My good friend the library bug!
Inspired by Plynouth's bookstart bear (and maybe me but I wouldn't like to say...), my good friend the library bug has started his own blog. You can read it here
Wednesday 30 July 2008
Wednesday 23 July 2008
How does he type with those paws?
Practicalities aside, here's the beginnings of a nice blog , from Plymouth Libraries. I'm a great fan of Plymouth's Bookstart bear and his many and varied travels as documented on Flikr. I would link but computer says no - Web 2.0 is often incompatible with workplace filtering.
I should have called this post "web 2.NO"
I should have called this post "web 2.NO"
Poetry in Motion
I forgot to say - please feel free to leave comments on the post below, I'd be interested in your opinions.
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Appetite for instruction
An interesting article in the Independent on the weekend by Andrew Motion, the poet laureate. Motion, recently appointed as chair of the MLA, apparently wants to shake up our libraries.
Not too much new in Motion's article for those of us in the trade... libraries are old fashioned (check), libraries have an image problem (check), lots of people think libraries are not for them (check) along with the usual anxiety around the medium for storing and diseminating knowledge - book vs computer.
He does have a good point about community engagement though. In libraries we all know that there is something for everyone. Outside of libraries there are a huge number of people who are kind of vaguely aware that libraries exist and that they are on balance "a good thing" but would never think of crossing the threshold themselves. Non users surveys are remarkably consistent. Depending on your vantage point, libraries are simultaneously for the poor and disadvantaged who can't afford to buy their own books and largely populated by the middle classes and posh educated people - exclusive.
A lot of what Motion suggests is already going on in the better libraries - remodelling, refurbishments, family history workshops, online services, literary events etc. What some libraries seem to get wrong though is acting in isolation or picking one thing to focus on at the expense of others.
How many of us have experienced the "fur coat and no knickers" of library refurbs or new builds where someone has spent an inordinate amount of time and energy on a fantastic new building and then stocked it with the same old books as before?
Or the amazing events programme, reading groups, author talks and baby rhyme time in a building with plaster coming off in chunks and no toilet?
Or the modern, accessible, light and airy, toilet filled library that is shut on Saturday afternoon?
Or (possibly worst of all), the new library with every book, PC, event and toilet you could want, whenever you want it - staffed with the grumpiest, most miserable, untrained, unmotivated staff you could ever wish to see.
In my view we need to apply a simple and holistic approach to library service delivery.
Great product - books, services, information, events, ICT
Accessible places - opening hours, cleanliness, design, repair, location
Great staff - trained, motivated, friendly, diverse
Then - let peple know about it.
All good things come from here and we need to get it right - all of it. Libraries fell down when they lost pace with customer expectations. Never pass something second rate off to customers and expect to get away with it. Aim high - that's where customer expectations are.
Don't get in a comfort zone - very few businesses have the luxury of segmenting their market and staying alive. Libraries are for everyone and we have to reach out to all sections of the community - not just the easy hits.
Often the cry is for more money, but it's time for services to prove that they are competent to spend it
In Swansea we are trying hard to achieve this high quality, customer focused and holistic service. The ongoing programme of refurbishments (ticking all the boxes) and the opening of our new Central library have had a big impact but we have a long way to go yet. We are an improving business, looking to grow.
Come and visit us Mr Motion (we can all forget that we're in Wales for the purpose of the exercise) - and we promise that if you give us some money, it won't be wasted.
Not too much new in Motion's article for those of us in the trade... libraries are old fashioned (check), libraries have an image problem (check), lots of people think libraries are not for them (check) along with the usual anxiety around the medium for storing and diseminating knowledge - book vs computer.
He does have a good point about community engagement though. In libraries we all know that there is something for everyone. Outside of libraries there are a huge number of people who are kind of vaguely aware that libraries exist and that they are on balance "a good thing" but would never think of crossing the threshold themselves. Non users surveys are remarkably consistent. Depending on your vantage point, libraries are simultaneously for the poor and disadvantaged who can't afford to buy their own books and largely populated by the middle classes and posh educated people - exclusive.
A lot of what Motion suggests is already going on in the better libraries - remodelling, refurbishments, family history workshops, online services, literary events etc. What some libraries seem to get wrong though is acting in isolation or picking one thing to focus on at the expense of others.
How many of us have experienced the "fur coat and no knickers" of library refurbs or new builds where someone has spent an inordinate amount of time and energy on a fantastic new building and then stocked it with the same old books as before?
