Your Library In More Places

I often tell people that I am a big believer in the magic of libraries. They provide inspiration and hope, no matter their size. Today, libraries can be everywhere. From the massive buildings that dominate a downtown landscape, to the small branches in malls where people shop, book machines on the walk home from school, and even on your smartphone, libraries are there. The biggest challenge is getting this message across. How do we find ways to tell this story to the local community? To get people excited about it, and ultimately change their perception and gain their support? I believe it is in this magic that we can spread that message. This misconception is an opportunity to surprise and delight. It’s our own shock and awe, and we can deliver that to our communities.

One of the key principles to this process is a motto from our Foundation: Your Library in More Places. The concept came up on a sort of whim. I have written a regular feature for the local paper about our library for several years. One of these articles was titled "Your Library in More Places." In this article, I discussed our book machine services and our efforts in renovating our libraries.

My main focus in the past few years has been outreach, specifically the library’s book machines and renovating our small rural libraries. It is amazing to see the impact these kinds of acts can have in these communities- a new library with state-of-the art services that they never would have imagined. Instead of dilapidated hand-me-down shelving, worn carpet, and old computers, they get the same new furnishings and finishes that are available in the larger branches. The custom carved book shelving, the early literacy computers, they are all there. It provides a big boost for the community to have these amenities and it demonstrates to the community that the library cares about them.

Book machines are the easiest and cheapest way for libraries to provide books and materials on a 24/7 basis in a remote location. We've provided these machines outside of schools, inside job centers, but most importantly, where books are simply not available. A lot of discussion today has been about how to get children school ready, as well as how to ensure children read at a third grade reading level by the third grade. Access to books is a key feature to that effort. There is much buzz about projects such as Little Free Libraries, but this alone doesn't address the problem of getting books into a community in the first place, especially in small rural towns. These machines provide 300 books to children on a 24/7 basis. They get such heavy use that we need to send staff out several times a week, just to replenish the machine. Most of these areas are without any resources and have no access to books or a library. Some of their schools do not even have libraries. It is in this way that we can provide the key ingredient to literacy, and in a way that has the greatest amount of access.

It's also important to keep ahead of national technology trends and apply them to local community needs. E-books, digital maker spaces, and other technology are key pieces to the library's immediate future. Throughout a community, if someone looks at their smartphone for information, a library app can be there, complete with e-books, magazines, videos, reference materials and research. Even tutoring help is available! Now more than ever, libraries have the tools to show up in unexpected places and demonstrate their value.

It is a critical time to be involved with libraries. People are increasingly without resources when they most need them. Libraries provide community space for children and adults alike, to have access to books in any format, free access to that knowledge, learning, and reading. We provide that advantage. I've always thought that libraries will exist as long as curiosity exceeds one's budget. Whether it is reading or information gathering, libraries play a role no one else can. Libraries are a beacon of hope in so many communities throughout the country. There are those who seek magic, and libraries are the place to find it. 

Management Book Review: Multipliers

Review below also appeared in the latest edition of the California Library Association Management Interest Group Newsletter LEAD.

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter

by Liz Wiseman & Greg McKeown

The book Multipliers, in my mind, falls into the category of servant leadership: encouraging employees to give their best, providing the resources they need, and getting out of the way. Authors Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown take this a bit further to create a better definition of the concept.

There are two kinds of managers, multipliers and diminishers. The main goal for multipliers is to get employees to think for themselves, come up with creative solutions, and harvest their potential. It’s not about the manager or the leader, but about the employees who are making things happen. Intelligence and capability can be multiplied in this way, without getting more staff or more resources. Diminishers, on the other hand, make everything about them. They have the great idea; things must always be done their way. It’s much like the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. The employees cower and hope to get transferred, or work somewhere else very soon. These employees don’t give their best; they focus on getting away. The authors are very detailed on how to become a multiplier, how to identify a diminisher, and remind us that anyone can have both traits without intending to do so.

There are five key disciplines for a multiplier:

1. Attract and optimize talent
2. Create intensity that requires best thinking (remove fear of failure and create safety for best thinking)
3. Extend challenges
4. Debate decisions
5. Instill ownership and accountability

There are also tips to identify talent:

1.  Look for talent everywhere
2.  Find people’s native genius (they might not realize they have it)
3. Utilize people at their fullest
4. Remove the blockers
5. What do they do without effort, better than everyone, without being asked, without compensation?

This book helped hone some already believed truths. It provides a more concrete idea to help an organization act smarter, be more efficient, and have employees who love what they do. I really enjoyed the read and felt it provided a clear path for me to follow, as well as pitfalls to avoid.

More Straight Talk #clanoise

I recently wrote an article for the California Library Association Management Interest Group Newsletter LEAD covering the program that I moderated at this year's annual conference. I'm posting it below.
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More Straight Talk by Jeff Scott, County Librarian, Tulare County Library

I had the honor to host another Straight Talk program with some of the best library minds in the state, Directors: Jose Aponte of San Diego County Library, Julie Farnsworth of Pleasanton Public Library, Robert Karatsu of Rancho Cucamonga Public Library, Jan Sanders of Pasadena Public Library, and Rivkah Sass of Sacramento Public Library, were captivating as they discussed the trials and tribulation of today's modern library director.

I really enjoy putting this program together. Library directors are always so willing to tell their story and to help others. Often, people can be too intimidated by directors, particularly with a group as prestigious as this one. However, they are all incredibly down-to-earth and willing to help. My thought behind providing this program was that I hoped it would not only inspire those new to the profession, but would also demonstrate how human these directors are; they started out just like everyone else. I gathered some notes from the program which were particularly poignant for me.

Don’t Follow the Crowd

In their own way, each director had advice on being innovative. Jose Aponte said it was important to look outside of the profession, in some cases getting out of the profession for a time to gain perspective. It leads to a different outlook and attitude when coming back. Robert Karatsu said that the only way to know the future is to change it. If we follow everyone else, we will always fall behind; by taking our own path we can create something new. Julie Farnsworth said that those drawn into being a director must possess a heart-pounding drive to do good things. All members of the group reminded us that politics make strange bedfellows. In order to get things done you have to look to the people to make alliances with and put party politics aside.

Say Yes

It's important to look for opportunities, be willing to say yes, and build a culture of the same, according to Rivkah Sass. It‟s important to be fearless and be willing to move backwards or sideways in a career in order to make the big leaps forward. I particularly liked Jan Sanders point when she said, “Dragons be damned” emphasizing the importance of pushing through despite heavy opposition. Robert Karatsu further expanded on this by suggesting it is important to stir things up.

One is the Loneliest Number

All of the directors reminded us that it can be very lonely at the top. It's important to know oneself since the ego will be often bruised. One of the most frustrating things, brought up by Julie and Jan, was how the slightest phrase can be taken out of context and twisted. Rivkah had the best comments on the topic stating that words can be twisted, making you out to be a monster. It's important to have a trusted circle. It's also important to be a good poker player.

