News from October, 2008

Rachel Gray, Project Librarian

Teaching kids about saving and managing their money needs to start early, but what are some good ways to do this?  There are many books and websites available that give parents tips for raising money-smart kids, and here are a couple of them:

Books

• The Young Investor: Projects and Activities for Making Your Money Grow by Katherine R Bateman - This book introduces children and teens to a variety of money related activities that cover balancing a check book, compound interest, the stock market, and where to go for more information.  It's written for young people to teach them a bit about finances.
• Raising Money Smart Kids: What They Need to Know About Money - and How to Tell Them by Janet Bodnar - Chapters in the book cover everything from allowance, savings, and teenaged employment.  The neatest part for me is the Q&A at the end of each chapter in which the author answers common questions asked by kids.  A great resource for parents!
• The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens: 8 Steps to Having More Money than Your Parents Ever Dreamed Of by David & Tom Gardner with Selena Maranjian - This book looks more at investing in stocks than saving.  It provides guidance for teenagers who are interested in trying out the stock market, and it offers advice in choosing stocks for a portfolio and also in how to manage the portfolio once it's created.  This is written for teens to read and learn from.

Websites

• The Mint from Northwest Mutual Foundation - This website offers games, activities, quizzes and more for students and also offers information for teachers and parents.  Topics covered include earning, saving, spending, owing and much more!  A very interactive and dynamic site.
• Feed the Pig for Tweens - This site is a fun and interactive game that lets kids whack-a-pig to see exactly how easily money can be saved & spent.  This site also offers a teacher's kit for bringing this game and financial education into the classroom. 

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to resources for teaching children about money management and personal finance.  Please share other materials you have used and found helpful!

*Smart Money Connections was produced by KSMQ Public Service Media, Inc. SMARTMONEY is a trademark of SmartMoney. Smart Money Connections is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by SmartMoney (a Hearst SM Partnership and Dow Jones & Co., Inc. partnership), nor does it represent the views or opinions of SmartMoney, Hearst SM Partnership or Dow Jones & Co., Inc. or their respective employees, owners, or affiliates in any way.

Aurora Jacobsen, Information Services Librarian

LaCrescent Public Library recently upgraded some of its older computers by requesting PCs that the city no longer needed. The Houston County News wrote an article lauding the library and city for working together. Not covered in the article is that LaVonne Beach, the library director,  worked with Mike Flores, SELCO PC Technician,  to reuse one of  library's old machines as a donation box, as he wrote on SELCO Librarian blog in September.  I always enjoy it when the community notices the effort libraries put into serving their communities as economically as possible.

Ann B. Hutton, Executive Director

Preston commemorated 100 hundred years of library service with a celebration of the past and a look to the future.  Friends and well wishers attended an anniversary party on Saturday, September 27, 2008.  Board President, Robert O'Reilly, served as the gracious emcee.  

 Ila Mae Olstad, Preston resident since birth and long time library user, shared memories from childhood and thanked the numerous individuals and groups for their contributions.  Ila Mae serves as a member of the Preston Public Library Board, the SELCO/SELS Board of Directors and the SELCO Library Foundation Board.

Former library director, Janene Roessler (1994-2007) chronicled the library's history.  Janene also proclaimed the names of the 14 librarians who have served the community with dedication from 1908 to the present.

As the SELCO Executive Director, I directed attention to the most recent 40 years and the involvement of the Preston Public Library in regional cooperation.  Beth Anderson, current library director, described current library services.  While the adult presentations were informative, the highlight of the event was a special library song sung by some of today's juvenile library users.

Some of the SELCO-Preston highlights:

Preston joined SELCO.

1974

Participating in the newly created interlibrary loan system, Preston borrowed 62 books from other libraries.  It is important to note that in the intervening years the number of titles shared with and by Preston has grown tremendously.  In 2007, Preston borrowed 2,860 items.  Even more dramatic, is Preston's lending record.  It regularly lends more to others than it receives and in 2007 lent 5,466 items to other libraries!

December 1975

Preston was among the first of three libraries to participate in the newly created SELCO children's services programming along with Dodge Center and Lake City.

December 1979

Through SELCO, Preston began offering 8mm and 16mm films for check out.

May 1985

Preston, and 22 other libraries, received SELCO purchased Apple2e computers.  For many this was the first public access computer in the library or the community.

