Excuses. Well, during the past month I celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving, plus Bonfire Night and Diwali. Fireworks, torch processions (yes, real torches, in the hands of children), mulled wine and mince pies - hurrah! Who needs daylight hours?
The good news is that I've generously been given a work experience opportunity in one of London's public libraries; the bad news is that due to my advanced age, associated wisdom, and strong desire to find a paying job in the future, I'm not going to blog about that. Instead, let me tell you about how the London libraries are organized. Also, I need to ask - where are the volunteers?
London has 33 boroughs, each run by and referred to as a council. Unless you're a Londoner, you probably don't have any idea what the councils are called, or where their borders are, but as a Londoner you pay housing taxes to your council so you're bound to care. One tax-supported item is libraries, and the amount of local financial support for libraries varies tremendously from council to council. In one council, the libraries have RFID, state of the art OPACs, a million computers and plenty of staff available at help desks. Meanwhile, a mile away, across the borough line, overwhelmed staff are manually processing completed reservation (hold) forms and filing them in tin boxes when they are done covering themselves in black ink from the date stamps. I guess the good news about having low local funding is that there is a better chance of winning the Lottery. Yes, the National Lottery gives a fair bit to libraries!
Within each council the libraries act as a system, performing quick interlibrary loans and the option to return materials at any branch. The council branches also share a single catalog, and there is council management of libraries and council library specialists, technical services etc.
However, until London Libraries, there was no way easy way to find out if a book was held in another council. London Libraries provides a catalog that offers more or less all the holdings in London's public libraries.
Sadly, while readers can locate a material using London Libraries, they will need to place an interlibrary loan reservation and pay the associated fee to request it from another council. Alternatively, the reader could go to the other council and apply for a library card to check out the material directly. According to one librarian I spoke with, the documentation requirement for a library card has recently changed from work/live/study in the council to a broader requirement just to live in London. In other words, I could hypothetically collect the whole set of 33 council library cards. Hmmm, makes me wonder what type of centralization might be coming down the pike...
Note to self: do not collect 33 library cards, or you will collect a lottery-worthy sum of fines.
Note to others: library cards are called library tickets in London.
On volunteers in Libraries Based solely on my inquiries, the London libraries do not use volunteers to help complete routine responsibilities (shelving books, making up labels etc). Given the library funding crunch in many councils, I wonder why? Some reasons may be: fear of further deprofessionalizing library work, UK socialist desire to pay everyone, concern over the management of volunteers... Any thoughts?
Monday, 3 December 2007
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Teen troubles
One thing I've noticed in London is that teenagers are not held in high esteem. One form of teen rebellion seems to be teenagers grouping together in loud, somewhat intimidating bands on the buses and on the street. In the UK, talking and being loud on public transport is against social norms, and this teen behavior draws surprising bitter comments from adults. Even the most liberal adults I've spoken to state flat out that London teens lack respect for other sections of society and that teen misbehavior is one of the most serious problems in the city.
How can public libraries help? Can they offer teen space, teen performance programs, or perhaps adult re-education? An adult reading program based on teen books might awaken those buried memories of life at 15, or bring adults to some understanding of what modern life is like for a teen in the city. So far I haven't seen evidence of teen programs in London public libraries, although teen collections are quite usual, but I'll start looking a little harder.
How can public libraries help? Can they offer teen space, teen performance programs, or perhaps adult re-education? An adult reading program based on teen books might awaken those buried memories of life at 15, or bring adults to some understanding of what modern life is like for a teen in the city. So far I haven't seen evidence of teen programs in London public libraries, although teen collections are quite usual, but I'll start looking a little harder.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Central Library in Poole, the good stuff
The Central Library at Poole is a nondescript part of the shopping mall from without, but lovely and functional inside with a number of notable features:
cafe. Cafes are ubiquitous in public spaces in London, but this cafe was particularly well-placed; located between the teen area and the computer room, not far from the children's area. In fact the whole second floor of the library was remarkably well-designed for a small space and the teens have the best view in the house.
staffed health information center. The integration of other government functions into the library building seems more advanced in the UK. In this case, the National Health Service (NHS) staffs the Healthpoint health information center for some hours each week, and the collection is available for general use at all times. The Poole Book Prescription Scheme is another joint Library/NHS endeavor that encourages health workers to prescribe quality self-help books available through the library.
self-service RFID kiosks that process multiple materials at one time. The pile of materials is placed inside an opening in the kiosk, which reads and updates the entire stack. If the reader owes fines, these can be paid using the kiosk machine. Check out the pictures and details of these Intellident Paragon kiosks. Slight lack of humility in the product naming...
friendly staff. As the kiosks were brand new when I visited, the staff were not only manning a desk in the automated circulation entry/exit hallway, but also actively approaching readers to help them use the kiosks. Staff opinion was not settled on the kiosks, but good humor was being maintained!
