Apple’s Briefing Rooms
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan_h/4715007542/
Came across this interesting post about Apple’s latest efforts to target small business owners as customers, especially in their brick-and-mortar retail stores. According to the post, Apple has created “briefing rooms” at select stores (five total) around the world. These rooms look like super cool, sleek board rooms where some serious business (and sales) can go down. Check out this flickr set to see more photos of one of these briefing rooms.
My library has a recently renovated Business Center that is turning out to be a great space for people to get work done, keep up with financial news, and attend workshops. Still, we’re missing a space where librarians can meet privately with individuals and small groups to discuss their needs and/or provide training and information.
It got me thinking, are libraries creating these types of conference rooms where staff can meet with local community stakeholders, including small business owners? What are we doing to facilitate meaningful interactions and make our users feel like we’re serious about working with them? Both in and out of the library building?
Investing in Libraries through Internships
I began my first internship in 2001, right after 9-11, when I worked at a well-known film production company in LA. Like most, if not all, internships in the film industry, this one was unpaid and it involved navigating the choppy waters of a tense environment full of people who had major insecurities about their image and holding onto their jobs. I made lots of copies of scripts, answered phones, greeted people at the front desk, and on rare occasions had conversations that shed some light on how the industry worked. It wasn’t the best experience, but looking back on it, I think I did learn something.
A few years later, when I was enrolled at Michigan’s School of Information, I was fortunate enough to have a much more rewarding internship at the local public library. This position allowed me to rack up lots of hours working at a public service desk, providing reference services, and it also gave me a chance to work on some programming and collection development. Most importantly, though, I had many opportunities to talk shop with some talented, knowledgable librarians who welcomed me as a professional colleague. I often find myself telling people how much that experience helped me in the first few years of my career and I try to encourage current students to seek similar opportunities. I like to think that I hit the ground running in my first full-time job because of what I learned in my part-time jobs during grad school. I wasn’t the only one who benefited from this either, as they had many more students in these paid internships before, during, and after the time I was there. We were all very lucky.
I’m now fortunate enough to be in a position at my library in which I can help create this type of learning opportunity for current students. My colleagues and I have formed a new internship in the Information Services department. This “Reference and Teen Services” intern will have the chance to work at the “Answer Center” (i.e., our reference service point), teach tech classes, plan programs, develop collections, and contribute to some larger upcoming projects. Plus, we were able to find a way to make this a paid internship and I’m hoping this will continue in the years to follow.
Still, as much as we want this to be a positive thing for a current student, there is also the expectation that this will benefit the library by adding a new voice and a fresh perspective. There’s something to be said about adding that extra ingredient to the mix and seeing what comes out of it. Every department in every library can benefit from new ideas and a new set of eyes on what we’re already doing, and I’m counting on this intern to provide this. At the end of the day, this is an investment in a future librarian, in our library, and in libraries in general.
So, what can you do to provide an similar learning experience at your library? Even if you’re not able to make it a paid internship, is there a way you can carve out an opportunity (maybe for course credit) for a local student interested in finding a career in libraries? Which departments and roles would work best for your own internship program? Or, are you already offering an internship at your library? What’s making it a successful program?
What Do Small Businesses Need?
I just finished presenting the latest Business Bytes program at mpow, during which something really encouraging happened. Towards the end of my presentation, I asked people if they were finding the presentation helpful (introducing the concept of video marketing and YouTube). They were mostly nodding their heads yes, but when I asked a followup question of how many would come to a hands-on workshop focused on creating videos and putting it on YouTube, almost everyone’s hands went straight up. Later on, after someone asked if we have any Macs and creative software for the public to use, I asked how many would use a digital media lab/suite if the library created one. I think everyone raised their hand and someone even asked, “What would it take for the library to do something like that?”
If this impromptu survey of local business owners is any indication, I think it’s pretty clear that libraries have a great opportunity in front of them to help their local businesses work with digital media. Even if you start with just one digital media station and start providing this kind of service, you’re providing something that many business owners need and, I would say, even hunger for. To many small business owners, interest in something like YouTube is way beyond the point of personal interest or enjoying funny viral videos and really more about survival. Why wouldn’t public libraries want to meet the needs of these local community members?
What do you think your local business owners would benefit from learning? What tools could help them in their quest to make their businesses succeed?
Are Reference Librarians Dead?
When I accepted my current position, Information Services Manager at AHML, I knew going in that there was some risk in linking my career with a traditional reference department. Ultimately, I decided to take the job in large part because of the challenge of helping to reshape reference in public libraries. During my interview, my soon-to-be supervisor and I spoke frankly about the current state of reference and the task of creating a new vision for information services at the library. I knew what I was coming into and I have to say that after being here a little under a year, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
So, when people talk about the death of reference, as Eli Neiburger recently did and has done in the past, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I understand the argument that reference is not what it used to be; but then again, what in public libraries is? I also understand that having one’s job primarily consisting of staffing a public service desk waiting for that one decent, challenging question that stimulates the mind is not ideal for any professional librarian. Like many others, I’ve sat at public services desks answering a seemingly endless number of questions regarding the phone number of the local drug store, the call number for a particular book, and, yes, the location of the nearest restroom. But I’ve also spent a lot of time with talented, passionate librarians who are finding new ways to use their skills and talent to make a real impact in their communities.
Here’s the response I posted to the LJ article:
Anyone who has worked in public libraries in the past decade can’t argue that reference has changed dramatically. Is traditional reference, in the sense of someone sitting behind a desk all day long waiting for that rare juicy question, dead? Perhaps. Can reference librarians find a new purpose and way of making a difference in people’s lives? I sure hope so! In the short time I’ve worked in public libraries, I’ve seen reference librarians create a community-wide reading program, assist countless job seekers, teach local business owners how to use tools like Facebook pages and Google Places, create community websites, and empower people to get creative with digital media. As much as I agree with Eli’s statement that libraries need to invest more in geeks, I hope he agrees that librarians, many of whom have passionately served their local communities for years, can find new life.
Eli’s statements and presentations are great because they challenge people working in libraries to be better. I think reference librarians still have a lot to offer and can be part of this process. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know and let’s talk about it.
Business Bytes, It’s Personal
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m working on a new series of classes called “Business Bytes.” The basic idea is to help local business owners learn more about ways to use technology and the internet. Tonight, I taught the very first one in the series, providing an introduction to Google Places and the benefits of verifying your businesses’ listing.
Even though it was my first time making my way through this presentation, I think it went fairly well. Hearing people talk about their struggles with keeping up with technology and the intimidation that they often feel reminded me of my own parents, who have been small business owners for over 30 years. Owning one’s own business obviously comes with an ongoing set of challenges and frustrations, and I grew up seeing these first-hand at home. Tonight, I feel like I helped people like my parents, and that felt really good. Not to sound too sappy, but it’s moments like this that really make being a public librarian a total joy.