PVLD Director's Blog

Celebrating 80 Years of Magic at the Holiday Parade

It was truly a magical evening when PVLD won the Mayor's Trophy at the 2009 Rolling Hills Estates Holiday parade!  With a rabbit coming out of a top hat, a wizard and a fairy godmother, and more magicians than you can shake a wand at library staff members outdid themselves creating an amazing parade entry on a shoestring.  

A great big thank you to Dori Medina for her leadership and costume sewing skills; Laszlo Latkoczy, Louise Beebe, Brenda Sibert and the Facilities staff who conjured up the top hat and created the float; Merna Marshall for organizing a fabulous taco dinner for participants and guests; Kaitlin Waldron for being such a fabulous magician's rabbit; Charles Crouse for being a good sport and agreeing to play a wizard at the last minute; Charles and James Davis for carrying the banner; and to everyone (staff, Trustees, volunteers, partners, kids, grandkids and friends who drove, rode, marched or cheered us on!

Enjoy the slideshow - and the brief video at the end - and look for us to be the float to beat next year!

Aloha from the Malaga Cove Library

The islands came to Malaga Cove Library today. A great crowd enjoyed slack key guitar, hula lessons, lei making, Hawaiian BBQ, shave ice, and hawasian culture and stories. Thank you Mitch Chang, Jennifer Addington, and Jennifer Chaffey for organizing the event - hope we can do it again next year!

One Book, One Peninsula

Last night was the culmination of PVLD's first ever One Book, One Peninsula program. Our book was Adventures in Darkness by actor/musician/athlete/writer/motivational speaker (and Peninsula resident) Tom Sullivan.

About 200 people (and 3 guide dogs in training) braved a cool and windy evening to hear Tom speak, sing, and inspire on the roof of the Peninsula Center Library. Tom and his production manager Austin put on an amazing show...and Tom has been extraordinarily generous with his time and support throughout the planning of the One Book program. He even donated our essay contest prize - a private lunch with him.

We also honored the winners of the essay contest - an adult, high school student and younger student who each read their essay about "Fences I Have Jumped".

We've talked about doing a "one book" program almost as long as I've been at PVLD but it took the initiative and hard work of Adult Services Manager Sylvia Richardson to turn words into action.

Sylvia and Librarians Louise Beebe and Ashley Burdick selected the book, contacted Tom, and did all of the planning and publicity. And there was a LOT of planning and organization to be done!

They were supported by our Facilities Department, and especially James Davis, who worked with Tom's staff on a challenging set up on the roof.

Other staff including Marjeanne Blinn, Merna Marshall, and Dori Medina and volunteers (especially Peggy Hill) pitched in to help sell books and refreshments.

The end result was a terrific first effort for what we help will be an annual One Book, One Peninsula program and a truly amazing event last night.

Since I had virtually nothing to do with it I also was reminded that sometimes (usually?) the best thing a leader can do is get the h*^!€! out of the way.

Thank you to Sylvia, Tom, and everyone else who contributed - you are all amazing!

Singalong Sound of Music

I'm writing this while enjoying a wonderful Singalong Sound of Music in Farnham Martin park next to the Malaga Cove Library.

The photos don't do it justice but there must be over 200 people here on a balmy summer evening enjoying music, trivia, raffles, a bake sale hosted by our PVLD teen volunteers and of course the movie.

This is PVLD's first try at a movie in the park (and before it even started people were asking about the next one!) and there were plenty of logistical challenges to be solved.

Special thanks are due to Adult Services Librarian Ashley Burdick who took the lead to organize the event, James Davis and the Facilities employees who built the screen (and James for providing support tonight), Branch Manager Jennifer Addington and Assistant Manager Jennifer Chaffey for all they have done to make the event a success (including wearing nuns' habits tonight!), Ashley's family for leading the singing, the teen volunteers for hosting the bake sale and raffle, the city of Palos Verdes Estates for letting us use the park, the local businesses who donated raffle prizes, and of course our amazing Friends of the Library who provide the funding for all of our library programs.

And I can honestly say you've never really sung along with the Sound of Music until you are accompanied by peacocks!

Singalong Sound of Music

I'm wiring this while enjoying a wonderful Singalong Sound of Music in Farnham Martin park next to the Malaga Cove Library.

The photos don't do it justice but there must be over 200 people here on a balmy summer evening enjoying music, trivia, raffles, a bake sale hosted by our PVLD teen volunteers and of course the movie.

This is PVLD's first try at a movie in the park (and before it even started people were asking about the next one!) and there were plenty of logistical challenges to be solved.

