The Ubiquitous Librarian (Brian Mathews)

Georgia Tech Goes Goth

A little Halloween fun here. A copy of our bathroom newsletter. This is a monthly publication that goes out to via bathroom stalls designed and developed by the Information Services Department.

 
An Alison Valk design.

A bit of this and that: some updates

Wedded
The “I do’s” are done. Another librarian/librarian union is formed. We had a nice honeymoon in Charleston.

Book
My book is done too—or I should say, the manuscript is finished and it is in ALA’s hands now. I expect there to be a round of editing. Hopefully it will be out Spring 2009.

Apparently there is a Title Committee and they have named it:

Marketing Today’s Academic Library: A Bold New Approach

I have some issues with the word “bold” but it is one of those choose-your-battles moments. I think I’ll let this one go. My title was:
Communicating with College Students: marketing strategies for academic libraries.

ACRL 2009
I usually get burned by ACRL, but this time around it worked out. Steven Bell is a good luck charm. Looking forward to my first trip to the great Northwest.

• “Mapping Your Path to the Mountaintop: Planning Where You Want To Be In Your Career” w/ Steven Bell (Temple), John Shank (Penn State), & Lauren Pressley (Wake)

• “If fish markets can do it so can we: designing memorable library experiences for students and faculty.” w/ Steven Bell (Temple) & Valeda Dent (Rutgers)

RIP GIL Express
Sad news for scholars in the poor state of Georgia – as of next week out inter-borrowing program GIL Express is being suspended. This was a terrific service! Unfortunately it feels like the state is taking a step back with this decision. But hey, there is no gas at the pumps in Atlanta, so I guess we have bigger problems to deal with than borrowing books. Both of the presidential candidates are hyping up change, so either way things will get better, right?

dataDUMP City

Having a great designer on staff makes all the difference. As a follow-up to the dataDUMP project, this was my flyer prototype:

And here is what Dottie Hunt interpreted:

Other News:

• Getting married in twelve days.
• Draft of the book will be sent to ALA in eight days.

The Rough Draft

 

 

Weighing in at 68,151 words and 223 pages [Verdana, 10 pt, dbl sp] is my super rough draft.* This is a very conceptual version of the book. Weeks of editing lie ahead, but all the ideas are now down in place. I’m trying to make a September 1^st deadline. Overall I think that it turned out to be a good narrative and hopefully a few librarians will find some value in it.

 

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 Also...

Simultaneously, putting the final touches on an ARL Spec Kit titled: Promoting the Library. This was a much easier task and was actually kind of fun. This one weighs in at 193 pages, but the bulk is data/results. Lee Anne George @ ARL has been great to work with.

 

So that’s why I barely respond to emails, IMs, facebook, phone calls, etc. In a little over a month I’ll get my life back.

 

 

*By comparison, formatted for Times New Roman 12, the manuscript is 252 pages.

Exam Cram – positioning the library for finals week

An idea that we’ve tossed around for about a year and a half finally came together last week. We called it Exam Cram.

I’ve posted about CeLIBration, our kickoff party designed to introduce freshmen to the library, but what about at the end of the semester? What is the best use our out time, space, and effort to contribute to student success? What is it that they need most?

Many libraries offer “study break” sessions with free coffee and cookies, but I wanted to strive for something more constructive. The philosophy behind Exam Cram was to gather the assistance that students, particularly freshmen, need as they head into final exams. Think of it as last minute review sessions, a chance to ask questions, a place to share notes, peer mentoring, confidence building, and motivation to study. I notice informal groups doing this all the time, so this was an opportunity for the library to offer a more coordinated effort.

In a nutshell, we collected a handful of teaching assistants and tutors from various campus organizations and academic departments, and provided space for them to help students. Some of them offered a structured review session, while others worked on specific problems/questions that students had. We kept them out in the open around group tables, rather than hidden away in a closed room, hoping to draw more students in and encourge a more social vibe. The courses we focused on were Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics.

A key component was partnering with others on campus. For example, the Housing Office offers similar tutoring sessions in a few dorms, but instead of us competing with them, we worked together to promote each other. This was beneficial for students because they could see widest possibility of dates, times, and locations where they could get help. We also worked with various student groups as well.

