PLA Blog

I came into the room that was already mostly packed to capacity. The sound system was playing familiar rock and roll music. A short man in the front of the room picked up the microphone and said

“You’re listening to songs banned by ClearChannel after the 9/11 attacks.”

And I thought “Oh, it’s going to be one of those presentations.” Joe Raiola is the senior editor of MAD Magazine and he has clearly made speeches like this many times. He was an engaging and very funny presenter.

[please note that many of the stories and jokes contained in this presentation were not necessarily edited for content/language. My personal feeling is that asterisking out parts of words would have been pretty antithetical to what Mr. Raiola's entire talk was about.]

Mr. Raiola started with what he called “some personal announcements”

- “my program this afternoon is completely unrated.”
- “I have not submitted any of my material for approval, commetn and review to any agency “family friendly” organization. This includes the FBI, the CIA, the DHS, FEMA, the FCC, MPAA, PMRC… etc etc and especially those Focus on the Family morons who think Sponge Bob is gay. I don’t know about you but I don’t care who Sponge Bob sleeps with, he is an animated sponge.”
- “This is not a vulgar program but it does reflect on an often vulgar world, an absurd world.”

Says he is completely uncensored today, he has censored himself in the past because he was afriad, afraid of getting more work, afraid of pissing people off. There are some healthy fears, and clearly there were some issues that anyone would need to think about when making decisions about whether to censor themselves.

In third grade, he had a “bitch on wheels” teacher who made him write a word that began with H ten times, he chose HELL. He gets ratted out by a fellow student. The teacher comes over to see what he’s writing but he added an O to the end of all his words, to make it say HELLO HELLO HELLO. Says he learned a valuable first amendment lesson: “It’s good to express yourself, but there is a price you pay.” [aka "cover your ass"]

Outlined some ongoing threats:

• Barbara Nitke appeal not heard by Supreme Court [more info]
• FCC fine against CBS for teen “sex party” scene in a show [more info]
• Winner of ALAs intellectual freedom award can’t accept the award because the USA PATRIOT Act prevents her from revealing her identity [and yes the new USAPA still allows for the seizure of library records]
• Cindy Sheehan’s t-shirt in the State of the Union address
• Mohammed cartoon character outrage “I’ve been reading and editing cartoons for the last 20 years, I didn’t know cartoons where so important”

Talked about the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich which he thought would be a great idea for a MAD article “other examples of religious food for sale on eBay” [Ganesh in baba ganoush, for example] including Mohammed in a pancake. Then he got a call from Pakistan, a year later (recently) unhappy about the images of Mohammed. Person wants them to call back. “We don’t try to offend anybody’s religious beliefs, at least the top five religions out there” They worked it out with the “offended person” and a week later they were called by a Pakistani newspaper asking about the situation. Says “it’s a little different now that the fear level is so high… but how do you, in this world, how do you handle this stuff?”

He says censorship doesn’t work in any form. The proof that censorship doesn’t work, he says, is in the Bible. God is the universe’s first censor, keeping them away from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. “When you’re told you can’t have something isn’t that what you really want…. The human desire for freedom of choice, even when it comes to fruit, is more powerful than God. He fails as a censor. But there are people all over America, who think they are going to succeed where God failed”

His favorite banned book title of all time “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Family Health” banned because it has explicit line drawings of sexual intercourse positions. Banned in Beaverton Oregon (big laughs), reserved for staff use only (more laughs).

“Moby Dick was banned in one library because it was offensive to community standards”
“What is it a community of whales?”

“We’re still afraid of words in the 21st Century?!”

George Carlin taught him that there is no such thing as a bad word, but there are bad intentions, and adds “…there are bad ideas though.”

“We almost liberated the word fuck” FCC story about Bono using it when he won his award, the FCC decrees that the word fuck is no longer obscene when used as an adjective. “How’s that for nuance?” Five months later they change their minds and decide the word is always obscene, even if it’s adjectival.

In the meantime, the Janet Jackson/Superbowl debacle happened. “This proves that the government can respond quickly and effectively to a crisis, as long as that crisis is Janet Jackson’s titty. But if it were Hurricane Janet…” (big laughs)

MAD was founded back in the fifties when people believed that comic books were ruining America, especially Bill Gaines (MADs founder) and his EC Comics. “Gaines was an atheist, but he was a weird kind of atheist . He believed that he himself was God…. He didn’t take orders from anyone, and the US Senate did not know this.”

Bill Gaines appeared before them in 1953/1954 and fought the comic book code, an industry code, and Bill Gaines wanted to be completely done with it. The comic book code peple identified four words (terror, horror, weird and crime) and they agreed that those four words would be “obscene”, effectively putting him out of business. He shut down, except for one comic, and that comic book was MAD, and then they turned it into a magazine, and circumvented the comic book code.

MAD has never been sued successfully.

The presentation wrapped up with him doing a bit of a slide show of some MAD “tasteless” covers.

One with a hand giving the finger
One with Alfred E Neuman xeroxing his butt
one with Alfred E Neuman peeing the date in the snow

and showed a few covers from other countries

Alfred E Neuman possibly fellating the pope.
Alfred E Neuman with a nearly naked Brittney Spears.

Maybe it’s because most of the speakers I’ve seen aren’t librarians, but I haven’t heard “Library 2.0″ uttered in any presentation I’ve attended. The closest call was at a vendor event (with yummy soft pretzels) on Thursday, where PLA President-Elect Susan Hildreth made a reference to “The 21st-Century Library.”

