Tag: Public libraries

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ELI5 Libraries edition: Library meeting room policy that omits business uses.

Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney
Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney
Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney
Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney

Explain like I’m 5: is this library meeting room policy a reasonable representation of librarianship?

(Some) policies exist in (some) NJ libraries that prevent a patron from walking in and requesting a room because of the content of the meeting, e.g. the meeting is for the purpose of conducting business (defined as the exchange of money for services).

Under this policy, co-working in the library, for instance, is prohibited.

The reason: “if we were to allow anyone in to use our facilities for any purpose, we would be overwhelmed and inundated with people who were not paying for the service. Small businesses should support themselves elsewhere”.

Agree, or disagree, and why?

Contingency case details

Public Library system, municipal, large facility with many (at least 10) open, observed as generally unused meeting rooms, all of which fit between 10-50 people. I am interested in other cases.

The conflict

I would go to this library out of mutual convenience for a quiet, neutral, clean space to work with an elderly client. I have been meeting at least twice a month for months there. Surreptitiously.

We would meet quietly, in one of the vast, empty general community spaces (e.g. gallery) on a bench, I was chased from the bench twice, so started meeting in the empty meeting rooms, from which I was chased to sign up for the room, because someone might see people in the room and assume there was a conflict with their room reservation.

I explained that in that case I would simply relocate to one of the other huge empty rooms without bothering staff or patrons with paperwork or a request. I got a rolling-eyes response. They have heard this before.

And then, I complied. Well, really, I just lied.

I gave in and went thorough the multipage form, presenting identification, reasoning and content for the meeting (meeting with a friend to discuss technology), and time required. I came away from the process with serious philosophical reservations about the policy. After several sign-ups, essentially a initial signature in subsequent visits, I still was confronted with questions and doubts about my intentions.

My generalized response was “What business is it of yours, exactly, what I talk about in a private meeting?” I was told that it was a policy driven series of questions, and that I should not be offended or concerned unless I am doing something wrong. I was very clear that I was not doing anything wrong, but still breaking policy.

Money is exchanged in the meeting for consulting work, the key element of dismissal of the request: e.g. no meetings for the purposes of business.

I argued that everyone in the library at the time is there for the purposes of productivity and that the exchange of money has little influence on the use. I am a member of the library essentially for this purpose, co-working. It is a long standing tradition, as I understand it, in libraries. Providing space to do work safely and quietly. I was told that those people were not requesting rooms. This is when I rolled my eyes.

There is no cafe there. There is a quietude policy cast over most of the floor. You walk into the 1970s upon entering. I am not saying this to disparage the library, but rather to give you a feel for the atmosphere. Lots of stacks, a few old PCs, no windows to speak of.

I go for the free wifi and the (fairly uncomfortable) chairs.

Those exist elsewhere, including other libraries (problem solved), but also in any cafe, fast food restaurant, bookstore, many parking lots, and of course, at my office. However, those are not neutral, freely available spaces. Neutrality is a gift of libraries.

At the predictive idea that those interested in the use of the library for business could easily go to a McDonalds and get exactly the same service (or demonstrably better) without signatures and with cheap coffee, I was told by the director to go do that.

And so, I will. In particular, I will quickly go to other libraries as i do now in order to have these kinds of meetings.

Librarians, please explain like I’m 5. Am I overreacting, or is this a part of the death of libraries?

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consulting

43 of 365: On Supporting Electronic Devices in a Library [handout]

Library Link NJ Tech Speed Dating sessions

nexus 7 32G wifi
nexus 7 32G wi-fi (Photo credit: shizo) 

I am very grateful to Library Link NJ, the statewide consortium that provides technology, training, and other support to NJ libraries. I have recently been invited to do their Technology Speed Dating series, in which librarians and staff from various NJ regions come to learn about lots of technology topics from lots of NJ library resource people. I am proud to be regarded as such, and I’ve been asked to talk about library support of consumer electronic devices in the current series of speed dating sessions. I am often asked to offer handouts for my sessions there, and have been reluctant to do so in the past because (in my opinion) 1. links don’t work well on paper, and 2. paper requires the death and downing of trees. Regardless of this, I consistently get good reviews except for my handouts, which I consider electronic, but which participants often see as non-existent. I’m fixing this today by designing (hence part of this 365 series,) writing and publishing the following document, which participants will have in paper form at the tech speed dating sessions. It is freely available for reuse with attribution under a creative commons license (by John LeMasney via lemasney.com) Here’s an excerpt, followed by the link:

On the Support of Electronic Devices in Libraries

“As librarians and library staff, you are increasingly asked by patrons, students and other stakeholders for support of devices that are neither present in the library, nor well-known by staff. If someone walks in with an iPhone, and there has been no formal training or personal experience with the iPhone, for instance, then it can be a case of a disappointed patron, a frustrated staffer, potential for misconfiguration, and so on. This document seeks to give you resources and strategies for meeting the needs of stakeholders who bring their own devices (BYOD) to the library for support. ” Read more at https://docs.google.com/document/d/14LSmZ_oCL6EekWkCGnT7JKVQDqdfU8fWVFEiRiyBP9M/edit?usp=sharing

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brand classes and presentations consulting insights workshops

On Organizational Branding for Libraries and other institutions

Carnegie library interior, Cincinnati, Ohio, U...
Carnegie library interior, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 2004 by Rick Dikeman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tonight, I’m getting the chance to talk to librarians about a topic that I think is incredibly important to discuss, but do not get the opportunity nearly enough: organizational branding.

