PVLD Director's Blog

What Big Media Can Learn from the New York Public Library

Just came across this fabulous article (thanks Execupundit!) from The Atlantic.  It's about what traditional media companies can learn from how the New York Public Library is leveraging digital and social media, but it is rich with tips for other libraries, too...like these (emphasis mine):

• The days when libraries could base their mission and activities on the concept that "Information was not just an idea, but the set of physical objects that contained it" are long gone.  "Everywhere you look within the New York Public Library, it's clear that the institution has realized that its mission has changed. It's no longer only a place where people take out books and scholars dig through archives. The library has become a social network with physical and digital nodes."
  
• Success depends on the energy and enthusiasm of the employees who can do amazing things if supported.  "...the NYPL is succeeding online because of desire. The library's employees give a shit about the digital aspects of their institution, and they are supported in that shit giving. I mean this in the most fundamental way possible and as a damning critique for media companies. Second, the library sees its users as collaborators in improving the collections the library already has. While serving them online costs the library some money, they are creating value, too, by opening up conduits into the library for superusers."
  
• Driving the transformation of libraries isn't just the purview of the Librarians.   Biblion, an amazing Ipad app about the 1939-40 World's Fair, was developed by Donna Lee, head of the Communications Department and a former television producer who created it in the face of resistance from what she refers to as the "curators" who ".....had to give up control of the collections to outsiders, outsiders who would put something out in months, not the years that they themselves might spend creating a similar project." - but on the positive side had already created the basis for the app in a 700 page "finding aid".  In other words Ms. Lee took a typical "librarian" work product and turned it into what the article calls a internal "hot date"...and now everyone wants "their" collection to get the Biblion treatment.
• Amazing things can be accomplished when we turn let our users play too.  "A library is not just a place that collects information and processes information," May said. "We create the tools and structure the information so that others can enhance the collections." Another NYPLer, Doug Reside, Digital Curator of Performing Arts, put it even more simply, "The public library can be used to organize people to organize information....That is to say, the NYPL's collections can become more valuable to all of its users by tapping into the energy and expertise of some of its users. The role of the library is to create the right kinds of conduits for superusers to get involved....When you put information in the hands of people, they come up with all kinds of stuff that people within an institution might not think about."

It's tempting to thing that some of the projects described in the article are possible only in an institution as rich (in content, staff, and community resources as well as dollars) as NYPL, and some of them (like Biblion) surely cost a fair amount.  On the other hand, how hard would it be to replicate NYPL Wire, which uses the free Tumblr application to push out "a flow of tiny stories from and about their collections"? Initiative, storytelling ability, and a bit of time.

Lastly, but perhaps most importanty, the physical collections and spaces still matter. 

Of course, the thick library buildings will remain rooted in the streets of New York. Many collections, mostly because of copyright issues, will remain locked in basements and available only to pro researchers. But that probably won't be the only use for these beautiful, expensive buildings. Rather, the library would like to see them become hubs of conversation and collection improvement. Some of the Internet-sparked thinking about community building and the value of users is rubbing off on the physical space of the library. The New York Public Library is getting webbier by the day. Institutions famous for wanting people to be quiet now want you to speak up.

"I think we can become places of conversation," the curator Reside said, "Places where information is not only pulled off the shelf, but conversations can also happen around the contents of the library."

Users, even in a library, can no longer be shushed.

Want some inspiration about what is possible for libraries?  Read the article!

 

Libraries in Trouble

Drastic cuts to public library services are being considered in cities such as Oakland and San Jose.  This discussion on KQED's Forum program is not short, but it gives an excellent overview of the role libraries play in communities (and schools), as well as different funding models.  Worth the listen!

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Private libraries in India - lessons for public libraries in the US?

A couple of years ago Joan Frye Williams and George Needham did an April Fools Podcast about a mythical commercial library that they allegedly encountered on a road trip. 

Turns out that in India that idea isn't so far-fetched according to this post on Bangalore's Citizen Matters blog describing how Indian entrepreneurs have responded to the fact that India's public libraries fall short of their U.S. counterparts with regard to what we would consider basic services - from up-to-date collections to welcoming spaces to story times...by creating for-profit libraries that offer these things and more.

Looking at the websites for some of the libraries profiled in the Citizen Matters post I was surprised by the ingenuity of the business models. 

Eloor, which was founded over 30 years ago and has five branches across India, is at this point a strictly physical library although it plans to offer an online catalog and Internet-based services soon. Members pay a deposit plus a "reading fee" of 10% of the purchase price of the book (or more if the book is kept more than the 14 day loan period).  The reading fee is the library's source of revenue, while the deposit is to ensure that books are returned and is refunded in full if the membership is closed.  The amount of the deposit determines how many items the customer is allowed to check out at any given time.  People who choose not to become members can borrow books without paying the deposit, but they have to deposit the full purchase price of the book which seems to be refunded (less the reading fee) when the book is returned.

Mylib.in  is a hybrid physical and online library offering both a reading room (I loved the description from their website - "a comfortable reading space surrounded by books which gives the age old charm of "Reading in a Library". We feel great when families spend their weekend afternoon in our library or when school kids drop by after their school or when executives laze around in the bean bags after their office hours to catch up on the business magazines.") and an online catalog of items that can eithre be picked up at the library or delivered to (and collected from) home or office within 2 days.  Much like Netflix, Mylib.in offers a variety of pricing plans to meet different needs from "pay per book" to various combinations of membership terms (3 month, six month, etc.) and number of items that can be checked out simultaneously.

