tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14910883448620068412024-02-06T19:40:20.039-08:00Sticky 'BraryThere is an immense reservoir of good will for public libraries and yet public libraries are struggling to stay afloat. Why is this? It seems that in our marketing efforts, we are being incredibly obtuse. But in what ways? How do we tap into Ghawar Field of public love for libraries? How do we make libraries sticky? Let's discuss.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-16413356519773809242015-09-30T09:22:00.002-07:002021-04-08T22:04:41.679-07:00The Basics<span style="font-size: medium;">There are things we all take for granted and assume to be basic, shared cultural knowledge. The sun rises in the... east. Water flows... downhill. Fires are... hot.<br />
<br />
When giving presentations on library resources, I don't want to spend valuable time discussing what everyone already knows. The problem, as it turns out, is what we in library land assume to be basic, shared knowledge is not always shared as widely as we think.<br />
<br />
Case in point: I was recently hanging out with family and friends as we watched the super blood harvest moon lunar eclipse a few nights ago. The particular friend I was sitting next to as we sipped our beer and watched the moon do its thing is the president of a company headquartered in Florida but with production plants all over the country. As his position dictates, he spends a fair amount of time traveling. Also, as his position dictates, he's an audiobook fan. Seeing a seamless sales opportunity, I gave him the full rundown on our downloadable audiobook scene, complete with instructions on how to set up his account, download the app to his phone, search for titles, how the content would just automatically disappear after three weeks with no overdue charges or lost fees but he could renew them if he wanted, how to request a title not currently in our collection, yada, yada, yada.<br />
<br />
He was duly impressed and after a few moments of moongazing, his question was this: How much does it cost?<br />
<br />
Insert stunned silence on my part.<br />
<br />
Now, this guy is a sharp, intelligent, well-educated, witty and wordly fellow. He knows a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff. But he didn't know that his library's services and products are FREE. As in already paid for. Zilch. Nada. 100% off sale all day everyday.<br />
<br />
The very basis of what I do is provide free stuff. I assume that <b>everyone</b> knows that. But as it turns out, I'm now going to be spending 25 seconds in every presentation making sure that everyone in the room knows the basics. Otherwise, I'm just staring at the moon with my mouth hanging open. </span>Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-29866948594280694672014-05-02T09:19:00.001-07:002014-05-02T09:19:21.059-07:00Some inspirationIn Spokane's weekly alternative news publication, the Inlander, they do a number of awesome things. One of the things they do is a weekly "Random Joe on the Street" type of survey where they ask a question on some given issue and record the responses. Here is the column from 3/2/12:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShgmRTUqOkG4s3DoraOszlA-rfpraLJ32D1WF_SAR3QeVhZcJ2zmndc0ScA8ys6hwFWAEzy-MFDo2wQ32bqP4Nv_xPd4gBCO8G5CVnWlEwZTxYtl4f0LfGPsn7FAoAvmXr4O50lYy-sY/s1600/Inlander+Comment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShgmRTUqOkG4s3DoraOszlA-rfpraLJ32D1WF_SAR3QeVhZcJ2zmndc0ScA8ys6hwFWAEzy-MFDo2wQ32bqP4Nv_xPd4gBCO8G5CVnWlEwZTxYtl4f0LfGPsn7FAoAvmXr4O50lYy-sY/s1600/Inlander+Comment.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
It's not Kassie's or Luke's or Dixie's or Heather's fault that they are off base. It's mine. More work to be done.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-4574353839865726082014-03-27T16:36:00.001-07:002014-03-27T16:37:56.569-07:00Crisis? What crisis?Fine. I agree that public libraries have been taking some pretty wicked shots to the chin for quite a while now. We all know the litany of issues: decreased funding, increased number of formats to purchase, publishers being squirrely about granting us access to their content... and so on.<br />
<br />
All true. All relevant.<br />
<br />
And nowhere close to being the full picture.<br />
<br />
Just last night a colleague from a neighboring library system and I did a presentation on library business resources for an entrepreneur/business plan class hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce. To a chorus of many oohs and ahhs, we covered the content that we originally planned to cover. Comments ranged from "This is the best night of my life" to "I loooove the library" to "Who knew?!?" to "Get out!!!". And then they wouldn't let us leave the room. Beyond the library's straight up business resources they wanted to know about our ebooks. About our downloadable audiobooks. Is there an app for that so I can listen on my phone? What's this Zinio thing? You have downloadable music?! How does that work? Grants research? Yes?! Could you show us? And all of this is free? <br />
<br />
Seriously. We couldn't break away.<br />
<br />
