I'm published on the ILA Marketing Committee blog!

I seem to be writing for other blogs much more than I'm writing for this one! As of this morning, I have a post up on the Illinois Library Association Marketing Committee blog about cultivating staff buy-in. You can find it here.

Read Something! DEAR CREATURE (Jonathan Case)

Dear Creature
JONATHAN CASE
Graphic novel, pulp, horror, romance

Summary 

This quirky, absurd mashup of romantic comedy, "B" horror flicks, and Shakespeare has to be read to be believed. Grue, a mutant horror from the deep, has discovered Shakespeare through a series of cola bottles cast adrift with the Bard's plays inside. Inspired, he renounces his flesh-eating ways and sets off in search of a lady love. Hilarious and sweet, this book will keep you hanging as you wait to see how Grue's quest for love will turn out. Don't miss the appendix, "An Invertebrate's Guide to Iambic Pentameter", in which Grue's Greek chorus of sarcastic crabs explain the poetic meter using the immortal phrase, "Ba-donk a-donk a-donk a-donk a-donk."

Appeal Characteristics

• Visuals: dramatic use of black and white
• Visuals: generally realistic art (although Grue is depicted less realistically)
• Visuals: fairly clean art, but panels are sometimes hard to decipher due to being very busy and not having shading
• Frame: silly/absurd tone
• Frame: main character is the character who is usually the "bad guy"
• Frame/plot/characterization: characters and situations are mostly stereotypes drawn from "B" movies/pulp horror
• Plot: romance/lovers who the world wants to keep apart
• Plot: happy ending
• Plot: loose ends are all tied up at the end
• Plot: plot is not very fleshed out and often relies on pointers/gestures to conventions and stereotypes of a typical pulp horror story
• Pacing: moves fairly fast; each chapter presents a new challenge to Grue's quest

Readalikes

• ???

I'm on Programming Librarian!

I was recently asked to write a post for the Programming Librarian blog about a cool program we do with the local art museum. It went up earlier this week - you can read it here, if you're interested.

PLA 2012 session notes: Get Involved: Powered by Your Library -- Successful Engagement of High Impact Volunteers

Following are my notes from the "Get Involved: Powered by Your Library -- Successful Engagement of High Impact Volunteers" session at PLA 2012, held on Saturday, March 17 at 8:30.

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Statewide volunteerism campaign in CA: "Get Involved powered by your library"

- Aim = get high-impact volunteers and make them advocates

- Volunteer recruitment aimed at baby boomers, who are different from senior volunteers

- Goals: train public libraries in recruiting and engaging skilled high-impact volunteers, position libraries as centers for civic engagement, help people find opportunities that match their skills and interests

Baby boomers and volunteerism

Why should we care?

* Lots of them (77 million)

* Most educated and financially secure generation in history

* Volunteer at higher rates than past generations did at the same age

* Nearly 2/3 of Boomer non- volunteers want to get involved but don’t know how

* Have been in workforce & have professional skills they want to share to make high level of impact

Right now, ages 48-66 – not silver-haired

Different from senior volunteers

* More physical ability than previous generations; 4 of 5 expect to work past 65; "feel younger"

* View retirement very differently -- see second half of life as a source of social and individual renewal, not as a time to just rest and relax

* Think some of their most important contributions lie ahead

* Not simply extending the years of working and volunteering -- looking to add deeper meaning

* Different perception of aging -- don’t want to be called “Seniors,” “Retirees,” “Elderly” or “Older Adults”

Attracting baby boomers

Offer flexibility and a wide variety of options, including virtual volunteering

Engage their skills and expertise

Show them impact on mission -- how will their work make a difference?

Provide clear expectations of time, tasks and training

Go beyond volunteer management – look at engagement in meaningful ways

See Get Involved: Powered By Your Library website for resources (library.ca.gov/lds/getinvolved.html?)

