Thanks Kelley, for an excellent question:

“So here in Allegheny County in Pittsburgh (with our 44 libraries) we’re looking into using Drupal for a staff-only kind of intranet thing. I’ve been having no luck finding any online or even geographically manageable classes - anyone know of any or know anyone who could offer one, perhaps here on WebJunction? I’ve gotten the Drupal book and have even created a minimal page, but I realize I’m a bit out-of-my-realm when it comes to inviting 100+ users to begin engaging on the site - I can only imagine all the variables that I haven’t addressed! So, just putting my query out there to the library universe!”

If you’ve got suggestions for her, post them here or in Dear Community.

And I love her idea of some training on WJ. If anyone is interested in facilitating or presenting a webinar on the topic, please contact us via the form on our Webinars page. The archive would be a great resource, for sure!

Listen up, trustees!  It’s time to get serious about showing your library’s value to your community.  A rocky economy means fierce competition for tax dollars from the police, Public Works and others.

Make sure local officials help, not hinder, your library.  Where to start? With ARSL’s first-ever two-part webinar, Library Value:  What’s YOUR score? On October 9, find why you need “TWO goal posts:  Library and community.”

• Learn why trustees are the essential ingredient in savvy communications with officials
• Review the skill set needed for an effective board
• Hear “How we made friends with officials and gained control of our own budget” from library director P.J. Capps, Atchison, KS

Veteran trustees Jim Connor and Ellen Miller will join PJ to “tell it like it is” to get your dream team. Audience participation includes rating your relations with city/county officials, Q&A and a webinar evaluation.

On November 13, log in for the ARSL webinar’s second part, “How they see us:  Bulls-eye or fringe?” Topics will include:

• Image and marketing - and why your hard-pressed staff should bother!
• How partnerships can stretch dollars and show your community commitment
• Ways to position your library to get seats at - not under - decision-making tables

Tip:  Bring a power bar to these fast-paced sessions!  To join the ARSL webinars visit us at: http://www.webjunction.org/rural-webinars

Trustee Tips and Tricks is a regular guest feature on BlogJunction. You can reach Ellen at www.ellenmillergroup.com and keep on top of the series by following the BlogJunction Trustees category.

If you’re a WebJunction member who has tried one of these courses, please let us know with your comments or tags after you complete the course. Also, if you’re completing a course with a cohort, please feel free to start a group or discussion to support your work in the course. As ever, tell us if there’s something you need that we don’t have. We want to hear from you.

Happy learning…

new view
Originally uploaded by chrystiehill

Here’s my personal view from the new OCLC Seattle office, where WebJunction and ContentDM are now happily co-located. For those of you who have been tracking my office view pics for a while now, you’ll notice the lack of a lake. Still, the place fits us better I think. And I think we’ll like it here. Not to mention, our network is seriously faster than in the old place. I didn’t realize, honestly, how bad it was.

Don’t worry - we’re still working on WebJunction performance in the meantime.

That aside, I was surprised when I learned today that a new WJ toolbar has been created and posted on our new site. It took maybe one or two seconds to download into Firefox 3 and now I have a very handy list of links to WJ, a search function (Google search of WJ) and a set of links to WJ pages that are visited frequently. It looks like Tim created this and Sharon posted it?

It’s great! I love it!

For example my daughter’s Fairy Chronicles came with a card for a hip girl and doll matching-outfit boutique. A mildly “chick” novel smuggled home a card for custom jewelry design, and a bathroom remodeling guide conveniently provided the card of a door and window distributor.

Interestingly, these weren’t dog-eared old scraps, but fresh, colorful cards advertising services which coincidentally matched up with purchasing habits one could imagine of the reader.

The first few we discovered seemed innocuous—just the remains of a reader’s bookmark, right? But then the cards began to add up. Looking back I can recall insurance, a hair stylist, handyman services, and probably some others.

So what’s up library peeps? Coincidence, or are those subversive direct marketers attempting to turn your collection into another distribution channel? I’ve found some mention that makes me think I’m not making this up. The folks at the Closed Stacks blog hate it; opportunistic, low-budget marketeers praise the practice as an effective, low-cost tool.

For all I know, maybe patrons at the SPL NE Branch just lean toward business cards as bookmarks. Or maybe someone in my neighborhood thinks they are onto marketing gold.

New practice? Old trick on the rise? Let me know what you’ve been seeing.

