On the third day of Christmas....

I did amateur bootcamp with a fellow bootcamp attendee in the absence of our "real" bootcamp leader and learnt a bit of yoga in the process; did two loads of washing; took Miss A to the park (you see a trend here); watched some trashy TV; went for an afternoon walk and caught up with a friend; and am now typing this post.

A month ago, I attended the SWITCH Public Libraries NSW Metropolitan conference in Sydney.  As usual, it was a very good conference with lots of interesting things shared and ideas gained.

The focus on the conference was community and partnerships.  Thank you to Robert Leckie for capturing the tweets from the conference via storify.

There were two main things that I took back from the conference.  The first was from Steve Coffman - Library Systems & Services, USA.  Steven spoke about reinventing libraries.  He mentioned that there are moves towards a bookless library but thought this was a bit pointless because if a person wants a book, they can now access it from home via Amazon and the likes. But he questions, if we move away from physical books, what makes us different?

Steven encourages a focus on printed books, as the leverage for clients.  We should focus on books as it is our brand. As libraries try to reinvent we need to be aware of what makes us special, print books, the demand is still high.  We need to celebrate what we do and what we are. Stop apologising for what we do.  We should focus on discovery.   If they can't find the book they need in the library we need to let them know there are other ways they can access it.  We need to be good at readers advisory.

However, I am still interested in the journey of some libraries that have made the move to offering things like maker spaces, and as such, will be following Shewgirl's progress with her upcoming conference paper on maker spaces/hacker spaces.

For me, it all comes back to what your community wants/needs.  But on the other hand, they may not know they want/need it until it is offered!!

The other thing that I took with me is something most of us are aware of - Achievement and success depends a lot on who you know.  But Meredith Wallace from Rockdale City Council also had some great ideas of how libraries can get in the face of their council colleague and why it is important that we do so.

Look at your council plans and find the bits where you can use your skills and expertise can be used beyond your library.  Be visible in your organisation beyond the walls of the library.  Step outside of the stereotype. Go beyond offering a venue. Celebrate more than what's on the library calendar.  Get on tender panels- shows consideration for hard financial issues faced by Council. Be seen within your organisation. Think what you can present to senior managers and Council. Persevere, look for angles.

So what ideas do you have for being visible in your organisation?  I posted a bit about Embedded Librarianship back in #blogJune.  And must admit that I haven't got any further.  I'm open to ideas.

And finally, I have to share this wonderful and inspirational presentation by Paula Pfoeffer from City of Canterbury Libraries about what they have done working with the youth of Lakemba.  Make sure you check out this clip.

What did you do on the third day of Christmas?