50+ librarians get their improv on at Library Collective 2016

There's something special happening at the Library Collective conference. Designed to be interactive, intimate, and inexpensive, this conference hits the mark. After a plenary session of boardgames with several new librarian friends, we did some library improv. We established ground rules:
Suspend judgment
Accept offers
Focus on the other
Embrace failure
and then launched into a rollicking round of Yes, And. A round of 7 things inspired librarians to use this game to help students generate keywords. Good sports played Good, Bad and Ugly, bravely playing with the outer limits of what's appropriate to get a sense of what's important and as catharsis. So much fun! So many good insights. And so many new friends. Thanks for playing!

Game: Good Bad and Ugly

Ideas for what to do can come from articulating what not to do, from exploring the unacceptable or the edge of acceptable, or from exploring another point of view. This game of role playing frees participants to do just that, by acknowledging accepted practice or behavior and by turning it upside down and playing devil's advocate...or worse.

How to play:

• 3 players and a facilitator. The 3 players choose their roles, "good," "bad," and "ugly." They will be playing members of a panel of "experts." They can be seated or standing in front of the room. The facilitator asks the audience for a suggestion of a gathering, meeting, conference or forum of some sort. Or for a specific training or teaching situation, the facilitator provides the context.
• Facilitator can begin be asking the panel a question. First "good" will respond with a reasonable answer. "Bad" will follow, offering advice that is, well, not so good. And "Ugly" will follow with a response that is pretty awful advice.

Examples:

• For training purposes, the panel might be experts on customer service or dealing with difficult patrons. The panel might be library experts responding to questions in a faculty forum, student senate, library board, city forum, accreditation board, etc.
• Facilitator: Panelists, please tell me what you see as the cornerstone of good public service.
  Good: I believe that good customer service stems from respect...
  Bad: Really, you just want to get the customer in and out quickly with no embarrassing public displays...
  Ugly: People need to be loved, so hug everyone who enters, whether they want it or not... If they seem uncomfortable you just need to hug them longer...

Notes:

• Make sure you have established ground rules that make this a trusting and safe place, to explore the taboo and have fun.

Improv for a cold day at Mt. Horeb Public Library

Thanks to the staff at Mt. Horeb Public Library for inviting me to be a part of your inservice day. I appreciated your willingness to suspend judgment, take some chances, be supportive and have some fun! You all can be good and bad and downright ugly (you know who you are...), and the people of Mt. Horeb are lucky to have you.