But there’s still the “Community Building Through Your Web Site: Library Blogs and RSS Feeds” session coming up on Saturday morning. I’m thinking about offering the speakers money not to say it. Or maybe I’ll bring them … a shrubbery.

“If you say that we need to serve teens because they’ll vote on a tax levy, you are sending a message that teens do not matter to us WHEN THEY ARE teens.”

Patrick Jones, Michele Gorman, and Tricia Suellentrop, authors of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, third edition (Neal Schuman) delivered a program in grandstand showman style on ten values we share and ten trends in that drive young adult services.

1. Youth Development
2. Developmental Needs
3. Developmental Assets
4. Youth Advocacy
5. Youth Participation
Above all else, youth participation must be meaningful:

• Allows teens to take responsibility
• Allows teens to take action
• Allows teens to make significant decisions

You must be prepared to follow through on their actions or justify WHY you are saying NO.

6. Collaboration
By teens, for teens, with teens - benchmark your policies programs etc against this philosophy.

7. Information Literacy
Researcher Keith Curry Lance has found a positive relationship between strong school library media programs and student achievement; we can extrapolate and say strong public libraries are also hepful in student achievement. For more information, please visit the American Association of School Librarian’s webpage at http://www.ala.org/aasl.

The best way to teach information literacy? “Turn the screen around” said Patrick. “They’re all on swivels anyway!” and say “Here’s how WE are going to find this information.”

8. Adolescent Literacy
Teens go through stages in their reading that models what they are going through physically. It’s OK if they read repetitive text (series books) - so do adults! Teens will move on eventually (generally, to tragedy books – bad things happening to people they don’t know).

The demand, the need for reading has NOT decreased because of technology:

• You need to read to IM
• You need to read to decipher cheat codes for video games
• You need to read for a lot of things

Find the continuum and serve them where they are!

9. Learning and Achievement:
Kids who do well on reading tests read a lot.Everyone reads and learns differently; toddlers like to eat books - BAM! We change the format and get board books. Seniors lose visibility, BAM! We change the format and get large print books. Comics’ mix of text and image is developmentally appropriate to teens. If you are not buying comics, weed the large print and board books.

Never say, “The important thing is, at least you’re reading something.”

10. Equity of Access to Intellectual Freedom
Our job is to provide information not judge it. Recite this mantra: “As a professional, I don’t have to like it, I just have to provide access to it.” Learn to RAP:
Remember (what is was like when you were at 15)
Accept (that 15 year olds are going to behave a certain way)
Project (imagine the teen in front of desk as you at 15)

BEST PRACTICES:
1. Digital Divide & Diversity
Old school digital divide – low income neighborhoods no access
Old school digital divide - Digital immigrants (over 30) vs digital natives (under 30)
We need to meet them where they are and live in their world of technology
Go out and physically hands on experience new generation technology for yourself, such as
text messaging, Wikipedia or Flickr.

• IM: Homer Township Public Library IM for 8 years
• Podcasting: Cheshire Public Library in CT
• Music downloads/online communities: Southeastern MA Regional Library System’s MyOwnCafe
• eFlicks: Denver Public Library
• My Space: Thomas Ford Memorial Library

2. Format Explosion
Graphic Novels: widespread!
Video Games: Ann Arbor District Library, MI; Bloomington Public Library, - Baker & Taylor carries more than a 1000 games for teens and 4000 games for adults
Anime: Burbank Public Library, CA; Youth (wired) at San Antonio Public Library, TX
iPod Shuffles: South Huntington Public Library NY

3. Information Literacy
Reference Desk pod that you can walk all the way around: Imaginon, N.C.
Student Web Instruction For Teachers (SWIFT), Hennepin County MN
Texas Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT) for juniors & seniors in high school and college freshman
Info Search: Where’s the Information? Internet Public Library

4. New Spaces
Physical space is the hottest commodity in a public library. If they are way in the back maybe with a painted bookshelf, they get the message that sends.
Ideally, every library should have a dedicated space with seating and collections, form follows function.
VOYA has a regular feature on YA spaces: “YA Space of My Dreams” Current feature: Starbucks Teen Center, Seattle Public Library
Teen Central, Phoenix Public Library – “the gold standard”

5. Output measures
Teen circulation is the highest when you divide it by budget, by staff, by square feet; a high number of people in some programs doesn’t mean success.

6. Outreach
Outreach Services, Laramie County Library

7. Programming
Gaming Tournaments: Ann Arbor MI
Camp Chaos: Johnson County Library KS

8. Teen Volunteers – meaningful participant – letting up control
No more fluff tasks! They should be allowed to more than cutting out die cuts or cleaning books – programming and collection development are better options
Create win-win situations

9. Youth Development
We are paid not for our job tasks, but to make our communities a better place to live and to create a stronger, healthier youth. “It’s not about how many books we check out – it’s about how many lives we change.”
International Teen Club, Hennepin County Library, MN
Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, ME

10. Youth Involvement
Sit back and let them try it. Send them a message that you trust them
Think outside of the box. We all know about the TAB model. “Don’t call it an advisory group if you are not letting them advise you.” Invite them to join the library board or friends board. Let teens see what you do! Create internship opportunities.