Idaho is now coming in on this project

VolunteerMatch created search widget that gives back multiple results – library opportunities, then literacy opportunities, than general opportunities near your zip code

Last 2 or 3 years, 27% increase in volunteers in California

General insights/thoughts from putting this in practice

One library no longer collects applications for generic volunteers, only for specific positions

High impact volunteers have leadership roles, may train and supervise other volunteers

Putting volunteers in teams helps in case of turnover (volunteers often have unpredictable time commitments)

Interview volunteers extensively and basically treat them like job applicants

Volunteer management software exists

Lessons

A good job description is key

- Make it very clear what skills and commitment you're looking for

For high impact volunteers, this is a real job

- Approach them personally to recruit them

- Professional level interviewing

- Look for a good fit, and give them a chance to say no

- Remain flexible

Communication is critical

- Trust your volunteers, keep them in the loop, facilitate networks, share successes and outcomes

- Feedback matters (from patrons and staff)

You can still  have volunteers doing more rote tasks – high impact volunteers don't exclude your having more traditional volunteer work

Make it fun, and include the volunteers in the process

PLA 2012 session notes: Engaging Customers in an Online Environment

Following are my notes from the "Engaging Customers in an Online Environment" session at PLA 2012, held on Thursday, March 15 at 8:15.

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Three basic levels of online engagement

1) Social media as primarily a promotional tool – one-sided

2) Online engagement: customer-focused communication

- have conversations with them on topics they’re interested in

- quality more important than the number of people you reach

- personalizes the organization, shows you care about what customers have to say

3) Customers feel comfortable starting conversations with you and others in your network

Have an online strategy and policy

Strategy = road map – where you’re going and how you’re going to get there

Policy = rules of the road

Include: goals and measurements, strategy for publicizing your online presence, an exit strategy (how do we handle it if we decide to leave a social networking site?)

First, survey the online environment and your current presence on social media (whether deliberate or inadvertent)

Metrics are more than followers; consider interactions and responses

Think carefully about how many platforms you can support (don’t overextend)

Who can post? Do you need a coordinator/moderator?

Make sure your branding is consistent across sites

Legal considerations

This is still a fuzzy area; talk to your lawyer

Look carefully at sites’ TOS documents

Finding your voice

Think of your library as a character/persona – what would its personality be?

If you have many people posting, sign tweets with the poster’s name?

“columns” on Facebook – a staff member posting regularly on a given topic

Engaging customers online

Go to meetups and tweetups locally and talk up your social media

Try to use Trending Topics hashtags on Twitter

Create and use your own hashtags

Surveys, questions, staff columns

- first person to answer correctly gets a prize (to be picked up at an event IRL?)

- Make sure you’re being authentic (“question of the week” fizzled out b/c it was too formulaic)

Being engaging = sharing personalized info – share inside information (statistics?) – have exclusive content for followers

Hey girl, let’s jump on a meme

- Andy Woodward got Old Spice guy to talk about libraries

- library created video of Old Spice guy

- failblog.org – Memebase category

Listening to the crowd – sometimes the conversation isn’t happening in your feed/on your Facebook page/etc

- set up Google Alerts

Platforms

Look for what your patrons are using (and how it correlates with demographics)

Initiate/develop partnerships w/community organizations

Friend potential partners with your personal account, and communicate with them that way

“Like” local organizations

Measuring success

Stop if you aren’t meeting objectives, or if it isn’t interesting to you anymore

Look at other organizations to establish baselines

Online book club for teens done via Ning chat (Ning also offers message boards) – but Ning is now paid service

“Where in the world is the bookmobile?”

* Library has laminated cutout of bookmobile; staff take it on trips and post photos, asking patrons to guess where the bookmobile is

Pinterest

Create booklists (covers link to reviews?)

What’s next?

Facebook app letting people reserve and check out books

One library shares “how to” videos from YouTube – start creating them?

Giving patrons the opportunity to create content, or finding content they’re creating and promoting it

Make your personal use of social media professional – connect with other librarians etc. through your personal accounts

Q&A

What if you’re doing “everything right” (asking questions, etc) and people still aren’t engaging/answering?

