Building customer relationships #lianza11 #p07

Lucy Lang and Louise Mercer
Using influence and power to build a good customer relationship
Monday abstracts (pdf)

Power is a tool for good.

Define power
Audience suggestions: Authority, influence, control, imbalance, ability to make a decision
OED's definition includes effectiveness. Power is also the ability to make power, to empower people.
Short search has words: might, force, authority, potency, energy, motive, philosophical, managerial, political, actuate

Two forms of power: power over (which can be negative, reduces available options) and power to (not related to other people but our own intentions).

When you have power need we retain it, or can we share it?

Discuss customer expectations - audience brainstorm
As a provider:

• a polite welcome
• results, efficiency
• knowledge - reliable information
• developing relationship
• empowerment
• that we listen
• respect

As a customer:

• quick and timely service
• helpful and friendly
• welcome and listening
• quality service/product
• a good experience
• consistency
• an appropriate service - appropriate to your needs
• efficient

Their research
Similar to what we said. Interviewed tertiary librarians (ran out of time to contact wider network.)

Expectations around communication, knowledge, attitude, service provision, service outcomes.

Communication - keep the customer informed even if you don't know the answer. A quick response can be as useful as a lengthy query. Communicate on an emotional level - understand their situation and emotions. Body language is important here!

Knowledge - If we don't know the answer find out. Context is important - understand what they need. Know the alternative solutions and pros and cons. Know our own limits - when to keep going and when to refer.

Attitude - Start by assuming that people are reasonable. They want personal connection, to feel like an individual. Someone has to be control - not always us, not always customer, but we need to read situation to decide where the power best sits. Giving up power empowers customer. Stay confident and consistent and let customer know they're not just a number in a queue.

Service provision - be clear about how long things will take and keep promises. No unnecessary referrals (hard to gauge). Interviews often didn't realise they're using strategies to manage eg listening. Be adaptable, cheerful, consistent, honest. Many customers think we're their only option - may become more needy, difficult, formal, guarded, have low expectations. We need to understand they're relying on us.

Service outcome - Not just the solution but relationship building - trust and rapport. Need to help customers help themselves. Not just about whether they get what they want. True outcome is about how we got there. People remember how they feel more than whether they got what they needed.

What's in the literature?
Tucker (2010): library needs to balance needs of one against all users.
Brewer (1995): empower frontline staff as representatives of library. Invest in training.

Product vs service - products can be machine-made; when provided a service people come away with a memory.

Beyond the library sector
Four strategies for influencing customers:

• Assume leadership role
• Humanise relationship
• Advertise expertise
• Unlock information vault - control of info is source of power

Minimise inequalities in the relationship.

What influences customers? It's what they see and especially what they feel. A single interaction can influence how they view your organisation. Look at what they experience. What messages are they getting? How services are provided can be more important than the outcome. End result is still important, but good emotional response is vital.

Practical tips

• Listen - simple but key. Hear what people mean not just what they say
• Create a connection
• Keep your promises

Questions

Q: Cf Auckland work on customer experience
A: Yes, want to look into that, just haven't gone past tertiary yet. Asked librarians about their expectations as providers and then as customers - interesting to see differences even when it's the same person thinking in different roles.

Notes from Wales #lianza11 #keynote4

Andrew Green (on Wikipedia) Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru National Library of Wales
Notes from a small country

Small country. Has only smasmodically been its own political entity - mostly dominated by England. One of the first countries to become industrialised. Employment dominated now by public sector and light industry. Welsh and English are the two official languages. Number of Welsh speakers increasing thanks to efforts to develop it as a living medium in school and everyday life.

1997 decision in referendum to move much power from Westminster to Cardiff. Most areas of public policy could be addressed by people directly elected in Wales. Some hoping for full federalism or even full separatism. Currently in period of nation-building.

CyMAL (=a joint eg in the body): Museums Archives and Libraries Wales.
Has helped public libraries upgrade/build new buildings. Encouraged growth of regional consortia. Monitoring standards in Wales. Funded all-Wales catalogue and initiative to give free online access to reference and family research resources in libraries.

But still a steady drain of resources, including professional staff. Trying to get cross-border cooperation.

People's Collection Wales - Casgliad y Werin Cymru - online showcase of culture. Can log in, upload, create own scrapbook, create a trail or follow a trail, create a map to link in with mobile device.

