Open Password – Friday July 30, 2021
#954
Olsberg City Library – Petra Böhler-Winterberg – Kamishabi Erähltheater – Robotic workshops – Adult education center – Family game evenings – Kolping family – Room concept – Anja Thimm – Islands of peace – From the lending place to the place of residence – Furniture – State of North Rhine-Westphalia – Funding application – Approval notice – Living room of the city – Gaming – Specialist office for public libraries – Library strategy – Viewpoints – Procurement law – Service specifications – CRIFBÜRGEL – Online shops – Fraud – Corona – Rainer Will – Frank Schlein – Identity abuse – Ability to pay – Willingness to pay – Disputing delivery – Fraud avoidance tools – Manual checks – Conversion – Customer journey – You Gov – Social Media Fever – Friendsurance.de – Classifieds – Tim Kunde – eBay Usage
- Cover story
Olsberg City Library: Of common threads and colorful dreams – A complex but successful path to the “Third Place” – The implementation of a library strategy – By Petra Böhler-Winterberg
- CRIF BURGEL
91% of online shops affected by fraud – 62% attribute the increase in fraud to Corona
III. YouGov
social media fever spreads to eBay classifieds
Olsberg city library
Of red threads and colorful dreams
A complex but successful path to the “Third Place”
The implementation of a library strategy
By Petra Böhler-Winterberg
Second part
Petra Böhler-Winterberg
A period of experimentation follows. New event formats such as a regular Kamishibai storytelling theater for children, robotics workshops in cooperation with the adult education center, family game evenings in cooperation with the Kolping family and others are being tried out and new cooperation partners are being gained. There is still a lack of technical equipment for digital formats such as BIPARCOURS rallies with students.
It quickly becomes clear: In order to do justice to the conflicting interests of the different user groups, a new spatial concept is needed. The Olsberg public library is a one-room apartment with 324 square meters. Children playing are loud, working people need peace and quiet.
The department’s interior designer, Anja Thimm, comes to visit, listens to problems and ideas and makes suggestions for redesigning the room using initially simple means. Outdated media must be massively discarded and the empty shelves dismantled to create space for new areas. In the future, the novel area will be located in a block, which will create visual axes through the entire room. Previously, the view was blocked by slanted rows of shelves. The children’s book swaps its place with the non-fiction book for adults and moves into the immediate vicinity of the reimagined youth area. Suddenly the middle of the room becomes free for islands of peace.
The ideas inspire and fit perfectly into the concept. An important goal of the library strategy is: “More space for encounters – from the borrowing place to the place where you stay.” Sorting out media, dismantling shelves, moving shelves and swapping blocks – for all of this you need (wo)man power, but no money. The existing Arcus shelves from Schulz-Speyer in white with shelves in beech are timelessly beautiful and have wheels and can also be used extremely flexibly. Tables and seating, on the other hand, have survived thirty years of use with less damage and are now stained, uncomfortable and worn.
If the library really wants to develop into a place to stay with a feel-good character – a “third place” – then in addition to the new room layout, new furniture and additional technical equipment are needed.
In September 2018, the director presented her plans for the redesign of the library to the Olsberg City Council. Olsberg can hardly manage such a redesign with its own resources, but with financial support from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia it could succeed.
The council members are impressed and instruct Ms. Böhler-Winterberg to submit an application for state funding to the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for the further development of the city library into a “Third Place”. Since Olsberg is a budget security municipality, there is a chance of eighty percent funding. The required own funds are calculated at around 12,000 euros and approved by the city representatives, subject to a funding commitment for the 2019 financial year, and included in the budget.
The funding application is submitted on time. Now it’s time to wait. Does the approval notice come, does it not come? As Caesar said: “People firmly believe in what they desire.” In any case, it is important to be as prepared as possible. The time for project implementation in the event of funding by the end of the year is already very short.
The necessary work on the existing building will therefore begin at the beginning of the year. Inventory review, disposal of outdated media, removal of now empty shelves. At the same time, participation in the summer reading club according to a new concept for the first time. There are numerous events to organize, to deal with online registrations and logbooks, to learn the art of green screen photo shooting via “learning by doing”, and to organize and hold a final event. That alone is a challenge for a team of 1.59 staff positions, of which “0.5 staff positions” have three weeks of vacation during the summer holidays.
In May 2019 the wait will be over and hope will become certainty. The funding notice is here! Funding amount 49,640 euros! The project is subsidized by the state with 80 percent of the total costs! Three years of intensive work are actually bearing fruit. The new spatial concept is implemented and thus creates the basis for working on all other areas of action from the library strategy. Now the work really starts!
