
• Will you let me use social networking sites in the library?
• Will you let me talk with peers or research partners in the library?
• Will you let me check out items if I forget my library card?
• Will you let me check out items if I am not a student at this college?

I am sure this list is incomplete, but you get the idea. If some of these are not answered “yes” regularly, is there a way to be accommodating?

On Sept. 18, 2008 , Brenda Bailey-Hainer (CEO of BCR) and Gina Perschini (Networking Consultant of Idaho State Libraries) give us an interesting presentation about the Rethinking Resource Sharing initiative.

Some interesting questions:

1. Bookburro-like tool they are developing: GoGetter. I want to look into bookburro a little more. Unclear whether it is smart enough to look for any book or to look for just books on book vending sites like Amazon.
2. Why are we not loaning media items? If it is because of their cost, we loan books that are more expensive all the time…  Many libraries loan their media to other libraries, but there are some who still don’t. Others only loan to special consortia. One of the insightful challenges from the audience to this open-media concept that went unanswered was that their library does not loan media because the patron can rent it from Netflix or a local rental store for a lot less than we loan for. This is definitely true.
3. Why is it harder to get a library card than to rent a car? I rented a vehicle for the conference and all I needed was my valid driver’s license and a credit card. For most public libraries, a new resident must provide a valid address as well as some kind of picture ID. For new move-ins, they usually don’t get any mail with their name on it for some time. They have to wait to get a card. The big question of the session: why can I rent a $20,000 car but I can’t borrow $100 worth of your used books without a local address?
4. Why not charge alternative users (community, business, etc) instead of just refusing service? This one really is connected with the other two thoughts above. Instead of saying no, why not charge a fee and say yes? With new residents, why not take a valid credit card number instead of address verification? People give out their CC# all the time on the web, why should the library be any different? For interlibrary loaning media, could we not charge patrons a comparable price to rentals?

My notes are below:

• Introduction to the Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative
• Why?
  • expectations are changing based on non-library experience (online shopping, Google, economics, self-service, etc)
  • library funding
• Goals
  • Focus on user experience rather than staff tasks
  • vendor neutral–we want it to not depend on one particular vendor
  • global context
  • broad definition of resource sharing
    • ill
    • consortial borrowing
    • reference services: these requests result in ILL sometimes
    • digital services: these deliver info to users too
    • delivery: email, delivery to their library or their home?
• User needs
  • majority of surveyed patrons gave a turnaround time expectation: 3-5 days
    • 70% staff turnaround time expectation: 1-2 weeks
• Interoperability
  • complex process (authentication, circ systems, ILL software, national catalogs, etc); many of us have to go system to system manually
    • users assume all of these things should be linked and talk to each other
  • GoGetter Project (Mozilla browser extension)
    • user clicks on the browser button to search where an item is available to purchase or borrow a resource
      • provider
      • delivery/loan terms
      • format
      • price
      • time to arrival (when could they get this item?)
    • user then selects an option to get the item
    • the button would work with libraries and websites with bibliographies, as well as purchasing vendors like Amazon
  • Where are we with the GoGetter?
    • working prototype
    • working on open source sign offs
    • many online book sellers prohibit you from taking information from their sites and displaying
    • another option that has a similar function to our GoGetter: bookburro.org
• Policies
  • Manifesto for Rethinking Resource Sharing: what do we think the user wants from us?
  • “Cast off your policies and expose your resources”
  • user should be able to get what s/he wants on the user’s terms with as few hurdles as possible
  • Fewer restrictions
    • if 600 libraries own it how many will actually loan it if it is A/V?
  • Users can choose from options
    • method of delivery
    • fulfillment type: loan, copy, digital copy, or purchase
  • Global Access
    • use both formal and informal networking agreements
    • lowest barrier to fulfillment
    • do we loan to other countries? do we borrow from other countries
  • Share resources from all types of cultural institutions
    • libraries
    • archives
    • museums
    • expertise of all types utilized
  • Reference service facilitates sharing
    • use reference expertise to aid fulfillment
    • no findable object should be totally unattainable
    • when we cannot fill the request is the user referred back to the subject selector to find other avenues for finding the information or similar resources?
  • Offer service for a fair price rather than refusing service (making sure it is competitive with commercial alternative
    • strive to achieve services that are not more expensive than commercial services
  • Everyone can be a library user
    • Registration should be as easy as signing up for a commercial web service (is it as easy to get a library card as it is to join Netflix?)
      • no local drivers license
      • no local mail (new address)
      • none of these? no library card
      • if I was not a librarian, would I return?
      • maybe there is a fee attached…maybe I give you a credit card as a backup (they have given it to Netflix…why not the library?)
    • let’s make it easier to get a library card
    • let’s make the library card a welcome to the new location/town
    • Brenda Comment: I can rent a car for $20000 with a credit card and a drivers license…but I can’t borrow $100 worth of books from my local library?
• Delivery
  • Home delivery
    • books by mail was the old term for this
      • many designed for home-bound patrons but others have no stipulation
    • some offer service to all patrons with a fee of $3.00 or so; others offer the service for free
    • Topeka and Shawnee County Public (KA)
      • user place holds online and the item is delivered
      • in 2006 they delivered 140,000 books for about $1.50/book
      • Benefits:
        • saves space
        • saves staff time
        • no need to build a local branch building
        • saves patron gas to not go all the way to the library to drop off
      • drop boxes all around the city
    • Orange County Library System’s MAYL
      • started in 1974
      • 700,000 in 2007; total circulation 1M; large portion of their circ
      • cost? $1.8M which is 3.3% of their overall budget
  • Print on demand
    • Internet Archive
      • no longer need to ILL old books (pre-1923) now because these books are now being digitized;
      • users can print out the book on demand
  • Future
    • thinking of a national brand for home delivery so users will recognize the service in different places around the country
• Next for the initiative
  • $1000 cash value for new resource sharing implementation
  • start a discussion
  • take action: start a revolution in your library