January 1986

Committed to joining SELCO library automation and came an Online Library in March 1987.

1987-1997

Focused on a building expansion project and used SELCO services such as the Space Needs Assessment and Accessibility Access grants from SELCO to define library needs.

1998

Crafted the library's first written technology plan which included moving from limited access on the SELCO automation system to a full participant.



To the present

Library staff members have been and remain active in SELCO programs and services, through the migration to a new Integrated Library System (ILS) in 2003 to today's well connected library which offers new formats such as PlayAways.

Congratulations to Preston on its 100 years of local library service and deep appreciation for the 40 years of regional cooperation!

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Lots of cool events are taking place at our local libraries! 

The G.H. Cachiaras Memorial Library, located on the Crossroads College campus in Rochester, went live with SELCO on Tuesday, June 17, 2008.  Now that students and faculty are back for the fall semester, the library is hosting an open house to celebrate!  The open house will be held on Monday, October 27 from 10 a.m.-noon.  Refreshments will be provided. 

The La Crescent Public Library, ISD #300 Early Childhood Family Education, and Childcare Resource and Referral are collaborating to offer a series of six free Saturday morning workshops designed for friends, family members, neighbors and others who provide childcare, as well as licensed child care providers.  The workshops are scheduled for the first Saturday of the month and will be held at the La Crescent Public Library, 321 Main Street, La Crescent from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m.  The Saturday Morning Story Shop workshops will be centered on a seasonal theme, and all workshops will include refreshments, resource materials, a picture book to take home, a flannel board story and interaction wtih others who care about children.  Registration is limited to 20 people.  To register or for more information, please contact the La Crescent Public Library at 507-895-4047.

The Friends of the Spring Grove Public Library invite you to meet MN author and teacher Lin Enger on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. at the Schmidt House in Spring Grove.  The cost is 25 dollars per person.  Enger teaches writing in the MFA program at Minnesota State University--Moorhead.  His book, Undiscovered Country, is widely popular and available for check-out via the SELCO catalog.  Patrons can also purchase copies of the book for $17 at the Spring Grove Public Library.  For more information, please contact the Spring Grove Public Library at 507-498-5800.

The Rushford Public Library will be hosting An Afternoon with Lorna Landvik on Saturday, November 8 at the Rushford-Peterson School Theatre.  Lorna will be visiting with guests from 3-5 p.m.--there is no admission, but free will offerings will be accepted at the door going towards the construction of a new building.  There will be a silent auction where guests can bid on a chance to have supper with Lorna from 5-7 p.m.  Six lucky individuals will get to dine with Lorna!  For more information, please contact the Rushford Public Library at 507-864-7600.

The Stewartville Public Library is hosting the Minnesota Crime Wave on Saturday, October 18 at 2 p.m.  Please click here for the program poster and here for the publicity sheet for the group.  The MN Crime Wave consists of three Minnesota mystery writers -- William Kent Kruger, Carl Brookins, and Ellen Hart.  The authors will be talking about their books, will have books for sale, and will be autographing books for mystery lovers!  This program is sponsored by Yaggy Colby Associates.  For more information, please contact the Stewartville Public Library at 507-533-4902.

Jonya Pacey, Help Desk Manager

At the last Technology Users Group, I demonstrated how we are now able to rearrange the columns on a couple of reports that everyone uses on a daily basis.  We have had four libraries respond, asking us to modify either the Notices for Review List or the Request Pull List, or both of them. This will save staff time since the changes made within the tables of the system are permanent. Staff will not have to go in each day and rearrange the columns to suit their needs - changes made on the client side do not stick but have to be redone each day.

 I hope more of our Online Libraries will take advantage of this opportunity, either now or when it is convenient to them. Information about this can be found in the "Did you know Horizon could do that?" document found on this page. It's very satisfying to be able to help streamline someone's workflow.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

First, apologies to Dodge Center Public Library for taking so long to get a post onto SELCO Librarian about my visit there on  August 26, 2008.  It truly was a privilege to visit with Angie Meyer, the director, and to find out what was happening at her library.  The day I visited was a fairly typical Tuesday afternoon.  The public access computers were all in use and people were coming in and out to check out or return library materials.  The place was certainly alive with activity.

