Tough Times Make Tougher Libraries

Tough Times Make Tougher Libraries

Sarah Houghton-JanDigital Futures Manager, San Jose Public LibraryAuthor of LibrarianInBlack.net

Why doth the libraries cry?

What we can do right now

1) Find out user needs

2) Use free technologies to save money

3) Plan projects effectively

4) Assess projects thoughtfully

5) Market our services the right way

Find out user needs

“Understanding local patron culture is essential to

creating used and useful technology services.” -

Char Booth

Taking the Ass out of

Assumption (Char Booth): slideshare.net/charbooth/local-user-research-taking-the-ass-

out-of-assumption

Taking the Ass out of Assumption (Char Booth): slideshare.net/charbooth/local-user-research-taking-the-ass-out-of-assumption

Listen to your users.

It really is as simple as that.

Plz?

Use free technologies to

save money

Public & Staff Computer Software

Operating System - Ubuntu

Email/Calendar - Google Calendar & Gmail

Web Browser - Firefox, Google Chrome

Financial Software - GNU Cash

Productivity Software - Open Office

- word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, desktop publishing, and calculator

More...Public & Staff Computer

SoftwareImage Editing - GIMP

Typing Software - GNUTypist or TypeFaster Typing Tutor

CD writing - Brasero or InfraRecorder

Antivirus - AVG Antivirus

Ad-Busting - AdAware

Anti-Spyware - SpyBot, Spyware Guard, Spyware Blaster

Staff Scheduling ToolsDroster

AceShift (<20 shifts/day)

or even Open Office's “Calc”

Team Meeting ToolsVoice – Skype, Google Voice

Video – Skype, Sightspeed, Tokbox

IM – AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, & others

Meeting Space/Chat – Today's Meet

Meeting Scheduling – When Is Good, Doodle

Webcasts – Vyew

Tech Support ToolsEmbedded chat - Meebo chat widget

Voice or video chat - Skype or Ekiga, Sightspeed, Tokbox

Screencasts on the fly - Jing

Discussion board - Google Groups

Remote Support - LogMeIn.com

Audio & Video ToolsVoice/Video Chat – Skype or Ekiga

Audio Recording/Editing – Audacity

Video Editing – Avidemux, DVDx, Lumiera, Kino

Video Hosting – YouTube, blip.tv, Vimeo

Audio Hosting – OurMedia

eLearning ToolsScreencasting – Screencast-o-matic,

Jing, Wink, Camstudio, Screencast.com

Online Learning Environment – Moodle

Conference Calls – FreeConferenceCall.com

Webcasts – Ustream.tv

Class Websites – WordPress, Blogger, PBworks

'Contact Us' ToolsEmail – Gmail, Yahoo Mail

Instant Messaging – AIM, GoogleTalk, Meebo

Chat Widgets – Meebo, Plugoo

VOIP/audio – Skype

Video – some IM clients (AOL, Skype)

Text Messaging – AIMhack

Social Networks – Facebook IM

Twitter – “ask us a question with @...”

Jing – screencast video on the fly

Social Network ToolsCheckUsernames.com: check multiple

networks

Open ID and ClaimID: claim and log into multiple networks

HootSuite: Twitter stats

Ping.fm, Hellotxt.com, and AtomKeep: simultaneous updates

Twitter/Facebook: settings/apps to update both

Filtrbox and MyBUZZmonitor: what people say

Website ToolsWebsite recommender - del.icio.us,

Evernote

ILS - Koha or Evergreen

Content Management System - Drupal

Flickr slideshow - Pictobrowser

RSS Feed and Blog Post Statistics - PostRank

Tag Clouds - TagCrowd, Wordle

Web Forms - Google Forms

CSS-picker - Typetester

Online Book Displays

Westmont Public Library

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westmontlibrary/549380055/

More Free Web Tools

Free eBooks• Project Gutenberg• AudioBooksForFree• Escholarship• Google Books• ManyBooks• Memoware• Online Books Page• Oxford Text Archive

& many more!

Free Articles• ArticlesBase.com• FindArticles.com• + open access e-journals• + free access through individual

publication's websites

Why not add this stuff to your website, or even your catalog?

More FavoritesRSS aggregator - Google Reader

Book Jackets - Book City Jackets

Open Source/CC Images - Wikipeda Commons, Flickr Image Search

Charts – LucidCharts, Lovely Charts, Gliffy

Text to Voice – Text2Speech, Google Voice

Citation Keeper – Zotero

Movies Online - Hulu

File Drop Sites - SendUIt, DropBox

Plan projects effectively

Quick & Dirty Project Planning

Time and Money Completion Date (start date Sept. 15)

Research 10 hours, $0 September 22

Committee review 20 hours, $0 October 6

Software installation 10 hours, $35 October 13

Staff training 40 hours, $0 November 3

Can add costs for staff time, explicit deliverables, breaking each step down further,

listing who is responsible for what.

Sarah's Awesome 10 Step Project Plans

1. Background2. Aims & Objectives3. Overall Approach4. Project Outputs5. Technology Requirements & Impact6. Training7. Project Management8. Marketing9. Budget10. Evaluation Plan

But my project is huge and I need help managing the steps!

BaseCamp

Staff Training

Part of training is information.

Provide staff exposure at least 1 month before soft launch

Offer staff formal training in that time

- Play with it, touch it, and learn it.

- Fun. Rewards. Food.

- Types and numbers of trainings

Getting Staff Buy-In

Inform early and constantly.

Ask for & use input.

Demand consistent managerial support.

Soft Launches

Beta test everything!

1. Launch the new service for a small group of staff first (to find big bugs).

2. Launch for entire staff (and ask for feedback, problems, suggestions).

3. Launch for users (without “hard” promotion and ask for feedback).

4. Do a hard launch and promote.

Assess projects thoughtfully

Evaluating New Services

Survey users and staff 6 months in: Would you recommend this service to a friend? Why or why not?

Evaluate the library's follow-through: Has adequate marketing and training been done?

Evaluate statistics: How much staff time is being used?How much is the service used?

Project Evaluation Plan

Results of Evaluation

Continue service

or

Discontinue service

or

Extend pilot

and - change aspects of the service - do more promotion or training

Discontinuing a service is not failing.

Persisting in a failed effort is failing.

Market our services the right way

Marketing ≠ Bookmarks

Raising Awareness

PR in our physical presence

PR in our online presence

F2F World Marketing Ideas Open communication & discussion

in the library outside the library

Outreach to partners & community groups Word of mouth Dynamic physical marketing

LCD screens in-library or in the community Flyers, posters, geocaching in the

community

Online Marketing Ideas Library website promotions – large, graphic Have a good URL Updates & flyers on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Short promotions on receipt printers, email

alerts, newsletters, catalog, banner, everywhere! Ensure search engine findability Events websites (Eventful, Going, Upcoming) Get links from partners

$10 = 5000 Facebook Flyers to targeted audiences

Facebook Flyer image by Steve Lawson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuttlibrary/1546577200

CHEAP ADVERTISING!!!

Rejoice in failures...for failing indicates that you

have encountered a boundary that needs testing.

Questions?

Sarah Houghton-Janweb: LibrarianInBlack.net

email: LibrarianInBlack@gmail.com

IM: LibrarianInBlack

Twitter: twitter.com/TheLiB

Skype: LibrairanInBlack

Facebook: facebook.com/librarianinblack