Special thanks are due to Adult Services Librarian Ashley Burdick who took the lead to organize the event, James Davis and the Facilities employees who built the screen (and James for providing support tonight), Branch Manager Jennifer Addington and Assistant Manager Jennifer Chaffey for all they have done to make the event a success (including wearing nuns' habits tonight!), Ashley's family for leading the singing, the teen volunteers for hosting the bake sale and raffle, the city of Palos Verdes Estates for letting us use the park, the local businesses who donated raffle prizes, and of course our amazing Friends of the Library who provide the funding for all of our library programs.

And I can honestly say you've never really sung along with the Sound of Music until you are accompanied by peacocks!

Hope for the future of libraries

This past Wednesday I had the privelege of attending the one year reunion meeting of the Southern California area Eureka Fellows.  The Eureka Leadership program is sponsored by the California State Library as a means of developing future library leaders. Eureka Fellows are selected through  competitive applications process for a year-long leadership development process that starts with a 5-day intensive leadership institute followed by completion of a major grant-funded project over the course of the next year with opportunities for mentoring and follow-up coaching along the way.  I had the privilege of serving as a mentor for the first cohort of Eureka fellows a year ago, and Wednesday's event was the culmination of their journey.  PVLD was also fortunate to have two staff members - Branch Manager Jennifer Addington and Circulation Manager Eve Wittenmyer - selected as Eureka Fellows.

On Wednesday  the participants gave presentations on their projects to their Library Directors and the Eureka facilitators.  I was blown away by both the quality of the work they have done and the marked development in their confidence as leaders.  I knew last year that this was a special bunch of people, and seeing them at the end of the Eureka process reinforced just how special they all are.  The future of libraries is in very good hands!

Apart from the pride I felt watching the presentations, every single one of them gave me a new idea or inspiration.  All of these presentations should be up soon on the Eureka blog soon, but here are some highlights -

• Irma Morales of the Orange Public Library reported on her project to capture the history of the barrio where her branch library is located.  As part of the project she hosted a day-long event where community members were encouraged to share photos for addition to the local history collection, learn about little-known parts of the community's history such as the role it played in desegration of Mexican-Americans, and share their experiences.  What a great way to involve the community in developin local history resources!
• Thea Blair of the Mission Viejo Public Library talked about her project to install a low-vision reader and adaptive workstation for the visually impaired to meet the needs of her aging community.  I had never thought of reaching out to the Lion's Club as a partner to help us serve the visually impaired, but when Thea reminded us of their interest in vision issues it made perfect sense....
• Robin Isaacson of the San Diego County Public Library named her project "Words Gone Wild" and talked about how she is using a new online catalog interface to as she put it "free cataloging information from the constraints of the MARC record" and allow people to search the catalog in ways that make sense to them.  It was a great articulation of why the whole concept of "social cataloging" is important.
• Our own Eve and Jennifer reported on their "Culture Quake" project to transform PVLD's customer service.  For me the eye-opener was how much they've accomplished without me even really knowing what they were up to!  I'm looking forward to seeing the customer service wiki that they have in development.
• Cheryl Eberly of Santa Ana Public Library gave a moving and inspirational talk about her "Circle of Mentoring" project that connects at-risk youth with adult mentors, and also gives the youth the opportunity to mentor younger kids.
• Amanda Schukle of San Diego County Public Library described her project to give librarians data and tools so they can create Customer-Driven Collections.  Amanda has a way with words and I loved her "Dump the Junk" weeding report and "Bang for Your Buck" collection turnover report.
• Patricia Rivera of Buena Park Library District went first and gave an amazing presentation of how her "Library Lures Latinos".  She has done a great job of engaging staff in reaching out to the Latino people who make up a significant part of Buena Park's population.  She had lots of quantitative data to demonstrate the resulting increased library usage by Latinos, but to me the biggest indicator of success was the story she told of a staff member who used to get frustrated about the hesitancy of Latino patrons to speak to staff, until she herself went to the "Spanish for Non-Spanish Speakers" training for library staff and realized how difficult it is to use a language not your own.
• Cara Vera of Rancho Cucamonga described her library's participation the the City of Rancho Cucamonga's "Healthy RC" initiative.  It was a terrific example of the library adapting its existing resources to position itself squarely at the heart of something important to its community.  It also gave me an idea about our library taking the lead to develop a "Healthy PV" initiative.
• Christina Wainwright of San Diego Public Library's project was to use library programs to build long-term relationships with community members instead of "one night stands" where people enjoy a program, but then that's it until the next one they come to.  Her goal is to use library programs to create bonds both between attendees and with the library.  She described her successful "Monday Night Meetup" program where people give "speed book reviews" in "speed dating" format, and then those reviews spark conversations and connections.  She also described how she now evaluates each program in terms of both the level of interactivity between participants that it fosters and the degree to which is anchored to the library's core services, and aims for programs that offer both as these are the ones that foster long-term relationships.  Christina transformed how I am going to look at our PVLD programs in the future.
• Susan Broman of the Los Angeles County Public Library talked about her "Get Up From Behind the Desk" project to encourage and support local efforts to provide adult programming - no easy task in a massive, complex, and tradition-bound library system!  Susan has a talent for developing tools that help librarians do things better and more efficiently, and I have know via my husband, and LA County Community Library Manager, that she is having a major impact and helping transform the entire Adult Services culture at LACPL.  Her staff "What Are We Reading" blog also gave an idea for a similar blog that our staff could write for the community. 
• Polly Cipparone of San Diego County Public Library has developed a "The Future is Now" wiki for staff to share information about change initiatives in her library system.  I thought the idea of allowing employees to post questions and comments anonymously was an great non-threatening way to allow people to engage in the change process.
• Jeannie Kays of the Palm Desert Library (Riverside County Library System) has developed a staff training program that is a model for other libraries.  It has 6 core modules that are repeated every quarter so everyon has a chance to attend.  Training is done by staff volunteers and ranges from Beginning Reference for Non-Reference Staff to Frequently Asked Reference Questions to Using Microsoft Publisher to Create Flyers".  I think we may just steal her work!
• Genesis Hansen of Newport Beach reported on her project to use customer input to drive design of the new library website.  Apart from the very useful content of her presentation, which included examples of how staff perceptions of customer needs can be off base, Genesis had an amazingly crisp and succinct presentation...she also managed to make great progress on her project despite taking time off in the middle of it to have a baby!  I was also pleased that she shared information about her blog, Wrong Again which will now be part of my regular reading.
• Last but not least Andrea Taylor of the Fullerton Public Library presented her "One City One Source" initiative to reach out to city staff and educate them about library services.  She used meetings with each city department to tell them about the library and sign them up for library cards.  This is something we really need to do with our local cities...since we are independent of them they really don't know much about what we offer.

