Thursday, October 05, 2006

Improving library services

Jennifer Macaulay, an MLS student at Southern Connecticut, has a wonderful post on her blog, Life as I know It on the topic Improving Library Services: A Review of Techniques.

I'm listing her main points below, but I highly recommend the entire post. Her selection of topics is inspired (and inspiring); her annotations on each topic are concise and insightful.

If you want to make a positive change in your library, tack up Jennifer's post on your door, throw a dart, and start doing whatever you hit (unless your aim is bad and you hit that old Calvin and Hobbes comic that you taped up in 1992-- don't, I repeat, don't do what Calvin is doing...)

Here are the techniques Jennifer highlighted, but really, read the post.
  • Use of integrated service points
  • Cross training of staff
  • Flexible management technique
  • Redefine the library’s physical space
  • Allow users to participate in decisions about which services to offer
  • Focus on new models of professional development for the entire staff
  • Adding content to library catalogs (OPACs)
  • Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to advertise library services
  • Re-evaluate the current library user and their information needs
  • Re-evaluate library signage
  • Beware of technology for technology’s sake
If Jennifer is at all representative of the future of our profession I think we're in good hands.

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