Brainstorming Outside the Box

February 20, 2008 at 8:04 pm (Food for Thought)

I subscribe to a few email newsletters from Marketing Profs. They’re good food for thought and they’re fed to you in easy, bite-size pieces — taking only about 30 seconds of your time to get their point across. Here’s a link to the one I got yesterday. I love the idea of getting people warmed up to think creatively by having them spend a few minutes working on an absurd problem! So often we come to meetings with our minds already made up about what we want to say or how we want to steer the topic. Take a look at this quick and fun idea:

http://tinyurl.com/34qlzj

Pat Rapp

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Why don’t more libraries do this?

February 20, 2008 at 8:29 am (Food for Thought, Marketing, Random Observations)

I know that we’ve talked about this before, but I like what some of the libraries have done by showing photos of the staff and their names on their website. I think it makes the staff more real.

Upon pouring over the sites for over an hour (seriously) I found that only Penfield has a picture of what looks like the entire staff (minus pages). That seems sad to me. I think what would be perfect (like combining chocolate and peanut butter) would be to have pictures – individual or group, and then have a short little bio of each person. “I like reading horror novels, eating prunes and crocheting doilies” Not too personal, but you get to learn a little about each person.

Penfield Library – I like that whoever to the picture didn’t think to ask Todd to sit down in the front row. Or maybe lay across their laps! :)

Penfield staff

Brighton Library – they have a photo of each of the librarian managers as well as what they do.

Ogden Library – they have great little biographies of the staff, but no pictures. :( … I do really like the biographies.

Some of the libraries … Irondequoit and Chili have pictures of the children’s librarians, but no one else.

Many of the sites are quite … sad. Sure some of the libraries are really small, but I think they could still do a blog or other type of free website. Let your patrons know who you are and what makes you special! Some seemed to be laid out in quite a confusing way.

I think I was most surprised about Pittsford. The library is on a section of the town website, but still. There really isn’t any information about the library… a couple of PDFs of the programs. At one point I found a cute picture of the director, but I couldn’t find it again.

On Webster’s site, I found a delightful reading of Goldilocks and the Pirate (as read by Jason Poole).

I was trying to figure out which sites I liked best, but honestly, it was pretty hard. I guess I liked Brighton, Fairport, Penfield (although the background was distracting) and Webster.

I was also distressed to see that none of the branches had anything of their own. I know for a fact that (at least the children/teen librarians) are very creative and tech savvy. I’m sure that they could do something. I think that giving staff that space to show how each branch is special and different could be quite beneficial. People might be more likely to go to the libraries if they were to see what each branch had to offer.

I don’t know what got me started on this, but I was pretty bummed after looking at some of the sites. This is the first view some people will have when looking for a potential place to move. I don’t know where I would move. :) I guess that at this point, I figured that a good website is something basic that every library should have. Even something very basic, but pleasing to the eye. What should we do? What can we do as a committee?

Cathy K @ Prma

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What Kind of Innovator Are You?

February 19, 2008 at 12:07 am (Food for Thought)

Yes, it’s true. I’m on vacation this week. And what am I doing but catching up on my reading. Between bowling and movies, that is…

Anyway, I saw this post on the Think Customers blog and it got me thinking about how things are changing in MCLS and how we’re dealing with that change. Malcolm Gladwell (blink, blink) maintains that there are two types of innovators — Picasso’s and Cezanne’s. The Picasso’s among us are conceptual innovators while the Cezanne’s are experimental innovators. So what does that mean? Here’s what I think…

Conceptual innovation occurs when you have a strong leader or group of leaders who have a common purpose. They look at an organization and acknowledge that things need to change, and then they take the steps to make the change happen. Right now. They don’t wait for permission, they don’t study the problem to death. They take action and they take risks. They are willing to admit when they’re wrong, but they do not allow the organization to slip backwards. Instead they move forward in a different direction. They simply change course, but they continue to move forward. And like Picasso’s artwork, some people get it and some people don’t. . Conceptual innovators value youthful enthusiasm and tap those resources constantly.

Experimental Innovation occurs when you have leaders who are cautious and methodical. Slow and steady wins the race. Change occurs in stages that are well-planned and well-executed, but take a very long time. New things are tried a little at a time, processes are tweaked, and nerves are soothed over time. Experimental innovators gather as much information as possible and try to plan for every consequence. There is a hypothesis stage, an experimental stage and, finally, a solution.

As some of us prepare for an MCLS brand development workshop this Friday, I think it would be useful to know what kind of innovation you think is most valuable to the system. There have been many retirements in the town and branch libraries in the last five years, and I expect more will occur throughout the system in the coming years. This is time ripe with opportunity to re-direct and, in some ways, re-invent the Monroe County Library System. How do you want to see that happen?

Patty

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Did you know that you can…

February 17, 2008 at 4:31 am (Food for Thought)

rate your public library on yahoo local?

Here’s what people say about:
Parma
Charlotte Branch
Brighton

Interesting…
They didn’t have much to say for my library, but at least they took the time to rate it. I guess.
Cathy

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Advice Sought

February 16, 2008 at 2:34 am (Convenience, Food for Thought, emerging technology)

So Jen B and I are going to be doing some presenting at the next Tech Camp on web-based applications. Here are some of the sites I’ve used or heard of. Which ones do you think would be of interest? Or can you suggest others?

What do you think will be the most useful? Most fun?

Patty

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There’s a Lesson Here….

February 15, 2008 at 12:56 am (Convenience, emerging technology)

USA Today has a very interesting article about Borders new venture into digital services. Read it and then come back and let’s talk.

I love the concept of digital download stations where people can download books, music (But not to iPods, interestingly enough. When the hell are Apple & Microsoft going to realize they ought to be sharing the sandbox?) and photos. And here’s the kicker — “with help from clerks who know how to do those sorts of things and won’t embarrass you if you don’t.”

I think we already have this market, and we’re building a core of staff who can do this easily.

What stands out for you in this article?

Patty

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