Reference Renaissance Notes from Stephanie Petruso (AACPL)

Stephanie Petruso of AACPL was kind enough to share her RefRen notes with us:

Day 1

Opening Session

Disruptive Innovation Theory
I. When innovation happens, some companies survive by adapting and others die.
a. Disk drives for computers is a good example of this.
II. There is a point where improvement no longer makes a difference. You have to find a whole new tack.
III. Students have abandoned the library in droves. Libraries are a centralized inconvenient location requiring specialized knowledge to use.
IV. We need to rethink “users need to come to us.”
V. The only way to really innovate is to isolate a part of the business and really protect it.

ChaCha
I. Started as a guided search
II. Mobile answers. People text questions and receive a text reply from a “guide”
III. Services like this could threaten us down the line.

Gift Economy
I. We’re moving towards a “gift economy” where many of people’s information needs can be satisfied for free.
II. We need to learn what people will pay for:
a. Immediacy
b. Personalization
c. Embodiment
d. Trust
e. Authenticity
f. Accessibility
g. Patronage
h. Findability

Questions To Ponder
I. What happens if information skills become a mass amateur activity?
a. Libraries would be well advised to go more upmarket, focus on sophisticated users with hard questions, become specialists-not generalists
II. Can we survive with one foot in the world of proprietary content and one foot in the web?

The term “Free for All” is not literal. It just means chaos.

Staff Training in the 21st Century
I. Online Training Programs that May be Useful
a. dimdim is a free product for conducting online meetings (up to 2 hours)
b. Presenter turns Powerpoint into a Flash movie with audio
c. Captivate is another tool
II. Training both new and old employees at Brigham Young Uni
a. 3 subject matter experts develop online courses for staff
b. The biggest challenge has been getting off desk time for staff
c. Created mini (audio-free) courses on the library’s databases
d. A staff wiki is being developed to discuss database tips, tricks, and problems
e. Public service staff have IM widgets to quickly and quietly talk to managers. Can send an SOS without patrons knowing. Use “Groupwise” IM client.
f. Subscription to Lynda.com allows staff access to short snippets of training in key areas.

Reference Customer Service or Retail Reference
I. Experience Economy
a. Education: providing professional development opportunities
b. Entertainment
c. Esthetics: beauty, art, an attractive, recently updated, website
d. Escapism
II. Nordstrom Model
a. Empower employees to take ownership and sell the customer/store relationship
b. Provide the customer with choices
c. Inviting place
d. Nice, motivated people
III. Fish Model
a. Have fun, be silly
b. Happy employees=happy customers
IV. Leadervalue
a. Envision: Vision for the future
b. Enable: Give them the tools
c. Empower: Give employees the power to make decisions
d. Energize

You Bought It, Now Sell It! Creating a Reference Renaissance in the Public Library by Merchandising Collections and Services
I. Some libraries are putting a value calculator on the front page of their library website so that the public can see where/how their money is invested.
II. New Ideas of Service
a. Lending cake pans-hugely popular
b. Lending flip cameras
c. Having a car show in parking lot
d. Offering free passes to state parks, museums
III. Emmy winning PSA from Douglas County Libraries
IV. Libraries should sell themselves as facilitating networking
a. Reader’s Social Nights
i. Invite avid readers (personal invitations to favorite patrons) to an evening to socialize and discuss books
ii. Outside library hours
iii. Use word “Networking”
iv. Have giveaways
v. Show off databases
V. Offer a relocation resources page. It will become essential to anyone moving to your community and introduce them to the library.

Day 2

Theoretical Perspectives of Reference

I. Relaxed people ask better (more thorough) questions
II. Information is usually based around a problem
III. Leisure is a pleasurable experience undertaken in free time
a. Types of Leisure at the Library
i. Site
ii. Resources
IV. Hobbies capture a big part of the imagination
a. Crafts and hobby activities are big library market
b. Serious enthusiasts usually buy their books (master cook, car repair)

Now You’ve Built It, Will They Come? Marketing Reference

I. Successful MTV commercial made for surprisingly little money. QandANJ commercial shown during MTV Music Awards.
II. Dickinson College has gotten rid of its Reference Desk altogether.
a. Patrons no longer confused by multiple service desks.
b. 80% of questions do not require an MLS to answer. MLS Staff were wasting time at desk.
c. Librarians each have own offices and support staff can page them if an information question is brought to the desk.
d. Students can make appointments.
e. Go to great lengths to let students know who librarian is for their area of study.
f. Librarians have IM at desks; students can IM them directly. We should no longer expect them to come to us. We need to reach them where they already are: IM and Texting.
i. IM client at public pc’s to allow patrons to contact staff without getting up?

Plenary Session Panel
I. David Lankes: Libraries should facilitate creating knowledge, not only consuming it
II. Jamie LaRue: Our most important skill is communication. We need to touch our patrons (literally-light touches on the shoulder or back are an easy way to personalize an interaction).
a. There should be a clearinghouse for calls, so librarians are only handling Reference Inquiries
b. The desk is a distraction
c. Self-check and RFID are already handling some of the tasks that used to monopolize our time.
d. The new role of the Reference Librarian is Leadership