Applications to the Leadership Development Program at Columbia University’s Business School are due to the PLA office on Jan. 9, 2009. PLA members can apply online.
The Leadership Fellows program offers PLA members who are public library managers a chance to attend executive leadership training at some of the best universities in the United States. The programs were reviewed and chosen by the PLA Leadership Taskforce because they focus on teaching management concepts not generally learned in a library school setting.
Each executive leadership program varies in length, as well as scope and focus, and candidates are encouraged to determine which programs are best suited to their needs before applying. The PLA Leadership Fellows program will cover the cost of tuition, as well as housing and most meals. Transportation and any additional meals are the responsibility of the attendee.
Candidates must be PLA members who belong to management staff in a public library system, with a minimum of five years experience in a leadership role. Selected participants will be asked to share their experience at a PLA program and provide input to the Leadership Taskforce in an effort to help shape a comprehensive leadership development program for PLA.
Happy Holidays PLA Blog readers! This may be my last post for a week or more depending on how restless I get during my own Christmas and New Years celebrations. I’m looking forward to a little bit of time off to actually read books. There’s a common misconception that librarians just sit around and read books all day. It just isn’t true. I never get to read books. Sad.
But before I go, let me share with you some information about the Next Library conference (or unconference) in Aarhus, Denmark in June of 2009. The event will feature presentations focusing on:
CO-CREATION
USER CENTRED INNOVATION
YOUTH CULTURE
THE PHYSICAL LIBRARY
INTERACTIVE LIBRARY SPACES
COMPETENCES
COMMUNITY BUILDING
CREATIVITY AND LEARNING
Sounds Like pretty great stuff, right? If you aren’t convinced to get a plane ticket to Denmark yet, have a look at this Transformation Lab video created by Rolf Hapel and his team. Rolf is the conference chair and Director of Citizen’s Service and Libraries in Aarhus.
And if even THAT isn’t enough to bring you to Denmark, maybe I can convince you to come and see me present there! I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to share a presentation of the Library Outpost service model integrated with a user-generated materials shelving system. I’ll be drawing from data and my experiences at Brooklyn Public Library as a case study. Should be fun!
Check out PLA’s online store at www.cafepress.com/librarystore to see this framed poster and many other premium products. This image from the July/August 2008 issue of “Public Libraries” was very popular with our readers and after many requests, we’ve decided to make it available as a poster. We’re working on making more PL covers available, so be sure to check back often.
I picked up the latest issue of Volume magazine the other day and found an interesting interview with Wired Magazine’s editor-in-chief Chris Anderson. Sadly (and somewhat ironically in this case), the text is not online so I’m going to type out a rather long quote from Mr. Anderson. I think Anderson really nails this physical/digital transitional time we are in, and he puts it into the context of libraries. Check it out:
“There are two economies: the economy of scarcity, which is the physical world, and the economy of abundance, which is the digital world. Everything in the physical world gets more expensive and scarcer, while everything in the digital world gets more abundant and cheaper. So there’s a huge imperative, both in terms of economies and choice, to shift things to digital, and then once they become digital – once they’re in that deflationary world – they inevitably become free. Physical world things are going to get more expensive over time – I don’t just mean monetary cost, I mean also their externalities: carbon costs, ecological costs, everything else is going to become more expensive. Therefore, there is going to be a strong drive to shift from the inflationary to the deflationary economy, to make things digital if at all possible….
…I was recently in Seattle and had the chance to walk through OMA’s Seattle Public Library again. That’s a pretty good example of getting the balance right between abundance and scarcity. I think its profound that on the first floor, in the largest communal space, there are no books. The library is simply a place with portals into the world of abundance.”
For me, this speaks not only to architectural innovations but it also justifies the digital initiatives ‘labs’ trend that is appearing in some public libraries, like NYPL or DCPL. It also speaks to the fact that evaluating success by collecting materials circulation statistics is insufficient in this changing landscape. A more accurate means of evaluating success would be a combination of circulations stats, door count, wireless usage stats, web traffic stats, and presence in the social graph.
