Nebraska Library Leadership Institute Reunion

Yesterday, the 2010 Nebraska Library Leadership Institute Reunion was held at the St. Benedict Retreat Center near Schuyler, Nebraska. Jamie LaRue, director of the Douglas County Libraries in Colorado, spoke to the assembled NLLI group, telling us about how his library went from being one of the worst in the state to being one of the best in the nation.

His handouts are available on his website.

I took copious notes, typing away on my laptop as he spoke. If you'd like a copy of my full, raw notes (about ten pages, rife with uncorrected typos, questionable grammar, and incomplete sentences), email me at akroeger at unomaha dot edu.

Here's the condensed version. (Yes, I know, it's still tremendously long.) I tried to refrain from inserting my opinions, in favor of making this a summary of what he said.

LaRue started with three lessons from brain science.

1. We are not rational. He illustrated this with a story about a man who sustained brain damage and lost the ability to feel any emotions, the consequence of which was that he was unable to make any kind of decision. When we make decisions, we have a feeling about what's right, and then we arrange the evidence to justify our position.

He gave the following equation for happiness: H = S + C + V

Spelled out, that is:

Happiness = Set Point + Conditions of Your Life + Volunteerism

The set point is a person's baseline. Is someone generally cheerful, no matter what happens? Or always depressed, no matter what happens?

The conditions of life are factors such as whether one was abused as a child, whether or not one is married, etc. The big things that frame our lives.

And volunteer service improves one's happiness, because it has been scientifically proven that it is better to give than receive.

2. We lie to ourselves at a fundamental level. We make up stories to justify our behavior, and then we believe them.

3. Literacy is not natural. For example, reading Chinese triggers the parts of the brain used for images, whereas reading Finnish triggers the parts of the brain used for words. Literacy is one of the most profound innovations in human history. It helps us think smarter.

LaRue then went on to talk about his work with the Douglas County Libraries. He began with a "campaign of shame," telling voters, "We are the worst public library in Colorado. Shouldn't we do something about that?" People agreed. The library won the election by 51%, roughly the same percent of the population that held library cards.

LaRue checked library patron addresses against GIS data and determined that whether they won or lost a particular district correlated strongly with the percent of that district's population that had library cards.

Overall, only 30-50% of the population were library users, which was not enough to win the average election. So they needed to reach people outside the library. They consulted with a socially active women's group that promised they could get an additional 20% of the population to use the library. That group looked over everything the library had to offer and came back with suggestions for graphic design and marketing.

One of the most precious things to every library is its reputation. A library must present a consistent image to its community.

Excluding people who were raised as library-users from childhood, adults become new library users for few reasons, mostly involving major life changes such as a first pregnancy, loss of job, catastrophic illness, starting a business, etc. The main reason a library needs to be consistent in the image it presents is so that people see that image often enough for it to seep into their subconscious. Then, when that major life change strikes, people will remember that the library is an option for assistance.

Marketing is not a survey that asks what the library can do for people. Most people don't know what they want the library to do. They've never even thought about it. A better approach is to ask what people are doing in their lives, or if they weren't doing those things, what they would prefer to be doing instead. Find out the lifestyle changes that are going on in your community, so you can adapt library services to meet the needs people don't consciously think about. For example, want to know when to switch your collection development from music CDs to downloadable audio? Ask about your patrons' internet connections, ability to download large files, and whether they have CD players in their cars.

"Coffee smells like community," LaRue said. Coffee shops in libraries draw patrons. Some people don't like the smell of books--books smell musty, moldy, and acidic. But the smell of coffee makes the library seem pleasant and inviting.

The third most prevalent use of libraries--after checking out books and checking in books--is as neutral ground to meet people. Every type of library serves as a social hub.

When the Douglas County Libraries switched to self-checkout, the circulation clerks were afraid of losing their jobs. The library didn't need a circulation department anymore. What actually happened was, although some circulation clerk positions were lost to attrition, those that remained were transformed into better paraprofessional jobs, complete with pay raises. The former circulation clerks were making displays, doing reader's advisory, and walking around the floor looking for distressed patrons and helping them at the point of need.

With the paras now wandering around answering reference questions, the reference librarians feared for their jobs. What actually happened was that they were freed up to work on larger questions. They went out to meet with business leaders and helped them build a better downtown area. They found the real reference questions that none of the business leaders would even think of taking to the library, and they provided mounds of information to answer those questions. They became indispensable to the business community.

With librarians doing what directors used to do, directors could likewise step up to doing the work the board used to do in the city. Then the board in turn could step up to work more on the state level.

There may be fewer people working in libraries over time, but if we follow this pattern, we should all have better jobs that require more skill, more professionalism, and more intellectual work.

