The Apple Store Model

I heard Om Malik talking on TWiT a couple of weeks ago about the Apple stores as models for what Amazon should do in retail. We don't have any Apple stores in Montana but I have visited a few on my travels. And what stands out in particular for me, are their combination of expertise and discovery.

I don't know about Amazon but that seems like a fairly good description of libraries. I started to think about how libraries could plan for the future using this model.

Apple stores have what they call the Genius Bar where you can go for help with and advice on Apple products. Isn't that a lot like our Reference Desks? But I think Genius Bar is a lot catchier and possibly more descriptive of what people want and what we can provide. I don't think most people want to be referred anywhere, they just want answers. And that is what we want them to get. Okay, perhaps we would feel a bit uncomfortable referring to ourselves as geniuses. Maybe we could have an Answer Bar.

The other striking service Apple stores provide is discovery. You can go in there and play around with computers, gadgets, software. I think quite often that's something people want from libraries as well. They want to know what's new and probably even more, what's worth reading, watching or listening to. We do have New Books sections. And if they ask, we can help them with reader's advisory, but what about staff recommendations? Or recommendations from other library users?

I'd also like to see us offer more discovery of new tools and devices. We tend to get caught up in issues like whether or not we should check out e-readers. I think we could do a real service in just allowing people to handle and use them in the library. We need to keep finding ways to connect with current and potential users letting them know about new services available in the library. For those libraries on OverDrive, how many of your non-regular patrons do you think know that you have audio and e-books available that they can check out and download from home?

There is, of course, a big difference between Apple stores and libraries in that they have a limited amount of merchandise they need to promote and be experts on, while ours is much larger. But I think we tend to focus too much on the whole world of information, and thus intimidate many of our users who are looking for answers to much smaller questions.