Yeah, I know, but I figured I would throw the idea out there anyway.

Otherwise, we at least make a haiku out of that:

books are wonderful
and a poor library brand
no contradiction

Partly, I think you could say what I said above, that the role of books is changing. But you could also say it’s a poor brand because if people think of books when they think of libraries, it doesn’t go the other way that they think of libraries when they think of books. Does *anything* make people think of libraries? Not trivia questions.

So, like I said, I’m interested to know what you mean.

Books are a terrible brand for libraries.

These two positions are not incompatible.

Some libraries enhance their reference availability by participating in shared reference with other libraries. I’ve never worked in a library that participated in such an arrangement, but we should all do our best to be responsive to our patrons.

When I worked at Norwich, I was really proud of how quickly we responded to virtual reference questions. We checked email and Meebo every day (including weekends). I liked seeing that our colleagues would even reply to lengthy or complicated questions with a quick note saying “Got your message, I’ll look for some information and be in touch.” Responding promptly to our patrons’ questions is a pretty simple way to keep our them happy and coming back for more.

(I’ll admit: once I knew I wasn’t going to return to work after kiddo was born, I toyed with the idea of becoming a ChaCha Guide or kgb Agent during my extended leave from librarianship. While I’m home with Jacey, why not help settle bar bets, send driving directions, and relay weather reports in 140 characters or less? Earn Mama some spending money one dime at a time.)

anyway, i think that chacha has done a really good job of building an audience & getting people’s trust even though there are occasionally some reeeally bad answers. people use it for any question that can be answered in 140 characters. or just to kill time (chacha is free, ad-supported).

i don’t see it as having that much overlap with what a library does, or what people look for from a library. absolutely, you can call a library & ask them sports trivia. but i think that most people choose not to bug librarians for stuff like that. i think they save the serious stuff for libraries. which, is that really such a bad thing? obviously at a reference desk you don’t distinguish between which questions are worth your time or not, so isn’t it good that patrons decide on their own?

i have told chacha info-seekers to go to a library for certain questions. like legal information, for example, that depends on their location, and it’s complex & better answered in person & without a character limit.

i think the main reason it’s not feasible for libraries to provide a similar service is that kgb & chacha are nationwide. libraries are local, and even a state-wide effort might not get enough questions to keep people busy 24/7.

The point of OCLC’s report on the library brand wasn’t that the brand needs to change, but that we need to use what we’ve got to get what we want. Leverage what we have to serve our communities.

True, books represent “the old way of doing things”, your parents generation and the bourgeois cultural elite. But they also symbolize literacy, education, and self-achievement. Books are awesome.

So even if you, like me, recognize that the role of books in academia and in world culture at large is changing rapidly, you have got to come up with a better plan than settling bar bets. Meredith is on the right track – lets get together and do something cool. But please, don’t let it involve sending text messages to drunk people.
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Actually, I think the big problem is what buddhabrarian said: “we have yet to successfully re-brand ourselves”. Honestly, I don’t think we ever branded ourselves in the first place. We were branded by time and society. “We” had nothing to do with it. “We” don’t tend to market ourselves well if at all. In fact, there is very often too little “we” working together. Think of all the librarians and libraries in North American, if not the entire world, that could easily be working together (at least easier than almost all other organizations), bringing much more force behind our acquisitions, our technological efforts and of course our marketing schemes. But no, we work virtually alone, and the occasional librarian or library that makes an effort does not have the money or the resources or the time to compete will all the others vying for attention. Can’t we even have an infomercial on at 2:30 in the morning?