“I Don’t Get It!”… The Library Manager brushed some stray hair out of his eyes and gave me a perplexed look over his glasses. “I don’t get it” he said, with a sigh that seemed to indicate that he thought he should.

I looked up from my salad, and stopped making notes on my “Official Library Conference schedule and Guide”. So far, the Library Conference had been very interesting, and I was hard pressed to decide which of the great presentations to attend in the afternoon. The food area in the Conference Exhibit Hall was really crowded and noisy, and I could see that many conversations had sprung up between strangers seated, of necessity, at tables together.

“Oh? Don’t get what?” I said with a smile.

He continued. “Our Director said that it is important for us to focus on “pro-active, patron-first” type strategies like roving, to build relationships and all that . But – I don’t get why this is so important right now. I mean – we’re so busy! Our desk is busy, and our statistics show some growth, so I don’t see the need right now.”

I looked at the Library Manager, now seated across from me,  and smiled. “You’re not wrong”, I said. “It’s that kind of economy, when long line ups for library cards, and shortages of public computers are no longer a blue moon kind of thing like they were in the halcyon days before the economy started to slide. Layoffs continue to happen, families are tightening their belts, and many Library patrons have one thing in common; they don’t have access to a computer or resources at home – if they still have a home.”

“But,” I continued, “As we know, things will not continue this way, and may be vastly different in a year or two. To blithely paraphrase a profound Buddhist philosophy…all things pass. And that means the situation WILL turn around, more people will get jobs, they will be able to afford their own Internet or download all the DVDs they want or buy books or ebook readers…and all too frequently, they will drop away from the Library.”

Our conversation continued, and even began to involve a few other Library conference attendees, eating lunch at the table beside us. Their ideas and opinions and those of hundreds of my Library clients are the foundation for the upcoming posts in this blog. My response to this important question, which I have answered hundreds of times since that interesting lunchtime conversation several years ago.

Over the next few blog posts, I’ll address that question, and answer several others about the best ways to Rove, and how to overcome some of the challenges commonly faced by Libraries as they implement this as a service model. Stay tuned!

The intent of this this Blog is to add to the knowledge and insight that you, as a Library Manager or Staff Member need to know in order to understand the importance of proactive services (such as roving) to your patrons, to your profession, to their future and to the future of the Libraries. And, understanding that, learn some of the best tips for roving comfortably and effectively.

I’d just like to share with you today an excellent slide presentation available on “Slideshare”. This presentation by Martha Fuerst, Information and Society  (LIBR 200) San Jose State University, Fall 2010, provides some great context and facts about ” non-traditional” services, including roving, self-help, use of technology and more. I particularly like her use of old and new quotations, and appreciate the extensive list of reference sources for the presentation. Here’s the link: http://www.slideshare.net/MartiFuerst/traditional-vs-nontraditional-service-points-in-libraries?from=share_email_logout2 Enjoy!

As promised, I am posting a few highlights from my experiences visiting three wonderful New Zealand Library systems. In today’s post, I am arbitrarily starting with Christchurch City Libraries – although they were the last stop on my “teaching tour”, they are top on my mind today, perhaps because of the earthquake that occurred in Christchurch around the time of my visit. If courage could be defined as “grace under pressure”, then surely the Management and Staff of the Christchurch City Libraries are very courageous people. The 7.1 earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks they endured in September damaged and in some cases destroyed many older and historic buildings. Most Library branches were closed for 7-10 days while they “re-shelved, repaired and restored”. I was there the day after the “big one” – and let me tell you folks…an aftershock of 5.1 feels like a very frightening earthquake to me! The emotional toll was palpable, but people soldiered on and helped each other in a true spirit of care and brotherhood. My workshops on Pro-active Service and Roving were scheduled to be held just 2 weeks after the quake – and yet the Managers and Staff chose to carry on with the training, as it was a key part of their new service model. Then they had to scramble to find new meeting space, as the Library meeting rooms had all been appropriated for temporary City Council staff offices. In the post-earthquake confusion, with many damaged buildings and businesses closed, Alice Cruikshank, Professional Development and Learning Coordinator and Pat Street, Programmes and Learning Manager found 2 large meeting rooms- one in a Banquet Hall facility and another in a ” private function room” in a local restaurant/bar. All went very well – the training was a hit – and staff felt it also gave them something more positive to think about, rather than earthquakes. I just had to share this picture of the workshop tables we set up next to the bar. Kudos to Alice, Pat and the restaurant staff! (and no – we didn’t sample the liquor at breaks!)
Christchurch City Libraries is a very forward-thinking Library system, constantly innovating to meet their patrons’ needs. I can’t list all their wonderful service innovations and services in this space, so I will focus on some highlights.
Location Location Location: I visited the New Brighton Library and was blown away with its location. It is at/on the impressive New Brighton oceanside pier- in fact you can walk out onto the pier through the Library. Huge picture windows look out at the sea, and there are “Listening Posts” by the windows (comfy chairs with earphones facing outward).
Beyond the wonderful location and features, this Library provides roving reference (as do the rest of the Libraries in the Christchurch City Libraries system). I spotted this useful sign on a Library Reference desk at New Brighton – note the great view! (Double click on the image to read the sign).
Their South Branch Library is another example of forward thinking design. The Library was designed at the same time as the local City Council offices, which were in the same building. What struck me most was that they consulted with the community about the new design, holding meetings and focus groups. What they found out drove the design of the entire building. People didn’t like the way they had to go down separate corridors to find city clerks (to pay a property tax bill for instance), and then find your way through other doors to access the Library. In response, this building is designed as a “community space”. When you first enter, there is an open area. You can see straight ahead of you the is the open concept “RED” cafe, an independent coffee shop. To the left is a service desk for city administrative functions, and to your right is the Library and the Circulation/check-out and Information desk.No walls divide these services. I found that configuration to be very friendly and welcoming. It was easy to see where to go and convenient to have everything in one place. The building is very “green”. It stands on pillars, with water flowing underneath, which moderates the interior temperature, and looks very picturesque – with ducks paddling on the shallow “moat” around the building. There are windows all along the walls, which bring the outdoors indoors. The top and bottom panes automatically open or close to regulate the interior temperature. Adding friendliness to this wonderful space are Library staff who rove throughout the space, ready to serve patrons wherever they need assistance.
At every branch I visited in Christchurch I found many pro-active service approaches. Many staff had already been providing some Roving services, often in informal ways. After the workshops, this has become a fundamental component of their successful, patron-centred service model.