The library is quite a nice space with plenty to offer Dodge Center patrons.  There is a meeting room located near the front of the building that community members can use.  The children's area is large and contains a large collection of materials for children.  The staff at Dodge Center Public have large work area located behind the information desk so that they have a place to work on cataloging or other projects.  The adult area is large and contains a number of seating areas for patrons.  One of the features that I truly liked were the custom-made shelving units which went on the end of the larger stacks and held DVDs and CDs for easy access.  For more pictures from my visit, click here.

I wanted to thank Angie Meyer and her staff for allowing me to visit the Dodge Center Public Library.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

SELCO has partnered with KSMQ and AmeriCorps to bring Clifford the Big Red Dog to eight public libraries in Southeastern Minnesota.  The Family Book Event series is a three program series that was spearheaded by KSMQ Public Television, SELCO, and the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation-AmeriCorps LEAP members.  Together, the groups are working to support families and children reading together at home, at the library, and at schools.  Program #1, the kick-off program at each location, features Clifford the Big Red Dog.  Families are able to take pictures with Clifford, enjoy the special Parenting Counts program for parents/guardians, and the kids are able to participate in a fun activity with the AmeriCorps members.  The second and third sessions will continue the focus on social and emotional development. 

To view pictures from the first five events, please click the below links:

• Spring Grove Public Library -- October 2, 2008
• LeRoy Public Library -- October 2, 2008
• Cannon Falls Library -- October 9, 2008
• Wabasha Public Library -- October 11, 2008
• Preston Public Library -- October 11, 2008

If you missed Clifford at the above locations, you still have three chances to see him and get your picture taken!  Please see the schedule below for options:

• Dodge Center Public Library -- Thursday, October 16 @ 6:30 p.m.
• Austin Public Library -- Saturday, October 25 @ 10 a.m.
• Stewartville Public Library -- Saturday, October 25 @ noon

Spring Grove Public Library Director Milly Halverson and her granddaughters pose with Clifford.

Rachel Gray, Project Librarian

In prepping for this blog post, I ran across a wonderful article on the University of Wisconsin Extension website that did a great job of addressing saving moneyyou're your child's college education.  "Money Matters: Time to do your homework on many options for college saving" by Michael Gutter talks not only of 529 savings plans, but also talks about prepaid tuition.  Prepaid tuition allows you to pay for college credits at today's rates for classes in the future.  This could be a better option that investing in financial markets since tuition has gone up more than 10% in the last decade which outpaces the rates of returns of most investments.  This kind of plan is not available at all colleges and universities, but it may be a good thing to ask about when you start thinking about college savings for your kids. 

Tune into this week's Smart Money Connections* program on Wednesday evening at 6:30 to find out more ways you can save for your children's college education.

KSMQ & SELCO value your opinion of this program.  Please take a few minutes to fill out a short survey and we'll mail you a 1 GB flash drive for your time!

*Smart Money Connections was produced by KSMQ Public Service Media, Inc. SMARTMONEY is a trademark of SmartMoney. Smart Money Connections is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by SmartMoney (a Hearst SM Partnership and Dow Jones & Co., Inc. partnership), nor does it represent the views or opinions of SmartMoney, Hearst SM Partnership or Dow Jones & Co., Inc. or their respective employees, owners, or affiliates in any way.

Aurora Jacobsen, Information Services Librarian

Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport of the UK has touched off a national conversation about the role of libraries in serving their public. I'm fascinated by the discussion that's occurring, as I often feel conflicted about the role of libraries myself. I saw this reflected in the public I served as a public librarian, too. Many of our patrons really wanted to still be able to find a quiet spot to escape the noise or activity of a busy home life, especially when they were using library resources for research or homework. (Yes, we had plenty of people that still used the library for research.) At the same time, I know many of our preschool mothers were so appreciative of the fact that they mostly got understanding smiles when their children acted like, well, young children and cried or  tried to play hide and seek in the stacks. Serving both types of patrons is ideal but not always practical.

The first article describes Burnham's plan. The second article is in defense of the library as a quiet place.

