now what: 12 steps to thriving in a different world

Now what? 12 steps to thriving in a different world

Karen Hyman and Peter BrombergPublic Library AssociationPhiladelphia, PAMarch 15, 2012

•Steps 1,2,5,6,9.10: Copyright Karen Hyman, karendhyman@gmail.com •Steps 3,4,7,8,11,12: CC License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5), Peter Bromberg, peterbromberg@gmail.com

Today we will explore how to …

• Keep up morale.• Be there for your customers.• Think strategically and creatively in a

challenging environment.• Grow your libraries, even now.• Enjoy your accomplishments…the good

old day could be today.

Or in other words

• Improve your day, your life, and your library.

• Eliminate stressors/develop coping skills.• Make choices/develop strategies that give

you the best chance of success.

Step into the present.

Step One

Things have changed, things are changing, things will change again.

Has any of this happened to you lately?• Deteriorating relationships with funders? • Furloughs, layoffs, decreased hours?• Frozen or reduced budgets?• Struggle to find your place in a avalanche of

change?• The Hunger Games among authors, publishers,

aggregators, booksellers and libraries?

Does it all look and feel long-term?

Live by your wits.

Step Two

We don’t know what’s going to happen.

But we can know what IS happening.

Personalized News: 1978

Walter Cronkite appears on the screen. He begins, “Good Evening, Fran…A source close to the NY Times Book Review calls [your book] ‘splendid, brilliantly funny, a surefire hit.’ A reputable Hollywood authority… reports cutthroat bidding for the movie rights…On the home front, Lauren Bacall called a press conference this afternoon to announce she wants to trade apartments with you.

Well Fran, that about wraps it up for now…

Fran Lebowitz. No News is Preferable. In Metropolitan Life. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.

Developers aren’t just thinking about building for different screen sizes, but around a whole range of factors that affect how, where, what and when we read… It’s a mix of what’s going on in the world and what’s going on in your world, fused together. And it might seem weird that I’m looking at a picture of my daughters, and then the next flip I’m reading a story

about Iran. But to me as a reader, when I’m standing in line waiting to get my coffee, those things are what

I care about.

Tim Carmody. The Future of Context: Mobile Reading from Google to Flipboard to FLUD at wired.com

Personalized News in 2012

There has never been more opportunity…• To lead from where you are.• To learn all you can and have fun doing it.• To deliver your message.• To share ideas.• To experiment.• To use (and move on from) cheap and accessible

technology.• To be quicker and more nimble than ever before.

Step ThreeBe Your Own Leader

http://marisacat.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/forward-march-2/

Be a one buttock player

http://www.carasonline.net/noticias/274729/benjamin-zander-agenda-cultural

The Importance of Leadership at All LevelsPermanent Whitewater

Emergent Leaders: (Peter Northouse)

1. No formal authority2. Motivate others3. Initiate new ideas4. Seek others’ opinions5. Are passionate and involved

The Importance of Leadership ^ at All LevelsInfluence

The Importance of Leadership ^ at All LevelsInfluence

Emergent Leader

“I’ll just keep going until someone tells me to dial it back.”

- Lindsey, Development DirectorPrinceton Public Library

Sources of Power

• Connect to purpose

• Share your knowledge

• Setting Standards

• Faith in self

• Speak truth to power

• Model behavior

• Choose your action

• Choose to follow

• Withdraw support

• Relationships/Networks

• Honest Communication

• Organize/Inspire others

Adapted from: The Courageous Follower, Ira Challeff

Each of us at any moment can:

1. Decide on a desired outcome2. Generate choices 3. Take action4. Assess effectiveness of choices5. Learn, and choose again

The Importance of Leadership ^ at All LevelsInfluence

Make Something Up (and steal the rest)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193508328 (no copyright)

Step Four

Make Something Up

"If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.“

-Ivan Turgenev

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgsulib67/5148528014/sizes/m/in/set-72157625192282865/

Make Something Up

Steal The Rest

• Webjunction

• Associations

• Consortia

• Literature

• Personal Network

• Slideshare.net

• Vendors

• Social Media

• ALADirect | ALAConnect

• Blogs

• Facebook Groups

• LinkedIn Groups

• Webinars

• Listservs/Forums

Steal the Platform

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple.

