Day 6

Day 6 - 28th June 2008

ALA Conference - Day 1

Service Disney Style! / Bruce Kimbrell, Disney Institute.

The Disney definition of Quality Service: exceeding guest expectations; paying attention to details.

Guestology: knowing your guests (demographics); understanding your guests (psychographics).

Service Standards: set criteria for quality decisions; measure quality service.

Developing Service Standards: identify words and phrases; define what standards look like; prioritise the standards; communicate within your organisation.

Delivery System – Cost: front line = bottom line; “right fit”; Disney traditions; performance training.

Delivery System – Systems and settings: send the right message; guide the guest experience; employ visual and non visual details; separate on stage from backstage; maintain the setting.

Delivery System – Systems and process: align processes with guestology; ensure processes are inclusive; plan for every contingency; encourage employee flexibility.

If there are hassles there is a process problem.

Walt Disney World Service Standards

Courtesy- involves respecting the individual.

Efficiency – involves providing for the smooth operation of all elements in the show.

Safety – is providing for the welfare of the guests and cast.

Show – creates a seamless guest experience.

Black Belt Librarians: how to recognise & respond to the four levels of emotion that any patron may be in / Warren Graham, Warren Davis Graham Training & Consulting.

Emotional Levels

C - Calm
A – Anxiety
B – Belligerent
C – Control (out of control)

In dealing with possible difficult customers they should try and move the patrons emotional level from one another, e.g. Anxiety to Calm, Belligerent to Anxiety, and not the other way.
Some strategies that may be helpful.

Apologise – fix it; honest empathy – patron can tell if not; sincerity; genuinely interested; supportive comments; state your understanding (don’t agree); repeat issues; body language – nodding.

When a patron yells and swears – it mainly about a library situation don’t take it personally; establish credibility; ‘settledown let’s work this out’ or ‘you are not letting me explain’; take your ego out of situation; by upsetting you, controls you; don’t say ‘calm down’, use ‘settle down’, ‘compose yourself’, ‘give me a chance’.

Don’t touch the other person; don’t take them into the office alone.

If they demand your name – give it on a piece of paper along with the name of your supervisor.

Patrons are getting harder to deal with – negative level of emotion – stressful society – working harder – negative society – too much news, media – email.

You may have been the first person to say ‘No’ to the patron.

The patron may just be ‘naturally mean’.

Patron might get personal, move to the other side of desk. There could be an issue between two patrons; drunk or drugs.

President’s Program / Membership Meeting: international insights for new librarians

In this presentation three conference delegates from Australia, Alyson Dalby, Fiona Bradley and Andrew Spencer, spoke about the success of the New Librarian Symposiums held biannually in Australia.

Captain your own Destiny / Tobi Oberman, Jennifer Kutzik and Dorothy Morgan.

To Swim Ahead or Wade in the Water (To Lead or Follow): Be prepared to do either; When you lead make sure you lead from start to end; When following be supportive, make sure your leader looks good, offer suggestions but do the tasks as assigned; Leaders – listen to your followers; Followers – listen to your leaders; If as a leader you decide to delegate, do not micro manage, be open and available to answer questions.

Don’t Tread in the Water for Too Long: You need to break out of your comfort zone and try something new; Take any opportunity to network that you can; Look at the big picture not only your portion of that big picture.

I’m Sinking: Know when you are in over your head; It’s OK to be apprehensive about a project. Do not be afraid to ask for help; Don’t keep troubling matters to yourself. Talk to your supervisor.

It’s a Walk on the Beach: You are the only one who can choose your attitude; Stretch to the next level; Make each transaction a positive one.

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Mirror, Mirror – What are your special skills?: Review history, Take tests; Ask trusted acquaintances.

The Leader Picture – Leaders want three things: To look good; Good advice; Loyalty.

The Big Picture: Contribute more than you cost; Build your reputation (by); Making your leader look good.

How can I do it: Speak up; Be Creative; Be Flexible; Be Positive.

Beyond Raises/Promotions: Lateral movement; Enrichment; Flexibility; Influence.

