From Pamela Thompson, Director, Mason County Library System (WV):

As I attended the Project Compass workshop, I had mixed feelings about what our small library system could do in helping unemployed and small business entrepreneurship. With limited budgets I thought we were doing all we could to help our community. Unemployment rate is high in our county. After a half day in the Project Compass workshop I was wondering why we haven’t done more!! The ideas I brought back to Mason County were affordable and helpful to our community. I have already implemented various ideas at the libraries. I also realized that we are not alone in this “Not enough funding, what more can we do.” As I participated and listened to all the people we met, I realized that we all in rural libraries face the same problems, whether it be West Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Arizona, or wherever a rural library is located. By the time the day was over, I was more excited about returning to work to start sharing ideas and implementing programs in our system. After talking to the other WV libraries in our group, they felt the same way.

On returning to Mason County, I immediately came up with a game plan and talked to staff about what we intended to accomplish. In a week’s time we have two libraries with couponing stations, a couponing group in two libraries. Also will be attending County and Town meetings more often, allowing patrons to fax resumes free of charge, allowing patrons to print resumes free of charge and we will be starting a Computers 101 class twice a month at each library to help patrons get an email address, learn how to print resumes, or whatever the need is.

Thank you for the scholarship to allow us to attend an awesome workshop!!

From Hope Wilson, Fremont Public Library (IN):

The pre-conference workshop was inspiring and refreshingly well-organized. I had visited the Project Compass website before attending (before I was even aware of the conference) and had downloaded the Project Compass workbook for myself and the other two librarians on staff. The workbook is so resourceful that it can be a bit overwhelming. We were unsure as to where, when, how to begin.

Attending the workshop gave me the big picture.  I now see that the resources are there when/if needed; for example, I don’t have to visit all the links in the manual before proceeding, because proceeding today is the important thing. I was able to return to my library and put some small things in practice immediately. Now, we offer free resume faxes and have purchased a new bulletin board just for local entrepreneurs. We can revisit the resources as we progress.

This workshop came at a great time for me as an administrator. We just added an online, self-paced computer training program and are asking the staff to improve their computer skills. Project Compass reiterated the need for them, as employees, to keep enhancing their own job skills.

I appreciated the positive, encouraging approach of the PC workshop. During my brief staff meeting I found that my employees felt good about what they are already offering and felt validated that their work is indeed a service in ways not considered before. For example, I don’t think that they thought of gardening programs as a help to the un/underemployed. Yet they well might be. This is not to say that the staff does not realize how much more we can do. They are looking forward to seeing the library meet the goals they suggested at our staff meeting.

The PC workshop was so beautifully organized and offered such great discussion ideas that I found it easy to pull out an hour’s worth for my staff.  Next month I’ll be attending a six-county consortium where I’ll present a short summary to other directors.  And next month we’ll have another staff meeting to measure our progress on Project Compass goals.

From Joan Pellikka, Outreach Services Coordinator, North Country Library System (NY):

We are a cooperative library system of 65 member libraries, all separate entities governed by their own boards of trustees. The largest library in our system serves a community of roughly 27,000; the smallest, 121. More than half of our libraries have annual operating budgets of less than $50,000; fifteen have budgets of less than $25,000. We have some of the poorest libraries in the State and everyone works very hard with limited resources. The ARSL conference offers programs tailored to meet the specific needs of the smaller, rural library presented by people who clearly understand that work environment.

My first day in Frisco, I attended the Project Compass workshop, which left me with a more focused direction for collecting and presenting workforce development resources on the NCLS web site. From there, my goal is to offer training for member library staff, who in turn will share these resources with the public. More importantly, I gleaned bits of information that will stay with me for a long time. The following quote was probably the most important thing I saw and heard at the conference:

Lifelong learning is not an option anymore; it’s a necessity. SMART is the new RICH.
~Bernie Trilling, 21^st Century Skills

One librarian pointed out that this statement clearly illustrates the value of libraries at all times, not just in times of recession. Her comment, along with the quote, struck me very powerfully. Also during Project Compass, we viewed the video, Did You Know 3.0, which provided statistics that were, for me, eye opening. I am working on integrating both the quote and the video into advocacy efforts for our member libraries.

