Why your library’s logo might be terrible: understanding what a logo does

In my job as a front end designer/developer, I work with a lot of library logos. I also work with a lot of library staff that don’t understand the importance of what they do, or how a good one is created.  When faced with a sub-par logo, there’s often not much I can do other than work with whatever I’ve been given.  Even libraries with awful logos cannot undertake a redesign lightly, or particular staff people may be emotionally invested in their creation and don’t want something new…even if it’s better.

You are not a patron. So act like it.

As a staff person, your view (mental model) of the library’s website is incredibly different from that of a patron. It’s so very different, that you can’t even pretend to be a patron user.  It’s vital that this is acknowledged.

Is working from home too quiet for you? Three tools to help

However, even I will sometimes admit that things can get just a little too quiet. Granted, if you’ve got kids or family trapped in the house with you right now, that might not be one of your problems. For myself, I find music to be far too distracting to use as ambient sound on a regular basis. That’s where services like the ones below come into play.

Libraries: let’s be honest about “emerging technology”

A couple of years ago, I was asked to do a series of this type of workshop for an out-of-state consortium. When the evaluations came back to me a few weeks afterwards, I got very good marks as a presenter, but some comments threw me for a loop. A common complaint was that the technology topics I covered were not being used in libraries. I was stunned.