It All Comes Down To – “It’s not the answers that show us the way, but the questions” (Rainer Maria Rilke): What makes you happy?; What do you live for?; Who’s in charge of your career?

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What’s Important: Adapting to CHANGE; Right kind of ATTITUDE; Thr secret of SUCCESS; COMMITMENT; COURAGE TO TAKE RISKS; Build on your strengths.

The price for a new change: There is a price for a new change but to evolve as a person at the end, the new life journey could be priceless.

ATTITUDE: Attitude isn’t simply a state of mind ... it is a reflection of what we value and it is with this state of mind that I remain in charge of my attitude.

The secret of SUCCESS: Marcus Buckingham author of The One Thing You Need to Know The Secret of Success says we should eliminate the things we hate doing from our lives and focus on doing the things we love even better.

CHANGE: Saul Alinsky says, “Change means movement, movement means friction, friction means heat and heat means controversy”.

COMMITMENT: Today in libraries around the globe, staff are learning new skills, filling new assignments and changing the workplace for the better! Administrators, are finding ways to fill jobs with some new, and some “professional only” job descriptions, with intelligent, capable – paraprofessionals.

COURAGE TO TAKE RISKS: As our roles change and become redefined, we need to understand trends, ideas and issues that are being addressed by librarians. Library assistants can only help themselves by learning as much as they can.

STRENGTHS: Sarah Ann Long, President of ALA 2000-2001 thinking about our industry, asked what are our strengths? What can we build on? One strength is that we have always been early adapters to new technology.

We are embracing change. All over the country libraries are experimenting eagerly with new technology, web publishing, and patron initiated inter-library loan. When something works we follow it.

What’s in it for me???? You are attesting to taking care of your career. That it matters enough to you.

Paraprofessional of the Year

Once again I was fortunate to attend the presentation and cocktail party for the Paraprofessional of the Year Award, awarded by Library Journal and sponsored by Brodart Library Supplies & Frunsihings. This year the Award was presented to Steve Roskoski, Library Assistant, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR.

Day 5

Day 5 – 27th June 2008

COLT Conference – Day 2

Non-Traditional Roles for Library Support Staff: just how far have we come? / Julia D. Ree, University of California, Riverside.

A Little History

What is a non traditional role?

Library Assistants take on all kinds of tasks. Occasionally, some cross the divide between traditional and non-traditional roles. “Role Blurring” between the work that librarians library assistants do.

Librarianship emerged as a profession in the mid nineteenth century.
Library collections grew, requiring larger staffs.
The library assistant was born!

1923 Carnegie Corporation Report:
Library work shall be segmented into two parts.
Professional: For librarians, complex tasks, academic training, higher pay.
Non-Professional: For library support staff, simple duties, on-the-job training, lower pay.

Present Day

Factors for change arose in the 1980’s and 1990’s: technology, economy, emergence of extreme Support Staff activism, graying of the experienced generation.

Technology
Personal computers arrived in the 1980’s: check in/out systems for Circulation Services, on-line ordering systems for acquisitions, OCLC for cataloguing, library systems became integrated.
Technical knowledge became the province of the Library Assistant.

Economy
Economic recessions in recent decades forced libraries to cope with tight budgets.
It became cheaper to train support staffers for duties formerly undertaken by higher-priced personnel.

Activism for Support Staff
The 1990’s saw increasing involvement of Library Support Staff in state and national library associations.
Council on Library/Media Technicians (COLT)
Library Support Staff Interest Round Table (LSSIRT).

The Graying of the Experienced Generation
The oldest generation of Librarians was taught that only Librarians could do certain tasks.
The oldest generation of Library Assistants was taught that they could not do certain tasks.
Old attitudes about rigidity of roles fade as the oldest generation retires.

Example of Present Trends: UC Riverside
Library Assistants at UC Riverside have been encouraged to learn the latest computer systems.

Tasks that have opened up for Library Assistants: preservation, reference, interlibrary loans, systems, circulation services, acquisitions, collection development, cataloguing, budget , personnel, writing bibliographies, research, writing books, writing articles, presenting at meetings, representing the library.