The preparatory work has already created space for the new furniture. Now comes the lively shuffling around of inventory. The adult non-fiction book and the children’s book swap places. The novel area is set up as a block. Unfortunately, the order on the shelves is no longer correct, so each book is lovingly moved to its new location by hand.
It’s amazing what the new order alone does to the room! Suddenly there are lines of sight across the entire area. This gives the room an unexpected width and spaciousness that was previously missing. The entire middle area is free, at least until the new furniture arrives. Here, work and relaxation areas will be created with the help of sofas with 1.40 meter high back and side sections in combination with mobile soundproof walls.
But the legislature has placed procurement law in front of the beautiful view. Of course, before you submit your application, you already have an idea of what the finished library should look like. It has to be that way so that the project costs can be roughly calculated. After receiving the funding notice, simply going out and buying the furniture you want – preferably after comparing prices – would be too easy. The first thing that needs to be clarified is which award procedure must be used based on the total project costs.
Separate specifications must then be created for furniture and technical equipment. You can’t just mention your desired piece of furniture by name, but you have to describe it wordily using terms and measurements in such a way that hopefully the desired candidate comes out of it.
The creation of service specifications pushes the library management to its limits. For the first time, doubts arise as to whether the task can be completed on time in the six months remaining until the end of the implementation period on December 31st. With the support of my colleague from the procurement office in the town hall, it all worked out. Prices are requested and the first orders are finally awarded in mid-September.
The first furniture arrives in mid-October. Six wing chairs, 13 bistro chairs, forty stacking chairs, four sofas with high backs and siderests and three mobile soundproof walls. Cargo weight 1,580 kg. The mass of furniture cannot be heaved into the house alone. The colleagues from the construction yard spontaneously help, carry all the furniture to the designated place and get the driver to take the large amount of packaging materials back with him – as agreed upon when ordering.
Little by little more furniture arrives and everything that could go wrong goes wrong. The audio chair with built-in speakers for playing music, podcasts and audio books for the new youth area was delivered on time, but in the wrong color. Unpack, pack, return.
The work tables ordered are delivered in parts without or with incorrectly positioned cable outlets in the table tops. Back! The table tops that were replaced after a complaint come without a frame to which the table legs could be attached. Acceptance refused, return!
Little by little more furniture arrives. By the end of the year, the Olsberg public library will be transformed into an oasis of well-being and the living room of the city!
In addition to the seating furniture and nine work tables that have already been delivered, all of which are equipped with charging stations for charging mobile customer devices, this includes: a media presentation column, two paperback rotating stands, two AV media trays, a gaming wall for the new PS4 pro including VR glasses and monitor , two side tables, five floor lamps and three table lamps, picture book troughs on wheels and puzzle seat cushions in the children’s area, two opposition chairs and an audio chair in the youth area as well as a mobile coffee bar with drinks fridge, coffee machine and dishes.
The fact that the complete new technology consisting of six tablets, three customer work PCs including monitors and multifunction printers and a 55″ television for future gaming activities cannot be found using the tracking number provided by the seller and that delivery only takes four after an anxious wait Weeks after dispatch, free of charge afterwards.
Because all work is carried out during ongoing operations without closure, there will be no celebration of the new or reopening on December 21, 2019. As part of a ceremony, the Olsberg city library first takes invited guests from politics, administration and education and later all interested parties and customers on a journey of discovery through the newly designed city library.
The group LiteraMusico creates the festive setting with its program “Lust for Reading & Christmas Scents”. The new stacking chairs are used for the first time and the room is transformed into an event location. This day makes you quickly forget the numerous sleepless nights, postponed vacations and countless overtime that were necessary to complete the project and a little proud of what you have achieved. The idea of the library as a “third place” is no longer new; numerous large city libraries have made this change. Among the small libraries, Olsberg, with its 324 square meters of space, 1.59 staff positions and 27 opening hours, is the first, but definitely not the last!
Without the support of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Department of Public Libraries, none of what has been described would have happened. There would have been no training, no strategy, no project funding and no transformation. A transformation that took a long time, cost a lot of strength and was so worth it.
But “the beginning is only half of it”! Now we have to take advantage of our diverse new options and fill our beautiful one-room apartment with life. After the game is before the game!
