Creating Lifelong library users one school at a time

This program was one of that last progams I went to and luckily there were some good presenters who were engaging and really passionate about their work with schools. These were three public libraries each partnering with schools in different ways.

MYLibraryNYC is a NYC program where there's been a huge effort to get books, a shared ILS, shared databases, learning kits, training, and more into the schools.  There's been some good success, especially with the circulating learning kits and they have ambitious plans for further collaboration.

Limitless libraries in Nashville has a similarly comprehensive program where the public libraries basically took over the school collections, technology, and resources so that the school librarians could focus on teaching and collaboration with teachers.  

Indianapolis PL described their work with schools which was much more scaled down and traditional in terms of what a public library might do.  It did not include shared ILs or collections, but each student's school ID serves as a library card.  

I was most impressed with the Nashviille "Limitless libraries" program.  They actually consider Limitless libraries a library branch with its own funding, resources, staff, website, etc.  You can get lots more info about it at Limitlesslibraries.org.

I have a good handout from the program I will scan and hand out when I return. :)

Reconsidering Dewey

This topic has popped up at Library conferences in the past few years, and I thought it might be a bit stale, but I went anyway and was glad I did.  

This Canadian Library presented their shift from Dewey to a system called C3.  C3 is a customer-centered classification system offering book store browsing plus an easy numerical system that offers assistance for shelving and look up.  

Some tips they gave for handling the transition from Dewey to non-Dewey were as follows:

Step 1- know when it's over and it's time to break up with Dewey. 
Step 2- learn from competition.  Go outside the box of traditional assumptions.  
Step 3- Think more like a customer.  Look at word based systems.  C3 is good for nonfiction collections of 30-50,000 items. 
Step 4-learn how to engage in risky behavior - calculated risks.
Step 5- think lean-start with one small area then build up
Step 6- engage staff
Step 7- let go of perfectionism
Step 8- expected the unexpected and roll with it
Step 9- nourish the culture of innovation - embrace the fail. 
Step 10- consider this as a springboard to further innovation

One of their key objectives in the transition was to make things easy for their customers, not themselves.  They looked at policies and procedure and rewrote them if necessary.  For example, now they have a "customer promise" rather than a code of conduct.  It outlines what the library will do for the customer, and what they expect in return from the customer.  

Moving from Dewey resulted in a complete culture shift.  In the end they said, as with any culture shift, they would not have been successful if staff had not been actively involved from the beginning.

Meeting public service expectations by breaking the service model

I really liked this program given by Plano (Texas) public library.  They shared some changes they made in the way they do business.  They weren't earth shattering changes but changes that allowed them to do things more quickly, more efficiently, and with an overall flatter organizational structure (meaning everyone was involved at customer service at some level), they were able to reallocate resources in a way that made a big difference. 

So, while staffing decreased by 14%, circ and program attendance are up significantly.  They believe circ is up because more staff are involved in programming, and thus more patrons are in the building checking out materials.  

Here are some of the changes they made:
Combined clerk and page positions
Centralized collection development to a small team of FT and PT librarians
Implemented floating collections
More attention to "6th" library- Plano library.org
Active social media presence-Pinterest, FB, Twitter, Instagram

Getting Teen Services Out from Under the Radar

Sara Flowers, a well-known YA librarian, presented this program about some important YALSA resources that will help libraries get their YA services out out from under the radar.

The evaluation tool, an official YALSA publication, is meant to get libraries self-evaluating and moving their YA services in the right direction.  Libraries rank themselves in different categories as distinguished, proficient, basic, or below basic. 

The categories are:
-leadership and professionalism
-knowledge of client group
-communication, marketing, and outreach
-administration
-knowledge of materials
-access to information
-services

A co-presenter from Multnomah County led us through some exercises where we talked about our own libraries and where we thought we might rank ourselves.  I thought the feedback from the group was very helpful in realizing that we all struggle with similar issues when it comes to teen services.  Things like attendance at programs, building relationships, and reliability seem to be universal among libraries and something that takes time and dedication to overcome.  

The YALSA tools seem very useful and will definitely be valuable as we complete the Teens@RCPL grant this spring.

Sensory Storytimes: All differently-abled, all ages, all inclusive

The sensory storytimes offered by Douglas County libraries in Colorado came out of a pilot program "Sensory Enhanced Storytimes." Their program differed from the sensory programs that I learned about at the conference in that they don't have an age limit. Their brochure states "For children on the autism spectrum and differently-abled children of any age at a preschool level of development."

For 10 months they worked with a district task force with community partners, Autism Society of Chicago, local school districts, youth services staff, volunteer coordinator to create the program. They also adapted the Charlotte McKlenburg "Special Needs Program"  for their program.The Autism Society observed their traditional storytimes and made recommendations on how to improve the room and add activities to make the sensory storytimes. The society also did a presentation during their Staff Day on understanding autism and children's staff did a sensory storytime demonstration.