An example of an ideal library program used to be “do an arts and crafts project, and set up a book display of books related to that craft for the patrons to check out”.
Now an ideal library program becomes “do an arts and crafts project, and set up a book display of books related to that craft for the patrons to check out, and then create a gallery of the crafts people made on Flickr”.
That’s right folks, now we’ve got MORE work to do!
Interested in blogging about your experiences there?
Send an email to contact at plablog dot org. Let’s talk about it. We’ll get you set up and you can share everything that happens in the workshops with your friends back home.
I found a great piece on the social path blog the other day, where David Griner pointed to Intel’s social media policy. It is truly a forward thinking piece of policy. I hope that public libraries and library systems who are struggling to create appropriate policies and style guides for their public service staff to follow on the social web will look to this for some of their inspiration. In Griner’s words, “It’s rare that any corporate policy makes for a good read, but trust me when I tell you that Intel’s new Social Media Guidelines are barn-burning fare.” He is so right. Click through to the whole policy or read a few key excerpts. I don’t usually like to reblog things, but I think Griner really picked the good pieces out of it:
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On transparency:
If you are blogging about your work at Intel, use your real name, identify that you work for Intel, and be clear about your role. If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, be the first to point it out.
On perception:
In online social networks, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred. Just by identifying yourself as an Intel employee, you are creating perceptions about Intel by our shareholders, customers, and the general public—and perceptions about you by your colleagues and managers. Do us all proud. Be sure that all content associated with you is consistent with your work and with Intel’s values and professional standards.
On starting conversations:
Don’t be afraid to bring in your own personality and say what’s on your mind. Consider content that’s open-ended and invites response. Encourage comments.
On sharing:
Our business activities are increasingly focused on high-value innovation. Let’s share with the world the exciting things we’re learning and doing—and open up the channels to learn from others.
On mistakes:
Did you screw up? If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and be quick with your correction. If you’re posting to a blog, you may choose to modify an earlier post—just make it clear that you have done so.
On negative comments from the public:
If the content is positive or negative and in context to the conversation then we approve the content, regardless if the content is favorable or unfavorable to Intel. However if the content is ugly, offensive, denigrating and completely out of context then we reject the content.
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Things are changing rapidly in the web marketing field as the web matures into its full social glory. Formerly dependable measurements like clickthroughs, hits and page views don’t accurately describe the channeling of attention and potential distributed presence of a brand. New tools are being developed to measure new things. Libraries need to promote, widgetize and brand their hottest commodities (collections and digital projects), rather than force patrons to visit their catalog and website as if their home page is a comfortable living room.
To get yourself thinking along these lines and to expand on my earlier post about the semantic web, check out Kevin Kelley of Wired Magazine’s presentation at the Web 2.0 summit in San Fransisco. Its like 15 minutes long and sort of dull for the first 7 minutes but pretty clever in the second 8.
Visit www.cafepress.com/librarystore to see the newest product addition to the PLA store and to see all of our other premium products that will help you show your enthusiasm for your library and for librarianship. Other products include Smartest Card notecards and postcards, mousepads, posters featuring Public Libraries cover art, t-shirts, and much more. Take a look today!
This week the New York Times ran an article “Ask about the New York Public Library”. It gives NY Times readers a chance to ask Paul LeClerc, President and CEO of NYPL whatever they want. Well, needless to say, the comments have blown up. In NYC libraryland and probably all over the place, this article is the talk of the town.
I’ve taken all of the comments from this article and removed names, numbers, the terms “NYPL”, “library”, “libraries”, and “public” and used Wordle to create a cloud of the most popular words written in by NY Times commenters. What better way to determine the public perception and their issues with the public library? Well, reading the comments and thinking about them is pretty important, but this offers another way to think about it. Readers of the NY Times, fans and critics alike of the NYPL: in your own words, here are your issues. Enjoy.
