Seth's Blog: Stinky Durian

Great post about marketing and listening to consumers on Seth's Blog:

SNIP

Stinky Durian

The feedback you get from non-consumers is rarely useful, because the objection they give is the reason they don't buy from you, not the thing that will cause them to affirmatively choose you.

END SNIP

With libraries offering all kinds of books, programs, and services, it is always the email that asks for something different. Why don't have you have storytime at night so working parent could come, or have book discussions.....or...?

Every time we listened and tried something that was suggested, invariably, no one would show up. I remember running a book discussion at night after it was suggested (again via email) that we should have one. I ran it for six months and not a soul every showed up. I say via email because it is a distant request by someone who never comes to the library, but went to the website to find information. They emailed rather than call or come in and ask. I am not saying emails are bad, but it sends a distant message that if someone is not willing to take the time to come in, maybe he or she never will.

This is also why many focus groups don't work. They suggest things that they would like to see, but then never show up at the library. Its not the reason they don't use the library, but something else is keeping them from doing that.

Fast Company: Leadership Lesson: Tiger at Doral

A great post on leadership, confidence, and focus from Fast Company. Three lessons learned from Tiger Woods and why he stays on top, check your ego, trust yourself, and don't blink.

SNIP

Leadership Lesson: Tiger at Doral

"Check your ego. At the eighteenth hole, Tiger held a three stroke lead. So what does the game’s best player of the day do? With five hundred yards of water to his left, and not trusting his driver to play the ball straight, he plays it smart. Tiger pulls out a three-iron and lays up. Not once, but twice. That’s brilliance. No macho driver for him. Many a golfer have succumbed to ego in such positions and wound up losing.

Trust yourself. Tiger knows his game better than anyone. When he was rolling well, he trusted himself to pull out the stops and hit the shots he needed to hit. And frankly for most of the 72-hole tourney, Tiger was in command of his game. He led from day one, hitting great tee shots and even more incredible second shots to get him on the green in regulation. But when his putter did not hold up, he turned conservative and did not push shots to the edge. Better a par than a bogey. Or when things get really tough, a bogey is better than a double bogey.

Don’t blink. It is traditional for golfers in the lead walking up the fairway of the 72nd hole to smile, doff their hats and acknowledge the cheers. But with a lead that had dwindled from six strokes to two, Tiger was taking no chances; he maintained focus. His second shot, again from a lay-up position was masterful; it put him on the green, but 52 feet from the hole. His lag putt was a gem, end up just 3 feet from the hole. Brett Wetterich, with short putt for a birdie, missed and Tiger only needed to hole his shot to make bogey and win. When his ball rolled in, then and only then did Tiger flash his million-dollar smile, doffing his cap and acknowledging the crowd. And then as he always does, he congratulated his opponent on a round well-played."

END SNIP

I recently had a ding to my ego for a project I was working on. I was upset at first that people thought my idea was harebrained. My idea was simple, create a bookmobile from a standard van, insert the bookshelves, and place a satellite dish on top so that patron could check-out books AND use wireless internet access from the van on laptops we provided. Many bigger systems do this, but I knew I would be stretching the limits of my knowledge and I knew I would get no IT support for the dish and wireless.

I didn't lose heart that the start of things were rocky. We rolled out the bookmobile without the satellite dish at first and some of our routes did not get any patrons. I listened to my staff and made better decisions, knowing that if I let my ego run wild when I was wrong, the project would have failed. We changed our routes to places with the most need with much more success.

I trusted my vision to see the project through. I knew the dish wasn't working, but that the fix would be simple if I could just take some time with the vendor's tech support and do it. I knew right at the end it was make or break and I took a day just to make it work, and it did. We went out this month with wireless internet access. It was fun because it went just how I had envisioned it. We had a bookmobile stop at an adult education location where classes were held. When the class let out, we had books and materials for their GED and language acquisition assistance AND we had wireless internet access with ten laptops set up on a picnic bench right outside their door. They flocked to us when class let out. The project was a success.

