What about tweens?

By now, many of you have heard about the benefits of creating a teen advisory committee for your library. Teen advisory committees give teens a voice in regards to library policies, programs, and materials that relate to them and by listening to their suggestions, libraries are often able to draw more teens into the library...which is always a good thing! Many libraries have already picked up on this and have started their own Teen Advisory Committees, but what about "Tweens"?

For those of you who may not not know, a tween is vaguely defined as prepubescent between 8 and 13. A child becomes a tween when they start to reject more childlike images and associations and aspire to become more like a teen. I'm sure several of you, parents or not, are familiar with this age...when Disney Princesses take a back seat to Hannah Montana and iCarly? I read an article recently about a 10 year old girl who noticed the teen advisory committee meeting at her local library and wondered why there was not something similar for her age group. So, she took action. She approached library staff with a written list of suggestions and with that, the "For Kids Only" youth advisory committee was created. The committee received funding from the Friends of the Library and local rotary clubs to purchase new books, games, and other materials for tweens...all this from the mind of a ten year old girl!

So why not gage the interest of tweens at your library? They may even still be coming to the Summer Reading Club...you know them...the older brothers and sisters who roll their eyes when you sing five little monkeys or pull out the finger puppets? Pull them aside and ask them what they'd like to see in the library. Even if you don't form an actual committee, their ideas could prove to be invaluable to your library.

Some light, summer weeding ...

Experience and knowledge sometimes combine in wonderful ways. The other day, while brainstorming about a database I am designing, I turned to our OPAC for some informative reading material. In a basic search for "database design" (no quotations in my actual search) I stumbled across a handful of technology-focused resources more than 10 years old.

Now I know that deselection is a complex and nuanced art. I fully admit that I have no idea when any of these items were last checked out, how often they circulate, or what their general condition is. However, a provocative article I read in American Libraries a few days earlier inspired me to advocate for weeding in this post.

In Weeding Grows the Garden, Brian Mathews lists the accomplishments of Michael Sawyer, Director of Calcasieu Parish Public Library, Louisiana and weeding evangelist. Sawyer explains that not only do public libraries "have a responsibility to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information possible," he also espouses that weeding boosts circulation. By removing the dross from library collections patrons can more effectively see new and engaging materials - and check them out!

I'm sure that many of you have heard this before and that many of you are in the process of weeding right now. But for those of you that view weeding with a distasteful eye or feel the need to cling to titles of the past, take heart! A brutal and rousing round of weeding can freshen your collections and your bump circ stats!

Matthews, B. (2010, May). Weeding Grows the Garden. American Libraries, 41 #5. Retrieved from http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/next-steps/weeding-grows-garden

Cool Web Tools

Last week I attended the Canadian eLearning Conference at the University of Alberta to present a poster session on RISE and our new videoconference service.  Throughout the conference I was feeling a bit out of my league as most of the delegates were university staff and faculty, but despite my lack of “e-Learning” knowledge, I learned of a few interesting tools.

Here they are:

1. Diigo (www.diigo.com) 

• Diigo is a browser plug-in that allows you to highlight, bookmark and put sticky notes on web pages
• You can also share your annotated pages with others and create a “Group Knowledge Repository”
• Use it on your own to keep track of your interests online or share your bookmarks and notes with others

2. Animoto (www.animoto.com) 

• You supply photos, videos, music and text and Animoto creates a video piece just for you, with minimal effort on your part
• Use it the next time the library hosts an event; share your video with other libraries or on your website

3. Prezi (www.prezi.com)

• A cool alternative to Powerpoint presentations
• Rather than moving slide by slide, Prezi allows you to you’re your presentation along a path

4. Connexions (www.cnx.org) 

• View and share educational material in small chunks called “modules”

Try some of these out and/or share other cool web tools in a comment.

The Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

There is a short article in the November 2009 issue of American Libraries that talks about Word of Mouth Marketing. In Chinook Arch's last needs assessment it was clear that a priority for many member libraries is marketing themselves. And it became clear that this is an area where our libraries are asking for support. As such we have offered a series of training around this theme and are trying to provide support resources whenever possible. One thing that I have learned about successful marketing and advocacy campaigns is that they involve people. Lots of people. Marketing and advocacy only works by establishing relationships with others in your community. To be constantly talking about what the library offers (in a consistent and focused manner) and to get others talking. That's what this article is all about. Chinook Arch has developed some marketing materials (to be distributed by Fall) which we hope will assist libraries in establishing these connections in the community. In the meantime, here are a few key points from the article:

• Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is not just word of mouth. The Marketing part of it includes developing a consistent message and a plan for getting it out there.
  
• WOMM makes sense for libraries for 3 reasons:
  1. We can afford it - it's free
  2. We have a potential 'sales force' of millions - including patrons, staff, trustees, Friends, etc
  3. ".. it absolutely is the most powerful form of communication"
  
• "Why WOMM?
  1. It's real and immediate - real, live people telling other people in real time.
  2. It's personal - not a pitch. The person knows you and is trying to be helpful.
  3. It's honest. There's no commission, no connection. You're more likely to believe.
  4. It's catching. People love to share a good idea or experience and other people love to listen. (The only thing people like to share more than a good experience is a bad experience.)
  5. It's customer-driven. The customer determines when she/he will talk/listen. It is not imposed."

