Another place to share

I'm sure we're all running in to more and more resources that relate back to what we discussed earlier this week. The email list is one way to share these, but now that we are taking the process forward and requesting public feedback I thought it might be nice to have a public place to share.

If you already have a delicious account you can tag pages "for:acclibrarians" and "visioning" and I'll see that they get added to the list. You might want to add a sentence in the notes field about why you chose that page. I'll also be tagging items sent to the email list.

You can see the 5 most recently tagged articles under the Recently suggested articles section on the right. You can also subscribe to the feed.

Here are the items I just posted:

Online Programming for All Libraries: Events and Programs
Includes the Casual Conversations series - casual conversations with leaders in the field

YouTube - Ordering Pizza in the Future
Amusing/alarming take on national databases and privacy, something to keep in mind with social networking...

The future of your social software is already here - Bokardo
The need to design for personal value before social value

if:book: reading responsibly: nancy kaplan on the NEA's data distortion
Points out some serious data distortion in the NEA's findings that people aren't reading

Workgroup Discussion Notes Now Available

A number of items have been flying up on the Transforming Texas Libraries homepage. Check the links on the left side of the page for doc and pdf versions of the raw notes from the recorders.

Luncheon Keynote Presentation Now Available and Photos

The luncheon keynote presentation is now available as a PowerPoint with audio.

I'd also like to point out that Starr Hoffman has posted some wonderful photos from the summit to her flickr account. If anyone else is posting photos, please let us know and if you are using flickr add the tag transformingtexaslibraries.

Summit Wrap Up - What Next?

Julie Todaro took the floor to close out the day. She handed out a sheet on working with our stakeholders.

• We will have a variety of documents through the next steps
• 1st - info as it was created and pulled from each group
• 2nd - aggregated info that's categorized
• that doc will be posted back to this group for your comments
• that will be the output of this conference
• Take to stakeholder groups - content
• executive summaries - one page handout
• if you go to someone if you hand them 30 pages they will not come
• one page doc is the basis for discussion
• Handout - one page thing that talks about different ways to talk to your stakeholders
• level 1 - share the word
• bring back opinions
• handout is a series of steps we'd like you to go through
• Please adopt stakeholders
• decide how you want the info to come back to you
• do you want them to do it one on one without you vetting?
• do you want to gether it from them?
• we want to build on our existing situations - annual conference, assembly
• we'll keep our listserv together
• we are going to be doing a survey to gather data before legislative
• it's educational
• we'll have a program about this at annual
• this is a living group that will continue
• Access Texas - how we got TexShare
• people think nothing ever comes of these
• extraordinary realization to look at what we talked about and looked at what we've accomplished (with Access Texas)
• thinks it was an incredible success
• this is our beginning kernel
  
• incredibly exciting few years in front of us

Summit Wrap Up - Emerging Themes - Open Floor

After her summary Lou opened the floor to questions/comments.

• how to prove our worth to decision makers, value-added
• we have the greatest prison population, greatest dropout rates of high school
• we have a solution to this - this is the group that can change the literacy rate
• show people who write checks that we have a mission, especially those that determine economics of this state we'll get funded
• less focus on bibliographic control - thinks that dangerous
• don't confuse complexity of bib control as a barrier to convenience and quality
• place not things - stress that collections that we have one of our very great strengths. need to figure out how to play to that strength
• as we share our resources the whole world becomes a library
• they come to us for our things
• describing them and making them available is still a big part of our job
• we love to create systems and we love to show users those systems
• they are the backbone of our system - but they don't belong to the users
• they need to be completely invisible
• need to have a business plan
• needs to be in laymans language
• what's the bang for the buck?
• highly refined well developed tool, but still a tool
• you don't want to be in the tool business
• people use tools, but don't need tools
• need to accomplish something, use tools
• classification is not just for location, that's a byproduct
• we make connection in the intellectual content of things
• catalogs haven't been made content rich
• if you don't put that in there they're not going to use
• yes it is a backbone
• outsourcing it undermines the whole system
  

Summit Wrap Up - Emerging Themes

After the open floor, Lou summarized what she saw as the emerging themes.

