The Ubiquitous Librarian

ACRL Award and a Missed Opportunity

I’m definitely not suited for PR. PR is all about patting yourself on the back and saying “look at how great we are.” I’m much more interested in a conversation that goes “what do you need, oh yeah? Well check this out.”

I’ll never be a library director because I cringe at pageantry. We had our official ACRL Library of the Year presentation today. It just wasn’t my thing. We went carnival style with the marching band, hotdogs, soda, and lots of speeches. But what I really like is that at the same time we offered alternative programming in another location.  We had two students present research, one on the student/faculty relationship via FaceBook, the other on the changing face of television with respect to gender and sexual identity.

Right now our admin team is having a “dignitaries” lunch with all the important people on campus. What we missed out on was a chance to interact with students more directly. I think you can spread the word to the masses with a free hotdog and the school mascot jumping around, but we should have pulled together a second lunch for student connectors. (I hate using Gladwell’s term.) Something like this:

Get someone from SGA, someone from the campus radio and tv stations, the president of the Chinese Student Group, someone from the photography, BBQ, and Dance organzations, a few members from Greek community, a leader from the environmental group, the human rights group, the college republicans, and so on. Get 30 or so diverse personalities that are active around campus and treat them to a decent lunch and say something like: “Ok, so we won this award. Right now our Director is meeting with the President, Provosts, Deans, and Donors. They’re basically trying to get more money. You guys are important because you’re the ones who are going to help us spend it. And so on…” Start with a basic focus group, lay out future plans and ideas, but what I really want to dig into is who these people are. How do their groups function? What types of influence do they have? How can we package our message differently (relevantly) to each? How are their needs unique and similar? Where do they succeed and where do they struggle? Use this lunch to nurture relationships with influential students and promote overall good-will for the library.

Back in the 20th century it was all about location, location, location. Now it’s all about segmentation, segmentation, segmentation.

Anyway, I’m off to Orlando for the week. My brother’s getting married. He’s the one with a wife, a nice car, and the free trip to Europe when he graduated from high school. Hmmm, maybe I’m bitter?

GT Documentary Group – Spring 2007

I had an excellent talk last Friday with a several freshmen who created a documentary about the Library as a class project. They were in an English course together over the Fall semester with the theme of “space analysis” (physical space not outer space). During the first part of the course they learned the vocabulary and philosophy of design, and their final project was about sacred spaces. So this class of 17 students worked together on a 20 minute documentary that explores and examines our recently renovated area that we call the East Commons. The film chronicles how the Library transformed from a quiet sacred space into a more dynamic environment. (I’ll post a link once it’s online.)

 

An interesting facet for them was that the Library had always been what it is; they had never seen as it was before. They were investigating something they had never experienced first hand. They also had no precedent, no experience with any other University libraries, so this space didn’t seem innovative to them, it was simply what an academic library was and should be.

         

What was fascinating was their level of sophistication and analytical ability when talking about the Library. This project made them more aware of the space and they recognized the different moods at different times as well as unusual furniture arrangements. They were constantly evaluating the space and how they and others used it. One of the students even mentioned that she text messaged some group members when we moved couches into our café and they were also amused by the Mario installation. Their awareness was not only limited to our main floor, but extended widely throughout the entire building. I would bet that they had more familiarity with the library than most of the people that work in it.

    

Some of the insights they shared with me:
   

• They suggested that during campus tours, the guides take students throughout the entire first floor of the Library in order to expose them to the full space. While they had used the Library during the first month of the semester, it was limited to the main computer cluster. They had not yet discovered the rest of the building. This reinforces the theory of offering a wide mix of social programs, which they agreed would make students more aware of the space. So speed dating, ninja tag, pirate poker (I’m working on that one) and other activities serve to offer a positive social experience, promote the Library, and ultimately can lead to increased long-term usage. In fact, I think we should be doing more “fun” stuff than we already are.

• They said that they didn’t know how the space worked. What were the rules? What was the protocol? The etiquette? They had to learn that they controlled the space, but it was not obvious. This is the transition from our space to their space that we’re working on.

• Being in the Commons made homework feel like less of a chore. In fact, sometimes the Commons is a bad place to study because it was too distracting, however it is great to have the option of other areas for solitude. They said that as they learned more about the Library, they stayed for longer periods of time, several hours each week in fact, and that it has continued into the current semester. I know that this was overarching goal, to create spaces that students actually want to study in.

• They liked the Commons for the social learning experience, but encouraged us to keep the rest of the library ugly. They liked the old fashioned furniture, even though it was uncomfortable, because it inspired them. It transported them back into the past, into a different world, into a different state of mind. The other floors were not about relaxation, but about focus and hard work.