The real point of this program for me is to allow library directors to speak directly and honestly about how they got where they are, what others can do to be successful, and where the profession is going. While others may panic during budget cuts and a changing climate, these directors have seen it all. The benefit of this experience can be very calming for those new to the profession or experiencing tough times for the first time. I always appreciate their honesty. Even with the same questions, each time it takes a different tack, the less formal the better. Straight Talk is a straight answer about the library field, past, present, and future.

Changing Course: Leadership for Navigating the New Library

With Luis Herrera, San Francisco Public Library Director

With Susan Hildreth, Seattle Public Library Director

This was a wonderful program that I had the privilege to attend. There were many of my library management heroes there like Susan Hildreth (Seattle), Luis Herrera (San Francisco), and a good friend, Laura Isenstein with Providence Associates. I met some new friends there, some from Twitter, and other brilliant library admin people.

We had homework for this program, four articles that are available online. These are classics in the management profession, one of them by Peter Drucker. I will post the links to my Delicious account.

This session was held over two days during the pre-conference. The main focus was to understand the basic principles of the articles; the community building and building personal networks were the high points for me.

The thing that puzzled me a little is that I feel like I have gone down this road before. I used the Planning for Results model sponsored by PLA. However, even though many libraries went through the strategic planning process, many didn't engage the community in a meaningful way. They grabbed the same people that were already in their circle and asked them what they already knew. As the presenter told me, they didn't expand their sandbox or their social circle, thereby they didn't gather meaningful support. I even discussed a very prominent library and wondered surely they did this, and in fact they didn't. They got complacent.

I can't tell you how meaningful those relationships in the community are. You don't have to be a director to make them. In fact, my library has several staff members who are so embedded. It's amazing what they can accomplish, how "in the know" they are. They are valued and consulted, particularly on non-library issues. This is a big part of what we are talking about. Do you have the relationships that move beyond library and into community? Are you at that point? Great takeaways!


Another concept discussed was the personal board of directors concept- trying to establish a network of coaches and mentors that you can speak freely with and that can guide you in any aspect of your life. This is a circle that will inoculate your decision-making so that the first person telling you an idea is stupid isn't a staff member or a board member. Another point of emphasis is to not limit this circle just to librarians. I would think non-librarians would be particularly valuable, as you don't get too tunnel visioned. Library organizational issues are almost never unique to libraries, and we shouldn't treat them as such.

Overall, it was a great program. Our moderator understands our profession needs to change and to accomplish that he needed to change the people in the room, a tough sell. I think we can change and be the center, the Mecca of our communities. Surprisingly, it only takes one phone call.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Top Ten Things

Roy Tennant has a post about 10 things library administrators should know about technology. This was a precursor to an event that happened this Fall at the Digital Library Federation Forum. This post went around the circles with little comment other than re-posting. I didn't find this list very helpful as an administrator. The discussion in libraries shouldn't be "don't be afraid of technology", but "don't be afraid of change." The implementation of that change and the removal of that fear are the keys to success.

From my perspective, I don’t view these types of decisions that Roy brings up as technology decisions. I am sure there are some who say no to technology, but those administrators often say no to everything. Technology is just another tool to use and an administrator weighs whether he can use the tool or not. It's not an either or situation.

Using Tools to Make Connections
Library administration should keep up with current trends so that when staff members come up with ideas, they understand where those ideas are coming from. It will lead to a faster implementation, another way to accomplish the idea, or if the idea will work.

I enjoyed the re-post from the M Word, Marketing Libraries blog for five skills that drive innovation:
SNIP
Associating: The ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems or ideas from different fields.

Questioning: Innovators constantly ask questions that challenge the common wisdom. They ask "why?", "why not?" and "what if?"

Observing: Discovery-driven executives scrutinize common phenomena, particularly the behavior of potential customers.

Experimenting: Innovative entrepreneurs actively try out new ideas by creating prototypes and launching pilots.

Networking: innovators go out of their way to meet people with different ideas and perspectives.
END SNIP

I always remember when I went in for a demo on a product. It was for Vocera. He was demonstrating the product and talking about the things it can do. I remember constantly scribbling in my notebook while he was speaking, even when he was not speaking. My staff asked me if we were supposed to take notes and what was I writing. Even the demonstrator asked. I told them that while he was speaking I was making connections to all the potential for this device. All the things we needed for our library beyond what he was talking about. I think most librarians should be doing this during a product demonstration, but then ferret out what would actually be needed from the product, or if the product is needed at all.

I am not sure Roy's list is very helpful, but for a few points. Technology is getting cheaper and easier, true. It’s relative though. If you have a tight budget and staff uncomfortable with using the tool, or even if the tool will be useful, those weigh into the decision. There is also the danger of having no direction for new services, technology or otherwise. Is this right for the community? I also enjoyed the feature creep discussion here and here. Having new services and technology without rhyme or reason is dangerous for budgets and for staff.

Don't Drown Your Horse
I see the entire list as a re-hash of concepts that have been used before and can be applied to a general view. Don’t be afraid of failure, don’t try to be perfect, are commonly used. However, some of the examples such as "technology gets easier over time" is fine, but the example of installing Unix seems a bit off. That isn't a good example if this article is directed at administrators.

Another piece would be staff buy-in. We can say "don’t be afraid of failure", but when it fails, staff can get pretty frustrated, even angry. Furthermore, without buy-in it just looks like you are shoving things down their throats. Drowning the horse in trying to make him drink.

I don't think administrators are saying no to projects because they involve technology. They say no to projects that they don't understand or aren't sure they have the resources for, staff or otherwise. Those trying to implement or attempting to convince others to implement must have a clear vision of what is to be accomplished and tell a compelling story.

Additional Thoughts
 
"...focus on risk mitigation, not risk elimination," Teri Takai, California State Chief Information Officer.

"In dealing with new ventures, particularly in dealing with technology, you should find ways to mitigate risk, but not eliminate it. New ideas and decisions involve risks, there is no way around it. Knowing what to do when things go wrong is more important than making something foolproof."

Know the organization well enough to understand the impact of the decision.
From Giuliani's Leadership:

"Knowing the small details of a large system leaves a leader open to charges of micromanaging. But understanding how something works is not only a leader's responsibility; it also makes him or her better able to let people do their jobs. If they don't have to explain the basics of what they need and why they need it every time they request more funds or different resources, then they are freer to pursue strategies beyond simply spending what they're given."


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". -Arthur C. Clarke

Don't abuse tech staff just because they know about technology. There is too much mythology behind those that can get things done. They work hard and love what they do, but they aren't magicians.

