Thank you everyone #alaac18 for coming to our presentation.

Here's a little GIFt for you - a few visual memories from NOLA (click on it)

If you have questions after you receive our NOTES, we will happily assist. Posting them within a week the ALA Conference Sessions Postings site.

Librarians planning your new library or addition, take note.

You can do anything you want to do.

A story to inspire you.

Camila Silva reports in worldarchitecture.org about an exciting program "created by the architect Carina Guedes. Named Arquitetura na Periferia , the program teaches women (that they) can design their houses by themselves."

The idea was born from Carina's master's thesis in collaboration with her advisor and the research group MOM (Morar de Outras Maneiras).

This account is taken from this link at worldarchitecture.org

(a team working in) A social project in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, has taught low-income women how to renovate or extend their homes without the assistance of a professional.

In a country where the most economically vulnerable population sees self-construction as the only alternative, the results of this initiative do more than increasing (sic) the housing quality: the project changes how these women envision life by itself.

Through a process where the groups of women are (introduced and taught) the practices/techniques of project design and planning, (with) technical assistance for the improvement of housing, (the women) ... (are) able to conduct the construction (of their homes) with autonomy and without waste."

According to an interview given to Catraca Livre, the participant Ana Paula affirms that her vision of the world has changed. "Today I look at things and people in a different way. For example, I look at people knowing that any of us can do anything we want". (my emphasis) 

Here are further links to this encouraging story:

Projeto em BH ensina mulheres periféricas a reformar suas casas

Abrace o Brasil - Abrace o Brasil

and

Arquitetura na Periferia - Home | Facebook

A shout out to the librarians and trustees who participated in our session and workshop at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference 3 February in Toronto.

Our entire presentation and all the notes that accompany our work with you in Toronto are now on the OLA, OLASC17 web site here: PLAN22Archibrarians OLASC17 Presentation NOTES PDF

HOVER OVER THE YELLOW ARROW to see the notes.

Contact us directly if you have any questions. We are here to help.

THANK YOU to the organisers, staff and volunteers at OLASC, and especially to Michelle Arbuckle @Citybrarian  and Pamela Sweet who took the time to stay with us after her introduction - we appreciate all the work you do.

Link to Session/Workshop Information

We are look forward to meeting librarians and trustees at the @ONLibraryAssoc Ontario Library Association Super Conference #OLASC in Toronto this Friday, 3 February.

Our Session and Workshop  - "Communicate Effectively with Design Professionals" - will introduce and develop the concept of the the Library Building Program Document as a comprehensive method for organizing your library’s requirements and communicating them to library users, board, city or municipal councils and the architect.

We believe that the librarian is the person who should lead the Library Building Project and we do everything we can to support you with tools to help you systematically navigate your Library Building Project. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or feel unsupported.

We help librarians lead the pre-planning phase of the library building project and offer and explain the use of methods and strategies to use throughout the design development phase that help you retain control of your design into the acceptance of construction drawings.

So that you are familiar with the visual language that designers use, we will introduce you to adjacency charts; bubble diagrams; construction drawing schedules and Room Data Sheets . We will workshop three of these with exercises so that all our attendees can get hands on experience of the work involved and gain some experience for when you begin the design conversation with your architect.

Tomorrow we present "Communicating Effectively with Design Professionals - Shaping the Outcome of your Library"; our WEBINAR for @LLAMA_ALA. 

Details at this link. Hope we meet you there.

The following quote made news this week. I am amazed:

“It's time for a paradigm shift to one in which public leaders engage with their communities and take action based on the voices of their constituents. (And where communities demand that kind of interaction.) So go, get out there, engage your elected and appointed leaders, and use your voice to impact positive change.”

This quote is taken from “100 Great Ideas for the Future of Libraries -- A New Paradigm for Civic Engagement”, written by Rebecca Fishman Lipsey and “Co-authored by Francine Madera, MADERA inc." as reported in the Huffington Post on-line.  Posted: 01/29/2015 3:53 pm EST Updated: 01/29/2015 3:59 pm EST” 100 Great Ideas for the Future of Libraries -- A New Paradigm for Civic Engagement | Rebecca Fishman Lipsey

The ideas quoted are indeed ‘great’. I am so pleased you have discovered them, but they are not new. No, Ms. Fishman Lipsey and Ms. Madera, what you write about is not a “New Paradigm”, though I do admit each generation comes to the hard, cold truth in their own time. Congratulations! I hope the librarians who read your article do the research they do so well and discover the know-how, in existence for over 30 years, which leads them through this process that, among many other concepts, includes "Civic Engagement".