As the project evolved, we tried to serve as an aggregator, collecting all the “finals related” events going on around campus. From the big SGA sponsored party, to free breakfasts, to stress relief activities, and so on. Whatever was happening we wanted to be the central directory. This seemed to be the best way to serve the community: connecting students with the information they needed/wanted, but could not get elsewhere.

We pulled this together via our website as well as a giant board at the entrance. The board, which resembled a golf tournament leader board, included white space for students to add events or request additional review sessions. This device was effective because every time I walked by I observed students stopped to look at it. Next term we hope to add an online forum/message board system, similar to NCSU’s Gaming Hater’s Board, that could support on-the-fly or student-driven study groups. Ideally this would run all semester long so that informal groups could form as needed.

Promotional Efforts

Out basic flyer driving students to the website.

The website—which was linked via the library homepage.

The big board at the entrance of the library.

I also ran a targeted facebook flyer—but that’s a post for next week.

A special thanks to Dottie Hunt for the design work. She pushed this project into a place it could not have gone without her. Oh and just for fun, here is something she composed along with Sweet T to let students know it was time for donuts. And thanks to Mr. Bennett for the Super Bad idea and flip chart assistance.

Using “interesting items” as an annual outreach tool

File this under ideas that I just don’t have time to work on.

Every few months I’ll see an article that I feel everyone should read—very well written, seminal, synopsis pieces. The most recent one that comes to mind is from Wired about the switch to alternative fuel. It summarizes the current problems, explores the challenges, and is overall very readable, yet weighty.

I was thinking about the New Year and how everyone has top 10 lists for this and that and it could be cool for libraries to create one page lists (not bibliographies) of “interesting items” that were published over the past year—maybe with a very short two sentence annotation.

Think about it in terms of our profession. What are ten things (books, articles, editorials, blog posts, listserv discussions, podcasts, webcast, whatever—format agnostic) that everyone should read? What is representative of 2007? Probably something about digital preservation, something about 2.0, something about shifts in organizational structure, something about outreach and promotions, something on building/space design, something about Next Gen Catalogs, etc. Maybe couple this with a few buzzwords, trends, challenges, and predictions.

Now apply that same scheme to other disciplines—what are the topical “things” for engineering, computer science, business, medicine, psychology, the arts, etc. Who won major awards in the field? What are people blogging about besides celebrities? What is the buzz in various categories? What should everyone know about?

HBR does something like this annually for innovative ideas—and it’s always a great read—so why not do something more locally? Customize it for your library community. Public libraries should do something like this because I’ve always found them to be busy throughout the holidays with people grabbing up movies, music, cook books, and pop fiction, so why not try and expand their minds with a “10 things you should be reading” list? With academics, this could be another way to reach faculty. Just drop it off in their office, send it along with books they request, email it, or leave them around the classrooms, or at the department holiday party, whatever. My library is slammed with students finishing up the semester, but they might be interested in picking up a glossy, one page, easy to read, discipline specific handout as they head out the door. Especially if it looked cool. And it would be even better if the handout included a url to the library blog or a website that linked to all the titles online, along with other items of potential interest.

The goal should be to keep it concise and to not push the library too much—this kind of thing probably works better to pique patron interest with a soft sell on our part. Keep it limited to items that are easily accessible, readable (not too scholarly/boring), and of general broad interest. For example: clean tech is quickly growing in popularity, so where’s that definitive Time Magazine or NYT article?

In summary: Instead of addressing faculty with scholarly communications, information literacy, budget cuts, or collection development needs, why not approach them with ideas? Big ideas that they will be interested in. You might just be able to get your foot in the door for future conversations, but first you have to give them a reason to care. Think about their interests instead of your own.

Ah, but Brian this is so much work. You said yourself that you don’t have time to do this, how can I fit it into my schedule?

Indeed, it would take some planning. Maybe instead of doing every discipline you can focus on one or two, or scrap the discipline idea all together and go for the broadest audience possible. This is the type of sub-committee that ACRL should have. A group of 10 librarians who can meet/work online dumping discipline specific articles into a wiki over the course of a year so that all librarians (not just ACRL members) can have access  and use them for various outreach initiatives.