We need to move these conversations into conversations about change and not conversations about technology. Everything libraries do is about technology and what kind of service to roll-out is all tied together. It may put them on the cutting edge or the bleeding edge, it may put them on par with everyone else, or they can say it isn't right for them. The choice is made locally for that community. It shouldn't be implemented simply because someone else is doing it; it must be proven locally. Understanding the service to add or to change, knowing its impact on the library and staff, and understanding the return on investment are key pieces. A library needs to decide whether it is worth it to them.

Library Literacy Conference in Three Rivers

I attended the library's 9th annual literacy conference in beautiful Three Rivers, California. I had the honor of speaking to them before the event where I focused on the importance of their work in our economic recovery.

I referenced a recent Washington Post article that compares two rural communities and their broadband success. One was more successful than the other because their community was more affluent, the population had a higher education, and there was a workforce development program already there.


Rural Riddle: Do Jobs Follow Broadband Access?
Two Hamlets That Got High-Speed Lines Show Wildly Different Results
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203637.html

"And the education gap cannot be dismissed", said John Horrigan, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

"It's Economic Development 101 to try to improve the supply of infrastructure to make a locality more attractive for businesses, but you do need a skilled workforce to fully exploit that," Horrigan said. "In rural America, for broadband adoption, skills and relevance still remain a barrier."

Even further explained by this Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report on rural broadband access:

Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy FCC

"Stimulating and Sustaining Demand for Broadband. Various factors may affect demand for broadband services in rural areas, including a lack of knowledge regarding the benefits of Internet access, lack of training on how to use a computer, socioeconomic and demographic factors, and affordability. To help stimulate and sustain demand for broadband services in rural areas, both public and private entities should consider developing consumer education and training initiatives, broadband affordability programs, and other incentives to achieve sustainable penetration rates."


So the key to any economic recovery, even if the library were to receive a broadband grant, isn't just fast internet access, but a skilled workforce. Without the literacy program, any other efforts wouldn't be as productive.

Literacy Issues and Stopping Short

There were great insightful discussions at the conference. Some great topics were:

The lack of diversity among tutors.

In some cases, adult literacy has focused too much on English Acquisition for Spanish Speakers instead of just general literacy.

The literacy center can deter students that have basic skills, but still need improvement.

In many cases, there is a frustration that the student only goes so far. They get to a level that they want to get a job, but no further. It's the problem of good enough.

"Literacy will be useful for the rest of their lives. Not just enough to get a job, or get what you want, but you can enjoy reading, writing, and an informed mind. Too many stop short, how can we change that?"

The best story: A woman wanted to learn how to speak English. Her children could do it. It took months of tutoring and help. One day, she was paying for her groceries when the check-out girl was wondering about how to make a Mexican dish. The student was able to tell her how to do it in English. When she walked out of the store, her six year old son said "Mommy, I'm so proud of you."

There is more information on Literacy from a May 2009 report:
Basic Reading Skills and the Literacy of the America's Least Literate Adults

Literacy Leadership

There was a great open forum where tutors, students, and literacy leaders discussed issues. There are some fantastic comments about leadership and how to make changes in communities.

"Leaders are doers. You see a need and you do something about it. You don't complain, you don't wait for someone else, it's about making it happen."

Image by Newton Free Library via Flickr

What it takes to be a tutor

It doesn't take much knowledge to be a tutor. Many of the tutors remarked that they didn't feel they could help the program because they didn't have a college degree. In the end, if you know how to read, you can help someone else learn to read. It's that simple. It's not the skills to teach, you just need to be patient and willing to help.

Anyone can find a literacy program near them by going here. In California, volunteers can also find programs nearest them by going here.

Taking Chances, being present, and a review of the past year

I thought I would include a little something of everything in this post. It’s a little long, but it covers almost everything this year.

New Year's Resolution
My New Year's Resolution last year was to become a better cook. I have been a notoriously terrible cook. I used to even mess up pasta. I didn’t cook because I was afraid to cook. I wasn’t very good at it and I didn’t want to try. When I stopped being afraid to make mistakes and just did it, I could improve. It wasn’t the end of the world if it didn't come out right. Cooking is a good metaphor for life. In which I was reminded by this post from the Smitten Kitchen:


“Why We’re Afraid to Cook
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/why-were-afraid-to-cook-salad-olivier/#more-523

1. Our mother or mother-in-law cooks it better: Whether it is out of respect, deference or certainty that your version will pale, it seems that there are many of you who don’t even want to touch dishes that are others’ signatures.
   
   
2. The Food Police scared us: They’ve struck an absurd amount of fear into our hearts, now our panic over undercooked chicken and eggs or imperfectly canned food is so great, we cannot approach either calmly or rationally. (Don’t worry, I’ll get to all of these in time.)



3. It went really badly the last time (or times) we made it: So you’ve responded by keeping your distance. Had I not been actually forced by the deadline of the wedding and my desire to make a specific frosting for the wedding cake, I would have taken a year to get back to Swiss buttercream. At least.



4. We jinx ourselves: Failure is so often a self-fulfilling prophesy, wherein we are so certain something is going to go wrong, we indeed make some futzy errors. (This would be me, with phyllo, every single time.)



5. It’s hard to get our head around the steps: I admit, I feel more confident when I can remember a recipe without even looking back at it, because it is simple, or proceeds in logical steps. I always forget that I’m only expected to do one thing at a time.



6. There’s a very specific deal breaker: It requires pig’s blood, will stink up your apartment or serve 24 people. Kim Severson discussed these in a funny article in the New York Times last month, and she’s absolutely right. It only takes one word of some of these for me to flip the page and call out “next!”



7. We’re afraid of wasting an expensive ingredient: Many of you mentioned this in reference to large cuts of meat and good fish, where the price of making an error seems so steep, a flop is that much more of a risk. I totally get it as when I blow it on a pricey dish, I feel that much more awful about it.



8. Our skills aren’t where we wish they were: Recipes that require poached eggs, when you’re terrible at poaching eggs, just seem easier to skip. So can instructions that demand a fine brunoise or long, thin juliennes if you haven’t taken a semester of knife skills, or have a natural finesse in the area (or a really good mandoline, at least in the case of juliennes).
   

I can look at this list and apply it to anything I tried that was new this year. Fear of failure, jinxing yourself, or things going badly sometimes can freeze us from doing anything. Getting over those issues can get you moving forward and getting better. My family prefers my cooking to eating out now. I am even planning a special dinner for New Year's.

I also choose to be a better cook because I wanted to make better meals for my family. I also wanted something to help me focus on home when I was home. I tend to get too distracted with work with the many issues of the day. Cooking connected to my other resolution, to be present. The thoughts about work end up spilling into your head when it should be focused at home.

Art of Mindful Living
There was a book I listened to at the end of last year, The Art of Mindful Living, that taught me to focus more on the present instead of being somewhere else. It allows you to give people all of yourself. If you are focused at work when you should be focused at home, you might as well be there.