I don’t know when they added this feature but it must have been pretty recent. Who knows if it was because of my suggestion or they already had it in the works (surely someone else must have thought of it before I ever mentioned it). Who cares. The point is they listen to their users. Something libraries are becoming more and more interested in.

Are we listening when our users ask for a cafe? Are we listening when our users ask for a drop-box? Are we listening when our users ask for several drop-off points around town? Are we listening when our users ask for longer circulation periods of media? Are we listening when users tell us that they avoid special collections because of the plethora of security hoops they must go through to view one item? Are we listening when our users tell us they don’t like the noise level in certain areas of the library? Are we listening when our users ask for SMS notification of due dates and holds?

We need to get past the initial reaction of “just because our patrons want it doesn’t mean we should do it” mentality. That was 20th century librarianship. Let’s try what they want and see if it grows. Let’s err on the side of listening.

Last Friday our library staff went on a tour of some of the libraries in our area. The newest one on our trip, Utah Valley University‘s new library, had a cafe on the first floor and a food-anywhere policy. Some of our tour commented on that policy and speculated that UVU would revise that policy in a year or two.

Our next stop was the University of Utah‘s Marriott Library. They also have a food policy but food is restricted to only the first floor. This policy has been in place for over five years. I asked our tour guide how that has worked out and he said they have had minimal problems. Some chairs reupholstered, a few books rebound or repurchased, but no atrocity of real significance that had lasting impact.

If there are so few issues, why shouldn’t more libraries let patrons eat in the library?

A big take home for me was the use of credentials. I know it may be a bigger issue in nursing to show you have the full credentials to be a nurse but I can see a reason in libraries as well. Cardillo noted that, like in hospitals, patrons often do not know who is a librarian and who is a secretary or student assistant in libraries. She recommended having business cards made up with your name, title and credentials. The title also helps to further differentiate you; in this way the public can see that librarians are not all identical. The credentials can also help patrons, students, or faculty realize you have a Master’s degree, possibly adding more respect and buy-in from the communities we serve.

As an introduction she said, “Now some of you may be wondering why an RN is speaking at a library conference. What do nurses have to do with librarians?” My notes (including answers to this question) are below:

• Nurses and Librarians?
  • gender
  • shortage
  • undervalued and underpaid
  • image problems
    • stereotypes
  • genetics?
    • how many of you are former nurses or studied nursing? (10%)
    • How many of your siblings/family members are nurses? (40% in the room!!)
• why does our image matter?
  • budgeting issues
  • legislative issues
  • morale issues
  • recruiting issues
• Personal Image
  • appearance
    • dress well: conveys confidence; sets them apart
    • hair–”serious hair” Working Girl
  • body language
    • you don’t have to feel confident to act confident
    • look in the eye, but not too much
      • don’t be the first to look away every time, just sometimes
    • stand up straight, head up
      • authoritative and assertive
  • speech…
    • most of us talk too much and have trouble getting to the core message
    • say things in different ways hopefully eventually it will come across
      • think of your most important message
      • think of how few words you can say it in
      • say it
      • then stay quiet
    • we have a bad habit: Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll come back…
      • unless you truly have something to be sorry for don’t say it
    • eliminate qualifiers: controlling the reaction of the listener before you say anything
      • you probably have heard this, but…
      • you probably won’t like this, but…
      • Problem: it takes to long to get to your point, lose your audience
    • You need to realize when you do this–self-awareness is the first step to eliminating the bad habit
      • Think before you speak
  • workspace/carspace
  • learn how to take a compliment
    • you did great: don’t mention it
    • thank you for your help: it’s my job
    • Accept it
      • you dishonor the person
      • yourself
      • your profession
    • Say: it was my pleasure; anytime; thank you for telling me that; let me know if I can do anything else for you.
    • appearing modest and humble is okay but you don’t have to be self-deprecating
  • Have a business card
    • have your academic credentials
    • carry the cards where ever you go, not just on your desk
    • have them made from where you work
      • not in the budget?
        • it costs next to nothing–people just never bother to ask
  • peoples’ impression is how they will treat you
    • we believe more of what we see than what we hear about or of people
• Harnessing the power of the media
  • monitor images of librarians in the media–this is people’s perception of you
    • movies
    • sit-coms
  • stories about libraries or librarians
    • library budget cuts?
    • positive? negative? “Hipper Crowd of Shushers” positive but the stereotype is still there
      • let them know why it is detrimental
  • write letters to the media
  • Six Steps to Free Publicity, Marcia Yudin
    • Some people shy away from the media; read about it;
    • How can I say no, my whole profession is counting on me
      • clear communication is important; you are coached on general questions prior to recording
      • break down and eliminate industry jargon and acronyms
  • contact local media directly
    • I am the librarian at…
    • use National Library Week as a spring board
    • “You might be interested to know that…”
    • write letters to the editor if the information is accurate: offer additional resources and offer yourself as another resource
  • Being visible in the community
    • people will know you and your abilities
    • if you are unknown, it will not be hard to discourage bad local legislation
• Promoting the profession
  • people don’t know about us; we don’t talk about ourselves enough
  • brochures and websites are not going to do the full job of educating peoples
  • don’t just say “I am a librarian, staff or MLS student”
    • add a sentence about what you did that particular day
  • get out to community fairs more
    • career fairs
    • scouting troops
    • school groups
    • Rachel Singer Gordon’s “How to become a librarian” article in Library Journal–this can help you describe what you do
  • Men/ ethnic minorities: people need to see people like them to go and pursue a career
• Networking, getting visible;
  • attend a chamber of commerce meeting
  • a work meeting
  • women business owners in the community
  • promote our services on a regular basis
• handshaking: important social custom; only form of acceptable touching connection
  • • credibility
    • colleagues and clients; even children
    • sign of respect–levels the playing field
    • shake, eye contact, and smile
• Marketing, staying visible
  • Always wear you’re name badge, title and credentials
  • photos of who works in the library with name, credentials and title for your users
    • you have to have the delineation: librarians are all different
  • sell your value on a daily basis
    • you can’t assume
      • people know who you are
      • know what you do
      • know what you have
  • consider writing a weekly/monthly column with your picture
    • tips
    • suggestions
    • different services
    • different materials
  • consider writing competitions
  • offer to speak at a local meeting on your paid work-time
    • propose these to the people you work for:
      • why do you want to go?
        • they vote
        • they donate money
        • they don’t appreciate/know our services
    • if you don’t ask you don’t get
    • even if it is no, it produces awareness
      • repackage it and try again
      • if we can’t do that, maybe we can do this
      • “When the customer says no, the selling begins.”
  • other ideas
    • Comment: in the public: at the gym or the grocery: what do you do: “I am your librarian”
    • Comment: offer comments and questions
      • always identify yourself by names and permissions
    • Comment: contacted local assembly person; they told her about meetings they are looking for speakers
      • if you don’t know your local assembly person is you can find out easily;
    • Comment: a lot of libraries have public meeting space: always make myself known and who I am
    • Comment: we have a speakers bureau and offer speakers in their interests
    • Comment: passed over for promotion; one of the reasons why I came I felt I might need to change my image…but I am becoming cynical and bitter; how do you turn that around?
      • A: changing your image is a good thing; there are a lot of reasons why people are hired; make an appointment to speak with your supervisor; let your goals be known and ask for advice; can you suggest other projects I can get involved in?
    • Comment: new hires get a mentor who give candid feedback and help them in promotion
    • Comment: enewsletter: would you like to sign up for our monthly newsletter with tips on research?
• Getting involved in national/local associations
  • joining isn’t enough, get involved
  • dues are too much
    • ask for help from your employer
      • ask for help to go to conference
      • ask for it every year even if they say no every year
      • if you don’t ask you won’t get
      • nos still create awareness
      • why is it important to be a member?
        • why is it important to go to a conference
        • Comment: when you get back meet with supervisors and tell them why it was beneficial;
        • D: write a report, give the boss material
    • cost is relative to value
    • you can probably deduct this on taxes
  • they won’t listen to me; too much politics;
    • even if you put something out there and they don’t follow, you are still feeling empowered and your voice is heard
  • you will also need to sell this to other people
    • you join associations for what is in it for you
      • you are an informed member of the profession–pipeline of information
      • garner support
      • let off steam
    • join a committee
      • hones your leadership skills
      • your communications skills
      • your networking skills
  • run for office in your organization
    • this holds a lot of wait in your employment evaluations
• Develop speaking and writing skills
  • promotion method
  • it is the good communicators who get ahead in this world
    • articulate
  • anyone can learn how to write and anyone can learn how to speak
    • more technique involve than most people realize
    • develop it and cultivate it
  • start small and start local
    • write about something you love
    • write about something you know
    • write about something innovative
    • write in an association newsletter
    • it is the doing that grows into ability
  • Getting a rejection letter
    • when I got my first one and vowed I would never write again
    • the editor had actually taken the time to make some suggestions
    • I never resubmitted that article, but I went to the public library and got a book on how to write for publication in journals
    • today I am doing a column for that magazine now
      • I almost let one rejection letter keep me from ever doing it again
    • WHEN you get a rejection letter, you celebrate that–it is a rite of passage
      • writing and submitting is the part of publication that is important
    • Speaking? I looked up books at the library on that as well