Is this an indication of future roving service to come? In a great article in her blog Library Webhead *, Sharon Clapp describes her positive reactions to the pro-active, roving customer service provided at Apple stores – including instant check-out on the spot with the roving Apple staff member. Sharon speculates on the use of a similar service in Libraries and concludes, “So imagine what this means for libraries. The next big thing won’t just be roving reference, but roving circulation! We’d better limber up & get used to being proactive in our customer service skills, introducing ourselves and offering to help.”

We couldn’t agree more. For those Libraries who have already embraced and implemented Roving and Roving reference successfully we’d like to say, “Congratulations! Well done! Roving Circulation/check out may be a wonderful future enhancement to what you are already doing!” To those Libraries who are considering roving, or have not quite yet made it a fundamental part of their service – “You’re on the right track…but the bar for pro-active service and roving is continually  being raised. You may want to consider picking up the pace a little.”

See the whole article at http://librarywebhead.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-just-roving-reference-roving.html

*Library Webhead is the blog of “a Librarian who focuses on web technologies…She also highlights some of the latest trends in Web development and Libraries.”

By now, most librarians agree that the role of the library is changing, and that e-journals and e-books are poised to turn the library building into study space and librarians into e-sherpas, and many academic libraries have begun moving in that direction. This interesting article appearing in USA Today 06/09/2010,  describes how the Welch Library at Johns Hopkins University is pioneering what I would call a “a radical roving” approach. Two years from now, the medical library at Johns Hopkins, a world leader in medical research, will have realized a “distributed” library model, which the article calls “A library located everywhere, and nowhere.” Not only in the sense that every researcher’s computer can access the library’s website and its vaults of electronic journal articles and e-books, but in that library personnel are embedded in various departments to work with researchers on their own turf. Many Academic Libraries have adopted some forms of this model in the past, however, what’s different is that the Welch Library  ”will be “recycling” much of its print collection, and storing other books offsite; faculty and students will be able to send away for the hard copies via snail mail — like ordering a DVD from Netflix.”

Read more at http://tiny.cc/embedded_Librarians

A bit different than the Roving skills I teach in my workshops. I wonder – How can we support or help this effort? Are there any Libraries “adopting” this project or others like it?
Click here to watch “Library On A Donkey” on YouTube, or copy and paste url:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQMh8_TD2dI  )

Many of our Library clients ask what tools they can use while roving. Here are some interesting and useful opitions:

From Justine Shaffner, the Librarian is IN, comes this from her post New Roving Reference and Assistive Technology Tools:

“Back in the days when libraries weren’t quite so busy, if I didn’t have a constant stream of questions at the reference desk, I’d get bored and start trawling the stacks for people who looked confused.  I was delighted when we got a tablet computer as I no longer had to drag the patron over to a PAC or run between them and my computer for call numbers and answers. Having the internet with me at all times helped a lot when I needed to show the customer searching the art books for Van Gogh’s Starry Night how easily she could find it on Google Images, but while I could see the same catalog interface as our patrons, there wasn’t a way in to the staff side of our materials database.  That put a damper on my speed as quick, powerful searches and circulation functions still had to be done from the reference desk.

So I was intrigued by three of the products in the May/June 2009 issue of Public Libraries. EnvisionWare now has a LibraryPDA(TM) that can evidently do all staff side functions (plus inventory).

And for those of you with a SirsiDynix ILS, there’s Horizon PocketCirc 1.0 with functions similar to the LibraryPDA but with remote access also available, so you no longer have to write down titles and barcodes while checking out books at a school, offsite program or town event.”