Author: Heather Braum

Twitter Daily Digest for 2011-03-22

Powered by Twitter Tools

Performance Measures: Illustrating Value to Your Community

Rebecca Jones, Managing Partner, Dysart and Jones Associates

  • Can we talk? How’s your value measuring up?
  • Measures begin and end with conversations
  • Measure new things in new ways
    • Listen
    • Context
    • Define your success
  • Listen, then learn to convey

Meaningful measures:

  • those that matter to you and to your stakeholders
  • Demonstrate that the library makes a difference
  • Focus attention on what is being donne and what is most important for the organization.
  • Measures are for decision-making
  • Are critical for managing, planning and decision-making
  • Are organization-dependent and must be connected from strategic directives to employees
  • they focus on what you are doing.

From a morning session: if what you’re doing isn’t getting results, why do you continue to do it?

Underlying assumptions

  • Joe Matthews (Measuring for Results book)
  • We don’t have a culture of assessment
    • difficult and complex
    • most measures indicate past performance
    • no cause-and-effect relationship between measures
    • Performance measures quantitative, but library outcomes are largely quantitative
  • Identifying and illustrating depends on conversations (first conversation shouldn’t be when measures are presented) — go when you want something, not bringing them something)

Measures: are, by definition, based on a “beginning” or monitors results against an agreed-to objective or value

Clarity.

The fewer stats you try to convey the better you will be listened to.

What difference did the library make?

Successful organizations:

  • clarity of purpose
  • understand their culture
  • performance measurement
  • system that fits that culture

An effective measurement system:

  • Gauges how well your strategies are progressing
  • Focuses on what matters most to library’s success (Understanding what’s being accomplished rather than on what’s being performed) NOT stats sheet; picture that you tell a story; a paragraph that tells the impact on various segments of comunity.
  • Uses a common language with staff and ecision-makers
  • Specifies owner
  • Is valid

There’s more to value than just the bottom line (marketing from Harrah’s casinos): tangible values; soft tangible values; intangible values.

Informal survey

  • What measures demonstrate the library’s value to its users, students/faculty, university, community or clients?
  • How do you identify the measures?
  • Have you changed them in the past 2-5 years?

Medical Library Association (Federal Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association study coming out).

Studies have replaced statistics in importance.

Stories eat stats for breakfast.

Increasingly, stories have replaced stats:

  • Measures agreed to &/or aligned with decision-maker measures
  • Follow-up debriefs with a few people for impact or “difference made” discussions
  • Time saved + costs avoided: Possibly ideas generated.
  • Internal monitoring vs. decision-maker value
  • Decreasing

Usage stats —

  • looking at them through different binoculars.
  • Who has been using what?
  • Customer satisfaction

Balanced scorecard : connection between strategies and measures (Goals and Measures for each of these)

  • Customer Perspective: how do we look to our clients?
  • Innovation Perspective:  how can we improve and create value?
  • Internal Perspective: how do we look to our funders or stakeholders
  • Financial Perspective: what must we excel at?

Benefits of Scorecard

  • “a very clear understanding of what drives value within your area and what doesn’t”
  • “greater insight into senior management’s (larger organization) strategic plans”
  • “and a better knowledge not only of the strategic role you play within the organization but how you can enhance that role and sit at the decision-making table”

[Missed a good bit of the rest of the session. the stories eat stats comment got me thinking about Kan-ed situation, HB2390 in Kansas, and the Kan-ed impact stories.]

Interpret the data — take it outside the library for others to look at and interpret.

Communicate the results

Focus on the few critical solutions

Measures matter: what we do matters

Studies to link to later:

  • OCLC study
  • ARL study
  • Free Library of Philadelphia CBA

In Pursuit of Library Elegance

John Blyberg, Darien Library

Erica Reynolds, Johnson County Public Library, Johnson County, KS

Based on book “In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas have something missing” Matthew May.

The book spoke to Erica about how design could be done better.

Overall thought: Elegance & excellent solutions: when design works really well, you never notice it. Precious little resources left to libraries; we’d love to stomp all over our problems. If anything, we should subtract, take away. Author, Matthew May is a Toyota consultant.

 

What is elegant?

1. symmetry: simple rules create effective order.

  • Look @ nature
  • math: the more complex a solution, the more easier it is to be wrong.
  • Circ rules??
  • Jackson Pollock painting; Richard Taylor analyzed Pollock paintings, realized he was painting fractals, which aren’t discovered until 1975. This is nature. It’s not random. That’s why Pollock’s are so appealing.

