Future of Libraries Conference Part II: Models that Work

Yesterday I attended a mini-conference, the second annual offering, entitled “The Future of Libraries Part II: Models that Work” at the San Francisco Public Library. I hope my notes can be helpful for others.

Future of Libraries Conference Part II: Keynote Speech: Joan Frye Williams

Strategy #1: Make Facilities a Top Priority

96% of people have visited a library in the past year and only 72% of them hold a library card. If your surroundings are inhospitable, you have too little parking, things look dirty or worn out, or you have inconvenient hours, your library is at a disadvantage. Destination Libraries (like Seattle Public) give users something that they can’t get at home. Successful libraries are welcoming, comfortable, have a variety of experiences, give users a positive experience, and serves as an area landmark. She gave the White Plains (New York) Library a bad review for having a “DO NOT RETURN BOOKS HERE” sign at the first thing users see when they enter the library. The library has great potential to be “The Third Place” – a place to go other than school/work and home. Successful third places are neutral, defined and moldable by users, and a place to connect with others. She shoed one example of a “quiet” sign called “The Quiet Zone” with a “Twilight Zone” look. She recommends having some areas that are quiet and some areas where conversation is encouraged. She also encourages having a café in the library—which is becoming an expectation, not an “extra” any more. She also mentioned “pop-up spaces” – not a permanent branch or outreach location, but a way to get your service sand materials out to where people already are: farmers markets, beaches, etc. dressed to be comfortable where you are going and bringing something to draw attention to your booth—bottled water, sunscreen, etc.—whatever is appropriate for the location and environment.

Strategy #2: Make Circulation a Top Priority

Circulation is up 41% over the last decade. Reference is up 14%. Circulation is the most-used service—65% of users borrow traditional printed books once a year. Merchandising your collections by showing items face-out. Gather collections into segments, still in Dewey order, and collect everything together in one place, regardless of format. Signs with categories like “Health & Fitness” and “Automotive” along with a graphic on the sign (this example was from Hennepin County I believe). Self-service should be the primary way of doing repetitive tasks—self-service holds, self-check-out. The Contra Costa Library is experimenting with self-service check-in, which is working quite well. She also discussed automatic book dispensers—with a limited # of book titles, can be placed out in the community like an ATM or vending machine.

Strategy #3: Make Learning a Top Priority

88% of the public believe that quality education should be a top community priority. 85% believe that the library is a place to learn. Create partnerships with other community organizations and schools to help us expand into the entire community. Your spaces should support different learning styles. Allow people to work individually but also in groups. Emphasize the library’s strength of supporting “free choice learning” (basically adult self-directed and self-study continuing education).

Strategy #4: Make Youth Services a Top Priority

80% of people believe that all children need a library. 74% feel that they need a safe place for teenagers. She made the traditional fallacious comment that it’s important to serve children and teens because they will be future taxpayers and we will need their money. (Sarah’s comment: Every time I hear that statement, I get upset. The message that sends to both youth and their parents is that young people don’t matter to us as young people—they matter to us as potential future taxpayers, for what they can give us later. I was surprised to hear such a statement from Joan Frye Williams.) Youth areas benefit from consistent themes. Teen spaces benefit from a sociable environment, casual booth seating that lets people collaborate, lots of computers and multimedia, and programming by and for teens. Being teen friendly means allowing talking, food and drink, sharing computers, gaming, and cell phones. (Sarah’s comment: Umm, these things are not just things that make a library teen-friendly…they make the library friendly to all users. Teens aren’t the only ones who eat or use computers).

Strategy #5: Embrace the “Free Range” Internet

84% of people begin their searches for information with a search engine. Only 1-2% of users start with a library website. 64% of the public say that having enough computers in libraries is important. Having plenty of computers in the library is essential—and that might mean reducing other items in the library in order to make space. Allowing collaborative computing is important. Wireless is important to provide as well as convenient electrical outlets and seating options near the electrical outlets. Have a Library Toolbar—much like a Google toolbar. She showed Denver Public Library’s toolbar as an example. She touched on online outreach—being out there on non-library blogs, wikis, and social networks. She also said that libraries shouldn’t start blogs of our own, but simply participate on other people’s. (Sarah’s note: I completely disagree with that statement—a blog is simply a medium, a format, a mechanism for communicating content. Libraries can create booklists as blogs, have a “what’s new” at the library as a blog, create a local history repository as a blog—any content can be a blog. To tell libraries not to create blogs is a huge mistake, and rather like telling libraries not to buy or use some other format, like DVDs). She also contended that putting our reference services as walk-up available diminishes our professional stature and importance. Instead, we should make people create reference appointments. (Sarah’s note: After an audience member contended that this was a really bad idea, JFW retracted this statement somewhat, saying that a professional librarian should always be available to help at a moment’s notice, but perhaps just not out on the floor).

Strategy #6: Support Self-Directed Service.

An OCLC study revealed that users say that they think staff are great, but they think our customer service is poor. We should use consolidated desks so people don’t have to guess where to go. All of the directions and signage we provide should be situational and very simple (natural language). Providing FAQs, shortcuts, and prepackaged tips so users can self-serve is helpful. Standardize the terminology you use to refer to various items in the library (magazines vs. periodicals). Allow staff to rove around using wireless tools to provide on-the-spot services.