Home from the Netherlands: Views of TU Delft Library

Home at last... where I have unlimited, free wireless access! I had trouble working with high-bandwidth things like photos while I was away, so I'm catching up now. I just added the photos I'd intended for my previous post. And I have lots more Flickring to do! But for now, I'll show off one more innovative library and promise more to come.

Here's a view of the new library at the Technical University of Delft. The UGame symposium took place on TU Delft's campus, but not in the library. However a few of us were treated to a quick tour between sessions. The library is partially underground -- rather, this grassy hill was built up around the cone-shaped building, the top of which you see here. This design helps with heating and cooling in the building, while giving students a great place to relax "on top of" the library! Just. too. cool.

The enclosed part of the cone that you see here are the top floors of the library, mostly study spaces at the moment.

The ground floors are much bigger, of course. Here's a view looking up into the open top of the cone, and the companion shot looking down from that top floor.

What a Show!

The UGame ULearn symposium was not only a great success, but a great show as well. The keynote speakers both made spectacular entrances. In the morning, Helene Blowers was led into the auditorium by a batch of babes in boas. She then spoke about trends in libraries and introduced the idea of the "library phoenix."


The legend of the phoenix, or firebird, is about a mythical bird that lives for 500 - 1,000 years, then lights a fire in its nest and burns itself in order to be rise from the ashes again and be reborn. The concept of relating this to libraries is one that she and I came up with while talking at the CIL conference last month, and we both based our talks on the idea of "finding the phoenix" for your library. Many libraries are struggling; how long can they continue to exist in their current models. How long can they go on, or should they just allow themselves to be reborn in a new way? What would your library's phoenix be?

I spoke after the keynote in a breakout session, where I posited that you can find your library's phoenix through true marketing: Ask what your patrons what they want your library to be and make your future plans according to a user-centered model. My talk was deeper than this but it's too much to post here right now...

The afternoon keynote was delivered by Father Roderick, a podcasting priest from the Netherlands. He entered the auditorium in grand style, following a choir of chanting, robed monks.
The crowd wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first! It was grand and beautiful beginning to a great talk where Father talked about new media and bringing the church more into the present day (as he does with his podcasts). Though he spoke in Dutch, I could follow enough with the help of his slides to know that he was referring to popular media like Star Wars movies and Johnny Depp. He was wonderfully entertaining, and quite a hit!

More to report on and think about after I get home. I have lots of photos to post too. At the moment I'm still in the Netherlands , today seeing Amsterdam with my good Shanachie friend Jaap. Stay tuned for more...

Speaking in Delft Later This Week

Tomorrow I'm flying off to Amsterdam, and after I take a couple of days to get over my jetlag, I'll be doing a presentation in Delft.

The day-long symposium, called UGame ULearn, is organized by my Dutch colleagues from DOK (Erik & Jaap of the Shanachies) along with Liesbeth Mantel of the Technical University of Delft. They have put together a pretty amazing program.

Here's the home page, although most of you will benefit more from this version that's translated into English!

I'll be talking about libraries and social media and The Phoenix. Whatintheheck is The Phoenix? Stay tuned...

Sign Up for My Workshop at SLA!

If you’re into marketing and want to figure out the planning process, there’s still time to sign up for the pre-conf workshop I’m teaching at SLA on Saturday morning, June 13!

My course is called Create Your Own Customized Marketing Plan to Target Your Info Center’s Clients. Based on the tenets of true marketing, it walks attendees through the process of

+ identifying segmented groups of clients
+ determining how best to reach each group
+ doing basic market research to see what each group wants from your info center
+ delivering what they want
+ evaluating your results quantifiably

It includes some lecture time, plus group discussion and brainstorming. Each person leaves with an outline of a specifc marketing plan to take home and put into action. And it’ll earn you some CEUs.

There’s a link to more info, and to my 3-minute PODCAST about the workshop.

I just wanted to bring this to your attention, b/c if I don’t promote my own program about marketing, well... what kind of marketer would I be?!?

BC Library Conference - Michael Stephens

BC Library Conference - Michael Stephens, originally uploaded by nancydowd.

BC Library Conference 2009-Keynote Professor Henry Yu

BC Library Conference 2009-Keynote Professor Henry Yu, originally uploaded by nancydowd.