Don't expect the Poole Central Library to have a beautiful, image-rich website. Usually subsumed into the borough government's website, public library pages in the UK favor function and accessibility over attractiveness. Perhaps this reflects user preferences in the UK, maybe it is a library budget/resources issue or a lowest common denominator that is enforced across all the government functions - I'm not sure.
cafe. Cafes are ubiquitous in public spaces in London, but this cafe was particularly well-placed; located between the teen area and the computer room, not far from the children's area. In fact the whole second floor of the library was remarkably well-designed for a small space and the teens have the best view in the house.
staffed health information center. The integration of other government functions into the library building seems more advanced in the UK. In this case, the National Health Service (NHS) staffs the Healthpoint health information center for some hours each week, and the collection is available for general use at all times. The Poole Book Prescription Scheme is another joint Library/NHS endeavor that encourages health workers to prescribe quality self-help books available through the library.
self-service RFID kiosks that process multiple materials at one time. The pile of materials is placed inside an opening in the kiosk, which reads and updates the entire stack. If the reader owes fines, these can be paid using the kiosk machine. Check out the pictures and details of these Intellident Paragon kiosks. Slight lack of humility in the product naming...
friendly staff. As the kiosks were brand new when I visited, the staff were not only manning a desk in the automated circulation entry/exit hallway, but also actively approaching readers to help them use the kiosks. Staff opinion was not settled on the kiosks, but good humor was being maintained!
Don't expect the Poole Central Library to have a beautiful, image-rich website. Usually subsumed into the borough government's website, public library pages in the UK favor function and accessibility over attractiveness. Perhaps this reflects user preferences in the UK, maybe it is a library budget/resources issue or a lowest common denominator that is enforced across all the government functions - I'm not sure.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Public Library Flashback - Poole
Just to resolve questions about my sanity, I did not start touring libraries as soon as I landed in the UK. Actually, I took a holiday break in the seaside town of Poole, and everything went swimmingly until the rainy day I went to the mall. And on the top level of the mall, inconspicuous from the outside, was the public library of the future - and boy, was that annoying.
I recently took a course on the design of public libraries, with an international student roster. While the goal of the class was to design ground-breaking public libraries, we were handicapped by our lack of knowledge about international libraries practices. We were ignorant of the best instances of the library of the present, such as this library in Poole. Despite IFLA and other international professional organizations, one big gap in library scholarship and library school education is comparative international studies.
In the process of reviewing each other's work for novelty, we recognized our lack of knowledge of international public library design. U.S. students learned that Australian, British and New Zealand libraries were already integral to the local government, sometimes providing staffed health services and local records. Governments in these countries had studied social inclusion ad nauseum and used the findings in the design of services. Even more exciting to the puritans, some libraries in other countries contained cafes that served wine! Meanwhile, the bold architectural statements and technology of U.S. libraries design surprised students from other countries.
I hope librarians to realize that by learning about other countries we can play leapfrog when designing libraries, instead of painstakingly reinventing old solutions.
Coming up next - so what was in that library in Poole, anyway?
I recently took a course on the design of public libraries, with an international student roster. While the goal of the class was to design ground-breaking public libraries, we were handicapped by our lack of knowledge about international libraries practices. We were ignorant of the best instances of the library of the present, such as this library in Poole. Despite IFLA and other international professional organizations, one big gap in library scholarship and library school education is comparative international studies.
In the process of reviewing each other's work for novelty, we recognized our lack of knowledge of international public library design. U.S. students learned that Australian, British and New Zealand libraries were already integral to the local government, sometimes providing staffed health services and local records. Governments in these countries had studied social inclusion ad nauseum and used the findings in the design of services. Even more exciting to the puritans, some libraries in other countries contained cafes that served wine! Meanwhile, the bold architectural statements and technology of U.S. libraries design surprised students from other countries.
I hope librarians to realize that by learning about other countries we can play leapfrog when designing libraries, instead of painstakingly reinventing old solutions.
Coming up next - so what was in that library in Poole, anyway?
Friday, 12 October 2007
The British Library - Reader Registration
First off, The British Library calls its users "Readers", which is the most elegant answer I've seen yet to the user/patron/customer dilemma. The capital R gives dignity to the library user and puts them on par with the Library Director. The print bias in Reader must be the reason it hasn't been adopted more widely, but print is still used to access all types of materials and Reader is much catchier than Information and Entertainment Seeker.
