WHSLA 2015 CE stipend winner

I was fortunate to receive one of two $500 CE awards through WHSLA earlier this year. I used the funds to help cover costs from the Computers in Libraries conference held in Washington, DC in April which I attended from April 26-29, 2015.

Themes I heard mentioned again and again in one way or another were:

• Don’t assume or presume what users want. Ask them and then give it to them. Librarians think we know what is best for our customers. Often we are wrong.
• Build personal relationships with your customers. Google cannot do that.
• Librarians are great at collaborating, collating, managing, and organizing information. Where in your organization can you play a part?

While there were many stand out sessions and interesting sessions to attend, I wanted to highlight the following. These really stood out and showed me things and ideas I am still thiking about months later.

Super Searcher Tricks and Tips from information guru Mary Ellen Bates

·        Monitor your company/library’s mentions on Twitter. Act on things you can or inform those who need to know.

·        Use other people’s behavior to find relevant material, i.e. search by minimum number of Tweets, retweets, favorites.

·        Google has changed its algorithm to favor websites that are mobile friendly.

·        Use Microsoft Academic for to help identify keywords and prolific researchers in a field http://academic.research.microsoft.com/.

Putting UX into Customer Service from Springshare, designer of LibGuides

·        They also monitor Twitter for mentions of LibGuides and help customers via social media.

·        Anticipate questions and answer them right away instead of just doing what is asked of you.

·        Be sympathetic to your customers.

·        “Setting the Table: The transforming power of hospitality in business” by Danny Meyer was referenced several times during her talk.

·        Be human, show your soul, exceed expectations. Humor is powerful

Keynote - Steve Denning, author of Leader’s Guide to Radical Management

·        The Creative Economy is here. It exists because of the change in mindset brought about by computers and access to information. The Internet created a shift of power from the seller to the customer/buyer. Goal now is to “delight” the customer. Customers are the goal and the focus.

·        Future libraries will not: put all their eggs in applying technology to existing services. It’s time to think of new services. Nor will they build apps for everything or use computers to save money

·        Future libraries will: ask how can we manage continuous innovation in our libraries? Find out what will make things better, faster, and cheaper for our users. Ask what needs could we meet that our users haven’t thought of yet? Keep doing what we already do that people love. Then do more of it.

Thank you WHSLA for the CE award. I was very lucky to receive it.

Sincerely,

Brenda Fay

Aurora Sinai Medical Center

Hurwitz Medical Library

Milwaukee, WI