• desirability of paying more attention to nuts and bolts of how we collaborate
• deepening and increasing our involvement
• leveraging existing partnerships
• partnering that would stretch our boundaries
• variety of types of collaborative partnerships
• building upon the collaboration we have - TexShare is a brand - how can we leverage that?
• a call to be more experimental - to try things we haven't done before. raise the risk quotient.
• recognition that incentives might be helpful
• call by all of you - where's the data? you want to base this on facts/research
  
• let's do our homework on this first
• find out who they are, attend, participate
• leads to an informed decision about partnerships
• cooperative programs - teaming of librarians with teachers - curriculum development -put these folks together in a creative environment
• user focus
• enhanced user focus, intense focus on our users
• self service
• personalized services
• flexible services
• improvisational - what do we want to do today? (parking cam)
• commitment to combine quality and convenience
• using wisely and innovatively the tech we already have access to to deliver the services we want to the users
• necessity for multiple types of access
• a new attention to variations in ways we might want to offer access based on demographics of our clientel
• what would you like, how would you like it delivered, instead of this is how we offer - you fit yourself into it
• leveraging of technology
• use social software - some effort to investigate and understand and help the library community to understand the power of all this
• community and conversation
• social networking software - we're just on the edge of that and the power of that is quite phenomenal
• take a look at the music video from fulton county library in Georgia [Ellie's note - I couldn't find this - if you have the link, please leave a comment. Thanks!]
• leveraging tech to delivery services
• make what we have feature rich
• encouraging user created content
• are we doing a good enough job of leveraging technology to train our own staff
  

Big Ideas:

• one stop concept - any user, any library, and format, anytime, any place, one card, all catalogs, all databases, all users
• TexShare, next? - statewide authentication. crawlable. both leverage and supercharge the existing partners into larger collaborative endeavors
• seamless lifelong learning
• the need to address literacy and info lit
• to address demographic changes in our state
• look at what the global environment is expected and what our demographics expect
• this is something we can address
• what about our staff? what about lifelong learning for those of us trying to deliver life long learning
• shorter more focused, what you need at point of use
• outreach - we're not doing as much or as well as we should and we should address ourselves to it
• marketing and advertising. could we share the cost by libraries banding together on the creation/delivery
• interest in small in place kiosk type of access
• thread that outreach will work best if we demystify library services and what we've got
• statewide large scale message - use big Texas brand combined with books as brand
• link bigness and books piece
• in terms of marketing and advertising - clearly distinguished by bob
• convenient and easy to develop and deploy
• emphasize community and library as place
• position library as social gathering environment that exemplifies what ...
  
• call to step up quality of marketing
• use professional level personnel; to help us do that inside and outside the organization
• need to do a better job of training and retraining staff to implemeent marketing
• define expectations of staff
• transformation - transforming how we think about the users
• move from looking at users as unfortunate individuals who, bless their little hearts need our help, to seeing them as peers and partners
• move from helper to peer or partner mentality
• most organizations would pay dearly for the goodwill that users have towards libraries
• we have it but don't seem to be leveraging that
• move from transaction based activity to experiences, laboratory, improvisational activities
• are our spaces appropriate for that? how would that work?
• the need to do it more like the rest of the world does it
• mainstream our service models so they don't look weird to people
• how do we move our service model closer to the mainstream of what people expect from other organizations
• self service one step
• transformation from a focus on things to a focus on place
• look more closely and learn more deeply about our communities
• what does it mean to be a library staff member in the new mode
• so people being asked to make that transition have a clear idea in mind
• idea of triage
• rethinking radically the user experience at the front line
• how would that work, what would we do, how would we move to a more mainstream model
• base it on research based on users and real data
• we want assessment
• we don't want to go it alone
• could we collaborate on getting this data?
• desire that we do a better job integrating customer knowledge

• much more to say, but those are the key pieces
• the themes you are interested in transcend all of the topics
• there is a common wisdom of the group

Summit Wrap Up - Open Floor

After the groups gave their summaries the floor was opened for questions and comments.

Someone from group 2 wanted one of their big ideas read verbatim:

Google calls TLA and begs to do the keynote saying, "We're not relevant without you!" and then compromises and settles for a mere breakout session.

There was discussion of a need for improvisation and flexibility.

Quit trying to expect them to learn the way we do things and start thinking about how they want it, what they think they need.

