Last fall, the Massachusetts Library System (MLS) Youth Services Section (YSS) hosted a virtual “Lunch and Learn” with the folks from the Westwood Public Library‘s PR/marketing team. They spoke about being proactive and intentional instead of reactive, about brand consistency, quality control, and increased engagement with the community, and about sustainability and succession (so all the institutional knowledge doesn’t walk out the door when one person leaves).

Toward the end, they recommended three books: The Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams, This Is Marketing by Seth Godin, and Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. I just read Unreasonable Hospitality, and was thinking about ways we can offer excellent service and hospitality in libraries. (Guidara writes mainly about his area of expertise, restaurants, but the core principles are applicable to any service industry.) How do we make people who visit the library feel welcome, at home, seen, listened to, and cared for? What needs can we anticipate and fulfill?

One thing public libraries in Massachusetts do that often strikes people as magical when they first learn about it is our inter-library loan system. If a local library doesn’t have the book you want on its shelf when you want it – either because they don’t own it or it’s checked out – you can request a copy, and another library in the consortium will send it over. You can return the book to your home library or any other library in the network, and that library will make sure the book gets back to its owning library. It’s the magic of sharing! (And an algorithm, and van drivers, and sorters at the central facility, etc.) This saves people time and money, and it’s a pretty cool service.

ILL is a core service of libraries as far as I’m concerned, and so are programs: author talks and book signings, storytimes, Lego and games, book clubs, ELL and language learning groups, knitting and sewing groups, history and science lectures. The library is that “third place” where people can gather for entertainment, education, and community, without having to purchase anything. Being responsive to what the community wants – making sure people know that staff are open to ideas and willing to try new things – is part of building community and trust. It’s why I encourage patrons to talk to me in person, contact me by e-mail, or put a note in my desk mailbox. A lot of the new programs I’ve developed over the past year and a half have come out of these interactions, including Pokemon Club and the toy swap.

Hospitality means going beyond your organization’s core functions, however; beyond the “black and white” and into color, as Guidara puts it. What are the special, small, meaningful things you do to make people feel comfortable? In a children’s room, that might mean making sure all the outlets are covered, there’s a place to hang coats and park strollers, and there’s a changing table in every restroom. It could mean that books face cover-out as much as possible, there are toys to encourage play, and signage is friendly and informative. It could mean you have a first-aid kit ready to hand, bookmarks to give away, and stickers or hand stamps to ease the transition of leaving the library. It means greeting people who walk in the door, learning the names of the regulars…even remembering their tastes and preferences and making personalized recommendations.

What touches of hospitality have you put in place in your library (or bookstore, or other service workplace)? Where have you experienced remarkable, unexpected, “unreasonable hospitality” yourself?

A big part of what made “unreasonable hospitality” work in Guidara’s restaurants was that the staff was empowered to enact ideas, make exceptions, etc. without getting approval from a manager. This approach made me think of the organization and management of public libraries course I took in grad school; the teacher, an adjunct who had worked in many libraries, told us that the manager’s job is to make it possible for everyone else to do their jobs, and then get out of the way. In other words, don’t micromanage; instead, train and trust your staff, empower them to handle their responsibilities, make sure they have what they need to succeed, and be there to back them up. Unreasonable Hospitality is a beautiful example of that principle in action.