Bókasafnið


Bókasafnið - 01.06.2014, Blaðsíða 90

Bókasafnið - 01.06.2014, Blaðsíða 90
Bókasafnið 38. árg. 2014 90 Changing practice In an age of smooth­talking marketing, most org­ anisations claim a lot more than they deliver in practice. Public libraries are one of the very few org­ anisations who routinely deliver much more than they claim. They usually do not articulate their huge contri­ bution to individual and public wellbeing, but just quietly get on with doing the business. Libraries have always undertaken work as a matter of course which is now dignified with new names and initiatives. The poor man’s university of the nineteenth century has consistently been at the centre of lifelong learning. Libraries were child­centred long before other services recognised children as indi­ viduals with rights. They provided material in alter­ native formats before disability awareness and ran mobile and housebound services when no­one else delivered any outreach. Libraries welcomed homeless people, eccentrics of all kinds and new arrivals from other countries before the invention of the term social inclusion. Libraries have offered participative demo­ cracy and been the hub of local communities for deca­ des, whether through access to ideas or displays of local planning applications. So why do libraries need to change? The main change we seek to support is to move from a largely passive approach to service provision to libraries taking a more active role. Traditionally, libraries focus on the organisation of collections and responding to requests for information. If you ask a librarian anything, they will go to the ends of the earth to help you. This is a wond­ erful service – friendly, knowledgeable and non­ judgmental. But what about those people who don’t ask? Opening the Book research in UK libraries uncov­ ered evidence that the majority of library visitors never ask staff anything. The reader­centred approach asks staff to engage with readers, rather than waiting for readers to ask. It sets out to make all of the collection work harder ﴾not just the latest bestsellers﴿ and to adapt retail solutions to solve li­ brary problems. A reader­centred approach moves the focus from the organisation of collections to how people use books in their lives. After all, the principal aim in any lending library is not to shelve books but to promote them ­ to use the most successful methods to get books off the li­ brary shelves and into people’s homes and minds. The whole point of initiating training is to embed new skills – to change practice. The distinct advantage of delivering online training is that new ways of working are tried out and assessed in the learner’s own library. What doesn’t work can be adapted. The impact is visible for staff and readers. Learners get an under­ standing of the theory behind the approach but, more importantly, experience and apply it personally and so are motivated to make change to the way they do their own jobs. So what’s in it for me? All of our course contents and methodology have been tested and refined with feedback from library staff who use them. The current courses we offer have been shaped in discussion ﴾face­to­face as well as online!﴿ with many librarians. Library managers told us they want to pick and choose to develop specific reader­ centred skills in their staff teams. Skills to Go is a suite of five short, practical courses which can be taken together or separately to develop skills in engaging rea­ ders, creating promotions, merchandising bookshelves, increasing collection knowledge and managing first impressions of your library. Skills to Go is for staff who work on the frontline – the courses are quick and fun to take and the tasks are within the remit of anyone who works in a customer­facing role in a library. Examples and tasks range across all areas of a collection – fiction, non­fiction, audiobooks, ebooks, books for children and young adults. Picture 1. Starting from the Reader "A reader-centered approach gives libraries an important new role at the centre of the cultural landscape."
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