Ok, so the British Library has great front line service, which I think is down to staffing practices and systems. One system that knocked my socks off was Readers Registration which ran more smoothly than even the UK version of the DMV (which is pretty damn impressive, but off-topic). The lobby has overhead signs, maps and an information desk which point prospective Readers toward the registration room, conveniently located near the toilets. At the entry to the room, there is a reception desk, a number of computer stations to the left of the desk, some round seating poufs in the middle of the room and manned desks around the perimeter of the room.
The person at the reception desks greets prospective Readers, checks that they have the proper id, and sends them over to the computer stations. This person also helps Readers whose cards have just expired (they can get a one day pass) and regretfully informs people without the proper id that they will have to return another day. Apparently there are no exceptions to the rules of the house, so the answers to questions are quite straightforward, although dealing with emotional fallout from rebuffed researchers may not be. If the receptionist is busy or away, as was the case when I arrived, the computer stations are well-signed. It was obvious that I should sit down and start entering my personal information.
Business, personal or academic, as long as you have a research purpose you can become a Reader. The hardest part of the online application process was deciding which research purpose was most valid. After I entered basic contact and affiliation information, the system provided a case number. I guess ideally the case number would be printed out on a little tab of paper, but there are reminders everywhere to write down your number when it is provided. The powers that be must have decided against the pitfalls of using last names for case identification.
So then I sat on a pouf (grey or blue I think, my impression is that everything was done in soothing neutrals), and waited briefly for a desk person to call my number. This registration staff member was excellent, first verifying my research purpose, then discussing the period of my Reader's card and renewal, then taking my photograph and producing the card. The standard Reader's card is valid for 1 year, but librarians who are members of CILIP (more on that soon) get 3 years. Finally, a map was unfolded and the staff member recommended starting my research in the Humanities 2 Reading Room, which has open shelves of Library and Information Science materials. But first, it was explained, I would need to go downstairs and transfer my pencil, paper and wallet into a clear plastic bag, leaving the rest in a locker.
So off I trotted to the locker room, then to the recommended reading room... Well, no, actually.
On my way out of the Registration room, I spied another bank of computers in what looked like a small training area on the other side of the reception desk. No one was in there, but instructions were printed on the wall, and the computers had tutorials explaining how to log onto the Catalog for the first time, use the Catalog to request materials, and requests processing. I love learning new systems, so I followed through the process and quickly realized that materials could be ordered online days ahead of time and would be waiting whichever Reading room was requested. Bliss. Strangely, no one else was in the training area with me. I later learned that this is about to change.
I can't remember the statistics, but The British Library provides thousands of Readers cards each month. Regardless of how great the on-line tutorials are, many of these Readers want personal instruction in how to use the Catalog and the Reading room system (remember, they're not all librarians, or even people with a Meyers-Briggs type of INTJ or something). Readers needing basic instruction have been overwhelming the librarians working in the Reading Rooms, dragging them away from inquiries that require specialist subject knowledge.
Should basic personal instruction be provided by the librarians in the Reading rooms, or should the library staff in the registration room be training Readers? A really familiar question in many libraries! According to the staff I talked to, the matter has been settled (unsurprisingly) in favor of training Readers in the registration room. Of course all kinds of specialist questions will come up during that training, and that registration room was busy during my visit, while some of the reading rooms were not...but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I guess I would recommend that the librarians take turns staffing the training area in the registration room.
Postscript, or how The British Library made me cry:
The Treasures collection in the St. Pancras library building displays the letters of Jane Austen, the Magna Carta, Queen Elizabeth I's instructions etc etc. I goggled at everything indiscriminately. Then my eyes filled with tears when I deciphered the jagged writing of Robert Scott's final journal entry from the expedition he led to the South Pole. The journal ends with the diagonally scrawled words "For Gods sake protect my people".
Ok, so the British Library has great front line service, which I think is down to staffing practices and systems. One system that knocked my socks off was Readers Registration which ran more smoothly than even the UK version of the DMV (which is pretty damn impressive, but off-topic). The lobby has overhead signs, maps and an information desk which point prospective Readers toward the registration room, conveniently located near the toilets. At the entry to the room, there is a reception desk, a number of computer stations to the left of the desk, some round seating poufs in the middle of the room and manned desks around the perimeter of the room.
The person at the reception desks greets prospective Readers, checks that they have the proper id, and sends them over to the computer stations. This person also helps Readers whose cards have just expired (they can get a one day pass) and regretfully informs people without the proper id that they will have to return another day. Apparently there are no exceptions to the rules of the house, so the answers to questions are quite straightforward, although dealing with emotional fallout from rebuffed researchers may not be. If the receptionist is busy or away, as was the case when I arrived, the computer stations are well-signed. It was obvious that I should sit down and start entering my personal information.
