Lincoln Trail staff that attended ALA’s Annual Conference heard some interesting comments at the conference sessions, on the exhibit floor, and even while riding the bus back and forth from McCormick Center. We’d like to share those comments with you:
Privacy
"Confidentiality has been associated with anonymity"
Users
"Not the user’s job to understand the library - it is the library’s job to understand our customers"
"Treat the user’s location as important as the library’s location"
"Library staff and catalog developers do not think from the user’s perspective"
Libraries
"The library community has a high tolerance for procedures"
"You cannot look at people visiting your library as a walking workload"
"Look for ways to say yes"
"Library staff should be information lifeguards – keep your eyes open all the time"
"Libraries are in a policy-based mentality"
"Libraries worldwide record 5 million transactions per day – this includes searches, circulation, adding items, everything we do"
"The market is the end user. Libraries are just a niche market.. and shrinking"
Management
"The future can’t simply be more of the same"
"TCO = Total Cost of Ownership"
"If you don’t know what you are doing in your core business don’t start something new"
"All business is personal"
Web Catalogs
"Very few test subjects had used the catalog before the study, including graduate students"
"Participants do not always respond rationally. For example, although the University of Arizona Library’s website was very user friendly and worked beautifully, University of Rochester students disliked it because it didn’t look scholarly"
"We need to practice evidence-based cataloging"
Information
"23 million (federal) items are classified every year -- this is twice what it was in 1980"
"Not all information classified as "Secret" is secret because of a legitimate national security interest. Information is often classified because of fear of embarrassment, a predisposition for secrecy, or to cover up criminal liability"
Library 2.0
"The key to a successful web content management system is how easy it is to submit new content"
"We need to remember that 2.0 is like a free kitten. Free to get started, but needs an investment of time from staff"
"Whichever 2.0 technology your library chooses, make sure it fits into your library's mission and vision"
"As we think about the library and mobile devices, we have to figure out policy as we develop the application"
General
"Who do we have charity events for every possible disease but not for mental illness?"
"My feet are killing me. What, $3.75 for a cup of coffee? Where are the shuttle busses?"
"I'll never stay at the XX Hotel again - any ALA Conference hotel that still persists in charging extra for Internet access is hopelessly behind the times"
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