I am at the BC Library Conference this week (speaking on Saturday) and heard Professor Yu speak last night. The idea of storytelling is a constant theme in my life and while we are creating stories about our libraries here in NJ this year, next year we'll have the skills to begin helping our customers tell their stories. After listening to Yu I kept thinking we need a structure where people can enter their stories and they can be linked to time line of sorts so they will create a new history of the word. I'm thinking of something like a historwiki. Ideas?

So Much to Blog About; So Little Time

Lots of good stuff has been coming up lately and I've been too swamped to write any decent posts. But rather than keep it all to myself, I'm going to share a few things quickly:

++ Newsweek magazine had a great My Turn dept by a librarian! This is not only a major coup for us, but it's so beautifully written, you gotta check it out!

++ Gale is having a video contest in conjunction w/ National Library Week. You could win $5,0000! Entrants must load their videos to the Librareo group on YouTube (www.youtube.com/group/LIBRAREO) before midnight EST on June 1, 2009. Rules are here.

++ Finally, here's a short, fun video that's a promotion for the UGame, ULearn conference in Delft, the Netherlands on 23 April. I'll be there speaking on marketing in future libraries. (You can use this site to translate the whole page to English.)


UGame ULearn interview Kathy Dempsey and Helene Blowers from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.

Aaron Schmidt releases code for iPhone app under CC

If you were at CIL 2009 (even if you weren't) you probably heard about Aaron's breakthrough app for libraries. He just made the code available!

"If you want to create an iPhone application to search your library’s online catalog (etc), taking a look at the DCPL’s solution wouldn’t be a bad place to start. The code is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license and you can download it at the DCPL Labs website."

Go Singapore!

From ALA ... "The IFLA Section on Management and Marketing, in collaboration with Emerald, has announced the winners of the 7th IFLA International Marketing Award for 2009. First place was awarded to the National Library Board of Singapore, for its winning campaign “Go Library,” a multiplatform project that aims to entice customers to the library.

From the site: "In view of the current economic downturn and the shrinking job market, the library is launching a new initiative called Economic Survivor which is a year-long series of monthly programmes to address the needs of displaced PMETs, retrenched rank and file workers, new graduates and mid-career job seekers.

The programmes aim to teach individuals and households in financial literacy and planning. Small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs will also get to benefit from this series as we strive to educate individuals and businesses about staying relevant and resilient in a downturn market." Great idea, congrats!

The Shanachies Live at Monmouth U

Two of our travelling Shanachie friends, Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van de Geer, appeared for NJ librarians at Monmouth University on Friday, April 3. On that rainy morning, the duo brought their unique combination of library inspiration and instruction to a whole new audience.

They talked about their ShanachieTours around the US, Jamaica, and Australia. And they gave a fun tour of their home library in the Netherlands. (Seeing all they have there always makes me so jealous!)

But their real mission for this presentation was helping NJ librarians learn how to tell their stories by making compelling videos. Jaap talked about different ways to shoot and edit video, and the attendees listened closely and responded with good questions. During discussions about cost, I liked something Erik said: "Good projects always find a budget."

However, video can be done inexpensively, as Jaap explained while talking about the simple cameras he started out with just a few years ago. It's more about creativity than about making perfect films, he assured the audience.


In this photo, you can see that the Dutch guys demonstrated their craft during the presentation; Erik interviewed audience members while Jaap filmed.

The Shanachies appeared in support of the State Library's Tell Us Your Story campaign. Keep an eye on it to see how these videographers' tips inform participants and improve their video contest entries!

The Job Show

From an article in the Washington Post:
"The New England Job Show," a new public cable access production, allows hungry job seekers to record 30-second commercials in a studio at a middle school in Chelmsford, near the New Hampshire state line. Volunteers,all also unemployed, then put the commercials into a half-hour episode that includes discussions on dressing professionally, personal finances and health care options.

Interesting concept.

Jaap visits Madam Marie's

Erik and Jaap of the Shanachies come to NJ, originally uploaded by New Jersey State Library.

Kathy and I got to take Erik and Jaap on their first trip to Asbury Park. It was great to see how excited they were to walk Bruce's boards and visit the Stone Pony. Will be blogging about the amazing things they shared in their presentation later this week ... keep tuned.

Here's some more photos on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njlibraryevents/sets/72157616290853909/