LaRue spoke of the 80-20 rule: 80% of the use is for 20% of the collection. What if 80% of circulation was 80% of the collection? When books were ragged, they weeded them. Anything that hadn't circulated at least seven times in the last year was weeded. They weeded 33% of their collection, and circulation increased by 33%. They try to avoid having any books spine-out on the shelves. Rather, everything is faced out, to draw attention to each individual book. Displays are replenished several times a day (13 times a day at some branches), because that's how fast the books get checked out. At one of the smaller libraries, 60% of the collection is checked out. With such high circulation, they don't need as much shelf space. Effective marketing solves space problems, because a higher percentage of the materials are simply out of the building.

After all of these efforts, the people in the community having library cards went from 51% to 84% of the population. Unfortunately, even with that incredible increase in use, the library still lost the next election. (By only 210 votes!) The hard lesson learned was that use has nothing to do with support. Some users do not support the library. Some supporters do not use the library.

After lunch, LaRue discussed two trends that may transform libraries over the next decade.

The first is rising ebook sales. Ebooks will make up to 20-25% of the total book market by 2012. When 20-25% of the library's collection is electronic, what will you do with all that newly-freed physical space? LaRue had us split into small groups to discuss this question.

My group brainstormed nearly a page of ideas. Our main three were:

1) Diverse community spaces--spaces for large groups, small groups, and individual work--making community.
2) Multi-function kiosks--voter registration, vehicle license renewals, tax help, rapid charging for laptops, etc.--salvation for small libraries.
3) Shorter shelves, spaced further apart, with more faced-out books--improves both accessibility and marketing.

A sampling of ideas from other groups:
- Lease to retail.
- Make space available for public performances.
- Co-branding.
- Partnerships with museums.
- Art center.
- Quiet zones. No cell phone zones. Sanctuary space.
- Theatre room.
- Content creation.
- Realia, such as anatomical models.
- Tech petting zoo

The second big trend that LaRue believes could transform libraries is the self-publishing explosion. Authors are increasingly bypassing large, commercial publishers and publishing through Lulu, Amazon's CreateSpace, etc. Authors make more money per copy than through traditional publishers.

Self-published output is already over two-and-a-half times the mainstream commercial output. Most libraries have little or no self-published content in their collections. We have to change that, or we risk missing the majority of the content produced by our culture.

Libraries could become a part of the self-publishing industry by training writers and helping people create quality content. What if a person could sit down at the library workstation and start writing a book using a book-writing wizard? The book could be edited by members of the community who donate hours of their time. The review board could be made up of people who use the service. (Because libraries rarely buy books that have never been reviewed, having a review board would be important.)

Libraries could be digital repositories for self-published works. Locally self-published titles would be unique to the local library. Even as more libraries embrace shelf-ready processes for traditionally published, mainstream works, building a collection of self-published works would mean increased original cataloging--after all, you're not going to find copy in OCLC for a brand new self-published book by a local author. This could spell a revival for catalogers.

Libraries could network with the self-publishing community through outreach, perhaps even hosting conferences for self-published authors. Generation of quality content takes coaching. Finding a market takes someone savvy enough to increase traffic through the doors and to build an ecosystem in which epublishing can thrive.

After our last break, LaRue talked about the seasons.

Spring was after World War II, when we had the strongest consensus this country has ever known. Everyone was aligned behind common goals. As a culture, we were institution builders.

Summer was the Summer of Love. Institutions were questioned. Doubts were raised.

Fall is the season we're in right now. The challenges to institutions have unraveled them. Everything is 50-50, institutions versus individuals.

Throughout history, the next stage in this cycle has been Winter: War.

We are institution destroyers, but once we've destroyed them, we discover that we can't run society without them. The problem is that institutions don't work without a trustworthy public sector.

LaRue spoke of the need to find advocates--people who love the library, who are NOT librarians--to speak to their organizations and to articulate our messages in language their peers can hear. This is Colorado's Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).

Lastly, LaRue delivered the presentation that his advocates give to their community and business groups. It was very powerful. Several of us were even moved to tears.

The key themes are:

Libraries change lives.

Libraries mean business.

Libraries build community.

Libraries are a smart investment.

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I hope I have captured at least some of the ideas and flavor of Jamie LaRue's presentation to the Nebraska Library Leadership Reunion. It truly was an excellent seminar.

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Addendum 7/8/2010: Even with ten pages of notes, I still missed some details. I received an email from Jamie LaRue, in part of which he gently pointed out my errors: "Incidentally, a few small corrections: there were two elections there. The campaign of shame won by 66%. A second campaign won by 51%. And the ladies who helped us with marketing were a two-woman private firm."

Thank you for the corrections. My apologies for the errors.