Brooklyn Public Library is making a giant, concerted systemwide effort to boost material circulation right now. Suddenly I have a great opportunity to use some of the strategic planning training I received at PLA’s Strategic Planning Bootcamp a few months ago. Figured I’d share it with everyone. My plan is to rearrange my library based on circ statistics with the intention of exposing the highest circ materials to the most library users. Have a look.
Below is an image of the Bushwick Library floor plan with all of the shelves color coded and labeled to explain what materials are where in the building. I’m unhappy with the current arrangement.
the world language material circulates too well to be tucked in the back corner
the fiction collection is jammed in an awkward spot
young adults do not have their own space
parents cannot sit next to children in the children’s section
Now have a look at the way that this maps out when you make bubbles for material types and display the number of items circulated in each bubble in fiscal year 2008:
Terrible, right? Look at the weird shaped young adult space. Why is the fiction and the world language stuff jammed in the back, while the comparatively low circulating non-fiction is out on the main floor? Another fun discovery when you visualize things this way: look at how much circ you get from the DVDs and videos which take up a tiny amount of floor space.
OK, now take a look at how the space can be rearranged to smooth things out for out users.
The world language collection comes out to the main floor
The fiction collection comes out to the main floor
Young adults get to hang out in their own little nook
parents and children can hang together in the childrens area
And, just for good measure, have a look at the way the circ bubbles look in this new and improved floor plan:
It is incredibly revealing when you use maps and visual aids to reveal patterns in your data, especially when your data is describing the movements of real books located on real shelves in a real space. Data doesn’t always make sense until you look at it right, but when you look at it just right it can steer your decision making in ways that will improve efficiency. I geeked out on the computer to create these images to share with my library and all of you readers, but this same thing can be done with makers on a dry erase board or a big piece of paper. I’d like to encourage other librarians to make maps like these of their libraries and see if it helps you draw any interesting conclusions. You never know what you might discover once you look.
The deadline to nominate colleagues and public libraries for a 2009 Public Library Association (PLA) Award is quickly approaching. Online applications are available at http://www.pla.org/ala/mgrps/divs/pla/plaawards/index.cfm. The deadline for submitting an application is December 15, 2008.
PLA Awards are designed to highlight the best in public library service and to honor those whose vision and accomplishments in public libraries are extraordinary and deserve recognition by their peers. Many of the awards are competitive and include an honorarium; please visit the website for details on each award.
Awards include:
• Advancement of Literacy Award honors a publisher, bookseller, hardware and/or software dealer, foundation or similar group that has made a significant contribution to the advancement of adult literacy.
• Allie Beth Martin Award honors a librarian who has demonstrated extraordinary depth of knowledge about books or library materials and has the distinguished ability to share that knowledge.
• Baker & Taylor Entertainment Audio Music/Video Product Award promotes the development of a circulating Audio Music/Video collection in a public library
• Charlie Robinson Award honors a public library director who, over a period of seven years, has been a risk taker, an innovator and/or a change agent in a public library.
• DEMCO New Leaders Travel Grant serves to enhance the professional development of new public librarians by making possible their attendance at professional development activities.
• EBSCO Excellence in Small and/or Rural Library Service Award honors a public library serving a population of 10,000 or less that demonstrates excellence of service.
• Gordon M. Conable Award honors a public library staff member, a library trustee, or a public library, that has demonstrated a commitment to intellectual freedom.
• Highsmith Library Innovation Award, recognizes a library’s innovative and creative service program to the community.
• Polaris Innovation in Technology John Iliff Award, recognizes a library worker, librarian, or library that has used technology as a tool to improve services.
An award jury appointed by the PLA President will review each nomination and select a recipient at the ALA 2009 Midwinter Meeting. Award winners will be announced in February 2009, and each award will be presented at the PLA President’s Reception and Awards Presentation held Monday, July 13 during the ALA 2009 Annual Conference in Chicago.
