Retail innovation in public libraries: what can NT libraries learn from the NZ experience?

Elizabeth Roberts and Lyn McIntosh

Retail consultant John Stanley says that New Zealand libraries are some of the best in the world and their librarians are leading innovators. John has just led 16 librarians from Australia, the UK and the US on a ten-day journey across the North Island of New Zealand, from Wellington to Auckland. Lyn McIntosh and Elizabeth Roberts joined them, meeting the innovators, viewing their libraries, and learning about how retail principles can be applied in a library setting.

Most of the people on the tour came from public libraries, but interestingly enough there were also two university librarians on board - they wanted to see how retail principles might translate to the academic field. Given the competitive nature of university funding they believe they need to be innovative in providing their services to ensure the students see them as their provider of choice.

To start with, what are the retail principles? They include issues such as:

• Customer focus
• Image and branding
• Merchandising and presentation
• Marketing
• Display and layout

All of these concepts are used in a retail setting to improve sales and increase client satisfaction. Increasingly libraries are using these principles to do exactly the same thing. The retail approach to libraries says that we are in the business of providing a service, a service competing with other services for money and customer loyalty. In order to satisfy our customers we cannot provide them with a simple commodity - we need to provide them with an experience.

The idea of applying retail innovation into public libraries is not new in Australia. Library services such as the Newcastle Region Library and Brisbane City Council Libraries have been introducing innovations based on a more customer or retail focused service model since the mid 1990s. NT public libraries have themselves been working with retail consultant John Stanley since early 2003 in an attempt to improve the way libraries look, feel, and are used by their clients.

So what does it all mean? What's special about the New Zealand experience?

What is happening in New Zealand is not simply the application of retail concepts in a blanket fashion across the library profession. We believe New Zealand is leading the way in melding traditional library concepts with cutting edge retail techniques to create an exciting and attractive model of library service. In New Zealand we saw diverse and interesting collections, the celebration of culture and the promotion of inclusiveness, combined with widespread use of the 'living room' concept, strong branding and excellent use of displays. We also saw charging on a very large scale, something which not all of us were comfortable with, which appeared to have created a strong idea within councils that libraries were not just a drain on funds but created value for their organisations. New Zealand libraries are also using partnerships and sponsorships as ways of gaining better facilities or a wider audience for their services.

So, how has New Zealand created this success story? Libraries such as Palmerston North, Puke Ariki (which is integrated with the local museum and visitor information centre) and Hamilton, to name just a few, have gone out of their way to provide a magical library experience. They have diverse collections displayed in attractive settings, many of them in the style of 'living rooms'. Particular subject areas are complemented with the use of appropriate furniture, lighting, and colour schemes, related displays and museum artefacts. Virtually every library we visited in New Zealand offered signage, websites and brochures in Maori and English, offered Community Language Areas (rather than using the term LOTE) and reflected their local community in diversity of staff - from age and gender to cultural mix.

The need for a strong image and consistent branding is seen as a key principle in virtually all the libraries we visited in New Zealand. Various approaches had been taken with libraries at different stages and facing different situations. For example, Hamilton Public Library had an existing building and limited budget. They faced diminishing loans and old technology; organisationally they faced a merger with the local museum, while funding was falling behind the population and needs. They re-branded dramatically in late 2003 creating an image based on the concept of taking your mind on a journey. The branding is bold and bright, with strong images of luggage tags in orange on blue. The messages start boldly on the front of the building and flow through into the library.

A different sort of branding process has occurred at Auckland City library service. This is a very large service consisting of a central library and 17 branches, which they regard as 'community anchors'. It is undergoing a revitalization process including re-branding and refurbishments across the branches. There is strong consistent branding using a new logo and colour schemes. The colours are being reflected in their promotional material linking signage, brochures, posters and buildings. They have made clever use of a re-coloured zebra on posters and brochures that are produced to help explain the changes the library service is undergoing. The message is that the Zebra may have changed colours but it is still a Zebra! Despite the consistency of message there still appears to be a recognition of different communities and their differing needs, which is reflected in the branches. We visited one of the branches, Remuera Community Library, which has undergone an award winning refurbishment of its heritage building. The refurbishment has created a community space that is warm and welcoming, while keeping the classic lines and heritage values of the building. It feels like a unique and special library but because of the consistent colour schemes, logo and printed materials the customers are very aware they are using a branch of the Auckland City library service.

At Palmerston North they have applied the living room concept to create a magical three floors of library experience. The newspaper room on the ground floor, located next to the coffee shop, opens at 7:00am to allow people access to the newspapers while they have a coffee or breakfast. Also on the ground floor are the music and DVD/video section, which includes a performance space facing onto the street. Sunday afternoon live jazz sessions are among the many performances on offer. Upstairs are the children's sections with a play area, computers on miniature tables and small sized toilets for children's use only (something we saw in a number of libraries). The top floor holds the 'special collections', New Zealand, Maori and Pacific Islander resources. Up here the setting is like a classic library experience of the nicest kind: elaborate cornices on the ceilings, silver and gold paint and comfortable, classic seating, overlooking the city square.

Display was viewed as an essential element in all the libraries we visited. Face out display shelves, end caps, layered display units interspersed among the collections; all were used to help library users really see the collections. In many of the refurbished libraries, collections were kept below the line of site and shelving kept to just three rows. The use of promotions such as a 'top ten' in different categories, 'new release' areas and reader's advisory services was strong across all the libraries.