Principles
Libraries are public goods. Noone should be prevented by lack of means from taking advantage of GLAM institutions. Prefer to deliver digital knowledge for free and without restriction. You can register for no charge and little formality. Can't always negotiate licenses for as wide access as want, but do the best. When creating/digitising material, insist it's available for free without charge or need to register.

Keep core services, core permanent staff, then use grants/funding for special projects.

Theatre of Memory project to digitise whole history of Welsh corpus. Want to build an alternative National Library - not bound to physical building which will be inaccessible for many. Will be the largest online corpus to date of material in the Welsh language.

Welsh is a precious asset, needs to be protected by government and people in everyday lives. Libraries play a big role in this. Librarian developed Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru Welsh Books Council. Policy to treat Welsh as equal to English - it's actually the language mostly spoken within the library so Green mostly uses English only when speaking with users.

Archifau Cymunedol Cymru Community Archives Wales - a project from CultureNet.

Digital Inclusion Wales

Library acts as de facto national archives - only official documents go to National Archives in London.

Report developed: Twenty-twenty: A long view of the National Library of Wales.
Online usage will increase bringing new opportunities and threats. Plateau of people entering buildings; number using it online increasing hugely every month. Digitising will open up collections hugely. Challenge of how to fund without restricting access or losing ownership. Need to move into sound/moving image. Have to address copyright (government may be doing something with orphan works). Interactive library in infancy. Social networking and crowdsourcing currently experimental, will develop to bring library and users together.

Physical library? (Refers to Y Llyfrgell by Fflur Dafydd - ebook here) Libraries becoming cultural centres. National library has thriving programme. More visitors for cultural use than for reading.

Working with authors to preserve their work in The Welsh Literature Archive Project.

Need to learn how to scrounge, beg, borrow. Also to keep our heads high!

Academic chair in Digital Collections in the national library - may be a first worldwide. Generating project work, fundraising. To do academic work on this but also help national library to maintain and innovate in digital collections. Example of moving forward, not just retrenching. Need to extend existing collaborative initiatives into new areas.

Questions
Q: Digitising up to 1910 - why not further?
A: First digitisation programme was 20th century so ventured straight away into in-copyright material. Second programme wanted to do as much as possible without copyright. Stopped there after taking advice - had to be conservative - left them on safe ground (originally going to stop at 1900). Copyright is 70 years after death of author so even 1910 might be trespassing on copyright. Also issues of trademarks. May need to retreat from that conservatism in future especially if Westminster government changes copyright law especially re orphan works.

Q: Do you have to measure impact re artists-in-residence, and how do you do it?
A: Difficult question, and do get asked it! Don't offer firm data. Can talk about outputs eg how many kids have been through schemes, but can't measure imaginative gain on part of children. But plenty of anecdotal and personal evidence from teachers and children of the effect on them.

Q: How do you speak Welsh internally when only 20% of Welsh speak it?
A: Policy is to be bilingual so any job interacting with users staff have to speak both. Not all in library speak Welsh, but definitely those with contact with public. Nothing in charter says this, it's just something they do and always have done, and people regard library as an organisation that will do this.

Q: Is there an expectation of multiculturalism?
A: Not legally but yes. Not always easy - some of oldest immigrant communities were in Wales. Cardiff had oldest African immigrant population in UK. Not always easy - issues with bringing material away from Cardiff where it belongs - but do have initiatives and have links with communities/organisations.

The WAI-262 claim #lianza11 #keynote3

Aroha Te Pareaka Mead (Speaker notes)
The WAI-262 Taonga Claim

Treaty of Waitangi claim - WAI# is the chronological number, so 262 is a fairly old claim. The WAI-262 claim has big implications for people working with Māori knowledge.

Six original claimants: Ngāti Kuri, Ngāti Wai, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu asserted that Crown had

• failed to actively protected exercise of tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga by claimants over indigenous flora and fauna and other taonga and also over mātauranga Māori
• failted to protect the taonga
• usurped tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga
• breached Treaty of Waitangi by agreeing to various international agreements/obligations that affect these.

Complex claim - includes all native species; Māori arts and designs; traditional knowledge, medicines; DNA, genetic modification. Covers misappropriation, offensive use, inappropriate use, and trademark laws that prevent Māori from using Māori language terms - a singer who couldn't use her name Moana in Germany because it'd already been trademarked there.

