Friends,
Is "Humor in Libraries" an oxymoron? I think not. In fact, there are many great stories about how libraries of all shapes and sizes have developed and incorporated humorous and fun activities into their daily lives. Who benefits? Everyone. People who work in the library are energized and people who come into the library pleasantly surprised. As Ilene Rockman wrote, "it is important to pay attention to job satisfaction, work productivity and job burnout. Fun, creativity, and humor can have a positive effect by reducing absenteeism, retaining high quality people, and reducing the likelihood of employee turnover." Plus, smiling is a good thing by itself!
So my creativity, fun, and humorous colleagues, please share your stories of what works and what didn't, what you'd like to try but haven't, and if developing a culture of humor in the library really does have a positive payoff.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Fred
First let me set the stage. The Iowa State University Library (and the campus for that matter) has an extensive collection of public art. Back in the 80's, the Library had on display two very large fabric art pieces hanging in the atruim area. One looks like a collection of color pencils; the other fish on a line.
ReplyDeleteStory: I was giving a library tour to a class of about 15 students. After visiting places on the first floor (circulation, reference, microforms), I took the group to the second floor where they saw the periodical room, map room, and the hanging art pieces. After I was done with the tour, one young man pulled me aside and make a suggestion about my presentation. He said I should explain that the library has both microfiche and macrofish.
From that moment on and until the "macrofish" were taken down, I always used his punch line when I was giving tours. I always knew people had listened to my explanation about the microforms collection if they laughed at my mentioning of the macrofish on the second floor.
Boy, do I miss those fish.