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30
Think PLA 2010
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It’s not too early to start thinking about getting involved with the PLA 2010 Conference in Portland, Oregon! The website for the next PLA National Conference is now up and people can submit program proposals online.
The Public Library Association (PLA) is now planning the 2010 PLA National Conference, which will be held in Portland, Oregon, March 23-27, 2010. The most important part of that planning is assembling the slate of preconferences and the 100+ concurrent program sessions that will be presented during the conference. The deadline for submitting all proposals is November 30, 2008.
I’m fortunate enough to be on the program planning sub-committee for this conference so I’m really looking forward to all the preparation that goes into a conference this big. I’ve been to two PLA conferences so far (Boston and Minneapolis) and both were great learning experiences. I think the focus on public libraries really helps and there always seems to be multiple sessions I’m interested in attending at any given time slot. Hopefully that’s the case with Portland as well! So, start sending those proposals!
Jun
4
New Opportunities
Filed Under Libraries, Professional Development | 5 Comments
I know there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of readers out there who are just dying to hear about how my career is progressing, so this post is for all of you 
! Seriously, though, this past month has been full of interesting developments for me professionally.
First, I received a promotion to supervisor of adult technology assistants at MPOW. I’ve been at my library for just under a year now, so I’m grateful that my director and supervisor have enough faith in me to promote me already. I’ll be supervising a great group who do all they can to assist people using the adult services public computers. It’ll be interesting early on because we’ll be hiring three new assistants in the next few weeks. I guess there’s no better way to learn supervisory and management skills than to actually be hiring, training, and supervising new employees almost immediately! I’m actually very fortunate because the person who had the position before me had time to meet with me and give me a lot of great training. Thanks, Jenn, and good luck in England!
The second thing that has happened is I’ve started a part-time position with Oakton Community College’s library. I’ll be helping the library explore web 2.0 technologies and it’s all starting with a summer learning 2.0 program called Library 2.Oakton (get it!? two point o-akton!). It’s great because I can use my experience helping set up the 10 Things @ SPL program, but I get to tweak things a bit to fit the academic library world. The program just started this week and already we have some faculty and staff really getting the hang of blogging. Hi, OCC folk!
Btw, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library just launched their learning 2.0 program, Baker’s Dozen, for the public! Good stuff!
Apr
1
What I Learned at PLA 2008: Part 3
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Okay, wrapping things up here (btw, these have not been in order of attendance):
A few key points from the “Need to Lead” program sponsored by the Urban Libraries Council and its Executive Leadership Initiative:
- ELI is based on action learning - learning is most effective when involved in a real-tim, actual project
- learning how to move their organizations forward
- important to take risks and learn from failures
- important to express one’s desire to become a leader or enter management
- 3 must-haves for leaders:
- passion for what they’re doing
- good judgment
- courage
- key: how do leaders deal with failure?
- self-realization is a key element of becoming a leader
- personal life and career-related
- knowing strengths and weaknesses
- keep your options open so you’re able to see all the opportunities for leadership, don’t think of just one department, one type of library, etc.
Okay, don’t have notes for two other programs I attended (monitored really), but here are some links. These two were probably the funniest, most entertaining presentations I went to, and both had some really good tips, too!
- Handling Upset Patrons: From the Irate to the Insane by the author of “Black Belt Librarians“
Also, wanted to mention that many of the handouts and slides from PLA 2008 are available online and the virtual conference includes a lot of good stuff, like virtual poster sessions and recorded versions of the most popular programs.
One more thing…the PLA blog has tons of great posts from a lot of people covering a lot of programs. If you didn’t get a chance to go to the conference in-person, or even if you did, it’s a great way to get a feel for what went on.
Apr
1
What I Learned at PLA 2008: Part 2
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More notes lessons, inspiration, ideas, questions from PLA 2008…
From George and Joan’s presentation, “It Ain’t Necessarily So: Challenging the Assumptions of Legacy Librarianship”
- librarians have never been the first or second choice to get information
- how does the library add value to an open information economy?
- enhanced discoverability - engines, not opacs, crawl-able databases, text/im microformats, digitization, captioning, contributions to non-library sites and sources
- important to go out and comment and participate on other blogs, not just your own library blog
- most people think of books when they think of libraries and that’s not a bad thing
- how can we leverage the books brand? capitalize on the image of books/reading lifestyle! (ex. gov arnold using the state librarian’s office ask a backdrop because he realizes it makes him look educated, intelligent, etc.)
- be a part of the ideas economy, not the information economy; become a books/reading lifestyle evangelist
- emphasis on abundance!
- demand-based resource allocation (i.e., more best sellers!); if they want it, there must be a reason so give it to them. this isn’t about dumbing down
- fast, convenient service delivery
- minimal rationing
- no victims - don’t disappoint people, be enthusiastic
- who provides worthwhile information? 78% said libraries and 93% google. what do you actually use? 20% said library websites.
- speed and convenience - most important factors
- set-up the library so it’s easy for civilians (non library people) to succeed on their own terms
- simplified wayfinding - less clutter, civilian terminology, situational directions, power paths and nodes (putting information at crossroads), layout by activity on not by collection
- zone staffing - responsibilities by area, not just a desk
- don’t make people feel stupid! insure success
- info at point of use
- minimal gate-keeping
- fewer, simpler rules
- presumption of innocence
- cut people some slack!
- don’t control, but enable!
- highlight and reinforce librarians’ status as professionals by:
- dispatched service
- librarians on-call
- tech staff on-call
- work to completion with each person
- so what do ref librarians do?