Oh, but this will never work at my library. We have to ask permission and get approval. Everything has to go through the upper echelons.

Wow, sorry to hear that your library is still back in the 1950’s. The library profession really needs to learn about salesmanship. If your administration keeps things on lock-down, I suggest you leverage your subject librarian role. (If you’re not a subject librarian you’re out of luck.) Look at your job description and strategic plan and it probably says something about outreach—this is a part of your responsibilities. Use projects like the 10 articles list, youtube, facebook, and tagging to interact with your community. Your job as a liaison is to sell the library to that specific group. You’re a professional and therefore you should have the freedom to accomplish this task however you see fit. The way I see it, I own Mechanical Engineering (until we hire someone) so I’m constantly trying to find new windows of opportunity. (Hmmm, that sounds like a good title for my next book) in which I can fit the library into their world. So my advice: try stuff—if you get in trouble apologize and say that you were only try be innovative and that you’ll gladly just sit and twiddle your thumbs at the reference desk instead of proactively engaging users.

CDW-G - tell us the story

CDW-G missed out on a branding opportunity. They feature our library in a recent Chronicle advertisement (and of course they had to sneak the cliché books in to make it appear scholarly) yet they don’t mention Georgia Tech. They should have connected it to our ACRL award and something along the lines of their equipment serving a dynamic community and could even drop a number like over one million pages are printed each year, etc.

They should have devised a story rather than just a photo of some random students at some random library. Why not feature several different libraries throughout the year and link to case study material online about how great their printers, computers, and electronic accessories work. Show how easily they can be configured, and how users love them. Make it easy for campus and library IT staff to adopt successful systems. Tell us the story, give us examples, explain why a library should use your products. Let me compare my setup with others to see if would be beneficial to switch.

Daylight Savings as an excellent PR opportunity

Finally the weather is tolerable here in Atlanta; Fall is my favorite season. With this change comes the end of daylight savings. This is a great chance to pitch security. Just as all these corporations are jumping on the go green bandwagon, libraries can send a message about safety.

My library is located in an urban environment. Crime happens. Why not use this opportunity to reinforce an image of the library as a “safe” place? We have a security officer who checks IDs at the door and another one roaming the building, we also have a campus shuttle service that takes students to their dorms at night until 2am. These are things we already do, but we don’t talk about them publicly. By creating a media package, we can get this word out in conjunction with the end of day light savings (aka: shorter days) and sell the library as a safe haven.

Many of us spend so much time promoting resources, equipment, policies, reference help, etc but what about peace of mind? Promoting security makes us look responsible—and, as is our case, responsive to recent concerns about crime in the area. This effort makes us look like we’re addressing actual current needs, when really we’ve been doing this all along.

It invites the potential for wide collaboration too:

• Maybe Student Government or some other group could coordinate a “walking together” program—so that at the top of each hour (after 10pm) students could meet outside the library to walk over to dorms or distant parking lots. (This is directly in line with police recommendations that people travel in packs.)
• Maybe there could be some type of partnership between the library and housing? Perhaps we can deliver a midterm package informing students about upcoming events, workshops, all the usual library stuff, but also include something about safety?
• The library and the transportation office? They run the campus shuttles—we could push that info to students, encourage them to add the number to their cell phones or something to that effect. Maybe something with campus bus routes adding a few “night” time spots. We also want to find ways to get them too the library (not just home from it) so perhaps some transportation possibilities there as well? Door to door and back again.
• Maybe invite campus police to hold some safety seminars or whatever within our presentation space? Even if students don’t attend we gain positive PR.
• Maybe write a letter to the editor of the school paper laying out this “safety” theme stating that since we’re open late this is a concern of ours and that the library is working with all these other units on campus to ensure they have an environment that is comfortable and safe… etc.

It’s all about perception and media spin, so consider an awareness message that makes the library look good. It doesn’t always have to be about books, journals, exhibits, and computers—think big picture. What’s the patron thought process? I am focused now at trying to find out what deters them from visiting the library and then implementing solutions—how can we create a  motivational message? Or rather, the right message at the right time for the right person.