The library of the 21st Century

More individuals in the library hierarchy will have advanced degrees but not in library science: Financial Officer, Financial Officer, Systems Personnel, Development Officer, Human Resources Officer.

Conclusion

Opportunities for new roles for Library Support Staff have emerged quietly and gradually.
In spite of the advances the need for career growth and meaningful recognition continues to be an issue.
How do we achieve our goals?: LTA programs, library schools, certification, COLT, LSSIRT.

Technical Services Panel / Robert Forte, US Supreme Court, Special Library; Robin Martindill, San Diego Mesa College, 2 year College Library; Julia Ree, Univ of Calif/Riverside, 4 year College Library; Kevin Dudeney, NSW Dept. Of Corrective Services, Special Library. Introduced by Stan Cieplinski.

The panel discussed how the varied tasks they do in Technical Services means that they too canbe the face of the library.

Library Support Staff Certification / Karen Strege, Western Council of State Libraries.

Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSCP)

69% of support staff are without MLS.
86% of Library Support Staff said they would like a national certification program.
76% supported a nationally recognised standard.
66% believed that participation in a certification program will provide better service to the public.

Background
Certification has been a topic of discussion for ALA and Library Support Staff for 15 years. However, at COPE III (Congress on Professional Education) that a decision was made to focus on Library Support Staff. ALA2010 Long Range plan calls for a national certification program.

To help develop the Certification program, ALA received a grant for $407K from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2007. The grant is being administered by ALA and Western Council of State Librarians and requires the following to happen: Year 1 – finalise competencies; Year 2 – develop an assessment program and develop policies and procedures; Year 3 – field test the program in five organisation types.

The desired outcome of the project is to assist in the improvement of public and academic library service, Library Support Staff can participate in a national voluntary certification program endorsed by the ALA, ALA-APA and participating units of ALA.

LSS Certification will be:
Individually based
Portable from state to state
Would not guarantee any salary raise or promotion benefits – all such decisions are made by the local library
Include a basic set of competencies
Establish a basic standard of LSS competency nationwide.

The target audience is anyone who: has a high school education, has library experience and who wishes to obtain or validate library support staff competencies.

Preliminary areas of competencies are: Foundations; Access Services; Reference and Information Services; Technical Services; Reader Advisory; Management and Supervision; Public Programming; Personal Skills; Marketing/Public Relations; Youth Services.

The 5 libraries where the testing will be done are: N. Suburban Library System, IL; Arizona State Library and Archives; Texas Library Association; Highline Community College, WA; ALA division.

Issues

How to make the program affordable yet sustainable by ALA

How to assess current knowledge and determine if it meets competencies

How to assess new learning and determine if it meets competencies

How to get acceptance of the program across the country.

Why LSS Certification:
National Certification is going to make a bigger difference than many folks realize. This portable standard of excellence will obviously benefit Support Staff. We are valuable asset to well-functioning libraries. This needs to be established beyond regional purviews.
Linda Pierro, Library Support Staff

Thoughts on Libraries and Web 2.0 / Walter Nelson, RAND Corporation.

Web 2.0: current buzz word; the interactive web; users create, update, comment on, rate, tag, monitor, distribute and otherwise fiddle with the content; webmaster is no longer a gatekeeper.

Things to consider: Is my audience ready for it or are they already there (and left me behind); does the use of the tools confer any practical benefit; Does using the tools justify the time it will take.

Possible Pitfalls: firewalls and security issues; limited budget; limited time; staff indifference; unclear goals or purpose.

Tagging: Users define relationships between things; users assign subject terms; users link content to other users or sites.

Blogs (Web Logs): Chronological; postings limited to designated authors; comments feature; RSS feed; cross posting – trackbacks; social tagging.

Blog Uses: news and announcements; hints & tips; wit & wisdom; document a project (minutes of meeting); systems admin. Document changes, fixes, etc.

Wikis: Multiple users can change content at will; dynamic group think.

Uses of Wikis: Policies & procedures; favourite links, patron help, requires active participation.

