[WEB4LIB] Re: library marketing was RE: Google Mail invitations? Any takers?

[Amos Lakos]

Mr. Collier - I wonder?

how do you know that libraries are delivering what the customers want?
do you have some data or assessment to rely on?

and what is wrong with being popular or trendy - what is wrong with
Starbucks?

Why should library services not strive for online success such as Google's?
Who says we can't compete with this or that, just because we are not 
private?

Come on - be positive........

Mr. Amos

--On Monday, February 14, 2005 3:41 PM -0800 "Mr. Brian Collier" 
<collierb at marist.com> wrote:

> This is veering off topic, but I have to disagree with Roy's evaluation
> of A and B.
>
> There's no question that we provide what people want. Barnes and Noble,
> the NY Times, Netflix, and ISPs charge for the same stuff that libraries
> GIVE AWAY in the form of books, movies, periodicals, and computer
> access. As far as ease of access, all people have to do is walk, run,
> bike, or drive to their community library. I suppose we could make it
> easier for some people to get that information if we streamed it
> digitally, but given the relatively low percentage of the population
> that has a computer and broadband connection, we'd be missing too many
> consumers.
>
> The crux of the question was how can we make library services "trendy",
> and that's the problem. I for one don't want my library to be trendy.
> (Starbucks anyone?)
>
> Maybe library services don't get the online popularity that Google
> enjoys, and while this list is all about Web library services, that's
> not our home turf. We (largely publicly funded entities) can't compete
> with Google (a private corporation) that way, nor should we. We are not
> an online mogul, we serve the public face-to-face in a distributed
> network. Take a gate count. How many people came into your library this
> week? Multiply that by the number of public libraries in your state, or
> better yet by the number of libraries in the U.S. or across the globe.
>
> To bring things somewhat back within the scope of this list; we can and
> should use online tools to provide another layer of service to the
> community, which is why we're getting these messages in our inboxes, but
> if we lose sight of the fact that we are not an online service, then we
> may as well shut the doors and let Google take over.
>
> Brian Collier
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Roy Tennant
> Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 5:31 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: library marketing was RE: Google Mail
> invitations? Any takers?
>
> On Feb 14, 2005, at 2:23 PM, Margaret Henderson wrote:
>
>> How can we make library
>> services as trendy as Gogle mail?
>
> A) Provide something people really want, and B) make it easy to get.
>
> In general, we do so-so on A and suck at B. Next question?
> Roy
>
>
>



Amos Lakos
Librarian, Rosenfeld Management Library
UCLA - Anderson School of Management
110 Westwood Plaza, Box 951460
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1460
Phone: (310) 794-4381
Fax: (310) 825-4835
E-mail: aalakos at library.ucla.edu
Web: http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/amos.lakos/index.html