If I can gently remind users that the library is open 24 hours, packed with assistance (from librarians and IT specialists, to multimedia assistants, teaching assistants, and peers), filled with technology and resources, invites eating, offers both quiet and noisy study space, and the occasional exhibit, lecture, or other “intellectual” distraction—combined with the perception that it is not only safe, but activity seeking to ensure their security--- I feel I could raise both gate count and user satisfaction simultaneously.

Many libraries, particularly ARL’s, focus on promoting excellence in collections, but I am far more interested in promoting an excellence library experience.

Shifting My Focus – the user experience

As of yesterday I have a new title: User Experience Librarian. This seems to be a natural evolution for me with an emphasis on assessment and communications in the widest terms imaginable.

Essentially, my job now is to study users and to make recommendations to library admin and department heads. I'll also work with others to develop targeted communication strategies and to do a little brand-work. The biggest challenge will be getting all departments/units to trust me—you say the word assessment and people freak out.

That being said, we'll be looking for a new librarian soon to fill my former position. Atlanta is nice, seriously it is. GT is a top five engineering school, and a top 10 public university. The Library has a third building “in the works,” is a member of ARL, and recently received ACRL's Excellence Award. We're well suited for ambitious entrepreneurial types because we're given a lot of freedom to experiment. We also have competitive Athletics programs. Something to think about.

CeLIBration 2007 – recap (Diddy ain’t got nothin’ on us)

On Saturday we kicked off our welcome event from 7 – 11pm. If you read my blog, I'm guessing you've seen my past posts on this subject. We hit over 700 students, far exceeding my expectations. This event is targeted toward freshmen (our incoming class is typically around 2,000) however, open to all students.

PROMOTION

If you're planning some type of event I highly recommend aligning yourself with the undergraduate/orientation/student success/freshmen Office. We were able to generate large attendance by not competing with other “official” campus events. Furthermore, we gained free publicity by becoming an “official” event.

We also handed out event flyers at incoming-student orientation “marketplace” sessions throughout the summer, and pushed the event (and other library info) at a Residential Assistant/Housing Retreat. I posted a Facebook flyer ($5 per day) for several days leading up to the event, however I don't think those are very effective. I also invited members of the Class of 2011 group . During orientation sessions, most students registered for classes in the library—so we made sure that CeLIBration information was visible to them.

Here is a sample of some of our advertising, courtesy of Dottie Hunt:

We had these around the Library and students received smaller B/W copies too.

All-purpose flyer.

Each event had it's own poster.

FOOD & DRINKS

Every group on campus is giving away free food this week. It's a draw, but you need more than that. We gave away 100 large pizzas (I would tell you company, but they wouldn't give us a deal, so no free publicity) and 50 batches of movie theater style popcorn. We also had an assortment of refreshing Coca-Cola beverages.

ACTIVITIES

Doors opened at 7pm and we didn't schedule any activities until 8. We wanted to give everyone the chance to grab some food and wander around. Our objective was to fit 30-60 people in different areas throughout the library. This gets them in and around the building.

• Board games were very popular, as was DDR. Retro video games (from the 1980's) were not so much, but that's because Macs suck we had some computer problems with our non-Windows operating system.
  

  

  

• Speed-dating was a success. Several librarians from other schools have laughed at me for this—and that's fine, go on hating. We had 3 full sessions, again. We moved it into our gallery, added tablecloths, small mirrors, and flowers, together with a small floating candle—it was very classy; many people called it Parisian. We also raffled away several pairs of movie tickets to female participants to help get things started. Nice work J.S. Shout out to Mr. Hines on the mic.
  

  

  

• Improv Comedy is not my really thing, but the students loved. They had a big audience (50+) for two performances. If you have performance groups on campus you should invite them in from time to time.
  

