How to Keep the Light On

November 4, 2009 at 6:48 pm (Facebook, Flickr, Library 2.0, creativity, fundraising, innovation, leadership, web resources)

Kudos are in order for everybody involved in the Keep the Light On Levy, one of 30 successful library levies in Ohio this election season.  Mahoning County residents obviously have their priorities straight when it comes to library funding, but the phenomenal effort exerted by the library’s supporters was, I’m sure, a key role in the levy’s passing.

What made this campaign so delightfully awesome? Let us count the ways:

  1. The perfect slogan.  Keep the light on.  Could it be any clearer?  Mood, imperative.  Focuses on the positive.  Uses one of humankind’s most primal metaphors, light, implying warmth, growth, safety, knowledge.  Sheer genius.
  2. Gorgeous web design.  Love the simple primary colors.  Love the inclusive photo on the front page that reflects the diverse makeup of the Mahoning Valley.   Love the simple box arrangement that makes the page easy to navigate.  Ditto on the tabs at the top.
  3. Patrons are front and center.  Two of the first things you see there are “The People’s Blog” and “Real Quotes From Real Library Users.”  The scrolling list of library supporters is a nice touch, too, letting people see how much they’re appreciated.  The only thing that could make this even better is moving the library usage calculator up higher, so people could see and use it more easily.
  4. Transparency.  As you navigate the site, you will see funding issues explained in a clear, concise fashion.  The FAQ, in particular, explains where library funding comes from at the state and local levels, what cost-saving measures the library has already tried, and how much money fundraisers and other revenue-generators actually raise.  Most importantly, the FAQ details what cost-saving measures the library has already taken, and what consequences would occur if the levy doesn’t pass.  Here, in my opinion, is the money quote:

    5. Levy FAQ 6. What effect has the loss of 31% of State funding had on Your Library?  Thirty members of Your Library staff had to be laid off. Funding for books and other materials dropped dramatically. The entire staff, including the Director, took wage cuts. The library was forced to reduce hours at all locations.

    Emphasis mine. Everybody. Took. Wage. Cuts.  Wow.  That is definitely one way to tell people that you are dead serious.  Would you take a wage cut for your library?  But I digress:

  5. Good use of social media/web technologies.  Content on YouTube.  Strong Facebook and Twitter presences.   Including PayPal as a donation option.  An e-newsletter.  Clearly this group “gets it” when it comes to reaching out to tech-savvy patrons and including them in their advocacy efforts.

    6. [Aside:  Yes, I'm biased.  You can take the girl out of Youngstown, but you can't take the Youngstown out of the girl.  And honestly, why would you want to?]

    What insanely cool, awesome thing are you doing to rock the advocacy boat at your library?  Leave a comment telling me about your creative/unusual “save the library” endeavors, and you’ll be eligible to win a copy of Keri Smith’s This Is Not A Book – I just happen to have stumbled into an extra copy, and I can’t think of a better way to reward hands-on advocacy than with a hands-on, not-a-book destructo-journal.

    Leave a comment by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 to be in the running. And thanks in advance for everything you do to keep the light on in your libraries!

    You know what’s almost as important as keeping the light on? Lightening up. Methinks my next post is going to be both fun and silly, because, quite frankly, there’s been a dearth of that around here lately. Stay tuned.

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You can’t spell intern without “ni!”: Stuff I’ve learned.

August 25, 2009 at 4:28 pm (blogging, collection development, creativity, databases, humor, leadership, management, professional development, web resources)

If that subject header had you scratching your noggin, click here for elucidation.  For the rest of you, on with the story!

For the past few months, my workload rose to such a pitch that half-joking plea for an intern had become part of my regular rotation of requests.  Call it manifestation or plain old nagging, but when an opportunity appeared mid-summer, yours truly was given an intern…er, 1/2 an intern.  In Solomonic fashion, Tanya split her time here at Main between the stacks and shelving department, and helping me with tasks in Ref. Services.

