David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

My Digital First and Digital And Posts, and some helpful links

By

Arrow Image by Ian Muttoo

For the last few posts, I’ve been focused on digital first and libraries. It’s been fun to explore! Hope you found them helpful.

Here are the links to the whole blog post series on Digital First:

Helpful links about Digital First:

Enjoy!

Big Shifts with Digital First and Digital And Approaches

By

I’m still focused on Digital First. Here are some things to think about as your library or organization moves closer to emphasizing digital.

  1. Digital is just as important as physical or in-person. This is a big one for libraries, since the great majority of us have big investments in a physical space.
  2. Budgeting for digital. This is still a big adjustment for some of us. For example, if we buy 20 new books, 5-10 of those might be digital. This is a big shift from more of a “buy 20 new books …. Oh yeah, and maybe some digital books too.”
  3. Big shift for classes and events. For example, if we do 5 storytimes, 1-2 might be digital, and the others could be in-person. Not “Do 5 storytimes … oh, and we also need a digital one if we have time.” Digital comes first (because it can be posted and promoted immediately). Or at least, do the physical one and record it while doing it live, so you can share it later. Same thing with our other classes and events.
  4. Focus on convenience first. Make it as easy as possible for the customer. Digital is open 24/7 (depending on the service – no one needs to answer a reference question at 2am on a Sunday!).
  5. Reference questions are format-neutral. All formats are equal – text, Facebook Messenger, email, chat, phone … all on equal footing as traditional in-person questions.
  6. New services should have a digital component. For example, curbside pickup. There are a TON of apps to help with this, and it gets you to a digital first approach (since the service starts with digital).
  7. Staffing for digital. If you are emphasizing digital … you need appropriate staffing levels to handle things like content creation, digital purchasing, website admin work, etc. Someone has to build and maintain the digital building, social media tools, API calls, back-end upgrades, plugin updates, making digital content look good, etc. Warning – this point will definitely lead you back to point #2, budgeting!

Figure out what works best

One more thing to think about with Digital First and Digital And. Work on figuring out what the best model for the service is – is it digital, physical, or hybrid? With Digital And…, sometimes digital is the best delivery method, and sometimes physical is the best. 

For example, think about grocery shopping:

  • Digital First sometimes works best: I love ordering groceries online (starting online = digital first), and then using Curbside Pickup to get them. It’s a digital first service and it’s very convenient – it saves me time.
  • In-person sometimes works best: Sometimes it’s better doing it myself. If I want specific items, like an avocado, I need to actually enter the store so I can find a ripe one. There’s no way to say “please get me a brown, ripe avocado” using curbside pickup on an app. It’s too specific for digital (at the moment).

Lots of shifting here! Most likely, you have started to think about some of these, or have at least lived them out during the pandemic. What’s next for your library? Make sure it lives in the best place (physical, digital, or hybrid).

One more post on Digital First!

Digital First: Start with a “Digital And” Approach

By

In my last post, I talked about having a Digital First approach at your library. In this post, let’s loosen that concept up just a bit, and explore something that I call “Digital And.”

What is Digital And? With “Digital And…”, everything still has a digital component. It probably also has a physical component. With a Digital And approach, one component is not more important than the other (i.e., the physical is not more important than the digital, and vice versa). But you make sure to offer both as much as possible. That’s how my library is approaching Digital First.

Examples of a Digital And approach:

  • New books – we have digital and physical copies.
  • Storytimes – we post online first, but also offer the in-building experience once we can. Or, we post snippets online. Or do the non-copyrighted things online, like a short video of a craft or a small part of the story.
  • Classes – Offer a mix of digital and physical. Track attendance, and see what works best. Then adjust as needed.
  • Big Events – use a hybrid model. Do the event in-person, but also livestream it to Facebook and YouTube.
  • Library news and calendar of events – move to digital. No need for a print copy.
  • Answering questions – answer everywhere – in-building and online.

Fast vs. Slow:

Here’s another way to think about Digital And – it’s a fast vs slow approach. For example, if you have to create something fast, you start with the digital version. It’s fast, easy, and online in a day. In-person, in-building might take longer, but it also might be more enriching.

So, with this approach, you are able to focus on digital, physical, or both – whatever approach makes the most sense. You also have to remember that in this day and age … sometimes digital makes the most sense. Even if that thing is something libraries have done for the last 100 years!

Stay tuned for part 3!

Digital First and Libraries

By

Throughout the pandemic, my library has been talking about having more of a “Digital First” approach to our whole library. Let’s explore that concept in the next couple of posts.

What is Digital First? Let’s start with a definition, from Wikipedia: “Digital First is a communication theory that publishers should release content into new media channels in preference to old media. The premise behind the theory is that after the advent of the Internet, most established media organizations continued to give priority to traditional media. Over time, those organizations faced a choice to either publish first in digital media or traditional media. A “digital first” decision occurs when a publisher chooses to distribute information online in preference to or at the expense of traditional media like print publishing.”