Compassionate emptiness
Another one I read the middle of this year that taught me a lot about management was It’s Not About the Coffee. The greatest thing I learned from it was Compassionate Emptiness. (from the book)
SNIP
“Compassionate emptiness: A buddhist teaching Compassionate emptiness involves listening with compassion, but without pre-conceived notions. Compassionate emptiness asks us to be caring, but empty of opinions and advice. When we stop and wait for the meaning and emotions to unfold, we hear a message. This is communication with heart. “
END SNIP

EBooks have made me a faster reader (or is it just the more accessible books are, the more you read?)

I tried the 1001 book challenge this year. Over 400 of those books can be found online for free from various legal sites. Before I began the challenge, I read a book or two a month. Once I began the challenge I was averaging about six books per month. I was able to do this with my Sony Reader downloading books from Manybooks.net, downloading books from my library’s Overdrive collection, and downloading audio books from my library’s overdrive collection. I find that after reading an e-book on my Sony Reader, that I can read a print book much faster. It’s probably because I have a more restricted screen and have to be a more disciplined reader for an e-book. In one year, I read 50 books. On average, I would be lucky to get through 10 in one year. I think it is more availability than anything else. If you have access to good books, you will read more.

My Writing in other places

I had several guest posts at a variety of blogs. I had a few over at Teleread, which helped me break the story about the Sony Reader working with Overdrive, http://www.teleread.org/blog/category/jeff-scott/ . One at Leadership Turn (http://www.leadershipturn.com/bad-leaders-avoid-the-stove/)
, a few at MCLC Tech Talk (http://mclctechtalk.wordpress.com/author/jdscott50/) , although not as many as I would have liked. That’s a great blog if you don’t know about it. I was also highlighted by Walt Crawford over at PLN Leadership Network (http://pln.palinet.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Jeff_Scott) , which was a great honor and thrill to be included.

The library’s accomplishments

Live with Overdrive
Went live with Overdrive services and created promotions for the service. We were allowed to join the Greater Phoenix Digital Library Consortium. As a result, we can provide 40,000 more titles to our patrons at very little cost. We joined in 2007, but didn’t go live with promotions until January.

We had an mp3 player giveaway contest. Those who asked about the service at the front desk were entered into a raffle for a free mp3 player. We ran the promotion for about six weeks. We saw an uptick in usage and a great deal of excitement over the promotion. We ran the winner's picture in the paper each week getting the player.

I also ran several YouTube tutorials to download audio books. Then the Sony Reader upgraded their firmware in July 2008, I also wrote a story how it works with Overdrive. It was featured on Teleread. Overdrive also provides mp3s to download for your Ipods and Zunes. There will also be a portable version of the media console that will work on a smart phone. This means that you don’t have to download an audiobook to your computer and transfer, you can download an audiobook or ebook straight to your phone!

Calendar System
We switched from Google Calendar to E-vanced solutions which resulted in more self-reservations. I no longer have to field email requests for the room and do them myself. Now, people fill out the form, send in the reservation, and I say yes or no. Staff members are more aware of upcoming programs; the public can see them as well and make reservations for what is available.

Virtual Reference
Started up a virtual reference and tutoring services by going with Tutor.com. I debated virtual reference for some time and realized that we may not have the staff time to dedicate to it. Out-sourcing this has helped greatly. The problem with out-sourcing virtual reference is that it isn’t local. Patrons will ask specific information, mostly about their accounts, and the person would be unable to help them. However, even if we went with an alternative model, which would have been a consortium, we would have non-local librarians answering reference as well. A few funny things I noticed about virtual reference. Most of the questions are coming from inside the library. Patrons using our Catalog computers that are three steps from the front desk will click on the Live Assistance Now! Button rather than walk to the desk. I have placed the button on the sidebar throughout the catalog and particularly on the drop pages. Polaris is a little tricky so I couldn’t put it in the middle of the screen. However, even on the sidebar, it gets clicked on fairly often. We get about two questions on the service per day.

Disc Cleaner
We purchased a Disc Cleaner. It’s amazing how people treat DVDs. Are they using them as Frisbees? How did they get dents in the DVD? Luckily, the RTI Eco Cleaner can handle just about anything. However, we are constantly cleaning everything, particularly kids DVDs. On a similar note, we are noticing that some discs aren’t damaged, but they will simply not play on certain DVD players. For example, I have a JVC DVD/Vide player. It can record DVDs. Since it can do this, I cannot play any DVDs that have a strong copyright protection on it. I can’t watch anything produced by Sony Pictures. I couldn’t watch The Pursuit of Happyness because of it. However, when I put the movie on my cheap DVD player we use for car trips, it plays just fine. I don’t know what we can do to solve this problem. I feel like I have to do something since we put out DVDs.

Vocera
Vocera is a voice activated badge in which you can call anyone in the library immediately. You simply press the button, say Call Jeff, and you are immediately connected. Our library is three floors and 16,000 square feet. As a result, we are often on the floor helping patrons and away from a phone. This allows instant communication if we need to find someone or if we need assistance. It is great for security and great for customer service.

The mini-renovation
It seems like we do one of these every other year. In order to improve our services, we move collections, computers, and services around to create a better experience and to make things easier for our patrons. This year, we had to solve two problems. We had all of our computers downstairs which resulted in certain patrons getting a little rowdy. We also had many requests from our public for a quieter library. To solve this, we decided to move all of our computers upstairs to the main floor and move our non-fiction collection downstairs. When all the dust settled we had computers that we can monitor and provide quicker assistance for patrons as well as create a quiet study area downstairs with all of our non-fiction materials. Furthermore, with all the computers upstairs, it made the whole library much quieter.

The rubber hits the road
Like many other libraries, we had a huge increase in usage. Since July 2008, we had a 30% increase in circulation, 20% increase in walk-in business, a 33% increase in Information Transactions, a 10% increase in computer usage.

It’s exciting to look back on the last year and have accomplished so much.

Management is easy, it's like having 50,000 bosses

I read three great articles about management yesterday. Two from Library Journal and one from the Sites and Soundbites blog. The general theme is the difficulty in being a manager and the difficulties caused by managers. Managers will cause a majority of a library's problems (or any organization) since the decisions they make influence everything. That's why my tag line is,

"An executive is a person who always decides; sometimes he decides correctly, but he always decides."

The inherent problem is when you make the wrong decisions or you make decisions based on your ego. Who does this benefit? How will I do it? Who are you thinking of when you are making a decision? Is it what the community wants, your staff wants, or something that you want? In the end, the average employee has one boss, but a good boss answers to 50,000 people.

I don't agree that it is an impossible job. In fact, it is a very rewarding job. You aren't gathering small accomplishments here. You can make a huge impact. It comes from stuffing your own ego and doing what everyone wants. Figuring what that is, gathering resources, and implementing is the tough part.

Do you know your community?

The pressure on the library director is knowing the community. Making a move, starting a program, speaking with community members, all, of which, are part of establishing that relationship. Most librarians are liberal. Many of the ideals of librarianship set forth by the American Library Association are liberal in nature.

