Building Relationships One Change at a Time

“That book was crap!”   

Ahh...Music to my ears!

You know those moments at school that have you smiling all day? Moments that make you think, “Yes! I love my job!”

A student came into the library last week to specifically tell me that he was liking his book I had recommended. Another boy overheard our conversation and chimed in with, “Whatever you do, don’t read Call Me By My Name! That book was crap! After all that character went through and to have it end that way! Terrible!”

I know what you’re thinking. What’s the big deal about that? Here’s the big deal. Two boys that don’t like to read intentionally walked into the library and sought us out to tell us about their books. That doesn’t happen every day...but we sure hope it will happen again.

Our focus this past year has been on building relationships with students. That is not an easy task when our population is around 1800 kids. So, we also had to think about our environment and students’ overall experience while in the library.  After taking a look at our physical space, evaluating our procedures and talking to the kids, we decided to make a few changes.

Here is our recommended list of relationship game changers!

1. Get rid of fines for late books. The money is not worth the relationships it breaks. Period. End of story.
2. Go where the people are! We moved our desks from behind circulation to the center of the library. Kids have to walk right by our desks as they enter. If we are there, if gives us an opportunity to talk and connect with them.
3. Make resources more accessible. Don’t hide or hoard the supplies. We have supplies by the printers and on a cart by our desks. Again, it creates traffic in our direction. :)
4. Watch, listen and ask. Find out what your kids are interested in and what they want from their experience in the library. We have added games, a coloring station and mints on our desks (we’re not below bribes!)  We also moved the furniture to meet their study needs and social habits. In our Design Studio, we host student led workshops on topics that students choose.
5. Let them eat, drink and be merry! We allow snacks and drinks in our space. The majority of students do a great job of picking up after themselves. And don't get me wrong about the "be merry" statement. Our kids are not running around the library or anything. We're just not a silent space. I would describe the sound as a productive buzz.
6. Have some fun. We have tried to create experiences that draw kinds in just for the sake of fun. Our most popular events were the  Pumpkin decorating contest and Elf on the Shelf.
7. SMILE! Say hello, go talk to them and assume good will.

We’re always changing things up and looking for ways to improve. We would love to hear your successes and recommendations!

Got Character(s)?

What do you get when you combine a favorite book character and Halloween?  The Literary Pumpkin Contest!  Our winner got a bucket of sweet treats, but we were the BIG winners…all of these amazing creations were displayed in the library. 

Get a closer look in our flickr album.

What's Your Story? - Rebranding Pt. 2

So, libraries aren’t just books anymore. You know that, and I know that. We’re librarians for crying out loud! But, does everyone else know that? Do all of your students know this? What about your staff? Parents? The community?

If you have any hesitation or doubt about how people would define your library, the services you provide and the resources in it, then you need to think about rebranding! If you struggle identifying all of the amazing things going on in your library or advocating for your program, then you need to think about rebranding!

Before you get too excited, let’s be clear about what rebranding really means. It’s not just a new name, logo, tagline, blog, signage, etc. It’s not just a marketing strategy. It goes much deeper than that.

Your brand is your identity!!

So, before you do anything else, you must know your story, own your story and most importantly, be able to articulate your story. Here’s how!

1      Why do you want to rebrand? – Brainstorm a list of qualities or characteristics you want your patrons to think of when they think about the library. Make a list of feelings and expectations you want them to have.

2      Can you currently support all of those ideas? - Make a list of all of the ways students can utilize the library. List all of the reasons they might come to the library. Make a list of resources available to them (books, green screen, iPads, etc.).

3      What do your patrons think? – Ask your students what they think, feel and expect when they use the library. There are lots of ways to do this. You can email a survey, post a survey on your web site or blog, etc. The most effective way, though, is to just talk to them! Get a group together or simply walk around the library and interact with your students.

4      What’s working and not working? – Evaluate all of the information you collected in steps 1-3. First, celebrate all of the ways your patrons love the library. You don’t want to fix what’s not broken!! Now, look for gaps or mismatches. If your view of the library program is not matching your patrons view, there’s a problem somewhere.

Keep these things in mind when you get started. You do not own the library’s story – your students do! Your students should steer every decision. If you don’t like the story as it is currently written, revise it!! Never stop revising your story.

May your story end happily ever after!

It's Not Your Grandma's Library! - Rebranding Pt. 1

One of the things I like to do over the summer is get my house in shape. It gets so cluttered throughout the year. Our kitchen is tiny. We need every bit of space we can get. So, I decided to start there.

The first thing that caught my attention was the number of cookbooks I have. I never use them. I get most of my recipes online now. That being said, it wasn’t easy getting rid of them. I’m not going to lie; I had stacks of cookbooks in my living room for days!!  What if I need a recipe from one later?! But, then I reminded myself that I hadn’t used them in years. I did end up keeping the recipes my grandmother gave me and a couple of church cookbooks. There is no substitute for these. They are the traditional, classic, timeless recipes!!

You start to look at things differently when you are organizing and trying to make the most of your space. For every item you consider tossing, you think about the value, the last time you used it, how often you use it, if there is something else that could replace it, etc.

I immediately started to draw parallels to our library.  So much has changed over the past several years! Not only have many print resources been replaced with digital versions, there is so much more going on in libraries today. They are hubs for creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. On any given day you might see students reading, studying, meeting with friends, listening to music, playing games, recording video, recording audio, giving presentations and performances, mixing music, coding, building, prototyping, designing, the list goes on!

Libraries aren’t just books anymore!

Reflections from MASL 2016

I added a new name to my list of super hero librarians. Jennifer LaGarde (aka Library Girl)!! I attended all three of her sessions at MASL last week and I couldn’t have spent my time in a better way. Here are my takeaways from Library Girl.

1. #macgyverlibrarianship. This is a place for librarians to share their MacGyver hacks! What’s a MacGyver library hack? Making a change in your space with little to no money! Search the hashtag on Twitter and you will find lots of amazing ideas. Here’s our most recent project. More to come soon!
2. Harness students’ use of technology to connect with them and cultivate a love of   reading. Check out #2jennsbookclub, #yearofya, #nerdybookclub and     #30secondbooktalk. 
3. I learned how to survive the Zombie Librarian Apocalypse! Be a Zombie Fighter! How? Defy expectations, put kids first and advocate for them, embrace change, keep learning, connect with others and Share Shamelessly!

If you don’t know Jennifer LaGarde (aka Library Girl), you should! http://www.librarygirl.net/