Google and the librarian

Another session at PLA was entitled: What Does it take to be good at Reference in the Age of Google? presented by Joseph Janes a professor at the Information School at the University of Washington in Seattle. Here's the gist of this workshop:

You know Google, basically, it's a 'really big ad agency with a search engine attached to it!' In lots of ways Google has changed our lives. It's certainly entered into our vocabulary! If you have a specific thing to find out, it will. It fills in a momentary gap in our knowledge and sometimes in our collections. It even means that you don't have to do the dumb stuff anymore It's fee. It's quick. It's easy and it's good enough. But not perfect. We can do it better! Here are some things that Google CAN'T do. Believe it or not Google is filled with limitations and I'm sure you've noticed them.
It can't select, i.e. tell you which of something is the best.
It can't evaluate, decide, understand, give depth, help in an active way, be a part of a community of learners, give you accuracy, or even find materials either virtually or physically!

All this to tell you that we as librarians are in timesaver positions. We can do it faster. Sure Google is fast, but we have all these other things that we offer that make us even faster!
So here are some suggestions , not to compete with Google, but to prove that the library is still very relevant today!
People come to us with reference questions today because they have failed. Like the gal who was in the library yesterday to ask us to help her find a book about phenome toxcicity in cats and dogs. Please, please please. Just try and get google to help do that!

Increasingly, though, We must be where our patrons are, both virtually ad physically. We must offer a presence on the internet as well as in person.. This means we need to build tools that help people find what they're looking for. Think Pathfinders, vodcasting, something like research minutes on youtube, blogs, or some type of community partnerships. Above all use your secret weapons: print. And doing what you you got into this job to do!
One of the best thoughts from this session, though was this: We need to have an extended notion of the library. A library is not just 4 walls and a roof with books inside and hours posted on the door. The library is anywhere, anytime, and any way in which people interact with information that is organized, provided by and supported by the library. The library is/should be a bigger place than just the building! It is an actual physical location and it can be everywhere. Wow!

Sexy Senior Programing

This is from one of the sessions I went to at PLA. The presenters were Ing Kalchthaler and Mary Mullen from Bethel Park PL in Pennsylvania. They had some typical ideas, i.e. a tax service day, speakers to address senior concerns etc. but the most fun were there 'Way Outside the Box' ideas! And don't you love getting new ideas from conferences! Hope you can use some of these at your busy libraries.

Using Intergenerational Programming, a kind of buzz word for libraries today.And you absolutely MUST see their VBLOG posted at YOUTube. Seniors are often featured on these.Working with Schools and families is critical for this type of programming:

-Family Battle of the Book
A book would be chosen for families to read and then they would come together at the library for a Quiz Show style Competition. This would be geared toward families with children in 2nd through 5th grades though it could be adapted I'm sure any way you would like.

-More than Grandparents Day
For regular storytimes have children invite older adults to join them.This could also include an 'Adopt a Grandparent' program. Older students (JH and up) would be invited to travel to nursing homes or senior care facilities to read to them. They found that if they bring a short picture story style book then the senior and the student can have a discussion afterwards. There could even be themes to the reading, i.e. World War II books, Depression Era stories, etc.Students have even done old time radio scripts for their older audience.-Movies for your MindThis involves finding general movies, foreign films with subtitles, unusual movies to be shown when the library is closed. Discussion following. Movies are then reviewed on a BLOG.

-Seniors and Technology
Have a 'Senior Morning' before the library is open for seniors to practice things at the computer. Mousercize, learn Microsoft Tools programs, or even teach them to BLOG, do digital photos, etc.Seniors could enjoy gaming such as the WII or or other online gamesThis would be an opportunity to to pair kids with Seniors to learn games. Kids and Seniors can compete against other kid/senior teams just for fun! Families can play against families.

-Laughter Club
This is actually a formal club that meets once a month. It's geared to seniors to help them reduce their stress, improve their health, to feel more positive and to have social interactions. They actually intentionally laugh! You can find more information from the World Laughter Tour.

If you try some Senior programs, or already have them we would love to hear what you have been doing!

The Job We Do!