Some of the problems with library directors in trouble stem from a lack of understanding in relation to a conservative base or a group that they may not understand or agree with. It may have nothing to do with the library director's viewpoint, but if concerns are not addressed, things tend to blow-up.

A few years ago Jo Ann Pinder was fired by the Gwinnet County Library Board. This drew a very heated discussion from the library world and from a conservative group that pushed her out. There is a great deal of detail here and here. She was fired without cause. Some would say she was unfairly fired, others would say that she didn't listen to a growing community group that criticized her direction.

Who is right here? It isn't for me to say. It makes me wonder as to whether some library directors look to serve the community or look to serve what they think is serving the community. If there is enough people to push through something like this, it begs that question.

Which brings me back to The Impossible Job post:

"The principle is valid. However, few administrators or the members of their governing authorities have the tolerance and flexibility needed to maintain the balance of power and still make the right policy and operating decisions. Few have learned how to navigate the troubled waters when administrators disagree with their bosses on the board. Yet I remember a strong director who was faced with board opposition to acquiring video formats because it competed with a local store wisely agreeing to acquire the library collection from that store. The discount in purchasing locally was a bit lower, but everyone was happy."

What is worth it?
We can also discuss the fotonovella controversy of the Denver Public Library. This actually prompted our own review and the major vendors also reviewed the content they made available for libraries. The Phoenix Public Library dealt with a very serious controversy regarding the library's filtering. Again, it forced us to review our policy. Is resistance to this need worth it? Is the complaint valid or unreasonable?

Library directors have their own set of feelings about how things should be. The question becomes is it worth it to resist this demand. Do you stand on principle or do you make the change because the community demands it? If you are not on the same page with the board or the public, then you are perceived to be out of touch. If you do nothing to address known concerns, it will only lead to a big blow-up.

It takes engagement whether it is the public or your own staff Slow Leadership: Why People Resist Change:

"If you would take the time — and be honest and sincere in your efforts — you could ask people for ideas and be assured they will come up with most of the solutions required for them to do their best, both for themselves and for the good of their team and organization. Asking employees improves their self-esteem, motivates them, and empowers them. They take ownership for finding solutions and making change. Asking communicates: “I value you as a person. Your opinion is important to me/us/the team/the organization.”

"I will bend like a reed in the wind."
OCLC talks about Environmental Scans and what the library needs to be doing in the community. We talk of strategic plans and ways to integrate the library in the community. The truth of the matter is that we need to provide the collections and services the public wants instead of what WE think it wants.

From Library Journal: Check Your Ego at the Door

"The ego, we concluded, can be a very damaging thing. Inflated. Overbearing. Egos create rules for rules’ sake. Egos complicate procedures and keep good people down. Egos squash good ideas and can take the best of an organization and turn it on itself."

It should be more of a discussion as to whether the staff is available to provide such a program. Once the personal opinion of a director thinking what he or she wants to do, rather than the community, problems occur. Why don't you do this? Why don't your provide that?

The reality is, every complaint, every concern must be addressed. It must be addressed in a way that demonstrates an understanding of the issue and a response or review, then follow-up. It shows that you care about everyone and when librarians talk about every reader his/her library, this is when that principle matters the most.

Why would you want to deal with all of that?

It isn't for everyone. Many librarians went into their field from other jobs. Their hope was to escape the politics that may be more prevalent in the private sector. If that is the case, they would hate management.

It's worth it if you want to make change on a larger scale. My library can make moves for the community's biggest needs. It is interesting on that type of programs we put out on a specific need and how many other organizations begin to put that out, or put it out at the same time. It demonstrates a need that is identified and where organizations can collaborate. If you are creative, like working with people, and have a high stress threshold, management is for you.

It isn't an impossible job. It is a job that requires delayed gratification. Working towards building a new library takes years. New programs, new services, building changes, technology changes, all take planning to develop, fund, and implement. Knowing where to get money, knowing where to re-allocate resources (including staff), and the ability to influence others and be influenced by all will lead to great success. I have been fortunate enough to be able to build one library, renovate another, and in a few years, build a new main library. It is an impact I can see that is much faster than average. It is that success that makes the job really wonderful.

Conference a go-go

I was reading Meredith Farkas' post about speaker fees and conferences Is This How We Encourage People to Contribute?
SNIP
It’s sad that someone who is talented and enthusiastic about contributing to the profession is getting a bucket of cold water thrown in his face. He has so much to offer the profession, and yet, he is being discouraged not only by his own library, but by the organization that is going to make money from his contribution. While I do understand not paying residents of the state to speak at a state conference, those people should at least be given the privilege of not having to pay for the pleasure of hearing themselves speak. Free registration on the day you’re speaking should be a given at any conference.
END SNIP

It seems to be a big issue with library bloggers as so many of them present and some of them are even keynote speakers. The argument is that if they are adding to the profession by presenting at a conference, why do they have to pay registration fees? Why do they have to pay at all if they are only going to present?

My argument is two-fold. First, most associations are so poor they can barely pay for the conference, let alone waive fees. If they didn't organize and find a way to pay for the conference, there would be no conference. You can argue about setting up unconferences, but even those need someone to organize a location, food, and resources.

Second, if the library has such an amazing person on their staff where they are being invited to speak, then the library should pay for it without argument. Libraries on average need to beef up their training budgets so that they can offer to pay conference fees, travel, and room and board. What does that say for the library if it cannot even honor its stars? Worse, what does it say for the profession if we cannot develop our own innovators?

The best libraries are the ones in which all of the staff have gone or had the option to go to conference. My library is a bit small, both on size and on training budget, but I am going to try to get more funding to pay for conferences. I will try first to pay for registration, then work up to travel, and then to lodging. I think I can establish it if I am creative enough. It is so essential that everyone have the ability to attend major national conferences. Many here go to the state conference, but national is a big deal. It is a way to feel connected and not so isolated. It is particularly necessary for a smaller rural library to do that as we are the most susceptible to isolation.

Leadership vs. Management

I have been following the seven part series on Leadership Turn that discusses the difference between a leader and a manager. Most of this dialogue is taken from the book Learning to Lead and other books by Warren Bennis. The thing that bothers me about this discussion is the comparison with a manager. Why make this comparison? A manager is not a leader by default, but it is easy to make that assumption. (The point of the article IS to make that distinction, but I think it furthers that mythology of manager as leader or hopes to have the manager think like a leader.)

Anyone can be a leader; a manager is a job description. Often there is discussion on who is a leader? What is a leader? The reality is, anyone can be a leader. A leader must simply influence others to do something. If you write something and someone is influenced to do something, then you are a leader. If you give a presentation or talk, and it influenced someone to do something, you are a leader. Many librarian bloggers are leaders because they inspire others to do things, to try things, to change their thinking and make things better. Why do we get so stuck in combining management and leadership? Another wrinkle is when a manager does act as a leader. They attempt to create an innovative environment. This has its problems. The words of a manager are taken seriously, sometimes too seriously, and the cry to innovate or to be innovative becomes an order instead of something that is inspired. In management, if you tell someone to do something, they may not be inspired to do that thing.