* Find a couple of people to engage regularly – it breaks the ice – maybe even staff?

* Promote sites in person to make people feel a more personalized connection to your social media

PLA 2012 session notes: Building Your Base (& Your Budget)

Following are my notes from the "Building Your Base (& Your Budget)" session at PLA 2012, held on Thursday, March 15 at 4:15.

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Speaker is from NY's Mid-Hudson Library System

You can't just sit back and see what happens in library votes – you need to actively tell supporters you need them to vote/act/speak up

MHLS created campaign structure to get the vote out

* midhudson.org/vote – Public Library Vote Toolbox (works for general advocacy to boards, etc. too)

When a vote fails, who voted no? Who actually came out to vote? Do you know them? What are their characteristics/what are they like?

* The day after a no vote, you have to get right back to convincing them

Garnering support has to happen year round

Start "inside" – know who is using the library

* What are they into?

* Where do they live?

* What do they do when not at the library?

"Magic Quadrant"

* Most important = heavy library users, registered to vote – supporters – ensure that they vote

* Heavy library users not registered to vote – supporters – get them to register and vote

* Registered voters who don't use the library – neutral/potential supporters – reach out to them

* Try to figure out who they are, and segment the market

2 basic tenets: Tweak what you're already doing, harness others to work for you

Don't avoid publicity b/c you couldn't handle popularity – if you can't handle the demand, make an argument to your community that if they want x, this is what it costs/will take

1) Gain more supporters and goodwill

* Do this even among current users, who may not know about all services/have all background info, etc.

2) Create and build a sense of loyalty

* Don't aim for everyone and don't aim to make them all weekly users – just make sure they understand your value

3) Work smarter, not harder

* Be as simple as possible

6 basics

Regular communication w/current users/supporters (not just when you need something)

Consistent effort to gain new users/supporters

* Yearly townwide mailing?

* Include the VIPs in town

Increased visibility in the community

Proactive communication with community leaders

Strategic thinking about everything you do

* How can you add a value-added message to everything? Programs, services, etc

Practice word of mouth marketing

* Know what you want to say

* All internal constituents – staff, trustees, etc should be saying the same thing at the same times

* Tried this system-wide with Mango, doubled usage in a few months

* Everyone should have some little factoid for grocery-store-line conversations

* Prep a packet in advance including talking points, a video, etc. to help train/prepare people

4 steps

Choose

* Choose a group – who isn't using the library?

* Think lifestyles rather than demographics

* Who is ready to hear your message and help out?

* ESRI tapestry segmentation chart: http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/tapestry.html -- freely available, describes many market segments very specifically [note: I requested a copy of this poster in late March and I haven't heard a peep since]

* Go where the people already are

* Take advantage of already extant communication networks

* Find social groups that don't have a high rate of library use

Explore

* Learn about chosen groups to tailor your message to their needs and perspectives

* "Stalk" them online? (Facebook pages etc)

Contact

* Be genuine

* Investigate their communication network, get in touch, explain what you're doing

* "why do you want to talk to us?" "because you're members of the community and we want to serve our community"

* Ask what they need

Partner

* Reach out, show and inform, market, educate

* Think about repackaging – talking slightly differently about what you have to communicate its appeal to a particular group

Toolkit: midhudson.org/byb

How to do this in an online environment

Website = fundamental landing point for online searching for info about your library

* Needs to load fast, have info easy to find

Keep an eye on online reviews

Find local groups with Facebook pages, promote your stuff through them (with permission)

Think backwards – start with them and work from there

I'm famous? -- part 2

Part two of the interview I mentioned in my previous post is up here: http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/2012/04/10/the-role-of-social-media-for-libraries-part-ii/

(Needless to say, all statements made therein are my own opinions and do not represent the position of my employer. This isn't an "official" statement, just my own personal thoughts on the eBook situation.)