Which leads me to believe two things: despite what we tell ourselves, there is no crisis in public library land. There is only a communication crisis, or at the worst, a crisis of not looking for opportunities. The second thing that became apparent last night is that people love to hear about their public institutions performing well.<br />
<br />
Any time you can get a group of people to sit through a 2.5 hour long presentation and still be engaged and asking more questions at the end, you don't have a crisis. You have a revolution.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-84030892055710725832013-02-05T13:45:00.003-08:002013-02-05T13:45:41.278-08:00Thanks!A quick shout out to the folks at the <a href="http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/libraries/firsttuesdays/" target="_blank">Washington State Library </a>for hosting me this morning for a First Tuesday session.<br />
<br />
If you'd like to watch the 1 hour presentation at your leisure, go ahead and link to it <a href="https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2013-02-05.0720.M.51A1F6BD288768B43F3C46EBA9B642.vcr" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Thanks again!Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-73393158459201587462012-11-01T08:23:00.003-07:002012-11-01T08:23:34.662-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJ5hLWePdmdLc7tSgv9_GbRNwO7m_WjVgxWJeQzJh3erCq4K5PbuiwhRkZw64ybFuxvU3Wc9MG1MLKsbt4rQ8fgGqZKfYdbC1wwwnlsH97j_RAuyY0-QoOwb1lv42y0qTwvXObAwxZig/s1600/magic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJ5hLWePdmdLc7tSgv9_GbRNwO7m_WjVgxWJeQzJh3erCq4K5PbuiwhRkZw64ybFuxvU3Wc9MG1MLKsbt4rQ8fgGqZKfYdbC1wwwnlsH97j_RAuyY0-QoOwb1lv42y0qTwvXObAwxZig/s1600/magic.jpg" /></a></div>
This pretty much sums it up. If you find yourself sitting comfortably at your desk, day in and day out, you're missing out.<br /><br />Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-57662739592037912612012-10-16T10:18:00.002-07:002012-10-16T10:19:02.575-07:00Being bigAlthough I have absolutely no scientific data to back me up on this assertion, I'm guessing that one of the top 10 reasons that librarians don't spend more time engaging with the public is the fear of being out in the public. Kind of a weird trait for a <i>public</i> librarian to have, but there it is.<br />
<br />
So how do you work around that? How do you get comfortable with being uncomfortable? For starters, give this a try: <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/Ks-_Mh1QhMc/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ks-_Mh1QhMc&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ks-_Mh1QhMc&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-22011725567117767962012-09-18T15:36:00.004-07:002012-09-18T15:36:43.681-07:00New York's Best Kept Secret for Entrepreneurs?The Atlantic magazine says this is it (<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/bank-of-america/archive/2012/09/new-yorks-best-kept-secret-for-entrepreneurs/262197">http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/bank-of-america/archive/2012/09/new-yorks-best-kept-secret-for-entrepreneurs/262197</a>) but I'm guessing that the NYPL could give the Field Center a run for its money.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-68395497783329461172012-08-08T17:05:00.001-07:002012-09-18T15:36:59.576-07:00A site of note: <a href="http://www.growinglocaleconomies.com/">http://www.growinglocaleconomies.com/</a> A ton of great resources here for anyone in libraryland looking for ways to integrate their public library into the local business scene. <br />
<br />
<br />Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-28632784717169099452012-07-06T16:38:00.001-07:002012-07-06T16:39:00.648-07:00Required viewing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KqAwj5ssU2c?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
If you haven't seen this and you have a love of public libraries, take a few minutes out of your day and watch this: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAwj5ssU2c">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAwj5ssU2c</a><br />
<br />Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-40719980640088415152012-05-27T22:11:00.001-07:002012-07-06T16:36:32.923-07:00All inI'm a rookie Texas Hold 'em player but I love, love, love the game. One strategy that I have learned over the years: if you have the nuts (poker slang for an unbeatable hand), you should generally go all in. All the chips go into the center of the table. If people want to stay in the game, it's going to cost them. If they want to fold and walk away, leaving me with the smaller win, fine. I'll take it.<br />
<br />
Either way, when you're sitting on the nuts that is not the time to hold anything back.<br />
<br />
Poker to library/business reference transition...<br />
<br />
In terms of the information world, the library has the nuts in terms of the best model out there to deliver high-quality content to our communities. It's time we started acting like it. It's time we started looking around at the best business libraries out there (<a href="http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/businesslibraries">http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/businesslibraries</a> and <a href="http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/bestdatabases">http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/bestdatabases</a> seem to be good places to start) and figuring out how our public libraries can get the same line-up of resources. If we're sitting on a royal flush, why not act like it?Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-9343712883947053872012-04-19T17:32:00.002-07:002012-04-19T17:32:38.483-07:00Prezi for the WLA-ersHey WLAers!<br />
