The Utopian Library

skokie public library

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Someone @MPOW was looking for me while I was away at CIL2009.

I’m home now, and my notes are here. I hope you find them interesting or useful for whatever innovation and adventure is ahead of us in the coming year or three.

Enjoy. And, whoever you are, let’s do lunch and talk about this stuff.

Filed under: @my library, CIL2009, conference notes, libraries | No Comments »

John Blyberg, Head of Technology and Digital Initiatives, Darien Library
Gretchen Hams-Caserotti, Head of Children’s Services, Darien Library
Sarah Ludwig, Head of Teen Services, Darien Library
Kate Sheehan, Head of Knowledge and Learning Services, Darien Library

See presentation slides here

• A culture of innovation allows us the freedom to fail
• The world around us is a legacy of failure
• The space between successes is the time we spend doing hard work, research, discussion

Darien Library’s organizational culture includes a cycle of INNOVATION >> FAIL >> ADAPT

If a culture of transition and change is built-in to the organization, then that’s what people come to expect

User Experience (UX): What does it look like to be a user at Darien Library?

• Dedicated department and staff exist to explore this and build services accordingly
• Advocating UX ensures that the innovation >> fail >> adapt cycle continues

SOPAC2 (Social OPAC)

• Open-source catalog product developed in-house
• Incorporates Amazon-style features into the catalog

Children’s Services

• Typically operates as an island
• Not often included in new innovations
• Darien renovation provided an opportunity to change this and start from scratch
• Who’s coming through the door and what are they here for?
  • kids from birth-12 years, but they don’t come by themselves!
  • consider the adults in their lives: very busy people
  • typically, libraries ask them users to fit our service model into their lifestyle
  • we’re asking users to know stuff like “QJ is the shelf code for picture book”
  • users come to get out of the house visit with neighbors, friends
  • they congregate at the picture book section
• Staff asked themselves, “Who is it for and what is it about?”
  • it’s not easy for users to make sense of a “QJ” collection as it currently exists
  • reorganization included color coding and catalog tagging of materials to make them easier to find
  • entire staff participated in reorganization of picture book collection
  • color coding is good for pre-readers
  • system meets needs of both browsers and searchers
  • nonfiction books were moved into the new arrangement and are “flying off the shelves”
    • folk and fairytales
    • mother goose books
  • separate “kids section” is organized for independent readers so that they don’t come across the “baby books”
• Just putting computers in the children’s room isn’t good enough
  • Microsoft Surface Table invites little kids and families to play together, share, create, and explore
  • older kids engage with the applications installed in the table
  • kids can check out a “Creation Station” equipped with laptop, digital camera, video camera, and MP3 playe
  • Children’s staff needs to tell parents about technology classes available in other parts of the library

Teen Department

There was no teen department before renovation. Children’s staff provided teen services and programming. It’s very different now…

• Teens can relax in a “hang out room” that has no books on shelves or productivity software on the computers
  CORRECTION per Sarah (see comment): books are available for “fun” reading. Study aids are on the second floor, in the nonfiction collection
• No public services desk in teen room
• Study rooms are available
• SOHO center is available with all the amenities of the local Kinkos: scanners, binders. copiers, etc.
• Dedicated staff researches teen UX, resources, technology, etc.

Teens will test out anything we put in front of them and aren’t shy about offering feedback

Teen space

• iMacs with big screens to facilitate collaboration
• Computers are not monitored and are available for anyone to use at any time
• Moveable furniture has handles on the back, wheels on the bottom, and no rules for where it should go
• Glass walls with dry erase markers lets kids express themselves, show off their creativity, and share their love for the library (no swearing allowed)
• Older students used the glass walls to study for physics; they turned the space into study tool

Gaming

• After-school gaming in the teen room
• Staff sets up the equipment and walks away
• Kids are trusted not to take any stuff
• If something breaks, no big deal

Outreach

• Teens don’t read newspapers, frequent the library website, watch the plasma displays, or listen to their teachers announcements about library programs
• Facebook is the only way teen librarian could get anyone to a library program
  • teen librarian has a professional facebook page separate from her personal page
  • ONLY FRIEND THE TEENS!
  • DO NOT FRIEND COLLEAGUES! It’s just not good for street cred with teens

Putting teens and tech together

• Oral history project
  • teens interview community members, videotape their memories, edit video, and put it together for broadcast on library website
  • teens add their own perspective as young people living in the community today
• Teen technology commitee
  • high school students work on projects that interest them
  • library enlists support from high school technology teacher

Reference Service

• All roving, no desk
• Long term goal: collaborative model of “research 101″ by appointment
• Organized into broad subject areas
• Non-Dewey collection arrangement meets patron request for subject-specific materials (e.g., self help, personal finance)
• Staff meets people at their point of need without being intrusive
• Tools to make it work
  • tiny laptops (eeePC)
  • tiny wireless phones (it’s hard to roam without one)
  • gorgeous curvy table shaped like a kidney bean
• No desk means that staff can focus on reference and assistance instead of providing technical support, resource sign-ups, etc.
• Name tags are the most important tool!
  • users might know where we sit, but they don’t really know who we are when we aren’t sitting down

Lessons learned

• Reorganizing a collection is a great bonding experience
• Renovation/reorganization is a permanent work in progress with no endpoint
• Staff had to let go of the fear of the future
• Reorganizing is like weeding: “Why is this here? Do we need this? Should we move it?”
• Reorganization requires permanent upkeep
• Patrons will use the resources in their new arrangements, but they won’t necessarily come to staff to tell them what they like
• Unhappy patrons who don’t like the changes WILL come to talk

Filed under: CIL2009, change, conference notes, libraries | 4 Comments »