CRIF BURGEL
91% of online shops affected by fraud
62% attribute the increase in fraud
to Corona
(CRIFBÜRGEL) Corona and the measures to contain the pandemic gave online trading a further boost last year. With stores closed, more and more people have shifted their shopping online. 65 percent of the online shops surveyed in Germany stated that they had made more sales since the beginning of the corona pandemic. But with the rise of e-commerce, the risk of becoming a victim of professional fraud also increases for retailers. According to a survey conducted by CRIFBÜRGEL among online retailers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 91 percent were confronted with fraud or attempted fraud last year. The annual “Fraud in E-Commerce” study shows a continuous increase in fraud with over 90 percent, a new record in the DACH region. Compared to the previous year, the risk of fraud increased for 41 percent of the companies surveyed, while the development of fraud remained the same for 49 percent.
In Germany, 65 percent of the e-commerce companies surveyed stated that fraud had increased significantly or very significantly. 61.5 percent of shops in Germany attribute this increase to the corona pandemic.
“Our retailers have long since learned how to make their brick-and-mortar stores secure. Now it is important to also secure the digital branch – the web shop – as best as possible. At least a quarter of online retailers still have some catching up to do in the area of security,” says Rainer Will, Managing Director of the AT Retail Association and Board of Directors EMOTA – European eCommerce Association. CRIFBÜRGEL managing director Dr. Frank Schlein: “The increasing number of online shoppers is accompanied by an increase in professional and organized fraud attempts. These are usually difficult to understand and the effects for retailers range from financial losses to high legal costs and reputational damage.”
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Identity abuse as the most common form of fraud
_________________________________________________________________________________
Identity abuse is the most common form of fraud: According to the survey, 76 percent of the online retailers surveyed in the DACH region were affected by incorrect name or address data being provided. 75 percent had the experience that a customer had pretended to be a completely different real person. The inability and unwillingness of customers to pay – namely ordering goods knowing that they cannot or do not want to pay the bill – was also a problem for 71 percent. In 52 percent of the shops it happened that the customer delivery of the goods and 50 percent provided a completely fictitious identity in order to order goods.
Fraud damage at a relatively low level. If you take a look at the total amount of damage that occurred in the twelve months of last year, 63 percent of online retailers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland suffered a total loss of up to €10,000. In almost every tenth shop, however, the total loss was over €100,000.
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Fraud avoidance as a conversion killer
__________________________________________________________________________________
To protect themselves against internet crime and fraud, 80 percent of online retailers surveyed implement fraud detection measures. 70 percent rely on a combination of fraud prevention tools and manual checking of suspicious orders. At the same time, however, the manual checking effort represents a major challenge for 47 percent of those surveyed. For more than half of online retailers (52 percent), the biggest difficulty is finding the right method to avoid fraud that does not endanger conversion.
“In a market as growing and highly competitive as online retail, the priority is to maximize conversion. Anything that could disrupt customers’ shopping mood poses a risk of them abandoning a purchase. As a shop, you have to be particularly careful when it comes to avoiding fraud Find the right level of risk avoidance and a user-friendly customer journey. Because too much protection against fraud reduces sales – like the closed shop door in brick-and-mortar retail: “With intelligent decision-making logic, various risk and fraud tools can be used A set of rules can be used, for example, we automatically check orders for fraud patterns based on defined fraud features, such as the device used. explains Dr. Schlein.
Around 100 online and mail order retailers were surveyed using an online survey
YouGov poll
Social media fever spreads
to eBay classifieds
– 38 million Germans have already placed an ad
– Three quarters of advertisers track the number of clicks on their own ad
– One in four people are really excited
From children’s toys to electronics – every second German already uses eBay classifieds to sell used things. This was the result of a current representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov among 2,066 people over 18 on behalf of the tech company Friendsurance.de .
55% of those surveyed said they had already placed an ad on eBay Classifieds. Based on 69 million adults in Germany, that’s around 38 million users. But it’s no longer just about selling. Of the 1,145 respondents who have already advertised themselves, 73% observe how many people have visited their ad or marked it with a star for their watch list. The advertiser can follow both in real time. “The goal of an advertiser is to sell an item quickly at the desired price. The more visitors, the higher the chances of success,” says Friendsurance managing director Tim Kunde.
25% of advertisers even stated that they not only regularly studied the development of the numbers, but were even excited about it – a phenomenon that is already known from the social media sector. Tim Kunde explains: “Today, more and more people are looking for confirmation through likes, views and followers. The number of clicks affects their mood.” Those most affected are 25 to 34 year olds (39%). Women are more emotionally involved (29%) than men (21%). Parents are significantly more likely to follow the reactions to their advertisements with strong emotions (37%) than advertisers without children (23%). Striking: Social media users are more excited than those who don’t use social networks. The values are highest among YouTube (32%) and Instagram users (31%).
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