LibraryTechtonics

It’s hard to believe a no-brainer fantastic innovation of this kind — fabulous store front branches in underserved areas of the Brooklyn DUMBO neighborhood — could go underfunded by the New York Public Library when library just received a $100 million donation just last week.

Library Outposts are storefront library service points, no more than 1500 sq. ft. in size, centrally located in busy commercial districts or near transportation hubs. The storefront presence makes the Outpost agile and adaptable to the particular features of each community, providing fundamental library service and serving as a gateway to the full range of programs, classes, and events offered throughout the larger service ecology. The space is easily transformable; one moment a silent reading room, another moment a performance art space, another moment a forum for a community group meeting. Storefront library facilities have been attempted in the past with limited success, but the Outpost model takes advantage of emerging technologies to reconsider the distribution of library content and materials (you know, like books, DVDs, etc.) and invent itself as something entirely different.

Nate Hill put two years of work into the project, and you can read all about it because he’s hoping that his knowledge will be put to good use somewhere.

So, who’s going to step up and use this packaged-with-a-bow plan? What could/would you do with it? Where else do you want to see it applied? I’m interested to hear about it.

I’ve been away for a few days (a fabulous little birthday/anniversary vacation in CT and NY with The Husband), and sick for about a week before that, so I haven’t really been up on the news or anything. Catching up with my work email my first day back at work (today), I saw a link to the Boston Globe article “Libraries move with times, discover niches” from Monday, October 22.

While the photo for the article highlights the latest craze in gaming, reading the article reveals the true secret to success in libraries these days: variety.

It’s not just about bringing in teens with gaming, or using the latest technology in every way, shape, and form possible.  It’s expanding into the various niches available to us in all age groups, really understanding the community, how it uses stuff, and how we can be a part of that.  It’s video collections and ILL that rival justifying the monthly cost of Netflix, it’s Playaways (we just got a bunch of these, and they’re *awesome*) that make portable audio so very easy and completely solve the iPod/not-iPod dilemma, and events at the library that really make it feel like a real night out and not like an embarrassing place to be seen.  A little something for everyone, depending on who your everyone is.  It also highlights that libraries that depended on books as their mainstay actually ended up reducing hours and closing this past year.

Sometimes I think that these things go without saying, but other times I feel like librarians need to reminded that not only is change good, it’s a necessity.  I confess that do see the changes happening, but just making the effort at change, or just making progress, sadly, isn’t good enough. We need to be in it for the long haul, and our profession and professionals need to be flexible enough to not just make changes, but to be in a state of evolution.

Librarians: What is your library doing these days to evolve?  Are there particular problems that you or your library are facing going beyond “making a change” into flexibility?  What kind of help do you forsee needing to get over the hurdles, or what tips can you share with others?  Have you done a survey lately to see what your patrons really want in the library?  What are they asking for?  How is it different from what you do now, or is it (perhaps a more subtle evolution is in store for many libraries)?

For all the patrons out there: What evolution is do you want to see in your libraries?  What are your libraries doing well, and what could use improvement?  Are the changes in your library obvious to you, and what can libraries do to make the changes more obvious to you?

Having the library as a resource: priceless.

My friend Laura from over at Pistachio Consulting sent me a Tweet about this, which is quite awesome. Thanks, Laura!

Dee Lee, a financial planner and host on WBZ’s Money Matters program, talking about how much money families can save if they use the library as part of a series on how people can save money in their everyday lives.

More Savings: At the Library WBZ’s Money Matters with Dee Lee – Thursday September 20, 2007: More Savings: At the Library

You can also read the transcript on their site.

700 West Main Road, Middletown, RI 02842
RAIN OR SHINE indoor event

Jessica Langlois, librarian at Middletown (RI) Public Library and proprietress of Cool Librarian Research, is a geocacher like me. If you’re in the Rhode Island neighborhood this weekend, stop by this afternoon geocaching clinic, where Jessica will talk about the basics of geocaching, how to make a great cache of your very own, being safe on the trails, and more. She’s also set up a library geocaching site by way of Blogger, including slide presentations and various tips, and she’s placed a geocache to be found near the library. My husband and I will be there on Sunday, so the pics and writeup should be available by Monday.