NCompass Live: EDGE: Connecting Technology and Community

transcript

GETTING THE EDGE!

NCOMPASS LIVE - JUNE 18, 2014

Where People Connect,

Communities Achieve

@LibraryEdge @LibraryEdge www.LibraryEdge.org

Connect!

Lourdes Aceves Dr. Molly Kinney Senior Program Manager Executive Director Urban Libraries Council Mifflin County Library, PA

Communities Achieve

EDGE OVERVIEW

• Assess current public access technology and how it’s used

• Identify ways to strengthen or enhance public access technology

• Engage with key leaders about the role for the public library in improving communities

WHY IS EDGE IMPORTANT TO PUBLIC LIBRARIES?

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The coalition of leading library and local government organizations working on Edge includes: • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation –funding partner for Edge • Urban Libraries Council – the lead agency for Edge • American Library Association, OITP • International City/County Management Association • LYRASIS • OCLC’s WebJunction • Public Library Association • State Libraries of California, Oklahoma and Texas • TechSoup Global • Universities of Maryland and Washington

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THE EDGE ROUNDTABLE

BENCHMARKS ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

& CASE STUDIES

TRAINING REPORTING &

PRESENTATION

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THE EDGE TOOLKIT

EDGE BENCHMARKS VERSION 1.0

11 benchmarks to assess public access technology services across three main areas

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Engaging the Community

and Decision Makers

Organizational

Management

Community

V 1.0 BENCHMARKS: COMMUNITY VALUE

Benchmark 3: Libraries provide technology resources to help patrons meet important needs related to personal goals and community priorities The library supports the use of public technology for :

3.1 Workforce development and entrepreneurship

3.2 eGovernment or legal purposes

3.3 Patrons pursuing educational opportunities

3.4 Health and wellness purposes

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V 1.0 BENCHMARKS: ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY

Benchmark 5: Libraries build strategic relationships with community partners to maximize public access technology resources and services provided to the community 5.1 The library develops and maintains partnerships that amplify the library’s reach, avoid duplication of effort, aid the library in planning or advocacy, or are otherwise mutually beneficial 5.2 The library engages in technology outreach activities

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EDGE RESULTS IN PILOT LIBRARIES

Miami, OK • Digital Literacy • Strategic Planning Based on

Community Priorities • Library Staff Technology Expertise New Braunfels, TX • Strategic Partnerships • Library Staff Technology Expertise • Technology Inclusiveness

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Identifies gaps & opportunities

Engages staff in improving

the library

Opens dialogue Communicates value

INTERNAL

Where People Connect, Communities Achieve

EDGE IS HELPFUL INTERNALLY & EXTERNALLY

EXTERNAL

Helps stakeholders connect technology in libraries with

achieving community priorities

LIBRARY PUBLIC ACCESS

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS ACHIEVING

COMMUNITY

PRIORITIES

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EXECUTIVE TOOLS (REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS)

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EDGE LIBRARY ACCOUNTS

• Overview

o Dashboard that shows progress o Ability to export and download details

• Assessment results and recommendations

• Ability to reopen assessment

• Ability to customize tools, register for training

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LIBRARY ACCOUNTS

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• Helps libraries contextualize their scores; focus is using peer comparison data to help libraries determine priorities and make strategic decisions

• Based on completions of the assessment from a representative national sample of public libraries

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COMING SOON: PEER COMPARISON TOOL

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MIFFLIN COUNTY LIBRARY

• Small/Rural

• Ranks 66 out of 67 counties in per capita income

• Aging

• We were already depressed so the latest “Great Depression” had an even more significant impact on our population and county

• Close knit community with many faith based organizations and civic groups

ABOUT MIFFLIN COUNTY

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• Three branches (we had 5 but closed two this year)

• 12 full and part-time staff

• 25 volunteers

• About $500,000 a year operating budget

ABOUT MIFFLIN COUNTY LIBRARY

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• No Broadband

• 14 year old ILS

• Out-of-date technology plan

• Aging computers

• Uneducated staff – they didn’t know what they didn’t know

JANUARY 2013

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HERE’S WHAT WE LEARNED AND IMPLEMENTED

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• The Edge Initiative changed our service to the community

• Be terminally perky about the EDGE initiative. This isn’t one more thing you have to do!

• Permeate and integrate your organization with the initiative as

if your entire funding depended on EDGE participation • Take a long term approach to the initiative

• Understand that evoking the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” adds a layer of credibility to conversations with key stakeholders

• Realize that the results are probably not going to be anything new to you

• Remember the adage “Give a man a fish, he eats for a day….teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.” The Gates Foundation computers that public libraries received in the past were fish. The EDGE is designed to teach libraries how to fish.

ATTITUDE

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• Library’s Edge Leader

• Organization’s Leadership/Management Team

• All Staff, Board, Friends

• Funders – pick one person from each funding base and gain their support. Let them sell this initiative to their colleagues.

• Community at large

ALL ABOARD

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• Don’t be discouraged with all the recommendations • Prioritize over a several year period • Talk about the results and disseminate them to key stakeholders • Pick just 2 items that you think you can accomplish in a short

period of time • Add selected priorities to position descriptions at all levels • Pick one priority that the Board can focus on; pick another for the

Friends. Communicate with each how to ‘tie’ each priority to the other and to the initiative overall

OUR ASSESSMENT RESULTS

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• Ask the Friends, Funders, for a specific allocation for 1 Edge Priority

• Allocate money in next year’s budget for at least 1 priority

• Target specific community groups to fund a priority

ASK…ASK…ASK FOR SEED MONEY

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• Keep “talking” about the Edge Initiative- Social Media, Letters to the Editor, Newsletters, community outreach, etc.

• Put the Edge logo on your webpage

• Use the tool kit as appropriate BUT customize it to YOUR community.

– Refine your elevator speech until it just rolls off your tongue.

– Be practical and answer the question “What can EDGE do for Me?” before someone asks

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

Communities Achieve

Most of this was done in-house with existing staff

• County Commissioners provided $16,000 in seed monies

(this didn’t cover all we’ve done but it surely helped)

• Shifted staff duties and ‘created’ a Technology Services Coordinator position using existing staff

• Completely new website

Our district center provided staff training, wrote some code, and helped us tweak, refine and enhance the site

MIFFLIN COUNTY LIBRARY’S RESULTS SINCE AUG. 2013

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• New Broadband network

We hired a consulting firm to help us with this

• Updated our ILS and it’s now cloud based

• Installed Time and Print Management software in all public access computers

Our district center provided training and installation help

• Implemented staff training program to update and learn new skills

MIFFLIN COUNTY LIBRARY’S RESULTS SINCE AUG. 2013

Communities Achieve

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

THANKS TO EDGE, MCL IS ON A RIDE!

Communities Achieve

― Hunter S. Thompson

Communities Achieve

THANK YOU…WHAT’S NEXT

• Register for your Edge account at libraryedge.org

• Visit the Edge Support Center for help

• Download the Edge Assessment Workbook

• Engage staff and Complete the Assessment

NCompass Live: EDGE: Connecting Technology and Community

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