Here’s something that is at the forefront of my “library profession” brain (as opposed to my mama brain):
How to provide new useful technology services to our customers, how to be open and receptive to ideas of innovation (and the eventual resource demands these innovations create), and how to do this within the same 40 hours a week. Like many others, I’m constantly amazed by the exciting developments that are occurring in our field every day – my Google Reader feed is full of em! I “star” the ones I think could work for our library system, let the ideas rumble around in my brain for a while, then see which ones rise to the top.
And then what? How do I encourage the leap, fund the initiative (either through dollars or staff resources), ensure that the innovation is both useful AND stable? I’m not seeking perfection – not by any means. But at the same time I know that our library does not exist within a vacuum, and that we are funded by entities that often value quantitative data over qualitative, anecdotal information. Just because we can do some new technology project doesn’t mean we should… right?
So I look all around me – at the global picture of new library technologies and think: “what works locally?” Do I focus on things that help our current library services work more efficiently (and thus improve the overall customer service experience)? Or do I blaze a trail – and hope that our customers will participate and deem it a success? In our current economic times, where all are having to reduce budgets (ours will be about 10% next year) – the push to focus on efficiencies over innovation is pretty strong. ROI (return on invenstment) is king right now. How does that fit with our desire as library folk to provide services that enhance the mind and soul of our customers? How do you ROI that?
Thoughts?
The Leapin' Librarian 