Are we dumbing down and de-humanizing our libraries?  Are we speaking out against this process? John Berry’s article on “The Vanishing Librarians”  from Library Journal 2/15/2008 portrays a grim picture of today’s  libraries indeed, but it looks like it is not so far from the truth.

At my Library in Wausau Wisconsin, the 3 masters degree librarians with many years of service (myself included)  are receiving yearly salary cuts of $10,000 each because the work is professed to be less complex today.  See the two recent articles from the Wausau Daily Herald for yourself here and the second article here.

Librarians—we are in big trouble if our Directors and Library Boards do not value libraries and librarians, and see a professional librarian’s work as “less complex” and therefore less valuable today.  It is anything but.  Today’s librarian faces many more challenges and much more complexity today than in the past, and it is becoming much more so very rapidly.  

Librarians provide much more complicated reference and research assistance, assist with complicated technical and inappropriate behavior problems in the Library, write curriculum and teach computer classes for the staff anad public, plan programs,  give reader recommendations, show customers how to evaluate websites, recommend web sites to use, coordinate passport services (at some libraries) and summer library programs involving many branches, and multi-task themselves to death.   Librarians try desperately and  frantically to keep up with new technologies by playing with them at home. 

Customer expectations have risen. Customers are much more demanding today and tired from their fast-paced lives, bringing their stress and frustration to us.  We provide help, comfort, empathy, reassurance and information as quickly as their needs demand so that they can  move on to the next task in their busy lives.

The more that we, Librarians, participate in eroding our own value, and allow library boards and administrators to “dumb down and de-humanize” Librarians and Libraries alike, the more difficult it will be to get and keep public support and therefore adequate funding for libraries so that we can grow, survive, thrive, and meet and exceed the needs of today’s and  tomorrow’s users .   Libraries and Librarians can do many wonderful things to try to attract new users and reinvent themselves, but all will be worthless if we continue to de-value, downgrade and under-appreciate ourselves, our professional colleagues, and our libraries in the process. 

I agree with John Berry.  We need to scream, raise our voices in alarm, and proclaim our value before we are are perceived as completely worthless and disappear, librarians and libraries alike.  “Do not go gently into that good night….” (Dylan Thomas)

Sharyn Heili

As it turns out, there are very simple ways to make you library grr-r-r-eat!  But you knew that already didn’t you?  Here are some ideas from a WebJunction Webinar by Edmund Rossman III, “10 Ways to Make Your Library Great in 2008–via Web 2.0″ 1/16/2008)

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

See the complete webinar slides at WebJunction.

Sharyn Heili

Predictions for 2008 abound.  These technology predictions from Tim Bajarin (Creative Strategies),  PC Magazine,  are worth sharing.  Here they are:

• Smartphones Get Smarter
• Flash-based Laptops Arrive
• Introduction of the “Basic PC”
• Social Networks Are Targeted by Botnets 
• Smartphones Become Targets for Viruses and Identity Theft
• Social Networks Catch On with Corporate Users
• Little Screens Get Video
• Corporate IT and Users Demand Green PCs
• Apple Will Gain Significant New Market Share
• Technology Spending Could SlowDown

See his complete post at PC Magazine; also at PC Magazine see Lance Ulanoff’s year end review and guesses for 2008 here .  How will these trends affect libraries?   Are we ready? 

 Sharyn Heili

The following is based on an article in the November 2007 issue of the Harvard Business Review, “Ways to Build Collaborative Teams” by Lynda Gratton and Tamara J. Erickson who reported on research involving members of 55 teams; team size was 4–183 people.   

Eight Factors That Lead to Successful Team Collaboration

1. Invest in signature relationship practices–provide collaborative spaces with floor plans favoring collaboration.
2. Model collaborative behavior– where collaboration is demonstrated well at the top, teams collaborate well.
3. Create a gift culture–mentor and coach informally; help build networks.
4. Ensure requisite skills–positive impact on collboration where HR teaches conflict resolution, relationship-building,  and communication skills.
5. Support sense of community–people are more comfortable reaching out and sharing knowledge where community is felt. 
6. Assign task and relationship-oriented team leaders–both are keys to successfully leading a team.
7. Build on heritage relationships–have a few people on teams who know each other.
8. Understand role clarity and task ambigity–collaboration increases when team members’ roles are defined sharply, and latitude is given on task completion.

Sharyn Heili

I heard a story on NPR, Morning Edition on how San Diego radio station KPBS used technology to help residents cope with the recent wild fires. While they were forced off the air because of the fire, they used Google’s “My Map” to create a virtual map of Southern California to inform people where shelters were, what areas burned, what roads were closed, and the like. They also used set up a Twitter account to send text messages with updates and posted photos on Flickr.

Where did they learn to do this? In their free time, by playing with the technology “to find the best places to golf and to get a drink” on Google Maps their managing editor said. So they were ready to use it in important and creative ways when they could not broadcast.

How important it is to play and learn, even if you only have 15 minutes a day. And learn; be a life-long learner. Be committed to learning. Don’t accept excuses, not even your own.

We may not have lives to help save in this critical time frame, but we have libraries to save and customers to serve, keep, and grow. How can we use Google Maps, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 technology? How are we? Are we ready?

See a sample of station KPBS’s map here.

Sharyn Heili

Labor Day weekend is a good time to reflect on the characteristics that strong employees share, or what makes them valuable to their library or business. An article by Christine Harkness, retired business owner and author of the book, “Don’t Just Stand There, You Have a Business to Run”, listed these traits which she found to be in the strongest employees:

• Admits to and seeks help with problems
• Cares about others
• Communicates and listens
• Develops a sense of trust among members
• Gives compliments and support to others
• Is able to have fun and laugh together
• Respects the privacy of others
• Spends time talking and sharing
• Takes turns with chores and responsibilities
• Talks with all members equally
• Inherent sense of right and wrong
• Respect for others

Do we have some of these, all of these? Are we valuable to our libraries or businesses? Good reminders and food for thought and improvement.

Chrisitne Harkness’ column titled, “Employees Our Most Valuable Resource”, appeared in the Appleton Post Cresent on September 1. She is a counselor with SCORE.

Sharyn Heili

Libraries in 2010

Watch this video. It’s a scary (and funny) reminder of what could happen if we stay stuck in the past and do not continue learning and leading.

Snaryn Heili

 From keynote speaker,  Andrew Pace (NCSU):
2.0 is all about better, faster, cheaper–better Internet, better interfaces.  Yet libraries failed to notice that even though the sky wasn’t falling,  it was changing color all around us.  Libraries need to “get on the bus or get off at the next stop” NOW.

Library 2.0

• Do good better–online catalog, semantic web
• Give people what they want–self check-out, personalized service, better spaces
• Be where the user is–RSS, MySpace, instant messaging, SecondLife,FaceBook
• Make it more efficient–Self check-in, RFID, mass digitization, RDF, FAST(Faceted Access to Subjet Terms),
• Rinse and Repeat

See Pace’s complete presentation and others at his website.  This presentation and others from the Conference are also at the WilsWorld Conference website. 

Sharyn Heili

No Cookies in the Library – Classic Sesame Street

You can eat all the cookies you want in the Library today Cookie Monster, and drink milk, and read and listen to books and download music, and, and, and…  

Enjoy!   Sharyn Heili

What today’s fortune cookie has to say about goals:

“A goal is a dream with a deadline“

Sharyn Heili