You can see why I was exhausted and exhilirated when I got home on Wednesday night... and why I didn't hesitate to say yes when asked to be a mentor again this year! 

 

The future of libraries - what if it's not about delivering content?

PVLD is in the process of developing a new strategic plan which is forcing us to both take a hard look at what we currently do and how we do it, and to think about what we want the library to be in the future.  As we've looked at what we currently do and how it fits with our future aspirations, one of the questions floating around in my mind is how important/relevent our content (i.e. our library collection - whether physical or electronic) will be.

We currently focus a lot of time, attention, and energy on maintaining that content - choosing what to buy, processing the orders and paying the bills, deciding how to organize the collection both in the libraries and online, cataloging the various items, weeding things from the collection, and handling the books, movies, cds, etc. as we check them in and out, shelve them, and move them between branches.  In many respects this management of content dominates what we do.

If the recent growth in our circulation statistics is any indicator access to our content is still very important to the people we serve, particularly in these difficult economic times, and yet I've had this little niggling thought bouncing around in my head for a while - In a world of myriad cheap (or even free), easy, and convenient ways to access content electronically, what if our future isn't about content management and delivery? What then?

In one of those curious bits of synchronicity that seems to happen as I surf the web and read various blogs it turns out I'm not the only one with this thought on my mind.  Over the weekend I came across this post from Aaron Schmidt's Walking Paper blog.  It's a great articulation of the competition faced by libraries in a world of "content anywhere/anytime."  Aaron uses the example of Netflix and how it is partnering with the New York Times and others to allow people to download Netflix content via widgets at online locations (like movie reviews) where it is most relevent.  Not only do most libraries lack the technology to do something like this, we are also constrained by digital rights management laws and technologies that prevent us from making the best online content available to our customers.

Today I read on the O'reilly radar blog  (thanks to a tip-off from Stephen Abram)  that the fastest growing category of applications for the IPhone is downloadable e-books - most of which cost 99 cents or less, and one in twenty of which are free.  Couple that with the ability to get everything from bestsellers to classics anytime, anywhere and without the hurdle of shared collections and limited checkout periods and you can see that the downloadable books offered by libraries are a poor alternative.

And if this post on Ross Dawson's Trends in the Living Networks blog is any indication, libraries aren't alone in thinking about the extent to which content management and delivery is their future. 