• Offer a suggestion box
• Include teens in focus groups
• Administer a survey
• Engage teens in peer tutoring

Library Interns: Queens Borough Library, NY
Teen on library board: Virginia Beach Public Library VA
Puppetry troupe: Imaginon, NC
School/public library TAB: Arlington County Public Library in VA
Teen ‘zine: Minneapolis Public Library, MN
YA Drama group: East Islip Public Library
Intergenerational programming: Dawson County Public Library, TX

RESOURCES:
Brehm-Heeger, Paula. “Keeping Up with the New.” School Library Journal, March 2006. Connecting YA http://www.connectingya.com
Gorman, Michele. “Stir It Up.” School Library Journal, February 2006
The Search Institute
YALSA

In this day and age, patrons are becoming increasingly savvy with mobile technologies like laptops, handheld computers, and cell phones that connect them to the Internet and, the rest of their worlds. What better way to serve patrons than to use their tools? Gregg Gronlund, Reference Department Head, and Paolo Melillo, Collection Development Assistant Manager, from the Orange County Library System (http://www.ocls.info) in Orlando, FL, presented Friday morning on their progressive Mobile Reference Service that combines several mobile technologies to better serve patrons within the library by avoiding the “ping-pong” effect of sending patrons from one desk to another.

Reference staff was trained in the three major hardware components of the Mobile Reference System. The Vocera Communications System (http://www.vocera.com) wearable badge allows roaming staff to contact extensions and other mobile librarians with the simple push of a button, where a voice recognition PBX system then forwards the request to the right destination. Each librarian also carries a Dell Axim X3i (http://www.dell.com) personal digital assistants (PDAs) that connects to the Internet and the web catalog while providing roving help to patrons. The OLIVE system (OCLS Interactive Virtual Experience, named after the library’s first director, http://www.tandberg.net), a wireless videoconferencing unit, allows patrons to contact the stationary Questline call center (the reference point of service) using audio and video equipment from other branches as well as from the third floor of the main branch.

Librarians were also trained in the art of outreach reference, the more human element of the mobile reference system. Learned skills include identifying a patron in need (looking confused, staring at the map, staring at scribbles on a piece of paper); friendly methods of offering help, including phrases such as, “Are you finding what you need?” and “Can I help you find something?”; and tips on how not to hover or invade space. While some librarians were hesitant to approach patrons at first, with practice librarians gained confidence and were able to improve the quality and effectiveness of the mobile reference service, especially to patrons who wouldn’t normally ask for help.

Implementation of the Mobile Reference System was a progressive process, consisting of training a pilot team of librarians in the use of each technology, then setting them loose in the library to help patrons while also offering the option of reference services from a traditional reference desk. As the pilot librarians became well versed in mobile reference, they were able to then sell and help train the other staff in using the system. Slowly the reference desk was phased out, a more “point of service” concept was phased in, and a more proactive method of offering reference services resulted.

A survey in November 2004 during the nascent stages of the program, a survey showed that over 20% of questions were referred to another desk. However, survey data from January 2005 showed that the number of the same types of referrals decreased to 11.6%, and in July of 2005 the referrals were down to 7.3%, numbers that correlated in direct relation to the staff’s growing comfort and functionality with the technology.

Many of the questions that followed the presentation were definitely pointers to issues that other libraries might have with this kind of progressive system: How did you deal with librarians that won’t wear the Vocera badge? How did you convince the librarians to learn to use the PDAs? Does the OPAC take a long time to load on the PDAs? What about librarians who don’t want to get up from behind the desk?

The two facilitators pretty much reiterated some of what was sprinkled throughout their presentation, which was that they based the system on what the patrons were already doing as well as what the librarians were already doing. The reference staff at their library is very customer service oriented, with a real love for one on one reference services and taking the reference process to its fullest completion, including walking them to the item. They also enjoy learning to use new technologies, and visiting other parts of the library (a social benefit side product) in their mobile reference travels.

As for the OPAC, the handhelds connect to a text-only version of the web catalog which is really lightweight and loads quickly. They didn’t talk too much about loading databases and web sites, but it raises the question of how PDA-friendly online databases actually are.

The entire package, or even just modules of the system, is excellent for a multibranch system or for a large, single branch, provided you have the right staff with the right skills and the right flexible outlook on customer service and technology. The OCLS librarians love it, the patrons love it, and service is better for it in their library. If you’d like more information about the Mobile Reference Service, or one how to access the videos and associated documentation on the service, Email Gregg Gronlund at gronlund.grett[at]ocls[dot]info or Paolo Melillo at mellilo.paolo[at]ocls[dot]info.

(even though our facilitator didn’t come–but we got the hand outs!!)

We also got cool YALSA post-it notes, YALSA pens, a few things on YALSA events, and a glossy trifold brochure called “Competencies for Libraries Serving Youth: Young Adults Deserve the Best”

(YALSA is ALA’s Young Adult division and stands for Young Adult Library Services Association.)

When the room was full, we had about 35 people. (I counted.) The numbers dwindled when folks learned we didn’t have a facilitator, but a very brave library student got up to the podium and said something to the effect of “Don’t leave, this is important!” And those of us who stayed already had been “talking amongst ourselves,” so we continued.

Some great ideas that I gleaned:

• Duct tape crafts (did you know you can make duct tape roses?)
• Gifts at Christmas (tales of formerly unruly boys obsessing over noses on “shelf elves” and sewing!!)
• Book clubs: one group was being ruled by the boys (as in they were choosing all the books) so the girls asked for their own, but still attended the one ruled by the boys.
• Don’t say “don’t cuss.” It is too old fashioned. Say “don’t use curse words.”
• Greet the teens when they arrive at 3:20, in elephant stampede fashion. (They are the elephants stampeding, you are the one with the candy sweet smile)
• Take digital pictures and take them to the schools. Compare them with yearbooks. Tell the principal.
• Say things like, “I think you’re smarter than that,” as opposed to “That would be really stupid.”
• Read books like I’m OK, you’re OK and Games People Play which talk about transactional analysis as a route to conflict management.
• Staff training, attitude (esp. since some staff have no previous experience dealing with teens and conflict)
• Having teens involved in planning the programs!