During this limited-time offer beginning TODAY and lasting until Thursday, September 25, at 5 p.m. Pacific time, one-year GrantStation memberships are available to eligible nonprofits and public libraries for only $99, a savings of $300 over TechSoup’s regular administrative fee. (The regular retail price is $599.) Organizations may also renew their existing memberships with this special offer.

A GrantStation membership provides online access to a comprehensive database of current funding sources and additional tools to help public libraries and non-profits successfully secure funding.  

Please join us for the next Community Webinar, Teaching The Redesigned Naturalization Test on September 25 at 1 PM Central.

This webinar will provide an overview of the redesigned (new) U.S. naturalization test, which will replace the current test on October 1, 2008. Join Dr. Michael Jones, Senior Advisor Immigrant Education, director of the Naturalization Test Redesign Project and expert in the adult education field, and Carlos Muñoz-Acevedo, Program Manager of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as they cover the necessary skills and instructional methods needed by those who are preparing students to take the redesigned (new) naturalization test.

You will learn: 

• why a redesign of the test was necessary
• the legal frameworkand and implementation timeline of the test
• tips on how to administer and help students prepare for the test

Times listed are in U.S. CENTRAL TIME ZONE. 

Registration is required for this webinar. You will be sent instructions for joining the webinar once you register.

After the webinar, check out the archive of the webinar and a link to a post-webinar discussion in Citizenship & Immigration.

Full course details are listed below. As always, let us know if you’ve taken the course by leaving a comment or tag. If there are other courses you’d like to see at WebJunction, let us know that as well!

Happy learning…

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Dealing with difficult patrons is a never-ending topic among library staff, especially those working in public libraries. Every staff member dreads having to deal with a problem patron, but these occurrences in libraries are unavoidable. In reality, the number of problem patron situations is not great, but because they are challenging and often emotionally charged, they loom large in our overall experiences. While never fun, there is a way to prepare staff to handle problem patrons effectively and with confidence. This course is intended to provide each participant with a basic tool-kit that can be applied to manage a variety of difficult patron situations.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Apply a variety of communication techniques to positively manage various problem patron situations
• Apply a number of coping techniques to be able to maintain composure in stressful problem patron situations
• Determine when the problem patron cannot be satisfied and to whom and how to communicate this
• Decide when to call for security or the police
• Assist with reviewing, revising and/or creating library policies that address a variety of problem patron situations e.g. patron-conduct policy, unattended children policy, etc.

COURSE STRUCTURE & CERTIFICATION

The course addresses these issues and more in a web-based course designed to take about 1 1/2 hours to complete. The course is approved for certification under the Western Council of State Libraries. The instructor will not meet with the class in person. This course is worth 3 contact hours and 1.5 CEU credits for the Core Competency areas of Policies and Procedures.

A theme running through the first day’s sessions is to meet your members and guests where they are…go with their strengths and experiences. Williams told folks to emphasize their mainstream convenience (”Librarians are the only one’s who like searching. Everyone else likes finding.”), and stop thinking of them as clients and patrons (See: aforementioned members and guests). Bill Harmer stressed the importance of thinking like an entrepreneur, and getting out there. His mantra: “Don’t ask permission.” Just be passionate and connect with your community. Try new things. A senior “lock-in”, and a free monopoly tournament for seniors are two of the many examples he gave of connecting with that important segment. His slides give recipes for many of the successful programs that made Chelsea District Library the Best Small Library in America.

Finding a place at the table for everyone in your community is really the key task of those who work in libraries. Williams told folks: “Allow others to work at the top of their game rather than trying to prove you are at the top of yours.” That’s what everyone here is working on: How can I better serve my youth, my seniors, my tech savvy, etc. Which really comes down to leadership. Leaders don’t need to have the world know they are at the top of their game. They just act it. They succeed when those around them succeed.

The key value that is the focus for 2008’s event is “online participation in democracy,” in acknowledgement of the Internet’s substantive impact on this year’s U.S. presidential election. The big day is this Monday, September 22.

Go to their simple yet cool website to learn about the scheduled events around the world and how you and your library can participate. I would suggest contributing to the e-Democracy Time Capsule (hurry, only a few days left to add content!).

You can also check out Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s press conference from the WWW2008 conference held in Beijing, plus his “global message” (kinda like Santa Claus?) videocast from 2007.