The message is the message
Posted on May 7, 2008
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Library Stuff pointed to Elisabeth Leonard on Libraries for writing “Rather than sound like medication, we need to find a message and a tone that are appealing — and that builds on our true competitive advantage.” She was looking at the airline industry and one company that was running a marketing campaign based on knowing what they “stand for and how it might appeal to people who are frustrated with being treated like cattle.”
While I’m only so enthusiastic for her suggestion of developing a cute take on surfing the web I do agree that we need to get away from being “preachy” and telling our patrons that our services “are better for them”.
Interestingly some other librarians are honing their messages into “signature statements”. Kathryn Greenhill, who frequently writes posts that make me think, points to Stephen Bell and his post “What’s your signature statement?” It seems that academic librarians are being influenced by the many educators who have a statement of teaching philosophy to develop a “public statement [that] tells people what makes us special, standout in our field of librarianship”
For example Bell’s statement is “Ideas and innovation inspired by a desire to learn in the service of my community.”
I know Leonard was discussing a product message to clients and Greenhill and Bell were discussing personal messages that guide their professional actions and capture their self-identification as librarians but really in the end both types of messages have an incredible impact on our relationships with each other and the communities we serve.
We should all stop what were doing for a moment. Stop the book ordering, the reference interview, the program development, the partnership building, the staff development, the conference presentation, the facility expansion, the report writing and the strat-plan meeting – especially the strat-plan meeting – and evaluate the message(s) we are giving out. Not just our formal messages, but the messages we give with the way we do the above actions. Are our actions at work even in line with our formal statements or messages? Which one needs to be adjusted? Maybe it’s both.
Are we collectively, (or me and you individually) really saying what wants and needs to be said. Is the message jargony, too cute, too medicinal, so vague it’s meaningless, or perhaps too bloody boring to ever be referred to again?
I apologize to the patron saint of communications in Canada as I declare that the “message is the message” and we had best make sure it’s clear, authentic, followed through on and most importantly is not just one sided, but a response to a discussion with the communities in which we serve.
Okay, that’s my message for today. You got anything to say about it?
Guerilla leadership
Posted on April 30, 2008
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Guerrilla gardening is a phrase that gets thrown around a fair amount these days. I have been an avid gardener, a colonizing gardener (you aren’t using that space – can I?), a mooching gardener (I’ll climb up and get those plums for you) and a community gardener – but I’d never been a guerrilla gardener. But now I live next door to an abandoned garbage strewn lot, so I guess that’s about to change.
According to Wikipedia, guerrial gardening is
political gardening, a form of nonviolent direct action, primarily practiced by environmentalists. It is related to land rights, land reform, and permaculture. Activists take over (”squat”) an abandoned piece of land which they do not own to grow crops or plants. Guerrilla gardeners believe in re-considering land ownership in order to reclaim land from perceived neglect or misuse and assign a new purpose to it.
And according to Richard from guerillagardening.org, in a letter he wrote to the blog Heavy Petal,
The guerrilla gardeners, who coined the phrase, in 1970s New York went legal as soon as they could and became community gardeners. This legitimization enabled them to achieve far more that would not have been reached without the initial guerrilla action.
And by now you’re thinking, okay, Barb’s got spring fever and is itching for something, anything, to bloom in Regina, and you’d be right. But just stick with me for a second – I’m going somewhere other than to the compost pile with this.
Today I attended an absolutely marvellous Project for Public Spaces workshop that challenged us participants to see our libraries and their place in the community differently. To vision excellence in public space, and to brainstorm some concrete goals and actions to achieve that excellence. There were great ideas, discussions, and wild planning; and a certain amount of wondering who is going to get this done for us.
No one.
Only we can do it. Only we can make our libraries vibrant community anchors that extend beyond our front doors, and ourselves valued community members.
And so I thought, hey its like guerrilla gardening (yeah, it took a bit to get there). We need to stop waiting for someone else to give us legitimacy by asking us to the table, the city committee, or to join the party. We need to get out and make it happen. We need to be leaders, not followers.
Yeah, I’m calling it guerrilla leadership.
And after we have done that, then they’ll say – and you know who they are – “hey look at those leaders over there at the library; we’d best make sure that we have them involved in what we do.” And that’s when we go from guerrilla to legitimate and as the guerrilla gardener fellow said we will be able “to achieve far more that would not have been reached without the initial guerrilla action”.
And now it is dark and time to garden.
