Posts tagged ‘Uncategorized’
I’ve been George Needham’d (literally)
But I wasn’t the only one… Yesterday was MPOW‘s annual Spring Membership meeting (20th anniversary to boot), and we were delighted and honored to have OCLC VP for Member Services George Needham on hand to discuss OCLC’s must-read “Perceptions” report. I know it’s been out for awhile but if you haven’t read it yet, go read it. Or re-read it. Or read the 8 page conclusion. Or the respondent’s advice to libraries.
George’s talk was wonderful. Warm, reassuring and hopeful, while still being provocative and challenging. Here are some highlights:
- “It is not the customer’s job to understand us, it is our job to understand the customer.” (paraphrased from a comment made to OCLC Prez Jay Jordan, “It is not our job to understand OCLC, it is OCLC’s job to understand us.”
- “Convenience will always trump quality (so it is our job to make quality convenient.)”
- George summarized the points of Jennifer Rice, Omar Wasow, Antony Brewerton and Patricia Martin who spoke at OCLC’s mid-winter “Extreme Makever” symposium in San Antonio. The webcast and mp3s are available at: www.oclc.org/community. Of particular relevance to our audience was George quoting Jennifer Rice (Mantra Brand Consulting–great blog!) on the importance of libraries letting customers get a library card online. You can hear just that snippet of Jennifer’s talk here:(direct link or press the blue arrow.) This was particularly significant because we’re piloting a Get a Library Card Online project – aka GALCO– in New Jersey!
- What do customers tell us they want? More books, more copies, no fines, longer hours, more computers, friendlier staff, cleaner, better-lit, uncluttered facilities.
- George quoted Joan Frye Williams’ point that self-service isn’t synonymous with “no service” and would better be thought of as “self-directed” service. YES!!
Thanks Mr. Needham. Indeed, it was all good.
Carnival of the Infosciences is in Da Garden!
The carnival tent has been hoisted and is firmly staked in our lovely Library Garden awaiting for an amazing week. We have set up a ferris wheel for your those of you who feel the need to escape for just a little while and watch the world go by from up on high. Let us know what is going on in the biblioblogophere and join in the fun.
Please send your submissions to janieh [at] gmail dot com for edition #38 of the Carnival of the Infosciences .
Props to Pete!
I have just heard a cult classic in the making — Pete Bromberg’s Library Bootcamp Blues. Clever, catchy and certainly good for a few smiles. My favorite verse almost goes without saying 😉
Gettin’ Blogger cred for my service creed
I got Library Garden and plenty of seed
My post’s been hosted, my feeds been fed,
Got something to say that ain’t been said
DOPA is just Dopey
Web 2.0 is being targeted by Congress with legislation that is known as DOPA — the Deleting Online Predators Act. If DOPA gets passed it would ban students from accessing online communities from school or library computers because they receive federal funding. To me it seemed liked CIPA 2.o at first glance, then I did some more reading and realized it could be far more damaging than CIPA and that DOPA is far more insidious.
Andy Carvin posted about DOPA at learning.now yesterday and the ensuing discussion is fantastic and thought-provoking. Andy followed up with a brief blog entry today in which he states:
… what about all the educators and students who’ve used commercial tools like Flickr or Blogger? Have the nascent days of Web 2.0 been nipped in the bud as far as schools and libraries are concerned? Will the promise of online constructivist learning be wiped out with the swish of a presidential pen?
I certainly hope not Andy, but I fear that too many of our lawmakers may not yet have their ticket for the cluetrain. I see a long battle looming in our future.
Congrats to Robert Lackie
Just a quick congrats to Library Garden blogger Robert Lackie on receiving the 2006 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship. The award is given annually to honor an individual for contributing significantly to the public recognition and appreciation of librarianship through professional performance, teaching, and/or writing.
Robert Lackie is being recognized for his contributions in promoting the library profession in the academic, public, and school library sectors through his extensive teachings, writings, and professional service. Described by Vibiana Bowman, Rutgers University, as an “an indefatigable ambassador for librarianship,” Lackie is quite well-known among library and educational professionals in the mid-Atlantic region as a dynamic and enthusiastic teacher, educator, and speaker; he has taught a legendary number of courses ranging from basic library instruction sessions and professional development training programs to graduate library science courses at Rutgers University.