Michael Flores, User Technology Manager

As some of you may already we have had to switch pc vendors from Gateway to Dell.  This was due to the fact that Gateway was having problems on their manufacturing end that was holding up five of our pc projects.  We tried to work with them, but there was no solution in sight for the near future.  Therefore we have switched our PC vendor back to Dell.  Making this switch has come with its price, as we have had to start new vendor relations and get new system specifications from Dell.  As well as update and re-write some of the leasing contracts we are putting into place for the PC Leasing Value Added Service.  We have been able to get systems and complete the Summer 2008 PC Purchase.  We will be doing a Fall 2008 PC Purchase still to come with deployments completing by end of the year.  This purchase again has been held up by making the change from Gateway to Dell.  The Winter PC Purchase order form that would normally go out on December 1st will instead go out on January 1st.  We will make this our new cycle as we feel this will work better with your annual budgets.  So in the future the computer systems purchased through the quarterly Cooperative PC Purchases and the PC Lease Value Added Service will be coming from Dell.  We appreciate all of you for being patient on this as we have been making this change.  If you have any questions or concerns about this please feel free to contact me with your concerns.

Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian

Since March 2008, the ILS Operations & Technology Policy Joint Committee has been looking at new web-based catalogs to replace the Horizon iPAC.  We have a number of objectives:

• Provide more powerful search capabilities for patrons
• Provide better information delivery tools for patrons
• Provide a more elegant interface for patrons
• Extend the life of the Horizon ILS

For more background on next-generation catalogs, why we are interested in one, and our process up to September, I will refer you to presentations I made at the Technology Users Group meetings in May and September (respectively):

• Beyond the OPAC (PPT, 144 KB)
• Next Generation Catalogs for SELCO (PPT, 138 KB)

Go ahead and look at them.  I'll wait.

At their September meeting, the joint committee had a lengthy discussion of the demos we saw for the three catalogs under consideration:  Endeca, AquaBrowser, and MasterKey.  They presented an interesting set of strengths and weaknesses:

Endeca is not a catalog, per se.  It's a search engine that you embed in your webpage.  It can be used to search any structured database.  A handful of libraries have used it to search MARC databases but Endeca customers also include John Deere, Barnes & Noble, and Winona-based Fastenal.  To use Endeca, you program it to understand your particular database and then create a webpage (also called a Discovery Layer) that your customers will use to access it.  Endeca provides tools and expertise to help but make no mistake about it--you are designing your catalog almost from scratch.  Based on the implementation process used by Phoenix Public Library to create their Endeca-based catalog, we estimate that it would take one to two SELCO programmers working full-time for 18 to 24 months to create a catalog using Endeca.

Of the three catalogs we looked at, AquaBrowser is the closest to a conventional library catalog in that it comes out of the box complete and (almost) ready to use.  Since it is a stand-alone catalog, it also has to be programmed to search your database.  Unlike Endeca, however, it was designed specifically to search MARC so the more basic work is already done.  It also comes with an interface.  It's HTML, so you have a lot of freedom to modify it but you don't have to create it from scratch.  Based on information from other AquaBrowser implementations, we estimate that one SELCO technician will need to work part-time for 4 to 6 months setting up an AquaBrowser catalog.

MasterKey is somewhere in the middle on the "use-it-out-of-the-box" vs. "do-it-yourself" spectrum.  It's actually a federated search application, designed to search multiple databases in a library.  With MasterKey, for example, you could make it possible for your patrons to search your MARC database, subscription research databases, and the Internet all at the same time.  Thus, the basic function of a catalog is there.  Since it was not designed as a full-fledged catalog, however, some tweaking of the basic interface (also in HTML) is needed.  Based on information from LibLime, who markets MasterKey, we estimate that one SELCO technician will need to work part-time for 12 months setting up MasterKey.  Unlike the other two catalogs, MasterKey is an open source application.  LibLime does not sell MasterKey, per se.  They sell a version that they have modified to make their own.  They also earn revenue helping libraries maintain the software.

At the September meeting, everyone agreed that we were not quite ready to make a choice.  Something was missing:  patron testing.  More on that tomorrow in Part Two of this post.

Rachel Gray, Project Librarian

One of the best perks about having money taken out of your paycheck for a 401(k) or 403(b) investment plan is that you are taking out pre-tax dollars.  This is good because it helps your money go farther.  But what are the implications of this later? 

Taxes can be a very thorny issue, but it can be very rewarding in the long term to research and take advantage of putting your pre-tax money away towards your retirement.  Tune in to Smart Money Connections* on KSMQ at 6:30 for the live broadcast, and follow the webcast at 7:00 this Wednesday.  We'll address any questions you may have when trying to untangle this thorny subject!

