PLA Blog

For those of you who missed this year’s preconference tour of Santa Monica and Cerritos Public Libraries, it would be worth the effort to try and see these libraries on your own, especially if a remodel or new library are in your future. The facilities are very different, and both have outstanding features we can all learn from.

The bus took us to Santa Monica PL first. From the outside the building seemed nondescript, blending into its downtown location without much pomp and circumstance. The minute we entered, we realized SMPL was far from ordinary. First off, the building is LEED certified, which in my neck of the woods is synonymous with quality. Not only was the majority of the building constructed from sustainable or recycled materials, but 95% of construction waste was recycled. The building’s central plaza is an open air court where visitors can grab a snack from a cafe or just enjoy the interesting urban landscaping in the mild California weather. Inside, single reference stations replace the typical reference desk “fortress” and display units are on wheels, allowing for complete flexibility. This library “activates the edges,” using peripheral space for seating. Instead of building huge auditoriums, meeting rooms are designed for typical turnouts with technology in place to beam the program to additionl overflow spaces.

Overall, a well thought out model of the modern public library. Don’t miss it!

Cerritos describes itself as an “experience library.” And that it is. The children’s area will knock you out and leave you wondering why adults can’t have a room just like it. Check out the $100,000 replica of T-Rex and the enormous rain forest tree that sends out forest sounds from its canopy. The full wall saltwater aquarium and inside palm trees are killer, and the rooftop patio is a wonderful space. Unlike Santa Monica, this library is a glutony of electrical consumption for the sake of glitz and glamour and depite the fun and interesting ideas present, halfway though our tour I felt the desire to begin turning off lights. It’s unlike any library you’ve visited- I guarantee it- and a short distance from Anaheim, so if you have a rental car and an extra few hours, take a short drive and see for yourself.

Thanks to LAMA for a fun filled day.

Via an email alert from our friends over in the Public Relations and Marketing Section of the Library Administration & Management Association (LAMA):

Libraries of all types and sizes, share your creative, great public relations efforts with your colleagues! Gain international exposure for your library’s marketing and promotional items by sending them to “Swap & Shop: Hot Ideas for Cool PR,” at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

The annual Swap & Shop event will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, June 29, in the Special Events Area in Hall D of the exhibit floor at the Anaheim Convention Center. ALA attendees will have the opportunity to fill their free Swap & Shop tote bag with the very best samples of library public relations (annual reports, newsletters, reading promotions, and more). More than 950 library professionals attended Swap & Shop in 2007.

Your items must be received by Friday, June 20. All shipments (please send 50-200 copies of your items) MUST have a Swap & Shop Shipping label – [please see the link at the bottom of this post for the shipping label download].

We will display your materials proudly at Swap & Shop, which will also feature the winners of the Best of Show contest (a juried selection of the best PR materials produced in the past year), the John Cotton Dana Awards for outstanding achievement in library public relations, PR Makeovers of an academic and public library, and more.

Questions? For more information contact: Luke Vilelle, the 2007-08 Swap & Shop Committee Chair, at 540-362-6592 or .

See also:

• Swap & Shop Shipping Label (.pdf)
• Swap & Shop Printable Entry Form (.pdf)
  
• Swap & Shop FAQ (.pdf)

An announcement from our friends over at the Library Administration and Management Association
(LAMA):

LAMA MAES is sponsoring the pre-conference workshop “Living the Balanced Scorecard” Friday, June 27, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm during the ALA Annual 2008 conference in Anaheim. The workshop will feature Joe Matthews, Director of Mathews and Associates and author of the soon to be released Scorecard for Results (Libraries Unlimited, May 2008, $45 retail cost).

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is an organizational tool enabling library management to develop a method for focusing on customers, understanding their needs and demands for library services, and demonstrating accountability for using public funds. The BSC provides library management with supporting data needed to implement data driven decisions.

Attendees will receive as part of their registration a copy of Scorecard for Results at no extra charge. Using case studies as examples, presenters will guide workshop attendees through how to develop strategy, performance measures, targets and initiatives, and then how to integrate these results and communicate them effectively. Other presenters are Susanna Pathak of the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA and Kathryn Robinson of the Orange County Public Library System in Orlando, FL.

We invite you to register and learn more about how to practice the Balanced Scorecard technique, a valuable tool for your library’s assessment needs!

Please click this link to go directly to the list of Anaheim preconferences and look for the listing for LAMA and then “Living the Balanced Scorecard.”