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Here’s a guide to the Posters developed by 28 public, academic, corporate and agency libraries describing programs, projects and research they’ve undertaken. Come talk with them about what they’ve learned — up close and personal! Lower Lobby of the Convention Centre, Thursday February 2nd and Friday February 3rd, from 12:00 Noon – 2:00 p.m.
Comfort & Joy: Yoga and Make-Your-Own-Sundaes During Christmas Exams Robin Bergart, Jim Brett, Sophia Apostol, Robin Sakowski, Randy Oldham, and Doug Horne University of Guelph Library The University of Guelph Library piloted a program last December to help students relieve their stress during the final exam period. We teamed up with the university’s Athletics Centre, Wellness Program, and Students’ Association to offer yoga and relaxation classes, healthy snacks, and a sundae bar! This poster documents the reception by the students. Did they welcome it or find it disruptive? Did it help their studies or distract them instead? What were the most popular activities? How would we do it differently next time?
Talk with U of Guelph – with many other library staff - about their programs and projects on February 2nd & 3rd in the Lower Lobby of the Convention Centre at OLA’s Superconference at the Poster Sessions, 12:00 Noon – 2:00 p.m. Here’s the full program of OLA Poster Sessions – it’s not published anywhere else! One of the marketing “P”s at which librarians excel is Promotion. One of the most popular promotional vehicles for many libraries is their blog. Many libraries, like many organizations, assume that “if we blog it, people will read it.” And rarely do libraries look at how the blog fits in their overall promotion or marketing plans. So, before you set up a new blog – or continue on your current blog, scope out the plan. Consider what you are trying to achieve with the blog, and how you plan to achieve that goal by answering the following questions: Purpose: What is the goal of your blog? What do you want to communicate or promote? Be clear about this. Description: What do you want your site to look like? Plan the physical description of the blog. Sketch out your vision so you can “see” it before you build it. Schedule: How often will you be updating your blog? Set a publication frequency that’s reasonable. Audience: Who are they? What’s the target market? Cost: How much? Even electronic publications have a cost, including - and especially – the “cost” of your time! Distribution: How are you going to ensure that you reach your audience? Where is the “Place” (another marketing “P”)? Person(s): Where does the responsibility lie? During set-up, you may want to create a project plan to identify milestones – especially if you are relying upon outside expertise to deliver certain aspects of your site. After you are up and running, there are still ongoing responsibilities – even if it’s only for content (not an inconsiderable responsibility) – and even if that person is you! Answered all the questions? Got your plan in place? You are set to succeed at Promotion. The above elements were drawn from a lecture I gave to my Library Promotion class at Seneca College. We were discussing the process for creating promotional tools – whether those tools were printed or electronic – and one of our points of discussion was the advantages / disadvantages of printed promotional material vs. electronic “publications”. What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? During the past 3 years I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work on several projects with Jim Morgenstern of dmA Planning and Management Services. D&J have always sought out the best associates to collaborate with on projects to bring different perspectives and experiences to clients’ unique opportunities and challenges. We don’t know everything that’s for sure! And working with planners who have vast experience in municipal and recreational sectors has been very rewarding, both for us and certainly for libraries.
Jim will be one of the speakers at the Leadership Renewal pre-conference Wednesday February 1st. With that much planning experience, in that many organizations he’s seen it all. He’ll work with participants to understand why plans fail, and, obviously, how to avoid failure. People say “oh I hate planning! The plans never get implemented anyway.” Well, as Jim will point out, it isn’t the planning that’s the problem — it’s the lack of clarity, honesty and perspective that’s the problem. More on that tomorrow.
We are delighted that once again this year, D&J and dmA are sponsoring the Poster Sessions at OLA Superconference. These wonderful poster sessions are the best kept – and best hidden – secret at the conference. Get on the escalator at noon on Thursday February 2 and Friday February 3, and come to the Lower Lobby of the MTCC. You will be absolutely amazed by 16 displays (different each day) of innovative ideas, services and programs underway in various libraries. Come talk with the “poster people” about their projects, their research findings and their experiences. You won’t regret it — these are real — these are practical and will definitely expand your perspective and your conference experience.
I’ve been away from the blog for too long. I’ve always been amazed at how our colleagues write such powerful blog posts – daily (Stephen Abram!). I admit it – I can’t do it. Projects and clients and family and faith have been my focus for the past few months. I have so much to say! So, projects or no, it’s time to get back to contemplating and sharing the insights we get while on these projects. Projects will be much more manageable with Juanita Richardson on board. YEAH! We’re delighted that Juanita has joined D&J as an associate. I’m supposed to put her “official photo” in this blog post, but I like this pic with Jane much better — it shows Jane and Juanita as they are — full of life and fun! You can see the “official” one in the About Us section.
Bilingual, with an MLS, MBA and vast experience in the information industry, Juanita’s projects range from implementing corporate knowledge initiatives to advising information service companies on content and marketing opportunities, to market analysis to inform strategic planning discussions. She has served on the Board of Directors of SLA,is an active member of the Canadian Library Association, has spoken at various information industry conferences. and published in industry magazines. Contact her at juanita (at) dysartjones.com
I have given several talks on why libraries fail, and published an article on the topic, and one of the things I include in developing leaders is “the ability to retain youthful qualities as adults — curiosity, playfulness, eagerness, fearlessness, warmth, energy. Certainly this is the season for it, so strengthen your neoteny! Just because it’s Dec 1, no that’s not Ba Humbug but rather Ba, the KM concept of a physical or virtual collaborative space where participants feel safe and exchange insights. Since collaboration and communication are key to so many positive paths, including innovation, improvement, and learning, we should be looking for more Ba environments in our organizations and communities. I should have used the Ba concept in my recent post on imaging an engaging place, what a perfect term for a teen space — the teen ba! I’m trying to envision such a Ba space for next year’s KMWorld 2012 to support the conference theme Knowledge Sharing & Learning: Communication, Collaboration & Innovation. Thanks to Bill Ives & Stan Garfield for brainstorming with me. Got suggestions? Send them along. Thanks. Are you ready? Hamilton Public Library Chief Librarian Ken Roberts and I talked about ebooks a few weeks ago for an Education Institute “Conversations with Leaders” series. We talked about was the huge increase in ebook circulation over that last 18 months and how there was a real spike after Christmas last year. A recent Toronto Star article emphasized the same situation with ebooks in the Toronto Public Library. So have you made your plans for supporting the even greater tsunami of ebook seekers following holiday gift giving of electronic goodies? If you thought it was ebook crazy last year, this year will be even multiplied at least ten fold. Suggestion: make it really clear on the front page of your website how to deal with ebooks — how to download to particular devices (step by step), how to find ebooks in your collection, tips, FAQs, etc. Be prepared so your customers don’t get frustrated and bypass your library. Retailers have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I think libraries should have a catchy name for the ebook extravaganza following electronic holiday giving – Ebook Xday, or maybe just Ebookday. Got some other suggestions?
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