RE: Marketing - people have been saying "We need to sell this." - that's not marketing

Ask them what they want and then provide that - that's marketing.

How do we pull people in? There are all these suggestions about what we think they want - what we need to do is ask them what they want.

Give serious consideration to outcome assessment.

Important to show tangible values to society

Why do people go to Google? because they want to know

If we model on vendors marketing to people who want to know....
they create the excitement then come to us
it's the viagra model
Ebsco and those guys are fabulous at marketing, but they market to us - get them to market to the users.

Distinction between being an advocate and a player
advocates go out and tell you how wonderful they are
players listen
when you're players you're part of the community to really listen
we can be problem solvers

Empowering new librarians and staff to get out there
succession planning, administration looking at who upcoming leaders might be and encourage them to find mentors
we see that as top down, but see it as bottom up
feel empowered to seek out at their organization and in prof organizations

literacy czar - statewide level, someone to guide everything in that way
having all the systems work together

Summit Wrap Up - Group 6

At the close of the summit we all reconvened and each group gave a short summary of what they had discussed.

Group 6: Issue Category F

Transforming the Library Structure

1. How do we change ourselves in order to transform our libraries?

2. What logistics (staffing, education, technology, administrative) need to change to allow libraries to transform and position them to evolve with the dynamic shifts in society?

Summary points:

• spent the whole first day reacting to speakers
• all touched on user focus
• getting rid of patronizing attitude
• how to change ourselves
• what's the logistics and how do we do that in 4 respects:

• administrative
• get more input from users
• administrators need to be more visible
• needing more of that data - knowing our users, not just traditional metrics, but more grassroots
• statewide primer - template documents for types of user surveys
• collaboration and one place for this
• technology
• statewide vehicle to teach new tech to librarians
• to say here's what we're doing, here's how we did it
• education
• library school - now a focus on resources and tools, need to teach how to react to people
• focus on advocacy, communication psychology
  
• really thinking about how we look when we react to customers
• incorporating marketing and pr skills
• requiring library students to go into other colleges, not add courses in to ischool
• instead of ref in humanities, humanities survey course
• staffing
• talked about community a lot
• how to recruit demographic culture
• reaching out to community

Summit Wrap Up - Group 5

At the close of the summit we all reconvened and each group gave a short summary of what they had discussed.

Group 5: Issue Category A

Services and Resources

1. What services and resources will our users most need in the coming years? Ø List at least three of your top actionable recommendations.

2. What are the most innovative ways libraries can provide services and resources?


Summary points:

• 3 main pods of ideas
• Big Idea #1 : Statewide one stop shop
• portal where anyone in the state can log on and have access to all the catalogs, all the databases
  
• easy to use interface - something simple
• 2 things that need to happen -
  
• offering a tech 101 entity - courses, online presence, quick little videos - what is flickr - for a librarian and constituents
  
• tech funding 101 - grant sources, how to right grants, what's out there to get funding
• Big Idea #2 : Service model like specks
  
• convenience and quality in one
• front end ease of use, flexibility
• Big Idea #3 : Being constituent centered
• using mass media to promote what we have
• virtual and physical methods to reach constituents
• reevaluating signage
• meeting constituents where they are
• just in time
• doing market research, surveys

Summit Wrap Up - Group 4

At the close of the summit we all reconvened and each group gave a short summary of what they had discussed.

Group 4: Issue Category D

Increasing visibility and viability among stakeholders -- Marketing, Public Relations

1. How do we rebrand the library to convey the ongoing vitality of our work and to attract users and potential users?

2. How do we “push” library resources and services outside of libraries?

3. What are the things we might try to appeal to people 25 years and under?

Summary points:

• universal card to break down barriers to access
• working with vendors for universal searching
• more library collaboration between libraries to help with access
• getting out in community to be available, visible
• participate in organizations outside
• branding
  

Big Idea:

3 parts - library is where you are and what you're doing

1. Think tank of dreamers and risk takers - put forth a visionary plan
2. Statewide campaign to get these visions out - in all the libraries - and outside the libraries - go to the places they are - kiosk at Starbucks, bus, museum
3. Library is 24/7. virtual doors - creatingspaces virtually and physically that people want to be a part of and how will you change these

Summit Wrap Up - Group 3

At the close of the summit we all reconvened and each group gave a short summary of what they had discussed.