So if our future is not about delivering content, what is it about?  I'm not sure anyone knows for sure.  I think Ross Dawson's phrase "the shift from expert curators to facilitators of participation" is as good a description of what the future might hold as any I've seen. And Aaron Schmidt was pursuing the same idea when he wrote about creating "excellent programs and experiences based around content and conversation" and "providing shared experiences by gathering people together at hosted events." 

What I like most about this concept is that the role of the library is really enhanced, not diminished.  If we can take all of the time and energy we spend managing content and redirect it to finding ways to enrich peoples lives by helping them make richer connections with both the content and one another, the future is bright.

That said, I still think providing access to content will be a role for libraries in the future.  The question will be how we do that.  We don't want to become the poor cousin to commercial content delivery services like Netflix, Amazon, and Itunes - there primarily for people who can't afford or otherwise can't access the commercial services, but with inferior content and delivery mechanisms. 

One thought is that we need to step outside our traditional models and partner with the Netflixes of the world to make content available anytime, anywhere.  For example, what if when people search our catalog and an item is either checked out or not in our collection they could just click on a button to buy it on Amazon or download it from Netflix (with a commission for us of course)?  PVLD's upcoming trial of a Redbox DVD dispenser is another example of how we can work with commercial services to deliver content - in this case physical DVDs.  The Redbox machine will not only allow us to offer a wider selection of titles and more copies of the popular ones, it will also allow customers to obtain them outside of library hours, request specific titles online, keep them as long as they want, and return them to any Redbox location...with no investment of library staff time once the machine has been installed.

Of course, these are just my thoughts.  I'd love to know yours...     

Libraries in tough times - more than books!

My husband and I were driving between errands on Saturday morning and happened to catch this great piece on National Public Radio's Morning Edition.  This morning a friend forwarded me the link to this story from CNN.com on Saturday.  Both include some great examples of how libraries can help people navigate these choppy (to say the least!) financial waters...and free access to books is just a part of the story.  

Here at PVLD we're trying to do our share by offering financially-oriented programs like the "Building Wealth" program in early February; beefing up our collection of business, job-search, and investment resources; offering free online access to the Value Line and Morningstar investment advisory services; and trying to figure out how to add more computers....and like the libraries mentioned in the news stories our usage is way up.

Apart from the interesting content, the other great thing about these stories and the many others that have been popping up on the subject of the value libraries provide in this economy is that they are being aired at all.  For years it seemed that the media's view of libraries was as the information age equivalent of the dinosaur, doomed by the advent of the Internet.  It's great to see the recognition dawning that while traditional media are withering away in the face of the ubiquitous Internet, libraries with their multifaceted roles, services, and ways of touching people are thriving.

  

Boys and Reading

Getting boys to read can be a challenge, as evidenced by conversations our staff have with parents and educators and among themselves, and by articles such as this one from the Washington Post. Just do a Google search using the terms "boys" and "reading" and you get more information than you can possible absorb on the topic of how to encourage boys to read, including a link to author Jon Scieszka's terrific Guys Read website. (as an aside, Jon Scieszka was recently named as the Library of Congress' first ever national ambassador for children's literature - very cool!)

Here at PVLD Young Readers Librarian Michael Barb has a passion for getting school-aged boys to read, and to that end is planning a great father/son program for this spring.  Keep an eye out for "Knights in Training"!

As someone who comes from a family of readers (boys and girls alike) and who has no children of my own, I don't have a clue what makes a book enticing to a young boy, so I'm always fascinated by articles on this topic.  Late last year I spent an enjoyable and educational few minutes listening to this National Public Radio interview with John Scieszka while running errands on a Saturday morning - and it inspired me to actually go read some of the Stinky Cheese Man (although I confess I just skimmed it!)

This past Sunday the New York Times had a great article about the very popular "Wimpy Kid" books and how they are inspiring boys to read, which in turn inspired me to check out Diary of A Wimpy Kid:Rodrick Rules (the one and only Wimpy Kid book available on the shelf at the Peninsula Center Library, which tells you something).  I just started reading it and am already chuckling.

I loved the NY Times article's closing paragraphs, too -

"Slightly older readers vouch for the accuracy of Mr. Kinney’s observations. Ethan Bloom’s brother, Josh, 13, who is an eager reader, said, “A lot of spy and fantasy books are ridiculous, but this isn’t ridiculous at all. Everything in it is completely true — the way the parents reacted to things, the dumb things we do, all the annoying things you have to do with younger brothers.”

And is he looking forward to the next “Wimpy Kid” installment?

Absolutely, Josh said. “We’ll be making a trip to the library,” he replied.

Not a bookstore?