I think this was the best idea: Every library should have a hand ball court, enclosed in a fence of course. (We know this probably won’t happen, but it speaks to the concept that most teens have been in school all day and should go play soccer to run off their energy.)

We also learned that this is not a US problem alone. We had a very well spoken librarian from Singapore who described some of the same problems that we have here in the US. She said they like anything that has to do with music.

“I’m not here to celebrate these technologies, just to make you aware of them.”

Dr David Liroff from WGBH began his presentation by saying, “I hope you have a chance to do the recommended reading… you’ll find it in the Sunday papers” and waving Staples and Best Buy flyers around. It’s called Marketplace intelligence - thumb through the inserts then go to these stores (technology warehouses, office supply chains) and ask: “What does this do and why do people buy it,” not “How does this work?”

Congress has chosen February 17, 2009 as the date that analog TV will no longer be available
(After the Superbowl and BEFORE the Big Four!) Coupons & converter boxes will be available, and libraries will be the first places people go to ask why their TV doesn’t work and what they have to do to make it work.

He advised us to “Close your eyes and listen to my storytelling,” as he wasn’t beginning with a Powerpoint presentation.

WGBH public television station in Boston produces 1/3 of national PBS programming and their related websites, including children’s programming such as Arthur & Zoom
A pioneer in accessibility for visual and hearing impaired, inventor of close captioning

WGBH began as an 1830’s bequest for public lectures for the city of Boston partners include local colleges and museums; WGBH forum network has 30 organizations providing lectures for the public online at http://www.wgbh.org/.

He used to call himself a broadcaster, now he is “platform agnostic.”

The bulk of the history of the 20th century is on magnetic media – a major concern is that these archives will not be playable on new media machines. We must developing standards for the preservation of media.

WGBH produces Teacher’s Domain at http://www.teachersdomain.org/ is an online educational service with two related components — collections and courses — that help teachers enhance their students’ learning experiences and advance their own teaching skills. The Teachers’ Domain collections include classroom-ready multimedia resources for use in lessons or independent study, and the Teachers Domain Professional Development courses utilize many of the same resources along with videos of exemplary classroom practice.”

So why is someone from public broadcasting talking to public librarians? he asked. WE have many commonalities:
We are both public service organizations, serving our citizens not as consumers

We are both locus / catalyst for community activities through forums

Digital technology is blurring the lines between text & audio; broadcasting is moving into libraries & archives; libraries are moving into audio & video. The threshold has disappeared; there is a convergence in the partnership for a nation of learners. Their website, http://www.partnershipforlearners.org/ promotes grant programs specifically designed to encourage collaborations between libraries, museums & public broadcasters

Quips:
“I keep looking for the seatbelt on my office chair… (because the rate of change is so fast) We have state of the art equipment – the state of the art keeps changing!”

Our understand of our world is based on what had been an immutable presence – geographic distance is no longer a barrier between immediate interpersonal communication

Referenced the medium is the massage, Marshall McLuran’s book on media philosophy. More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_is_the_Massage

“Because of electric speed, we can longer just wait and see.” The rate of change is occurring exponentially.

We are at a “Strategic Inflection Point (Andy Grove) - fewer & fewer of the old rules apply – if we do business using the old rules, we’ll fail BUT the new rules haven’t been written yet. http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/grove.htm

DRIVERS

• Moore’s Law: processing power doubles every 18 months
• Cost of digital storage drops 50% every 10 months
• Advances in A/V compression continues - Dr. Liroff explained that MP3 is a compression algorithm

Dr. Liroff said, “referring to the above three trends, if I had stood in the store another few hours, the price would have dropped. If two months ago I had said I was walking around with 2 gigabytes in my pocket, you’d have thought I was leading up to an off-color joke.”

• Analog to digital cable = 8 times as many channel choices (there’s still nothing on, of course) and 4xs as many streams
• Satellite increase the number of channel choices
• 1.5 million-subscriber increase for Sirius radio when Howard Stern made the leap
• Cross platform exchanges – cell phones & handheld Internet Protocol provides interoperable language for voice audio and video. More choice, no quality guarantees
• More than 30% of US homes have broadband access
• Fiber optic cable: 400000 mbps
• Hybrid fiber optic/coaxial cable: 850
• Copper twisted pair: 10
• Shift from wired to wireless technology - becoming omnipresent with whole CITIES going wireless for economic development and educational access. Access to Internet will be as essential as telephone is now
• There may be a charge for universal charge to make telephone access available everywhere
• The proliferation of GPS facilities delivery of a location specific content and services, like you can do by texting Google’s SMS service at http://www.google.com/sms. Now phones are incorporating buddy lists with GPS
• Personalization & customization options, collaborative systems, recommendation engines. Does this sound familiar: “Others who ordered this book also ordered…”
• Increasingly sophisticated searching
• Miniaturization and wearables – sweatshirts with players & receiving with tiny chips. More and more use of nanatechnology, RFID in retail, media applications,
• Users access what they want when they want it, on whatever display device is most convenient
• A shift from real-time to non-real time use of content using DVRs/PVRs, Video on Demand
• Broadband facilitates on demand distribution emerges as real-time/non-real time audio/video/interactive/distribution program platform
• These are time machines – 50% of US households will own them in the next five years
• Increasing capacity of packaged media HD-DVDs
• Proliferation of iPods, MP3s, podcasting, video iPods
• Videogames emerging as content platforms for education and training as well as for entertainment, storytelling, online connectivity
• The evolution of home media storage
• Technologies which ignore geography: (internet, satellite, wireless) and erode geographic market boundaries
• Exacerbates battles between wholesalers and retailers over who delivers - ABC allowed apple to download Lost & Desperate Housewives - their network affiliates were angry!
• Speculation: One of the major TV networks will abandon its stations and deliver direct to consumers in the next year
• New item: a Slingbox ($250) relays any TV program out to an Internet connected TV - Local becomes global! It also provides full control of your home TV or DVR from ANY location, even if someone else it watching at home (new meaning to the battle over the remote).

