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January 30, 2007
Fellowship
An email I received this week shows the power of social networking sites like Flickr. robotika writes, " I just got an email today about a fellows program named after you. You must be doing some great library work. I love the Darien library flickr site. I am still an MLS student at Simmons but your fellowship makes me want to hrry up and finish! "
The Louise Parker Berry Fellowship was started by George Wyper and the Darien Library Board of Trustees to honor my 25th anniversary as Director of the Library. Emily Weiss is our first Fellow, and her appointment ends in September. We are actively recruiting our next Fellow and are delighted that the word is out in the blogosphere. The Fellowship brings one of the best and brightest recent library school graduates to work in Darien for a two year appointment, working on high stakes projects. We have a relatively stable, small staff, and the Fellowship has brought new ideas to Darien. Emily has an interest in programming and her projects have included the summer reading program for adults, the Darien Community Matters blog, and a very successful Food for Fines drive.
Posted by louise at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2007
So Long Hemingway?
Charlie Barthold sent me this story in the Washington Post today, about the Fairfax County (VA.) Public Library. Fairfax library branches are out of room and are discarding aggressively. Their criteria? Any book that has not circulated in two years, even classics like Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, will be considered for discarding. Space is at a premium and a book that does not earn its place on the shelf loses it.
Charlie thought that I could relate to the article, and I certainly did. We, too, are in a space crunch and now must discard a book for every one that we add. And we too, find books on the shelf that have not found their reader. In reviewing a list of books that had not circulated last year, we found many that certainly merited their glowing reviews, but had not been borrowed. We are now giving those titles a second chance in a special "Be Our First Reader" display.
It has always been a theory of mine that one of the reasons that classics don't circulate is because the library copies are in poor condition. Shiny new best sellers look more attractive on the shelves. Years ago, we spotlighted new copies of classic works of literature in a special display and they did circulate. We will be purchasing more new copies for the new library and are building a special room with attractive displays for the literature collection. The new library will give us the space to make all the core collections of the library as attractive to our readers as the new releases, so that even For Whom the Bell Tolls will find its reader.
Posted by louise at 04:26 PM | Comments (3)
High Expectations
In the last few weeks, we have received a number of compliments about our services. One of our audio book users sent in a contribution to the Annual Campaign with the following note: "It is a blessing to work in a town with such a splendid library and an even more splendid collection of audio books which turn my daily commute from something to be dreaded into my favorite time of the day."
An email today thanked Lois Calka, our head of circulation, for implementing courtesy email notices, advising our borrowers that their items are due in two days, so that they can return or renew and avoid late fees. This grateful user said: "...I applaud whomever initiated this helpful procedure... No wonder the Darien Library has achieved such an admirable reputation as one of the best."
But one that I really reflected on was this: I was loading a computer that I just purchased into my car in front of the library. One of our users passed by and asked: "Are they giving out computers?" After I assured her that it was my personal computer, she said, "Well, they have such fabulous services here, I didn't want to miss out on one of them." That's when I recalled the conversation I had with Tina Albee, of the West Palm Beach Public Library. She told me that their improvements in customer service had raised the expectations of their users. One of our goals here at the Darien Library is to exceed our customers' expectations every day. I am delighted when our users think that the sky is the limit for what we would do for them.
Posted by louise at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)