Having her around has been educational.  For one thing, Tanya’s not planning to make librarianship a career, though she was intrigued that there were such things as medical libraries and librarians.  Working with her has forced me to re-examine everything I do, because I know I’m going to have to explain/justify it to a non-library person.  It’s also forced me to be even better organized, because I want to make her time here useful and educational – that means having tasks ready, and not just tasks, but a variety of tasks, so that she gets a well-rounded experience.

On top of that, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to model that one behavior I hope to someday perfect–the art of dropping everything and paying attention to her when she has a question–as well as other behaviors worth having in the bag of tricks:  patience, a sense of humor, problem-solving skills, diplomacy, flexibility and creativity.   We had a teachable moment just this morning, in which I was having difficulty exporting data from Millennium Create List, and I had to ask one of my peers for a reminder/refresher on the spot–not sure if that was more educational for her or for me!  But still, the point was made:  even the nominal leader gets stuck, and needs to ask for help.

Here are some of the things Tanya’s helped me with so far:

  • mass mailings
  • weeding (literal and digital)
  • creating digital booklists
  • creating displays
  • database evaluations [seeing how a non-library person perceived our electronic resources was insanely valuable]
  • collection development (print and digital)
  • searching for missing items
  • shadowing at the reference desk

She also wrote a very nice Eleventh Stack post describing her internship, both at Main and at the Carrick branch, where she spent the first part of her summer. If the point of internships is to educate folks on just how important library service is to the community, I’d have to say “mission accomplished” on this one. I can’t really take the credit for that, per se, but I’m glad I played a small part in helping her have a good library experience.

As for me, I was a lot more comfortable in a leadership role this time than I was last time, when I supervised the Help Desk workers. Funny what time and, hopefully, a little maturity, can do! I am still not 100% convinced it’s the direction in which I want to take my career, but I now know that I could become a good manager if I were willing to work at it. So the real question is, what would make me happy?  Although I’m pro-money, and fond of regular meals, I’m a little more concerned with other levels on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at this point in my life.

If and when I ever get a handle on that, I’ll let you know. And if that last paragraph shocked you, you should hear about my backup plan just in case this whole librarian thing doesn’t work out. No, not the goat farm – that’s the retirement plan.

I have a few writing topics I’m going to defer until September, as they revolve around specific timed events.  There are a few things saved in my newsreader that I want to warble about, but for now, let’s leave it open-ended.  Your alchemist also takes requests, so if there’s something you’d like me to write about, do leave a comment.

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Tech Playground Videos. Also, resiliency.

May 6, 2009 at 6:02 pm (blogging, databases, ethics, personal, philosophizing, presentations, professional development, virtual reference, web resources)

If you’d like to see some of the footage we shot at the Technology Playground program, check out the CLP YouTube channel. The wizards in our Communication and Creative Services department are going to edit footage from these into one longer video, to show our legislators just how much of an impact the library has on Pittsburghers’ lives.

If you’re pressed for time, try just watching this one. It’s my favorite because it’s short and poignant:

In other news, t’s nearly 5 p.m., which is the time of day when I, as a morning person, have long since scaled the top of BrokeBrain Mountain and am once again contemplating goatherding for a living. So I reread Beth M.’s wonderful slideshow on resiliency, and got some much-needed fortification. Honesty forces me to admit that I also got a cup of coffee and a chocolate peanut-butter brownie from our cafe on the ground floor, but you go with what works. :)

But, I digress: I don’t think we can talk about resiliency enough, because–and I fear I’m starting to repeat myself, or enter a recursive loop, or something–public service is hard, hard work. And yet, it’s not something we talk about much in library world. I’m not sure why.