<br />
Thanks for being such a rocking, inquisitive audience. Here's the link to the Prezi portion of the presentation: <a href="http://prezi.com/ks65tb54zgrb/wla-presentation/">http://prezi.com/ks65tb54zgrb/wla-presentation/</a><br />
<br />
Stay in touch and let me know how your business outreach efforts go!Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-30608243299262587482012-04-18T23:19:00.002-07:002012-04-18T23:19:18.870-07:00WLAAt the <a href="http://2012conference.wla.org/">WLA conference</a>. Gonna be preachin' it to the choir tomorrow. Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-37015374088189836812012-03-08T15:54:00.002-08:002012-03-08T15:55:13.970-08:00CompetionHere's a word of warning about doing library outreach to the business community. Well, not so much a warning but rather a tip. Something to be aware of.<br />
<br />
Here it is: After a certain period of doing outreach to the business community (about five years in my case), you might start wondering why, if the library's business resources are met with such universal appeal and acclaim, why are there still large swaths of the business community that don't know about the power and versatility of our resources? I think I have an answer, or at least a partial answer. Competition.<br />
<br />
If I show the commercial lenders at one bank in town our market research database, allowing them to save time and money when it comes time to performing due diligence in making a business loan, that information spreads like wildfire... right up to the doors of that particular bank. Once the news makes its rounds within an single institution, there is no incentive for Bank ABC to share their newfound competitive edge with Bank XYZ. In fact, there is a distinct disincentive working against the sharing of this information.<br />
<br />
I say this just as a matter of encouragement. If you put out a blog post explaining how to gain access to some fabulous resource, don't be surprised if it isn't shared widely. Sometimes that's the sign that you're putting out really, really valuable information.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-44580982928223752152011-12-16T13:33:00.000-08:002011-12-16T13:33:10.509-08:00You gotta show upAt the risk of coming across as a Seth Godin lackey, I do have to share a recent video of his. He's not specifically talking about libraries but the connections are too strong to be ignored.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-Nwj7h0CftE" width="560"></iframe>Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-3996791965509673722011-12-02T08:30:00.001-08:002012-04-24T12:31:04.436-07:00The way forward. And the way backward.In library land (as well as many other lands, most likely) we tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the one big thing that will blow things wide open. We'll make that perfect presentation to just the right person and adequate library funding will be secured indefinitely. We'll roll out the perfect service or resource and the City Council and Mayor will be lining up outside our doors to offer us additional revenue.<br />
<br />
And when we aren't thinking these grand thoughts, we're thinking just the opposite: the sky is going to fall. The apocalypse is nigh. We're cutting the budget to the point where we just won't be a viable organization. We're underfunded. We're overworked. We aren't appreciated.<br />
<br />
But here's the thing: neither of those two scenarios are likely. Instead, it is one small step at a time. If we satisfy one library member with one interaction then we are one step closer to remaining and/or becoming a valued asset in our community. If we disappoint... well, we then lose one potential voice of support. These things come in baby steps. It's a creeping thing.<br />
<br />
While a gradual creep (name for my next band: The Gradual Creeps) isn't nearly as dramatic as a big bang, it is somewhat comforting that the solution ultimately lies in small actions rather than some large, nebulous ideal.<br />
<br />
Thanks to Seth Godin for the spark for these thoughts:<br />
<a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/11/preparing-for-the-breakthroughcalamity.html%20%20">http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/11/preparing-for-the-breakthroughcalamity.html </a>Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-43462471268392221192011-11-09T17:41:00.000-08:002011-11-09T17:43:20.719-08:00Keepin' it real...When I give a presentation to a group of business folks I usually have about 30 - 45 minutes for my spiel. Here are the points/resources I try to cover:<br />
<ul>
<li>Local human librarians vs. Google</li>
<li><i>ReferenceUSA</i></li>
<li><i>DemographicsNow</i></li>
<li><i>General OneFile</i></li>
</ul>