RSS “Really Simple Syndication”: provides notification of news, changes and updates without using email; subscriber initiates link; links multiple sites and users with fresh content.

Where does RSS come from?: news media outlets; blogs, wikis; social networking sites; databases; publishers; practically everyone these days.

What you can do with RSS: Syndicate your blog generated news and announcements; post your blog generated content to your web pages; create automatically updated web pages with current world and local news.

Discussion Groups: threaded discussion; subscribe/unsubscribe; all may participate; achive of past messages.

Advantages of discussion groups over email: all subscribers get the message; all subscribers can contribute; threaded and self organising; archive of past discussions; subscribers can decide how much email to receive (digest, no email); can tie into other content (calendars, photos, etc.)

Social Networking: what most people mean by “Web 2.0”; you link your personal web page to the pages of others; you get updates about your “friends” and they about you; blog and other “What I am doing and thinking” features.

Possible library uses: create company page; post events on calendar; send out messages; post recommended links; integrate library catalogue search application.

Possible internal library uses: create a private, secret group; staff use it to communicate, coordinate.

Content sharing: YouTube – videos; Flikr – images; useful in connection with other tools, but business uses limited.

Possible library uses: post local history photograph collection; post video and images from library events; link to these from other web tools.

Sharepoint: used for internal collaboration; combines document sharing, blog, wiki, links, RSS reader, discussion groups, etc.; robust and granular access controls; powerful tool; clunky interface undermines acceptance.

Participation: participatory web requires your staff to participate; a few producers, many passive lurkers; different tools require different levels of participation; does your staff have the time, motivation, confidence and skills?; exploit your audience’s skills, knowledge and energy and make them partners; absolute control of content is sacrificed.

On the down side: different views and approaches; audience triviality and foolishness’ it’s a big risk, and takes a lot of trust in your product and your audience; someone must monitor activity for abuse and excessive idiocy.

COLT General Membership Meeting

Once again it was good to attend a meeting of COLT. To have a look at what has been achieved over the last 12 months. It was unanimously agreed by all members present that the current committee will continue in their current positions for up to 6 months to address a number of issues for the progression of the organisation.

Day 4 - 26th June 2008

COLT Conference – Day 1 part 2

Great Moments in the History of Library Support Staff / Manuel Urrizola, University of California, Riverside Campus.

Top Ten Milestones and Millstones of Library Support Staff:

# 10 - Melville Dewey organises first library school in 1887.
# 9 - Library page in 1918. It would appear Mao was passed over for advancement and decided to go off and do something else.
# 8 – Manuel (presenter) discovers materialism as library page in 1963.
# 7 – Support staff work Ref Desk at UC Irvine Library in 1980’s.
# 6 – Library Support Staff Interests Round Table (LSSIRT) formed 1993.
# 5 – Library support staff journal the Associates published 1994.
# 4 – Great Moments in the History of Technical Services compiled in 1997. First attested use of an ISBN.
# 3 – SAGE Support Staff Travel Grants awarded 2005 +.
# 2 – Free for All by Don Borchert (Library Assistant) published in 2007.
# 1 – COLT 41st Annual Conference held in Anaheim 2008.

Dealing with Difficult People / Scott La Counte, Haskett Branch Library, Anaheim, CA.

Before we can understand the behaviour of others we need to understand our own behaviour.
There are four types of people:

Type 1 – Wants to be appreciated. Needs attention.
Type 2 – Wants to get things done. Needs control.
Type 3 – Wants to get things right.
Type 3 – Wants to get along. Needs approval.

Where does anger come from? - Stress, frustration, mental reasons.

Degrees of anger: Frustration, upset, angry, complaining, accusatory, furious, unacceptable behaviour.

What patrons expect: ease of use, competent staff, accurate information, availability of desired material, private and confidential transactions, safe, quiet facility, quiet space, patient courteous and helpful staff.

Preventive measures: Acknowledgement, especially if there is a line, greeting, be personal, if you know their name, eye contact, be proactive, “Did you find all you needed”, don’t use library terms and don’t use negative talk. Ensure signage is adequate.

When dealing with difficult people use non-verbal language and be assertive.