Of course, occasionally people do. In a conversation taking place elsewhere in the blogosphere, concerning librarians who talk smack about their patrons online, a commenter who identifies simply as “Sarah” has this to say:

The actual underlying problem here, the big elephant in the profession is that public service is becoming increasingly more stressful and the divide between those who do it on a regular basis and those who don’t is becoming increasingly wider (just like the wage gap). The profession isn’t dealing with it but instead issues statements, documents, and all sorts of meaningless stuff castigating those who supposedly can’t deal with “change”. People will talk, and vent, period. If they don’t have any constructive help in dealing with the stress, and if there isn’t respectful two-way communication, and if they are crapped on for their public service skills by those who don’t want to realize that there are also INTERNAL customers to be served, then this will just continue. Most people don’t get pats on the back for being “so 2.0″ when they are doing their job, over and over again. How about making sure that public service people have the resources they need to do their jobs – after all, they are customers of library management. Would they take their business elsewhere if they could? So instead of getting all snotty about “negative energy” and customer service, how about cross-training yourselves to ensure that public service people can get off desk and take vacations? How about designing jobs which are 50/50? I’ve had an offer out for 25 years that, if anyone has a problem with my public service skills, they can do my job for a week and I can watch and take notes on how a REAL professional does it. Nobody has yet taken me up on my offer.

I wish Sarah had included an e-mail address, so I could thank her personally for her honesty and bravery. It’s not cool to snark about patrons online, anonymously or otherwise, if only because everybody really is always doing the best they can. However, it is also decidedly not cool for us as professionals to turn on each other during these horribly stressful times when we all need each other more than ever. Librarians should be helping each other out, supporting each other, not taking each other to task in their blogs.

My opinions on this matter are heavily colored by the recent news of Pennsylvania Senate Bill 850, which pretty much ambushes library service in a dark alley, takes its wallet and credit cards, and then beats the living snot out of it. You can read the specifics here, but the paragraph that made me sick to my stomach was this one:

Library programs under S.B. 850 are hit hard. The Public Library Subsidy would be cut 50% to $37 million. The Library Access line (POWER Library, statewide borrowing, interlibrary delivery) would cease operations as this year’s $7 million appropriation would drop to zero. The Electronic Library Catalog (Ask Here PA, Access PA database) would have only $1.7 million next year compared to this year’s total of $3.7 million. Funding for the State Library (50% cut to $2.4 million) and Library Services for the Visually Impaired and Disabled (2% cut to $2.9 million) are the same in both the Governor‘s proposal
and the Senate Republican bill.

Emphasis mine. These are only possibilities, but terrifying ones.

So, resiliency and professional courtesy become more important than ever now. If we do not hang together, well…you know how it goes. Here’s hoping we can all look past our own cares and worries for a few moments and take time to check in on our peers, see if they need a sympathetic ear, a cup of tea, a walk around the building for a private vent session…

Tomorrow and Friday are kind of eaten up with NetLibrary trainings and preparation for a presentation I’m giving next week. I’ve been so busy, I’ve been forced to delegate my next Eleventh Stack post to one of my cats. Those of you who know my cats won’t be too surprised to learn it’s the Smoky grey one who will be doing the guest honors. :)

More next week, probably. Until then, keep the faith…

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Random alchemy update

February 20, 2009 at 5:55 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, Twitter, collection development, databases, humor, philosophizing, presentations, web resources)

It’s been a busy, exciting week. Here are a few of the many things going on in the alchemy lab.

We’ve Got Widgets

Ryan gave a brief training this morning on the widgets our IT department has developed. Good stuff. I’m now on a mission to discover if anybody’s created anything like Book Burro for A/V formats, and, if not, can IT build us one…

Twitter

Under the heading of “still somewhat secretive,” we’ve figured out a cool way to use Twitter that will work for our library, and yours truly is trying to coordinate the training / implementation effort. What’s really great about this is the sheer number of volunteers, and the sheer range of staff it covers (older, younger, timid, more adventurous, etc.). 2.0 technologies are becoming, for lack of a better word, ecumenical around here. It’s a lovely thing.