"Easy Library" seems fairly similar to Mylib.in with regard to how it operates (combination of physical space and online/delivery) but with a fee structure more like Eloor's.  Easy Library also offers events like story times for kids and author talks.

Then there is Just Books - similar to Easy Library and Mylibrary.in with regard to services but a franchise business model with 13 locations across Bangalore and opportunities to open franchises in other cities.

Private "children's libraries" are a niche in their own right, with libraries such as Out of the Box and Discover Kids Library offering physical libraries, collections of books, magazines, puzzles, and toys, reading enrichment, outreach to schools, and other services typical of an American public library's Children's Services department.

Browsing all of these websites really made me think about both our public library services and our funding models here in the U.S.  While I firmly believe in the value of libraries as a public institution, I think we could learn from what is happening in India.  Could we too offer Netflix-style home delivery if people were willing to pay for it?  Is a pay-per-use model really so bad?  What about charging extra for value-added or priority service? 

Some of these are ideas we've tossed around here at PVLD, but learning about India's private libraries made me realize that they are not just concepts, they are viable business and service models.  Definitely food for thought!

 

Libraries as the measure of a society

Cultural Offering had a nice little round-up on libraries today, but I especially liked the link to his own earlier post about his county's effort to pass a library levy last year, including his reflections on the role libraries have played in his life.  The closing paragraph is a real gem:

"I forget who said: "If you were to know how a man treats his wife and children, see how he treats his books."  But the same holds true for society.  If we want to know how we treat each other, look at how we treat our libraries."

P.S. Kurt - if you see this I'd love to know if the Chamber of Commerce endorsed the levy, and if it passed!

The story of a library and its people

Click here for a truly lovely illustrated story about the San Francisco Public Library and by extension libraries everywhere.  Libraries truly do make a difference!

(And thanks to Rosario Garza for sharing this via Facebook!)

The Secret Life of Libraries

Thank you to Ilibrarian for sharing this delightful article by Bella Bathurst.  I got a laugh out of the  somewhat naughty anecdotes, many of which would be familiar to anyone who has worked in a public library...although I have to say that for the most part PVLD is blessedly free of the types of incidents described.

Thanks to some dark corners, an abundance of adolescent customers, and youthful lack of inhibition, we at PVLD are most like to have encounters of the type that Dewey describes in my favorite Unshelved comic strip:

 

Both Ms. Bathurst and the creators of Unshelved (Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes) recognize what librarians have long known -not all of the value that libraries offer is obvious.

Libraries and Economic Development

The role libraries can play in economic development is often discussed in terms of the resources we offer - databases, books,workshops, meeting rooms, computers and wireless Internet, etc.  Examples include this article from Kiplinger  about a year ago, or the concept of the "entrepreneurium" referenced in the R. David Lankes presentation I blogged about last week.

Less common is to hear how the mere presence of a library can foster economic development by generating foot traffic and attracting people to commercial areas.  I've seen a few references to this in professional journals, and a local developer of a "senior" condominium development highlighted the benefits of proximity to the library in some of his advertising, but I've never seen anything like this website for a mixed-use (residential and commercial)  development in Everett, Washington - in which everything from the name to the clever use of "library" terminology and imagery is intended to highlight the benefit of living next door to the public library...the website even has a link to the library's website. 

PVLD Librarian Jim O'Grady (and native Washingtonian) shared the link to the Library Place website, and also passed on this quote from the local newspaper - [The project developer] noted that the adjacent library had 400,000 visitors last year that could also be potential customers.

In a commercial district like the one in which our Peninsula Center Library is located, where retail businesses struggle even in the best of times, we need to keep reminding people that things would be much worse without the anchor of the library and its 600,000 visitors each year.

Librarians - Masters of the Universe!

It's National Library Week and the media have had some great stories about libraries, librarians and the value we deliver.  Since I'm not going to have time in the next few days to write any kind of thoughtful post, I thought I'd pass along a couple of items that friends of mine have shared on Facebook (thanks Rosario and Paula!)

The first, from NPR, chronicles a non-library-user's return to the library.  The second, by a librarian at CNN, reminds people that we are the "masters" of the information universe.

At a time when we are wrestling with short-term issues like budget cuts, and longer term issues like what the rapid evolution of e-books means for how we deliver services, it's nice to see some good press in the national media!

A hopeful vision for libraries

Earlier this week Kiwi librarian Joann Ransom shared this presentation by R. David Lankes (of the Syracuse University Information Institute) on her Library Matters blog.  At over 50 minutes long it is not a quick view, but I found it rich in ideas.  Like Joann I think I'll need to watch it a few times to extract all of the goodness.

Watch it if you are interested in some thought-provoking ideas about the changing role of libraries, and a hopeful vision of the future based on focusing on functions and activities (as opposed to buildings and collections) that facilitate knowledge creation in our communities. 

Now I've got to figure out how we can convert our business center into an "entrepreneurium"!

If the video doesn't disply correctly click here to get to Joann's post)

Future of Libraries from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

The Time for Libraries is Now

Great stuff via Stephanie Beverage, Director of the Huntington Beach Public Library: 

The time for Libraries is NOW

View more presentations from Ned Potter