CONSEQUENCES of drivers:

• For media producers and distributors, accelerating audience segmentation/fragmentation
• Erosion of interruption marketing
• Product placement, donations, sponsored programs, integrated into TV. The Google advertising model of users search preference identifying their areas of interest John Wannamaker, owner of the first U.S. department store said “1⁄2 the money I spend on advertising is wasted but I can never find out which half.” The people who click on Google ad links have declared themselves interested before they every get to the advertisement
• Anyone can do a weblog or podcast; IBM has an official blogging policy to ENCOURAGE their employees, led by a blogging evangelist
• Technology facilitates interaction between provides & their audience
• Two way interactivity — no more moats between public and PR department. “Markets are conversations” example: Clue Train http://www.cluetrain.com/
• Critical need for content providers, including us!
• Kids programming has been the most popular on-demand service
• The Long Tail Phenomenon by Chris Anderson http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
• Concept that we have space to provide access to archived or less in demand materials, because more than 50% of sales/circs come from outside the top titles perceived as the moneymaker or bestseller.

Contact Dr. Liroff at dliroff AT wbgh DOT org

So I’d like to tell you about “Leave No Child or Toddler behind: Summer Reading Programs and Our Youngest Patrons.” The presenters were Sharon Deeds, Dekalb Cty, GA; Deb Noggle, Allan Cty, IN; and Pamela Martin-Diaz, Allen Cty, IN.

This was an amazing program. Of course, all my notes are back at my hotel room, gah! so I’ll try to give you an idea. And my brain cells are crying out, NO! But I will perservere.

The sweetheart of the program was Deb Noggle, who compared her year as planner for the summer reading program to being “Homecoming Queen.” Her phrase to explain how she got things done: “Debbie always gets her way!” Debbie shared Allen County’s programs for 2004 and 2005, so that we could see the progression of a good program to a great program. They are now in development for 2006. Circs are up, staff adoption of the program has increased, and (key the music) everyone lives happily ever after. Not that there’s not a lot of work to be done, but Debbie and her collegues have broken another barrier in children’s services to our youngest patrons.

In Allen County, they talk about the 20 minute miracle, which is used by many services to children to describe reading to your children for 20 minutes a day. For younger children, reading readiness can be accomplished by having your children sort laundry, by color, shape, size. There were so many ideas, I’d be here all day describing them all. I’m hoping this session was one of the ones taped.

One of the great things were the hand outs. (So sorry for yins at home…) There were two sheets that had four scenarios each. I’m using each and every exhausted brain cell to conjure them back up….

1. But my baby can’t read
2. But my baby eats books
3. But…

(I promise there were eight.) I think some of the other ones were like, but my kid won’t sit still…

and then after each objection, there was an answer: Well, babies can build their vocabularies by listening. Talk to your baby. Get board books (okay, that may not have been on there, but it’s a good idea!). The idea was that you were to distribute these to staff who said, “but I don’t know how to promote a program for babies!!” You can look at some of what Allen County does on their website.

Debbie also handed out 2004 and 2005 program booklets (what some counties call the Summer Reading Club Folder) which had activities and a game board. What was great about this was that not only could you see how Year 1 was good and Year 2 was better, you could also see how a library went about getting permission and expressing that they had done so by posting credits to whomever’s information they were broadcasting. It was so nice to have someone say firmly and kindly, “Be fair. Get permission.” Not a one of the organizations they asked turned them down.

So by now, you may be thinking, gah! this is a lot of work. Yes, yes it is. You may not be able to implement these ideas into your 2006 programs, but then again, you might be able to start small, which is how any great program does start.

At home, in Pittsburgh, I run a Mother Goose program for six mos to 24 mos. based on Betsy Diamant-Cohen’s “Mother Goose on the Loose.” I told the moms I would be going to Boston to find out how I could make their kids a part of our SRC (Summer Reading Club.) (In Georgia, it is VRP: Vacation Reading Program.) And while I doubt I’ll be able to get a snazzy folder and game board, there were ideas I can use.

Visit the Pla website which gives information on “Every Child Ready to @ your library.”

This is important stuff! I hope I have piqued your interest and if I get to my notes before the conference ends, I will try to include more “meaty” info.

********

Interesting things seen in the Conference center: a bank of pay phones. All were painted brown with brown plastic receivers except for one, which was also painted brown but had a black receiver. Hmmmm. (If you want to see this for yourself, it’s on the 2nd floor of HCC.)

Beth blogged on this yesterday, but they had an encore performance today, and since Beth’s battery died mid-session, I thought I’d go ahead and post my notes…Plus, I think this is a really terrific, albeit very challenging concept.