If you’re lucky enough to know Robert, or to have worked with him in any capacity, this award certainly comes as no surprise. His generosity, energy, caring, and commitment know no bounds. So congratulations Robert! For my money, this recognition couldn’t have gone to a more worthy librarian. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to work with you, hopeful that we will work together again in the future, and proud to be your friend.
Interesting New Library Marketing Blog–for the Garden State and Beyond!
I am always on the lookout for new, interesting articles and blogs that might be of interest to librarians in NJ, particularly, and of course, to all of us in the library field, in general. Well, the new blog by Nancy Dowd of the New Jersey State Library is one of them! As the Outreach and Marketing Specialist there, she has recently introduced a new blog called “The M Word”, which in the spirit of the NJ State Library’s “ongoing commitment to help NJ libraries better tell their story to the public, policy makers, and the press,” has provided another avenue for us to easily connect to interesting materials, articles, and ideas related to the marketing of libraries. So, if you are thinking about how you can better market your library’s services and resources, in addition to reading our “Library Garden” posts, such as Peter Bromberg’s current “Tips” blogs, I would recommend taking a look at “The M Word” when you get a moment–she is especially interested in librarians sharing “ideas, thoughts, and support to marketing problems.” The URL for her blog is http://themwordblog.blogspot.com/ . I especially liked her blogs about GE’s use of MySpace (I am so into social networking sites now and promise to post more on these soon!) recently because of its great “word of mouth advertising platform.” Companies, and now libraries, are beginning to use different media to communicate with everyone, beyond the print and regular media outlets, and think that we, as librarians, can jump onto that bandwagon, too, as Nancy suggests, to get the word out about our libraries. Nice job, Nancy!
Leslie Burger is "Oh So 2.0"
I spent some time with Leslie this morning getting her flickr account personalized and organized. This photo is from her recent tour of New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast. She will be uploading many more pictures in the near future and plans to share her travels and adventures as President-elect/President of ALA not only only on her blog but also on her flickr account. How cool is that?
Pssst: Insider Info on Blogger Bash @ ALA Annual
Breaking News: Library Garden has “the scoop” from a reliable source!
ALA President-Elect Leslie Burger will host a gathering for bloggers in her suite at the Hilton on Saturday June 24th after the Scholarship Bash (starting around 10:30 pm and going until midnight). It will be an informal event, great for networking, unwinding and catching up with bibliobloggers both old and new. So why not plan to take in Mary Chapin Carpenter at the official Bash and then head over to the Hilton for the after-bash blogger bash.
More details to be forthcoming, just be sure to mark your calendars. Please rsvp by leaving a comment here on Library Garden if you plan on attending so everyone can see who will be there — and to make sure you get final details (aka precise location) when they are available drop me an email: jhermann at princetonlibrary dot org. Spread the word!
Oh, and if you are wondering how Library Garden got this breaking news… check my blogger profile and you might notice that I have “connections” to LB… and she is my reliable source. I just finished meeting with her and she has asked me to promote and coordinate.
Having a bad day? Trait vs. State
I recently presented a workshop on “Conflict Resolution” at the NJ Library Association conference and I have been thinking more about the idea of “state vs. trait” and the importance of being aware of how we interpret the behavior of others in library service encounters. Our judgments often depend on how well we know the other person.
If someone we know (and like or love) is rude or cold to us on any given day, we are likely to think “He’s just having a bad day,” or “Something must be wrong with her today.” In other words, we think that our friend is temporarily upset, in a bad mood, or in a bad state. We are able to give that person the benefit of the doubt and may even excuse their somewhat nasty behavior because we know that this is not their usual personality. Our first reaction is to become concerned and to ask “what’s wrong?” or “what’s going on with you today?”