In the same session, we were reminded that it is so important to not make assumptions about job seekers. Highly skilled professionals such as physicians and pilots are finding themselves in situations where they must learn to assess their abilities and market them in another industry. We must be flexible and prepared to assist everyone with varying levels of expertise.

I work for a library system, so I don’t get a lot of interaction with patrons.  I do volunteer (when I can) for my neighborhood library, usually helping patrons with using the internet or laptop basics.

On Tuesday, I helped a woman named Rita.  She is a retired widow, age 75.   She had never used a computer or the internet before, but she wanted some part-time work at the local Kwik Trip.  When she went to the job fair at Kwik Trip, they gave her a newspaper clipping with a web address and told her to apply online.  She told them she didn’t know how to use a computer, and the Kwik Trip folks told her to “go to the library. They will help you.”

She was very nervous and quiet.  Because of a medical condition, her hands shake. She kept apologizing for this, and I said, “no problem, let’s work on your application.”  She did not have an email address, so I set up a gmail account for her. Her work experience prior to retiring was working for our Norbertine Center in town, which we also call The Abbey.  She was a cook for 20 years.  Most days she would cook and clean for 40 priests/fathers, two meals a day.  On weekends, she would cook for up to 100 of them, and sometimes she only had one other person helping her.

We started working on her application. I had never worked with someone who had zero computer experience, so this was new for me, too. Because she had never used a computer and did not have familiarity with the keyboard, I did all the typing.  We probably would’ve been there for hours if I had let her, so in the interest of time, she dictated and I typed.  I told her that we could set up separate sessions for going over email, the mouse, computer basics, etc.  We worked through the application.  Rita was never late for work in the 20 years she worked at the center.  She had a clean record and was willing to work any hours.

When we got to the section of “other skills,” she said she didn’t have any.  Then she said, “Well, my husband and I did own a restaurant, but that was 20 years ago.”

I said, “how long did you own this restaurant.”

“About 30 years,” she said.

“Rita!” I said. “You owned your own business? Did you supervise? Manage? Do payroll?  Those are all great, valid skills!”  She confirmed that she did all of that, without a computer of course, but she still knows those things.

It took us close to an hour to finish, which is how long my sessions usually run.  We we finished, she started getting out her wallet and asked what I charge. I told her nothing. This was something I do as a volunteer, and it’s what libraries are all about. Then she asked if she could give me a tip!  I laughed and said “no.”  She had tears in her eyes and said “thank you” about 20 times.  I told her she could let the staff know when she wanted to meet again, and I would help her with other things.

I started tearing up on my walk home.  It was definitely one of those “ah ha!” moments for me. It made me grateful for the skills I had and happy that I could help someone else.

I really hope I can help her more, and it would be awesome if she got this job.  :)

-Jamie

Training vs. Learning

Our first activity was to come up with one word that describes the difference between training and learning. With so many people participating those chats were flying by! I’m posting a summary (duplicates have been eliminated).

So here is what you identified as the differences between training and learning:

• acquire
• action
• active
• activity vs. outcome
• applying
• best
• collaboration
• discovery
• do it yourself
• doing/done to/discovered
• emphasis
• engaged/engagement
• enjoyment
• experience/experiencing/experiential
• exploration/exploratory
• focus
• fun
• hands-on
• ideas
• inspiration
• integrated
• intention
• interaction/interactive/interactivity
• interest/interesting
• internalizing
• intuitive/intuitiveness
• involvement
• joint
• lifelong
• motivation
• need
• ongoing
• participating/participation/participatory
• passive vs. active
• personal
• perspective
• process
• self-experience
• self-motivated
• study
• synthesis
• time for reflection / discussion / integration
• training – boring ; learning – fun
• training is facilitated learning
• training is received; learning is acquired
• understanding

These answers are amazing and show that we really already know the difference between training and learning. So the real challenge is what does a culture of learning look like and how do we implement that change from training to learning within our libraries?

Stay tuned for the next post where I’ll answer that question. In the meantime I’d love to hear your ideas. What does or would a culture of learning look like in your library and what’s the first step you can make to move towards that goal?