Wake up call: what our customers are trying to tell us…if we’d only listen
Gwen Crenshaw, Cori Jackamore, and Susan Kotarba
Denver Public Library

How did Denver Public realign their services and branches to meet a changing population and changing service needs? It’s an evolution not a revolution, and they are in the process of implementing a new service-style model, with different branches customized to serve the needs of specific types of patrons.

Started by asking some questions:
Could more people be using the library?
What do our library users really want?
How can we give them what they want?
How can our library continue to move forward?

Their challengers:
Population was changing rapidly
Customer usage and demand changing rapidly
Resources diminishing and they had to make smart choices

What they studied:
Demographics (Census, a local foundation that does a lot of local research)
Customer Usage Patterns
Customer’s preferences through experiments

Our discovery:
Market segmentation: Businesses that use this method develop and promote their services more effectively than trying to focus on the average user. Examples of market segmentation: The Gap’s group of stores: The Gap (college students, etc.), Banana Republic (career men & women), Old Navy (soccer moms who want good buys), Baby Gap (moms, dads, grandparents)

Explorations:
At their Schlessman Branch they took a merchandising approach with longer hours, lots of pop a/v items, newsstand/magazine model…it looked like a bookstore, with tables stacked high with pop titles/materials.
Results: Circulation sky-rocketed

As they experimented, they tried to replicate the success, but they found out that “Stack ‘em high and watch them fly” doesn’t always work. When they tried it at the Blair-Caldwell Branch, the model wasn’t a success, so they started studying the demographics of their population(s) to figure out what worked, where and why.

Demographic surprises:
Slightly less than 50% white
Only 23% of Denver’s households have children living in the home
Latino households are more likely to have children in the home than white households
75% of all workers in Denver earn less than $40K
Growth in foreign born population
50% of the new babies born are born to Latino families
Denver’s two largest groups are Latino families and whites without children
Latinos are the fastest growing population and most children are Latino
The highest concentration of children live in Denver’s poorest neighborhoods

Customer Usage Patterns
At DPL, circ of adult books account for only 21% of their total circ
But A/V accounts for 54% of their total circ
Use of Spanish-language materials circulate with greater frequency
Computer use is growing (more people come to the library with the assumption that they’ll use the computers with high-speed access)
Website transactions: Very high, with 58% of usage from outside the library; 42% from inside the library
Specialized reference needs to grow: enhanced business information, genealogical research, and historical research

New directions
Pop materials and a/v
Children’s and family services
Adult learning classes
Specialized reference
Spanish-language materials
Computers and high-speed internet access
Web services

Six Targets/Service Designs (Styles)
Central Library: world-class collection, staff with subject expertise, a “hub” for the greater metro

Contemporary Libraries: new and popular materials (right now): multiple copies of bestsellers, hot items, lots of AV, longer hours, coffee carts, very bookstore-like

Learning and language libraries: computer access, adult classes, opportunities: a gateway to a new life serving foreign-born residents with an emphasis on bilingual services, English/Spanish language classes, concurrent children’s activities to allow adults to attend classes, GED and computer instruction

Family libraries: array of services for the entire family: great experiences for and with their children: children’s collections and programming that appeals to all generations, family learning, school support, homework help, Saturday programs for the families, storytimes for all ages, movies and music for the whole family, lots of children’s materials

Children’s libraries: children in low-income neighborhoods who want a fun, active place: designed for children who come to the library without adults, have a lot of assistance from staff, after school programs, arts and crafts, community outreach

DPL Online: people who want to use the library online: 24/7 interface, access from home, school, work, etc… research and homework resources, downloadable books, music, and movies

Making it happen
Staff self-selection: encouraged staff to self-select to their preferred style. In all cases they got either their first or second choice (this is very cool!)
Regrouped branches by service style rather than by geographic location
Developed design teams/gap analysis
Experimented with elements from each style
Focus groups & community conversations
Central library service design plan (branches and central library need to be on the same path)
Implementation plan

Lessons learned (It’s not easy)
Clear and ongoing communication is vitalBecause the core project team was so into it, they didn’t always remember that everyone else wasn’t as excited about it or as into it. They needed to have a lot of communication with all staff and with the public. If they had more communication throughout the process, they think it would have gone more smoothly.

Recognize that it’ll be time consuming and intensive for staff

Parallel development of Central and branch styles would have been betterThey had the branches moving first, but they think that it would have been more coordinated if they were done concurrently.

City-wide placement of branch stylesHow do you decide which branch will be which style? It won’t be easy. Lots of discussions, lots of communication are needed. They had community conversations. Their customers didn’t mind traveling a short distance to get to the branch style of their choice. In each quadrant of the city, they tried to place one of each style.

Don’t forget about your core/traditional services
Make it clear to your staff and your customers that all core services are still available. Even at a children’s library, there is a small collection of best sellers for adults. Patrons can still request a book and have it sent to any library.

Community resistance toward change
Recognize that not everyone will see the benefit. Not everyone will be on board. “Some of us were paddling, and some of us were putting water in boat.”

Core services
These are all available at all styles of libraries—the changes weren’t supposed to result in “extreme make-overs” –Patrons would still walk into libraries and be able to find the core services:
Children’s services
Collections for all ages
Customer services and care
Circulation and delivery of requested materials
Computer access
Referrals to all the services DPL offers

How do services at Central and the branches differ?
All core services are available throughout
The Central library serves the others
A lot of the styles are also available as departments at Central (for example, the fiction dept. at Central will now be in the model of the “Contemporary” library style.

