Last fall I attended a symposium on service at the New York Public Library. I was initially interested in the symposium because it featured Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy (more on that in another entry down the road). I read extensively in the library literature but I also try to read outside our field for concepts and ideas which should inform how we approach our work. Underhill was great but one of the other speakers at the symposium, Danny Meyer (very successful owner of a series of restaurants in New York), was even more compelling. Danny spoke about his philosophy of hospitality. Attendees also received a signed copy of his book – Setting the Table – which I just finished reading.

So what does all this have to do with libraries? Well, it has me thinking a great deal about service and how we deliver high quality, hospitable service to our students, faculty, staff and community. Here’s an excerpt that I think is applicable as well to library faculty and staff regardless of the unit in which we work – after all, we all have customers or patrons – some are simply internal rather than external.

“Hospitality starts with the genuine enjoyment of doing something well for the purpose of bringing pleasure to other people. Whether that’s an attitude, a behavior, or an innate trait, it should become a primary motivation for coming to work every day. We strive to treat our guests the way we would want to be treated. The golden rule remains as fresh and meaningful as ever; and beyond how well it serves people in their lives, it may also be the most potent business strategy ever devised. In business, as in life, you get what you give. We try to apply a humanitarian viewpoint to every business challenge, to find creative, gracious solutions and reassure our guests that we are solidly on their side.” (p. 244)

Meyer goes on to talk about agents versus gatekeepers, a concept that I’ve also heard articulated as “how to say yes.” An agent makes things happen for people; a gatekeeper sets up barriers to keep people out.

Across our libraries and library departments, we have employees who are the first point of contact with our students, faculty, staff, and fellow library colleagues. We have the opportunity to improve our engagement with those constituencies one transaction at a time. Ask yourself after every transaction – did I present myself as an agent or a gatekeeper? “The true test of a win-win dialogue with an agent is that … [the patron] leaves the call convinced that we tried.”

Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table is a great read. It includes very interesting anecdotes about the restaurant business particularly in New York City.

(Danny Meyer. Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business. New York : HarperCollinsPublishers, ©2006)

“Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson” is the third in a trilogy of biographies by author Wil Haygood about pivotal African-American figures that includes Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and Sammy Davis, Jr. In each book, Haygood delivers a comprehensive biography and compelling case for their cultural importance. Haygood will discuss his books and the art of writing the biography in this free program. Following the program, Haygood will sign copies of his books, which will be available for sale.

Haygood spent nearly 20 years traveling around the world to conduct research and write what has now been called an acclaimed trilogy of African American lives. Critics have hailed the author of “King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.,” “In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.” and “Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson,” for what they proclaim to be the “cultural importance” he brings to these biographies. “King of the Cats” was a New York Times Notable Book. “In Black and White” received the Richard Wright-Zora Neale Hurston Legacy Award, the ASCAP Deems Taylor Outstanding Music Biography Award, and the Nonfiction Book of the Year award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. “Sweet Thunder,” published in 2009, was named “One of the best books of the Fall Literary Season” by the New York Post.

Haygood was born in Columbus, Ohio, and is a graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He was a national and foreign correspondent for the Boston Globe for 17 years. In 2002 he joined the Washington Post. He has received writing fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the James Thurber Foundation. Among his journalism honors are the Sunday Magazine Editors Award, the Missouri Journalism Award, the New England Associated Press Award, the National Headliners Award, the National Association of Black Journalists Award for feature writing. He has also been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and resides in Washington D.C.

Content Migration Progress Update: All the great things that have been happening. http://library.osu.edu/blogs/lipp/2009/11/18/content-migrationprogress-update/

Content Migration Timeline Changing: Changes to the implementation timeline. http://library.osu.edu/blogs/lipp/2009/11/18/content-migration-timelinechanging/

Help Design the Homepage!: An outline of plans for creating our OSUL Homepage. http://library.osu.edu/blogs/lipp/2009/11/18/help-design-thehomepage/

Take a moment to check out what’s happening.