Other ideas snaffled from the retail industry include mystery shopping, though in one library the mystery shoppers came from other areas of the same organisation, which we found a questionable methodology. Mystery shopping seems an effective way of measuring qualitative aspects of service delivery but a more independent approach seems favourable. In this particular library it was a council wide initiative to maintain and improve services. Council staff were tasked to assess services other than their own, the idea being to widen staff knowledge and understanding of wider council business.

Another major retail principle is that you need to make money! This principle was applied in every library we visited in New Zealand. Large areas of service are now seen as legitimate targets for fee for service with most libraries seeing it as an important way of demonstrating the value of services that they provide. Most popular were charges on loans for bestseller titles and DVDs, and charges for holds and renewals.

New Zealand libraries are also strong on retail partnerships and sponsorship of buildings and collections. We saw coffee shops and retail outlets, sponsored collections and sponsored coffee shops! Puke Ariki, which was built with around 50 per cent of the money coming from private sponsors, went to their local newspaper for sponsorship to set up their coffee shop. Auckland City Library shop sells a range of merchandise including a calendar and postcards using images from their collections. Staff in the shop play a dual role in that the retail desk also acts as an information desk.

Many councils expect a percentage of library funding to come from these various fees, charges and commercial arrangements. Palmerston North Public Library has a budget figure of 7 per cent to work towards - but in fact have regularly raised more than the target figure.

So what did we learn from the New Zealand experience?

• If you create an environment for everyone, everyone will come! New Zealand libraries are busy, vibrant places and their usage figures are increasing. This usage appears to be across the board with the libraries going out of their way to attract many different groups.
• Celebrate your community! New Zealand libraries unashamedly celebrate a diverse and varied culture with a proud emphasis on the importance of Maori.
• Diversity works! By allowing your staffing to reflect the diversity of the community you live in you automatically make it more attractive to that community.
• This does not have to be costly! Yes we did see some amazing award winning buildings and major redevelopments that did cost big money. Many of the changes can, however, be made by any library and without big budgets. Many of the libraries that attracted the big funding had first gone through the process of providing innovative services in their particular setting and this is how they had eventually attracted funding for their own big projects. The vision and innovation had been proven in smaller less expensive ways first.
• Passionate, dedicated staff make a difference! We met them, at all levels, in many different sorts of libraries in New Zealand. All the best libraries had managers who showed great leadership skills and who inspired the staff around them. The common thing we heard from all these people was that libraries mattered and that innovation was essential to ensure that the library stayed a vital and important part of community life.

What about the future? In order to produce new innovations it is essential that library workers understand the environment they work in. If we want to have a customer focus to our services we have to be aware of what the latest consumer trends are. We need to take part in environmental scanning - to anticipate trends in your community you need to monitor what is happening in the arts, media and the wider environment. If we accept that we are competing with other providers of goods and services we need to understand what motivates our clients.

Lyn and I may have seen the future of libraries - or at least the trend for the next year or two! As part of our tour of New Zealand we visited what is currently a building site, but which by next month will be the latest branch of the Manukau Libraries at the Botany Shopping Centre. Botany is what is described as a 'flagship shopping centre'. It is in a prime location in the suburbs of Auckland with top of the range shops along the lifestyle, bookshop and clothing lines. The developer saw the library as fitting in with the concept of the shopping village as a public space - the library was chosen to provide the 'public living room'.

Fitting in with the concept is the 'leisure lounge', an area of the library designed especially for teens. (They believe it is the first ever library with a mirror ball!). The library collection is being purchased with the shopping village in mind and will focus on three main 'living rooms' - fun, film and food. The library will use the latest in technology including RFID (radio frequency identification), self-checkout machines and will not have a reference desk. Staff will be expected to move around the library and show customers how to find things at information pods. A café has been built into the front area of the library and is licensed to sell alcohol during the evenings. Opening hours for the library will be linked to the cinemas that operate next door - currently they open from 9:00am - 10:00pm, 7 days a week.

New library buildings don't happen too often in the Northern Territory. Construction of the new Palmerston City Library building will begin early next year and it will be a chance to see how Territory innovation looks when given the chance to develop a completely new library. We look forward to seeing the results.

Biography

Lyn McIntosh began her library career as a library assistant at a small school/community library in South East South Australia in 1986 and attributes much of her interest in the provision of a community based customer focused service from this experience. Whilst completing her library and information degree externally Lyn has worked in school, community, TAFE, city and rural public libraries and also library administration.

Lyn has participated in library study visits to both China and now New Zealand and as the city librarian with the Palmerston City Council is excited about the opportunity to incorporate best practices from New Zealand libraries in the new city library which is planned for completion at the end of 2005 in the heart of the Palmerston city retail precinct.

Elizabeth Roberts has been working in libraries for the past eleven years. She has held positions with NT University (now Charles Darwin University) Library and the NT Library, including nearly three years managing Nhulunbuy Community Library. In her previous incarnations she was a radio producer, bookseller and researcher with a stockbroking firm and hopes that she still brings skills and ideas from all these areas to her practice in libraries. She is currently the Manager, Public Library Services, Northern Territory Library.