Description

In the 21^st century, libraries have had to share their role as the primary institution for information provision with several technological rivals. In 2005, a study by the non-profit computer service and research organization OCLC showed that search engines have superseded libraries as a primary source of information.[1] Google, Barnes & Noble and Amazon are strong competitors for libraries; a vast amount of information is available 24/7; it is sometimes well-organized and easily retrieved. What can libraries offer that people do not find on Google? Will libraries still be viable in the future? In order to play an important information retrieval role in the future, libraries must focus their services more strongly on the needs and desires of the libraries’ customers. This enhancement is not only necessary in the provision of content, but also in the availability of technical equipment and appropriate physical environments. Library staffs have started to emphasize libraries’ role as the information gateway for people seeking authenticated information. Library strategies for retaining and enhancing their customer base include: becoming the community center, becoming a center of excellence, providing technology and expertise, providing innovative service models and capturing funding and recognition through advocacy and marketing.

^{The Community Center}

In his bestselling book Tribes, author, blogger and marketing expert Seth Godin argues that the Internet has revived a human social unit from the distant past, the tribe – i.e. a group of people connected to each other and to an idea. The elimination of the barriers of geography, cost, and time fostered new communication channels such as blogs and social networking sites, which help existing tribes to get bigger. At the same time, the author emphasizes that people still crave a place where they belong, where they feel accepted and welcome, a place where they meet people with similar interests. They seek a place where they are noticed and where they are missed if they are absent.[2] The library can provide such a place, being an anchor and a social haven. This is of particular importance in a society where personal contacts grow broader but at the same time shallower. Many people in the Western world live in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, in a state of unprecedented alienation while being highly connected and electronically accessible. “We were promised a global village; instead we inhabit the drab cul-de-sacs and endless freeways of a vast suburb of information,” as the Canadian columnist Stephen Marche puts it. The decrease in confidants – that is, in quality social connections – has been dramatic over the past 25 years. In a U.S. survey, the mean size of networks of personal confidants decreased from 2.94 people in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004. By 2004, 25 % of Americans claimed they had nobody to talk to, and 20 % had only one confidant.[3]

A place like the library offers a sense of “being”, something that neither Google nor online book shopping can provide. The library can offer comfortable seating and an environment that fosters tranquility and contemplation as well as inspiration and intellectual stimulation; in other words, a sense of community. For this reason, newer libraries have different spaces with different designs, customized to the needs of various user groups.

Cerritos Millennium Library in Orange County, California, bills itself as the “Wow” library with a “cruise ship mentality” (Charles Walton Associates, 2002). The children’s area includes an aquarium, interactive screens, a lighthouse, a large Tyrannosaurus Rex and a banyan tree. Furnishings throughout the building vary from Mission style to Art Deco. Going to the library is experiential. The longer one stays, the more one uses the goods and services. This concept, which takes its cues from nearby Disneyland and regards entertainment as a part of the contemporary library’s job, has generated many new library users: In the library’s first six weeks of operation in 2002, attendance went from 58,770 to 185,765 compared to the previous year; library cards issued grew from 792 to 5019 and circulation increased from 84,372 to 136,286.[4]

At Cerritos Millennium Library in Cerritos, Orange County, California, Charles Walton Associates, 2002, the children’s department features a lighthouse, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a story-telling banyan tree. Furnishings throughout the building vary and use a variety of styles. The Old World Reading Room features wood paneling and is decorated accordingly.

When considering new directions in library concepts, the New Jersey State Library staff studied the Umpqua Bank Innovation Lab model in Portland, Oregon. In this locally founded and community-based bank, ceiling-to-floor windows provide daylighting everywhere and create transparency. There are café tables with wireless computers, touch screens showing customer-generated scenes of the community, merchandise of local vendors on display, a community information chalkboard, a computer bar with a live “bartender” with free advice and coffee plus many, many meetings and programs for residents. All this is offered to start community conversation. Umpqua Bank creates a sense of community that keeps members coming back and investing in the bank.

The Umpqua Bank in Portland, Oregon, has reinvented retail banking with a design-conscious environment. This branch is a community gathering spot to enjoy coffee, music, even Wii competitions.

Libraries have engaged in worthwhile partnerships. The lobby of the Salt Lake City Library in Utah (Moshe Safdie, 2003) has community businesses and non-profit spaces on the right and library spaces on the left. The Amsterdam Public Library OBA (Jo Coenen, 2007) offers a full-service restaurant. The library in Gainsville, Florida, offers the “Library Partnership”, providing space for a rotating network of about 30 agencies that work on family services. The library in East Brunswick, New Jersey, issues passports, and the Camden County Library, also in New Jersey, opened a branch at the local shopping mall. There are pop-up libraries, libraries in housing projects and mobile technology libraries, such as the Pike County Public Library District’s Mobile Center library in Kentucky.