Image from everystockphoto.com
Slainte
Posted on April 29, 2008
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Whether taken with a stiff drink or straight up on its own, this brief slide presentation, The Art of Business: Top 10 Basic Business Principles, from the Hyper Passionate Entrepreneurs, can console/embolden those of us who want to push the boundaries of librarianship or well, actually …ahem …at times just kick over the stacks.
Believe me, you have time (it’s a minute tops- two if you stop to think) to check out the 25 slides.
And now just pass the chips and enjoy the rest of the evening.
Time flies when…
Posted on April 28, 2008
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Wow, that was some hiatus!
But now it’s over. The family is moved, the animals have city tags, and I have memorized the security code at work. So enough with the lazy pattern of settling in, its time to get back into connecting the dots between applying this thing we call librarianship, my personal “what if” musings, and the oddities and miracles of managing that I observe through the writings and actions of others.
The ability to see far
Posted on December 26, 2007
Filed Under Managing Change | 1 Comment
That’s what a friend said was the greatest advantage to living on the prairies – developing the ability to see far. At the time I grimaced at his best kick at the can to rationalize living surrounded by wheat and blowing wind, not to mention that geography’s amazing ability to maintain a minus forty temperature.
I’m no longer grimacing. In fact I’m beside myself with excitement as my family winds up the holiday season by loading up the truck and taking a four day (hopefully not five or six) trip around the great lakes and half-way across the prairies to begin 2008 with a new and, perhaps, far reaching view.
And to celebrate a fresh start for 2008, there will be, after a short break, some changes to Manage This!. My plan is to bring in some fresh voices with guest bloggers and interviews, while continuing to use this space to reflect my belief that all librarians are managing this profession, regardless of position or title.
Until next time, best wishes to all of you for 2008
What a relief
Posted on December 18, 2007
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I had been worried that I was becoming a useless fence-sitter, but I’m not – and that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
Some of you may have noticed that I’m cautiously supportive of web 2.0 initiatives, as well as most things that are being sold to me as innovative (I can get uncomfortable with the “rah rah I’ve got a brilliant idea” of some library practice). My line is usually something like this: “Hey that sounds interesting, what made you think of doing that, and how are you going to measure how it’s working?” (Well something like that – admittedly, and unfortunately, at times my very non-poker face fills in on my communication gaps, but there are times when I am actually very articulate on this issue)
So where did I find relief? At Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. The commentary, “On Evidence Based Practice and Innovation”, by Denise Koufogiannakis, clearly and concisely explains the mutually beneficial relationship between EBL and innovation.
And now I want everyone to read it so that when we discuss innovation we can, well, I guess only if you want to, discuss it in the context of research, application, evaluation, and reporting.
As an aside; sitting on the fence can be a good place to rest, gather the thoughts, and figure out which field the mad bull is in before picking a route home.
And the policy is…..
Posted on December 10, 2007
Filed Under Managing Client Relations, Managing Ourselves | 2 Comments
Just give me the coffee.
I recently had an interesting conversation with some thoughtful (and funny) folks regarding the library policy manual – its history, role, future, and most importantly its weight and thickness.
Since then I have become a little more aware of policies (or the lack of policy) at places I frequent. As some of you know, I live in a rural area (meaning rocks, trees, and water) of northern Ontario and I must confess that when I’m in locales with services beyond a food co-op, I head for Starbucks.
I am certain that Starbucks has a policy manual covering everything from smiles to foam and it may even rival the average weight of a library policy manual, but in the past month I have had a few Starbucks’ situations that make me wonder if perhaps there is an override on their manual.
In Virginia Beach I purchased my standard soy cappuccino to take on the road and did something that I thought was impossible to do; I left it on the roof of the car. As I drove off I said to my kids “some idiot has just thrown his or her (yeah I know it’s goofy but we actually do say “his or her” in our house) coffee cup out onto the road. I then righteously reached for mine which was, you guessed it, not there. I, the idiot, had left it on the roof. So back I went to Starbucks to purchase another. As I made my order the smiling barista said “Didn’t we just make you one of these?” “Yeah”, I said. And with some embarrassment I told her what happened to it. Well they laughed and gave me a new one, free.
The other librarian in the car and I both were impressed that they didn’t seem to be worried that if they did that for me, then everyone would be coming in with some cockamamie story to get free coffee. Doesn’t their policy manual tell them that if you give customers an inch they will take a mile?
In Buffalo, during the store’s morning rush, I mixed up our to-go orders. Of course, I realized this as they were being made, and being me, loudly slapped my forehead and exclaimed “oh no, I meant venti and soy and extra shot!” “Not a problem” the smiling barista said and no they did not want me to get back in line to pay the difference of over 2 dollars. Well okay, yes, maybe, they just wanted me to go home. But they sent me home so happy!