KSMQ & SELCO value your opinion of this program.  Please take a few minutes to fill out  a short survey and we'll mail you a 1 GB flash drive for your time.

*Smart Money Connections was produced by KSMQ Public Service Media, Inc. SMARTMONEY is a trademark of SmartMoney. Smart Money Connections is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by SmartMoney (a Hearst SM Partnership and Dow Jones & Co., Inc. partnership), nor does it represent the views or opinions of SmartMoney, Hearst SM Partnership or Dow Jones & Co., Inc. or their respective employees, owners, or affiliates in any way.

Tyler Irvin; Project Librarian 

SELCO was the successful recipient of a 2008 LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) entitled Community Libraries as Online Partners. The purpose of this grant is to bring the collection of the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library (CBBMLL) into our iPac.  They currently have 33,498 item holdings in their online catalog which is only a subset of their card catalog.  In addition to those items, there are approximately 1000-1200 boxes of material stacked on top of their filing cabinets.  The contents of these boxes are largely unknown.  The driving factor behind this change from their system to adding into SELCO catalog is their Insignia system is no longer supported by the vendor.  Also, their Insignia catalog was set up in such a way that, while viewable, any ordering had to be done by making a phone call or writing an email.  It is our belief that by merging their catalog into SELCO's fully-functional Horizon iPac (which is linked to MnLINK and OCLC), their circulation will increase.

The first step in our process was to map and move the data from the Insignia database to an off-line Horizon one.  We have hired two full-time and three part-time catalogers to clean up and supplement the converted records.  The other major facet of this project is the collection of mystery boxes.  To begin the process, 250 of the boxes were moved to the SELCO building.  CBBMLL temporarily lent us one of their employees to start organizing the material and give us a process to continue.  Learning from the experience of their employee working here, we now feel confident in hiring an employee to work part-time on sorting out the material in those boxes.

We really believe that this will be a worthwhile endeavor the CBBMLL, the library community as a whole, and the world of brass bands.  This music is just such a find!  We've currently been unable to locate any other library that houses and lends out music for brass bands in a playable format.  Most collections we've found either bind their music or store it in archives.  Of course, this means that we've also had to create a system for cataloging the music and how to handle the items.  It was a bit tricky at first, but I now believe we've got all of that well in hand.

Cataloging sheet music is just so different from regular cataloging.  We never quite know what we're going to find, especially as some of the pieces are 80-100 years old.  Some of the titles are amusing, shocking, or  clearly from a different time (especially those with racial context) but the amusing ones just make it worthwhile.  Our favorite so far has been, "Lookie, Lookie, Wolf Boy!: A calypso"

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Check out this cool opportunity for teachers and students!!

The Minnesota History Center in St. Paul will be hosting History Day @ Your Library on November 12, 2008 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Metronet, MELSA, and History Day are joining forces to present a conference-style workshop to help teachers and students effectively use library resources.  Participants will learn about the steps of a History Day project and how it differs from the ordinary research project.  Eight break-out sessions on finding and using library resources, locating online primary sources, collaborating with your local libraries, using the Research Project Calculator, making the most of a library visit, and more will provide tools and tips on making History Day a success for students, teachers, and librarians.  A special panel of "Individuals in History" will highlight the day.

Lunch, parking, and museum admission included in the $40 registration fee.  Register by November 3 at metrolibraries.net.  Questions?  Email info@metronet.lib.mn.us. 

REGISTER EARLY!  SPACE IS LIMITED!

For more information and to view the program flyer, please click here.

Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian

In a post last week, I wrote a bit about the different catalogs under evaluation by the ILS Operations & Technology Policy joint committee.  After analyzing the different catalogs to the best of our ability, the committee decided to let library patrons have a crack.