You might be tempted to think that I’m just talking about visual branding, like the library’s logo, but I’m not. In fact, visual branding can only be truly successful in my opinion after you have done the more difficult work of discovering what you are, what you are trying to represent, and stakeholder perception. The aim of organizational branding efforts is to make these three ideas merge:

  1. We are presenting a brand of some kind now (active or passive, intended or unintended) that we hope creates a positive, accurate perception by our stakeholders.
  2. We have stakeholders that perceive our brand in some way, and we must discover what that perception is, even if it is not positive or correct.
  3. We can do actions, enforce policies, and check stakeholder perceptions to align our brand with our intended perceptions, the very intent of branding.

We are doing these things to underline and reinforce what we are, and our patrons and other stakeholders understand and agree.

Brand assessment

The first part is to find out how you wish to be perceived. In other words, your brand is your function, your vision, your mission, your actions, your culture, and your perception. Do you know what these things are for your organization? What is your function? If you are a public library, is your function simply to get books and other media into the hands of patrons? Or is it to extend the education, abilities, and preparedness of humans getting ready to face the world? There is a chasm between these two ideas. What is the vision of your organization? How does your organization see the world? For example, the world might be dystopian, a cold and barren place in which everyone is watched and tracked, or the world might be an experiential delight, in which every interaction in the world is an opportunity for growth, learning, and extension. Perhaps most interestingly, what is the culture of your organization? What are the sensory cues that your space, language, and actions represent? What kind of art do you have on the walls? What color is on the walls? What scents greet you when you walk in? What kind of programming are you offering? What resources are available to patrons? How do staff react to interruptions? What frustrates your patrons? What do those things say about who you are, versus who you are trying to be? You can find out what you want your brand to be, and what it is now, and close that gap.

Stakeholder research

After you have discovered what it is that you are trying to be, it’s important to discover how you are being perceived. If your mission, vision, and culture are either not being perceived or interpreted in the ways that you expect, then the rest of your efforts will be that much more difficult. Through observation, interview, survey and other research methods, you can get a clear idea of how your efforts are being interpreted by staff, administrators, children patrons, adult patrons, and so on. You can find out how you are being perceived, and how you would prefer to be perceived, and close that gap.

Rebranding effort

Finally, you have to assess the gap between your efforts, your branding goals, and the perception of your brand. Once you have a clear idea of how you want to be perceived, and how you are being perceived, you can make changes in visuals, culture, policy, and action that underline, reinforce, and support that brand until your research shows that your intended brand is matching your perceived brand.

If you are interested in getting help for your organization to assess, interpret, and construct the brand that you want for your library or other organization, I would love to sit down with you to have that discussion. I’m lemasney@gmail.com.

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Illustration portfolio

20121128: A heart cut out of paper by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #love

20121128: A heart cut out of paper by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org
20121128: A heart cut out of paper by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org
20121128: A heart cut out of paper by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org
20121128: A heart cut out of paper by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org

So, for keeping designer’s block low in this project, I have devised a few techniques to stay creative. The one with the most potential so far, in my opinion, is one in which I use a favorite collection, usually a book, of phrases, quotes, concepts, songs or motifs as a starting point, open to one or more random pages, and illustrate the idea that results from these random choices. In this particular case, I was using the concepts “shadow play” and “cut paper” from the book Universal Principles of Design, a wonderful collection of key ideas and innovations in design. I placed a rectangle on the page, and drew a heart on top of it with the pencil tool. I selected both and used the path difference operation. I duplicated the path, moved it a bit, made it gray, and applied transparency and blur to give a shadow. I tweaked the color with the gradient tool and called it done.

tags: heart, cut paper, paper, cut, shadow, shadow play, sketch, open source, Inkscape

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Illustration portfolio

20121126: Lucky Bamboo sketch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design

20121126: Lucky Bamboo sketch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design
20121126: Lucky Bamboo sketch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design
20121126: Lucky Bamboo sketch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design
20121126: Lucky Bamboo sketch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design

I recently got a gift that I thought was incredibly thoughtful, insightful, and a key indicator to the giver’s state of mind and grace. I’ve always loved bamboo, in part because of its aesthetics, and in part because of what it represents to me, ideologically. It is quick-growing, bright, colorful, and overtaking. It can become incredibly tall, grows in a large family, and provides a lovely shade. It is evergreen, hardy, and resilient. It can be used to build, is very easy to replenish, and is highly recyclable. It is strong, bends without snapping, and has an amazing temper. It is quiet, refined, and calming. It can be used to make furniture, paper, buildings and anything else that wood does, without the preciousness or scarcity of wood and all that entails. Thanks so much to Katy for the gift, it is perfect, and I hope that this is some small indication of what it, and you, mean to me.

tags: bamboo, gift, tall, strong, shade, sketch, kind, lucky, digital

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design principles Illustration portfolio

20121125: A man with an elephant’s step by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design

20121125: A man with an elephant's step by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design
20121125: A man with an elephant's step by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design
20121125: A man with an elephant's step by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design
20121125: A man with an elephant’s step by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design

I feel like a man with the step of an elephant

This is a metaphor for me. I often feel that I still have the weight that I’ve lost when I walk. I feel that my personality is heavy when I am light. I feel that my steps in conversation, exchange, and entry is sometimes clumsy and heavy-footed. I feel like I am often seen as a 2 ton graceless monster before someone knows me, and I work to make that extra shadow disappear for people as quickly as possible.

tags: animal, sketch, shadow, metaphor, man, me, self-portrait, elephant, transformation