- prepackaged info, FAQs
- research
- “check your work”
- appointments
- learning specialists
- constituent specialists
- outreach
- many people have just about given up on privacy in today’s world, so how can we use the data we already collection (without being unethical)
- put a sign at the entrance areas so people know what’s happening at libraries today, this week
- stop making decisions based on fear of what the public will do if we stop controlling them
- what do people need, want; what are their priorities?
From “Changing Cultures: Experiences in Fostering Innovation from Within”
- important to create a risk-ready culture
- walk the walk, don’t tell me what you believe, show me
- organizational culture is like a snowball getting bigger and more packed; you can’t just come in and get rid of it or change it right away
- but you can do a little bit over time - evolutionary vs. revolutionary
- shining some sunshine on it and letting it melt a little
- creating a critical mass of change agents - leadership throughout the org and putting problem solving and decision making at the right level
- recognize and celebrate the people who take chances (cliff jumper award for people who tried something of their comfort zone, even if the idea failed)
- get rid of people who can’t or don’t want to change or evolve
Things learned from “Great Libraries for Dummies” by Greg Buss of Richmond Library in Canada:
- 4 major trends in customer service:
- the library as destination
- customer convenience is the first priority
- customer-based technology
- connecting with the community
- 10 things you must be doing to achieve excellence:
- be open 7 days a week
- create comfortable and appealing spaces (including food and drinks!)
- utilize the power of the customer
- merchandize with power walls for adults and kids
- walk the floor - librarians can be a lot more approachable
- provide web-based services to empower
- involve the community
- promote the library
- measure, compare, and adjust internally and externally
- fully utilize staff and board commitment
- consensus is not required and perhaps counter-productive
- identify the willing and work with them
- capture enthusiasm and energy
- focus on the customer
- the majority will follow
- 5 obvious, but difficult steps
- think like a customer
- determine core functions
- set priorities
- manage resources
- implement with urgency and enthusiasm
Mar
31
What I Learned at PLA 2008: Part 1
Filed Under Libraries, Professional Development | Leave a Comment
Just spent 5 days in Minneapolis for the Public Library Association conference and came back with a renewed sense of confidence that there are a lot of smart, passionate, innovative, good-natured, and hard-working people working to improve public libraries and serve communities everywhere. It’s good to step outside of what’s happening in Skokie and learn from other libraries. We’re doing a lot of things right at MPOW, but there’s so much more we can do. Libraries and librarians are evolving, taking more risks, getting things done, and having fun at the same time.
So, to start things off, here’s what I learned from Karen Hyman’s exploration of 12 Questions for 2008:
- if you’re satisfied with the status quo, you’re not a great library or you won’t remain one long
- have a story. what’s your library’s story?
- your library brand is how people feel about themselves and their decisions when they’re with us; it’s not about how they feel about the library
- when it comes to branding, libraries usually stop at “Here’s our name!”
- have fewer stupid rules
- stop using words like “delinquent borrower”
- be nicer!
- your library is as friendly as your least friendly public service employee
- is your space holding you back? probably YES. do you have space where people can choose their noise level and activity?
- quova - geo-location software to authenticate people without library cards
- have a “teen volunteer of the year” award and get the local politicians involved
- marketing is about them. where are they in the picture? what do they care about? go where they are.
- www.qandanj.org video - “Now Your Library is Open Late Too!” - shown during MTV Music Video Award show
- most important, be FUN! fine free Fridays, eating and drinking in the library, concerts, dance lessons, tai chi, Princeton PL’s art wall, Artspoint.org
And here’s what was covered in Leonard Souza’s Technozoo presentation (zip file):
- Joost - created by guys who created kazaa, the internet revolutionizing tv
- Skype - same guys again
- Kiva.org - “loans that change lives”
- web 2.0 - people waking up to the fact that you can talk to others on the internet, social networking
- web 2.0 formula: “community + subject + interactivity = web 2.0″
- YouTube and Digg are examples
- Apple iPhone - 70% of mobile internet use done on iPhones, which tells us that this is a viable tool to extend our library services
- Starbucks “quick order” - ordering Starbucks on iPhone; ask yourself what this could mean for libraries, what services can we develop, start researching and developing now
- microsoft surface - “iPhone on crack”
- iPhone and surface - making the internet tangible
- eReaders revolutionizing books - Sony eReader and Amazon Kindle
- gaming - wii, ps3, xbox 360, nintendo ds, psp (demonstrated brain age on ds)
- instead of granting access, libraries need to learn how to grant tools of interaction
- keep the net neutral - important
- one laptop per child - the internet is about the become richer
- challenge to libraries: become as functional online as you are offline
And here’s what I learned from Sarah Cofer from Worthington (OH), 2007 library of the year, talking about social networking and outreach to teens:
- worthingteens is the name of their teen blog
- blog is used as outreach to promote services and also to connect with teens
- teens love photos page - highest number of hits
- blogging personal content, not just library stuff (ex. librarian blogged about dyeing her hair purple, going green)
- blog fusion used to integrate into existing library website, includes photo package
- approval of teen advisory board before launch
- blog rules and guidelines
- try not to make registration required to be able to post comments
- myspace page: goal is to drive traffic to the blog; traffic doubled after the myspace page went up
- facebook page: her personal account has become her professional account since that’s where her teens want to connect with her; the library’s page doesn’t have a lot of fans because it’s not a personal account; communicates with teens on a personal level, recommending books, talking about life, etc.
- feeds from blog are used to drive more traffic to the blog
- other cool stuff to look at: Hennepin co.’s book alerts, framingham’s twitter account, parma pl’s wiki called parma books, and using delicious tags as clouds on blogs.
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