The Urban Room, the breathtaking lobby of the Main Public Library in Salt Lake City, Moshe Safdie, 2003

Many New Jersey libraries have special areas for targeted guests, usually teen spaces. In Old Bridge, however, a part of the library was restructured to offer attractive spaces for active older adult and senior guests. It includes a conversation circle with rocking chairs and large touch screens easily used by the visually impaired. There are large-print books and digitizing devices for vinyl records. Specific programs for senior citizens such as Scrabble and Bridge are run by senior volunteers in their own program room.

In Old Bridge, New Jersey, a part of the public library was refurbished to create attractive spaces for senior visitors with comfortable furniture

Concierge and reception areas, well-established in the hospitality industry, have been introduced in some libraries. ImaginOn in Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, has a welcoming concierge desk (Holzman Moss Bottino with Gantt Huberman Architects, 2005). Many libraries like the East Brunswick Library in New Jersey have small, moveable desks for “hip to hip” information services where staff and guests can view screens together and hold convenient consultations.

At ImaginOn in Charlotte in North Carolina, Holzman Moss Architecture with Gantt Huberman Architects, 2005, the entrance is given a sculptural presence. The check-out desk is reminiscent of a hotel reception, thus underlining the impression of hospitality

“Trading Spaces” was a project that started at the Mt. Laurel Public Library in New Jersey. The library received U.S. $ 15,000 each from the regional library cooperative, the State Library, and the local Friends of the Library. With just U.S. $ 45,000 spent on revitalizing the interior of the library with bookstore-style furnishings, borrowing more than doubled the first year. This led the New Jersey State Library to start the SWAT team projects in local libraries. Librarians who had done such revitalization in their libraries went on to help other libraries who were also awarded small grants to remake parts of their interiors. The excitement generated by such projects brought local volunteers and local money that could be added to enlarge the projects.

^{Centers of Excellence}

Libraries strive to be centers of excellence in unique ways to become solutions to problems in their communities. Libraries in Massachusetts received Federal Emergency Management Agency certification to formally assist residents after natural disasters. Many New Jersey libraries became essential ports of respite after the hurricanes Sandy and Irene damaged their communities. The libraries provided wireless networks and the opportunity to charge everything from phones to hair curlers. The libraries helped residents file claims and apply for aid. Now many of the libraries also conduct preparedness workshops.

After the U.S. went into recession in 2008, many communities in New Jersey experienced high unemployment. The libraries became the first place many came to for job-seeking assistance. The libraries provided computer training and helped people download employment forms and upload resumes. Libraries sponsored programs on topics of interest to job-seekers.

As early as 2005, a study yielded that – while the ratings for library products were mostly positive – there were many complaints about its service: limited or poor hours of operation, fees and policies associated with using the library, stringent return dates and other limits on circulation, use of the online catalogue and generally poor service.[5] Since then, however, libraries have slowly come to emphasize aspects of hospitality, service and ambience. As part of these efforts and because libraries wanted to be seen in a positive light as most excellent organizations, the New Jersey State Library staff decided to look at customer service experiences in the hospitality industry. New Jersey has a major casino town, Atlantic City, where librarians laud the customer service. A free seminar was conducted for about 100 librarians at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City; so popular was the program that the registration spots were gone within hours. From the casino marketing experts, librarians learned that on average happy customers talk to three to five friends each to share their experience while dissatisfied visitors relate their experience to ten to 20 other persons. It also became clear that it takes roughly five to six times as much effort to gain a new client as opposed to keeping an existing client. Studies conducted by the casino showed that among non-returning customers, only 3 % did not return because they had moved away and 1 % had died; 14 %, however, were dissatisfied with what was offered and a staggering 82 % had been alienated by the treatment they had received. In this respect, libraries can learn a lot from the casino industry. Both casinos and libraries have stiff internet competition, and they have to provide welcoming and pleasant experiences that make customers choose to return, since they have other options.

