WebJunction

Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran is the Community Information Librarian with SELCO — a regional multi-type library consortium in Rochester, Minnesota. Mary Beth is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and comes to the library profession after a tour through sales and sales management, marketing, the brokerage industry, and higher education. She has a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Quality as well as a Master of Science in Library Science. She and her husband live in Rochester with their three furry "kids" — Ginger, a Golden Retriever, Zena, a Rat Terrier, and Casey, the gynormous Goldendoodle. Their real kid lives in Milwaukee along with their darling granddaughter. Librarian Grandma has already started the baby library.

Mary Beth's position with SELCO brings her in contact with the 119 libraries in southeastern Minnesota — public, academic, school, and special. The mix is challenging and always interesting. Mary Beth coordinates continuing education for the region, supervises interlibrary loan, and has a hand in advocacy, marketing and public relations, and grant writing.

Mary Beth started in libraries as the Director of the Sidney Public Library in Sidney, Nebraska. Sidney is a small city of 6,000 people in the panhandle of Nebraska. All things being relative, however, Sidney is the biggest city and the biggest library in three counties. It was that position that made her realize that being a librarian was what she wanted to be when she grew up.

It was the library in Sidney that created Mary Beth's passion for small, rural public libraries and for the possibilities for collaborative relationships. "Community collaboration is an excellent way for small, rural libraries to leverage their (usually) small budgets, and to create a benefit for all involved," she says. "Maybe it's my background in sales, but I come at these things a bit differently than most librarians."

While in Sidney, Mary Beth created relationships with the local schools, starting a Homework Help program at the library. The schools had recognized that kids who needed homework help were not staying after school to get that help, largely because of the stigma of staying after school. The library enlisted the help of retired teachers who volunteered one afternoon a week to help kids with their homework. They served popcorn to the kids, and the library became the preferred homework place for the community's school children. When one of the school's teachers asked the kids why they were going to the library instead of the school, the boy replied, "They have popcorn!"

The library also started a program series and enlisted local businesses as speakers. The businesses got an opportunity to reach an audience they might not have reached, the library got experts in various fields, and the public was able to attend a varied and rich series of monthly programs. The library also worked collaboratively with the local community college. During National Library Week the two libraries alternated days and held programs for the community, promoting the city's two libraries.

Now in Minnesota and working with a variety of libraries, Mary Beth still encourages collaborative relationships. SELCO features an annual adult reading program called "Hot Reads for Cold Nights." As coordinator for that program, Mary Beth approached the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, and suggested that the Hot Reads program that year feature an eagle and congratulate the center on the grand opening of its new facility. Together, Mary Beth and the Eagle Center arranged for a series of eagle programs in many of the region's libraries, and the Center's Board authorized free admission coupons for library reading prizes. The library patrons get an opportunity to visit this wonderful new national resource, and the eagle center reaches an audience it might not have reached.

Using a blend of web 2.0 technologies, such as podcasts, RSS feeds, Facebook, Google Maps mashups, and video interviews and "traditional" library marketing tools such as READ posters, Mary Beth has worked with colleagues to connect southeast Minnesota libraries to their legislators and the political process. You can view her Internet Librarian presentation about this work titled Advocacy 2.0.

SELCO is also working with KSMQ public television on a national grant, "Smart Investing @ Your Library." The grant asked for a community partner as part of the project, and Mary Beth approached the station's director to ask is they would be willing to work with the region's libraries on a project involving financial resources. The station agreed, and SELCO was one of 13 libraries granted funds by ALA and the FINRA Investor Foundation. At ALA Midwinter, the SELCO/FIRNA team pesented on the project which begins in February, 2008. "Many collaborative possibilities don't happen simply because people don't think to ask the question," Mary Beth said. "The worst anyone can do is say no, so go ahead and ask! You might be surprised by the answer."

Mary Beth has worked with WebJunction in a number of different areas. She was a Minnesota trainer for the Spanish Language Outreach Program. While in training for the SLO program in Seattle, she connected with the Rural Sustainability program folks, and was asked to work with that program. Mary Beth joined the Rural Watch Committee and was a state trainer for the Rural Library Sustainability Workshops. She was involved in the State Cohort workshop at ALA in 2007, leading the State Cohort introductions. Mary Beth is also working with the team creating WJ-Minnesota, and has contributed material to share with the state and with librarians throughout the nation.

Mary Beth has presented at Internet Librarian, Minnesota Library Association conferences, and will lead a table talk at the upcoming Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis. She blogs as the Impromptu Librarian.