The PLA Blog | Official Blog of the Public Library Association
Simplicity cont’d. begin Create and Share Content.
After strategic planning BootCamp last week, I’ve had Nelson and Garcia’s 18 service responses on my mind non-stop. It’s a significant step to drill down the services we can offer at public libraries to 18 clear bullet points. My last post on this blog offered a few anecdotes advocating for simplicity in the communication arts. [...]
Warhol, The Shining, Twitter, Architecture, Strategic Planning, and Your Library
Driving back to Brooklyn after our week-long intensive strategic planning course in Cleveland afforded me some much needed time for reflection. I drove with my sketchbook in my lap, jotting notes, steering with one hand, doing my best to see the lines on the road through the water kicked up by the many enormous trucks [...]
Post-Boot Camp Review #1
An experience like Boot Camp takes a while to process. The best kind of workshop is the kind that gives you new ideas and insights and renewed enthusiasm for the profession. I feel like my brain has been filled to capacity, but in a good way. I’ll probably be writing about my experience in dribs [...]
Strategic Planning question from Massachusetts
Here’s a question from Emily Nichols, The Head of Children’s Services at the Beverly Public Library in Massachusetts. Emily wrote to the blog hoping that the readers would be able to workshop her question, so don’t be shy, lets use our collective knowledge to offer Ms. Nichols some suggestions!
Hello PLA folks,
I’ve been avidly reading [...]
signage
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library has an amazing range of very appealing signage, most of which doesn’t look very typical of libraries.
the Heights
Several of us took the opportunity to check out the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library while we were in the area. They’re doing some really innovative things with reference, such as replacing the reference desks with these small stations and replacing lengthy reference shifts with a variety of short shifts spent at these small stations, [...]
Boot Camp Friday
It’s over! This week has been simultaneously very long and quick as a whirlwind. As with most intense experiences, it’s going to take me some time to process. Sandra and June summed up a lot of things for us today:
Before you can get started, you need to convince your board and staff that it is [...]
Teeny Tiny Laptops!
Now, I’m the not the lucky owner of the teeny, tiny computer so many of us asked about this week. Margaret from New Mexico is who you all talked to about her laptop that was about 8″ or so. Very cool. I’m posting the info on her behalf for all those who inquired. It is [...]
PLA Boot Camp, Day 5
PLA Boot Camp, Day 5
It’s over! In some ways it is hard to believe that 5 days have passed. While it was definitely an intense process, this group kept its high energy and enthusiasm until the end.
Bottom line: Implementation: Just do it! Start looking at your plan. Start looking at your activities. Start ENGAGING STAFF. [...]
PLA Boot Camp, Day 4
I’m posting for yesterday even though it is Friday morning and we will be starting our last day soon. Yesterday we talked about the cost of our resources and how monies are allocated toward serving our library’s service responses or objectives. Not surprisingly, not one of us (77 folks) specifically knew the percentages of our [...]
