2022-08-29 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 12, Issue 6
Featured Story
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Home Delivery and possibly… returns!
During the pandemic our library district was able to start a Home Delivery program for patrons to receive library items in a contactless way. The program has been very popular, and very successful, delivering to 425 people in the first month! I had the pleasure of working with the team towards the beginning of implementation and have been able to see how it has grown, and stayed efficient.
This spring we’ve started a pilot program for also picking up library returns while stopping for a delivery that we are hoping to implement in Summer or Fall of 2022! I’ve included a link to our toolkit if this is something you’d like to try out at your library.
By Mariah Farmer
Fail Forward
We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.
Fail Forward
To fall forward is to make a mistake and learn from it and to look to the future. Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. What happens when you don’t have ambition is it hard to fail forward. Yes it is! Having ambition keeps us curious and not staying in the same place. I hope we all in this profession can stay ambitious and help each other reconnect to our ambition so that we can work towards something (and along the way make mistakes). So we can fall forward.
By Eric Hovey
Crush Corner
Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!
Hayden Library
Okay, this is a shameless plug for the network in which I work. I considered other ideas for this post but could not get past the idea of bragging about these wonderful people and what they do.
The Hayden Library circulation staff have been providing exceptional services to our members lately, specifically through 3D printing. This service was championed and developed by Nick Madsen, our Emerging Technology librarian. What began as an arm of the department soon developed into a service that was implemented network-wide across seven of our eight libraries. Nick is very much responsible for this, having brought his enthusiasm and vision to the service.
But I digress.
As I was saying, at the Hayden Library, a handful of our circulation staff have made this service exceptional. The operations of the service have been streamlined and coordinated by the use of an online 3D print request form. Those who prefer to order a 3D print in person also have the option of using a simplified paper copy of the form.
Yet another way this service has been improved is through the creation of a display binder (much more of a catalog if you ask me). This binder showcases monthly 3D prints as well as a selection of unique prints (and sometimes downright strange ones). Tara, one of the aforementioned circulation staff involved in the service, came up with this idea. Bringing to the job her creativity, as well as her enthusiasm for 3D printing and technology, Tara gave this service wings by envisioning a better way for members to access information.
So what have been the results of these changes? Through the coordinated efforts of the Hayden Library circulation staff, 3D printing services have gone through the roof. Hayden’s finished prints are about 5 times higher than any of the other libraries in our network! The printer is always running and many members have newly discovered the service and put it to use. All in all, this is a huge win.
There is still more that can be done moving forward (including streamlining the process modeled by Hayden across the entire network), but these people have done something incredible, simply by bringing their passion and enthusiasm to their work.
By Chris Thielen
SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org
SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.