- Offer coffee shops w/ baked goods “in house”
- Allow food and beverage in the facility
- Display as many books as possible w/ book covers visible to customers
The list goes on and on. I know some of us out there Library Land are probably tired of hearing what libraries can learn from bookstore marketing and ambiance techniques. I even found a website specifically in place to disseminate information on how public libraries can apply bookstore design.
While at the bookstore today, I had a seriously refreshing experience while buying a cookie. My one-year-old son and I were at our “local link” of a large, nation-wide bookstore chain to buy a birthday gift for my nephew. We had our gift picked out, and he and I were just milling around, taking in all the books, reading paraphernalia, etc. When my son suddenly wanted a cookie (Okay, *I* wanted a cookie) is when I had the service extraordinaire experience.
While paying for the cookie, the woman asked, “Would you like to pay for your books also.” I looked at her in shock. What? Pay for my books at the coffee shop? I seriously couldn’t wrap my head around it. I finally mustered, a “Yes, please. Thank you.” And voila — I had our cookie AND our books paid for, freeing us up to continue to mill around or just leave if we entered the “toddler melt down” point.
Okay, all right. This is not *that* crazy, BUT it got me thinking about how libraries tend to point people to “that desk over there” to get help on what isn’t considered within “their realm.” For example, at the branch where I work (it is considered a medium-sized branch), the Circulation Desk is literally a stone’s throw away from the Reference Desk. Yet, when a patron wishes to check out books, and s/he comes to the Reference Desk, I am to either direct them to the Circ Desk or walk over the Circ Desk to check them out.
Another example is from when I worked in academic libraries. The Reference Desk was a shared space with the “Computer Help” desk. At two of the universities, there was an effort to cross-train. Librarians learned simple troubleshooting techniques for popular recurring questions and issues, and IT staff/students learned basic skills for popular reference questions. Obviously, if the question/issue was more entailed than what training had provided, staff could refer the patron to the more qualified co-worker in that specific area.
More often than not, however, it seemed that if a library question was asked, the IT person would say, “He can help you,” pointing to the librarian on duty. Or if the librarian got a computer/software question, he would say, “She can help you,” pointing to the IT person on duty.
There was talk at one of the academic institutions at which i worked about combining Circulation and Reference staff/services. You would’ve thought the world was coming to an end, but it really can be a more service-friendly technique — with (i assume) a LOT of training involved.
I know that libraries strive for that “one stop shopping” experience (Gah, I hate that term, but I can’t think of another pithy description). I’m curious to know which libraries and what types of libraries are successfully achieving multiple services at single help points. What are the variable in place that make it successful (smaller libraries, ongoing training, overall culture, etc.)?
[Post scriptum: Do I think the cafes/coffee shops in libraries should be checking out books/answering reference questions? That's not the main point of this post, but wouldn't that be interesting?]