Business, personal or academic, as long as you have a research purpose you can become a Reader. The hardest part of the online application process was deciding which research purpose was most valid. After I entered basic contact and affiliation information, the system provided a case number. I guess ideally the case number would be printed out on a little tab of paper, but there are reminders everywhere to write down your number when it is provided. The powers that be must have decided against the pitfalls of using last names for case identification.
So then I sat on a pouf (grey or blue I think, my impression is that everything was done in soothing neutrals), and waited briefly for a desk person to call my number. This registration staff member was excellent, first verifying my research purpose, then discussing the period of my Reader's card and renewal, then taking my photograph and producing the card. The standard Reader's card is valid for 1 year, but librarians who are members of CILIP (more on that soon) get 3 years. Finally, a map was unfolded and the staff member recommended starting my research in the Humanities 2 Reading Room, which has open shelves of Library and Information Science materials. But first, it was explained, I would need to go downstairs and transfer my pencil, paper and wallet into a clear plastic bag, leaving the rest in a locker.
So off I trotted to the locker room, then to the recommended reading room... Well, no, actually.
On my way out of the Registration room, I spied another bank of computers in what looked like a small training area on the other side of the reception desk. No one was in there, but instructions were printed on the wall, and the computers had tutorials explaining how to log onto the Catalog for the first time, use the Catalog to request materials, and requests processing. I love learning new systems, so I followed through the process and quickly realized that materials could be ordered online days ahead of time and would be waiting whichever Reading room was requested. Bliss. Strangely, no one else was in the training area with me. I later learned that this is about to change.
I can't remember the statistics, but The British Library provides thousands of Readers cards each month. Regardless of how great the on-line tutorials are, many of these Readers want personal instruction in how to use the Catalog and the Reading room system (remember, they're not all librarians, or even people with a Meyers-Briggs type of INTJ or something). Readers needing basic instruction have been overwhelming the librarians working in the Reading Rooms, dragging them away from inquiries that require specialist subject knowledge.
Should basic personal instruction be provided by the librarians in the Reading rooms, or should the library staff in the registration room be training Readers? A really familiar question in many libraries! According to the staff I talked to, the matter has been settled (unsurprisingly) in favor of training Readers in the registration room. Of course all kinds of specialist questions will come up during that training, and that registration room was busy during my visit, while some of the reading rooms were not...but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I guess I would recommend that the librarians take turns staffing the training area in the registration room.
Postscript, or how The British Library made me cry:
The Treasures collection in the St. Pancras library building displays the letters of Jane Austen, the Magna Carta, Queen Elizabeth I's instructions etc etc. I goggled at everything indiscriminately. Then my eyes filled with tears when I deciphered the jagged writing of Robert Scott's final journal entry from the expedition he led to the South Pole. The journal ends with the diagonally scrawled words "For Gods sake protect my people".
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
The British Library, Staffing
Here's something that many Londoners don't know - The British Library at St. Pancras in London is a circa 1998 red brick building with reading rooms that look like this. Some people call the library building "The Factory" because of its massive brick facade complete with chimney stack and clock.
On the other hand, The British Library of public imagination is the traditional rotunda Reading Room at the British Museum, which used to house a part of the collection, but is currently full of Chinese Warriors. Check out the British Library's History page to get the full story on the collection and the arduous process of creating a coherent institution from the ink of the British Library Act of 1972.
Enough on what is, and what isn't, The British Library. I want to praise The British Library's front line staff - the people who working at the lobby information desk and the readers' registration center. Why are they so good, you ask? Well, my visits and chats with a couple of people who work there point to staffing practices and well thought out systems.
After the collection was assembled and the library opened in 1998, an staffing shake up took place. Staff were asked to reapply for their positions, and as part of the application took a personality test, the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, and had their participation in a group conversation evaluated by psychologists. I'm not sure whether the results were used to let staff go, to move staff to more appropriate jobs, and/or to indicate the need for training, but action followed. In any case, these evaluations, which reportedly still continue for new hires, demonstrate The British Library's commitment to finding staff that not only provide the best information possible, but make the interaction warm and fuzzy (in a quiet British kind of way).
When I worked in HR at a public library system, our tools for evaluating applicants for front line positions were traditional: a five page application form to be completed manually, multiple face-to-face interviews and reference checks. While the MBTI was ubiquitous at Strategic Planning sessions in the 1990's, the usefulness of the MBTI in helping to hire librarians never came up. Probably the HR world at large figured that librarians were outliers from the more usual types in any case, and unlikely to change.