^{Technology and Technology Expertise}

Every day more and more people are coming to libraries virtually. Those who choose to come to the library, often come to use the libraries’ technology or to learn how to use their own devices. The Philadelphia Library in Pennsylvania trains staff on various e-readers and waits for the onslaught of customers after holiday gift-giving, when visitors rush in to the library to learn how to use their devices and how to download the library’s e-content. The New Jersey State Library lends libraries Mobile Device Discovery kits that have e-readers and tablets to use when training staff and customers. More than 100 libraries have signed up to borrow the kits. Many libraries now have technology centers to make state-of-the-art technology available for consumers to generate their own products. New York’s Fayetteville Library has a lab that includes a 3D printer. The library in Orlando, Florida, houses labs for visual arts and digital media. Above-mentioned Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Library in North Carolina has GarageBand software for teens to use to produce their own music.

^{Innovative Services}

Libraries have migrated from simply housing and safe-guarding materials to becoming knowledgeable providers of different and rewarding experiences. Every librarian’s motto should be: “We want you to come back.” Library customers’ expectations are much higher than they were 20 years ago. They expect at a minimum comfortable lounge furniture, long opening hours, interesting programs and materials for all ages and interests, cafés, and state-of-the-art technology. At the Princeton Public Library in New Jersey, the “red box” dispensers make audio-visual materials available at all times. In San Francisco, California, the GoLibrary system dispenses library materials to commuters.

A trend that was introduced in Denmark was live books or local experts who could be “checked out” for 30 minutes at a time. They are available to discuss with individuals or groups all aspects of a topic of interest. For instance, at the Bainbridge Island Library in Washington, a paralyzed young man in a wheelchair explained to a group of students how he organizes his life. This and other libraries have a database of valuable social capital, which also emphasizes the role of community members. Often these volunteers are retired individuals who bring their years of knowledge and capabilities to the community. The library can be the place that organizes this trading of skills. How valuable would it be to not only check out a book on caring for roses, but also to check out a professional gardener who can offer practical advice on the subject and answer questions.

Libraries offer consumers all kinds of collections that are unique: tools, seeds and musical instruments are just a few of these collections. The Topeka-Shawnee Library in Kansas offers its health books in a health “neighborhood” next to the blood pressure cuff donated by the local hospital. The travel books are in travel bags by locale, and community members who travel are encouraged to donate their travel books upon return from a trip. Monroe Township Library in New Jersey has a drive-in window for borrowing and returns, very popular with mothers who do not have to unbuckle children from their car seats to carry out a library transaction. Houston Public Library in Texas has “HPL to Go”, i.e. curbside delivery so customers can park outside, call the library and have a “car hop” bring the materials to the car.

^{Marketing and Advocacy}

Libraries are making the connection between marketing and advocacy. This is of particular importance in the United States, where 80 % of funding for public library operations comes from local tax receipts while state and federal taxes provide a relatively small portion of operating funds. The OCLC report From Awareness to Funding summarizes the findings from a study on how marketing and advocacy techniques could be employed to create awareness and ultimately increase funding for public libraries.[6] Individuals surveyed believe that the library is a noble place, important and relevant to the community. They see the library as a transformational force and a vital community resource like public schools, fire and police departments. To this end, when faced with cuts, the New Jersey State Library started a “Tell Us Your Story” campaign, which resulted in television and radio ads, “skins” on buildings and buses, and roadside billboards and road signs. The campaign illustrated for funders and members of the community how their friends and neighbors successfully used libraries to improve the quality of their lives. Constituents explained in their own words the value of libraries to library funders. In New Jersey, libraries received U.S. $ 6 million for the Knowledge Initiative when business persons told funders how science and health information databases accessed through libraries helped entrepreneurs get established and retain their businesses in the state. This program won a national innovation award.

In the United States, public libraries are mostly funded by local tax receipts

In a similar vein, New Jersey started a project called “Snapshot: One Day in the Life of NJ Libraries” to show what libraries did for people in just one day. On the first Snapshot Day on February 19, 2009, 161,367 people visited New Jersey libraries or four times the number of people who visited Disneyland in a day. Librarians counted visitors and asked why they came to the library that day. From Snapshot Day, librarians could tell, for example, that about 30,000 people a month likely get employment assistance at New Jersey libraries. Legislators were impressed with the 1,200 pictures taken as well. Snapshot Day was adopted by the American Library Association and was replicated in at least 31 states across the USA.

^{In Conclusion}

The reason that libraries continue to exist is their ability to adapt. Libraries adapt to changing priorities and the changing economic status of their service areas. Libraries are adept at understanding the needs of their communities and making the library part of the solution to community problems. Today with social media, the libraries serve many customers who never even come to the library. Yet libraries must continue to build flexible spaces to accommodate new uses and new technologies. While libraries may need to house fewer physical materials, they need space for their members to generate their own materials and space for the community to come together to share ideas.

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Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.