“Naw,” he said, “ I don’t buy books. I can waste my money on other things.”

What a great plug for the Wimpy Kids books, and for libraries!

The library website as virtual branch....really?

We've invested a lot of time and effort (and a not insignificant amount of money), developing the PVLD website as a "virtual branch" of the library with library services available 24/7 from home or office.  I'm really proud of what our Digital Services team have accomplished in terms of the look and feel of the site, the shift from traditional "databases" to online services such as Value Line, Mango Languages, and Brainfuse, the use of tools like Wordpress blogs and Flickr to both deliver content and make it available via the wider web and not just the library website, and the inclusion of social networking concepts like user reviews and ratings and instant messaging.

And then today I read two blog posts by David Lee King that made me realize how far we still have to go!  The first post asks whether our online question-answering services discriminate against "a growing, younger, web-savvy customer base. Customers who *almost* have all the tools in place to simply ignore you and your grad-degreed, professional information-retrieval services. Especially if they are treated like second class customers when they ask a question using their preferred, and handy, means of communication." when we don't have easy fast ways for them to communicate with us and get timely responses via the web.

David lays out some terrific, but painful (because they hit close to home!) examples of how libraries do this - e.g. by allowing people to email in reference questions, but only committing to answer within 48 hours; by only providing online reference during "normal business hours", etc.  Ouch!  PVLD is guilty as charged -

We don't offer any email reference/question answering service other than via a generic "contact us" web form on our "Contact Us" page that goes to our webmaster regardless of the type of question...and we don't give any indication of how quickly questions submitted via that form will be answered.  My guess is it could be days given that the staff who check the page work mostly Monday to Friday!

In addition to the generic web form the "Contact Us" page gives people the option of emailing the Library Director, or emailing the "website".  Otherwise people can contact various library departments by telephone - definitely not the best option for a generation used to email and text-messaging.  Reviewing this page also made me realize why I get so many questions about overdue books emailed directly to me....I'm pretty much the only option for someone who wants to email a question!

We do offer a "Chat Service" on our home page, but its only available Monday-Thursday from  1-4PM (exactly the hours when our tech-savvy younger customers are in school), and when it's offline there is no obvious alternative way to contact the library.  No wonder it isn't used very much!


That bit of reflection was painful enough, and then I read this companion post on "Doin Stuff At the Library's Website" in which David lists some of the things you can do at the physical library and asks if you can also do them at the library website.  PVLD's website capabilities are noted in italics.

• check out a book  - yes, a limited selection of audio and e-books are available for online checkout, but the process is cumbersome and requires installation of special software
  
• read a book or magazine - books no, magazine articles yes via databases that aren't very easy to use
   
• take notes and do research - no notetaking capability via the website, you can do research using the library databases but it isn't intuitive or easy
  
• put a public PC on reserve for later - no - our software is capable but we only allow reservations to be made from kiosks within the library. Something to revisit.
  
• pester the reference librarian with questions  - see my comments above
  
• check stuff out when I’m done - apart from the downloadable audio and e-books, not really.  You can put things on hold, but you need to come to the library to get them.
   
• attend a training session or a fun program - again, not really.  You can learn a language using Mango Languages or get live homework help from Brainfuse but these aren't really "programs" in the sense David is talking about...we've talked about online video tutorials, webcasting story times, etc. but these remain future dreams

Again, Ouch!  Is our website a great resource - absolutely.  And we actually do offer some of the things David mentions further in his blog post -  you can browse large parts of our collection online, and we do offer RSS feeds - but to call the website a true "virtual branch" is an overstatement.

As I thought about this I realized that the problem is not with our Digital Services team - two guys who have way more on their plate than is reasonable, and who really get what it means to compete in the web 2.0 world.  The real issue is an entire library organization that (understandably given the roots of our profession) is built around delivering services within our buildings.  Interacting with customers online is treated as an "extra" ...something to do after we've made sure the reference desk is staffed, the physical collection is maintained, and the in-library programs are developed. 

While I absolutely believe that the physical library is both important and in no danger of becoming irrelevent any time soon, like David Lee King I also worry that if we don't find a way to stretch our resources to serve people as effectively using the Internet as we do in the library itself we run the risk of becoming irrelevant to new generations of potential customers.  I'd hate for the library to be having trouble like Borders is having at the same time its online competitor Amazon.com had its best holiday season ever.

This year PVLD will be creating a new 3-year strategic plan, and I can see that figuring out how to truly make our website a virtual branch without diminishing our physical library services is not only going to be essential, it's going to force us to rethink how we do almost everything we do.  Now there's a challenge for 2009!