• While in theory the East Commons was designed to be manipulated by students, there are some limitations, such as the inability to adjust lighting or to move the walls around themselves. They also said that tables and chairs could get very crowded and create a mess.

• They stressed the need to have more electrical outlets and plugs dangling from the ceiling on other floors. One student said she even started bringing her own extension cord so that she could plug her laptop in.
• They love the big monitors and ample desk space to spread out materials. This was a large part of the appeal.
• They said that we are weak in providing quick access to computers and printers. Sometimes they just wanted to get in and get out, but had to wait a long time for a computer to open. I touched on this before with the need to adjust furniture throughout the day to satisfy different needs.

• They wanted more bean bags, we currently have four, because this could instantly create sitting space when before there was only just floor.

It was insightful and inspiring to hear patrons talk intelligently about the Library instead of just saying we need more computers. I am going to communicate with them regularly throughout the next four years to see how they grow into the space and how their perceptions of the Library and campus evolve. They have become my own personal Up Series project.      

      
Interesting though, none of them mentioned resources: will that change in time? Do freshman primarily just need space to study and complete assignments? Should that influence our advertising around campus? Will they still spend as much time in the Library as they become seniors? What equipment do they check out? What software do they use? Do they encounter the reference desk? What do they think about our website? Do they attend any of our classes, workshops, or social/cultural events? And what do they tell their friends about the Library?      

       

I am creating a tag (GTStudentDocGroup) in order to chronicle the experiment.

Update:

View the video here.

Justification: Why do we do these things in our library? (CeLIBration, PART 6 – the finale)

Why do we offer Speed Dating? Why do we let students run wild in our stacks? Why do we go through all the trouble of hosting these elaborate events? Academic Libraries are about academics, right?

It's larger than a welcoming event. It's more than food and games. It's really about who we are now. What is the modern library, or rather, what should the modern library be? It's about really transforming, both our space and identity. On blogs we all post about the need to get beyond just books and service points—so what else is there?

I've said before : “I am much more interested in what a person can do in a library than what we can put in one.” Function is the key. Action is the key. Verbs, not nouns. And I am very pleased that our Admin is on the same boat. In fact, this had a lot to do with why I wanted to work here. But no more commercials for Georgia Tech, let's get back to the question at hand.

What follows is summary of many conversations with Crit Stuart , our AUL for Public Services, who is very influenced by Scott Bennett . I've also been talking with Charlie Bennett (no relation), the coordinator of our social space, the Library East Commons . Their ideas are swirled with mine—a perfect example of the chaos that Mr. Gorman frowns upon .

Crit visited several locations around campus where students studied, outside the library. He watched, listened and asked: why here? What surfaced was the idea of the life cycle. Students sleep, attend class/labs, eat, socialize, study, and relax. All these things happen in various locations, yet sometimes they overlap. It's important for us to understand this complete cycle and not focus on just the ‘study' aspect, which most libraries do. There is more to students than just that, and there should be more to us too.

The major characteristics students liked about these other places include: refreshment, safety, aesthetics, friends, comfortableness, cleanliness, diversions, and unpredictability. They emphasized that they could only study in dorms (or anyplace) for so long before they needed a break; before they needed change.

This helped inform our renovation, both physically and philosophically. We wanted to offer these elements. After many focus groups, we aimed to create a heterogeneous mix of enterprises. An environment allowing students to be serious and focused, but also the opposite too: distractions, fun, self expression, and entertainment.

It's the process of domesticating libraries; returning space to the users. If they are going to be studying for a long time, they need refreshment of the mind and body… otherwise they cannot sustain the effort. They are talking about a mental recess. A little time to play and then return to work. That's what they told us and we listened.

They wanted physical things: tumbling mats, pool tables, outdoor sitting areas, legos, video games, Dance Dance Revolution. They wanted to escape the monotony of school work. (60% of our students study some type of engineering, so that's a LOT of math!) They want space to be bright, clean, and active. They want to feed off of the energy of others. They want space that is intellectually therapeutic; space that is regenerative. They want to see and be seen. They want to share a sense of common effort and togetherness with peers.

It's like recharging the batteries of the mind. They need to do something different to change or shift their perspective. They wanted visual stimulation: color, art, varied lighting, physical structures, 3D models, moveable furniture, adaptive space.

We also want to nurture academic socializing. Offer an inviting space for them to blend personal and academic discussions. I am actually there now writing this blog entry. The person beside me is reading notes on WebCT and a few of her friends are nearby at a table. Every 20 minutes or so they'll all stop, chat, share notes, and then get right back to work. There is also a Teaching Assistant providing help with MatLAB to several students. The TA addressed them collectively and then they disappeared to work through problems—and every so often they will check back in to receive more guidance.