Many times have I heard this refrain and for years I have read articles urging librarians to use this or that 'innovative idea' to keep libraries fresh and in touch with their communities.  I am dispirited that intelligent people do not use common sense! Then I battle incredulity over the fact that such a well-educated and seemingly intelligent group of people can remain so ostrich-like in the face of tried-and-true, long used techniques to achieve success as librarians in their communities.

Why make your job difficult? Why reinvent the wheel? Why not use the body of knowledge passed on to you by your colleagues over generations to help you do your work? Perhaps it’s easier to read about ‘new ideas’ than to do the work of recognizing and adopting the planning process that has led to the success of librarians who have delivered truly brilliant and responsive libraries to their communities.

copyright PLAN22

For years, we and our esteemed colleagues have been guiding public librarians in the process of community building and outreach; preparing them to determine their needs and enabling them to talk effectively to their communities, boards and architects. This process includes Strategic Planning and architectural pre-programming.  I will not apologize for saying this even though each generation must come to learn the terminology the hard way.  Sometimes a strategic plan is quite simply a strategic plan. If community based Strategic Planning is not done, you will not achieve the type of library specific to your community's needs. Changing the terminology will not make it any easier to do.

All the issues Ms. Rebecca Fishman Lipsey and Ms. Madera bring up in their article are valid. However all these issues have been around since architects and librarians jointly conceived and built libraries in this modern age. Librarians, please read the vast amount of literature available that guides you, minute by in-depth step, toward a successful library building project. As librarians you have the skills to locate, read, grasp and avail yourself of this information. You have the intelligence and the knowledge to lead your library building project with the full support of your community, lawmakers and users. It is hard, constant, diligent, detailed, attention-demanding work. It is worth it.

The American Library Association (ALA) is open and clear in their support for you and your community to achieve the library that your community needs. The Library Bill of Rights Library Bill of Rights | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues supports all the work needed to achieve not only your library facility but also a satisfied constituency. Architects, Urban Planners, Interior Architects, Landscape Architects and other professional organizations that include the Project Management Institute PMI - the World’s Leading Professional Association for Project Management are resources available to you at every turn, and throughout your project. Use them. Research how these professionals actually do their jobs, you will find that they have the knowledge to support your work.

book cover

Sandra Nelson, of Sandra Nelson Consulting , is the author of Strategic Planning for Results and Implementing for Results: Your Strategic Plan in Action, the current Public Library Association strategic planning how-to book. Strategic Planning for Results - Books / Professional Development - Books for Academic Librarians - Books for Public Librarians - PLA Products - ALA Store 

To quote Ms. Nelson:

“The Strategic Planning for Results process has been refined by 30 years of public library planning experiences and reflects today's best practices. The process takes between three and four months and engages stakeholders from the staff, the board, and the community. The final plan describes the library's service priorities and explains how the staff will measure progress toward meeting those priorities. Creating a strategic plan is just a preliminary step in the real work of moving the library forward.(our emphasis) A plan is of little value unless it is implemented and Implementing for Results: Your Strategic Plan in Action is the most practical tool available to guide your implementation efforts.” 

While it may be exciting for each generation to discover a way of making library spaces better for their communities, it still remains that this process takes energy, research, determination, dedication and plain, hard work. No single news release is going to make it easy for anyone but perhaps it will inspire you to do the work that needs to be done. Good luck!

For a concise, easy to read outline of why you will meet success through tried and true, good old Strategic Planning try quickly reading this document by Ms. Nelson: tab_3_handouts.pdf

What better day to learn how to document your needs for your new library (greatest ever cornerstone of Democracy) than Bastille Day?

Thank you, librarians from the APLL Institute at Southern Ontario Library Service, who participated in our webinar "The Library Program - Roadmap to a successful New Library Building". Or - Architectural Programming, the very short version!

We know it was a huge chunk of information to digest.

It will all make sense once you begin your new project.

Keep on being your amazing, information-seraching, freedom-loving selves.

It will all work out - promise.

Special thank you to Anne Marie M! 

There has always been movement in the library.

‘Repurposing the Library’ is today’s term for “That Flexibility Thing Libraries Have Always Done’. Librarians are experts about the subject of ‘Movement’ whether it is movement of people or the movement of relationships and adaptations between spaces to account for new ways people need to use existing spaces. It is so vexing to a librarian who is documenting the needs of her or his library to be able to forecast what the space requirements for the library will be in 10 or 20 years. But librarians have always met the challenge.

