Promoting the sustainable features built into new libraries - without the use of prominent explanatory signage.

Here are some good uses of logos, windows, floors and design that we may be able to use in the design of our next library.

Use a simple logo to tell a story i.e. Sydney Water water drop way finding and logo, see slides 23 to 28 http://brandculture.com.au/sites/our-clients/sydney-water/ the logo is used throughout the building and they even have a sculpture outside the building.

Using the same principle we could come up with a sustainability logo which we would use to highlight sustainability features throughout the building. On a wall by the shutters we could have a small "logo" which has a few words on it describing what the shutters achieve, for example. The waste paper baskets could have a logo with words describing how it is recycled. The battery and printer recycling should have a proper secure housing which also includes the "logo" and appropriate words. A brochure using the sustainability "logo" could then explain the features in greater detail. The sustainability theme should cover the whole building not just the library.
We should avoid large complicated explanatory signage. Signs are read maybe once then just become visual pollution. Repeat visitors to the library will soon find prominent signage boring.

If we have to have signage on walls slide 3 is nice http://brandculture.com.au/sites/portfolio/barclays/

Great use of windows to tell a story see slide 2,6-9 http://brandculture.com.au/sites/portfolio/potts-hill/

Use the flooring to tell a story http://brandculture.com.au/sites/portfolio/fabrication-workshop/


More windows and glass panels, look at all the slides http://brandculture.com.au/sites/portfolio/daff/

Slide 4 long thin sign, might say something like "Power for this building is supplied by solar panels" http://brandculture.com.au/sites/portfolio/human-technology/

Nice use of a corner http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bravenewthings.com/wp-content/uploads/Monash_11-480x374.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bravenewthings.com/%3Fm%3D201001&usg=__mklPO5KKwJdwdI28XNJ1MBulImM=&h=374&w=480&sz=15&hl=en&start=43&zoom=1&tbnid=Pw3UprShB6FZqM:&tbnh=154&tbnw=218&ei=oRxnTcX9IoyqvQOC8rjkAg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcreative%2Bwayfinding%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1061%26bih%3D837%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=281&oei=XhJnTa2gI4K4vwPgqbXkAg&page=3&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:43&tx=105&ty=96

Nice blog on wayfinding and signage as design. http://ccd-design.blogspot.com/2010/11/wayfinding-is-more-than-signage-using.html

Using paving http://www.guerrilla-innovation.com/archives/2010/08/000752.php

This is a sign from the treetop walk in the valley of the giants in Walpole. The designers have repeated the gum leaf theme for smaller signs in the paving, on walls in brochures. It works very well.

It's a wrap folks!

I have had a lot of fun with this course as well as learnt how to use some valuable tools. I wouldn't have known how to find and post a picture of clapper boards, to illustrate this wrap up blog, or indeed how to create and post on a blog without the training. The impressive thing about the training is that it is all very practical. I have actually used most of the things I have learned to spice up my postings on our staff and public blogs. The training has also made me think more about using Web 2.0 to add life to our marketing and promotional activities. A very nice by product of the training was the inadvertent team building that went on over morning and afternoon tea as each step of the course was discussed.

Thank you to all involved in making this training such a success and thanks to all of the Cockburn Libraries people who lent a helping hand to me and other less tech savvy members of staff.

You had me at Easter Egg Hunt... or Geocaching

Described by Wikipedia as "Hi Tech Hide and Seek", Geocaching does sound like fun. Though, again according to Wikipedia, you do need to be careful where you locate the cache lest you be mistaken for a drug dealer, bank robber, serial killer or paedophile. Best not to locate your cache underneath bridges, near banks, courts of law, schools, cemetaries...you get the drift. I was surprised that it had been around for so long, i.e 10 years.

I asked Ms. Google about public libraries and geocaching and she came up with a few interesting ideas.

The Shoshone Public Library in Idahoe use it this way, http://www.idaholibraries.org/idlibrarian/index.php/idaho-librarian/article/view/25/81

While Chicago Public Library does this http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/chicago-public-library-helps-teens-find-history

and Middletown Public Library ran a geocaching clinic, http://geocaching.coollibrarian.com/

Maybe we can use some of these ideas as a kick off point for a geocaching event for Library & Information Week??!!