23 Things

The Allegheny County version of a 23 Things learning program has made all kinds of progress since last I brought it up. We have four technology playgrounds scheduled, one in each region except Central (more on this in a bit). Staff who attend will get a chance to play with Flip cameras and other geegaws, and learn about blogging and other social tools, as an appetite-whetter for the program itself, which will start near the end of April. Team Celery Stick (don’t ask) is meeting next week to keep the momentum going.

CLP Technology Playground

A cross-departmental group, which includes Ryan, Irene and me, has been planning a technology event for the public, scheduled for 4/25/09. We’ve reached the point where we know what activites we’re going to have, and how to staff them; what resources we want to show off; and what sorts of prizes/incentives we’d like to offer for participants. Now we’re working with Communication and Creative Services to create publicity and day-of props/handouts. My role in this phase has been creating draft copy, and Kaarin and I worked on revisions this afternoon.

Database stuff

This past week I accepted the role of chair on the EREC committee, which is responsible for recommending the purchase of electronic resources at the county level. The group is utterly fabulous, full of good ideas and wisdom/experience, and based on our meeting yesterday, I think 2009 will be a good year, despite challenges.

The state of subscription databases in a Google age is an interesting one. The committee has an opportunity to try some new things this year, and maybe take some risks (? – we can start small!). The outgoing chair, Ann, has given me a checklist of things to think about and work on, so I’ll be spending a lot of time on that in days–and entries–to come.

Weeding

Nothing like some old-school library work to ground you after all the meetings and the planning! I’m almost done with the LC circulating collection, weeding primarily for duplicates and poor condition, but I’ve also got some notes and lists on things we could use. I’m also moving some things from circ to reference. Dewey and reference collections to follow later this year…

When Technology Fails

Our computer network (internet, ILS and all) was down between noon and 3 p.m. today. Some patrons were unhappy and left, but there were plenty of other folks who stayed behind to read, study, and use non-computer resources. Customer Service was able to use offline functions to check out patrons’ materials, and it was actually kind of fun, in a creative way, to see exactly what sort of work could be accomplished without the Almighty Internet. Good practice for the zombie apocalypse, too.

A Touch of Sentiment

In a recent post on the experience economy, David Lee King provides notes on a presentation by Jane McGonigal. I’ll reproduce the money quote here:

Four key principles of happiness:

satisfying work to do
experience of being good at something
time spent with people we like
chance to be a part of something bigger

That’s the perfect description of a normal day around here, from my perspective. Of course, that condition begs the question, what do you do with your good fortune?

That’s one for pondering over a leisurely weekend. Next week, more alchemical whimsy, workload depending…

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CLP Music Dept. Promo – From Haydn to Hip-Hop

February 15, 2009 at 2:43 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, creativity, humor, innovation, music, web resources)

Ryan and I get up to some pretty cool stuff around here, but we’re not the only ones in the organization having fun with technology. I’m happy to share a video effort put together by my colleagues in the Music Department. I’m also pleased to point out that Bonnie, Wes and Tim, three librarians who appear in the video, are also members of the Eleventh Stack blog team – clearly, this building is chock full of creative, multi-talented librarians!

Check out the wonders of our music department via the video stylings of David K., with expertise, help and support from music librarians Kathie L. and Kirby D.

Conventional wisdom has it that your videos should be short; I think this is definitely one of those exceptions that proves the rule – by this I mean, your video should be short unless you’ve put a lot of thought and care into a longform piece, as is the case here. And I definitely want to snag David for my own video efforts, before he gets snapped up by Cannes or Telluride.

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The Saturday Symphony

February 7, 2009 at 1:56 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, personal, philosophizing, social justice, traditional library services, web resources)

Your alchemist likes working Saturdays.  Saturdays have a different rhythm, tone, and feel to them.  Being allowed to wear blue jeans certainly doesn’t hurt.

Today we’ve been busy, in a steady, non-frantic way, since the doors opened.  Folks are working on papers, using the computers, using the wireless, and otherwise reading and studying – two people are bent over a chessboard, carefully contemplating their next moves.

