Week 13: Real Experiences in the Library

Since there weren't any readings or videos this week, I'm going to share a story of what happened a few days ago at work in the library.  I was helping a member, and she made the comment, "I am so impressed with all that this library is doing!  I used to think I didn't need the library because of the internet, but you guys are proving me wrong!"

So basically she's just one of those people you want to hug.

So we start talking, and I'm telling her about the Fab Lab, and how we have sewing machines and sewing classes.  She brings up the fact that she's an interior decorator, and loves pillows, but they're so expensive to buy.  She would love to know how to sew them, because it must not be too hard, and it would be a lot cheaper than buying them.  

As she's saying this, the director of the library came up, and was listening in, so we all got talking, and we got the woman's contact info, and are possibly starting a pillow sewing class.  The woman even came up with a name for it, "Pillow Talk."  Cute, huh?

So it just goes to show that the library really does have a lot to offer, and that listening to the members of the community can bring about some great ideas.

Week 12: Communities

This week I really enjoyed learning about the deficit model.  I think it's something that not only librarians should consider, but all professions would benefit from using an advocacy approach rather than a remediation approach.

When we did our surveys for 605 last week, there was a lot of talk about how many of the people that we interviewed don't use libraries to their full extent.  I think this is largely in part to "satisficing".  Why go all the way to the library when you can find it on the internet, right?

This is where marketing comes into play.  I am a strong believer that libraries need more marketing, and it's something most of them are not very good at.  If we can show the community all of the things the library can do for them, and how they can "maximize effect and minimize cost" through our service, then we are doing are jobs correctly.

Week 10: Library as Platform

Well, hello there!

I really like the idea of this week's topic: the library as a platform.  People can use the library to link to other people and other people's resources, that they can use the library website to link to their own website, or even have a section of the library's website as their own.  The library could have a calendar of events for not only the events hosted by the library, but other local organizations.

I feel like this is the Utopian view of the library.  In reality, are people going to actually do this?

I did a survey last week for another class, and in class we discussed people's views of a library.  I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of people who don't use the library to the full extent.  In fact, most people don't.  People don't realize all that the library can do.  So if some librarians at a local library decided to start making their library a platform, and wanted to link people and organizations to the library, it's going to take more work than just setting up the technical side of it.  They are going to have to go out into the community and get people interested.  They're going to have to talk to businesses and other organizations and share their plan.  Not only that, but they will need to get the community members as well.  The community members will have to realize the benefit of using the library to network and learn things, instead of the ease and convenience of the internet.  It would take a lot of work and a lot of convincing.

I'm not saying it's not possible, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't try, but I'm saying we're going to have to change people's perspectives on the library to make this happen, and it's not an easy task.