Or the amazing events programme, reading groups, author talks and baby rhyme time in a building with plaster coming off in chunks and no toilet?
Or the modern, accessible, light and airy, toilet filled library that is shut on Saturday afternoon?
Or (possibly worst of all), the new library with every book, PC, event and toilet you could want, whenever you want it - staffed with the grumpiest, most miserable, untrained, unmotivated staff you could ever wish to see.
In my view we need to apply a simple and holistic approach to library service delivery.
Great product - books, services, information, events, ICT
Accessible places - opening hours, cleanliness, design, repair, location
Great staff - trained, motivated, friendly, diverse
Then - let peple know about it.
All good things come from here and we need to get it right - all of it. Libraries fell down when they lost pace with customer expectations. Never pass something second rate off to customers and expect to get away with it. Aim high - that's where customer expectations are.
Don't get in a comfort zone - very few businesses have the luxury of segmenting their market and staying alive. Libraries are for everyone and we have to reach out to all sections of the community - not just the easy hits.
Often the cry is for more money, but it's time for services to prove that they are competent to spend it
In Swansea we are trying hard to achieve this high quality, customer focused and holistic service. The ongoing programme of refurbishments (ticking all the boxes) and the opening of our new Central library have had a big impact but we have a long way to go yet. We are an improving business, looking to grow.
Come and visit us Mr Motion (we can all forget that we're in Wales for the purpose of the exercise) - and we promise that if you give us some money, it won't be wasted.
Watching...
Into the wild and The Invasion - one has a happy ending and one has a sad ending but both were a good watch.
Reading...
Against the machine - being human in the era of the electronic mob - I have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with the old interweb...
also
Swan Peak by James Lee Burke - possibly my favourite crime author ever.
and
Teach yourself decluttering - the Turner household needs some order!
finally
Thrifty ways for modern days - what better way to beat the credit crunch?
also
Swan Peak by James Lee Burke - possibly my favourite crime author ever.
and
Teach yourself decluttering - the Turner household needs some order!
finally
Thrifty ways for modern days - what better way to beat the credit crunch?
Wednesday 9 July 2008
Babs in the house
Esteemed author Barabara Erskine will be rocking up to Central Library tomorrow at 2pm to talk about her new book, The Warrior's Princess.
Monday 7 July 2008
Looking for love?
Literary lonely hearts take note - there's love to be found at Swansea Central library on their regular singles night. I haven't been myself, but I understand it's very popular and growing in notoriety as the place to meet.
People are quite literally coming from miles around in the hope of finding love among the shelves, and we've even made the national press, as well as the redoubtable South Wales Evening Post.
If you're interested in finding romance at the next singles night, it's on Friday 11th July between 6pm and 8pm.
People are quite literally coming from miles around in the hope of finding love among the shelves, and we've even made the national press, as well as the redoubtable South Wales Evening Post.
If you're interested in finding romance at the next singles night, it's on Friday 11th July between 6pm and 8pm.
Amnesty International
OK, I hold my hands up, I've been AWOL for a while. It's not that Swansea Libraries hasn't been an exciting place to be or that I haven't had anything to report. Far from it, there's been loads going on and I have been utterly negligent in my duties. More of that later.
No, the sad truth is... I've been too ashamed to post.
Ashamed because I am a flagged user, a defaulter, an abuser of the system, operating on the very margins of a legal and just society.
I have had overdue books.
There - I've said it. I, Paige Turner, am no sort of library role model and not fit to communicate with you. But, salvation is at hand. My blushes will be spared by the good folk who run the library service here in Swansea.
For an amnesty has been announced, a chance for all those of us who have crossed the line to sally forth and become upright citizens once more. Between 14th July and 2nd August Swansea Libraries will be accepting back all overdue items FINE FREE!
It's an opportunity too good to miss - I'm off to clear out the attic.
No, the sad truth is... I've been too ashamed to post.
Ashamed because I am a flagged user, a defaulter, an abuser of the system, operating on the very margins of a legal and just society.
I have had overdue books.
There - I've said it. I, Paige Turner, am no sort of library role model and not fit to communicate with you. But, salvation is at hand. My blushes will be spared by the good folk who run the library service here in Swansea.
For an amnesty has been announced, a chance for all those of us who have crossed the line to sally forth and become upright citizens once more. Between 14th July and 2nd August Swansea Libraries will be accepting back all overdue items FINE FREE!
It's an opportunity too good to miss - I'm off to clear out the attic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)