30-second elevator-type speeches to feature library services

In einer Antwort auf Michele L. Matucheski gibt Ann Holman in medlib-l ein paar Tipps für Krankenhausbibliotheken, sich und ihr Services in 30 Sekunden „rüberzubringen“:

I think libraries need a new marketing campaign: „It’s not about keeping books in, it’s about getting information out.“

Maybe if you have a factoid of the week? „Online resource X got # of hits last week… I expected the numbers to be higher because it has valuable information about Y… What would be a good way to get the word out to your department?“

Or honestly, I’d ask people about the most interesting problem/question that they’ve faced all week. People like to talk about what they’re doing, and if a great resource recommendation doesn’t spring to mind right away, you could always do some brief research and send a follow-up email.

Christopher L. Kiess hat das 6 Monate lang ausprobiert „and failed immensely“. Christopher erklärt, warum (Fettdruck durch mich):

The larger issue here is in how librarians are perceived, how to change those perceptions and become a member of a working team rather than a „bean counter“ sitting in the room with all the books. I have rounded in my own hospital. It was a 6-month pilot that failed immensely. Part of that was my approach and part of it was the organizational culture. Nurses simply could not make a connection between having a clinical question and library services.

Das mag (in einem etwas anderen Rahmen) auch für Ärzte gelten. Die vielleicht mit einer ganz anderen Bibliothek aufgewachsen sind, die vielleicht die Bibliothek nie aufgesucht haben, die vielleicht nach einer Frust-Erfahrung die Bibliothek abgehakt haben…

Christopher empfiehlt folgende Strategie:

  • survey your audience to determine their readiness and whether they have any understanding of what you actually do. If they don’t you have a larger problem than simply getting them to listen to your 30-second speech.
  • Pilot your program on a small level
  • Get Nurse-leader buy-in or a champion (this was the primary problem with my program)
  • Develop a formal plan of action for how you will make those services available. Walking around your „beat“ is fine as an initial reconnaissance, but depending on your hospital, this will only go so far.
  • Review the literature on clinical librarianship (which I am assuming you have done) and contact some of your colleagues in that field.