What can you do to listen to your patrons and implement a service-style model?
Study your demographics: look at the right demographics for your locations: don’t just assume your metro-level stats will tell you want you need
Look at your customer usage patterns
Try your own experiments and explore service designs
Ask your customers for feedback
Ask some questions:
Could more people be using your library?
What do your library users really want?
How can you give them what they want?
How can your library continue to move forward in light of your customer demand?

“The more of us who participate in this service, the faster this is going to happen.”

Ebook vendors are subscription databases, not downloadable media

24/7 access

digital media that can be checked out and downloads to a patrosns pC palm, phone, chip in your head, whatever

No one vendor can supply all of your needs

Not like buying from a jobber

Netlibrary (1998)
Reference/academic titles
OCLC purchased in 2002
100,000 titles

NetLibrary though content rich, does not have the most user-friendly experience

Can be viewed 15 minutes check out time determined by library or consortia (24 hours – 7 days – 21 days)

Overdrive
(1986) Digital Rights Management solution company
Web based service that allows patrons to download from library mimic website
Digital audio, eBooks, and digital music, with videos on the way
No account – just authentication
OCLC Marc Records with 856 tag link to material

Overdrive will allow your ILS to do the checkout/holds/notification – only Sirsi supports it at this point

With this offerning what do libraries really want? To not have deal with media and its many many issues (note – we should be asking what do our patrons really want?)

BWI (youth services jobber) 20000 eBook titles intergrated in their collections & services (Title tales,

Recorded Books (1979) partnered with Netlirary & OCLC in 2004 for downloadable format
Accounts established - users log in
Buy complete packages, childrens, business, etc. One copy, unlimited simultaneous access
1,200 titles

Michelle Jeske, Denver Public Library

Customer centered : different customers want different things and sometimes they want both physical and digital

Unlimited access to all users reaching the 18-35 age group

Ebooks can’t be lost stolen or ruined
“Weeding is a piece of cake – find and delete”

Easy to return, not late, no space limits, quick usage stats, accessible (autoscrolling, enlarged text, automatic bookmarks), anonymity (no carrying of items to circulation clerk) Most popular The good girls guide to bad girl sex,
Fun!

April 2004: Overdrive
Ebooks.denverlibrary.org
downloadmedia.denverlibrary.org
No user name and password is a clumsy and difficult, but autheniticate fast & easy
Readable on multiple formats and platforms, no high speed connection
One time set up, monthly maintenance fee, cost of books

Downloadable audio can be burned to CD – some vendors don’t allow this.

Not enough books to go around within a week
50 Blackstone titles unlimited
1 copy 1 customer model
Download in parts (chapters) perfect for slower connection, smaller devices

Customers place holds, they have 4 days to check it out for 3 weeks. Info such as excerpts, file size and time length are included in record

No iPod use
Providing streaming music from multiple services 10% of users are listening

eFlicks do require a high speed connection because of large file size
Started circulating on Tuesday March 22! 330 circulations in last 72 hours – 82 titles
Feature films (mostly classics), concert films, documentaries, IMAX, yoga, self0help,
More than half available all the time (subscription format)
No burning allows
Windows Media Player support no Mac
Between midnight and 4AM last night, 2 new people signed up
It will take awhile to get the titles we really want (Narnia, Howl’s moving castle,

If you are waiting on the sidelines to see how this shakes out, you’re missing out on shaking it. It’s all about the numbers.
Weston Woods got added, A&E in negotiations
Popular Titles: The Living Sea
Journey into Caves
Thug Angel : Life of an Outlaw
Dolphins (IMAX)
The Bicycle Thief
8 1⁄2
Endless Summer
Ramones

DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT ADDING MARC RECORDS TO YOUR CATALOGS

42% of downloadable collection circed in Jan; only 23% of traditional collection

2831 checkouts in downloable media, and 435,000 checkouts in traditional collection. The media circs equaled one of the branch libraries total circs for the month

Holds rule for traditional materials applies: 6:1 (6 requests, order another copy)

Cryptynomicon is most popular download to adobe – different user set?

Least popular subjects are the ones with only a few titles.

Children’s titles are not high circing, except for classics. There was no mention of titles for teens

Please play with us, we promise not to illegally distribute your materials.

Abridged do not go over well.

Digital versions are behind!
Ebooks are $15-$20
Audio $40 average (signification savings)

We haven’t actually deciding how we’re going to pay for the movies yet – bill is paid, but it’s not in the budget.

Selector makes decisions = budget limited, new fiction, bestsellers constant, a new subject each month
Buying for people who we know use the services
Would like to branch out

March 2005 survey:
What is the age of the users user:
39% were 44 +
71% 33 +
90% 25+
55% female
44% from home
42% multiple
8% from the office

3-5 is highest web usage time
How do users read ebooks?
50% read on PC
27% laptop
20% PDA
2% phone

How do users listen to audio?
38% listen on MP3 player
27% burn to CD
22% PC
8% laptop
4% PDA
2% phone

How did users hear about the new service?
82% website
5% staff

Usage by platform:
90% PC 10 % Mac

71% of downloadable media users visit the library at least once a month!

