Multitype Librarian

Who cares about blogging on the last day of a conference at 8:30 a.m.? Well, apparently more than a few dedicated librarians. Good on them!

When I saw that our session “To Blog or Not to Blog” was scheduled for that dubious time-slot, I was not encouraged. Then, when I saw that we were in the same time slot as not only “Thinking Big: the State of the State Library” by Minnesota State Librarian Suzanne Miller but also “Cool Story Programs for Kids” by the legendary children’s programming guru Rob Reid, I was sure that I and my colleagues Aurora and Mary Beth would be talking to each other. How wrong I was!

Approximately 40 people attended our session and what fun we had! AJ, MB, and I get really pumped when we have an engaged audience, and this one was one of the best. We started with what is a blog, demoed how some libraries are using blogs to build community, and then brought up a real live audience member who set up her very first blog (thanks, Kathy!) I tell ya, reality TV has nothing on us.

I am really encouraged that so many people are open to using social software. There were many good questions and lots of head nodding. 2 years ago a team from our organization did a program at MLA on electronic communication and the part about blogging was by far the most popular. Now, this year again it’s been a real upper to bring something that I hope will enhance Minnesota library service through community building.

When Sarah was president of ALA from 1999-2000, her theme was “Libraries Build Community.” She has worked in every type of library from starting out as a school librarian, to working in the Ohio State Library, to a stint as an academic librarian, to several public libraries and library systems. She is also a past president of the Public Library Association.

• Sarah challenged us that it is no longer enough to keep the book — something has to be “going on”.
• Talked about the difference between marketing and PR. She says marketing is research, what you do before. PR is telling the story.
• She said (1) get rid of the old stuff; (2) build on your assets; (3) try some new stuff (don’t be afraid of failure)
• Her take on the future of libraries (my question): get more IT and marketing staff. Library has got to change. “Will we change fast enough?”
• We have a “fearsome” future – both fearful, but also wonderful. Left us with “this is the best time”

So very glad I attended this 11:15 MLA session on podcasting presented by Cody Hanson. Cody is an MLIS student at St. Kate’s/Dominican and works at the Carlson School of Management.

Kept his audience involved throughout the presentation. Gave the best explanation of RSS I’ve seen. Very knowledgeable about all things 2.0. He got a real chuckle out of the audience when he showed a MARC record and said if we understood that, we should have no trouble understanding XML, which is the basis for RSS. Very capably explained how to make a podcast and related his experiences with podcasting.

presentation online

Thursday morning session at MLA – Dr. Robert Williams shared what he learned as a primary investigator for the South Carolina Public Library Economic Impact Study. The study concluded that for every $1 spent on South Carolina libraries, the rate of return was $4.48. Dr. Williams shared significant results:

Among the findings are indications that the public library:
o Improves overall quality of life: 92% said yes
o Increases local property values: 47% said yes
o Attracts new businesses to the community: 38% said yes
o Attracts patronage to local businesses: 44% said yes
o Enhanced personal fulfillment: 73% said yes
o Nurtures a love of reading: 73% said yes
o Is a source of personal enjoyment: 64% said yes
o Helps manage personal finances or saved money: 32% said yes

Entire online report

Additional observations Dr. Williams made that I found interesting:

• Thinks an “Educational impact of the library” study would be interesting – has no idea how to do it.
• South Carolina library directors were not interested in getting any help in further analyzing survey data.
• Suggests that every time someone tells you a good story about the library, write it down to use it in telling the library story.