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PLA Day 2
March 28, 2008 08:50 AM | Professional OrganizationsRobin DeVries, SELCO - PLA Scholarship Recipient
Winona Public Library
Day 2 at PLA - went to 4 sessions on a variety of topics - some better than others. The first one was on adult programming, which seems to be so hard to do successfully. The speaker was young and enthusiastic. Probably the best advice she had was to forget the failures and keep on programming. I know my first thought when I think of adult programming is that no one will probably come. We need to change our expectations and be more positive.
The second session was a review of two studies as to the effect the Internet has had on library usage. One study surveyed people, the other surveyed libraries. They had different results. Basically, I think that most of our users are also internet users. One statistic that I found very interesting is that people use 2.4 sources when they are seeking information to solve problems. Clearly, the library is the place to go for multiple information sources. We need to emphasize that.
Next was the marketing director for the Queens, NY, library system. He's coming from a very different environment than our small libraries, but there's one thing I really liked. He comes at the challenge of marketing and advertising from a position of power. Seems like us librarians often sell ourselves and our libraries short - we're grateful for whatever we get. He approaches it like, "Of course you're going to support us - we're your library!" Attitude is everything.
Finally, went to a Readers Advisory session. Nothing new there, other than a few different sources for news on new books coming out. I guess it's comforting to know we're covering our bases pretty well so far.
Seems to me that one of the most valuable things of a conference like this is getting energized again. It's working.
