techMETRO

Savvy Advocacy: Keep Your Library Open

It's no secret that libraries sometimes have a hard time figuring out how to market themselves to their communities. And advocacy can be even harder -- whether we're trying to advocate for the library to administrators in a university setting or to the public and elected officials.

I was pleased to see the initiatives at a couple of our public libraries right now. New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library have both implemented splash screens on their websites to alert people to the economic problems facing the libraries. Both are part of a "Keep Your Library Open" campaign that could and should be done by libraries across the country facing similar issues. 

The brilliance here isn't just the use of the website, but rather the lucid and compelling copy writing and the opportunity for visitors to take direct action. Right then. Right there. Visitors are encouraged to either "Contact Your Elected Official" or "Donate" -- both of which can be done in seconds right there on the site. The splash screens also make it clear to people what's at stake if cuts are made to the budgets. For NYPL, they list "Six- and seven-day service; Job search resources; Thousands of programs for children; and much, much more."

Brooklyn Public Library notes that a potential cut of $17.5 million would:

• Eliminate as many as 272 positions -- that's one out of every four full-time employees
• Reduce service to five days a week at most neighborhood libraries -- with limited weekend hours
• Buy 185k FEWER books, DVDs and CDs.

Brooklyn Public Library has also created a Facebook event for today called "Call-In Thursday" to encourage people to "Let your local city council member and Mayor Bloomberg know how important Brooklyn Public Library is to you and your community!"

Queens Public Library also has a a prominently placed message in the middle of their home page to encourage users to help "Save Queens Library." 

I'd love to add more examples of savvy online library advocacy here. Please share links in the comments!

And introducing....

Welcome to the inaugural post of what I hope will be long-running and useful resource for librarians that I work for here in NYC and around the world. All grandiose expectations aside, I really just want to be able to join in on and help amplify what I think are really exciting conversations about the ways new technologies are revolutionizing the way we -- as librarians, archivists, curators, and people -- seek, interact with, and repurpose information. 

But who am I to lay claim to a seat at this table? Let me tell you a little bit about me before we jump into this blog proper. My interest in libraries was piqued back in 1998 when I was fortunate enough to work in the Browne Popular Culture Library and the Music Library and Sound Recording Archives at Bowling Green State University where I was working on a master's degree in American Culture Studies.

Before graduation, though, I launched a nationally distributed magazine (Clamor) and founded a conference for independent media makers (Allied Media Conference). With those plates spinning, I spent the next 7 or 8 years working as a magazine publisher and media organizer before deciding to go back and work on the MLS at the School of Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona -- my "Plan B" from those earlier years. While there, I supplemented the traditional information resources and library science curriculum with work in digital libraries. I was also able to supplement my work with a seat on the advisory committee for my program's Digital Information Management program -- an IMLS-funded program in which I am currently enrolled part-time.

On May 12, I came on here at the Metropolitan New York Library Council as the Emerging Technologies Manager. The position is a new one that combines past responsibilities of the Digital Services Manager (primarily managing and expanding METRO's Digitization Grants Program) with wrangling the simultaneously omnipresent and elusive concept of "emerging technologies" and what they mean to our members. According to the posting for my position, the Emerging Technologies Manager will: 

... strengthen and improve METRO's web presence and interactive capabilities with its membership using Web 2.0 tools and other emerging technologies, and  explore existing and emerging Library 2.0 technologies and their application to library services with METRO members...

I'm game. I hope you are, too. Let's do this.