However, if a manager is a leader, they can influence and inspire someone to do better. The problem lies with manager as bossman telling you what to do, rather than manager as leader stating, "I believe in what you are doing". If you have a vision to make things constantly better, others should do it without asking. They should think of those solutions on their own. If they are truly free to make decisions, then they lead the way. You just follow (as the quote goes, "As for the best leader, the people do not notice their existence. To lead people, walk behind them" --Lao Tzu) In the end, if you have a truly innovative environment where people come up with change on their own, then all you have to do is give them extra money when they need it, and negotiate resources when it goes beyond their ability or scope.

Billy Pilgrim could not sleep on his daughter's wedding night or an undoing of sorts

Some things cannot be undone, but it is feels good to imagine that they could. I was listening to Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It had been some time since I read the book. I recently downloaded the book from Overdrive.

While I was listening, I hadn't realized that the sequence of the book had been altered. The audiobook is divided into six one-hour parts. As I listened, I actually heard part six instead of part three. It is a coincidence that this happened, since the book itself is snippets of the main character, Billy Pilgrim, slipping back and forth through different times of his life. He becomes "unstuck in time." Time interpreted in the book is one in which we are all stuck, like flies in amber. By listening to the book out of order, it was like becoming unstuck.

It becomes important because in the "middle" of the book there is commentary by the author with a war buddy, much in the same light as the author in the book discussing Billy Pilgrim. More importantly, there was a song on the audiobook. I could not find this song anywhere, but it seemed to enchant me. It speaks to me at a time in my life when I need to hear the idea of undoing something. The reference specifically is one of war. But, the general theme is that instead of destroying something, or having something destroyed, something becomes restored. I am posting the song with this famous quote from Slaughterhouse Five.

Updated, embed not working for song, try here

The text his here:
Billy Pilgrim could not sleep on his daughter's wedding night. He was 44. The wedding had taken place that afternoon in a gaily striped tent in Billy's backyard. The stripes were orange and black. Billy padded downstairs on his blue and ivory feet. He went into the kitchen where the moonlight called his attention to a half-bottle of champagne on the kitchen table all that was left from the reception in the tent. Somebody had stoppered it again. "Drink me" it seemed to say. So billy uncorked it with his thumbs. Didn't make a pop, the champagne was dead. So it goes.

He went into the living swinging the bottle like a dinner bell.

He became slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this :

American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.

The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed."
END

Most people refer to this passage as one of Vonnegut's best. It conveys an apt anti-war message and is one of the best examples of Vonnegut's style, and humor used to convey a very important message.

It affected me differently this time. I related to it not as anti-war, but as the undoing of things. Better, a restoration of things that have happened. In war, you cannot take back bullets or restore lives. In life, you cannot change what has happened. Sometimes things don't work out the way they should. Sometimes things go off track and you wonder how that happened and wish it could be undone. It cannot be. However, to read this passage is a reminder of what can and cannot be restored.

Conversational Leadership, Poor Library Leadership, and What I Learned from Cesar Chavez and Carl Hayden

I recently attended one of the PLA trainings for the Certified Public Library Administrator certificate in Phoenix last week. We talked about strategic planning and building advocacy for libraries. The program was presented by George Needham and James Peak. It was a great discussion over the role of libraries today and how libraries need to change. More librarians need to take leadership roles in their communities. However, too many are reluctant and others don't seem to approach their advocacy efforts in the most effective means. This past week I listened to two great podcasts on leadership, one from Uncontrolled Vocabulary and the other from the infopeople podcasts, both of which were discussing the same issue on leadership. There is either a distinct lack of leadership or bad leadership and there are others afraid to take chances and lead their organization.

The Infopeople Podcast with George Needham and Joan Frye Williams discussed library leadership. Near the end of the podcast they discussed a training in which librarians agreed to change the way they do things and begin to lead. They talked about how they weren't going to be afraid to try new things. George when on to say that it is good to fall on your keister. However, no one wants to do that publicly (for example, you don't want to see your doctor do that.) One of the funniest parts of the discussion talked about how many librarians are "A" students in school, but that mindset leads to a perfection mindset. If a project or plan isn't perfect, it doesn't go forth. I was certainly not an "A" student in school and I don't mind making mistakes. I know that I cannot be perfect, so I don't try to be. What is better is to aim for something that is really good and be open to feedback and criticism. That way, a really good idea can come to fruition, but then I can adjust it to make it better. If I roll something out and declare its perfection, I won't be very receptive to making it better.

There have been many demonstrations of poor library leadership in the last few weeks. A lock-out in Victoria indicates that the library board doesn't care about the library. The demotion of several librarians to save money. The nepotism at many library systems where head librarians are being replaced by people close to the Mayor with no library experience. A Boston Public Library director is forced out and the mayor wants the library to submit all invoices to the city instead of providing a lump sum (essentially taking over the trust for the Boston Public Library).

All these moves were recently lamented by John Berry and Kathleen De la Cook the fact that libraries are changing into faceless community centers and by promoting automation and self-service we are losing our support base. Kathleen compared it to art and education and how it has been decimated in much the same way. She even laments this in her own library system.

The scary trends are the precise reason why librarians need to get involved in their communities (This isn't to suggest they aren't, but these are lessons to be learned.) We cannot just sit around and take what happens to us. We need to be proactive to our key community members and demonstrate library ubiquity. It takes a conversation with people one at a time. When I ran through my strategic plan, I was able to identify the key movers and shakers in the community and then demonstrate how the library can serve each of them. That continuous proactive conversation is key to sustain advocacy.

Reading about great leaders we can learn how, through overwhelming odds, people were able to succeed. These people saw a problem and moved to solve it. In one case, Cesar Chavez saw people taken advantage of and decided to do something about it. In another, Carl Hayden realized the problem in Arizona is lack of water and helped build the greatest water diversion project in the history of this country.

Leadership is very simple. It really just involves talking to people to get them motivated for a common cause. Once asked how he gathered so much support for his cause, Cesar Chavez said "I talk to one person, then I talk to another." The student asked again, "no really, how do you do it." To which the reply, "I talk to one person then I talk to another." Gaining library advocacy or getting a project going is the same. When it comes to leadership, people who lead don't have to be in any type of administrative role. They can get people motivated for a cause by persuasion. One doesn't need to be in administration to make that change if you talk to enough people. An open compelling conversation can be enough.

