PLA '06 Conference Wrap-Up

To wrap up news from the PLA conference, below you’ll find a handful of websites and books recommended by various conference speakers. In addition to perusing the list below, remember the “Keeping Current” session at JAMBOREE. In “Keeping Current,” we talked about the PLA website as a great source for conference materials because many handouts are viewable there. And don’t forget to tap into the PLA blog, too. You’ll find links to PLA conference handouts and to the PLA blog here: www.pla.org

Selected Books:
The Call of the Mall (marketing) by Paco Underhill, Simon & Schuster c2004
The Cluetrain Manifesto (how the Internet has changed business models) by Christopher Locke et.al., Perseus Books c2000.
Demonstrating Results: Using Outcome Measurement in Your Library by Rhea Joyce Rubin, PLA c2005
The Library’s Continuous Improvement Fieldbook: 29 Ready-to-Use Tools by Sara Laughlin, ALA c2005
Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, OCLC c2005
Small Pieces Loosely Joined (website content) by David Weinberger, Perseus Books c2002
Technology For Results by Diane Mayo, PLA c2005
Why We Buy (marketing) by Paco Underhill, Simon & Schuster c2000

Selected Websites:
http://www.niost.org/ (the National Institute on Out-Of-School Time)
http://www.afterschool.gov
www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm
http://ia.webjunction.org/do/Home
www.aarp.org/internetresources (AARP’s Internet Resources on Aging)
http://www.tametheweb.com
http://www.bloglines.com

PLA '06 Boston Conference: The Role of the LIbrary's Website

EYE-OPENER articles in recent weeks have pointed to the newly launched PLOW Project (Putting Libraries on the Web) This new initiative, administered by the State Library and funded through a grant from the Gates Foundation, will offer website hosting and email hosting to Iowa’s public libraries. To date, 219 libraries statewide have turned in a letter of intent, signaling interest in participating. Happily, 54 of those are Northwest Iowa libraries. Remember, the earliest deadline to return your letter of intent is April 28.

So in light of the PLOW Project and so much interest from Northwest libraries, I want to share points from a PLA conference session entitled “The New Branch: What is the Role of the Library’s Website?” Speakers from Phoenix and Denver Public Libraries shared the dais and agreed that a library’s website must be engaging, relevant, informational, and functional. They urged libraries to see their websites as educational opportunities to link people to the library’s own collection, but also to other online resources like EBSCO, to package the best of the web in terms of children’s sites, medical sites, consumer information, etc.

The speakers also stressed the need to make library websites functional and convenient. Here are some of their suggestions for making websites convenient by making them customer-service driven:

Online fine and fee payment
Online reserves
Online overdue notices—days before the items are actually due
Online reporting of lost or stolen cards
Online library card applications
Online donations to the Friends Group or to the library foundation
Online program registration
Online meeting room reservation
Online customer satisfaction—or other kinds—of surveys (“Survey Monkey” anyone?)

Virtual branches much also relay the feeling that there’s a staff behind the web, so always bring forward the staff presence by presenting:

Email us
Website feedback
Blogs
Virtual reference questions
Online book discussion groups
Virtual programming like pod-casting story times

You can see these features in action on Denver Public Library’s website: http://denverlibrary.org/ The PLOW Project promises great website design and content for Iowa’s libraries. Be sure to join in and ensure that your new website will shine a new light on what your local library has to offer!

PLA '06 Boston Conference: The Perceptions Report

You may have heard mention of the latest study from OCLC entitled Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources. The “Perceptions Report,” for short, was the focus of a PLA conference session. The report summarizes findings from an international study on the information-seeking habits and preferences of consumers in 6 countries. The entire survey was done online and solicited 3,300 responses from the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, and the UK.

Many of the findings indicate that, while most information consumers value libraries and view them as places to learn and borrow printed books, people are still largely unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through their libraries. Here are just a few of the findings:

93% said that Google provides worthwhile information
84% begin their search for information on the Internet
70% of the U.S. population is online daily, at work and at home
51% are using instant messaging
30% have never heard the term ‘online databases’

So what could your library do with this information? The entire “Perceptions Report” is online as a PDF file here:
www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm Note that the PDF document is 286 pages, but a paper copy is available for purchase for only $19.00 from the OCLC website as well. The questions are already there, developed by a team of professional researchers at OCLC Market Research and Harris Interactive, INC. Libraries could adapt the questions for use in local surveys (here’s where NWILS “Survey Monkey” workshop comes in handy) See how answers from your community compare with the national findings. Consider what this might mean in terms of marketing the library’s electronic resources like EBSCO, FirstSearch, etc. Think about how this might fit into your library’s long-range plan. The “Perceptions Report” is interesting, important reading if you’re up for “keeping current in library land!”

PLA '06 Boston Conference: Community of Learners

The Public Library Association’s National Conference in Boston was great—my thanks to NWILS board for supporting this opportunity. You may have already seen some conference photos taken by Tena Hanson @ Milford, our gal-on-the-scene reporter! Tena was one of 2 library directors from Iowa selected to attend the PLA conference with funds from the Gates Foundation. While there, Tena attended sessions on the Gates initiative called “Rural Library Sustainability,” an effort to help maintain public access computing in small, rural libraries across the country. Take a peek at her pictures: www.milfordlibrary.net/Today.at.PLA.htm (Tena opted for the Concord Literary Tour, I took the Boston City Tour one day and the Harvard/JFK Presidential Library Tour another day. The PLA planning committees organized some of the best tours ever—oh sure, the sessions were good too!)

One session I attended was called “Building a Community of Learners,” wherein the panelists stressed that it’s more imperative than ever for public libraries to be seen as partners in education. One speaker said “…a library’s best event can no longer be stand-alone story hours…public libraries need to be an education partner and reach out to others in the community in cooperative efforts.” Other speakers encouraged libraries to transform their children’s and YA spaces into deliberate homework help centers, complete with tutors, booktalks, online assignment messages from teachers, library instruction—and snacks J The idea was to formally recruit TAG students, college students, and grandparents as tutors, all volunteering in the public library’s homework center consistently throughout the week.

For follow up research—and some great statistics on the impact that public libraries have on childhood education—here are some recommended websites:
http://www.niost.org/ (the National Institute on Out-Of-School Time)
http://www.afterschool.gov/
http://www.partnershipsforlearning.gov/
http://www.imls.gov/ (Institute of Museum and Library Services)