Category Archives: Library Examples

2012 Snapshot Day success

Good morning, all! Thanks again for a magnificent Massachusetts Library Snapshot Day. As of last count, we had 186 libraries across the state registered and (hopefully) capturing the day in the life of their organization. You can see a full list of participating libraries and take a look at where they are on a map.

If you participated, remember to add your photos in Flickr to the Massachusetts Library Snapshot Day group and tag them with snapmass12 so they can be part of the slideshow above. For help with tagging, please visit the SnapMass Help page and follow the links from there.

Finally, please fill out the Snapshot Day Survey before April 20th, and submit as many great Patron Quotes as you have.

Thanks again, all, and happy spring!

And first Flickr images are up…

Thanks to the libraries celebrating their Snapshot Days yesterday and today, the first images are up in the MA Snapshot Day Flickr group. Visit the Flickr group or look at images tagged with snapmass12 to see everything uploaded so far.

Winners of the Fastest Upload on the Block awards go to:

Danvers Library, Danvers
Forbes Library, Northampton
Salem Public Library, Salem
Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Phillips Academy, Andover
Peabody Institute Library (Danvers or Peabody? – please add your town to your Flickr profile)

As an inspiration, here’s a fantastic example of how to do SnapMass right. Perfectly titled, described, and tagged. And a great shot…to boot. Thanks, Salem PL!

A Blast from the Past – Using Video to Promote Snapshot Day

As I was adding to our ever-growing list of libraries participating in SnapMass2012, I discovered a video gem from the Westborough High School Library. Last year, the Westborough High School’s Lobby Observer – a video news program presented by students – interviewed librarian Anita Cellucci about Snapshot Day. She’s got it back up on the library’s What’s New @ the Library page again for this year.

Library Snapshot Day from Lobby Observer on Vimeo.

Using a video-ready camera and free & easy-to-use social media tools, a quick video promo is only a few hours in the making. If you can, use local students or volunteers with the right gear to help you out.

With that, have a great weekend everyone!

Planning & Preparing – Haverhill Public Library

A guest post from Alissa Lauzon, Head of Youth Services, Haverhill Public Library

Want a chance to show your community what a day is like in the life of your library? Participate in Library Snapshot Day!

The Haverhill Public Library will be participating in Library Snapshot Day on April 12th and, rather than planning specific special events for the day, we are focusing on the daily life of our library to show our patrons what a “typical” day is like here. Staff members will be going around the library (photo releases in hand) taking pictures of what other staff are doing as part of their jobs and how library patrons are using our library.

We’ll be documenting children using our AWE Early Literacy Station, playing with our puppet theater, reading with mom or dad, and attending story time; we’ll capture adults using the computers and having captivating discussions over the newspaper in our reading room; and teens engaged in activities in the Teen Zone or hard at work on homework. Everyday aspects of our jobs such as handling delivery and shelving books will be documented with statistics and visually so that our patrons, taxpayers, and elected officials can see just what we do here at the Library.

Some of my favorite photos from last year were those of our patrons using the library, especially the children: the young boy holding his first library card and just beaming, the little girl sitting on the floor surrounded by books trying to decide which ones she wanted to take home. Those types of pictures are easily worth a thousand words and, coupled with statistics about usage from one day, present a strong message about the importance of Library to the community.

I’ll be ready on April 12th with my camera and photo releases to document just how important the library is to my community. Will you?

The impact of Library Snapshot Day

A guest post from Keiley McGregor, Simmons GSLIS ’13, ALASC Event Coordinator.

Last year’s Library Snapshot Day showcased the relevance of libraries to their communities and, by extension, reaffirmed librarianship as an integral profession worth recognizing and pursuing. Working toward a degree in this field earns many discouraging reactions, from “So…you want to work in a library?” to “Do you just get to read books all day?” The worst of these questions – “Will libraries even be necessary in the future what with today’s technology?” – set librarian and student teeth to grinding. Snapshot Day provides a resounding “Now more than ever!” rebuttal to this skepticism and doubt.

The first Snapshot Day photo album on the Simmons ALASC Facebook page reveals that libraries and archives house both books and technological media. Most importantly, whether characterized by its fine architecture or the children’s artwork plastering the walls, whether located overseas or represented by cubicles, the most valuable asset of any library is its staff. People often overlook the roles of librarians and other library employees because they perform such essential functions. We support the pursuit of knowledge from kindergarten through higher education; we preserve cultural heritage (French Library of Boston); we lay the research groundwork for our larger institutions (Christian Science Monitor Research Library); we provide a home for special interests to grow (America’s Test Kitchen Library). Libraries and archives welcome diversity of resources and users. Librarians, archivists, staff and volunteers help to bring the two together in order to meet information needs.