Often the presentation is at some sort of a networking event so try to pay attention to the make up of the audience before your presentation. I just spoke today to a group that included a man who is at the beginning stages of putting together a business plan for an indoor shooting range. Interesting. When it was my turn with the microphone I used <i>ReferenceUSA</i> and showed the group how he could pull together a list of all the shooting ranges in Washington State so he can instantly know who his competition -- and potential collaborators -- might be. That's a good thing to know when it comes to guns. Using <i>DemographicsNow</i> I then showed how to round up the demographics around other successful shooting rangers and compare them against his potential site. Also in the crowd was a woman who is thinking about starting up her own wedding planning business. Using <i>General OneFile</i> I showed the 21,000+ articles on the wedding industry that she could sift through and showed how to jump immediately to articles focused on "forecasts and trends." Oohs and ahhhs all around.<br />
<br />
The end result is that by using actual real-life, present-in-the-room types of examples the content of the presentation is moved from the yeah-that's-neat-in-a-theoretical-sense sentiment to holy-crap-I-need-access-to-these-resources-right-now mentality. You can see the shift in the room as people go from uninterested nonbelievers to converts. And that's the power of keeping it real. Yo.<br />
<br />
Side note: today I had the luxury of sitting in the back of the room and running the previously mentioned searches on my laptop before I got up to do the search live in front of the group. I generally don't shy away from doing searches on the fly but if you can squeeze in a few sample searches in private it's a good idea. That's keeping it kinda semi-real, albeit rehearsed.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-30129057694489785702011-09-28T16:20:00.000-07:002011-09-28T16:25:30.777-07:00MagicThose of us who inhabit the library world on a day-to-day basis sometimes need to look at what we do in a fresh light.<br />
<br />
When we run a search on <i>ReferenceUSA</i> and within 30 seconds pull up a list of the 46 Spokane County female-owned manufacturing businesses without websites, well, that's all in a day's work for us. No biggie. But to the public that is straight up, hardcore magic. That's the equivalent of pulling four doves out of a handkerchief and having them explode into $100 bills. <br />
<br />
The moral? Don't let our complacency with what we do color how the public views what we do.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-49655467127138280492011-08-16T08:00:00.000-07:002011-08-16T08:00:10.329-07:00Outreach tip #47If you have ventured out into the community to do presentations/speaking engagements, here's a suggestion: keep a spreadsheet listing the contact information for each group. When a year rolls by, send them a quick note letting them know that you'd be happy to come speak with their group again and show off all the cool new things that your library has implemented in the past year.<br />
<br />
Wish I'd thought of that sooner than right now.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-25824935735019196702011-08-09T08:41:00.000-07:002011-09-28T17:24:07.135-07:00SharingIt's what libraries do. We buy something and then we share it. Pretty simple, really.<br />
<br />
But why oh why are we so clumsy when it comes to sharing with other libraries? Sure, we've got our Interlibrary Loan program which certainly rocks. Within the span of just a few days, I can have delivered to my hands pretty much any book or journal article I could desire. That's amazing. But what about our subscription databases?<br />
<br />
Yeah, yeah. Our contracts prevent us from allowing "non-authorized" users access to our databases. The price we pay is largely dependent upon use and/or population area served. But can't we be a little more creative than that? At the very least, every library in the state (academic or public) should have an option to purchase a "non-resident" library card that would then grant access to that institution's electronic resources. With constrained budgets, that would mean that the smallest library could pony up ~$50/year to purchase a card from the largest, most well-funded libraries in the state, thus granting library staff access to the most powerful and useful databases out there. Granted, the public wouldn't have direct access to the databases but once they became aware of the possibilities that exist they just might be more willing to put some dollars into their own local library.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-61119834782445259412011-06-15T08:36:00.000-07:002011-08-09T08:47:15.636-07:00Gathering what is scarceWhen Ben Franklin started up The Library Company of Philadelphia, books were scarce and expensive. Franklin's flash of inspiration was figuring out how to make them accessible and inexpensive. And thus, the idea of the public library was born.<br />
<br />