Group 3: Issue Category E

Big Picture of Our Value to Capture the Support
and Respect of Decision Makers

1. What value do we provide to our users and communities that is unique and necessary?

2. What are the most compelling arguments for getting decision makers to support libraries in bringing this value to users?

3. What specific new endeavors can libraries undertake that would be compelling to decision makers in solving emerging needs?

Summary points:

• values
• we crossed into other areas - started talking about values and what was important
• found out a lot of traditional values were our values
• big questions
  
• what can we do to get our decision makers attention?
• how can we show our value?
• how do we say we are worth the money?
• big answers
• our demographics are not readers, don't have access to information - we as libraries must form partnerships to tackle this literacy issue
• state level literacy czar to coordinate literacy efforts in libraries and with any organization who can throw down with us
• would like at state level an assessment values databank
• as we measure our value there is a place to see how others are doing it
• open access
• universal card
• 5 and 10 year marketing and advocacy plan

Summit Wrap Up - Group 2

At the close of the summit we all reconvened and each group gave a short summary of what they had discussed.

Group 2: Issue Category B

External (i.e., non-library) Partnerships and
“Plugging into” the Global Information Network

1. To better serve our users, what are the public, private, educational, and commercial entities (non-libraries) we should partner with to deliver information and services to the people who need them?

2. What vital roles can libraries play in these networks? How can we sustain these networks over the long term?

Summary points:

• reframed question - idea of long term sustainability as a starting point can be a barrier
• how am i going to form a partnership if i'm already worrying about how it will look in 10 years?
• partnership as process and relationship that perhaps ends
• this was their attitude/philosophy as they thought about actionable items - all working from an experimental starting point
• think of examples form yesterday's speakers: greyhound, mothers of multiples
• not obvious partners, but may be something there
• think experimental not necesarily long term project
• go where constituents already are
• put the library where they will stumble and find
• 3 examples they came up with ways you might form partnerships with external groups
• start by talking about something you can do (on the individual library level) encouraging librarians to get involved with the community - as librarians, but something they are interested in.
• put together some joint conferences. build in assessment from the start. example TAM (museum association) and TLA. other possibility - conference within a conference. encourage librarians to participate in non-library conferences. always feels welcome.
• getting on to state level. building on library as books - texas is big. we can leverage that brand to talk to important people. put together some joint conferences. build in assessment from the start.we could work with google, OCLC
• date before marry - don't have to have a sustainability plan on day one

Summit Wrap Up - Group 1

At the close of the summit we all reconvened and each group gave a short summary of what they had discussed.

Group 1: Issue Category C

Intra-library Partnerships (i.e., library to library):
Multi-type Programming & Resource-Sharing

1. To give users and potential users seamless access to library resources and services, what innovative partnerships should we develop with other libraries?

2. What partnerships are critical to form a dynamic and sustainable K-16 library infrastructure for all students, including homeschoolers, distance learners, and anyone wanting to get an education?

Summary points:

• Universal access for services
• statewide library card
• statewide database funding
• per capita subscription cost
• Intra library partnerships
• Library of Texas federated search
• Identify best practices for collaboration and build on them
• let go of boundaries
• Outcomes assessment
• Start small - a blog or a wiki and let it grow
• Cooperative programming
  

Big Ideas:

• universal access
• breakdown barriers to using library
• statewide ID for databases
• "no left turns" as title of report - we want that convenience
  

Bloggers Unite!

If you are writing about your summit experience, via a blog or some other mechanism, please send me your url so that I can compile a list here. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be interested in the wonderful variety of viewpoints and experiences that we all had. You can leave a comment on this post or email me at ecollier at austincc dot edu. Thanks!

Dinner Keynote

The dinner keynote will also be podcast and a link will be provided here. Again, these are my notes on what the speakers said, not my personal opinions. (For those interested I will have those available at my personal blog sometime in the next week.)

Kathleen talked about having been part of a community building movement that was built up in the Clinton administration, but that has taken a back seat under the current president. She told us that the United States is in an angry and mean time right now. She recently watched the Republican debate where they spent the first hour on how to keep people out of our country. The state of Georgia has passed a law saying no public money can be spent on Spanish language materials. This has made her change her point of view and approach. She no longer wants a "place at the table" for libraries. She wants to help reset the table, to help make communities less mean.