- Lori Reed
Training Learning Specialist
Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

One of the key things we learned with Learning 2.0 is that the best learning, the learning that sticks, spreads, and becomes viral is the learning that happens outside of the classroom. Think about your own job. How much of what you know was learned in a classroom? If you’re like most people you learned on the job–from a co-worker, from observation, from experience. We know that most learning takes place outside the four walls of a classroom, yet we seem to spend most of our time preparing for the training that goes on inside a classroom.

I hope you will join me next week for a free webinar hosted by WebJunction called Cultivating a Culture of Learning in the Library. During this hour we’ll explore the differences between training and learning, discover why learning is important, and I’ll share with you some tips for transforming your library from a training organization to a learning organization.

- Lori Reed, Training Specialist for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

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Read more about Lori on her website, www.librarytrainer.com.

To find out more about this webinar and how to register, visit the WebJunction Learning Webinar page.

“Camaraderie” defined by Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary is “a spirit of friendly good-fellowship”. When power fails, computers crash, and the lights go dim, the human element still works, and camaraderie is the circuit along which knowledge will continue to travel.

To develop that among the variety of age groups and intellects that work in a library is no easy task. Sharing two things, food and humor, are excellent methods to develop this. Food I’ll leave to individual tastes (pardon the pun) but relevant humor can be trickier to find.

Castles’ del.icio.us resources include Unshelved, from Overduemedia.com (saved by 108 members), has hundreds of funny cartoon strips about librarianship. Librarians have unique opportunities to observe the human condition, and have a good laugh over it. Unshelved does that without being mean. Today’s page has a photo sent in by a fan with a great librarian quote on her T-shirt, “Will work for books”. Love it!

I would imagine there have to be more strips like this. Feel free to comment if you know of any others!

This brings me to a final point about the del.icio.us collection software. Unlike the Librarything various display options, del.icio.us only offers chronological sequencing at this point in time. The last link you put in is the first link the visitor will see. I edited mine in chapter sequence, and found that the first chapters are at the back of the list! I’d forgotten the Unshelved link, and put it in after I added an introduction link. Unshelved appears as my first link!

You could use an introduction link like I have just below the Unshelved link. It doesn’t offer much writing space, but it compensates for the fact that the site doesn’t offer as many descriptive capabilities as the Librarything profiles do. An introductory link can help visitors use your collection better.

Plan if you want your links in specific order. I could delete my current intro link, and reenter it so it would be the top one. However it’s more useful to demonstrate this concept for this blog the way it is now.

A new book also takes a interesting look working in a library. The title says it “all”: Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert. If you and your staff ever feel inundated by the public, especially middle-schoolers, this book is for you. It was published after Castles Against Ignorance so I couldn’t use it in my book. One book I do mention is the Whole Library Handbook 4 by George M. Eberhart, which is a great compilation of library facts and trivia. This resource has grown the most since I put my books resources online; it now has 160 members sharing it, up from 45 last summer!

Another outlet and way to build up your understanding of staff issues is to join listservs or monitor blogs like this one. Librarything has a very active web site with chat areas as well as message boards for specialized groups. And who has the largest group on Librarything? Librarians! Librarians who librarything has over 3700 members. They have a very well put together page. I’m enjoying reading the “Books that just never seem to be returned” thread.

To summarize, here are my 10 ways to make your library great in 2008, using the Web 2.0 tips and tricks in this blog and in my presentation:

1. Use Technology

2. Continuously Train

3. Polish your Comportment

4. Reduce Clutter

5. Handle Noise

6. Handle Conflict

7. Have a Plan

8. Develop Partnerships

9. Create Great Programming

10. Build Staff Camaraderie

Remember, you are not working in a warehouse, or an assembly line, or a bar.

You are librarians, who preserve and help propel our civilization forward!

I hope this has been helpful. Please leave comments or get back to me personally at erossman@shakerlibrary.org

Good luck on your resolutions. Here’s to a great 2008!

-Ed Rossman, Interim Branch Manager for the Bertram Woods branch of the Shaker Heights Public Library and author of Castles Against Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments

Click here to access an archive of Ed’s webinar and a PDF of the slides he used.