I'm famous?

How exciting! I was recently asked by someone I met through Twitter (Tweeting at her from my library's account) if I would like to be interviewed for a blog post on libraries and social media. Of course I said yes. Part one* recently went up here: http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/2012/04/03/the-role-of-social-media-for-libraries-part-i/

While I'm trying to monitor the comments on the original blog post, I'm also happy to engage in the comments section here if anyone has questions or thoughts.




* (Part two consists of me making a fuss about the eBook situation, and I don't know when it's going to be posted. Personally, I think part one is much more interesting, although part two was more cathartic to write (and required much more editing)!)

PLA 2012: Overall thoughts

Overall, I had a great conference. I learned a lot, got to talk with interesting people, ate delicious food, and sparked my creativity by getting my brain out of the day-to-day routine of my job. I'm so glad that I went!

A few overall surprises/things I learned from PLA 2012:

The exhibit hall is so much more relevant when you're actually working in a library

When I went to ALA as a grad student, I enjoyed wandering the exhibit hall, but largely for the free stuff. Going to PLA as a working librarian, the exhibit hall was still a little bit about the free stuff (ARCs! Be still, my beating heart...). But I could also place the exhibitors in context of what I know about my job and my library, and what might be useful. I came back with a bunch of information about possible reference resources, as well as materials about upcoming graphic novels for my collection development. Instead of feeling at a loss in a sea of booths, I was able to selectively approach the ones that offered information or materials that were most relevant to me and my library.

Talking to strangers isn't so hard!

I am a bit shy and definitely an introvert, so I sometimes have difficulty striking up conversations with random people. At ALA Annual, I had ended up feeling a bit lonely because everyone seemed to know someone else and there weren't a lot of structured chances to meet and interact with new people. So I worried that at PLA I'd wind up eating alone and not really talking to anyone. That concern was part of why I made sure to take advantage of opportunities like the dinner on Wednesday night and lunch with New Hampshire librarians on Thursday. But even without those opportunities I think I would have done all right.

PLA, as it turns out, is a smaller and cozier conference, with a friendlier feeling, than ALA. I think that part of it has to do with the fact that any two people sitting next to each other in a session are likelier to have more things in common with each other than at ALA. There's a lot of common ground and many people are dealing with the same challenges/struggles/opportunities, which makes it easier to have a conversation. I ended up talking to lots of people before and after sessions, and had no trouble carrying on an interesting conversation at meals (though I did generally eat alone except for Wednesday dinner and Thursday lunch – but at that point meals became nice breaks where I could relax and didn't have to think!). I even quizzed a new library director on how to progress one's career to a directorship, totally out of the blue, and she very graciously offered her advice.

Not only did I have great conversations, but I semi-inadvertently ended up doing some professional networking as well. I even had one person tell me she really enjoyed talking to me and wanted to keep tabs on my career, which was quite flattering! I never thought that I would find it so easy to make these kinds of contacts in this way. Now I just have to figure out how this "maintaining your network over time" thing works...

Conferences take a lot out of you

I was amazed by how hard I crashed post-conference, and how quickly it happened. The train ride to the airport was about 30 minutes, and while I had felt peppy when I boarded, by the time we reached the airport I didn't want to get out of my seat. When I called my partner after getting through security and finding my gate, I found it difficult to keep my eyes open while talking to him on the phone! I napped lightly for about 30-45 minutes while waiting for the plane, revived a bit when I started talking to another librarian who was on my flight, but then went straight to bed as soon as I got home.

I had a day between coming home and getting back to work, and I thought that would be enough to rest. Boy, was I wrong. I was tired all week, and had some difficulty getting back into the swing of things because in between bouts of exhaustion I was still buzzing with thoughts from the conference.

The next time I do a major conference like this, I think I'll plan for a couple of days of vacation afterward so that I have some time to rest and fully absorb the new information to which I was exposed, before having to get back to work. I think I might also plan to spend some more time in the conference city, either before or after it ends. I felt a lot of pressure to see Philadelphia and didn't end up seeing much of the city at all, which probably contributed to my being so tired.