On the other end, conversation can also help diffuse a situation. You can never ignore something. If you don't talk about it or confront it, it will come back to haunt you. I picked up this little tip from Carl Hayden (This is from the book by Stephen Shaddegg: Arizona Politics: The struggle to end one party rule.) He was running for re-election in 1952, Stephen Shadegg was his campaign manager. He had two democratic contenders. They both did not have a chance to beat Hayden as he had been the Senator from Arizona for many years. (He would be the longest serving senator to ever serve, but Strom Thurmond broke that record.) Shadegg sent him on trips to keep him away from his two rivals, thinking that is what he wanted. However, without his knowledge, the Senator met with both gentleman much to the surprise of Shadegg. The reason:

"Never give your enemies any more reason than they already have to go on hating you."

People often get riled up for no reason and a conversation, often face to face, is the best one to have. It lets people know that you are human and sincere. Many people fall into this trap in their communities and online. If people knew more about you and who you are, they are less likely to be your enemy. In fact, the more they talk to you, the more the two of you will see eye to eye. It diffuses problems, but in a proactive setting, avoids them altogether.

I liked this article from PLN (you will need to register to read it), here is the snippet:
Citizens, engage! Jamie LaRue Speaks
SNIP

But civic engagement means more than politics and voting. It means taking actions, together, that result in a community worth living in, in which many can and do thrive.

That engagement will involve, on occasion, some conflict. There are competing visions of the future, and sometimes they have to be argued out.

The point, however, is not conflict. It is, finally, about cooperation, about processes of analysis and action to effect useful change.

What kind of community do you want to live in? And what will it take to craft that community, together? Isn't it time that you joined the conversation?

END SNIP

I am not trying to improve my library, but the community through the library. When workforce development came up as a community need, I needed to find out who to talk to and set up meetings with them. It takes persistence to the right people and get their attention. In the Infopeople Podcast, Joan Frye Williams stated that leadership is the ability to galvanize people into a group. This is what I was able to do when I spoke with the local college, the chamber of commerce, the Department of Economic Security. They are all moving in the direction of doing something, but not coordinating with each other. All I did was speak to each of them, see what they were doing, and then talk to the other groups. They had no idea what the other was doing.

The same thing happened when I tackled adult literacy. I spoke with local businesses regarding problems with their employees and they each knew others I could speak to in order to tackle this problem. Over time, I became the contact person for both literacy and workforce development because I formed the groups and made the contact. Now I know who to contact to move to make things happen. I don't have to talk about libraries, I talk about the community need. This is the key way we advocate, by talking to our community members and creating a library that fits the need of the community. The more we do this, the less people will see libraries as just books, but as a service that can do virtually anything. Once that is accomplished, libraries will be valued and insulated from some of the things that are happening around the nation.

Re-Imagine!

A few weeks back I finished a book by Tom Peters called Re-Imagine! Business in a Disruptive Age. I purchased the book from Goodwill and it was from 2003, but the book was all too relevant today. It is even more relevant for libraries.

Innovate to success, then stay there!
One thing that struck me was a part about business innovation. Businesses that have been around a long time cease to be innovative. In fact, they become defensive of what they currently have. There is no reason for them to change. They are financially solvent, they have a successful business model, and any change is risk. We can look at some of the businesses we all know today, are they innovative? Are they willing to destroy what they have to create a new model, to be innovative? Of course not, it isn't worth the risk.

Tear it down or "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
A business with a long life span is no different than a government agency. Government, of course, has been around much longer and changing the way they do business isn't likely to happen. Libraries, on the other hand, are probably on the most innovative edge of most municipalities. They don't exist to wherehouse books, but to solve society's problems. Furthermore, strategic planning is a key piece of that innovation. However, once one is set up, will administration be able to tear it back down and start all over again? These thoughts came to me as I was reading Reimagine! Some quotes:

..in turbulent times bosses...earn their keep by blowing things up and inventing a new way...not merely making better the old way (p. 32)

Failure typically means that someone has stretched beyond the comfort zone and screwed it up and learned something along the way (p. 27)

The secret to success is failure, fast success secret is fast failure, big success is big failure (p. 27)

Building the resource
When I first became the city librarian, the first thing I did was to create a strategic plan. It worked wonderfully. It engaged the community, brought attention to the library, and ended up with some very good print about how we don't do business as usual. The plan was implemented and we have had huge success. Now we are at the tail end of it with the major initiatives accomplished. We have done everything from establishing an adult literacy tutoring program (including a bookmobile service), to becoming a "third place" for teens, to developing cultural diversity programs and space for Spanish speakers, and now developing a workforce development piece. After this year, we will have accomplished what we set out to do. The result of that work is a 30% increase in circulation, a 50% increase in walk-in business, a 67% increase in technology usage, and 90% of our community owning a library card. The results from the strategic plan resulted in success overall.

Getting comfortable OR my way or the highway
However, there is a fear. There is a fear that once I get to the end of this, I will get comfortable. I will become like many of these businesses and say "this all works, I am not going to change a thing!" By next year, I will need a new plan. Will the public feel the same way about what we are doing? Will that change and result in dismantling what I have built? Will I be able to do it? Those are tough questions for me. I think that I would be able to do it. Realistically, the community needs aren't going to change any time soon. We still have workforce development needs; there needs to be more for teens to do. There will still be a need for people to learn English, but what if the community doesn't want us to do this anylonger? Will I still be able to put what I have done aside to allow the process to continue or will I believe that I know best? I believe that trying to do what's best for the community will lead to the right path. There is a great deal more change coming for our library. Can I continue to do the right thing or will I get set in my ways? Only time will tell.

How healthy is your organization? | Information Wants To Be Free

There is a great post by Meredith Farkas about healthy workplaces. This, in part, was inspired by a recent post over at Library Garden about why people leave?

There are several categories in the Library Garden post that discuss why people leave their jobs:

Pay-

Vacation and/or Holidays-

Hours and/or Nights-

Professional Investment-
Advancement-

To which I commented:
Pay
The system should be performing an annual compensation and classification study. This will ensure that pay is equitable. If you are not doing that, you can't complain that people are leaving for better pay. I had someone leave from a part-time to a full time in another county. That one is tough because it wasn't in the comp and class realm, but most of the people who work for me get the same pay as any other library in Arizona. Librarians make 41K same as Chandler, Arizona, Mariciopa County, etc.

Hours
This is a common complaint and the burden of nights and weekends should be shared. How can one say one should do more than another? In some systems, everybody wants to work a night or a weekend and it works better for everyone. If one is unfairly taxed, that is a reason to leave, but if you do it along with everyone else, there is not much to say about that. If everyone is committing equally and there are problems, it may need a review of hours of operation.

Professional investment
Every library should have a training budget. It should allow as many library staff as possible to go to training, explore their interests, and pay for their trips to conferences etc. Most libraries can only afford to send a few people, and then only higher up, if it can be opened up to everyone, the results are interesting.

