Recently, I had the great pleasure of talking to Annie Anderson of the LibrariUS project, a collaborative effort of American Public Media's Public Insight Network, ALA, and PLA. The LibrariUS Project is a noble endeavor to promote local stories about libraries in the media and to provide libraries with local content--feedback--about how their libraries are being used. Libraries can use these stories to bolster their advocacy efforts, to complement usage data, and to augment or modify services.
How does LibrariUS work? The LibrariUS Project created a free widget libraries can download and embed on their web site or on their blog (or better yet, both!). Patrons will see the widget's compelling question, "How are you using the library today?" and have an opportunity to answer questions that share how they're using their library. The LibrariUS project collects these stories, deletes any personal data, and then sends the stories to the Library Director. The Project will also use some of the information it collects to inform news stories about patron needs and perspectives. This two-pronged a
pproach gets at the core of advocacy: supplying library leaders with the content it needs while experts craft media stories to contextualize the greater impact libraries have on our society. The Public Insight Network reports its intent as "a channel for everyday people to make news coverage more transparent, trustworthy and relevant by sharing their personal experiences and insights."
Learning of this project sparked memories of conversations I've had with librarians struggling to get the word out about their services. As anyone who attended the wildly successful Turning the Page workshops or participated in the online version know, sharing real stories is a big part of advocacy work. But how do you collect these stories? Librarians are often limited by time and tools. I once talked to a Library Director who instructed his front line staff to have a Flip Camera at the ready to record any library use stories that cropped up. I loved this idea, because it demonstrated how invested this library was in using stories for advocacy. He admitted that the trick was in the timing and the tool: when a patron begins their story, the librarian as videographer has to 1) ask the patron to kindly pause their story; 2) grab the Flip camera; and 3) ask if the patron is agreeable to being recorded. If everything works out okay, the librarian just captured a story for their advocacy toolkit. If recording didn't work out, at least the librarian likely committed the salient pieces to pen and paper for future use. All in all, a useful and important activity.
The LibrariUS project aims to act as a third party, collecting and contextualizing these stories for local library and for local (and non-local) media use. My conversation with Annie proved to me just how engaged and committed the Project is to helping libraries succeed; if the rest of the staff has just an ounce of Annie's devotion and energy, this project will prove to make a big impact on America's libraries.
Check out the LibrariUS project and download the free widget today! You just might learn something from the folks who use your library.
Technorati Tags: 