She talked about an assignment she gives to her students - to go out and participate in a non-library organization. They always come back saying, we need more librarians involved in X (whichever organization they went to). Some examples: Boys and Girls clubs, historical societies, literary councils, mothers of multiples, greyhound rescue, neighborhood service center, PTAs, womens clubs. The greyhound rescue student went on to coordinate with the shelter to do animal care sessions at the library. Kathleen said that many of her students would wonder about womens clubs - why care about those old ladies, so she had them read and learn that many more libraries were started by womens clubs than by Carnegie. The point of the assignment is to teach us to create allies by being concerned about our community. She suggests providing time within work time to go to one meeting a month not related to your job. If we show up they're usually nice to us, but we can't wait for them to invite us.

She recommended that we examine our communities to see what the main players are and ask ourselves how we can make sure that librarians get involved in as many areas of our communities as possible. She said that many librarians don't know what 211 is. (An aside from Ellie - For those of you in that group - please take the time to visit 211's websites at https://www.211texas.org/211/ and http://www.unitedwaycapitalarea.org/gethelp/.)

Kathleen argued that we need to do an audit to see what organizations need a librarian's input/involvement:

• Social service organizations
• Political organizations
• Cultural organizations
• Human Rights organizations

"The pilgrims were the first illegal aliens."

She gave examples of anti-gay sentiments in libraries (relegating books to adults only, not allowing purchases) and encouraged us to stand up for open access.

Kathleen challenged us to look up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and read it. She said we will find ways to rededicate ourselves to librarianship and humanity. She also challenged us to make a commitment to attend a conference dedicated to an ethnic group not our own. We have not even reached 25% people of color within librarianship, taking people of color as a whole. Library staffs are becoming mono-cultural and it is becoming acceptable to say that we don't want to serve certain populations.

If you are an African American librarian over 50 there was a time that you were not allowed to use the public library. We're doing the same to people without papers now. Will we stand up and say we are not going to turn people away? Saying you can't speak English - go away - is not point/counterpoint - it's just hate.

Luncheon Keynote

EDIT: Presentation link [PowerPoint with audio podcast]

The full podcast of the keynote speakers' presentations will be available shortly (and links will be added to this post and the following one), but to tide you over, here's a recap of some of the items that stuck with me. Please note that these are my notes on what the speakers said, not my personal opinions. (For those interested I will have those available at my personal blog sometime in the next week.)

Steve Brown introduced the speakers saying "When you're going to move a big edifice, first you have to shake it loose from its foundations." George and Joan were here to do just that.

Before they started Lou Wetherbee gave us some valuable suggestions on how to listen. I think they are worth considering as you read below (or listen to the podcast). She told us that absorbing information will be critical. We should listen with an open heart and a questioning mind, suspend our judgment (as much as possible), and carry with us an interest in the questions they raise. She challenged us to step outside our own frame of reference. If you're a reference librarian, imagine yourself as IT, a friend of the library, or a cataloger. Put on the hat of a library user. Take notes on words that trigger a strong reaction - positive or negative - that the speakers say, or that come to your mind as they speak.

George began the presentation by explaining that transformation doesn't start with institutions. It's not some big thing out there. It starts at home, with us. He said that they would be pointing out some inconvenient truths. They are based on OCLC reports and his 30 years of experience, but they are all his opinions, not rules set in stone.

Joan said that she is often called a futurist, but in libraries that's an easy job since we just get the same things everyone else has, 5 years later.

We were asked to consider "Who are we supposed to serve and what do they value?" Not just what do they value in a library, but what do they value period. How can we contribute to our constituents to fit their quality of life, work and learning - on their terms? Joan said she uses the word constituents rather than patron/user/customer because it includes everyone who is eligible whether they are using our services or not.

Slide quote - "It is not necessary to change. Survival is optional." - W. Edwards Deming

George told us that time is the new currency. Our system is still set up the old way where information was limited and we expected people to take the time to learn our system. They said we like for it to be hard to find things because then users need us to help them. Whereas our constituents see us as providing a service. They argued that we need to move away from seeing libraries as a helping profession. People feel confident that they can find information by themselves.