Flexibility that is built in to your design will help you, as the leader of your library design project, to cope with planning for the future of your library.

When you know your needs based on your plan to supply your community with what they need, you can lead your designer to solutions that you may have not imagined. The article gives you some examples of what flexible storage is available on the market today. With a well prepared architectural program and a clear budget, you and your designer can together make the library for your community's future.

Screen shot from Spacesaver site ref.

I like the INFO SHEET: THE REPURPOSED LIBRARY found as a freee download on the right column on this Spacesaver Link, because it is clear and short and it's about storage spaces, real concepts that people can easily grasp.  It emphasizes what we have been telling librarians, that you need a plan (a Strategic Plan to begin) that takes into account your community's needs and you need to gather data about what you have now to plan for what you need in the future. You need this information to establish a Budget and you and you staff are the most experienced and well placed persons to gather that information.

Related articles

Future Proof | Library by Design

30 Vintage Photos of People in Libraries

19 June 2014

Tomorrow we have the privilege of conducting for the third time, the first of two updated webinars for the Southern Ontario Library Service SOLS.

We kick off their Advancing Public Library Leadership (APLL) Institute. A "two year certificate program designed to expand and advance the leadership capacity of public library CEOs and managers. Pronounced 'apple,' the APLL Institute combines the flexibility of online learning with highly interactive classroom sessions."

This webinar gives an overview of The Library Development Guide #5, 2010.  (That) "covers the crucial work of building municipal and community support for a building project based on documenting the community's need for a new or expanded building. 

The process begins with a thorough information gathering process that helps you assess your facility requirements in terms of meeting the future needs of the community, as captured in the librarys strategic plan."

We hope that you can join us and take the opportunity to ask questions and follow the  links provided during the presentation.  We are available throughout the course to help you develop a through undestanding of the importance of leading your Library Building Project.

PLAN22 are the authors of The Library Development Guide #5, 2010, ed. SOLS

Planning is more than Dreaming

Planning a new library space or building is a huge undertaking and can take up to 10 years from Strategic Plan to Opening Ceremony in this economic climate.  I think the participants that took part in our Work Shop for RCLS got the message.

Thank you to the generous librarians in Ontario who spoke with me and shared your experiences with building a new building and addition.  I couldn't have done this without you.

Appreciation as always to Grace and Stephen, Ruth, Eileen, Sue and Dan at RCLS for your help in making me welcome.

To all the RCLS Member Library librarians, staff and trustees who took the time to participate and offer insightful observations and questions, it was a pleasure to spend time with you. I had fun.

On Friday the 28 March, I am presenting a Workshop to librarians, members of the Ramapo Catskill Library System , about the importance of talking with and listening to users, staff, community and architects throughout the planning phase of a Library Building Project

You cannot effectively communicate with people about your project unless you know what your library needs are in great detail.  We always stress the essential element - your Strategic Plan.

A well researched and documented Plan is only the beginnning of the process of planning and building your new library or library space. It is an understatement to say that a project like this will demand of you a great deal of work and personal dedication. A Library Building Project is one of the most demanding and ultimately, rewarding projects you will ever do.

This Workshop outlines in detail the work required so that you will be prepared to answer the questions put to you by your board, the public and your architect throughout the Library Building Project.

I am developing a workshop to demonstrate the value of communicating with your library staff during the planning of a new library or l ibrary space.

I seek examples of successes (and as importantly, failures) that show definitively and with examples of how staff involvement in pre-planning and planning aided your project’s success; or because of the absence of communication with staff, the project did not meet expectations.

NYLA e-Bulletin is publishing PLAN22's 11 part series "Strategic Planning @ Your Library".

Members see: The e-Bulletin

This month's topic:
Looking at your library - Your Library is one of the four RESOURCES common to all public libraries.

Related articles

Talk: Exploring the Role of the City's Public Libraries

PLAN22 delivered our second webinar for the Southern Ontario Library System (SOLS) - Advancing Public Library Leadership (APLL) Institute

We stressed that when a librarian leads the collection of data and the authorship of the library building program - the completed library  project will meet the needs of the community and fulfill the Strategic Plan.

Participants in the Southern Ontario Library System (SOLS) - Advancing Public Library Leadership (APLL) Institute, joined their colleagues in our webinar to open up the conversation about the skills required to lead a library building project.

The APLL Institute "is designed to expand and advance the leadership capacity of public library CEOs and managers."   The "certificate program takes approximately two years to complete, with participating library staff undergoing independent course work in 12 key areas, complemented by highly interactive classroom sessions."

You may contact us for more information about this webinar.