Radical Service?

KNOWLEDGEABLE & PASSIONATE – One of the considerations for prospective librarians that @Michael mentions in “The Heart of Librarianship” (pp 55-56) is the need to help people “find things”. Michael Casey says we should be enthusiastic about providing creditable resources to the community. I think we are meeting this objective. We continuously provide new materials to the community and find ways to get what they want as quickly as possible either through ILL or by ordering requested materials to add to the collection. However, we could do better in educating the public about what additional services are available using their library cards through the Finger Lakes Library System. And what are the needs that we aren’t meeting? We need to expand our participatory avenues to gain more feedback. We often ask questions on Facebook which do not always gain many responses and we do not have an ongoing blog connected to the website where responses are an option.

INNOVATIVE – I love to see the new ideas offered by various libraries and to try to envision making them work in our space. One the most exciting I’ve seen is the Idea Box found at the Oak Park Public Library. It looks like they even paint it as they change their interactive exhibits! Oh to have the space to do something like that. Over the years we have had some innovative experiences, like Ukulele Camp, even if they weren’t our own ideas, but maybe there are in-house service options to consider (the Open+ option as described by Michael Casey would be a bit too much for us but I am looking to expand our service area and hours). Seeing Ann Arbor’s Summer Game has given me an idea for our Spring Break activity – an online Scavenger Hunt. I have seen other libraries move away from “Summer Reading” to “Summer Learning” but we tend to do a combination of learning activities paired with continued use of reading logs because of our tie to the school district’s Literacy Committee.

FOCUSED & FRIENDLY – This is an area I think we have mastered. In reading Aaron Schmidt’s article about “Earning Trust”(2013) I think we are meeting his guideposts of providing quality face-to-face customer service and building the trust of our patrons. We show our personality and have established strong relationships with a number of entities in our community. We help our patrons to be successful. I think our website is user-friendly, although it could use some updating, and we post regularly on Facebook, offering interactive opportunities there for our patrons.

EQUITABLE & COOPERATIVE – As I discussed in my first discussion post, “My Evolving Life”, I am currently struggling with the decision of whether or not to go “fine free”. Despite the fact that we continue to charge fines I think we do, as stated in the GCPL Customer Service Philosophy, “give every customer the benefit of the doubt and work to accommodate unique situations with equitable solutions” so that we are not alienating people due to life circumstances. Although not included in the definition of this box, we are highly “cooperative”, frequently collaborating with other community entities such a neighboring library, the school district, the food pantry, and most recently with the Historical Association to provide joint programming.

TRANSPARENT – Another of Aaron Schmidt’s (2013) hallmarks of “Earning Trust” is Honesty. This is an area we need to improve upon. We have our Board Minutes published on our website (although I am a couple of months behind and I just realized that our Annual Report has not been updated since 2013 – I didn’t even realize that was on there – oops!) and we do provide a printed Annual Report to our patrons at our Annual Meeting and when they come to the library. At this time we are in negotiations with the Post Office, who rents half of our building, to reduce their space so that we can begin an expansion project. This is a topic that I have preferred to keep less than public until we have something more substantial to present to them. Is this “hiding” something? I’m not sure, but right now I don’t have any answers to give to questions other than what I have stated so I’d rather not have rumors circulating.

INCLUSIVE – This is an area that needs much improvement. Our otherwise rather homogeneous community has become diversified by a growing number of Hispanic farm workers. We collaborate in some ways with the food pantry to provide books in both English and Spanish for their Healthy Bodies, Strong Minds initiative, and have gone to the food pantry for a library card drive, but those families have not yet come to the library and Spanish language books that we have do not circulate. Part of our need for expansion centers on the fact that we are not ADA compliant. There is a wheelchair ramp to get up to the porch and our doors can be opened to accommodate entry, however once inside there is little space for anyone to maneuver, much less in a wheelchair, and our bathroom is not accessible.

The readings for both Modules 4 and 5 left me thinking of aspects of Participatory Service and Transparency that need to be addressed in order to be a viable library in the 21st century. The impetus for change lies in my hands and that it why I am pursuing this degree.

References
Ann Arbor District Library’s Summer Game Demo. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZd6uiM34C8 .

Finger Lakes Library System eSources. (2019). Retrieved from https://catalog.flls.org/polaris/search/misc/esources.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.3

Group Mission Trips. (2019). Retrieved from https://groupmissiontrips.com/

Gwinnett County Public Library Open+. (2016). Retrieved from https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Open-handout.pdf

Gwinnett County Public Library Customer Service Philosphy. (2019). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PH_vh3xsy_8mODFH99DvsAnCs1DATYrt

King Ferry Food Pantry Healthy Bodies, Strong Minds. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/KingFerryFoodPantry/photos/a.479703645830429/561975027603290/?type=3&theater

Schmidt, A. (2013). The user experience: earning trust. Library Journal, (LI, 11/5/13). Retrieved from https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=earning-trust-the-user-experience

Stephens, M. (2016). The heart of librarianship: Attentive, positive, and purposeful change. American Library Association. pp 55-56.