VTLS Users Group

Big Trends in Library Land: Member Engagement or Books?What's the Solution?

Thursday May 8, 2014VTLS User GroupStephen Abram, MLS

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Comprehensive Digital Strategies: More than just Content!

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Biggest Issue: Getting Lost in the Reeds

Digital is more complicated than Print.

Understand the difference between Search and Find

• Roy Tennant and I have been saying for years: “Users want to find not search”. • Librarians enjoy the challenge of search and try to create mini-librarians.• Information literacy is different than contextual information fluency.•The user experience is mostly “elsewhere”.• Learning, research and decision-making processes trump search.

Understand the difference between the roles of discovery services and native search

• Search is the identification of potential objects to read or view in either a known item retrieval scenario or – more importantly – an immersion environment where choices are made.• Until recently, we handled immersion environments in the context of defined subsets of content (a single database or small group).• Discovery services are one step before search – the identification and discovery of the resources (databases) that are worth searching.

The Field Mapping Failure

And the Algorithm Understanding Failure

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The power of algorithm is in the target user needs, the institutional needs, and the behavioral history

. . . Not the underlying content

Are there any real national initiatives to understand and differentiate library end user behaviors from Google commercial constructs? (yes but …)

Get the naming and labeling right

• Vendors must develop unique names and brands for their services to meet positioning, marketing and sales needs to you.• There is no need for you to fall in line and pass through these names – or worse try to train end users to know hundreds of them!• Can anyone defend using these titles to be the single most important label for end users? MLA, Scopus, Compendex, ABI/Inform . . .OPAC!?• Honestly! The needs of trademark law don’t match the needs of users to identify resources.

 Are you using numbers strategically?

• Statistics versus measurements• Satisfaction and Impact • Visual versus data• Stories build on data springboards• Are your numbers showing customer satisfaction or just

activity?• Do you trust your numbers (It’s easy to mess with an interface

and increase hits or whatever statistics you’re using.)• How can the vendor help your numbers issues and insights?

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Talking Money

• Price• Cost• Billing• Value• Deals• TCO• Value of Your Time• Value of Their Time

Until lions learn to write their own story, the story will always be from the perspective

of the hunter not the hunted.

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• Library Advocacy: The Lion's Story

• Are you framing your library's story well? • Are you sharing measurements about your impact, or still beating the

drum of raw statistics that show funders where to cut? • Are you using great gift of social media to engage and get your

message out. • Has your library's marketing and communication plan stepped up to

the 21st Century? • Are we ready for advanced data mining of our websites, circulation

and membership records? • Are you ready for the reach beyond outreach? • What are the skills and competencies that library teams need?

First . . .

Let’s stop using the word technology

Let’s discuss experience and user satisfaction . . .

Second . . . Let’s start using verbs to describe your service portfolio in the context(s) of our members, audiences and communities.

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Third . . . Let’s build on our legacy of trust and respect and our foundation of collections and places to shine

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Foundations

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House

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Home

Fourth . . .Let’s emphasize the humans that make the magic happen . . . Library staff

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

Meals

Fifth . . . Let’s focus on VALUE, IMPACT, and POSITIONING (VIP)

What’s the music and magic you hear? Play? Do?

Are you locked into library financial mindsets?

What about value and impact?

Or shall we stick with this?

It’s the stories that happen inside your library that matter . . . Not just the ones you have on the shelves.

Tell those storiesEncourage the heart . . .Better yet . . . Collect the stories in your users’ voices

BUT HOW?

The signs . . . There’s always another view…

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The Public Library Value Proposition

1. Excellent Return on Investment2. Strong Economic Development3. Great Employment Support4. Welcoming New Canadians5. Provable Early Literacy Development & school readiness6. Ongoing Support for Formal Education and Homework Help7. Serve the whole community equitably8. Affordable access to community resources9. Access to Government Services and e-government10. Questions Deserve Quality Answers 11. Support Cultural Vitality12. Recognized and Valued Leisure Activities for majority of Ontarians13. Infrastructure Support (AODA and Buildings)

What Does Boundarylessness

mean?

Sustaining RelevanceBeing RelevantCommunicating VIPReal relationshipsBeing a ‘real’ professional

Personal and Institutional Impact: Strategies and Tactics

Let’s talk . . .

Are we a culture of poverty?

Do You Feel Poor?

SmellyYellowLiquid

OrSex

Appeal?

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Let’s talk top tech trends . . . In context

• Cloud & TCO• Mobile – mobile first and apps• Discovery• Engagement• Geo• Data through Insight – Data Info Knowledge Behaviour• SurveyMonkey and ForeSee• Research: Pew, Market Probe, OPLDS, OMBI, etc.• Personas• BiblioCommons • Experience Portals• MOOCs, e-Learning, & more• Measurements and Stories• Branding

Core Statistics (CLA Draft)

1. Service points and visits2. Reference questions3. Circulation (of particular item types)4. Population served5. E-resource holdings6. Children’s membership and services7. Staffing8. Internet/PAC/WiFi9. Programming10. Total operating expenditures

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Core Measurements (FOPL Draft)

1. Overall value of a library membership (usage not cardholders)2. Value of an 'open hour' (new metric unique to MPI TPL study that aggregates cost + value)3. Economic impact (vs. ROI) (Households and Population)4. Per Capita 'Usage" comparison across systems, groups (like small, medium. large, urban, suburban, rural, remote, FN, etc.), and jurisdictions (province/state)5. A 'new' usage algorithm to modernize the old circulation stat and combine digital and print usage into a standard, comparable metric6. A metric for technology access tied to the digital/economic divide(s)7. A standard operational effectiveness metric (Value for Tax Dollars)8. Average cost per household (taxes are based on household rather than population and better reflects funding models)9. A metric for Use of Space (meetings, study, rooms) which was new for the MPI study and hadn't been done before

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Branding: How are Ontario PL’s Describing ourselves?

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Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLAConsultant, Dysart & Jones/Lighthouse Consulting

Cel: 416-669-4855stephen.abram@gmail.comStephen’s Lighthouse Blog

http://stephenslighthouse.comFacebook, Pinterest, Tumblr: Stephen Abram

LinkedIn: Stephen AbramTwitter: @sabram

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