Claim lodged in 1991; hearings began 1998; 2001 other evidence; 2006 statement of issues and 2nd round of hearings; 2007 end of hearings; 2011 Ko Aotearoa Tēnei report (very long but you should either read all or nothing - can't just read a bit - but very good and recommended). Only one of the six original claimants still alive to hear the report, and has since passed on.
Report created new definitions of taonga species (significant to culture or identity of iwi), taonga works (significant because there's inherited body of knowledge associated with it and iwi or hapu obliged to act as kaitiaki), taonga derived works (works with a Māori element but generalised or adapted and combined with other non-Māori influences - eg new artform by Ta Moko experts for non-Māori requesting moko).

Report decided that:

• Treaty entitles kaitiaki relationships and a reasonable degree of control but not ownership or veto over uses of IP in all cases.
• Māori are not 'the other' - the Treaty partnership requires the Crown to be both Pākeha/Māori. Crown has often acted in a hostile way towards mātauranga Māori issues. Treaty principles must be read collectively, not cherrypicked.
• Crown has a right to govern but Māori interests vital.
• Can't do business as usual - need a more sophisticated Treaty partnership.

Mead says it's like a marriage in dire need of counselling. One partner has got a lot more out of the marriage than the other; one partner thinks the other is a continual whinges. Lots of bruises, scars, fights, but when they think about the kids, and they don't know what to do with the chattels - though one of the partners is trying to sell off the chattels.

Intellectual Property in taonga works
Should be able to protect against offensive or derogatory use. Kaitiaki should be able to object to commercial uses of taonga works. Should develop a register of cultural works such as haka, moteatea so kaitiaki can be identified. Should be a new commission to hear objections to commercial uses.

Basically tinkering with existing system. Claimants had wanted an indigenous system.

Māori and the environment
Three levels of protection:

• full decision-making authority to kaitiaki
• partnership with crown - shared decision-making
• influence over decisions

Tribunal suggest moving to the first, acknowledging we're not even at the third.

Text in legal situations re Māori issues tend to be very waffly eg "give consideration to". Tribunal says we need to be more specific.

Wildlife Act should be amended to give Māori and Crown shared management - rather than Crown ownership. (This is the only act where the Tribunal comes straight out about.)

Taonga and the Conservation Estate
"For Māori [this is about] the survival of their own identity. Without the mātauranga Māori that lives in the DOC estate, kaitiakitanga is lost." Less than 4% of land is left in Māori ownership. Everything other than land has been given to Māori - have actually lost more land. 33% is held in the conservation estate.

So much land is 'hands off' - ideally to protect species, but it's not working. All frogs threatened, 5 of 6 species of bat endangered, 2420 species threatened, 180 species on brink of extinction. The best conservation outcomes come from communities living alongside and working with nature. "Nature without people" doesn't work - need connection between people and land.

Tongariro National Park was first park in the world to be created by a gift of land by an indigenous people.

When the Crown controls mātauranga Māori
Report points out Crown is in control of funding/managing education/arts, etc, so is basically controlling mātauranga Māori whether it knows it or not.

Distinction between kaitiaki relationship (when taonga legitimately sold/transferred) and rangatiratanga relationship (when taonga lost or wrongfully taken or newly discovered). When held in libraries/archives, Māori have a strong interest in it - but important to maintain relatively free public access. Recommend managing use through objection-based approach. Should be free access for private research but commercial use should consult/gain consent.

Recommendation to establish viable partnerships to support mātauranga māori. Real proactivity required.

Questions
Q: Thanks for speech - media never gives balanced picture and bad for everyone.
A: When report promoted, attempt by someone else to make it as racially divisive as possible - often a challenge to turn around media's challenges.

Q: Please explain more about where rangatiratanga would apply to objects acquired wrongly - is this objects overseas or within NZ?
A: Tribunal makes distinction between items wrongfully taken (especially through Antiquities Act), where Māori interests weren't identified; now you can go through Land Court to establish your interest. Gisbourne just got their wharenui returned from Te Papa. Need to be discussions - kaitiaki might decide to let the items remain. But other situations where Māori just have 'an interest'.

Q: Might a commission be set up for libraries and archives (to monitor use of IP etc)?
A: Good question - but commission the Tribunal's recommending has a specific legal and commercial reason to exist. In case of libraries probably less of an imperative. But still sitting on collections where people might access info for commercial purposes and we need to work out how we manage that access.

Q: Process around how to access information - weren't asked who they were or why they wanted, and might have been easier to access if it had been known that it was the iwi representatives.
A: Need to delegate the care of taonga to iwi, who are the people who can/should give access decisions.

