Idaho Commission for Libraries

Tuesday's session included Ira Frosch, President, Palazzo, Inc., presenting a perspective from outside the realm of library land, and Jamie LaRue, Director, Douglas County Libraries, providing an overview of the efforts of a Colorado library district which is working toward providing a seamless interface for the customer and the library's resources.

Frosch's theme was that libraries and business are not that different. Both use -- or should be using -- strategic goals, key metrics, and critical path within their organization. A library is a product distributor and a service provider to specific customers. He encouraged libraries to define standards, as that provides the freedom from the tyranny of proprietary. He challenged the participants to review the "Best Buy" model of business -- a collective inventory with franchisees, where everyone knows how to communicate with everyone else.

LaRue addressed "cataloging the community" providing numerous examples (successes and failures) of how Douglas County Libraries have tried to reach out to their respective communities and connect them through 1 catalog to the libraries resources which include community data -- such as meeting information, community links, government publications and the like -- so the user has a one-stop shop. The goal is: "Books tell stories, movies tell stories. Our communities tell stories, too. Can our catalogs find them? What if our catalogs told the community's story? What if our catalog became as trusted as your next door neighbor?"

The symposium brought many ideas, thoughts and concerns to the surface. Next steps will involve both grassroots efforts to continue to evangelize, as well as, a broader effort by groups such as BCR to continue the conversation for developing basic ILS standards among library folks as well as vendors.

Presentation powerpoints and meeting notes can be found on the BCR website.