Imagine a few librarians roaming around downtown, helping people find what they were looking for, recommending great local businesses and restaurants, and handing out informational pamphlets that helped folks discover new things around the city?

Do you know of any libraries doing something like this? Let's talk!

Great idea. How about a Tardis like box set up on popular street corners (in the Old Port for you) staffed some of the time bill board the rest of the time but definitely branded with the library.

@Maine State Library: I love this idea. I can see it happening. I know that our Downtown District has at least one of these near the Old Port but I've never seen anyone using it. :(

Char Booth and colleagues at Claremont College did a "library on wheels" project that's worth taking a look at. This blog post details it and links to a piece on Radical Reference and that group's efforts at reference in the streets. infomational.wordpress.com

Copenhagen city Library has an urban mobile branch library built on a cargobike (well, what would one expect in Cph? ;)

I've recently become really interested in the Little Free Library movement (if it can be called a "movement"): littlefreelibrary.org And started designing my own to set up somewhere in my neighborhood.

They stick to the free exchange of books, but I live in the middle of wine country in Northern Oregon, so why stop there? What could we do with Little Free Libraries that had maps and tourist guides, and bits of information left by the locals?

@Tyler: You should check out what @mstephens7 has done with the Little Free Library: tametheweb.com (there are more posts on his site)

I'll add him to the Branch for this!

As explained in a comment on the original blogpost on @tametheweb linked above, in our city Helsinki the tourist büreau serves this function by doing roaming tourist info.

Our city library takes one of mobile libraries (you know the big ones) to major festivals in Helsinki, f. ex. the metal festival Tuska as part of our outreach. That's not something they are doing all the time, but a few times a year given the opportunity. But that's off topic in this context , since they're not really roaming while they do it.… well depends what we are talking about here ;)

Actually I think our libraries and librarians are a little allergic to the idea of suggesting any businesses in their professional function

Although Presque Isle, Maine only has a population of about 9.600, I still try to take my role as a city employee as seriously as possible and use it to support ongoing community building. Recently, our local newspaper approached the library about starting a monthly column. The idea was to highlight topics that would appeal to younger readers and initial concepts focused on sticking to "What are the kids reading?" sorts of topics. Instead, I've used the opportunity to share stories related to innovators and creators in the area. In doing so, we're not only bringing showcasing a new side of the community, but also building upon the idea that libraries/librarians are increasingly a place to create as well as to consume new ideas.

It has been a good way to show that librarians also play a role in pointing patrons to local experts as sources of information. This has been an extension of some of my previous work with our local downtown revitalization committee as well...always worth checking to see if your city has a similar group. We've also reached out to downtown businesses to connect them with small business resources and the library frequently hosts shows by local artists for the monthly art walk. In turn, we're able to build stronger relationships with these community members and share the unique information we gain with our patrons. Largely in-house, but...being in a small community...we generally find that we're always roving librarians. :)

@Dianna: Thank you for your input. I really dig the smaller city/community point of view because I think it really shows that we can all do this kind of stuff on any level. Also...this="our local newspaper approached the library about starting a monthly column" is great.

But it may also be participating in local markets, and festivals and other events as kind an 'embedded' librarian with portable tools and clear signage (which may mean library branded t-shirt and hat). This could be a great way too of helping people be aware of remote access to the library, like ebooks, digitised local studies material, community information, and databases, but also that library staff are key resources which can be accessed on or off site. It all helps to get the message out there that the library is where you can access it, not where the building it.

I also am in a small, resort community and our population booms in the summer - especially around big events. In the past, our Chamber hosts information rovers who just wander around downtown with red "i" t-shirts on. I loved volunteering for this duty because it fit my librarian role. The visitors appreciated having a knowledgeable person on hand to answer basic and more complicated inquiries. I always took the opportunity to give them the low down on library events and services. It was a wonderful partnership.

My 'downtown' is the campus at a medium-sized university where I've been roaming for 10+ yrs. My roaming takes 2 forms. First, virtual. I’m active in most univ. social media & have found my way into a number circles. For example, I'm an admin on the new student Facebook pages (lots of conversations - most having nothing to do with the library). The 2nd type involves trekking physically around campus to as many events as I can get to. In both cases I interact as a member of the community first & when the opportunity comes up to talk library I jump in. While totally non-scientific I think all this roaming has led to better awareness of the library & created opportunities to get involved with folks who otherwise might not have known about us.

Val, that sounds great, and like the community really valued the information rover. Do you have an photographs you could share of them?

I love all of this conversation! Thanks for chiming in everyone. Feel free to suggest anyone else who would be good for this conversation. I'd love to hear from them.

It's hardly a new idea from me, but if libraries want to survive into the 21st century, we need to get outside our buildings and into our communities, embedding ourselves into the lives of our constituents and being where they are. Libraries of all kinds (public, school, academic, etc) need to make connections with each other and use our networked strengths to make both institutions stronger. And it's not just physical outreach we need; it's also virtual. We need to be integrated into the app and mobile web infrastructure so that we're a finger tap away on people's smartphones and tablets.

Steve - well said. I totally agree. There is an exciting way forward, but we need to be proactive, and creative and have libraries and their staff integrated / embedded in people's lives whether they come to the library as a building, or access the resources and so on from mobile tools.