If, however, we don’t know someone at all (as is the case for most library service encounters) and this person is rude or cold to us, we are much more likely to think “What an awful person” or “What’s their problem?” or even “What an expletive deleted!” We think that the person has a bad trait. We are unable to excuse their bad behavior since we assume that they are always like that. Our first reaction is to be offended. We may not be able to resist the urge to snap back with a tart retort and then conflict ensues.
For service excellence in libraries, if we are able to think of the grumpy, stressed, or otherwise annoying people we encounter as nice people possibly having a bad day or being temporarily stressed out, this would enable us to be more sympathetic. We could then perhaps respond by asking “What’s wrong?” or “Can I help you, you seem upset today?” We could openly acknowledge that they seem stressed or upset, that we understand that they are a bit fragile today, and they may be in need of a little bit of TLC. If we can see argumentative or grouchy people as being in a bad state rather than having a nasty trait, and if we react to them in a more caring way, many potential conflicts can be averted or defused.
On the days when I am stressed or rushed or hungry and tired while running a bunch of errands, I would just love it if those I encounter at service desks could understand that I am usually quite lovable and kind. Yes, I am a bit grumpy and fragile today, but I am having a really bad day.
Just one.
More NJLA Redux: Fantastic LGBTI Roundtable program!
So, this is the first time you’re hearing from me — I feel like I’ve been lurking too much and posting too little (actually not at all!)… But even several days after attending the Documenting their lives: LGBTIQ Identities program at NJLA on Tuesday, I find myself still thinking about it. The roundtable has put together some pretty amazing programs in the past — including others at this year’s conference, but the Identities program hit close to home for me, or at least down the street in Newark. The bulk of the program included a preview/trailer of The Sakia Gunn Film Project, a documentary that is currently in process and a discussion with the film’s creator, Chas Brack. For those of you who don’t know the story of Sakia Gunn, she was a 15 year-old black lesbian living in Newark — after leaving a club early on Mother’s Day in 2003, Sakia was stabbed in the chest by a man who had made a pass at her. Sakia and her friends had made it clear to the man that they were lesbians, and it is very clear that this was a hate crime, but Sakia’s death got very little media attention — and what attention the incident did garner did not make explicit the circumstances of the murder. Mr. Brack’s film (due out by early 2007) seems to be a tribute to Sakia, but it’s also a wake-up call to the rest of us. Sakia was poor, she was black and she was gay — and I see teens like her everyday. I can’t WAIT for this film to be finished so that I can (hopefully) have a showing at my library here in Elizabeth.
The discussion following the trailer was extremely interesting as well — there was a teacher from Newark Public High School in attendance and she shed some light on some of the aftermath of what had happened to Sakia. Program moderator, Laura Baldwin, also offered some further information — comparing media coverage of the Matthew Shepard murder to that of Sakia’s. [One researcher reported that in the two months following the murder of Shepard — a white, middle-class teen living in a rural area — reports of the crime showed up in over 500 major news outlets. In the two months following Sakia’s murder, only a handful (11 if I remember correctly) major news media outlets covered the story. And our own ABC affiliaten reported the murder and showed Sakia’s photo, but did not mention that this was a hate crime — or “bias crime” as it was ruled when Sakia’s murderer stood trial.]
So, what does all of this have to do with libraries? Well, first off, the big question is: are we serving our LGBTI populations? And on top of that, are we reaching out to LGBTI teens? AND, if we’re in an urban setting, are we being sensitive to the LGBTI patrons of color? As a community center, and usually a safe haven, are we doing enough to educate our patrons? Help them get the information they need?
The remainder of the NJLA presentation was a sampling of another documentary — one that was touching and funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. It’s called No Dumb Questions and it follows a family (mom, dad and three young daughters) as they discuss how transgendered Uncle Bill is becoming Aunt Barbara. It’s a GREAT video and I think a great addition to library AV collections.
The LGBTI roundtable provided a bunch of great handouts at this program — and from what I understand, they will soon be posted to the NJLA website[www.njla.org], so I urge you to take a look. Many of the resources provided would aid in both collection development and just in a better understanding of the LGBTI community.
Library Garden 