This is what we encourage. We want to be flexible for different study styles. Some people want to sit quietly next to their friends why they work individually on assignments. Some people want to talk, draw, sketch, and bounce ideas off their peers. Some people need to use computers in groups to prepare presentations. And of course, some people want to hide away and not be bothered. We accommodate all and this is where I think many academic libraries fail. It takes more that just resources to support learning.

An interesting experiment is the use of temporary walls (see pics below) which Crit calls Nextwalls and French Curves, but I'm not buying into those terms just yet. The gist is that they allow us (or them) to reconfigure space in a matter of minutes. These walls are customizable for group or individual use. Students said they wanted open areas, but not just a grand wide open room, yet they also didn't want small closed areas either. Our compromise was open space with hints of separation, yet without isolation. We're noticing that people like to have their backs to a wall. Since wall space is limited in an open room, the moveable walls help provide this instinctual comfort, the sense that people are not lurking behind you.

We also have a lighting system that allows us to flood the walls with different colors. One wall can be green, another blue, another red, and so on. Since windows are limited, this helps add visual stimulation. Plus it just looks cool.

So getting back to the point: why do we do this stuff?

Let's be honest, school work is not fun. Studying, papers, formulas, coding, it's wears you down. Libraries get a bad rep because that's where students go to do all those things. They associate the Library with the negative aspects, the struggle, the boredom, the frustration. The place where fun goes to die . That's why we offer events and amusements. Maybe a student is struggling with calculus, and remembers, oh yeah, I did speed dating here, played tag in the dark, listened to music, played Mario Brothers, ate pizza, played Risk, met an actress, etc. It can't always be fun and games, but sometimes it could be.

We want to let students see that others are sharing in the same struggle. You look up and can appreciate what they are doing. You get a chance to see and hear them, see what they're working on, what they're talking about. Again, academic socializing. The library doesn't (and shouldn't) be all about resources and studying. College isn't all about blood, sweat, and tears—there are good times too; moments of fun and freedom. That's why we want to regularly offer interesting events. Give them something to look forward too. Use humor in our marketing. Let them associate the Library with good times too.

Another aspect is building a sense of community. I know that's a big buzzword these days, but we want to feel that the Library is becoming theirs (and less ours.) We are trying to give them a sense of ownership. This is your space, do what you want, and let us get out of the way. I imagine we'll continue with focus groups and other assessments to tweak the space and our efforts, but eventually I hope our presence will be minimized (or ubiquitous!) It's not locked down. It's not monolithic. It's arranged differently everyday. It can be whatever you need right now. Events, programs, entertainment, activities, speakers, art, displays, games… all that should come from within, with us lurking on the fringe.

So how far do we go and is it possible to take it too far? Our focus remains student productivity, but we need to blend other aspects to. We still offer four floors of quiet space. We let them choose where they want to be, and what they want to do. Some people (like me) can only concentrate in isolation, others prefer noise, music, or television. Sometimes you might want to be around lots of people, and other times escape from them completely. We let the student decide. We give them options. It's their Library.

So again, why do we do this stuff?

• It's about serendipity.
• It's about retreat.
• It's about refocusing.
• It's about re-imagining libraries.
• It's about chilling out.
• It's about teamwork.
• It's about academic socializing.
• It's about breaking away.
• It's about being inspired.
• It's about distractions.
• It's about discovery.
• It's about recess.
• It's about maximizing productivity.
• It's about laughing and not taking things too seriously ALL the time.
• It's about seeking and providing epiphanies.
• It's about caring for your patrons and not about circ stats, gate counts, or the number of articles accessed via Science Direct.
• It's about them.

I know this was a terribly long post, but if you want to read more, check this out: The Information Commons: Adapting to the Culture of Net Generation Students

PS: Crit tells this story so much better than I do. Tell your admin you need to come and see this for yourself; label it “strategic planning” or whatever. Actually, stop listening to me or those other bloggers. Talk with your patrons. Let them tell you what to consider in your Library.

PS2: I doubt he reads my blog, but thanks to Rich Meyer for the $upport and letting us try new and crazy things. And thanks to Crit for letting us use our imagination and making things happen.

Images:

The place where fun comes to die…

You know that something is definitely no longer cool when a university Policy Office starts talking about it.

 

Here is an interesting ‘library’ event created by students from last semester.

 

With all the attention we give to them. With all of our effort toward trying to reshape the Library to their liking, they still perceive us as “the place where fun comes to die…”

I’ve noticed a handful of such events. Students form study groups, Calculus is particularly common here, and work through test preparations together. This is nothing new, but it demonstrates that students do use FB for more than posting drunken pics and looking for people to hookup with.

 

It could be interesting to surprise a group like this one day with pizza or sodas or a coupon for a free coffee from the library café. Catch them off guard. Provide a seemingly random unique experience. And more than anything, create positive grassroots PR for the Library.