Ref Ren part 2 - Fun ideas

For me the most exciting thing about the Reference Renaissance conference was the sharing of great ideas for getting Reference out of the "box". I know its a cliche but it seems to me that we are stuck in a box right now. Virtual Reference is great but we are currently at the comfortable limits - at least at SPL and at least right now. Technology will undoubtedly change that.

However, in terms of P2P or live in person ref we haven't really innovated much here at SPL. And there were some great ideas in Denver.

Predatory Reference or Ubiquitous Reference - Taking reference to the people. Using a hot dog cart to do roving reference outside the building. Going to condominums and office buildings and setting up tables. Putting librarians on city or neighborhood committees to provide reference research as needed. Even just setting up a table on the 4th Ave plaza on a sunny (we do occasionaly have these) day during the summer and catching the passerby who maybe wasn't thinking of coming into the library but who might have a question. One library even talked about doing weekends at grocery stores, complete with up to the minute hands out telling people important info like where the cheapest gas was that day.

The Pew Foundation reported that for most libraries their "brand" was books. We know we are much more so how do we change the brand image in the minds of our public. Well one way is to confront them where they live and work.

Carol Lo in HTM wants a Sequey (sp) and a wireless laptop. She'll roam the streets of Seattle taking Reference to the people. Amen and halleluia brother.