2. seduction: by limiting information, it creates intrigue

  • people that love libraries — that curiosity, that ever-searching need for information.
  • How can libraries building upon curiosity?
  • Build system that plays on people’s curiosity

3. Subtraction: by subtracting we create value and have more impact

  • E vs. not full E
  • restraint and removal can increase impact and value
  • using people’s minds by restraining
  • What can be done to library spaces?
  • people who come in are smart and want to use their brains
  • why put up signs everywhere!
  • Quote: “Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub. It is the centre hole….”

4. Sustainability: is it sustainable over time?

  • What can be repeated over time and be successful?
  • limited resources spark creativity and innovation
  • clay pot innovation story

The creative tension at the center of elegance: achieving the maximum effect with the minimum effort. We should relax.

 

Example equation: XI + I = X WRONG (how many moves to make correct?)

X + I = XI OR IX + I=X (1 move) OR turn upside down (no moves)

We don’t turn things upside down. We immediately start wanting to mess with it. What is possible, optimal.

Maybe instead: Do Nothing.

Relaxing your mind. Letting the solutions come to you.

Ideas that came while relaxing

  • Archimedes’ discovered volume displacement during a bath.
  • Einstein’s theory of pseical relativity came to him while daydreaming
  • Philo Farnsworth was plowing in a field when the rows and lines gave him the idea for the first TV
  • Richard Feynman was watching someone throw a plate when his theory of quantum electrodynamics was sparked
  • JK Rowling — Harry Potter character came to her on a train.

The path to elegance:

  • Reist the urge to act or add
  • Observe
  • Ensure a diversity of opinions and expertise are heard when you are considering what’s possible and how to get there.
  • Carve out time to think and time not to think
  • Get away from your devices
  • Get some sleep
  • Get outside

Do these things

  • Don’t feel guilty about stepping away.
  • Run on a beach
  • Go fishing
  • Play in the sand
  • Jump in mud puddles and scream your head off
  • Contemplate a fountain

Take away

  1. Read this book.
  2. Get out of the office.
  3. Play with kids.

Presentation from John Blyberg (Just pulling snippets of thoughts from his)

  • The quiet stir of thought (what the computer can’t do) from 1969
  • Libraries about curating experiences, not just materials
  • Mortar front for our networks
  • Redirecting resources from backroom to frontline staff (automated delivery services)
  • Shouldn’t do everything for everyone
  • iPhone comes without a manual. people freaked out, and yet survived
  • Signs: if you see signs everywhere when you walk into the library, there’s a problem
  • Signs are a bandaid
  • Idea: Touchscreen — interactive signs; give them the intrigue to discover something
  • Instant gratification; mobile.
  • Empowering you. How can libraries empower their patrons?
  • Different platforms for exploration. Microsoft Surface table. No explanation put out for what it was. Kids were curious and explored. Users governed how it worked.
  • Art gallery. playing chess. video game party (video games, set of rules, framework, discovery, solving problems)
  • occasionally people come into the library to study
  • users bring in own equipment; providing space for them.

Promoting with Web 2.0

Speaker: Curt Tagtmeier

Adult Services Librarian

Fremont Public Library (the library Facebook page); Library Website

Mundelein, IL

Highlights of his presentation can be found in the September issue of Computers in Libraries magazine.

Free Services such as:

  • YouTube
  • iLike.com
  • Twitter
  • Mobile Joomla
  • Meebo
  • Blogger/Dapper

But Stop…

  • how can patrons enjoy the benefits of these services without always being asked for a password?
  • how do we keep the patrons in one place sponsored by the library?
  • Is there one service?

Facebook!

Why? Because that’s where the people are at.

Grandparents are on to see their kids’ photos. Everybody uses Facebook.

Stats about Facebook….

  • 111 million in the US (30% of Facebook; 50% log in on a daily basis.
  • Average user has 130 friends on Facebook (if HS were like this, it wouldn’t have been quite so miserable 🙂 -speaker; lots of laughs )
  • Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events.

Flexibility….

  • best of many social networking sites in one
  • post photos
  • status updates
  • videos
  • Instant Message
  • private messages

Libraries should be on Facebook because of its ever expanding mobile potential

  • convenience
  • viewing updates & creating updates from almost anywhere

Mobile Site for the Library Website

  • doing it ourselves can cause a great number of headaches when compared with the ease of Facebook
  • doing it ourselves allowed us to do a few things we couldn’t on Facebook
  • Nobody used the site & they continued to receive feedback on the Facebook page
  • In the end, too little results for too little payoff
  • Now it is just a static information tool.
  • Library size & budget — further development not worth it.