But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

-George Bernard Shawhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/candicew/2584669968/

Give Back: Put your ideas out there

(Coastal Carolina University)

Steal The Rest

http://www.coastal.edu/library/videos/

Connect “authors” and “readers.”

Step Five

What does it mean to be…• An author?• A publisher?• A publicist?• A reviewer?• An aggregator?• A filmmaker?• A distributor?• A community?• A library?

We’ve gone from:• If you’re so great why aren’t you on a major

network, in national distribution, or published by Harper Collins?

• The movie screen to the home screen to the pc to the IPAD to the phone.

• Twentieth Century Fox to indie films to On Demand to Youtube.

• NY Times reviews to Amazon reviews to Twitter to “social news” on Flipboard and Flud.

So what? why couldn’t you?

• Purchase and manage digital rights.

• Seek out and “publish” your own material.

• Work directly with all kinds of creators.

• Be a cool curator.

Free up your energy.

Step Six

What reality would free up energy,

creativity and willingness to get up in the morning for you and those who work at your

library?

Eliminating stressors and limiting beliefs

What assumptions do you hold about yourself, your library and the world, that keep you from being who you want to be?

What assumptions?

• I’m powerless.• It won’t work anyway.• It’s all a lost cause.• This is somebody else’s job.• Things are changing so fast I can’t

keep up.• I am waiting for training.• Etc., etc., etc……

Some ways to get unstuck…

• Don’t take things (just) personally.

• Get connected.

• Learn all you can.

• Abandon limited choices.

• Experiment. You can start small.

• Notice the changes you make.

Make a list of five things you are tolerating and

start eliminating them.

http://prettycoolgifts.com/custom-clocks/157-martial-arts-wall-clock.html

Step SevenBe a Black Belt in Time Management

Let Go of Perfection

http://www.flickr.com/photos/susansimon/4327971938/

Focus on Impact

http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/high-definition-wallpaper/or-that-bigstockphoto-hammer-striking-nail-sparks-general-desktop-1200x1200-wallpaper-7170

Make “So What” Your Favorite Question

http://openlibrary.org/works/OL8851068W/So_What

Schedule EVERYTHING

Including Downtime!

Continually Evaluate Use of Your Time

Adapted from Keven Eikenberry: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leadership/the-power-of-now/

Be a Platform for Civic Engagement

http://archivesinfo.blogspot.com/2010/09/archives-and-community.html

Step Eight

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kilgub/2028592585/ | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Whatever Happened to Civic Engagement?- Robert Putnam, “Bowling Alone”

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation

Libraries are natural boundary spanning organizations in communities, and they’re needed now more than ever before.

They can create safe spaces to bring people together across dividing lines to see and hear one another.

http://www.alamidwinter.org/whats-happening-midwinter

Rich Harwood

Be a Platform for Civic Engagement

http://archivesinfo.blogspot.com/2010/09/archives-and-community.html

Three Great Resources

1.Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement (ALAConnect Community)

2.ALA Center for Civic Life (See their series of webinars on hosting public issues forums at the library)

3.Libraries Build Communities (Chrystie Hill’s Blog)

Be a Platform for Civic Engagement

http://archivesinfo.blogspot.com/2010/09/archives-and-community.html

Five things you can do

1. Attend Community Meetings2. Join local Boards, Get involved3. Interview Community Leaders4. Market, Market, Market5. Partner on Programming

Have an app for that.

Step Nine

Electronic delivery: multiple devices and formats• Piggy backing on their technology: audio,

video, tablets, kindles, smart phones.

• Keeping up with device development: everyday activity of your IT department, or consortial arrangement.

• Partner with high school/college computer enthusiasts: host their meetings, give them challenges to solve.

Reevaluate safety and

control.

Step Ten

Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you’re on a dead

horse the best strategy is

to dismount.

Gary Hamel. Leading the Revolution, 2000.

Of course there are other strategies You can keep riding. Maybe the horse is just

stunned. You can keep riding. You’ll never get a horse as

good as this one. You can put the horse on dry ice. Maybe

cryogenics will bring it back next year when your budget could be better.