You can read the full article via the Wilson Web database: http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?query=%3Cnear%3E%28the%2Cpower%2Cof%2Cword-of-mouth%2Cmarketing%29+%3Cin%3E+TI&prod=OMNIS&fulltext=notchecked&eid=c14406a3540a9758af124f8c9d3d0a71. For login information, consult your library manager manual.

(Source: Barber, Peggy and Wallace, Linda, "The Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing", American Libraries, November 2009, p.36)

Library Advocacy Now!

This year, I had the opportunity to attend the Alberta Library Conference in Jasper. As usual, the conference did not disappoint. One session stands out to me as having been particularly informative: Library Advocacy Now! Library Advocacy Now was a two part session that was presented by Pat Cavill and Wendy Newman, both of whom are well known advocates for libraries. We were provided with print copies of the Library Advocacy Now Training Program for Public Library Staff and Trustees. The Library Advocacy Now program “consists of background material and exercises that will make you understand your own passion for libraries and how better to tell the library story to others.” The online version of the program can be found at http://www.cla.ca/divisions/capl/advocacy/

As a library trustee on my local library board as well as a library staff member here a Chinook Arch, I found this program extremely useful. One exercise called Finding Your Courage helped me to identify the similarities between being a library advocate and risk taking in my own personal life. We were asked to recall a situation is which we took a risk and remember how we felt before, during and after the action. I remembered what it was like purchasing my first home. Before the purchase, I was nervous…a house is a really big purchase that comes with a ton of responsibilities. During the purchasing process, I was anxious and excited, after all I was about to become a homeowner! After the purchase I was proud of myself and very excited to start a new chapter in my life. We were then asked what conditions made the risk taking possible. For me, purchasing my house was made possible with the support and guidance of my family who already had experience with purchasing a home. I was also not alone as my husband was purchasing the home with me…I had a partner. Taking this example and applying the same principles to advocacy I learned that advocacy is made easier when you form partnerships with other people and organizations in your community who hold similar values to your library. And though it seems scary at first, the outcome will be well worth the risk. I encourage you to take this program to your library staff and trustees. It gives you the tools to become a great library advocate and if you don’t advocate for your library, who will?

Collaboration at CLA

Wherever I look these days, the topic of collaboration seems to be one of the hottest things in library land. From June 2 to 5, I attended the Canadian Library Conference in Edmonton with a few of my Chinook Arch colleagues. While we talk about the importance of collaboration within our own library system, it was wonderfully refreshing and inspiring to hear about how other librarians are encouraging the practice of and actively engaging in collaborative efforts in their own libraries.

At a session by Edmonton Public Library, entitled “One Library, One Staff,” the presenters identified a strong link between collaboration and organizational culture. They espoused that businesses that foster supportive and enabling organizational cultures urge their employees to “collaborate obsessively.” However, they specified that in order for collaboration to succeed, it must be based on solid communication and relationships and should only be used for things that matter. The librarians from EPL also said that when they were discussing collaboration with their staff, they asked them to think about whether they were a collaborator or a contaminator. Collaboration can be a fantastic endeavor but only if those involved are willing to participate and are open to new possibilities and approaches.

In another session, “Library Catalogues as Social Spaces,” two librarians from Halifax Public Library and Dalhousie University spoke about their study of statistics from interactive library catalogues that will include libraries across the country. By blending their academic and public library backgrounds and using data from Edmonton Public Library and Halifax Public Library, along with any others who volunteered, they are hoping to conduct a rich and comprehensive study about how social networking features in catalogues are being used. As there is no current information on this subject, their work was incredibly interesting to me and their approach seemed a perfect example of fruitful collaboration in action.

Currently, Chinook Arch’s most recent draft of the new Plan of Service includes specific wording about collaboration. It asserts the need to support “new partnerships and collaborative opportunities” and provide opportunities to foster collaboration on an annual basis. As you can see, the notion of collaboration hits home in many ways.

As more libraries share buildings with recreation centres and more programs engage community members and groups, the future seems to be brimming with possibilities for collaboration. So ask yourself, is there someone you could be collaborating with right now?

Interesting bits about Copyright Law...

So, for the last few months, I have been immersing myself in Canada's Copyright Act so that I could share a few of the basics with all of you.  Copyright Law can be overwhelming, so here are just a few of the more interesting bits of information I picked up (more to come later):

• copyright is complicated - even for lawyers - so, there's no need to feel discouraged if you don't fully understand the law
• copyright protects "works" and "other subject matter" - including, literary work, dramatic work, artistic work, musical work, sound recordings, performer's performances, and communication signals
• mechanical or trivial works are not covered by copyright (like your child's art or seismic data)
• Canadian creators don't need to use the copyright symbol or even to register their copyright to be protected - but, if you're worried, register with the Copyright Board
• the term of copyright on most books is 50 years - after that, the work enters the public domain
• people around the world celebrate Public Domain Day every year on January 1st - this is the day that the term of copyright expires on a whole new batch of works (this year, works by Sigmund Freud and Frank Lloyd Wright became property of the public)
• it's the responsibility of the copyright owner (creator, publishing company, movie producer, etc.) to police their own rights

I think that's enough for today - more to come in a later post.