Secrets of our Facebook success

  • be unique (some libraries reduplicate their library website) [Facebook was created by people who hated traditional websites]
  • be practical
  • be innovate
  • be fun (always key) — show that library has some personality; give them something they couldn’t get on their website.
  • Try to think outside the box; what are others doing, try to take it a step further, and integrate apps into your Facebook page.
  • Make the information crucial and important to them.
  • Facebook Marketing for Dummies mentioned as a good resource.

Things Fremont Public Library does with Facebook

  • RSS feed into your library’s Facebook page, adding new updates from your library website (KLOW sites have RSS, Kansas libraries; I actually prefer using the Networked Blogs app to bring in the posts to the NEKLS Facebook page)
  • You can create customized links at the side of your page utilizing Facebook Markup Language (Widgets, basically)
  • Admins can now browse Facebook as a page and interact with other pages.
  • Apps can now be easily added as links to your Facebook page
  • Video playlists: New DVDs promotion
    • movie studios are now pushing their trailers to YouTube
    • once a month the library shares a video playlist of their new dvds and their official trailes
    • You can’t play the video playlist inside Facebook, only single videos
  • New Music and iLike.com
    • iLike is a social music discovery service and app
    • social networking for music
    • the library creates streaming playlists of highlighting new music recently purchased by the library
    • sometimes the songs are 30 seconds and sometimes the full clip
    • we publish technology training podcasts through iLike.com
    • How certain technologies work — a separate tab on their Facebook page houses all of these podcasts
  • Dapper.net
    • a free web-based service that allows you to extract info from any web site by using data mapping
    • options include RSS feeds; Google gadgets; widgets; xml; more
    • currently using Dapper to highlight current news as a Google Gadget
    • not using this much right now but will in the future.
    • (Wonder if you can use Dapper in a WordPress blog as a widget or text widget…)
    • Envisionware apparently (new version) can embed RSS; library not done this yet
  • Using FB as a reference services tool
    • instant messaging convenience — Meebo used on regular website
    • with the help of FBML, we were able to embed Meebo into our Facebook page (no stats)
  • Using FB as a searching tool
    • we added a widget for our catalog, so Facebook users could search for library materials
  • Communication tool
    • allows you to message your fans directly
    • don’t overuse this feature.
  • Walls have become the new discussion boards
    • library has tried to use the wall as a book discussion; hasn’t really worked so far.

Advice

  • Some things work
  • Some things don’t work
  • Have to evaluate the services and how their being used

Twitter

  • Twitter is active communication; Facebook is passive communication (you are asking for a reaction)
  • Twitter is a large wedding reception where you know 1 or 2 people; Facebook intimate dinner party

Questions

  • Future of library website and Facebook?
  • Will the two meeting somewhere in the middle? (Ning, example mentioned)

 

Twitter Daily Digest for 2011-03-21

  • Twitter Daily Digest for 2011-03-20 http://ff.im/-zvNoa #
  • at the airport waiting to board for #cil11 It's way too early, but at least i get to enjoy dc a bit before the conference starts! #
  • Friendly faces already on this flight. Good to see the Washburn guys! #cil11 #
  • On the ground in dc. Simple and easy flight. Next stop, the #cil11 hotel! #
  • @bohyunkim I'm here! Can't wait to meet you in person. in reply to bohyunkim #
  • @bohyunkim maybe. Have plans w friends this afternoon and may or may not make it back. Will know more later 🙂 have fun in yr preconf! in reply to bohyunkim #
  • Sitting outside at a Starbucks talking up shop w a librarian. I love DC. 🙂 #
  • If you're a KU bball fan @ #cil11 & want to watch the game, there's a group heading to the bottom line saloon (KU bar). Reply if interested. #
  • rock chalk jayhawks sweet sixteen!! now my #cil11 experience really can begin on a high note in DC 🙂 #kubball #
  • @janbrooks1 I thoroughly did! No cell reception in bar meant no tweets 🙁 but had awesome time! in reply to janbrooks1 #
  • @librarianbyday wishing you were here too 🙁 happy packing & moving! in reply to librarianbyday #
  • @baldgeekinmd great! Thx for the heads up. See ya tomorrow. in reply to baldgeekinmd #

Powered by Twitter Tools