You can keep riding. The horse you know is better than the horse you don’t.

You can keep riding. How can you be a rider if you don’t have a horse?

New for 2012…

But after you’ve tried all of these things,

you’re still going to have to dismount.

What inhibits a library’s ability to change?• Complacency.• Being stuck in the past. Still waiting for

yesterday to get better.• (Trying to) hold on to all of the marbles.• Size/Structure.• Lack of will.• Fear/perfectionism.• Habit.• Not seeing the possibilities.

Curiosity: problem solving/ opportunity identification • Define problem/opportunity. Think like the

customer.

• Assume there is a cheap, easy, accessible solution.

• Assume that if something bothers you, it bothers at least a 1000 people who are talking about it online.

• Reevaluate safety and control . The good news: you are in large company and they are not options anyway.

Reddick said that in general her membership believes the risk of abuse "is smaller than the risk of

being ignored."

Karen Reddick, Executive DirectorColorado Independent Publishers AssociationAs quoted in Library Journal: Colorado Publishers and Libraries Collaborate on Ebook Lending Model, March 17, 2011

Yes, And... The Lessons of ImprovStep Eleven

http://dalemackey.wordpress.com/2011/09/

ListenYes, And... The Lessons of Improv

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ky_olsen/3133347219/

Action Beats InactionYes, And... The Lessons of Improv

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ky_olsen/3133347219/

Trust Others

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfchenier/428825569/

Yes, And... The Lessons of Improv

The Uber Principle Yes, And... The Lessons of Improv

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chernobylbob/4248090393/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Step TwelveEngage Customers

James Garrett | The State Of User Experience, http://vimeo.com/6952223

Perception (senses)

Action (body)

Cognition (mind)

Emotion (heart)

User Experience: Engagement

User Experience: Engagement

James Garrett | The State Of User Experience, http://vimeo.com/6952223

Perception (senses)

Action (body)

Cognition (mind)

Emotion (heart)

External

External

Internal

Internal

User Experience: Engagement

A tremendous percentage of the books that we check out get checked out because they’re on display. How do you display an ebook? -Jamie LaRue

How do we engage our customers?

It’s fun, people are going to be drawn to it, you just want to touch it and see what’s going to happen. Accessible from your computer from home, as well as from mobile apps and large touch screens in the library.

–Deborah Margeson, Collection Services Manager

How do we engage our customers?

How do we engage our customers?

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/sets/72157624716712838/

Heart

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/sets/72157624859008020/

Taste | Social | Anticipation

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/4988852680/sizes/z/in/set-72157624951884570/

Kinetic | Music | Heart | Social

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/sets/72157624352026487/

Social | Communal | Emotion

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/4730214965/sizes/m/in/set-72157624074943211/

Social | Communal | Aesthetic

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/princetonpubliclibrary/sets/72157624072659739/

Aesthetic | Visual | Emotion

How do we engage our customers?

Photo of Allen County Public Library by Peter Bromberg

Visual: Shapes and Colors

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifted/2856581311/sizes/m/in/pool-38119641@N00/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/melancon/336855973/sizes/m/in/pool-38119641@N00/

Gaming: Kinetic, Social, Fun

How do we engage our customers?Signage: Surprising, fun, colorful

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjrlc/119907439/sizes/m/in/set-72057594093690342/

Furniture: Comfortable, colorful, fun

How do we engage our customers?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgsulib67/5148527894/sizes/m/in/set-72157625192282865/http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgsulib67/5147923795/sizes/m/in/set-72157625192282865/

How do we engage our customers?

YOU!

Experience is not what happens

to you.

It is what you do with what

happens to you.

- Aldous Huxley www.flickr.com/photos/dharmasphere/70802335/

thank you!

Peter Brombergpeterbromberg@gmail.com

Karen Hymankarendhyman@gmail.com

•Steps 1,2,5,6,9.10: copyright Karen Hyman, karendhyman@gmail.com •Steps 3,4,7,8,11,12: CC License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5), Peter Bromberg, peterbromberg@gmail.com