For example, in the journalism world, here’s how digital first can work (from something I’ve witnessed in Topeka). The local newspaper used to send a reporter to my library’s monthly board meetings (exciting news, I know!). During the board meetings, the reporter would listen and tweet interesting things she heard. Then she would talk to attendees afterwards.

Next, she would write her article, using her tweets as a rough outline of the meeting. That news article would get published on the newspaper’s website. Then, if the news was interesting enough, it would get published in the print edition of the newspaper.

See the progression there? They started with digital – in-the-moment, social media – digital. Then they progressed to a more formal form of digital (i.e., the online news article). The final step – publishing in print – might or might not happen.

Digital First also works in other industries besides publishing. Here’s an example from AirBnB. Their goal, obviously, is to get you to rent a physical space. But to do that, they use a completely digital process. They have an app on your phone, and a website. Most of their advertising is digital. Your account? Digital. So AirBnB has to use digital to get you to their product (a room).

Making your tools digital, and having your company’s process focus on digital (even if the end result is physical), is another way to have a digital first approach.

Can a library have a digital first approach? Definitely.

Think about your library’s content for a sec. Expand your “content” out to more than just print books. For example, my library’s “content” consists of a number of services, programs, and traditional materials, including:

  • Materials – books, DVDs, etc.
  • Econtent – ebooks, audiobooks, streaming video, databases, etc.
  • Events/Classes – virtual and in-person
  • All types of Staff-created content:
    • Marketing newsletters
    • Handouts
    • Blog posts and pages
    • Presentations in the community
  • Our physical space
  • Answering questions
  • Etc.

For a library, Digital First is simply prioritizing the digital over the physical. We have all done that this last year, and for many of us … it worked out ok. 

What’s that look like? Here are some examples:

  • Your “building.” Treat your website as a building. If people visit your website … they have entered the library. Make sure they have stuff to do there!
  • Content – at the least, give equal time to econtent. At my library, econtent makes up approximately half of our overall collection, so it makes sense to push our econtent into our customer’s hands.
  • Classes and events. Continue offering virtual classes and events. A virtual class is much easier to attend – no driving involved.
  • Asking a question. They can come in-person, on the phone, in a tweet, in a DM, in web chat, in Facebook Messenger. In an Instagram comment. They are all questions, and should all be answered in a timely manner.

So, just a few examples. With all of them, it comes down to this – give equal time to digital visits, digital content, and digital services.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

I Want to … what? A Question for our new website

By

Our “I Want To” Exercise

My library is working on a new, redesigned website. We’re really excited about it! We’ll probably go live sometime this summer/early fall (fingers crossed).

This time around, we have been working with a local web design agency, Imagemakers, to redesign and re-imagine our website. They really stretched us during the early stages of this project, and I thought I’d share one of the ways they did that.

Early on in the process, they asked us “What does your community want to do?”

Did you see that? They didn’t ask “What do your customers want to do?” or “What do book lovers want to do?” They helped us focus on our greater community, and what the community wants to do.

This was a really fun exercise (and yes, we used Jamboards for this brainstorming session)! And it helped us define and group together the things that: 1. Our community wants to do; and 2. What the library can do to help the community … do that stuff.

See the image in this blog post for a snapshot of that exercise. Here are some of the things we determined that people living in Topeka and Shawnee County, KS want to do:

  • I want to be entertained
  • I want to raise my family
  • I want to learn
  • I want to create
  • I want a place to eat
  • I want a space to meet
  • I want to be involved and contribute
  • I want help getting a job
  • I want to be in the library
  • I want the library to come to me
  • Etc.

After we did this for awhile, we started brainstorming how the library can help meet those wants and needs (notice we’re still not actually talking about the website, but about the library).

With each of those “I want to“ statements, the library, for the most part, is already doing something that helps meet those needs and wants … with a service, a resource, or a part of the library.

For example:

  • I want to eat. We have a cafe in the library, and we do an afternoon meal for kids who need it. And we have cookbooks and cake pans.
  • I want to be entertained. That one’s easy – that’s a big part of what we do as a public library! But it’s also a different way to think about our traditional collections and events.
  • I want to create. We have a digital media lab (still closed because of the pandemic), and are planning to expand those services. We also have many books focused on making all sorts of stuff, and we occasionally teach classes on how to create a variety of things, as well.
  • I want a space to meet. We have a variety of meeting rooms that customers can use. Plus the cafe, if you want to grab coffee for the meeting.
  • I want the library to come to me. We just started our TSCPL@Home service, which is a home delivery service for anyone in the community. We also have a bunch of ebooks, databases, streaming video, and online classes that meet that need.
  • Etc.

So how does the website play into this? Well … the library’s website simply reflects what the actual library does. Not just the physical building, but the overall library. The stuff we have, the experience you have when interacting with our stuff and staff, our outreach services, and yes – our digital branch resources as well.

Starting a website redesign by brainstorming how to meet our community’s needs, and then superimposing those ideas back to the library (and eventually back to the website) is a great way to redefine what you want in a website … and in the library, for that matter.

Those types of backwards questions and prompts can be a big help in kickstarting more creative thinking about your library, your website … and pretty much any project you start.

Give it a try!