George reviewed the 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan and discussed three trends that were found. Self-service, disaggregation, and collaboration.

Self-service:

People feel very confident online doing things that were previously done by experts or intermediaries. Example: Travelocity rather than a travel agent. The main difference between experts and civilians is access to information. Subscription databases are not built for civilians. Remember that self-service is not the same as no service. If we set them up to fail they will leave and not come back. If we set them up to succeed on their own, they are more likely to come back and interact with staff. When someone says, "I know it's a stupid question but..." what we should hear is "Your system made me feel stupid."

How can we set up the library to make it easy for our constituents to succeed?

Simplified wayfinding

• less clutter
• civilian terminology
• situational directions
• power paths and nodes (retail store layout terms)
  
• layout by activity, not collection

Other people have R&D money, why aren't we beg, borrow, and stealing from them? (Example - how retail stores layout their wares.)

If we expect someone off the street to do it, all our staff should be able to do it. (Example - find X book. A person shelving should be able to answer questions there, not send someone back to a desk.) Information at point of use.

Disaggregation and recombination:

People are becoming their own librarians. The iTunes store is an example of disaggregation. My personal iTunes is recombination.

How can we make library information more exportable and remixable?

• Allow user generated data
• Enhance discoverability
• Engines not OPAC
• Crawlable databases

Example - Have an option to download call numbers to cell phones to go to the stacks.

Collaboration:

How can we extend the library's reach via interdisciplinary collaboration?

Collaborate with any organization with which we have constituents in common. Talk about ourselves in terms of abundance:

• focus on assets not deficiencies
• demand-based resource allocation
• fast convenient service delivery
• minimal rationing
• appreciate inquiry
• no victims

Be a partner that says, "Yes I can make that happen."

They also talked about Radical Trust - Focus on building relationships. Know that there are degrees of collaboration - glance, date, engagement, marriage...

Next George reviewed the OCLC report Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources

He told us it's our job to make libraries convenient.

70%of those asked saw no difference in trustworthiness between the library and search engines.

We talk about educating our users. The speakers told us it's a bad strategy to create a service where people have to change their mind.

Joan recommends getting pros off the desk - no other profession has the best people at the walk up desk. (And top chefs don't chop their own parsley.) By doing that we're telling a person coming in - forget everything else you've learned. She is also not a fan of lurking librarians. She argues for the idea of dispatched reference. She said of course, a small library can't do it.

She argues that a benefit of dispatched reference is that the librarian takes the user away from the desk. We all learn not to hold up the line, so those users aren't going to say all they need. Instead of staffing the desk, reference librarians can use their time creating prepackaged info, doing research, being available for individual appointments, acting as learning specialists, specializing in people and process, not just materials. She argues for "upselling." Front line staff, when recognizing a question calls for a reference librarian, can say, "let me introduce you to the pro." This lets patrons feel they are getting valuable service.

Something revealed in the survey is that libraries are seen as a place for learning and reading.

What does it take to be an inspiring destination?

• cleanliness
• hospitality - get rid of the "no" signs
• improvisation
• views
• pleasure
• surprises

Position the library as an idea laboratory.

The final OCLC report discussed was Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World.

We were shown a chart of what people consider private - it wasn't much and library directors' views were not in line with the general population.

Joan discussed 2.0 services. They allow people to find, use, share, and expand. She said that libraries are decent at find and use, but need to move into sharing and expanding. She talked about virtual outreach. Make an entry for your library in Wikipedia. Have a real time activities buzz. She gave an example of a library showing what has just been checked in. She said this is a hot service. Other examples: today's hot topics, wireless strength, parking cam (letting people see how easy it is to park out front of the library at any given moment).

The speakers said that studies have overwhelmingly shown that people think libraries are about books. There are big corporations that would kill for that strong a brand identification. How can we leverage the books brand? The association of reading with success?

George then showed us a study asking people where they would go for information in four categories. Libraries scored last every time and rarely got above 1%. The report was from 1947.

The positive note? People asked for certain things and libraries started to provide them. This gives us hope that we can do this again.

Focus on the users and all else will follow.

Good Morning!

Good morning!

The Facilitators and Recorders are in training as I type, but I wanted to let you know there have been a few tiny tweaks to the schedule of events and that the discussion questions are now available online.