While You Were Closed...

When I started adding details of the closures to our web site I wondered whether our users would turn to our web site as an alternative. I had decided to try and add some updates about what was happening while we were closed - tell them why, what we were doing, show some pictures, etc. Would the web site show an increase in visitors? Are our users interested in what was going on?

My conclusion is yes. I've been having a look over the various blog posts, images on Flickr and so on and I found it interesting to see that RFID and the library closures have prompted more interaction from our users than most other content.

In the short period that they have been there the Flickr images have been viewed quite a lot compared with many others. Posts about RFID on the blog are at the top of the list for visits for the last week or so (understandable as most new posts were about RFID but they did out perform stuff about Overdrive, which I thought may interest people who use the Library web site). Even the short video about using self check machines has been viewed over 100 times!

Maybe most importantly, RFID has provoked more comments on the blog than any other topic. Not only are people interested in what we were doing - they were interested enough to take the time to tell us what they thought about it.

Most of the comments were positive. As expected, some were negative - "...this is just a way to sack some staff and pay less wages which equals more money for the greedy council..." - but the real value of the blog is that it gives us an opportunity to directly address the concerns of our users. People will have their views about our service and will continue to express them. By giving them a place to express them we firstly get to hear them, and secondly we get an opportunity to put forward our side of the story.

This is one of the fundamental ideas of what has been labeled Library 2.0 (whether you like the term or not). It's not just about technology. It's what Michael Stephens calls being transparent. Being open about the decisions the Library makes, communicating them to the users, finding out what your users think about your Library and adapting your services to meet your users needs and expectations.