Consulting and Consultants have always been a 'given' in the Iowa Library Community. But I wonder if you know how endangered they actually are! The Iowa Library community of consultants and their staff are dwindling, and this means that our own consultant, Bonnie with her trusty help, Janie, have had to scramble to keep up with the demand. (i.e. NW staff has gone from 7 fte to just 2 in less than 10 years) You all probably know the results of that: the birth of the Northwest Consultant Team. This year's PLA was a once in a Blue Moon chance for us to showcase this surprisingly fresh idea. And Surprise! Systems and consultants from all across the country who find themselves in the same dire state of short-handedness came to find out 'how it's done'!

As many as 10 states passed through Bonnie's round table "Rethinking our Workforce", all sharing the same tale of financial cuts to library consulting. This economic fact makes Northwest's team approach to consulting a very Cool idea indeed! Both Dave Netz, a NW library board member, and Tena Hansen were there to field questions as well as to offer thoughts from a board member/consultant point of view along with Bonnie who spearheaded the whole thing. All those who stopped in asked great questions, but what delighted us the most was that with all the questions, our team already had answers!

Not only did Northwest offer a great new strategy for consulting, but we learned as well! There will always be ways to improve our service to our clients (That's you guys!) and to improve the quality of our team and we picked up some great ideas from those who stopped in to chat with us.

Join us in more 'outside the box' thinking as we seek ways to meet needs and improve the quality of our services.

Share the PLA Conference!

Many of us are freshly back--and newly inspired--from the PLA National Conference, held last week in Minneapolis. Staff from several Northwest Iowa libraries were there, from Onawa to Orange City and lots of towns in between. This year saw an estimated attendance of 9,500, with over 400 vendors in the exhibit hall. In the coming weeks, we'll use EYE-OPENER to share the learning and NWILS Bulletin Board Blog to share the experience!

For my money, the opening and closing keynote speakers were the best in memory. John Wood, author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, was the opening keynote speaker. With a photo slideshow, he told about leaving his executive job at Microsoft after a life-changing vacation to Nepal. He quickly went on to establish a non-profit organization called Room to Read, which now fundraises to build schools and libraries in developing countries. His aim is ambitious because the statistics are staggering:
110 million children in developing nations between the ages of 4 and 10 are not enrolled in school
1/7 of the world's population is illiterate
2/3 of these groups are girls and women

He described these "grand challenges" behind Room to Read:
To build schools in places where there are none
To provide reading rooms with multi lingual books in these schools
To offer scholarships to girls in third world countries who otherwise would not have the chance to attend school

John Wood has a great story and Room to Read is a great cause for library advocates to know about.

The closing keynote speaker was Paula Poundstone, comedian and author of a new book There's Nothing in This Book I Meant to Say. With her trademark stool, microphone, and diet Pepsi, she had the crowd roaring. It was a fresh and entertaining way to close out a conference jammed packed with information and ideas.

So that was the beginning and the end. Of course, there's lots to relay about everything in the middle, so I'll continue sharing PLA sessions in the coming weeks. And for all Northwest library staff and trustees who attended, be sure to comment here with your favorite PLA moment.

And take a minute to watch our slide show thanks to our gal blogger and conference photographer Sue Kroesche.

More on Gaming at the Library

So you're tired of the after school crowd racing to the library just so they can play games after school? Time to start working with them rather than against them, as it were. Time to step out of the box you're in and start looking at the gaming crowd as the perfect opportunity to up your circulation and programming statistics.

There are several websites with ideas about gaming programs including Librarian in Black, The Shifted Librarian, and an article from the Philly News that will help you promote your library and gamers.

Think about these things in relation to how gaming fits within the context of the library's mission:

1. Gaming meets needs
2. It provides social interaction that is critical for a teen's development
3. It offers physical activity (think Wii)
4. It's an outlet for creative expression
5. It offers a chance for teens to prove competence and achievement and thus opportunities for self development
6. It teaches risk taking, problem solving and how to be a team player
7. Gamers must spend time reading instructions, walking through rules of the game and even being involved in websites and chat forums related to their games
8. For ever one hour of playing, gamers spend 4 hours reading!

Looked at from that angle, who wouldn't want games at the library? I'm not talking about the violent, grand theft auto games here, just your avarage 'Runescape' or 'Medal of Honor' or any one of a dozen other readily available game that your teens are playing at your library. Video games are great for helping libraries challenge their inaccurate image as dusty and outdated. So...game on!