Questions have run the gamut from fetal alcohol syndrome to M.C. Escher to landlord/tenant relations (coupled with referrals to other libraries that can provide legal assistance, if needed).  There is, of course, the usual flurry of “how-do-I” questions:  reserve a computer, get headphones, find the mezzanine.  Visitors stroll through, gaping at the decor and architecture.  Tax preparation season has started, too, so there’s a steady undercurrent of helping people find the room where our VITA  (volunteer income tax assistance) volunteer has set up shop.

I won’t lie to you – it’s been challenging getting back into the groove after Midwinter.  Despite the amount of work I could do from a distance with my laptop, it didn’t make up for the experience of being able to get something out of my desk or the P drive, or to talk to a peer when I needed/wanted one.  And yet, the Saturday symphony makes all the re-entry challenges worthwhile. 

I really wish we had a webcam, sometimes.  That might be a sticky privacy wicket, though…

At any rate, I’ve been typing this between transactions, and I’ve been giving a lot of help intermittently to a patron who is not very comfortable with the internet.  I’ll leave you, therefore, with what feels like not just the soundtrack to today, but to the state of libraries in general.

Walk on, my brethren and sistren.  Walk on.

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Church 2.0

February 4, 2009 at 12:12 am (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, creativity, innovation, philosophizing, religion, web resources)

In which a Texas church uses technology to engage its users. Librarians, take note!

This is both cool and noteworthy for a number of reasons:

  • Combines  intergenerational collaboration and fun marketing techniques
  • Shatters stereotypes about seniors and computers
  • Uses new technologies to promote and enhance a traditional institution
  • Emphasizes what the website has to offer the user

Sunset delivers on its promises, too.  If you check out the church page, you’ll notice that its design is focused on what the user can do and learn there: read, listen, download, register, and–most importantly–find information easily. They’re even using Skype!

Church 2.0? Why not? Think about it: an organization, driven by a strong sense of mission, seeks to enhance the user experience for its members, and draw in new ones by taking advantage of emerging technologies. Sound like any other cultural institution you know of?

I know, I know: a library isn’t a church (or is it?). Perhaps I’m just pleased to see so many of my professional interests coming together in one place. If, like me, you’re fascinated by the relationship between religion and culture, you might like the God Spam blog, the source of today’s ruminations.

What are the dominant religious beliefs in the patron populations you serve? The underserved religious populations? How do/would you serve/support them? Are they using emerging technologies? If you don’t know, how could you find out?

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Personal, political, inaugural. Also, professional reading.

January 21, 2009 at 9:36 am (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, ethics, intellectual freedom, news, nonfiction, personal, philosophizing, professional development, reviews, web resources)

Yesterday some of my peers and I paused to stand shoulder to shoulder with our patrons and watch the inauguration ceremony. It was a beautiful moment, amplified by the fact that those physically present at the event were joined by both in-person and online gatherings all over the country. Participation and interactivity were the order of the day, and anybody who couldn’t be present or wet-wired can already watch the video on YouTube. O brave new world!

One passage from President Obama’s address feels especially pertinent/relevant to libraries this morning:

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends–hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism–these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

There you have, in a nutshell, a testament to librarianship. We have an arsenal of tools for providing information. We support, with our collections, programs, services and staff, the best and highest values a democracy can offer. We toil, quietly and not-so-much, in the service of something greater than our individual selves. And I’m confident that librarians of all stripes–special, medical, public, academic, bloggers, pundits, vendor-folks, technomages, futurists, dreamers, leaders, managers, and infinite hybrid variations of said types–will be able to put aside their differences and work together in support of our new president’s goals, which are really the ones we never lost sight of.

Why not aim high, if you’re bothering to aim?