Since that time, libraries have (mostly) realized that librarians and other library workers need to be perceived as friendly, in addition to being responsive and knowledgeable. That is where the MBTI might come in handy, in evaluating someone's potential to appear unfriendly. The MBTI might also quantify the likelihood of a candidate to be inflexible within an organization, which is a big negative in times of tight budgets and changing collections and services.
Personally, I think the MBTI is best used as a training tool, but I can understand that it may be helpful in supporting hiring decisions - more defensible than the gut instinct of even highly trained interviewers.
Postscript:
To cheer up anyone having issues with their ISP, I'll tell you that during my first visit to The British Library the overhead monitor noted that Internet connectivity was interrupted due to a problem with the Internet Service Provider. A man with various meters and a briefcase computer was sitting at at the base of a pillar in the library lobby apparently wrestling with the issue.
The British Library's Reader registration process is under review in my next post, and I'll let you know which item in the Treasures display made we want to weep. No, it wasn't the Magna Carta...
On the other hand, The British Library of public imagination is the traditional rotunda Reading Room at the British Museum, which used to house a part of the collection, but is currently full of Chinese Warriors. Check out the British Library's History page to get the full story on the collection and the arduous process of creating a coherent institution from the ink of the British Library Act of 1972.
Enough on what is, and what isn't, The British Library. I want to praise The British Library's front line staff - the people who working at the lobby information desk and the readers' registration center. Why are they so good, you ask? Well, my visits and chats with a couple of people who work there point to staffing practices and well thought out systems.
After the collection was assembled and the library opened in 1998, an staffing shake up took place. Staff were asked to reapply for their positions, and as part of the application took a personality test, the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, and had their participation in a group conversation evaluated by psychologists. I'm not sure whether the results were used to let staff go, to move staff to more appropriate jobs, and/or to indicate the need for training, but action followed. In any case, these evaluations, which reportedly still continue for new hires, demonstrate The British Library's commitment to finding staff that not only provide the best information possible, but make the interaction warm and fuzzy (in a quiet British kind of way).
When I worked in HR at a public library system, our tools for evaluating applicants for front line positions were traditional: a five page application form to be completed manually, multiple face-to-face interviews and reference checks. While the MBTI was ubiquitous at Strategic Planning sessions in the 1990's, the usefulness of the MBTI in helping to hire librarians never came up. Probably the HR world at large figured that librarians were outliers from the more usual types in any case, and unlikely to change.
Since that time, libraries have (mostly) realized that librarians and other library workers need to be perceived as friendly, in addition to being responsive and knowledgeable. That is where the MBTI might come in handy, in evaluating someone's potential to appear unfriendly. The MBTI might also quantify the likelihood of a candidate to be inflexible within an organization, which is a big negative in times of tight budgets and changing collections and services.
Personally, I think the MBTI is best used as a training tool, but I can understand that it may be helpful in supporting hiring decisions - more defensible than the gut instinct of even highly trained interviewers.
Postscript:
To cheer up anyone having issues with their ISP, I'll tell you that during my first visit to The British Library the overhead monitor noted that Internet connectivity was interrupted due to a problem with the Internet Service Provider. A man with various meters and a briefcase computer was sitting at at the base of a pillar in the library lobby apparently wrestling with the issue.
The British Library's Reader registration process is under review in my next post, and I'll let you know which item in the Treasures display made we want to weep. No, it wasn't the Magna Carta...
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Shaking the American dust off my feet
Having moved with the times from New York to London, I'm cruising the libraries here - trying to actively observe London libraries before familiarity blinds me. This blog is my notebook of practices that strike me as beneficial (or inexplicable) as I check out public libraries, library associations, and the occasional research or digital library. If this was a BBC production there'd be a theme, but for now I'm led by my interests, the people that I meet, and the vagaries of the London Transport system.
This blog should be useful for library people interested in international practices or in working in London, and may amuse those who are already here in the UK. Please sort me out when I'm confused. I'd also appreciate suggestions for future visits.
This blog should be useful for library people interested in international practices or in working in London, and may amuse those who are already here in the UK. Please sort me out when I'm confused. I'd also appreciate suggestions for future visits.
First up will be big and little; my experiences getting Reader's cards at both the British Library and a tiny storefront public library. Then I'm going to try to come to grips with how public libraries in London are organized, and become a member of CILIP, the British association for library workers. Oh, and I met a person who is involved with digitizing the Old Bailey court proceedings, so I'll have to check that out... stay tuned and I'll post something new every day or two.
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