Turning knowledge into value #lianza11

Bill Macnaught - National Librarian
[ETA: Speech now online]

Huge management changes - much change in staff (including Macnaught) and National Library now also a part of the Department of Internal Affairs. Easy to contribute to the aims of government within the DIA.

Cites Weinberger's "Everything is Miscellaneous".

Libraries and library courses talk about organising knowledge.

Some DIA colleagues sceptical about need for libraries/librarians in the future. Can see how algorithmic tools transform how we deal with data. If you're sceptical about the future of everything as unstructured data you'll be scorned. May think librarians are locked into the past.

Old view of all knowledge mappable into a tree-structure. But the world can't be organised like this - particularly obvious now with the internet.

Michael Spence: Knowledge is "the ultimate public good". "Old knowledge has to be disseminated in every generation". Hence education. Creation of new knowledge is costly, but incremental cost of disseminating new knowledge is low (as already disseminating old knowledge). "knowledge transfer causes the productive potential of a developing economy to increase extremely rapidly". Development needn't involve high levels of creation of knowledge, but high levels of sharing knowledge.

How do libraries contribute to the transfer of knowledge?
Public libraries support kids to reading, learning. School libraries do the same and support infolit skills. Academic libraries provide specialised resources to support success of teaching staff and research communities. Special libraries deliver value to support success of their organisation - which may be economic value. School and academic libraries support learning outcomes. Public libraries 'do a bit of everything' but customers don't have to be a member of anything, don't have to justify what they're reading or do a cost/benefit analysis. Purely driven by individual curiosity.

We turn knowledge into value - not just economic value but cultural and personal value.
The National Library turns knowledge into value for New Zealand. Includes valuing our heritage. Working with Archives. Plan to move the Treaty of Waitangi. Looking at ways to share collective resources. Literacy, learning and public programmes team busy - this year much about rebuilding public schools programmes in Christchurch. (Slide of destroyed original site (probably from their Flickr site); now up and running again in Cavendish Park.)

Ultra-fast broadband in schools initiative from government. Also rural broadband initiative, working with APNK. Launch of National Library Beta.

Shoutout to Sue Sutherland and Penny Carnaby's work; and acknowledges that much of this wouldn't have been possible without National Library being part of DIA.

Big opportunities and challenges in shift to digital. Has led initiatives like Digital New Zealand, Kōtui etc from within NDL but can't rest on laurels! Asking staff to think about the environment in ten years time (using new equipment: shows a slide of a crystal ball). Plan to facilitate conversations with colleagues across New Zealand and overseas to exchange ideas of the future.

No-one has a crystal ball, but as professionals it's our responsibility to describe a desired future and persuade decision makers to support it, rather than letting the future happen to us.

Reaffirm fundamental purpose of libraries and values of librarianship. What's our purpose, how do we add value to tools like Google, etc? We value life-long learning; equality of access; intellectual freedom; rights of users to access and publish information; linguistic diversity and cultural heritage. None of these depend on organising information and can't be replaced by algorithms.

Challenges:

• Unstructured data - metadata is essential; but it's mostly developed automatically. Should we develop capability to do this or focus on specialised data?
• Users always connected to information online
• Free! or at least affordable access to libraries. How does this remain viable? Subscription vs owned?
• How do we collaborate national to improve stakeholders perspective of our value?

Can't just morph as we move with the times - transitional change isn't enough. Need transformational change. Will build relationships - can't do this alone.

Together we turn knowledge into value.
(Speech supported by waiata Tutira Mai Nga Iwi

Presidential Address #lianza11

Jane Hill

LIANZA has launched its Advocacy Tools Portal.

Power in working together, connecting and using technology. Essential to build and harness expert power - we're all leaders.

We're well-placed to make a difference if we keep watching, listening, thinking analysing, collaborating, making mistakes, and triumphing.
Many trends already evident - we need to look at future implications.

[Speech is supported by singing of the LIANZA waiata]

Libraries: essential for learning and life #lianza11 #keynote2

Molly Raphael 2011-2012 ALA President
Libraries: essential for learning, essential for life
(Abstract is in Sunday's programme)

Libraries can and must play a transformative role in people's lives. Tough economy but huge increase in demand/use of libraries.

In 1990s some thought libraries would fade away with rise of the internet. Instead libraries embraced the internet, proved adaptability. Now need to change rapidly and demonstrate we're as essential as any other "essential services" (police, fire departments). We're not "discretionary" or "ancillary" services though we're not effective at making our case.

