Things I brought back from Chicago…
I attended the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, running from July 10 – 14. I am serving on 3 committees, so my time was taken up with lots of meetings, but I did manage to see some of the Conference exhibits and to hear some of the library buzz out in the halls. And of course, there was the Book Cart Drill Team Championships. (See this year’s winners at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106561675 )
I was so engrossed in meetings that I didn’t get to see many programs. But I did get to hear how other libraries are coping with the current economic crisis – how things are going, how busy we all are, how libraries are more important than ever.
I got to see and test some really interesting and exciting new automated library machines – the Go Library and the Lending Library. These machines are like an ATM or Vending machine for library books. The Go Library is really like an ATM – it is a kiosk and you do everything on screen and then the machine releases your item to you. Or lets you return it.
The Lending Library by Brodart is more like a Red Box Video machine or a regular vending machine. You can see the books and select them, checking them out with a sweep of your library card.
Both machines present interesting possibilities for expanding the library’s reach out into the community. The Go Library is being tested in Northern California at BART stations.
And then there is the unexpected take away from the Conference -
I brought back a pretty inspirational Customer Service mantra courtesy of a famous Deli – Zingerman’s of Ann Arbor. Zingerman's Ari Weinzweig was at ALA, making a presentation on his newest book Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon. (After all, everything is better with bacon)
Apparently, Zingerman’s has an amazing customer service creed that they live by – Here’s the link to the Zingerman web site http://www.zingermans.com/CustService.aspx#guarantee
Good food and happy customers – Zingerman’s is doing it right.
I love that we can learn something from a Deli on how to treat our customers/patrons/clients.