The storytimes lasted 20 - 30 min. Registered up to 15. One to one ratio - parent or cargiver with minor.
Template: * = repeat at all storytimes
*Welcome and visual schedule
Book or adaped book, flannel version
Fingerplay or nursery rhyme
Song
book
*Scarf song
* Bubble and song
*Parachute and song
*Goodbye song

They had a resource table and posted a social story on their website so parents or caregivers know what to expect when they come to the library. Library staff also emailed the storytime program to the parents or caregivers one week in advance so they knew what to expect.

I think with some training and collatoral materials, we can do a sensory stortytime at our libraries. We can find community partners to help collaborate with us and I think have a very popular program. We can start with creating our own social story for our libraries and post it to our website. Creating a sensory storytime in our current lineup will take more time, but I believe we should incorporate one in the near future.

Welcoming Spaces: serving patrons with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This workshop helped me understand what Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is, which is important because we are seeing more children with ASD attending storytimes and are getting requests for new storytimes. Autism is usually diagnosed in the first 3 years of life and is a lifelong condition. Doctor's don't know what causes it and is more prevalent in boys 5:1 ration. 1 in 54 boys are diagnoses with ASD. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that may be improved by early intervention.

Children with ASD are different in 3 areas: social interaction, communication and behavior. Most have anxiety disorders and sensory processing disorders - sensitivity to tactile stimuli, sensory seeking, sensory avoidance, extreme clumsiness, inability to follow directions, can't articulate physical feelings - why they are in pain or if they need to use the bathroom.

How to identify children with ASD:

Social impairments:
withdrawal from interpersonal relationships'
poor eye contact'
miss social cues,
may not tolerate touch
socially awkward

Communication impairments:
difficulty with verbal and/or nonverbal communication - voice too high or too low
 difficulty in following direction,
meaning of words - don't understand idioms or commonly used phrases, ex. "easy as pie", sarcasm, jokes
echolalia - repeats words

Restricted or repetitive behaviors:
repetition is comforting
obsess about objects
rocking, arm flapping

Customer service tips:
Address them by name, don't address comments to the parent or caregiver
Try to make eye contact
Avoid open ended questions - use yes or no questions

Behaviors to ignore: if it's not hurting anyone - let it go - humming, rocking

Behaviors not to ignore - destructive or violent tantrums.
How to diffuse these situations?  Ask the parent or caregiver if they need help. Have a calm demeanor, be nice and empathetic. Sit next to person and redirect their attention - ask them about the time. If these things don't work - call security, don't touch the person, or if situation is an emergency call 911

Build relationships:
be helpful, not condescending, speak to the person directly, watch your body language
Create a library social story ex. This is my library by Carol Gray. You can create a book using pictures from your library talking about what you will see, who you will see and what you can do at the library - this is the staff, this is the front door, this is the computer, this is the PAL, etc.

Programming - sensory friendly storytimes - fidgets, stress balls, sensory balance beams, weighted blankets, visual aids - what's going to happen in storytime, carpet squares - define space

Technology - noise cancelling headphones (nontech - candy jar with earplugs!, calendar or scheduling software, Faces I make ($3.99) app - facial recognition, emotions, Visual app - daily routines - step by step "Get ready for school", "Get ready for bed", "Going to the Library" - customizable you select the steps/input the steps and choose the graphic to go along with it.

Sensory Friendly Storytimes

Friday, March 14th
Cathy McMahon - from Nebraska.

This lady was a firecracker - good presentation!  She told us about her life changing experience when she totally lost control of her preschool storytime and was very shook up by her reaction. She couldn't figure out what was going on. Storytime audiences have changed. She received a grant to educate over 55 librarians and community professionals on how to modify or create sensory friendly storytimes.

Basically the storytimes run for 25 min and feature:
-sensory toys or specialized furniture for children on the autism spectrum. Cube chairs, fidget toys (which helps focus the child - which seems contractictory)
- physical chart with activities - remove each item once you are finished with that activity
- routine - every storytime repeats certain activities
- low light
- soft music

She limits registrations to 12 children ages 2 - 8 with parent or caregiver. Storytime takes place once a month.

The bulk of the session was group work sharing ideas on how to talk to a parent of caregiver about the sensory storytime option vs. a standard storytime (frame it in words expressing the child's well being, offer it as an alternative - try it out - your child may feel more comfortable in a sensory storytime. Another question was what do you do if your sensory storytime goes out of control - go into song, transition to another activity, remind parents that storytimes are a perfect time to model good behaviors (for those parents who are distracted by cell phones or socializing and not participating) "We know your child will pay attention is you are paying attention." Email parents the storytime lineup one week before the program so they can go over what will be happening with their child and they will know what to expect.

Day Three - BIG IDEAS - Amy Cuddy

OK, day three of the PLA conference and to kick the day off, we had Amy Cuddy, among other things an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School who uses experimental methods to investigate how people judge and influence each other and themselves. More simply, Ms. Cuddy has studied "power poses", and how these have an impact in the real world. Well, first of all, this BIG IDEA talk was *way* better than the the talk yesterday! And if you are intersted, we will give you more info about this talk at the next staff meeting. Thanks! RK

Storytime goes STEM: integrating Math and Science into Early literacy Programs

Friday, March 14
Saroj Ghoting
lynn Cole, Brooklyn Public library

This was a very helpful program which explained how you can look at a picture book and use science and math concepts in storytimes. Most of the program involved group work. Each group took different picture books and identifed ways for the storyteller to get children and parents thinking about STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) concepts.

Children are natural scientists because they are curious about how the world around them works. library staff help encourage the process of discovery.
lynn illustrated using scientific and mathematical concept with a few books:
Freight Train by Donald Crews - color spectrum, movement, sequencing of events, day and night
Three little Pigs - engineering, estimating and predictions, air pressure, problem solving.
Owl Babies - symmetry, habitats, patterns, time of day

There is a tendency to just think of mathematical concepts involving counting and numbers but patterns is also an important mathematical concept. Patterns can be visual but also auditory (ex. clapping) and physical movement. Knuffle Bunny - sock sorting activity - pattern recognition, recognizing differences

Continuing the learning at home
Don't interrupt the book to make the point - go back to that concept after initial reading

Audience member shared website sources - www.stevespanglerscience.com

Helpful program which taught me that it's not so difficult to identify STEM concepts in picture books.

Tinker with Technology: Simple and Creative Programs for Kids and Teens

Friday, March 14, 10:45 - noon
presenters were from a variety of libraries in Illinois

A group of librarians from Illinois created a networking group called Tinker to get feedback on tools, techniques and programming ideas.  Check out their blog http://tinkergroup.wordpress.com/
The presenters had a lot of cool ideas which could be used for future library programs for school aged kids or teens at our libraries.

Stop Motion Animation - 3rd to Young Adult
15 kids with 2 staff. Groups of 3 working on one computer - need camera or web camera, misc. stuff for scenery, "actors" - little figures, cars, lego characters - lots of options. Using software like Windows live or Apples' iMovie, kids can create little stop motion movies. Classes were 90 min long; 30 min for planning the story and building the set, 30 min. for shooting photos, and 30 min. for editing. Films were shown at screenings with their families. A great way for kids to collaborate, use their creativity, increase their digital literacy.

Pencil Animation - Young Adult program
12 - 15 teens in the class with 2 staff. Computers had FREE software from Apple or Windows. Create neat pencil drawing animated characters.

90 second Newberry - grades 3 - Young Adult
This was pretty clever - kids compress Newberry title into 90 second movies. They used puppets, Claymation, shadow puppets, stop motion and live action. There is an annual 90 Second Newberry Festival where kids can share their videos worldwide  http://jameskennedy.com/90-second-newbery/

Robotics - Artbots
This was a really neat contraption which can draw on it's own using a motor from an electric toothbrush, marking pens, tape, solo cup!  Ideas on what you can use for artbots may be found on http://bumppitybump.blogspot.com

 lego (for some reason my upper case l doesn't work on my new laptop)Mindstorms and We-do programs - 5th - 8th grade. Much like our Robotics workshops - not much to report on.

Some resources for tinkering programs -
Make magazine,
 www.makeitatyourlibrary.org

Library SWAT Team

Library SWAT Team (program sponsored by NJ State Library)

This is a program I was really looking forward to.  I love this idea.  Basically, the NJ State Library asked a library to partner with them on a project to help other libraries with some space needs assessments.  Libraries can apply to participate in the process and if selected a group of librarians (the SWAT Team) will come in, look over the area of the library they want to improve and then make some minor changes to make it look/function better (paint, decluttering, weeding, moving furniture, bringing in new furniture, etc). It's about a nine month project but it gives libraries that want to make some changes the resources to make it happen.

Libraries that want to be involved need to apply, involve staff and public, each applying library commits $5K, four libraries selected per year, and SWAT Team provides consulting work.  Projects needs to focus on customers, dramatic visible result, staff must be easy to work with, and they need to prove a good story.  Once the library (4 per year) is selected, entire SWAT Team visits the library - meets with staff, admin, boards, and makes suggestions to reform, and they capture before, during and after photos.  Entire process takes about 9 months for transformation.  State Library pays SWAT Team for their time.

Themes they focus on

1.  get rid of old to embrace the new

- infuse color

- paint over yesteryear

- use color to unify spaces

- declutter everything!

- manage takeaway items (perhaps look at your display policy and start limiting)

2. Need for space

- need to weed

- add slat wall to end caps in order to merchandise

- hanging pacs on end caps

3. Need for Comfortable Space

- comfy chairs

- maximize windows and natural light

4.  Stretch Dollars

5. Get Staff and Public Input

6.  Some Changes Don't Cost Anything

- revisit policies

- staff buyin

- reuse and repurpose

- develop a clear focus

- open up views (sight lines)

- spotlight collections

I totally think we should do this.  Ideas RK and I have to enhance this model - partner with some vendors to bring in some free furniture/stuff, introduce large photos of library events/users, expand it to SWAT programming lineup, budget, and more.  One thing I will definitely think about in the upcoming weeks!

MP

Makerboxes: no space required

Thursday, March 13 10:45 - noon

(Presenters were from a variety of Illinois libraries)

Ridgeway Burns

Amber Creger

Ann Marie Scandura

Karen Wickman

I wanted to see this program because we are going to start on a program in a box project and I was curious to see what you could do with these Makerboxes. The boxes circulated within several libraries in Illinois and were ideal for libraries who did not have space for a makerspace or were interested in makerspaces but wished to test them out.

One of the presenters said that the boxes were about $800 each - I’m going to give a brief overview of what was in the boxes:

3D box - cardboard construction kit

Electronics Box - Little Bits starter kits (5 per box), 15 Snap Circuits by Elenco (this company gave them 50% off - maybe a resource for Wess?) SparkFun (donated $3000 worth of supplies), Arduino inventors kit, lilypad Arduino kit - cool fabric circuits. For a teen program they created little jawa dolls with light up eyes! Very cool!  www.highlowtech.org for project ideas.

Music Box - mini Korg keyboard, egg shaker set, Korg synthesizer, Otamatone (weird Japanese instrument - showed Youtube of some kid doing the Game of Thrones theme song - look it up) Dolphin ukelele. Presenter said in retrospect she would also add speakers.

Craft Box - sewing machine, zzizix (?) machine - makes die cuts easier than Ellison, color pencils, glue, colored paper

STEM box - Crazy Contraptions, Ping pong ball launcher

Some projects created with the boxes -

Frankenzombies - recycled stuffed animals, led lights, low wattage glue guns

Marble Mazes - pegboard, paper tubes, levers

Overall, not very helpful for our Program in a Kit project, but gave me some ideas for possible maker program opportunities.

Not So BIG IDEAS - Day Two

Up bright and early for day two of the conference.  Like day one, it started with the "Big Idea" program, this time featuring three presenters (each one had about 20 minutes to present their big idea.)

Speaker one was Megan McArdle, a journalist for Newsweek, and there were two authors, David McRaney and Clive Thompson.

In a nutshell, after hearing Simon Sinek on day one, these three were pretty lame.  (Even if they didn't follow Simon Sinek, they would have been pretty lame.)  McArdle was just a really distracting speaker with her wildly flailing arm, bad hair and ill-fitting dress, none of us could even understand what McRaney was talking about (and he seemed really disinterested in even being here) and although Thompson did have a cute PPT, we still don't know what his big idea was.

Very disappointing...

RK

Comic Con is sharing the convention center! Batmobile is sooo cool!!

PlaySpaces in the Library

This was a very interesting and well-done program on play spaces in public libraries.

It started with a good quote from the American Association of Pediatrics on the importance of play, and then a bit on why libraries should be getting more involved in play (without being overly pedantic.) Next an architect talked briefly about play spaces and how they can be scalable, and where to find inspiration. 

 After this, the children's services head of the Barrington Area Library in IL talked about their play space, and how they transformed a small room with minimum play to a larger space and talked about things like their mini-market, light brites, an area for big blue blocks, a slide, an early literacy area, etc. Not quite a children's museum but pretty close. (They also incorporated book shelves into the play space.) 

Then the architect came back and talked about the challenges of incorporating things like light brites and an interactive chalk board into a library. Things like physical space, power, circulation corridors, noise levels, and age of users all need to be taken into account. He also gave an idea of how much it costs to build this space ($90 per square foot for a 10,000 sq. ft.space. Definitely go to PLA web site for the PPT to check out the photos. Not visually super exciting but very interesting.) 

Philosophically, they said "If there is a mess, it is a success!" Their attitude towards play is eerily similar to ours! 

 Next, someone from the Darien, CT library talked about wanting to do something with play but didn't have the space so they converted a toddler room into their play space. Used small Burgeon Group interactive wall panel, put down an animal-themed rug, created a magnetic wall with themed magnets, and added some plastic chairs. Finally created some "play kits" which are basically tubs with activities themed around certain things such as kitchen boxes, alphabet boxes (basically magnetic letters), blocks box (kebabs and Legos) and a music box (which was discontinued after a month because it was too noisy!) 

 Last speaker was from Oak Park, IL library who first started out by talking about what to expect and be ready for before embarking on play. (Fortunately we are past this.) But she emphasized how *all* staff needed to be on board because play is going to affect the dynamics of a library and affect departments in ways you will never anticipate. 

 All in all, a very good program. 

 RK

Successful Staff Days

Staff Day 

Note to self: we can present this program next time.  This program is about planning and implementing a successful staff day program.  They are giving ideas for the types of staff days that you can do - from a large-scale conference style days to a lunch training.  It sounds like most of panelists have smaller scale programs that are either a one-off training or a half day at the most. It doesn't appear that the staff days they are doing are as robust as the one we did.

The speaker from the Skokie Public Library (125 FTE, 180 total employees, $11 million budget) talked about the budget for their staff day.  When he said they spent $7800, everyone gasped at how much that was.  I think we are doing well if we spend more on ours (but it's money we bring in through grants).

Sounds like several of these libraries make awards and recognition a part of their staff day.  I think most of these libraries don't do a staff day and a celebrating our successes but roll it into one.

Food - paying for food seems to be a hot topic!  One woman is talking about how they can't afford food so they do a potluck. Another one mentioned asking their book vendors to donate lunch.  Yikes!  The staff time they spend on this must be crazy.

Overall, I don't feel like they presented anything revolutionary.  Perhaps we should invite them to ours.  There were a few good ideas that were good like, creating a video of the day to memorialize the event, have some fun activities like building tallest structure out of spaghetti and marshmallows, or creating a promotional video to market the staff day to everyone.

Lunchtime

Friday food trucks - Comic con also here this weekend. Haven't seen any Star Wars fans out here yet.

Improv @ the library

Improv at the library Is less about being funny at work and more about using interactive techniques to work through customer service issues and problems.  The bulk of the workshop was about using role play scenarios offline to prepare and better equip staff for handling those scenarios while actually on the desk. 

So, one sample scenario involves participants pretending to be a patron who owes $100 in fines.  While the difficult patron role is usually the favorite, other participants play the part of the library staff person.  As staff role play their "dealing" with the problem patron, other participants are supposed to "tap in" and take the place of the problem patron or library staff.  As many people can tap in as they want. 

After the role play, all participants and observers provide feedback about the scenario -what works with the difficult patron and what doesn't.  This allows the team to work together to come up with ideas on handling the situation.

The Los Gatos Library that presented this program does scenarios every week.  They have a short meeting and talk about actual problems they're having and use those for their improv/role play. After the role play, staff are much better prepared to move into the day with confidence and practical ways of handling customer service issues.

Nobody is forced to role play, and those who don't want to can help in providing feedback and possible solutions. 

Another important idea was that of warming up to role playing and improv at your library.  We did some warm up exercises and beginning improv techniques, as they cautioned it can take time for staff to get comfortable and trusting enough to effectively work through issues in this way.

Overall I though this was a fun and energetic way to work on problem solving.  Everyone can contribute, and in the end, much of the fear and worry about dealing with certain situations can be very much reduced.

BIG IDEAS with Simon Sinek

Big Ideas are the keynote addresses that kick off each day of the conference. 

Day one featured Simon Sinek, who we are all familiar with his Ted talk on "Why?" I could write about how inspiring his talk was but it might just be easier to watch his talk called "Leaders Eat Last". 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ReRcHdeUG9Y 

Well worth 45 minutes of your life... RK

Making a collection count

March 13, 2014
4:15 - 5:15
Holly Hibner
Mary Keller

The presenters were very lively which was good for a program at the end of the day and a subject which can be very dry - collection management!  They wrote a book called Making a Collection Count: a holistic approach to library collection management.

What I liked was their focus on the big picture on collection management - learn the process of your library's collection cycle - acquisitions, processing and cataloging, shelving, checkout, reshelving and repair and maintenance. If someone who takes off for a vacation, someone else can do their part of the process so nothing comes to a standstill but continues as a cyclic workflow.

They outlined what makes a robust collection management - collection data, circulation data, group activity, item activity, collection audit, physical inventory, collection statistics, collection objectives (need collection policy which fulfills the library's mission), collection benchmarks.

At the very least - concentrate on legal and medical collections, most popular collections and most expensive collections.

How to Ruin Your Library's Reputation in 10 Easy Steps

Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Rebekkah Aldrich, Position for Library Sustainability
Mid-Hudson Library System

The presenter talked a mile an minute but after an hour talking she was only on step 2. But she reassured us we'd get through all 10 steps in the 3 hour workshop. The bulk of the workshop was an overview of the importance of getting the public to support you in order for your library to be a sustainable resource in your community. She kept stressing the number one way to get the word out is by word of mouth. I picked up a few good tidbits - including some websites for good design templates and infographics. The 10 steps were simple and no-brainers but a good refresher of what not to do:

Step. 1 - Don't listen. Don't ask. Assume
Step 2. Make sure patrons have a horrible experience
Step. 3. Speak with many voices
Step. 4. Create an insiders club
Step 5. Only communicate when you want something
Step 6. Design?  Who need it?
Step 7.Be a noob online.
Step 8. Rest all your eggs in one basket
Step 9. 2 weeks is not enough
Step 10. Stay inside the library

Libraries need people to invest in them - we need to mobilize and get the word out about the awesome things we do in order to get a strong base of support and users who will vote on keeping library services intact or even expanded. Based on a PEW patron survey, 91% of Americans say libraries are important BUT 31% are not sure what we do." 50% to 60% have a library card. How to reach the latter 50% is what we need to do by actively looking for ways to promote and market our services.

The most helpful information I got was her discussion of Step. 6 - design. Some websites geared towards consistent design of marketing materials and infographics. Free clipart sites openphoto.net, unprofound.com, stock.xchng. Free infographics templates - infogr.am, labs.good.is, piktochart. Some fun mottos to break down the elitist impression that people may have of librarians: I'm an information ninja! Chicks dig big brains; I like big books and I can not lie!

The Most Dangerous Idea of All - Change from the Bottom Up

The Most Dangerous Idea of All - Change from the Bottom Up

Premise - we all have good intentions, we all want to do good work, we all want to be valued for doing our jobs, great libraries encourage ideas, we all look good when we all look good.  It's not just leading from any position - it's leading, learning, risk-taking, and making decisions from every position.  Don't use the perceived hierarchy as an excuse not to make a decision.  

With this in mind, the directors of the Somerset County Library, NJ and the Sacramento County Library talked about allowing major decisions to be made by all levels of the organization.  The Somerset County Library used all levels of the organization on their recent strategic planning process.  They had about 90 people working on it, including 30 members of the public.  What I found interesting is that the director played no role in it.  He figured that pages, clerks and library assistants wouldn't be able to participate comfortably with him there.  Whereas I certainly admire the sacrifice, I am not sure if I agree with the total approach.  After all, isn't the library director supposed to set the vision for the organization.  Plus, politically, if it got out that the library director did not participate in his organization's strategic plan, I think it would look bad.  Just my opinion.

 

He then went on to talk about what it takes to be a successful director.  Not sure how this aligned with the rest of the talk, but here is what he said: 

- help articulate a vision

- find resources to achieve that vision

- hold people accountable for carrying out that vision 

The Sacto Library director talked about a Library Think Tank - role was to work on and revamp processes to improve Sacto services.  The Think Tank is made up of circ clerks and library assistants.  They have worked on efficiencies, welcome brochure, new newsletter, teen library cards, etc.  Sounds like this groups wields a lot of power.  I think they missed an opportunity somewhat with this by not including their librarians in this process. 

Overall, interesting ideas.  I think there is opportunity to get more involved in different  decision making areas.

MP

What Happens in Indy...

And the honeymoon begins!

ABC - always be circulation: how public libraries meet demand and increase use

ABC - always be circulation: how public libraries meet demand and increase use

15 minutes into this program and they have told us that we should keep up on what patrons are asking for, see what's on hold so you know what people want, watch your stats, and don't forget to weed.  What a waste of time so far - the woman speaking seems to think she is talking about something innovative, but I think this is something we all do.  

Now she is talking about how we don't hire enough people who like to read and we in libraries need to focus on readers advisory more than anything else.  Next up - merchandising and creating book lists - good grief! 

So, besides this panel just sitting up there stating the obvious, there is one panelist who keeps jumping in and hijacking the talk. Most annoying!   

The worst part though is that there are probably 2000+ people in here wasting their time!  No wait, the worst part is that one of the speakers (the one who keeps hijacking the talk is practically yelling into her mic and it's deafening.  I need to split!

I was really hoping this program would have some innovative ideas for increasing circulation, not just a tired list of ideas that every library is already doing.  

One thing I learned - test your mic before you begin the program so you aren't blowing out eardrums.  OK - enough complaining.  

Apps and E-books in Early LIteracy Programs

Thursday, March 13th,  2pm - 3:45pm
Saroj Ghoting
Cen Campbell

I enjoyed this workshop because I saw apps in action and the presenters were very good!  We're working with Cen on our Digital Literacy Grant and it will be interesting to see how much of the information she repeats for our upcoming March workshops.  She did a sample storytime incorporating a variety of digital media. First she made us sing which was weird having 400 people singing a hello song. It was interesting seeing how an app would look on a big screen. The app version of the book Bean's Baby was very cute and simple. You can see how our storytellers would use the app to enhance the parents storytime experience.

Her storytime included:
Hello song
Bean's Baby app - very simple book with cat and baby
Jim Gill song - movement activity with raising our arms every time the song "my bonnie lies over the ocean" had the b sound
Boom Boom song
Wee Sing Alphabet app - B - Bear playing a banjo - activity - air guitar
Nonfiction book - Smithsonian Ocean House Media app for beluga whale nonfiction book. Adding nonfiction element something new to consider. You don't have to read a book - just mention we have lots of books to learn about animals that begin with the letter b.
Blow a kiss song (Laurie Berkner - actually I put in a request to purchase some of this artists cds. She was recommended also at the ELF 2.0 conference.)

Saroj gave some preliminary findings with children and the use of digital media. When children interacted with books they found that children had focused more on reading comprehension. Children focused more on what happened in the story with books and also e-books. When children interacted with advanced e-books, children had focused more on physical engagement, how touching or swiping changed what was happening in the story.

Saroj said that no matter where you fall onto the use of children's digital media discussion - pro or con - as librarians it's our responsibility to understand how digital media may be used to enhance the child's experience with language acquisition. We cannot ignore apps!  As devices become more prominent in our society we have to be nonjudgemental media mentors. Children learn through interpersonal communication and library staff should foster the parent or caregiver's understanding how digital media such as apps will engage their children's early learning. The use of digital technology in storytimes must support the parent's role in their child's language acquisition.

Overall - I enjoyed this program and am looking forward to Cen's trainings later in March.

Pre-Conference - StoryCorps @ Your Library

Cara and I went to a program on using StoryCorps to record oral histories at your library. Since we won the National Medal, we have StoryCorps coming next month to record oral histories of what the library means to people we choose so it was really nice to hear more about StoryCorps and what they do, and tips for capturing good stories. This was a fairly specialized, focused program and both Cara and I are glad we went. What was odd to us however was that we were the only NM library there; everyone else was just curious what StoryCorps did and it wasn't like they had a visit scheduled or there was some forthcoming grant program to take advantage of StoryCorps. In any case, when we get back, Cara will be scheduling a meeting because we are going to need some assistance in lining up people to tell their stories, we will need a few interviewers, and we need to go over some logistics in advance of our StoryCorps visit during National Library Week on April 14-16. RK

Pre-Conference - Managing Talent: How to Spot'em, Grow'em, and Move'em Along

Since we have some recruitments in the works, I thought it would be good to check out this preconference.  It moved along we'll, good pace, great presenters, and worthwhile content.  I even had some good people at my table for the small group discussions.  

Here are a few of my notes from the workshop:

Why Do Staff Matter - face of organization, they are the future of libraries, part of the brand of the library

- universal staff characteristics that we want - approachability, willing to adapt and manage change, be excited about change, customer oriented, interest in the work, see the big picture and embrace a larger vision, aligning with organizational values, friendly, team-oriented, politically savvy, strong emotional intelligence, resilience and ability to deal with issues head on, able to read body language, creative/visionary thinkers, people who have the capacity to develop, tolerant, project management skills, strategic, 

- behavioral interview techniques - ask candidate to reflect and tell a story of their experience (perhaps a time they provided poor customer service and what they learned from it), create questions at require them to think through a process so you can see what their process is like, ask them to give a presentation/training/Storytimes etc., describe a conflict situation you have been in with a colleague and then describe that conflict from the perspective of the other person, create some kind of situation (even bring in an "actor" to role play - like a book challenge) and have the candidate act it out with the "actor", have people write an email during the interview so you can see tone, detail, writing skills, etc., 

- when you bring someone on board you need to communicate organizational culture to your new employees so they have a clear understanding of who you are and how you operate, what they can expect, and the overall expectation of your organization.  The on-boarding experience can't be overlooked.  Luckily we have Cara who has studied this intensively.

- having the difficult conversations - better to spend 20 seconds on a difficult conversation that's deal with the issue for 20 years without saying anything.  Let people know what the job expectation is  and what you want from them.

Overall, good program - lots of good energy in the room!  During our first table discussion about characteristics we are looking for in staff, I mentioned the importance of being politically savvy, understanding who the players are in the community, and ensuring they get what they need so they see the library in a good light.  One dude at my table jumped on me and questioned why I wouldn't want to provide equal service to everyone and why would front line staff need this skill.  Oh NO, I thought - here we go - obviously he needs a class in political savviness. 

Michelle

A Day at the Indy Children's Museum

At 400,000+ square feet, the Indianapolis Children's Museum is a pretty awesome space.  From the new Dino exhibit, complete with life-size T-Rex, some new mummified dinosaur, and planetarium-style ceiling to the new Terracotta warriors that you can take a part and put back together to the carousel, this museum is obviously dripping in money and resources.  Oh yes, and there is a branch of the Indianapolis Public Library in it.

A few things of note - 

 - loved the Playscape which is designed for 0-7 and their families.  This area is definitely closest to what we want to do on the second floor.  The space was inviting, creative, and had a wide variety of options.  This space was about 5,000 square feet and was open-plan with short walls or some kind of interactive to separate space.  I particularly liked the baby space that was a cushioned pad surrounded by a little one foot wall that had mirrors and manipulatives on the inside for babies to play with.  Parents were in there with their kids playing too.   I also liked the music room which was a just a room full of musical instruments, some on tables, some free standing - mostly percussion.  I think I know how we can make a PAL dedicated to music after seeing this space.  They also had a Lucky Climber (Jason and Angelica can explain) which was about 15 feet high but quite wide.  Kids were having a great time crawling and climbing.

- Game Zone - an entire area dedicated to games (board, video, everything). They had tables set up where you could play board games, consoles for video gaming and lots of opportunity to play others.  I think we could easily make a PAL dedicated to games.

- Chihuly glass - giant Chihuly glass structure in the center of the museum that was pretty amazing (although it needed a little cleaning).  I particularly enjoyed the spinning lounge chairs that moved slowly below a ceiling of Chihuly so you could admire the art.

- public library - not a huge connection to the museum, but they had the ready-to-go bags filled with board books and picture books that I've wanted for years.  They use withdrawn books to create bags of books (like our backpacks) but not themed, very popular with storytime moms.  

- they have an exhibition of Terracotta warriors coming in May, so they have a small Terracotta Warrior exhibit to promote it.  They are rubber Terracotta soldiers that you can take a part and out back together.  Since they are life-sized, it really is pretty neat to take them apart and put them back together.

Overall, this place was OK - more of a spectacle than anything, but not really a true hands on children's museum.  It was a museum for children with some interactive areas.  The real energy in the place was in the interactive spaces for hunger kids.  Pictures attached.

 

Michelle

Wow!

When we walked into the museum lobby, we all said "wow!" A huge Transformer's Bumblebee stands in the center of the lobby - it was awesome!

Moving pieces wall

I could probably spend way too much playing with this type of kinetic structure! One of the things I want to have at our libraries is this type of interactive wall which mesmerizes not only children but adults too!

Music table

Music room

The music room had 4 or 5 stationary units that had devided sectioons with a variety of instruments. This room had a lot of familes in it!

Closeup of structure

Climbing feature

I could see this sized climbing contraption on the second floor of VG. I've seen huge climbing structures - Angelica and Jason climbed through one before! This one was compact enough to fit into one floor - occupy a small enough footprint and offer the same activity as the bigger structure.

Babyscape

All of the areas features well designed signage and educational tidbits.

Playscape at the Children's Museum

The Playscape area was really packed with various activity spaces - baby and toddler space, water feature called The Pond, Music room, Art Room, cool climbing area and section with moving parts wall.

Childrens Museum

We made it to the museum! After our preconferences we took a cab, ventured out into the snow and visited the museum. It had some pretty impressive wow factors - giant dinosaurs, full size Bumblebee in the lobby and 4 floors of exhibit space. My favorite area was the early learning to preschool exhibit space called Playscapes.

Bookmobile!

This bookmobile unit was cool! Interactive toys and bookshelves lined the inside of the bookmobile, magnetic exterior pieces decorated the front and sides.

Tracing table

The letters were indented on the tabletop so children can trace letters. The rep said there were different tracing options such as cursive lettering.

Burgeon piece

When you crank the handle it moved letters inside the unit and the petals of the top swirled around - fun!

Exhibits

We've looked at Burgeon a few times at previous conferences for potential childrens room decor. They had some neat things today. This was a cute measuring piece.

Heading to Indianapolis!

Tuesday morning, Robert, Michelle, Cara and I will be flying to Indianapolis for the Public Library Association Conference. The Conference runs from March 12 - 15. This will be my first time attending the PLA Conference so I'm really looking forward to it. We'll all be blogging about our experiences here so check back daily!

If you're curious what is going on at the Conference, here's a link for information.

http://www.placonference.org/

Indianapolis also has an awesome children's museum - http://www.childrensmuseum.org/
I hope I find some time to visit but my conference itinerary is pretty packed!