New Media Ecology presentation by Lee Rainie

Lee Rainie provided a fascinating annotation of the data. [Insert link to his presentation here when it gets posted.] He talked about the Pew's Internet Technology Quiz.
Take it and see in which group you fit.

Personal commentary: When I first took this quiz I was labeled an Omnivore (high level of participation with technology) and after taking it again today I'm now a Connector (use technology to interact online and manage digital content-- I guess this means upload digital photos?). What's funny is that in the time between taking the test initially and now I started this blog and joined several social networking sites. I've also read a couple of books that have gotten me to use technology more effectively (Bit Literacy) and make tough choices about eliminating time-wasting activities (The Dip). I'm more engaged with technology BUT I'm also more focused on time management and don't necessarily see all of the technology before us as productivity-increasing tools.

Okay, back to the point of the post. Lee Rainie charged libraries with the following action items:

• become the news node for information and a social network node
• act as an aggregator of information
• provide pathways to information
• embrace multi-modal channels of information
• listen to our youngest employees

I love these suggestions as I think they address key elements that libraries do best already. We just need to include the use of technology as a way to reach our customers and prospects who left the library when they became too old for story time.

If you haven't checked out the Pew Internet and American Life's reports and presentations on technology, please do so. The Pew has been collecting data like crazy and most of it is highly relevant to libraries. It's what is driving our future so we need to know how to respond and plan.

Managing Your Library for Great Customer Service with Jefferey Russell

Jefferey Russell, Co-Director of Russell Consulting Inc, in Madison, WI, gave a great presentation about customer service. He discussed the traditional tips: hire the right people, train them continuously, communicate your vision, lead by example.

He also talked about the typical management pyramid where employees are at the bottom (the largest group), supervisors and managers are in the middle layers, and directors are at the top. Employees serve supervisors and managers, and they serve the directors. This organizational structure does two things wrong: it doesn't include the users we serve and it's in the wrong direction. Customer centered libraries have an inverted pyramid structure where patrons are the largest group and they are at the top. Directors are at the bottom. They guide the managers who assist the supervisors who support the employees who serve the customers. (I believe Jeff gave credit to the Carlson Management Group for this model but I couldn't locate any images online so if you have any please let me know and I'll add them to this post).

Another excellent point Mr. Russell made was that supervisors can't manage their employee's behavior but they can set expectations for behavior. So I took this to mean that when libraries are implementing competencies for staff or are expecting them to change the status quo to meet users' needs, the way to approach this is by setting realistic expectations coupled with lots of communication, training and strong leadership.

Wisconsin Library Association session summary

Well, I *had* good intentions. I was going to come home every day of the conference and summarize all the great sessions I'd attended. Unfortunately I forgot to factor in the life factor. So, dear reader, the summaries are being posted today. Thanks for your patience.

Blogging for WLA 2007

I'll be attending the Wisconsin Library Association annual conference today through Friday. I'm looking forward to hearing great speakers, meeting up with friends and enjoying the opportunity to blog a conference. Thankfully, Joy Schwarz gave me suggestions on how to blog a conference so I'll have some idea of how to write posts of my sessions.

Most conference blog posts tend to read like your high school history class notes so I will make an attempt at adding some humor or personal commentary to my posts. Any suggestions by my blog readers will be given consideration. So mom, start commenting.

Links: Books for Boys (and a plug for a continuing ed program)

I frequently get requests from my librarians for continuing education workshops on the topic of books for "reluctant readers" (usually this means the librarians want book suggestions for boys). So this blog post is dedicated to assisting them in their quest.

Disclaimer: I am not a Youth Services Librarian (I don't even play one on tv). You may not find any of the sites I posted to be of assistance to you. Feel free to comment with your own recommendations and/or suggestions. I am happy to pass along any helpful information to my librarians.

First, the plug: On Thursday, November 7th, at 10am CST, Megan and Merri from the CCBC will present an hour-long program for OWLS via OPAL called Captivating Choices: High Interest Books for Low Interest Readers. They will feature a selection of high-appeal books for children through teens. (I feel like I jammed a bit too many acronyms into one tiny paragraph. How librarian of me.)

Second, the blogs:
Guys Read is a site run by Jon Scieszka, author of a lot of books (pardon me for being lazy, okay?!). "Guys Picks" breaks books down by age range (sort of), and I really like the "Links" link featuring Guys' favorite authors.

Boys Rule Boys Read! is a blog by Carl and Bill, two librarians in North Carolina. They recommend books for boys and issue fun challenges to their readers.

Books for Boys is another author-run blog where you'll find Max Elliot Anderson's comments about books and boys, and book chapters and information about his works.

Bookclub4Boys assists folks in setting up boy-themed book clubs. It gives links to books, magazines and other resources designed to encourage boys' literacy.

Booksforboys, run by parents of a teenage boy, has nice lists of books broken down by genre and age range.

Books for Boys is a web page of suggested titles by Moms of Boys.

Bookhive is not specifically for boys but the site contains reviews of children's literature. It's a member of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County web sites and has won several awards.

Connect with your friends via Facebook

A month or two ago I was exploring some web 2.0 technologies for work and came across one that has provided me with endless amounts of non-work related joy. And for me to devote home time to a social software site, it's got to be good (right?)

Facebook has exceeded my expectations as a networking tool because it's brought me closer to my friends, most of whom I haven't spoken with in years and live nowhere near me.

Let me step back a moment and describe Facebook. Basically, anyone can join. All you have do is create a profile and search for friends or join "networks" of users who share a common interest or background (i.e. high school, college). I am proud to say that I was an early adopter for once! When I created my profile only a few of my friends also had Facebook accounts. Now every time I log on I notice more users from my high school and college, and even former colleagues have joined Facebook.

I'll admit that I had a great high school experience (once I ditched the all-girls Catholic high school I attended as a freshman). Getting back in touch with my high school friends has been something of a spiritual experience for me. We're all now living in different parts of the world and without picking up the phone we can discover our favorite books, movies, music and causes through Facebook's many downloadable applications. So if you thought your high school and college classmates were the devil, perhaps you won't be so keen about Facebook.

Many of my professional friends also have Facebook profiles. It's been wonderful to connect with them online, too. The downside to this, of course, is that I am always asking myself if I should be exposing so much of my personal life to professional friends and/or potential future employers. It's a tough call to make but if someone is going to reject my application for employment based upon the fact that I happen to love R.E.M. or think Clerks is a funny movie, well then so be it.

Most of my friends who have Facebook profiles log on to their accounts on a regular basis. They post photos, write book reviews, join cool networks and download fun applications. I know this because Facebook updates me whenever I log in. If that's not acceptable to you, Facebook has a variety of settings so an individual user can limit access to her profile and/or provide detailed information about herself to the world.

Unlike MySpace, where ten seconds after creating a simple profile I received my first spam email, Facebook has managed to keep control over spammers (amen).

A good friend (who has a Facebook profile, of course) recently told me about an article that indicates the content in Facebook may one day be for sale to the highest bidder. While that makes me a little nervous, I am willing to keep logging on and enjoying this opportunity to connect with my friends. Heck, every time I use my credit card or visit Amazon.com my purchases (and my searches) are tracked. So what will make this potential data sale any different?

I highly encourage obtaining a Facebook account if you want to find out what's happening with your former classmates or colleagues. It's brought me a lot of joy and I think you'll feel the same way.

Project Play weeks one, two and three

I just wanted to write a brief post about what I've learned so far from Project Play.

I've enjoyed being able to blog at work. With little ones at home getting on the computer at night for more than two minutes and having enough mental energy to write a semi-coherent sentence is like winning the lottery. The odds are definitely stacked against me.

I love reading other participants' blogs. Our librarians are writing great blogs so it's fun to read their latest posts. Setting up my RSS reader has made reading blogs every day simple and easy.

Someone recently approached me, concerned that she didn't have time to devote to Project Play. It is very hard to fit new technology into your life, and I felt for her. It's scary, uncomfortable and it's not always easy (no matter what "they" say, to me, easy is another four letter word).

Learning new technology reminds me of how I feel about exercise. You're supposed to do it because it's good for you. Great. So instead of taking the musclehead approach I take the baby steps one. At a minimum every day, I spend 5 minutes walking up the stairs at work. When I have 10 minutes I lift weights, walk or run. Then if I find I can squeeze in a few more minutes I do. Otherwise I stop and don't beat myself up over how little I do relative to the muscleheads.

As much as I admire and aspire to be a great blogger like K.G. Schneider or Jenny Levine, in the library world I just can't be-- not right now. And as much as I'd like to have the body of Angelina Jolie or Heidi Klum, I won't-- ever. And that's fine with me (sort of).

With three weeks of Project Play under my belt, I definitely have more confidence in my ability to use blogs and RSS readers. Now... on to week 4. Which reminds me, Go Pack!!

I love you, Richard M Daley!

So now I'm exposed. I'm in love with the mayor of Chicago. But who wouldn't be? Here's a few reasons why I think Richard Daley is awesome. One, he's a library supporter. Two, he gave the people of Chicago Millennium Park. Three, he's pro-cyclist. Four, he gets things done. Five, he supports school reading programs.

Yeah, I know all about the scandals. I lived through the midnight destruction of Meigs Field (no offense but since I didn't fly into that airport, I didn't really care). And I'm sure Mayor Daley is guilty of giving jobs to people who give him money. I'm no historian but isn't that kind of political corruption over 2,000 years old? He's not the first, he won't be the last and I don't think the good people of Chicago are suffering because of this. So Richard Daley, thank you for doing so much for the City of Chicago. You are the best!

The importance of customer service

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a customer service presentation by Karen Hyman, Director of the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative. The topic was creating a customer-centered library. Ms. Hyman is a wonderful speaker who knows how to use humor to make a point. To make the library experience more enjoyable for customers, she recommends that library staff think like a customer and change our approach to service-- not the customer's.

On another customer-centered note, check out this sign from a Chinese clothing store that instructs employees on what they can and cannot say to customers.