“Library fines got you down? Help build our Facebook page to 500 people & I'll waive fines of two students.” This message streamed across the Luria Library’s Twitter feed. In less than 140 characters, it perfectly portrays the playful and forgiving nature of its library director, and demonstrates the rising value of social capital, which just might outweigh the penalty for a few overdue books.
Kenley Neufeld has led the Luria Library at Santa Barbara (Calif.) City College for the past three years. During this time usage has doubled and the library has grown from being what he calls “little used and simply dismissed,” into “a center for student activity on campus.” This shift included the expansion of technology services, the installation of a café, and the development of more flexible workspace. However, the transformation hasn’t simply been physical but also includes new attitudes. “Taking down signs that prohibited talking and eating has been critical to our success,” Neufeld says. “We want to provide an environment that is conducive for social learning.” Additionally, he has worked with his staff to present a more open and inviting demeanor when interacting with patrons.
This library’s openness is strongly influenced by Neufeld’s mindfulness. “It is really important to remain in a calm state; when chaos happens you have to stay balanced and not get drawn in emotionally.” Neufeld strives to be neutral and helps guide conversations, but not dominate them. “As a leader I can’t get too attached to a particular outcome. I have to be open to all possibilities.” This creates an environment that not only encourages experimentation but nurtures it as well.
This is evident in Luria Library’s approach to technology. Despite having offered text message reference for years, librarians found that there is an increasing demand for assistance via chat. The staff switched back and forth between several chat clients before finally settling on Library H3lp. Neufeld is philosophical about failure. "It’s OK if things don’t work out as planned; we can grow together by learning what works and what doesn’t,” he says.
Platform of influence
While there is a lot of activity inside the library, Neufeld spends a fair amount of his time away from the building. By serving on campus committees, he has become the face of the library to many faculty and administrators. He believes that the best way to build interest is through direct conversation and that promotion of the library trickles down from instructors into the classroom.
“We’ve slowly tried to build a culture of coming to the library,” Neufeld says. Students and faculty were not in the habit of using the library before, but now they visit regularly. This is clearly the case as gate counts have risen from a quarter-million patrons each year to over half a million.
What’s next? Although the dramatic growth rate in foot traffic has leveled off, the Luria Library remains very busy. “It can actually be a bit chaotic. Maybe we’ve been too successful,” Neufeld notes. Looking ahead, the next step is improving existing services, he observes. “We’ve built a consistent audience, but now we need to focus on understanding their needs and ways that we can better serve them.” Neufeld intends to adapt Char Booth’s Informing Innovation metric, spend more time talking with patrons, and exploring Santa Barbara City College’s annual campuswide assessment that addresses student learning outcomes.
Reflecting on the future of the profession, Neufeld envisions an opportunity for librarians to “take a leading role in the upcoming electronic social media environment where information is ubiquitous and free” by embracing the “responsibility of helping people become savvy consumers of information.” This is probably why he is willing to exchange some overdue fines for Facebook friends, because the success of his library is about building a platform of influence one patron at a time.
Brian Mathews is a librarian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of Marketing Today’s Academic Library(ALA Editions, 2009). This column spotlights leadership strategies that produce inspirational libraries.