  

• Ninja Tag was wild. I watched one round and was worried someone would get hurt. It was fast and violent—so hence, very cool. The pictures don't do justice to how dark it was. There was also loud music blasting. This year we doubled the playing space (got rid of some antiqued books!) and I hear we added an extra round. This event was in great demand. The setup was very labor intensive otherwise I'd advocate we do this monthly on a Friday night. Essentially it is a game of team tag played on a darkened floor with black lights. Ninja t-shirts were given to winning teams. Nice work B.T. (Stay East)
  

  

  

  

  

• Poker was packed. I had space for 40 players, but there was greater demand. I had to turn a lot of disappointed people away and felt bad. Never underestimate the appeal of gambling. I bought 800 chips (20 for each player) and several decks of cards. We gave away a rad trophy along with a $100 prize. Because of campus regulations, I could not give a gift card, but had to award a “real” prize, therefore I asked the champion to select something from Best Buy / Amazon to be sent to him. Custom prizes are better anyway. Thanks for the help C.B. and the Security Team.

We had refreshing Coca-Cola products plentifully available throughout the night, however for the championship round I wanted to kick it up and so I provided the gentlemen with Red Bull Energy Drinks to help vitalize the mind and body. (I'm still seeking sponsorship for my Halo 3 event on September 25th.)

• The Ice Water Challenge wasn't something we planned, but once the sodas were gone students challenged each other to see who could stand in freezing pools of ice water the longest. Gotta love Georgia Tech!
  

  

 

We also had a DJ from our campus radio station spinning CDs outside of the library, t-shirt giveaways , and the Outdoor Recreation club messing around in our water fountain. Overall it was a cool event. I was stuck in the poker pits most of the time, but it seems like the people enjoyed themselves.

 

CLOSING THOUGHTS 

• We use to hold our welcome event on the first Saturday after the semester started, however turnout kept declining— so last year we switched to the Saturday before school started and had over 500 in attendance. We have compete with some casual sorority/fraternity rush events, but several hundred students is a huge success in our eyes. Besides, Greek stuff probably doesn't really get going until 11pm anyway.

 

• We benefited from a central coordinator—keeping everyone on track and handling the larger details. Lori Critz did a great job again this year. We also had event coordinators who handed the dirty details of each activity. This works so much better than planning-by-committee. We each had a set budget and the freedom to develop our events as seen fit, meeting occasionally to bounce ideas. We also had a large pool of volunteers. I'd guess between 15-20 library staff members helped out at the event, including our Director, an Associate Director, and at least 2 department heads. I think it's important for Admin to participate—however, we also pulled widely from several departments, which was a great benefit. I also think that these types of events are better for staff bonding/morale building than any type of contrived gathering. (Thanks to everyone for helping out, although no one in my library reads this blog.)

 

• I've been learning so much about textured experiences lately. Lighting is everything. I heard many students remark favorably about the space. We could differentiate the activities/areas based on color. Varying table shapes and sizes are incredible. Portability. Personalization. I was always an early believer in modularization, but now my faith is confirmed. Atmospherics are powerful, whether you are designing space for studying or for poker—set the right mood. Now if I could only get someone to listen to me about the importance of a signature scent.

 

• I am 100% against library staff being required to wear any type of official attire. Jeans and a black t-shirt is appropriate. (Come on Jon!) However, my opinion is often wrong. A few people (5-6) asked me who was hosting the Poker Tournament, as in they thought it was a frat or the housing office, etc. While we were able to get people into the library, I am not sure it was clear that it was us who organized the event. That's something for us to discuss next year. We definitely want to take credit for something successful—if it's a flop we'll blame someone else, like the Admissions Office.

 

• It doesn't always have to be about the library. That's the key really. We're not blasting them with Boolean or databases or policies. We want to get freshmen in the door, showoff our space, and hopefully make them feel comfortable. Let them see that we are approachable and not stogy. We want to set the bar high and raise their expectations of what the library is or can be. We also want to tap into their minds early on—before they even step foot in the classroom—they all know where the library is now. We really need to do this type of thing (library branded entertainment activities) more often, I'd say at least twice a semester. If we can offer a mixture of fun and academic events geared freshmen throughout the first semester—I think it would pay off in the long run. Just a theory.

• Set up as much as possible the day/night before.

All photos taken by Katie Gentilello.