Fast forward 280 years. Information is no longer scarce or expensive. What is scarce and expensive is compiled, indexed, findable, useful, high-quality information and having someone know where to find it. The days of libraries putting a book on the shelf and having that provide enough of a value to our community to justify our existence is over. We still need the book, yes, and at the same time we need to show our communities what is truly scarce and how libraries are the best model out there for managing scarcity, be it 18th century scientific tracts or 21st century databases.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-72376807404368056682011-04-11T16:44:00.000-07:002011-04-11T16:44:51.649-07:00One and done...As much as I would like for the spreading of the library gospel to be just a simple one-shot deal, it just doesn't work that way.<br />
<br />
Or at least it doesn't work that way for me.<br />
<br />
I've been doing this outreach gig for coming up on five years now and in terms of reaching my entire community I'm really just at the starting line. My sense is that to get the public to fully appreciate the value that their public library holds we need to be consistently communicating like a child: unrelenting and occasionally with bits of brilliance.<br />
<br />
Now, if I had a budget to work with or a staff to assign tasks to I might have a different take on this but I'm guessing I'd still be in roughly the same situation. It's a truism that there has never been a great organization that was built with all the resources it needed from the very beginning. That has to be earned.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-33441949156592003292011-03-01T13:31:00.001-08:002011-03-01T13:35:21.857-08:00Doing what they can'tIn my ongoing dog and pony shows that I do around town showcasing the library's resources I frequently do a compare/contrast of the library vs. Google. While the database access issue gets good play (meaning that the library has access to content that Google can't get at) the thing that really resonates is the local, human connection. Google can't match that.<br /><br />Every morning when I fire up my work computer I go to my sent mail folder, go back two days, see who I sent some bit of information to and then I send them a follow up note asking if the information I sent fit the bill or if we need to take another stab at it. People really like that. And that's something that Google can't do.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-2402866060035630202010-10-13T09:22:00.000-07:002010-10-13T09:30:30.388-07:00Follow-upEmail. It's going to be the death of us all.<br /><br />A week or so ago I got a request for some demographics research for a business proposal that may be bringing a new storefront to the downtown area. Snapping into professional mode I completed the research the same afternoon, attached the appropriate documents and replied to the person. I didn't hear anything back over the next several days but I just assumed they were so busy on their end of the line that they didn't have time to reply. <br /><br />Part of that assumption was true.<br /><br />Indeed, they were busy. So busy that they didn't even see my email come in. They then waited until this morning to call, asking rather sheepishly if I had had time to complete the work. I had a brief panic attack but then found the message in my Sent folder and the other party was able to find the email on their end.<br /><br />The delay and bit of drama could have been avoided if I had just picked up the phone and let the person know that the work was done and to contact me if they had any other questions. Problem. Solved.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-75307933452617970122010-06-29T08:14:00.000-07:002010-06-29T08:21:22.339-07:00Catch... and releaseOne of the most vexing pieces of library outreach is doing a presentation, getting people all excited about library resources, and then navigating the shoals of getting a library card into their hands. My library has an online application for city resident cards but if a person wanted (or needed) to get a library card through their business, the only option was the paper route.<br /><br />Until now.<br /><br />With the help of <a href="https://docs.google.com/">Google documents</a>, I put together an online form that gathers the necessary information, dumps the data into a spreadsheet for easy cutting/pasting into Dynix, and voila! a new library card is born.<br /><br />Here's the form:<br /> <a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEVBU2xOdzRZMU1pSldUQmJRTkhZaGc6MQ#gid=0">https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEVBU2xOdzRZMU1pSldUQmJRTkhZaGc6MQ#gid=0</a>Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1491088344862006841.post-52316258651182120422010-05-25T10:11:00.000-07:002010-05-25T10:16:08.603-07:00Feedback, tough to getuntil now...<br /><br />When doing presentations out in the community, I have too much to convey in terms of the brilliance that is the public library to give over precious time to the solicitation of feedback and comments on the spot.<br /><br />Solution: gather business cards/email contacts and afterward send out a Survey Monkey to the attendees. They then have a chance to provide feedback, should they be so inclined. When sent out a day or two after the presentation the survey also serves as another reminder of how frickin' awesome libraries are.<br /><br />Problem. Solved.Librarian Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778100869490640744noreply@blogger.com0