92% want to download movies & music
96% would use the service again

6700 unique customers in the last 2 years; 467,000 active library card holders (over 100)
years)

Promoting – link from various places on website, not just on the databases page
Staff training is critical – encourage them to try it once so they can talk to the customers
Press – get it in the newspaper and they will come

Patron has to download the Overdrive Media Console (as well as Windows Media Player) to play, transfer & burn

Panel discussion with Mary Catherine Bateson, James Welbourne, Gloria Cole (?) and moderator/coordinator Harriet Henderson [Diantha Schull was scheduled to attend but had food poisoning]. This was a session about how the idea of who is an older American is changing, how this population is growing, and what one library in New Haven is doing to reach out to this population without doing al the typical senior service things.

Mary Cathering Bateson
“The notion that people go into the library… read, discuss search… this has the potential for transforming our lives”

I tried to quote as much as possible from Ms. Bateson’s speech because she was so eloquent and because she was not reading off of slides. In fact, she had an overhead projector and a few transparencies.

“I feel that there has been a notable failure of imagination of understanding the meaning of the demographic changes taking place with increased longevity and increased health…. The biggest failure of imagination of all, thinking that at age 65 they are going to spend the rest of their life golfing and watching television, maybe for thirty years… There is a real need to move people’s imaginations. Although a lot has been done so far to encourage older adults into volunteer work and civic engagement, I believe there are still a large group of peopel who haven’t understood the changed situation that we are in.”

She explained the traditional conception of “three generation” society with three sections: child, adult, old age. We are seeing people live longer, kids who have seven or eight grandparents including all the older people with loose familial relationships to a child. She posits a four generation society ["I was just learning how to make these things", referring to overheads :)]. Child, Adult 1 (child rearing, productive work etc), Adult 2 (grandparent generation, healthy, involved) Old age (great-grandparent generation, possibly needing more care). We’re living in a four generation society and are not really grappling with it or dealing with it in any useful way.

We’re moving rapidly into a situation where there are fewer children and the ratio of “over 65″ people has gone from 1/6 to more like 25% and they are in good health. “Bismarck invented the idea of a pensioned retirement as an institution at the beginning of the 20th century” the idea being that if people worked until they were 70, no one should turn them out on the streets for the rest of their lives. At this point, life expectancy was 47 (worldwide 32). We STILL have the figure of 65 in our heads as when a social safety net situation should start for older people.

She started a program called Granny Voter encouraging seniors to vote “for their grandchildren” with the next generations in mind. She says that seniors are treated by politicians as if they only care about Medicare or drug benefits and yet we live in a society where we feel that we are “mortgaging the future” and making shortsighted decisions at the ballot box.

“Just as women of my generation grew up being told who they were and what to expect from their lives…. what to want. We had to struggle to notice how arbitraty it was and that we could demand something different. In the same sense people coming up on retirement age today are still burdened by obsolete concepts of again…. For each of thhe liberation movements of the 20th century, it has been essential to raise consciousness of a new circumstance”

“I’m convinced that here is a potential for a change of consciousness among older adults, people in Adulthood 2, a change that many of them need to start thinking about at age 45… They can have a huge influence on American life and maybe an influence on how we think about the future…. climate change and global warming with peopel raising the question of whether we are going to take responsibiltiy for the future.”

She issued a challenge people to start pilot programs in libraries to start this process of raising consciousness and transforming the imagination, saying “I have a new idea of what I can be and what I can do for my country and the children who are coming up” She calls this Active Wisdom (website pending) and ecouraged us all to be a part of supporting it.

James Welbourne

“When the baby boomers retirement peaks by the year 2020 the workforce they leave behind will be so drastically changed as to be totallly unrecognizeable.”

New Haven Public Library has a 50+ Transition Center to learn to serve a generation of healthy active older adults who are shifting to a life of civic engagement. They have informal drop-in sessions where they interact, show off books on topics relevant to the active senior community, and have been starting more programming on topics of interest to active engaged older adults.

Olivia Cole from Libraries for the Future

At Libraries for the Future they call it “a third place for a third age”

“In the carrigages of the past, you can not go anywhere” - Maxim Gorky

Speaker: “We need to find a new ride.”

every eight seconds another Baby Boomer turns 50. Boomers expect to be meaningfully engaged in their communities, they want to not only participate but to design and manage activities for themselves and others. Retirement becomes a new chapter, not an end and needs to be dealth with accordingly.

As this generation moves into retirement, there is less of a distinction between paid and unpaid work, between work and community service. Volunteer opportunities are becoming the prerogative of the HR department, you can use retirees like actual employees, but you need to be willing to treat them accordingly.

She pointed to this set of reports for more information and statistics about the retiring generations. She referred to what people have been calling “the Floridazation of America” in some states 20% of the population will be retired boomers.

“Aging adults constitute out largest growing natural resource” quote from head of Civic Ventures a site she recommends.

They have a national initiative called Lifelong Access Libraries to help libraries become places for lifelong libraries and civic engagement, geared specifically towards older Americans. These are the parts of their movement.

• Leadership development
• Training
• Institute for fellows
• Best practices diseemination (via WebJunction)

Why libraries?

• they are the community meeting place
• they are the MOST trusted institution
• there are 16,500 outlets
• there are NO barriers for age, income, belief, language
• public libraries have support for these types of programs and services already

Olivia’s real push was that we have to be ready to serve a large population that — unlike many librarians — is neither well educated, nor middle class. She said that 47 is the average age of when people become grandmothers in the US, and added “don’t get fooled by what is happening in the middle class” when we plan our services. 70% of the people we’ll be seeing in the retiring boomer generation are neither well-educated nor middle class.

This is an opportunity for the library to try to integrate its services and offerings for all members of the community. The challenges for libraries are to think about serving older people without being stuck in the mode of thinking only homebound, nursing home and large print readers.