Each vendor was asked to provide two links to catalogs that they felt were the best implementation of their product.  We took this step.  We took this extra step because all three catalogs are heavily customizable by libraries; the choices those libraries make can make a huge difference in how the catalog is perceived by patrons.  Here are the links we got:

Endeca:

• Triangle Research Libraries Network
• Phoenix Public Library

MasterKey:

• Central Pennsylvania Libraries

AquaBrowser:

• Columbus Metropolitan Library

• Old Colony Library Network

Armed with these links, each library represented on the committee conducted patron testing.  We chose to keep the process decentralized:  each library was free to conduct testing as they saw fit.  Some asked patrons to try out all the catalogs.  Some had patrons focus on one catalog and provide in-depth feedback.  Some asked patrons lots of questions while others let the patrons do their own thing and observed the outcome.  All the libraries documented their process and results.  And all put a lot of thought into their methodologies.  There were some great, in-depth email conversations between committee members discussing various approaches. 

At the October meeting of the joint committee, everyone brought their documentation and we had a wide-ranging discussion.  Results varied but a number of points seemed to come up repeatedly:

• Patrons really liked the Endeca catalog as implemented at Phoenix Public Library
• MasterKey was seen as lackluster pretty much across the board
• Patrons either really liked or really disliked the AquaBrowser Constellation.  There wasn't a lot of middle ground.
• Among patrons who liked the Constellation, there was a lot of serendipity and exploration in the searches.  Committee members had differing opinions on whether this was desirable.
• Best quote from a patron came from students at Rochester Public Schools upon seeing the Constellation:  "Let's get to the end of it!"

At the risk of oversimplifying the discussion, it really came down to a basic question:  "Is Endeca better than AquaBrowser by such a degree as to justify the much greater cost and staff time required for an Endeca implementation?"  In a roll-call vote, the committee decided unanimously to recommend that the SELCO Board of Directors authorize the purchase of AquaBrowser for the new SELCO online catalog. This recommendation will be considered at the October Board meeting on October 28, 2008.  The results of this meeting will be posted to the News section of the SELCO website.

I would like to encourage other committee members to post their own thoughts and observations on the catalogs and our selection process to the comments for this post.

Rachel Gray, Project Librarian

What retirement means has changed with each generation.  Our parents and grandparents pretty much see it as an end point; they've put in their working time and now can enjoy traveling and relaxing.  Those of us in Generation X & Y generally see retirement as a time to shift gears and try new things - either with a new career or giving back to our communities by volunteering and the like.  I for one do not expect to be able to stop working all together, especially with the shape Social Security is in.

There are many resources out there to help us wrap our minds around what retire will mean to each of us as individuals.  A blog I follow (Generation X Finance) has a great list of  20 books to help put retirement options in perspective.  These books do not look just at the financial and investing sides of retirement, but rather help readers see different lifestyle choices and how to refocus life-goals for their golden years. 

Smart Money Connections* will be addressing these issues on Wednesday, Oct. 29th broadcast at 6:30 and also during the 7:00 webcast.  Tune in and participate to get your questions answered!

KSMQ & SELCO value your opinion of this program.  Please take a few minutes to fill out  a short survey and we'll mail you a 1 GB flash drive for your time.

*Smart Money Connections was produced by KSMQ Public Service Media, Inc. SMARTMONEY is a trademark of SmartMoney. Smart Money Connections is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by SmartMoney (a Hearst SM Partnership and Dow Jones & Co., Inc. partnership), nor does it represent the views or opinions of SmartMoney, Hearst SM Partnership or Dow Jones & Co., Inc. or their respective employees, owners, or affiliates in any way.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

We are now working on an exercise where the participants are talking about what challenges they foresee for libraries taking on buzz marketing?  Here are the responses (they are being written down on the white board):

• Staff
• Same message
• Tried that before and it didn't work
• Time
• We've already tried that before
• Evaluation/outcomes
• Endpoint, transition to the next thing
• Answers for negative attitudes
• Consistency plan
• Sensitivity to listener about message
• Follow-up
• Have to be precise with your message
• Money/Resources
• Get over negativism
• We've never done it before
• Enthusiasm
• Staff--some better messengers than others
• Which of the 500 things do you want to start with?
• Deciding who your target audience is
• Shyness
• Competition with other local groups
• Apathy
• Staff
• Same message
• Tried that before and it didn't work
• Time
• Too much telling people already
• Uniqueness
• Correct advertisement by local newspaper
• Getting the right focus--not too narrow, not too broad
• Population that changes frequently
• Competing with electronic devices as well as using them
• Diverse cultures and languates--especially with the language barrier
• The "buzz" gets stale fast
  

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Now Judy and Denise are up to talk about Buzz Marketing!!   They were introduced to Buzz Marketing or Word-of-Mouth Marketing through a LSTA grant, and they opened the grant up to all types of libraries.  What is Buzz Marketing?  Well, it's talking to people and getting them to talk to others--and it's FREE!!  It's something libraries can afford to do.

