My head is spinning from eight hours of non-stop presentations (except for a lunch break, of course.) My first challenge of the day was to view our website as an "experience" rather than a home page. Hmmm.... After viewing the Harley Davidson page and the Starbucks page, I'd have to agree that the aim of these pages is to give the viewer a total experience rather than only sell a product. David Lee King maintains that library patrons are expecting "experiences" from our pages. If the "event" in a patron visit to the library is checking out a book, DVD, or CD, then the "pre-show" on the web should be book reviews or excerpts and the "post-show" should be a place to comment on the book or a forum for many readers to share views. We need to view our page as a patron might - and then remove anything that might get in the way of a good patron experience.
Two speakers from the Columbus Ohio Public Library showed us the challenges in implementing Library 2.0 technologies in our libraries and the solutions to many of them. These included selling new ideas to both the administration and fellow staff members as well as patrons. Engaging staff through fun training and then bringing patrons up to speed are easy to propose, but harder to do. The one thing we can't forget is to not be afraid of failing. This will happen and we'll learn from it.
These are but two of the five presentations I attended today. Some of the other topics were strictly web design and webmaster tools, which I found interesting but I'm sure would bore you to tears. I haven't taken time out yet to do much sightseeing and take photos, but I'm hoping to do so tomorrow at lunch. The sea lions are still barking and gathering on the rocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment