Mr. Inspiration Indeed!

For those of you who attended our 20th anniversary membership meeting at the Seaview Marriott yesterday you know that Patrick Jones more than lived up to his moniker, "Mr. Inspiration" (bestowed upon him by School Library Journal.)   While his presentation was ostensibly about serving teens I thought much of his material was perfectly applicable to serving, well, anyone (with the possible exception of genealogists--- no offense, you had to be there...)

Patrick was good enough to share his powerpoint presentations which are available here:

|Morning Presentation:  Reaching Reluctant Readers  |Afternoon Presentation: Moments of Truth|

Here, in no particular order, are my takeaways from yesterday; the ideas that really resonated with me:

• Patrick's realization that he couldn't change all of the teens in Savannah, Georgia, "But what could I change? "  A great awareness, whether we're serving teens, adults, genealogists or just trying to make our way through this crazy world.  It reminded me of Stephen Covey's point that we frequently expend energy on things that are in our sphere of concern but not in our sphere of influence.  this makes for a long day.  We are happier and more effective when we focus on things that are both within our sphere of concern and our sphere of influence. 

• Our job is not to build YA Collections.  Our job is to build collections for young adults.   Our job is to help create stronger, better, healthier youths.  Later in the day Patrick made a similar point:  Our job is not to build collections or answer reference questions.  Our job is to make our communities better places to live (or work, or study.) 

• Regarding our assumption that boys don't read: "When we talk about boys not reading, we assume that reading means fiction.  Boys read a lot.  Just not Pride and Prejudice."  I recall hearing Stephen Abram making a similar point.

• It's good to remember that teens act the way they do because their brains are not yet fully developed.   "Our brains our big hunks of Colby...theirs are swiss cheese!"
  

• After helping a teen, give them a business card and tell them, "If you need help, let me know."  Wow!   Great idea.  I know many librarians don't have business cards, but it's easy to run them off, either for individuals or for the department.  How about putting an IM address on that card too?    As Patrick said, "Every transaction is a relationship.  Let them know you want it to continue."  That's so...respectful!

• Find a way to say Yes.  (i.e., In response to teen who wants to check email on an OPAC only machine: "Yes you can check your email.  Let me show you which computer is available for you to do that."

• Say Thank You.  Simple, positive reinforcement goes a long way.  Teens made a choice to come to the library.  Thank them for that choice.   Tell them it's good to see them, by name if possible.  ("Thanks for being here Bill. Tomorrow we're not going to throw chairs, right?  OK, have a good night.") 

Well, those are my big takeaways, what are yours???

For more info on Patrick check out his blog, his website, his myspace page, publications, and links to his other presentations.

Comments

[Sophie Brookover]

I posted about my takeaways here.

Thanks again for such a fantastic program. Youth Services is one area I think SJRLC could stand to improve in, and you made great strides towards that goal by inviting Patrick Jones to speak at one of your most high-profile events. Bravo!

[Mo Wynkoop]

I really liked one of Patrick's ideas that hasn't been mentioned yet -- the "by the way" technique. I don't think he called it that, but that's how I've been thinking of it! When you're checking out books for a patron, tell them "By the way, did you know that you can renew these items online?" Show someone where the anime is and say, "By the way, did you know we have an anime group here at the library? This is when we meet." Answer a reference question at the desk. "By the way, did you know that you can get that information from our online databases when the library is not open?"

We may well have that information written on signs and the webpage, but how many people actually like to read instructions? Libraries have great services -- here's one way to get more people to know about them.

[Peter Bromberg]

Thanks Mo,

I like the "By the Way" technique too. It's such a relaxed yet effective way to add value to our services. Not that different to when I used say to customers at Nordstrom, "Hey, I know just the tie that would go with that shirt..." It's selling up, but all we're "selling" in the library is service -- and guess what... all of our customers have already paid for it! (And to my mind that means our service should be REALLY great!)

By the way, did you know you can now search archived posts on the blog, or search the web, through the "blogbar" feature on the upper right side of the blog? :-)

[Julie DuBois]

I am so thrilled that SJRLC offered up the entire day to teens! I had a great day, took away so very many helpful things, and really felt that Patrick Jones was amazing.

Here's what really stuck in my mind:

What do we call them? Do we call them Teens? Do we call them Young Adults? No. We call them Joe, we call them Suzy, we call them John, Amanda, Eddie...the point being, we build meaningful relationships with them.

And, most importantly, (and such a simple thing to do!) say "Thank You". The fact that Joe, Suzy, John, Amanda, & Eddie are all making use of our hard work is reason enough to thank them, and we should be letting them know we appreciate their presence in libraryland.