Lucky me!

I feel very lucky to have been able to go to PLA. It seemed less common for a young/new librarian (vs. a management higher-up) to be sent by their library, and it was an incredibly valuable experience for me. Not only did I learn a lot, but I had wonderful opportunities to network within my field that would have been much harder to find outside of the conference. I came back with new ideas, information, and connections to benefit my library and my ability to do my current job, but also with ideas, information, and connections that will continue to help me throughout my career. It was a privilege to be sent to the conference, and I'm grateful to my employer for offering me that opportunity.

Not only did I learn a lot and talk with some really interesting people, I came away from PLA really feeling validated as a professional. There I was, a fairly young librarian with just a couple of years experience in the field, mingling with people who were mostly older, at much higher levels of their organizations, and in possession of much more professional experience than I have – and yet I was included in conversations, and treated as a valid contributor with useful things to say and share. In retrospect, I suppose I should have expected nothing less. But one of the more difficult elements of transitioning to the work world for me has been realizing that I can and should hold my own with people who are not necessarily of my age cohort or equivalent experience level. (In my own day-to-day work, for instance, it took a while to really click that even though I might be the youngest person and newest hire working on a Saturday, as the reference librarian I am nevertheless the person in charge and therefore need to make certain decisions myself.) It was so nice to be really treated as an equal at this conference, and I think that the experience will help me with my professional confidence in future. (It also speaks quite highly to the generosity, open-mindedness, and interest in sharing of my fellow professionals – bravo, public librarians!)

PLA 2012: Saturday, March 17

Waking up on Saturday morning, it was hard to believe that later that day I'd be on a plane back home – it seemed like I'd barely been at the conference for any time at all! I slipped over to the Reading Terminal Market for some croissants (okay, but not great) and a latte (good, but a bit expensive!) before the morning session.

I only attended one session on Saturday: Get Involved: Powered by Your Library -- Successful Engagement of High Impact Volunteers. "Get Involved: Powered by Your Library" is a state-wide initiative in California with the goals of helping libraries to recruit and make use of "high-impact volunteers" (volunteers who have high-level professional skills and are looking for chances to use them for a good cause) and helping talented volunteers to find placements that are a good match for them. The session was very interesting, and left me with some new ideas and ways of thinking about our volunteer program, which I coordinate. I also thought that elements of the "Get Involved" program would translate very well to many of the smaller libraries in my state, which often only have a few staff and need volunteers to do many "extra" things. For instance, one of the smaller libraries represented on the panel, serving a community approximately my library's size, had something like eight volunteers basically doing all of their marketing. That gives me pause in some ways (no one wants to bolster the argument that libraries could just be run by volunteers), but for a small library with few resources it's also an amazing way to get community members heavily involved and able to advocate for the library, while also enabling it to accomplish things it never could otherwise. What a thought provoking session! – and a great way to end the conference.

Afterward, I went back to the hotel to grab my things and check out, then shipped all of my freebies and other goodies back home (shoutout to the Philadelphia Convention Center FedEx for making that experience quick, easy, and pleasant!*). I stopped at the Reading Terminal Market one last time to get a souvenir for my partner (chocolates from the Amish-run candy store, as he's a chocolate freak) and to sample the fantastic ice cream again (I settled for a shake, for portability). Then it was goodbye to Philadelphia – a train to the airport, and after a nap and some delays, a flight back home. Even then my conference wasn't quite over until after I landed – I ended up being on the same flight as a library director who also happens to be the head of our state organization, and we talked for a good portion of the wait in the airport and the flight home!

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* As a complete aside, the manager working that day told me that we had basically cleaned out not only every box in the city, but for some miles around – he'd had to order extras from pretty far out of Philadelphia to meet demand. The power of librarians when given access to cheap/free books...