On the road, dead ends, roundabouts and intersections

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This week three of us took to the road to sound out some of Auckland’s neighbouring libraries about how they run their programmes and their openness to collaborating with/buying into Auckland Libraries summer reading programme Kia Māia Te Whai (KMTW). Barring some minor (and valid) criticism of KMTW our hosts were clearly impressed by the programme. Which is great right? Well maybe.

You see, what was also clear was the variety of forms their existing reading programmes take. From one being largely activity based and performed away from the library with no check-ins, to another which is almost purely reading with regular check-ins with library staff. Of course when you stop and think about it this is entirely predictable as the libraries are tailoring their programmes to their community’s needs. And this happens at Auckland Libraries too when branches decide which activities they will run.

So while KMTW is highly customisable that requires staff time outside of the time taken to develop the programme. And from the customers’ point of view if you are paying a premium for a premium product then you don’t want to also be investing staff time (and therefore money) to ensure it meets your community’s needs.

This leads us to the head scratching conclusion. KMTW is a great product that people are probably willing to pay for, other libraries could be potential customers of Auckland Libraries but other libraries probably aren’t potential customers for KMTW. KMTW isn’t dead as a product but we’ll need to have a think about who are market is and if the product needs further development.
Some further thoughts from the road trip.
  • Other libraries are clearly impressed with some of Auckland Libraries work and look to us for ideas and leadership. But coming along to see how we do something is a very different relationship to paying us to come and tell you how we do something. The Eastern and Central Community Trust’s EC Read’N is long running and successful, is part of the success because it is provided by a trust and not from a library directly? Would offering Auckland Libraries’ products through a trust or friends of the library organisation make the ‘sell’ easier?
  • Is consultancy a more attractive proposition from a public library than a tangible product?
  • The public dollar is under scrutiny no matter where it is spent. By looking at libraries, schools, hospitals as customers are we just fishing around in a different part of the same wallet? Perhaps we are better off approaching businesses as customers?
  • What is it about Auckland Libraries that makes us unique and attractive to paying customers?

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