The Utopian Library

Gina Milsap, Executive Director, and
David Lee King, Digital Branch & Services Manager, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Program description on the CIL2008 website.

• David Lee King blogs at davidleeking.com

Gina Milsap…

• wanted to have influence on how technology is utilized in her libraries
• believes shared leadership is for everybody
• recommends The Leadership Challenge
• isn’t afraid to use the word “sucky” to describe OPACs

Why is technology important?

• helps us manage operations more efficiently
• keeps us relevant
• allows us to serve customers in ways most meaningul to them

Barriers to using technology…

• it’s a fad
• no time
• no staff
• overwhelmed
• afraid
• too many questions
• money

If we claim to support technology and innovation, are we really doing that?

Library Director 2.0¹

• less hierarchy
• trust staff
• transparency
• involve all levels of staff
• explain decisions
• structured for quick decisions and implementation
• train staff
• allow play time
• listen listen listen
• offer structures for feedback
• face time is the most important tool for administrators

Library Director 2.1 (though not exclusive to directors)²

• make customer service a priority
• focus on what matters to the customer, and don’t assume you know what that is
• put the money where the mouth is
• set priorities to budget process
• if money isn’t available, seek resources elsewhere
• define work, tasks, and then organize resources around it… especially staff, our most important and expensive resource
• experiment with pilot projects
• treat staff as customers… be their advocate
• build your leadership team
• undertand the context: your community, the economy
• make decisions based on data, not anecdotes

Destructive behaviors…

• turf wars
• passive-aggressive behavior (laughter!)³
  • librarians are typically passive-aggressive… they want everyone to be happy
    • from the floor: “how do we change that?”
    • talk to the person you have the problem with!

Establish organizational priorities based on feedback from staff and employees…

• customer service
• valuing staff
• programs, services, collections, infrastructure
• leadership
• organizational development: organizing around the work

TSCPL has a new “virtual branch”

• will be managed as any other physical facility
• all services are available
• takes advantage of Web environment to create content
• it is the only way many customers will use the library

Seven reasons to make time for 2.0…

1. to be relevant to the next generation
2. to teach the current generation
   • small business owners and vanity searching: how to find out what customers are saying about their businesses
   • news junkie, meet RSS feeds
3. to teach users how to subscribe to the library
   • why go to the trouble of creating RSS feeds if we aren’t going to teach staff and patrons how to subscribe?
4. to save time
   • professional reading
   • IM vs. phone vs. email
   • bookmarking
   • working smarter by using tools
5. because patrons want to participate
6. to be a community leader/community resource
7. to land a “cool” job

How do we make time for 2.0?

• we must want to change/change focus/change job descriptions
• finding time vs. willingness/priority
• see blogging an essential part of outreach and marketing, not an extra thing that has to be done
• schedule time for 2.0 as we would any other priorities
• write more than one blog post at a sitting
• remember to play: we have to play with the tools to learn how they work
• granting time
  • for reading, playing learning, creating
  • for sending staff to formal training
  • for practical staff training that’s relevant to staff and library

Don’t ask staff for input if you’re not going to use it!

Why are we making time for 2.0?

• the library is mobile… it’s in pockets, on phones
• the library of today won’t look like the library of next year
• the library is not only in our buildings… it’s in schools, classrooms, starbucks, open fields… anywhere there’s a wi-fi or cell phone connection

1. from Tasha Saecker’s blog [↩]
2. G. Milsap [↩]
3. “everybody laughs when I say that” -G. Milsap [↩]

Filed under: CIL2008, conference notes, libraries, library 2.0