The funny part was that I didn't realize there was such a negative outlook on the project. It is probably best not to hear your worst critics in the earliest stage of the project, especially if the comments are not constructive. I actually heard that people thought it was harebrained from another city staff member. They told me this while I had the van ready, the satellite dish running, people on our public access laptops with internet, and people checking out books. I was still upset at first, but then realized that I shouldn't be, since I was right and these above lessons helped make it happen.

Friedbeef Tech: Top Ten Places to get Free Books

From Friedbeef Tech (via Lifehacker) a top ten list of places to get free books. On a tech blog, it makes sense that it just covers online books, but I was hoping libraries would show up in part II.

Top 10 Best Places to Get Free Books (Part 1)

1. Find Popular Public Domain Works With The Gutenberg Project Top 100 List

2. Exchange Used Books With BookMooch

3. Get Technical Books With ebookspyder

4. Read the Classics Online with Google Book Search

5. Download Plain Text Novels With Dwalin

I guess not:

Top 10 Best Places to Get Free Books (Part 2)

6. Find Specialized IT Books With FreeComputerBooks.com

7. Get Someone to Read Books to You at Librivox

8. Skip the Book and Get Free Study Notes with CliffsNotes

9. Save Money on Textbooks With WikiBooks

10. Receive Books In Small Parts via Email Using DailyLit

That first impression

The saying, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" is held even truer for libraries. I don't know if some people already come in with a feeling that they don't want to use the library or expect that it won't have what they want. We seem to need blow them away before they give us a first chance, let alone a second. I know that our library made the most dramatic increase in general usage when we renovated the library and doubled the computer capacity and had brand new sleek looking dells.

Too many people for too long saw the library as dirty, with slow clunky computers, and only bums there to greet you. Furthermore, the collection was in shambles. We were in a dos based catalog system that was difficult to use, it wasn't web-based, and no collection development reports were EVER run.

We removed the distractions that were immediate deterrents to library use. We upgraded our catalog, upgraded the computers, renovated the building. However, no matter how many changes we made, it still boils down to every reader his/her book. If they can't find their book, the most important book in the whole world, then this library is not for them.

Two cases in point. A high school student comes in for a particular book assigned by her class. We should have materials that meet every interest. She doesn't find the book. Well the we are just crap. How dare we call ourselves a library when you don't have the most important book in the world? We should be reported to the Library of Congress! She ended up doing something better, she blogged about it. It was a two part blog post, OUCH! The worst part was that she was a reader and would have probably been a die-hard patron, but we weren't the library for her.

Another one is with library donations. When a patron donates their prized possessions to the library, their books, they expect us to fall over in amazement. "Wonderful, this is just the book I have been looking for, the 1931 complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica! How did you know?" Its sad since these people have the best intentions. They would rather donate their mold covered attic-imprisoned books to the library rather than throw them away. Its either they can't bear to throw a book out, or they think we are so poor we would take it. Again, every book his/her reader. When they donate their book and we don't need it, it affects patrons deeply.

Lastly, a patron comes in looking for an audio version of the bible. This item has been a long standing for our library because not all vendors have the entire bible, and if they do, its a mess to process and catalog. We have received many complaints before about not having one. We finally were able to order it. However, when this woman wanted it, we only had one copy of the NIV New Testament, but an entire copy of the King James version. It turns out she was in the middle of reading the King James version and it was exactly what she was looking for...SCORE! That is when you look like a genius and the patron feels like this library is for them.

Collection development can be very much like a democracy. You order what the people want and they vote with their library card. To the patron who can't find their items it is much like living in a red state when you vote blue. It is isolating. It is like telling the patron your interests aren't welcome here. That is very tough to say when we offer so much to everyone else, just not for you.

However, that feeling seems too much dependant on that first impression. How can we get patrons to trust us and to use our many services? If the high school student had waited a moment, she would have found that she could have requested the library purchase the book, or request an Interlibrary loan. If that patron worked with our system, she could have helped build the collection that interested her. It would take some time, but it would have developed.

It seems that everyone expects to have exactly what they want NOW! A government funded library cannot keep up and patrons have to learn to become more patient. I don't know what the answer is, I just wish they would not be quite so angry we didn't have their book.