So…yeah, I do want to work in a library.

Here’s to Library Snapshot Day in 2012 unveiling the rest of the iceberg! Rest assured that library and information science students here at Simmons will be participating with enthusiasm! For those who take the time to snap and upload photos: thank you. For those who take the time to look at them: enjoy – we are here for you.

“Picture Perfect” Program at MLA

NOTE: if you missed this session at MLA, please check back on May 10 – the audio from the session will be available then!

Agenda:

Demo of the Make Every Day Snapshot Day! site

An Overview of MA Library Snapshot Day by Nancy Rea, consultant; Haverhill Public Library Board of Trustees
How We Used Technology by Beth Gallaway, Assistant Director, Haverhill Public Library
The MBLC Toolkit and Promoting to the Public by Celeste Bruno, MBLC
The School Library Connection by Kathy Lowe, MSLA
The Preliminary Data by Beth Gallaway
20 Ways to Use MA Library Snapshot Day Data & Photos by Harry Williams, Director, Thomas Crane Memorial Library, Quincy MA
Q&A/Feedback by Nancy Rea

Slides: Picture Perfect: 2011 MA Library Snapshot Day

Handout: 20 Easy Ways to Make Snapshot Success Work for Your Library

What went well?

Taking photos!
SO many libraries participated (227 – NJ got 250, half their municipalities)
3400+ photos in Flickr Pool from 162 contributors
Photos describe every type of program service
You can use photos in pool for your own library!
“Picture Power!”
Libraries did a great job getting the word out!
- Local media coverage
- Media coverage continues (snapshot of what happened on Snapshot day – send photos to newspaper)
On a slow day, having almost as many people visit libraries as went to Disney World!
Website was good & helpful
Really enjoyed having the toolkit – checking off what to do, what to do next
Staff members volunteered to man the door with photo releases to explain what was going on

What Would We Change

Confusion over which form to use (Scorecard of activity per hour, or traditional reference/attendance counts)
We as a committee not sure what/how to track data
Used to ARIS; may not need such granular information on statewide scale
Really ask people for only 4-5 things, in simple language, same questions across each library type
- Visits (number of people)
- What was circulation?
- How many questions (of any kind)?
- How many computer users?
Simplify survey – results are for the public who may not care about what we care about
Clarify focus on “just today”
Data may not reflect what we are really doing, because we’re really busy (can’t track everything)
Still need feedback from libraries about what worked & what didn’t
Delegate more
Clarify categories in advance (i.e. is a user on personal laptop a computer user?)
Release forms were difficult – matching up which release goes with which picture is a challenge!
Add “description” line to photo release form
- Question: is a sign i.e. photography in progress, please see a librarian if you don’t want your photo taken) a possibility?
- Answer: more of an issue with minors – err on the side of caution, especially when youth are involved
Notifying public of photos ahead of time may be a strategy!
Libraries are encouraged to collect other info beyond what is collected on that day
Ways to make Snapshot Day obvious to people who don’t normally show up in libraries
- Get governor to proclaim it MA Library Day
- Communicate the significance of Snapshot Day to staff!

Snapshot Day is just a little over a week away!

If your library has not yet signed up there is still time! 190 libraries have signed up to date and we are so close to our goal of 200. Will your library put us over that nice round number?

If you want to record your day with Flickr photos to share, it can take up to a week to activate an account so time is getting short.

Participants have been inquiring: What are you going to ask me for?

We want to collect data about number of patrons visiting the library, attending programs and classes, asking reference questions, and materials circulated. Take a look at the data collection forms to get a sense of what we’re asking for, and now libraries can preview the data reporting forms at:

Only 9 more days to go!

What are YOU doing for Snapshot Day?

At the Haverhill Public Library, we incorporated Snapshot Day into National Library Week (running April 10-16, 2011).

We have two ongoing programs (6 word memoirs and a student exhibit in our gallery), plus one regularly scheduled program (lapsit), and added two more events to the day: a brown bag lunch chat with John Kirriemuir, about library advocacy and funding in the UK, and a drop in craft for adults and teens: Newspaper Blackout poetry.

Feel free to download the Haverhill Public Library’s National Library Week Events Poster to use as a model to advertise your own programs!