Studies show that face-to-face promotion is the best way to get people's full attention about something.  We see 200-1,000 sales messages a day, everything from Ice Mountain to Caribou Coffee to billboards to computers--what's going to influence you more?An ad or the face-to-face contact?

Everyday examples of buzz marketing -- restaurants, movies, politics, book reviews, Oprah Book Club books.

Here are some ways to get others to spread the word: 

• Have a remarkable product or service and know what to say about it
• Create a message that's easy to spread
• Do something creative
  

Who are the influencers when it comes to Buzz Marketing?  Enthusiasts, eager volunteers, "famous people", decision makers, innovators, constructive complainers, and library defenders will all influence the process in a good way.  We are doing a group discussion--I'll post more in a bit.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Why, I decided to live-blog from the "What's the Buzz" Marketing workshop!  Woo hoo!  Mark Reidell is here at SELCO today to discuss why it is good to publicize the need for a marketing plan.  Mark will be one of the two consultants that will be available for marketing questions during the Special Consultants Project.  Mark's presentation will be available via the web after the presentation.  Here are some introductory facts about PR & Marketing:

• PR/Publicity means marketing, branding, positioning, communications, public relations, publicity, advertising
• Researching your needs is very important!  Test the waters so you can identify the market to reach.  That way you can decide what types of things you can market.  Be self analytical with your ideas.  Understanding your audience is key.
• Branding, or using consistent logos, colors, tag lines, and fonts, is something that appeals to people. 
• What can good PR initiatives get you?  More traffic, more usage, more resources, stronger advocates, energized staff, greater customer satisfaction

When you are planning for your events, always think backwards!!  Here is a list to follow when planning for your events:
10.  Room set-up, refreshments, AV equipment -- 1 to 2 days prior
9.    News releases distributed -- 1 week prior
8.   U.S. Mail, email announcements sent -- 2 weeks prior
7.   Handouts, poster distributed, posted on web -- 3 weeks prior
6.   Materials sent to the printer -- 4 weeks prior
5.   Final content and design approval -- 5 weeks prior
4.   Content and design reviewed, edited -- 6 weeks prior
3.   Content and design work commenced -- 7 weeks prior
2.   Event planning meeting (tasks & timeline set) -- 8 weeks prior
1.   Presenter/author availability confirmed -- 10 to 12 weeks prior

Poor planning can get you unrealistic expectations, stress, late mailing, lack of coordination, and mistakes (usually typos).

Great stuff about PR and Marketing!!  Now on to Judy and Denise's portion of the workshop!  Can't wait!

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

On October 17, 2008, I had the opportunity to visit the Kenyon Public Library in Kenyon, MN.  I met with Linda Barsness, the Library's director and also got to meet two of her staff members, Barbara Bonde and Erin Vieths.  The library is located in the main City Hall building within the business district of Kenyon.  The library itself is a nice bright space and the ever important but often missing STAFF WORKROOM!  The children's area is located at the back of the library with a nice mural with storybook characters painted on the wall.  There is also several seating areas for patrons and public access computers available as well.

On Fridays, the library has storytime for children in the morning.  I was able to witness a great storytime with the topic of dinosaurs on the schedule the day I visited.  Barbara Bonde did a great job of incorporating books, music, dancing, and crafts into her storytime and even had a "dinosaur egg" that was about to hatch.  Take a look at the photos on Flickr to see this and other photos from my trip that day (including a wonderful photo of a dancing library director!)

I always enjoy my visits to our member libraries and continue to work hard and getting out to our libraries.  If I haven't been to your library yet please don't worry; I'll be calling or emailing you in the near future.  Then you too can have a "Visit" posting on the SELCO Librarian blog.

Thanks to Linda, Barbara, and Erin for a great visit!

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Clifford the Big Red Dog made visits to eight SELCO public libraries participating in the Family Book Event program during the month of October.  Over 650 adults and children attended these programs--woo hoo!!  Thank you, Clifford!!

Preston Public Library Director Beth Anderson poses with Clifford.