Advancement
This one is the toughest. Most libraries are fairly flat institutions. They allow pay increases and there is some room for advancement, but not substatial. This has been an issue for me in the last three months. I lost a library assistant to a bigger system with more pay, I lost a librarian to become a library director in a neighboring town, and a I lost a senior library assistant who became a youth librarian in another neighboring city. There is no room for advancement at my small one library system. The only choice is to go to neighboring communities. It will change, but slowly. In the meantime, I will bleed because of it.


Meredith poses several questions from the book First, Break All the Rules. She repeats 12 questions from the book. I replied to them in her comments and am re-posting it here:

“1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

Yes because we issue job duties not job descriptions. It breaks all duties down and details percentage of time. There is flexibility, but it provides the general idea.

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

I always leave extra cash in the budget plus I ask staff what they need around budget time. I also have a Friends wish list that staff contribute to.

3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

Job positions are not static. One person cannot do the same as another and it is better to mold that position towards the person’s desire. If they like providing programming instead of cataloging, I would configure it as much as I can to make it work. Sometimes there is flexibility, sometimes not.

4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?

I always do a manager walk around and complement staff on a job well done. I need to do more of that. Previously, I provided an employee of the month program so that staff would be recognized for good work and what they did that was so good. It has taken a brief hiatus. I will find an alternative.

5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

Personal time is very important to me. If someone is going through something personally, they won’t be very happy at their jobs. It is better to extend as much leeway as possible so that they can resolve an issue. I once had a staff member needing to take three weeks off in a few days to go see their dying mother. I let them take it and use it as sick time. This was a total violation of policy, but the person was able to get there before their mother died. A few days later, she wouldn’t have made it.

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

I hope I provide enough encouragement for training and professional development. It is difficult because most of the training is in the valley, a 30 mile drive, so many are reluctant to go on their own. I put out a training program so that they can request any training they want and attend any conferences they want regardless of their status.

7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
Meetings are usually feedback meetings. What is going on and what do we need to do about it? Do we need to adjust anything. Front line staff opinion is critical. If they aren’t providing honest feedback, I can’t make good decisions.

8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?

My library has a strategic plan and each staff members role is molded around providing active parts of the plan or support parts. I came up with a graph that represents each staff members role and displayed it.

9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

This wasn’t always the case, but with some training and some people leaving, everyone works more as a team.

10. Do I have a best friend at work?

I think that is established through after work programs. Some staff members set-up bowling after work or other events. Outside of work events help with this.

11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?

Everybody gets a review from their supervisor. However, it is important that there is a constant discussion about expectations and mission. If you are just doing a review every six months, you may be missing the day to day stuff. It also minimizes surprises at the review bad or good. No one should be surprised if I think they are doing a good job.

12. At work, have I had the opportunities to learn and grow?”

This goes back to providing training opportunities both inside and outside of work. The library provides regular training and elective training. Staff are allowed to attend conferences and programs. Most of them can only go in state right now. Some can go to national conferences. It is tough to afford anything out of state.

Finally, I will point something I read on Tom Peters blog about morale:

Top 50 Have yous?
SNIP
Have you thanked a front-line employee for a small act of helpfulness ... in the last three days?
Have you thanked a front-line employee for a small act of helpfulness ... in the last three hours?
Have you thanked a frontline employee for carrying around a great attitude ... today?
END SNIP

I would say the solution to all of these posts are the simple words thank you. I am surprised that in other organizations, people get so gaga over thank you. It shouldn't be this way. people should know they are doing a good job. There is a great point over at Slow Leadership about this issue:

SNIP

Gratitude isn’t just a pleasant trait, it’s also a very powerful one.

Thanking others and recognizing how much we all depend on support and co-operation makes it far more likely that help will be there when you need it. Those who help others most freely are most likely to be helped in their turn—provided that gratitude as recognized for what it is: a major constituent in the glue that holds together groups of all sizes, from a few friends to society as a whole.

END SNIP

I would say if you want to improve morale, the best thing to do is to say thank you. It is a rare commodity these days.

You can learn about mentoring and management from Harry Potter and G.I. Joe

I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There may be some spoilers in this post. It is not about the plot, but about several lines at the end of the book between two characters. It mentions a great deal about power and responsibility. There are some great lines about leadership and responsibility in the book.

“I had proven, as a very young man, that power was my weakness and my temptation. It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”

People know the right thing to do, but being in a position to make the right decision and knowing that right thing is difficult.

“I was fit to own the Elder Wand, and not to boast of it, and not to kill with it. I was permitted to tame and to use it, because I took it, not for gain, but to save others from it.”

A desire to run things to prevent others from doing harm. Save others from bad managers and bad situations.

“You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.”

There are far worse things than trying something new and failing.

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed, fewer families are torn apart. If that seems to you a worthy goal, then we say good-bye for the present.”

Create a work environment so that people are excited about their jobs. Most jobs are drudgery. If you can create an environment so that people love what they do, that will have untold benefits.

In mentoring future leaders, one must identify several different traits. Sometimes management is bad for someone. This is particularly true for libraries. Most of the time, librarians went into their field to work with books, people, and technology. As I have said before, management is a different career field. Intimate knowledge of a particular library function is useful, but it can also mar your perspective when going into management. This ends up as a display of favoritism as well. I remember an episode of G.I. Joe where the commander left the base on a mission. He didn't place anyone in charge, but three people were in authority. Cobra, the enemy, played on this and attacked. It resulted in a counter-attack that was uncoordinated because the three people could not work together. In the end, the commander returns and Cobra is defeated. There is a speech in the end in which he identifies three different types of people that are unsuitable for management; there are three categories:

1. Those who have the ability, but not the desire
They love their jobs. They are great at their jobs. They could move up easily. They don't want to. This happens often in the library profession due to the second job factor. Many librarians are getting into the field from other jobs. Jobs in which they had to deal with bureaucracy, politics, and getting the dollar for the company versus getting the help for the customer. Of course, library's have their fair share of politics and problems, but people don't necessarily have to deal with them if they are not in a management position. They can continue to do the job they love first hand. They don't have to deal with immature employees, turning straw into gold, dealing with unrealistic public expectations, or making decisions that will affect the future of the library. They can be librarians instead of managers.

2. Those who have the desire, but not the ability
This one is tough. These also have the potential to be the worst managers. Often, if you have a bad experience with a manager, it may be one of these people. They often politic more than they produce. They can be very selfish in their decision-making and are recalcitrant to changing their decisions. They read too much into leadership books that say you must make the tough decision and stick to it. They won't turn the car, even with the cliff approaching because the map said it wasn't there. They don't like to be mentored, and sometimes feel they have nothing more to learn. These are tough ones to turn around. These are the ones in which I feel like the Catcher in the Rye.

3. Those who don't have the desire, nor the ability
They want to be librarians. They love the library field. They may not be the best in dealing with people, or only want to deal with people they like. They don't like management or managers. They may even feel like management are shysters.

This may be a silly exercise, but I am always surprised how much one can learn from teaching children life lessons. I think if we followed more of what we learned as children, we might become better people.