The first part of the session discussed ways to get more involved in ACRL. One of the ways that I can really support is to read their blogs. I find I read almost every post from ACRLog because they are always so thoughtful and informative. The second part of the session was centered on how to negotiate ALA annual. Here are my notes from the speaker’s comments on ACRL and negotiating ALA Annual:

How to get involved at ACRL

• people who are successful are attracted to other people who are successful
• We want to learn
  • we have f2f
    • conferences
    • scholarships
  • electronic learning
    • on-point chats
    • spring board speakers
    • volunteers for podcasts/webinars are welcome
• want to advance
• want to have an impact
  • blogs
  • best practices in C&RL News (C&RL is the #1 publication outlet in our field)
  • 25 discussion lists
  • volunteer in over 50 different committees (New Member Wiki has info)
  • mentoring opportunities
  • enter your profile and photo on Meet our Members website
  • form an interest group
  • effective practices clearing house
  • become a legislative advocate

Advice for New Librarians at ALA Annual Conference

• acronym list
• map
• you can attend anything that is not closed
  • awards committees/nominating committees are closed
• still go to committee meetings
  • listen to their issues
  • find out where you might fit in
• find time for yourself
  • personal health
  • take a swim in your hotel pool
  • visit local attractions
• take notes: so much information
• have business cards handy
  • jot down what you talked about for later
• how do you choose what you do?
  • programs
    • try something you have never heard of; new perspective
  • exhibit halls
    • just take the free stuff you will actually use
    • use UPS/FedEx if you can’t fit everything in your luggage
    • you will also find chocolate
    • of course you can talk with the reps from publishers and vendors
  • networking
    • talk to people on the shuttle
  • tours
  • discussions
  • poster sessions
    • take the handouts so you can think about it later
• make a schedule…then abandon it
  • pick out things that interest you…but sometimes you may not be right in your choice
  • don’t be afraid to walk out and go to another session
• don’t stress
  • you may miss something but you can always email who offered the program and get info from them