And then this weekend in Sudbury I wanted my mother-in-law’s coffee in a Christmas bag even though it wasn’t the bag for the coffee I bought. I just politely asked if it was possible, the smiling barista said “it was not policy”, then winked at me, and did it. AND she did it right in front of the smiling and nodding manager, and a line-up of a gazillion Christmas shoppers.
So what am I saying here with these little Starbucks’ vignettes (other than wow, am I ever a demanding customer)? Well these situations bring to mind that:
- Policy guides us in what we do to serve the community, such as how hot the coffee should be and what to do with well meaning donations of National Geographic
- Policy guides our decisions when we are faced with situations such as using the wrong coffee bag or extending internet time
- Policy serves our mission statements and guides us in treating community members so that we smile when serving the extra-low-fat-no-foam-tall-latte-with-hazelnut to the guy with the kids rearranging the displays or when serving the patron with fines and a complicated ILL whose kids are rearranging the displays
- Policy is good, but it needs an override – an override with common sense, courtesy, humour, and sometimes a wink. When policy gets in the way of providing reasonable service, it is no longer serving its function and must be put aside.
Good coffee and good library services; the things that really matter in life.
Image from everystockphoto.com
A time for celebration and work OR a working celebration
Posted on December 3, 2007
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Here’s a report that It’s All Good says is “For all you public librarians out there”. And they are right, anyone, but especially public librarians, who is interested in the position of public libraries in community development should read this report (yes its from the United States, but others including us Canadians can figure out its application – right?).
Only do read it critically.
The report, Local Government Managers and Public Libraries: Partners for a Better Community, can easily be read as a smashing success story for public libraries. It is proof that advocacy work, sincere marketing, and other types of meaningful relationship building have worked. Ta da. The message is out, libraries are relevant, they are community builders, and strategic partners like city hall get it.
It’s the report we’ve all been waiting for. Right?
But did you read it critically. Did you ask yourself how does this apply to my organization? How do I as a librarian use a community development model to build working relationships inside and outside my library? Am I, or other librarians I know, part of this success story?
Did you do the work (like the folks at Chicago Public Library and the Working Together Project) to get the pay off?
If you did congratulations and keep on doing it.
If you didn’t, then put on your boots and coat and get out there, there’s plenty left to do.
Wow factor?
Posted on November 27, 2007
Filed Under Managing Client Relations, Managing Environments, Managing Ourselves | 3 Comments
According to Designing Better Libraries it is time for libraries to deliver the Wow Factor. Some may, and have, taken offense at this suggestion. Yes there are libraries down to what feels like their last coping mechanism (and penny) to provide core services. They don’t feel that they can provide a wow experience by adopting the much touted book store ambience and customer service ethic (something I often think about and one of my favourite bits of library literature is Jeannette Woodward’s Creating The Customer-Driven Library : Building on the Bookstore Model).
And what if the library doesn’t “have a number of facility and technology developments in the pipeline”, that Designing Better Libraries assumes can be used “to increase our visibility, community buzz and word of mouth about the library”. Well we could use person to person experiences that happen regardless of physical environment. We could develop a wow user - centric experience with community interactions. Begin with that, build the library’s position in the community, then see about getting some of those other wow projects (like the money ones) happening.
It’s like that credit card commercial:
Heating, $$
Collections, $$
New furniture, $$
More hours, $$
Efficient, accurate, effective services with a welcoming attitude…Priceless.
Cultural habits versus cultural values
Posted on November 10, 2007
Filed Under Managing Client Relations, Managing Environments, Managing Ourselves | 3 Comments
Two thoughts collided in my head while waiting in a Charleston hotel lobby. One thought came from observing a group of conference going librarians standing nearby and nodding in tight-lipped agreement with a colleague loudly declaring “we don’t have coffee and socializing in libraries, that’s not what we are about”. The other came flying in from a post I had just read from Ryan Deschamps at the Other Librarian called “Jerk: the Current Library Brand”.
The first thought was “wow, more of that defensive library culture” and the second thought was “hey that guy (Deschamps) from Halifax is right, to change things we have to stop hiring grumpy people”.
Once the collision was complete I was left with the following:
Perhaps if we could start differentiating between cultural habits and cultural values we could be clearer about what we need to defend in our libraries. And then perhaps we would be able to communicate a more welcoming message to our communities. In other words, we don’t need to necessarily change values such as lifelong learning, but we may need to change certain habits such as not providing space for noisier group learning.
Get the patch and change the library habits.
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