Need to transform libraries and transform how people think about us.

How do we keep our libraries moving forward?
Look for opportunities. Libraries doing pretty well at this. Not just keeping up with changes in technology but also how we communicate with public - local and broader community via online. Keeping up with demographic changes.

Excited by what she sees in libraries and library websites. Balancing demand for traditional services with demand for e-services.

Physical library vs virtual library. Most libraries are somewhere in the middle, usually towards physical. We make strategic choices re what we invest in. Shift to virtual use but still lots of demand for face-to-face.

Community library vs individual library. How do we bring people together, create spaces to make it possible - community not just individual.

Collection library vs creation library. Tend to be more focused on collection side, but some more creative esp in Netherlands, Denmark, Singapore.

Portal library vs archival library.
Research on what affects public's likelihood to support libraries for more funding:
Library funding support is only marginally related to library visits - many highly believe in libraries even if they don't use them. Perception of librarians is an important predictor of library funding support. Raphael's going to stop introducing herself at community events as "Director" in favour of "Chief Librarian".

In academic libraries, "Value of Academic Libraries".

Used to look at inputs (how many books do we have), then outputs (how many books are borrowed), now starting to look at impact - how do we transform lives? This info is much more difficult to collect...

This is a frightening time for libraries but also opportunity to demonstrate importance of libraries in transforming lives.

Who can be the most effective in telling the library story?
If we tell it, sounds like self-interest. When members of communities tell it, that issue disappears. Power of people from the community telling the story. Raphael advocates, but notices the impact of parent, teacher, business leader, business activist in making the case for the library. Eg a father talking about a summer reading project turning his son into a reader, from struggling to doing well in school. Community in Oakland defending libraries from closures. Reads story from someone who went from being a school dropout, used library resources to self-educate, then went to community college and now has Master of Engineering.

When libraries seen as transformational source, not informational source, they get much stronger support.

"The Spokane Moms" spoke out in support of school libraries. Lost at local level and went to state level. State provided support for school libraries and school librarians.
Need to engage communities and empower them to speak.

Challenge: think about how our communities can speak in powerful ways. How can we direct this towards the people making decisions? Need to think of how we advocate. Not just when budgets get cut. Need to have communities talk about our value all the time (not necessarily about budgets, but about success linked to libraries). Need to move ourselves into the "essential services" category in preparation for tough economic times.

Need more collaboration between researchers and practitioners. Build bridges so research gets used, and need to share in accessible way to communities. Front-line staff essential in advocacy.

"Empowering Voices: Communities Speak out for Libraries" (see Raphael's column) - building tools to engage in communities. For USA but open to anyone. Advocacy University

Questions
Q: "Raging Readers" turned around the whole issue at [missed the location] around to keep materials free - best-kept secret was the "Raging Readers" consisted of two people.
A: A small group can have a huge impact. Politicians often interested mostly in getting reelected. Libraries seen as easy target. Libraries who fight back usually regain most of what they lost - but then exhausted. So need people to see what the library of today is like. Had a meeting with Chief Operating Officer in the library space so he saw it during the day and was blown away by its usage.

Q: In a corporate library. Every dollar counts. Have to pay people to fill in surveys because their time is chargeable.
A: Once out of the public realm it's a lot harder to get support - doesn't really have an answer to this.

Public libraries in the UK #lianza11 #keynote1

Martin Molloy
Public Libraries: the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?
(Abstract is in Sunday's programme)

(Slideshow of photos/paintings of Derbyshire countryside as background, from picturethepast.org.uk.)

400 out of 4600 libraries in the UK are threatened with closure. Street demonstrations, regularly featuring in media and blogosphere. In the UK culture is valued in mechanistic terms - return on investment. Elderly population to grow over the next 20 years, among many other big changes in progress. Molloy thinks libraries are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

How did we get here?
There's no national library service in the UK. No ring-fenced funding from government - have to compete with other services for funding from local government, so have to operate within a political environment.

The best have positioned themselves in this sphere (as well as core functions) to deliver on wider agendas such as health, economic regeneration, community safety. Can't work in isolation - need to contribute to objectives of local authority.

But too great a focus on economic benefits from local government. Some have tried to measure value, but failed to capture intrinsic value - libraries' unique position.

Spending on libraries often at barely sustainable levels.

2009 announcement that 11 libraries to be closed. Due to controversy central government had to intervene and make them consult with relevant GLAM groups. Proposal finally withdrawn.

