FutureLibrary

Tick a Box and See ya Later June 19, 2009

“Excuse me sir, the library is carrying out a survey, could you please fill one out and leave it in the box”. “Certainly!” Boxes are ticked, and there you are. The results are tabulated, scrutinized and forgotten. Yes, for many libraries it is survey time.

I feel a more effective and “real” alternative is the video survey. Allow the person to talk as long as they like about how they feel about their library. Like the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words, well a video paints a better picture than any survey could.

Resulting videos can be uploaded to You Tube and be seen by all. The library can have it’s own survey channel. Comments can be added. But let’s not stop there. Why confine yourself to one week during the year, using a restrictive methodology. Make it ongoing. The library should be responding to the needs of it’s customers all year round. Possibly make it a once a month activity where the library videos the opinions of its users. Even take it out of the library and to the streets.

This video vox populi approach is a natural progression from the pencil and paper method. Pie charts are fine up to a point, but a video is far more reinforcing than a scribble.