Best Practices Tours

Page history last edited by jlohmann@... 15 years, 12 months ago

Durham County Library staff and community members took a trip to Greensboro and Burlington Libraries last Tuesday. There we saw many wonderful things we would like to take back to Durham County.

We saw:

ART!!!

Wonderful Outdoor Spaces!!!

And Fantastical Children's Rooms!!!

All of this to excite the imagination and inspire the minds of every person who walks through the library. Please take the time to read through the comments of the people who went on the tour and add your favorite ideas to the table below. If you've got pictures, comments, or other ideas, post them to the wiki and let us all know what you think the Durham County Library's Best Practices could be!

Tour Schedule (Revised February 21, 2007)

March 22

Comments from the Charlotte Bus Trip

April 12

Comments from the Henrico Bus Trip

and

Observations from Youths' Perspective

April 24

Comments from the Greensboro (NC) Bus Trip

welcometrip.bmp

Best practices from the different libraries that are especially liked by wiki commentors have been put in the table below. Please feel free to add best practices you thought were really special to this table.

	Charlotte	Henrico	Greensboro	Ideas with most potential for Durham to adapt or build on
Customer-Centered Library	Graphic novels (YA/Adult) all in one location Face Out displays Reading areas near coffee/gift shop Adult computer space with children's area close by and adult space near children's area Social teen area Quiet area Maps of the library in the restroom Coffeecart at the Main Library Self-service reserve book pick-up Interfile the VHS and DVD’s Non-Fiction Audiobooks interfiled with books Pass through security system Coffee Cart Children’s library in a separate building DVD's & CD's in slick looking department with displays Customer-Centered Library: Charlotte	Self-pick-up for holds Automated book return as well as self-checkout Drive-through book return Selling jump drives, computer disks, closed Outdoor area for staff and patrons Subject labels as part of end of shelf guides Magazines issues could be checked out except current copy Children's area physically separate from rest of library with walls and/or doors. What I didn't see on this tour - large Teen area. Power outlets embedded into tops of work tables. Reservation for classes and rooms over the internet Benches and shelters set up away from entrances Same fines for movies and books Soundproofed quiet study room A little room for community fliers and stuff. Good, high-tech study carrells "checked-out" by patrons for a two hour period.	Career areas including circulating books. Coffeshop Better signage Lamps around the library
Emergent Literacy	Collaboration with local museums/children's centers Bundled children's books Tutor.com--online homework help from tutors Emergent Literacy: Charlotte	Story kiva like the one at Henderson with an ampitheater style Book group for adults who like to read kids' books	Bay windows in the children's room Wheeled stage in the children's room
Serving English Language Learners			Multi-cultural branches and areas
Delivery of Service	Staff have contagious enjoyment about their jobs Single form for library card, internet permission, and DVD/video agreement Accept Credit/Debit cards Phone Reference Center Self pick-up of holds	Lots and lots of signage!!! Tax help volunteers present daily More signage E-Vance. Meeting room booking software RFID automatic check-in for the drops	Lots of signage
Library as Center of Technology Expertise	Instruction labs for computers Check out mp3 players with books loaded on them 15 minute express computers Virtual Village, esp. with the equipment and services for the disabled Ceiling mounted LCD projectors E-Mail Express stations Separate computer room with its own staff Set up a small play area for kids in the computer room	Nice computer labs Cords, cables, and wires are all contained by cable stays or within the furninture of the computer desk Laptops which travel around the libraries turning meeting rooms into computer training labs Digital microfilm reader/printer
Wild Card	Toys for children in adult areas and books for adults in the childrens' areas Friend's Book Sale kiosk/area/shelf Lower parent permission for internet and DVD/video (maybe 16) Openness of the libraries and the colors. Libraries were clean and everything was in its place. DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) Rules for Innovation	AED's (Automated External Defibrulators) in libraries - on both floors of Tuckahoe! Lots of artwork REALLY nice staff room Lidded drinks allowed with slogan "Keep Your Top On!" Open spaces (but we need a better combination of open spaces and room for books)	Artwork (22 mentions!!!) Nicely designed and inviting outdoor areas Young adult area had career and education information

For the full list of research questions, click on the link below:

Revised Draft Research Questions 22307.doc

To see pictures from libraries not included in our "best practice" tours:

Salt Lake Public Library--"The City Library"

San Jose

Scandinavian Libraries

Makeover ideas:

Technology ideas

Makeover Ideas

Chuck's Page (Chuck has a number of ideas he's pulled from the Best Practice tour to Charlotte, some which can be done immediatly and others to think about for the long term)

Patricia's Page (Patricia's ideas from the Henrico tour for both the short term and long term.)

Reflections on the VA Best Practices trip (Julie Humphrie's page on her Best Practive tour)

Comments (11)

I have not been to Charlotte; but keep up with their practices through their website, blog feeds, and journal articles, and have completed their excellent and user friendly Learning 2.0 course found at: (http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/index.html). I hope we will include 'information literacy' and 'interactive Web/Library 2.0 social software' as bullet items for Charlotte.

While not an best practice tour, be sure to check out my pictures and comments from my trip home to Utah. I took of tour of the Salt Lake City Public Library (http://www.dclstrategicplan.pbwiki.com/Salt%20Lake%20Public%20Library--%22The%20City%20Library%22) and will be posting about my experiences.

Eventually I will put my pictures in a page in here....but for now they are in the S Drive. I LOVED the Charlotte trip - it was very inspiring and renewing. I'm excited for the future of Durham County Library & for other staff to go on the upcoming trips.

Wasn't it great! I hope others will comment here, too.

Hope to be adding my pictures soon from Henrico, Chester, and Henderson. Saw a lot of really cool ideas.

Meredith Hubbard

My pictures from Henrico County Tour are here.
S:\Best Practice Tour Photos\Henrico\Mark Donnelly

My Henrico pictures are here: S:\Best Practice Tour Photos\Henrico\Patricia Dew

My granddaughter:Daysia (9yrs) and niece: Kaleayah (8yrs)throughly enjoyed themselves on the trip to Henderson and Henrico libraries. They felt it was the best part of their Spring Break and said it was fun, except for the bus breaking down. They think our library boss is very nice and interesting. He listened and talked to them nicely. It was amazing to see what they wrote about their experience on the trip. They excitedly shared it with family members and their peers.

Two ideas struck me: large private funding of construction and a cafe area. Henderson was able to build a beautiful facility without floating a bond but is, from what I gathered, not able to secure enough public funds to adequately staff it. The cafe is, I expect, popular, but probably will not make a profit. But then, neither do our books, and we still keep them around for the patrons.

Regarding Carolyn Robinson's comments above, see Daysia's and Kaleayah's comments on the Best Practices Tours page, under the April 12 trip: "Observations from Youths' Perspective."

I went on both the Henrico and Greensboro tours and enjoyed both of them. I hope many of the items we saw are transferable to Durham library! I should be able to add my own pictures from the tour soon.

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