The LIBRARY MEMO

I’d like to thank the UMD library for providing me with the opportunity to attend the MLA annual conference, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Minneapolis, Nov. 19th-21st.

The most interesting sessions I attended include:

Managing Negativity at Work – presented by Lauren Burnett, president of the Center for Inner Quality The focus of this presentation was increasing your self-awareness about how you react to negativity and developing skills to respond instead of react. She discussed different types of negators (e.g. passive/aggressive) as well as suggestions as to how to respond.

Luncheon Keynote Speaker – Tim Spalding, developer of LibraryThing, Tim, was an entertaining speaker. LibraryThing (www.librarything.com) has really expanded since I last looked at it during our Library 2.0 explorations. Check out the Zeitgeist Overview for some statistics.

Rethinking Tech Services : a workflow analysis – presented by staff from Mankato State, Macalester & Dakota County Library
Both Mankato State & Macalester used R2 Consulting (the same consultant used by UMTC) to help restructure staff positions & workflow. They both discussed their approach to reorganization & some changes they have implemented. Dakota County (a large public library system) not only changed some tech services processes but completed a system-wide reorganization. I attended another session in which they discussed the process, planning, implementation & outcomes.

Creating a Jimmy Choo Staff Wiki on a Shoestring Budget – presented by Brian Lind, Rochester Public Lib Most of the session focused on what decisions need to be made when developing a staff wiki (e.g. public vs. private, paid vs. free), planning suggestions & different Wiki sites. If interested, his PowerPoint presentation can be found at www.mlahandout2008.pbwiki.com

Eight Keys to an Effective Library – presented by Sandra Nelson, author, trainer & Sr. Editor of Public Library Assoc. Results Series

This was an excellent session that wasn’t long enough. The 8 keys Sandra identified are:

1. Focus on user needs/wants
2. Provide excellent customer service
3. Make data-based decisions - justify services; don’t cut what’s important to customers
4. Collaborate & build bridges -prioritize things that matter; develop advocates
5. Reward risk takers –become more flexible, entrepreneurial & willing to fail
6. Become politically effective – let people know how important the library is
7. Learn from the competition – Amazon, Google, Borders
8. Embrace change

She authored the book, “Strategic Planning for Results� (UM DULUTH Library Book Z678 .N454 2008)

Posted by Sue Trettel at 8:45 AM | Permalink

I attended the MLA Conference that was held at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel from Nov 19-21, 2008. I went to several sessions. They were Managing Negativity at Work, Rethinking Tech Services: A Workflow Analysis, 50 in 75 Book Talks, Getting and Giving the Most from Library Student Assistants, and Politics in Minnesota. The only session I didn’t attend was the tour of MLAC. I was disappointed that the tour was cancelled. I was really looking forward to touring MLAC.
I have notes on all of the sessions, but very few handouts. I will comment on a few of the sessions.
Managing Negativity at Work was an interesting session. So many people were interested in this topic, that there were not enough handouts or chairs. This session dealt mainly with how to deal with negativity, the types of people that upset us and why, and steps that we can use to deal effectively with negative people and/or situations. There was a lot of discussion and examples.
Rethinking Tech Services was also an interesting session. There were four presenters: 2 from Mankato, 1 from Dakota County Library System and 1 from Macalester. Mankato and Dakota County hired consultants to help streamline the workflow. They felt that a person outside the library or even outside the community could look at their situations and make better suggestions. The consultants made suggestions and staff was allowed to look at all of them and make comments.
Mankato decided to cross-train their staff. They discovered that the staff was eager to learn new tasks, even though it was still hard for them to ‘give up’ some of their duties. They looked at the mission of the library to determine which tasks supported the mission and which tasks didn’t. Once they decided that, then they questioned each task with “why, why, why.� Why are we doing it, why is it necessary, why do we need to continue it? Change is hard for most people so they discovered that when they talked about change, it was better to talk about the change of ‘tasks’ and not the person doing them. Otherwise, the implication is that the person is no longer needed, when it’s just the tasks that are no longer needed.
The Dakota County Library System changed a policy about ordering and receiving materials. It eliminated a backlog and created a manageable workflow. They also did a patron survey and discovered that patron’s perceptions of the library did not match administration’s perception of the library. They made some changes that included patron’s ability to suggest book purchases on-line and searching by genre to eliminating cataloging practices that were not used and took up valuable staff time.
At Macalester they always ask ‘why’ they do something. They feel they should provide good service, but not be servants. And they don’t focus on road blocks to accomplish tasks. They had a strategic plan in place that helped with decisions. The changes they have made include migrating to electronic access for periodical titles. They hope to reduce paper titles from 1,023 to 257 by 2012. They reduced staff from 3 F.T.E. to 1 ½ F.T.E. (Mankato and Dakota didn’t cut staff). They are going to do more weeding, eliminate paper use (does every new item need a slip?), and streamline the statistics they use. They use Better World Book policies for their gift donation program. They discovered that when they made changes, it opened up many new possibilities.
Getting and Giving the Most from Student Library Assistants was o.k. I thought it was going to be more about how to get the most from students AFTER you’ve hired them. This session was mostly about the process of hiring them. It was interesting to hear about student employees at other libraries. Some libraries have different levels and pay based on duties and length of time at the library. And even some departments pay differently. Augsburg pays students in TS $1.00/hr more because they can’t study while at work. They are busy from the moment they come to work to the moment they leave and so are compensated for it. St. Cloud lets circ students study on the job, because they have to be there at odd hours of the day and night. There were a lot of questions and discussions about student employees.
I thank the Library for sending me.
Brenda

Posted by Sue Trettel at 9:23 AM | Permalink