The best class gift I ever received was the “Nook” - did my students know me, or what? I read several books on it this summer when I was camping - a little ironic to be reading on a Nook by the campfire, but it worked for me. One of the first e-books I read was “Switch” by Dan and Chip Heath. It is an awesome read about how organizations can facilitate lasting change. The Heath brothers also have a column in Fast Company Magazine (my new favorite) and this month highlighted how companies create feelings that motivate employees (or consumers) to take action. Knowledge, they argue, isn’t always enough to create change, people have to want to change. As an example, they sited the New York Public Library.
Last year the NYPL was at risk of having their budget slashed by 37 million dollars. The cuts would have result in the closure of 10 libraries, the elimination of 1 in 4 jobs and the reduction of hours across all branches. The library began a campaign for public support called, “Don’t Close the Book on the Library”. To raise awareness they made the brilliant move of hiring the company “ Improv Everywhere” to stage a ghostbusting event in the Rose Reading Room of the main library. Once the video of the incident hit youtube, it went viral. Stop reading...check out the video. I don’t know if I laugh harder at the ghosts sauntering in and getting to work or at the faces of the other patrons trying to figure out what is going on. At the end of the clip millions of people were directed to the library’s website and encouraged to write letters in protest and make donations.
Thanks to online donations ($144,000) and the public outcry ($130,000), Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council restored enough money to the library budget to prevent closings and to keep the doors open five days a week. You can still make a donation at the NYPL website (why don’t all libraries have a ‘donate’ button?).
Ghostbusters at the library is the kind of thinking we need in libraries and shcools as the comfortable budgetary ground shifts under us - new, creative approaches to problem solving. I can hardly wait to see what they’ll do next year...
Last year the NYPL was at risk of having their budget slashed by 37 million dollars. The cuts would have result in the closure of 10 libraries, the elimination of 1 in 4 jobs and the reduction of hours across all branches. The library began a campaign for public support called, “Don’t Close the Book on the Library”. To raise awareness they made the brilliant move of hiring the company “ Improv Everywhere” to stage a ghostbusting event in the Rose Reading Room of the main library. Once the video of the incident hit youtube, it went viral. Stop reading...check out the video. I don’t know if I laugh harder at the ghosts sauntering in and getting to work or at the faces of the other patrons trying to figure out what is going on. At the end of the clip millions of people were directed to the library’s website and encouraged to write letters in protest and make donations.
Thanks to online donations ($144,000) and the public outcry ($130,000), Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council restored enough money to the library budget to prevent closings and to keep the doors open five days a week. You can still make a donation at the NYPL website (why don’t all libraries have a ‘donate’ button?).
Ghostbusters at the library is the kind of thinking we need in libraries and shcools as the comfortable budgetary ground shifts under us - new, creative approaches to problem solving. I can hardly wait to see what they’ll do next year...
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