On a more practical front, I’ve been trying to clear the decks and tie down the loose ends before I vanish to attend Midwinter conference in Denver. This has meant meetings, spreadsheets, number-crunching, and a lot of time in the book order room. I will probably still take work with me, but that’s a post on work-life balance for another day! For now, a quick recap of 2009 professional reading so far:

    Mobilizing Generation 2.0, Ben Rigby. This is the book you want if you need to either justify 2.0 dabbling to your boss, or explain it to co-workers who are not entirely convinced.  Rigby explains how emerging technologies can benefit a non-profit and provides specific examples of how various organizations have used blogging, Twitter, and other tools to advance their missions.  You’ll find the companion website here, and those hankering for quantifiable data will be interested in the social network ROI calculator created by Care2, and highlighted in Rigby’s text.

    Future Savvy, Adam Gordon.  The author admits right out of the gate that futurists get heckled a lot for being wrong and/or non-methodical.  The rest of the book goes on to make a case for GOOD forecasting, and explains how organizations can do that.  Very, very, very interesting!

    Out Front With Stephen Abram, Siess & Lorig, comps. I am just now getting around to this because the wait list for our copies has been quite long. Quality inspiration and leadership advice, however, is worth waiting for, and I’m encouraged that so many of my colleagues have read this too. Good fodder for an unconference, I’m thinking.

    Leading With Kindness, Baker & O’Malley. The theoretical underpinnings of the leadership and management I see around me every day.  When it comes to leadership, the kinesthetic approach trumps the readerly, I think.  However, the more books about the human element of leading people we have, the better.

So, there’s that. I’ll be blogging Midwinter, of course, recaps rather than live sessions. If you’re going, and would like to meet, please ping me. If you’re not, I’ll do my very best to report on things I think would be useful and helpful to you. What might those things be? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

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Library PR Fail?

January 2, 2009 at 6:14 pm (access, traditional library services, web resources)

Whoops. 2009 is only a few days old, and already the library PR problem has reared its head. In a post called Change Your Pricing, Seth Godin asks, rhetorically:

Could the library charge frequent readers more?

Sigh. And we work so hard telling people libraries are free. What are we doing wrong?

For the moment, let’s not bring up overdue fines or late fees, which are only incurred by a small swath of borrowers. For the majority of public libraries in the U.S., getting a card is FREE, borrowing materials is FREE, and attending programs is FREE.

I don’t know how much more emphatic we can get.

SHOULD we be charging? Let’s not go there, either….

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Professional Reading – Dec. 2008

December 15, 2008 at 6:46 pm (Blogroll, Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, blogging, humor, nonfiction, professional development, web resources, wikis)

Still working on that post about failure. Does that mean I fail at failure? Hee.

Seriously, keeping up with professional reading can be a challenge. It is, however, a worthwhile one. What I really like about the books I’ve been reading lately is how they work hand-in-glove with 2.0 technologies, as opposed to setting up a “print vs. digital” dichotomy.

So, without further ado, here’s what I’m reading:

The book: Pop Goes the Library.

See also: the blog and the wiki, which help keep the print version up-to-date (I’m still buying this one – so useful!).

Bonus: Carlie Webber, the librarian who led me to the profession in the first place, contributes to the PGTL blog. Perhaps that makes me a touch biased, but so be it. Also, because without YA librarians adult librarians would have no future, you should check out Carlie’s other writings at Librarilly Blonde.

The book: Born Digital.

See also: the companion site, as well as the Digital Natives parent project.

Bonus: Uses the phrase “musty old card catalogs” twice within the first chapter! Okay, I’m a touch nostalgic. However, if you really want a great book on understanding today’s digital generation, this will more than suffice.

The book: Tribes, Seth Godin.

See also: Seth’s Blog.

Bonus: The opportunity to see how the new technologies and opportunities look from a non-library standpoint, plus an excellent chance to get over your fear of marketing and promotion.

Warning: These books and resources will challenge you. I can’t say I agree with everything I’ve read so far, but that’s as it should be. It’s vital that people are producing content that forces libraries to wake up and shape the future. Reserve your book, or click your link of choice, today, and let’s keep the dialog going….

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