Free internet access across all UK libraries (People's Network) but local government increasingly introducing charges.

Where are we going?
Some authorities cutting fairly and protecting frontline services. Other places massive cuts and joblosses. Molloy's department needs to save 3.5 million pounds over the next few years. Molloy's priority is to preserve the network of libraries. Have a very small backroom team. Have provided free wifi access. Share transport services. Broadest range of online resources in the region.

Derbyshire has increased business by focusing on core principles. Funds spent on materials, not initiatives. Leader in reader development.

Thinks it's possible to meet challenging savings targets while still running services. Government would probably think they're not radical enough. He lists some government ideas eg sharing backroom services, using volunteers, and others he's even more sceptical about. Cambridgeshire had an idea to hand libraries over to a charitable trust - but finally realised it'd save no money. Now wanting to squeeze libraries into kiosks in business/doctor's spaces so they can sell existing buildings....

Outsourcing to the private sector? Might work in town but not rurally - private sector would want to cherrypick. Handing over to a community group? Doesn't recall local people being asked if they want to be responsible for running as well as using libraries...

Local campaigning has resulted in 3 local authorities being taken to judicial review. (However this can only judge on procedure, not on morality of final decision.) Something wrong when locals have to resort to the law to protect the services they value!

Who is driving?
Public Libraries Network needs shared values, support from government, and inspired leaders. The librarian was once a radical. Service managers need to understand corporate working.

How's the map of public library provision being redrawn?
Arts Council of England will get responsibility - but they're wrestling with gigantic budget cuts too. Starting off with a hand tied behind backs.

Have to work with government, parent organisations. Collaboration - joint procurement. National catalogue, national reading programme. New roadmap to include new ways of delivering services. Ebook loan service getting many new users. Usage of online sources almost doubling from year to year.

Increased personal support to young, elderly. More self-service can keep libraries open longer. Need to become corporate managers, not just service-based. Collaborate with broader groups.

Need to demonstrate that libraries are a life-changing service.

Are we seeing the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?
Many pressures - including demographic, technology. 5 years ago said libraries are as relevant as ever. Enviable usage figures and exception satisfaction levels. But confusion and lack of competence of politicians re purpose and value of libraries. Public library community also confused, lack of confidence, clarity, vision - librarians ill-equipped to defend services. "Toxic mix of short-term fixes and so-called radical solutions."

But if smart enough and flexible enough, libraries will survive. Need new approaches to engage with communities of users. Need to operate effectively within a political environment.

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone, but what is woven into the life of others." --Pericles

Links of Interest 19/10/2011 - infolit & student success; serials; conferences

The Swiss Army Librarian posts a regular "Reference Question of the Week". One of the latest covers using file conversion websites to help a desperate patron who needs to print out a file in a format that the library doesn't support.

Sense and Reference discusses three recent blogposts on libraries getting rid of books to create spaces.

The effect of library instruction on student success
Three C&RL papers:

• The Academic Library Impact on Student Persistence: "a change in the ratio of library professional staff to students predicts a statistically significant positive relationship with both retention and graduation rates." (Note that they show correlation, not causation; in their discussion they're inclined to suspect that the effect of more library professional staff is an indirect one.)
• Measuring Association between Library Instruction and Graduation GPA: "if more than one or two library workshops were offered to students within the course of their program, there was a higher tendency of workshop attendance having a positive impact on final GPA. The results indicate that library instruction has a direct correlation with student performance, but only if a certain minimum amount of instruction is provided."
• Why One-shot Information Literacy Sessions Are Not the Future of Instruction: A Case for Online Credit Courses: "Researchers analyzed the pre- and post-test scores of students who received different types of instruction including a traditional one-shot library session and an online course. Results show that students who participated in the online course demonstrated significant improvement in their test scores compared to the other students. This study shows freshman students' needs for more comprehensive information literacy instruction."

Serials

• Jenica Rogers names names of vendors with annoying practices. Some vendors responded well; some badly. Jenica posted another followup on Vendors that delight me.
• SCOAP3 is an initiative to set up a consortium that redirects library funds from paying for closed access High Energy Physics journal subscriptions to funding these journals to be made open access. The FAQ goes into more detail about how the model will work.

Conferences

• LIANZA 2011 starts on Sunday - #lianza11 tweets from all attendees will be captured in a set of CoverItLive sessions and I'll be liveblogging as much as my wrists allow
• the worldwide online Library 2.011 conference will follow, running from November 2 - 4, with sessions held in multiple timezones.