Comments on: It is, too, broken! http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2006/10/it_is_too_broke.html a library weblog by Steve Lawson Mon, 14 May 2012 16:51:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: adhd librarian http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2006/10/it_is_too_broke.html/comment-page-1#comment-366 adhd librarian Thu, 26 Oct 2006 03:33:36 +0000 http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2006/10/it_is_too_broken.html#comment-366 Seth is fantastic, but... No mater how much we go down the road of libraries as ‘the third place’ marketing ourselves the same way as starbucks or borders, it isn’t us. We can learn a lot from retail and there is no need for us to shy away from that but there are plenty of libraries who are stuck with bad software that they can’t afford to dump either because they are the poor cousin in a consortium or because they have the same funding they did in 1932. My own library is in such a situation and no matter how much I kick and scream there are plenty of things I want to do but can’t with the current software/budget/consortium/tech support staff… You get the picture. So while libraries need to be taking notice of what people want, we aren’t a commercial entity and as such our investment won’t be repaid by loyal customers the same way it is in retail. As such, when Seth tells you if your customers think it’s broken, it’s broken. I would say that we don’t have customers in the same sense. Now, I work in a library that doesn’t have overdue fines so you’d think that we avoid this problem. No, we get people complaining that our overdue notices are rude. We get people coming in to ask How DARE we suspend their borrowing privileges, Their taxes pay our wages… And that suspension is only in effect until the book is returned, so what do they have to complain about? There are always people who will bitch and complain about things and if you’re relying on their repeat custom for your restaurant to make a profit then you might bow and scrape and apologise because they ordered the wrong wine, or because they didn’t realise the lobster bisque had seafood in it (and they have allergies). We however have the opportunity to listen to those who aren’t complaining. The squeaky wheel sometimes needs the grease but sometimes it needs to be taken off and thrown on the junkheap. I could go on, but then it'd turn into by unibomber manifesto. John Seth is fantastic,
but…
No mater how much we go down the road of libraries as ‘the third place’ marketing ourselves the same way as starbucks or borders, it isn’t us.
We can learn a lot from retail and there is no need for us to shy away from that but there are plenty of libraries who are stuck with bad software that they can’t afford to dump either because they are the poor cousin in a consortium or because they have the same funding they did in 1932.
My own library is in such a situation and no matter how much I kick and scream there are plenty of things I want to do but can’t with the current software/budget/consortium/tech support staff…
You get the picture.
So while libraries need to be taking notice of what people want, we aren’t a commercial entity and as such our investment won’t be repaid by loyal customers the same way it is in retail.
As such, when Seth tells you if your customers think it’s broken, it’s broken. I would say that we don’t have customers in the same sense.

Now, I work in a library that doesn’t have overdue fines so you’d think that we avoid this problem. No, we get people complaining that our overdue notices are rude. We get people coming in to ask How DARE we suspend their borrowing privileges, Their taxes pay our wages…
And that suspension is only in effect until the book is returned, so what do they have to complain about?
There are always people who will bitch and complain about things and if you’re relying on their repeat custom for your restaurant to make a profit then you might bow and scrape and apologise because they ordered the wrong wine, or because they didn’t realise the lobster bisque had seafood in it (and they have allergies).
We however have the opportunity to listen to those who aren’t complaining. The squeaky wheel sometimes needs the grease but sometimes it needs to be taken off and thrown on the junkheap.

I could go on, but then it’d turn into by unibomber manifesto.

John

]]> By: Peter Bromberg http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2006/10/it_is_too_broke.html/comment-page-1#comment-365 Peter Bromberg Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:49:19 +0000 http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2006/10/it_is_too_broken.html#comment-365 Hi Brian,You can catch a <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4101280286098310645" rel="nofollow">great video of Seth Godin</a> discussing the "This is broken" concept over at Google video. (This was a talk he gave for the 2006 <a href="http://www.gelconference.com/c/gel06.php" rel="nofollow"><b>G</b>ood<b>E</b>xperience<b>L</b>ive</a> conference.) Here's a bit of what he had to say, but I highly recommend the whole video. It's as funny as it is insightful. <blockquote> What does it mean to be broken? <b>If I think it's broken, it's broken</b>. You get to say the same thing. If you think it's broken, it's broken. Now the person who made it might not care if you think it's broken. And that's the incredible stupidity of the comments section of <a href="http://www.thisisbroken.com/" rel="nofollow">This is Broken</a> which is no matter how broken something is, someone will post a note saying, 'I don't think it's broken, and here's why.' And I don't care if you don't think it's broken. <b>If I think it's broken, it's broken</b>. </blockquote> Hi Brian,You can catch a great video of Seth Godin discussing the “This is broken” concept over at Google video. (This was a talk he gave for the 2006
GoodExperienceLive conference.) Here’s a bit of what he had to say, but I highly recommend the whole video. It’s as funny as it is insightful.

What does it mean to be broken? If I think it’s broken, it’s broken. You get to say the same thing. If you think it’s broken, it’s broken. Now the person who made it might not care if you think it’s broken. And that’s the incredible stupidity of the comments section of This is Broken which is no matter how broken something is, someone will post a note saying, ‘I don’t think it’s broken, and here’s why.’ And I don’t care if you don’t think it’s broken. If I think it’s broken, it’s broken.

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