Podcasts

I've opened the Podcast Box and now I can't stop. So many interesting, inspiring, entertaining, hilarious things to listen to as I slog down the the treadmill every other morning. I'm with Mally when she says they could be renamed Fitcasts. Once again I'm amazed by the uses technology can be made to serve. I've discovered that people give out awards for the best podcasts each year in a variety of categories and I intend to work my way through all of them. Of course not while at work, as the computer I am working on is preventing me from accessing any podcast at the moment. I will be checking out the Parsec Awards which reward excellence in various aspects of Speculative Fiction Podcasting. "Parsec Awards are made to SF and Fantasy original content, podiobooks and a variety of other categories dealing with the new frontiers of portable media" Podiobooks, that's a new one for me, but I like the sound of them! Apparently they are serialized audio books made available in a podcast format. A link to this site from our library website may be of interest to our clients who love SF and Fantasy fiction. Unfortunately you don't seem to be able to access the podiobooks from the Parsec site but you can then google the award winning titles you are interested in and go from there. On further exploration I have discovered Romance Podiobooks, ...cough...although these do seem to be serving a niche market!

In a library environment we can make our own podcasts of the events we run, for example the Estelle Blackburn talk we had a while ago would have made a terrific podcast. Alternatively we can provide access to podcasts that reflect our current marketing strategy or simply make available podcasts that we think may be of interest to our customer. As always, how we make use of this tech is bound by staffing/time constraints, alas.

Embedding a Video

In the spirit of the season, I have embedded Jose Feliciano’s Christmas Classic, Feliz Navidad. Enjoy! You may also get a chuckle out of Jib Jab’s, He’s Barack Obama! He’s Come to Save the Day! I know I did. Have a clickfest on anything Jib Jab and you are sure to get a laugh.

There has been some interesting blogging about the use of video by libraries. Along with Hairy Harry and others I do think we could be using this media to spice up our websites. A blast of Feliz Navidad or a video tutorial on Blogging or Flickr or a home made video on one of our summer holiday activities could add humour and interest. There is a YouTube video on just about any topic and it may be possible to work them into whatever marketing theme a library is working with. Hmmmm, can’t wait for our next Marketing Group Meeting.

Facebook and Twitter

I've added Midland Swan as a friend using my Facebook alias just to confuse me and everyone else. I made a facebook page earlier this year because one of our IT staff wanted to bring some staff dinosaurs into the 21st century and get into Facebook and Twitter so that we could all better participate in the library's commitment to Web 2.0 services. I created the page and it has been dormant since. This is the second time I have used it and I don't really think that I will become a great user unless it's to update pictures of the adorable Archie (our hairy son). I think it's mostly because I don't like the world knowing my business, not that I'm a sleeper for Al -Qaeda or anything. I just really like my privacy. I know there are privacy settings and all but it still feels uncomfortably out there. As far as work is concerned, I understand the need for Cockburn Libraries to be out where people are communicating and Facebook is a good way to market a product. Every band or movie star seems to have a facebook page so as a marketing tool it clearly has its uses. Luckily, thanks to Lawley we do have a really good Facebook presence.

I'm now off to become a Twit, Twitterer, Twitster, Twitee, Twitmeister, Tweeter...

I have Tweeted. My Twitter name is kim@cockburn. I have tried to change my name twice to The Renovator for symmetry's sake, but don't seem to have mastered that black art as yet. I now follow a bunch of people and have unsuccessfully tried to leave a tweet on #waweb20. Persistence is a virtue, right? ...Persistence might be a virtue but it's also a time waster. Giving up on this one for now. Maybe someone could enlighten me. What the heck am I doing wrong? In reply to SwanLibraries "anyone seen this site: http://wthashtag.com/Waweb20

Yes I have, but what do you do with it and how do you post on it? I see GozzieHoon and Lawley and cccrumber is there too. I'm a member but don't know how to post. Woe is me.

I tweeted about our "What does Christmas Spirit mean to you?" activity and competition at Coobellup Library, whereby children and adults are encouraged to decorate a Christmas ornament for our Christmas Tree and write what Christmas Spirit means to them on the back of the ornament. While the majority of people have entered into the true spirit of the season, some jaded kiddies clearly just aren't feeling it. As experienced library staff, I am sure you can imagine some of the comments we have had on the back of our Christmas ornaments!

What do I think of Twitter? Again not for me on a personal level but yes it is clearly a powerful marketing and information/entertainment tool in the right hands. Just don't tell me what you've had for breakfast. I don't care.

Step 5 - Furniture, Fittings, Graphic Artwork + Delicious and Library Thing

Delicious is a great way to keep all your bookmarks together. The next time my PC explodes or the boys and girls in IT decide its time to update our leasing agreement, I won't loose all my really useful bookmarks as I have popped them all into Delicious. Its a good way for a library renovator to keep track of all the suppliers they have used and want to use again and its a great tool for sharing information about good suppliers and hopefully finding new ones. If its inspiration you need, it is good for that too. I found the DOK Library Concept Centre in all its coolness via a Delicious search on public library renovation. I covet those music pods in a big way.

Well I have created an account on Library Thing and added some fav books. As for making them appear in the form of a Widget...not sure about that... oh wait there it is on the right. It's magic!