News & Views, November 2010 (mp3 file; 4.5 MB; 4:47 min.)E-services; Superior Performance; Thanksgiving ECL Kit
We’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately about the demise of libraries, in light of increasing availability and use of ebooks, online databases and other electronic resources. Now, we all know that libraries are about much more than the resources inside our walls and most of our patrons who use the library know that, too. but, as we add more and more “e” to our resources we want to think about how we might also add “e” to our services--the services we’ve always provided, but now have the opportunity to provide for electronic resources and in electronic delivery methods.
Promotion of the e-resources is key. Most of you provide EBSCOhost for your patrons, but how many of them know about it? When people ask for information, you can suggest EBSCOhost and perhaps even show them as you do a search on their topic. If you do a newspaper column or newsletter, you could do an article on it, including some examples of relevant topics--consumer reports on snow blowers, or holiday recipes, or financial planning, or whatever.
You do reader’s advisory all the time, when people ask you for a suggestion for a good book--or, you just know that Mary will like a new title that just arrived. You can do that for audiobooks and ebooks, too. If you write reviews in a newspaper column or newsletter or blog, try throwing in a review of an audiobook or ebook, too. If you have a list of new books, include a list of the new audiobooks (and soon, ebooks) on WILBOR. And if you’re helping someone find a good book, consider not just read-alikes for him, but also listen-alikes and view-alikes--and readalikes in electronic format.
So, don’t forget the “e” when you’re delivering services--you’ve worked hard to get those services for your patrons, let’s help them to use them!
References in today's podcast:
Greenberg, Gary. "The war on unhappiness: goodbye, Freud, hello positive thinking," Harper's Magazine, September 2010, p. 27-32.
K. Anders Ericsson is the author of The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance and other works.