20 steps to defusing a difficult patron:

Set the tone for the exchange
Breathe and count (the situation is not personal)
Treat person with respect
Listen
Acknowledge and validate
Focus on problem
Concede a minor point
Avoid red flag (negative) words
Don’t argue
Disagree diplomatically
Don’t justify
Don’t use one upmanship
Apologise
Use bridging statements (Let’s find a solution)
Define problem
Use salami tactic (one thing at a time)
Be assertive
Don’t make idle promises (find solutions)
Involve a colleague.

It is imperative that staff are prepared by having consistent and equitable policies.

Online Education for Library Technicians: the Cuesta College Model / Dave Dowell.

Cuesta College has been educating library technicians since the 1960’s. For the last several years its curriculum has been developed online. Two visits to the San Luis Obispo Campus is required during the degree or certificate program. For the last few years more than 160 individuals are enrolled in at least one course each semester.

What do you look for when doing a course: cost, prerequisites, on campus vs off campus – online.
At Cuesta College the type of course that are offered are determined by the students. While employers requirements drive the content of the courses.

Online learning is not for everyone, but it is the only way for some. Currently, at the college they have the same number of students online as they have face to face.

Some people at the COLT Conference.

Day 4 - 26th June 2008

COLT Conference Day 1 - Part 1

See Me! – Drawing attention to the support staff faces in the library / Jenifer Grady, Director, ALA-APA.

ALA-APA’s (American Library Association – Allied Professional Association) roll is to provide a voice and platform to advocate for improving library employee status and salaries.

One of the things ALA-APA does is operate a certification program based on a series of practicable courses.

It is difficult to come up with a national strategy with regards to library paraprofessionals as there are 62 different titles for paraprofessionals in US libraries.

Library staff are worth more than they think. It is important in negotiations to consider your own personal value to the organisation.

The Tuesday in National Library Week is National Library Workers Day. This is a celebration for all the people who work in the profession and the work they do. Support staff are the first face seen by patrons; the human presence of the library; some may consider the personality of the library; for some the elusive face of the library – providing access to the collection.

The face of the library can be improved by the lack of jargon, easy to understand signage, be welcoming, work with students and faculty. Support staff should ensure they are seen to be of value to senior staff. Management should reciprocate by encouraging staff development opportunities.

Identity Theft / Investigator Damon Tucker, Orange County DA Office.

In the US the Social Security number was initially designed to enable access to services in retirement. However, an individual’s Social Security number is now required by other organisations, e.g. banks and therefore more chance of the others being able to access this information.

Sources for criminals: mail theft, auto burglary, lost and misplaced property, dumpster diving, spoofing – hoax emails, phishing – replying to emails, commercial burglary, pretext calls, receipts, Internet, insiders and database intrusion.

A useful thing to remember is, if they don’t exist in the 3D world, don’t deal with them.

Can you prevent ID fraud? No. But you can minimise your chances of it happening to you.

New Enhancements to OCLC’s Connexion Client / Jennifer Bielewski, SOLINET.

Display cataloguing record/item language. In WorldCat lists, you can display a column CatL that indicates when the language of cataloguing (040 $b) is present in the bibliographic records.

Previously, when you used the Lock Linked Authority Record command for a field in a bibliographic record that has multiple headings linked (controlled) to different authority records, the client locked the authority record linked to the first controlled heading in the field. Now, a new window opens with a list of the controlled headings in the field so that you can choose the heading linked to the authority record you want to lock.

You can turn on an option to be warned before you export a record that includes unlinked non-Latin fields.

You can link 655 genre headings in bibliographic records to the associated authority records.

Export bibliographic records in additional Dublin Core formats including Dublin Core Simple, OCLC Dublin Core Simple, and OCLC Dublin Core Qualified. Previously only Dublin Core Qualified was available.

Import bibliographic records in Dublin Core Qualified and Dublin Core Simple, both in XML with UTF-8 character set.

Future enhancements

Client 2.10 will support the addition of reference s with non-Latin characters to name authority records in LC/NACO Authority File.

Prepopulation of approx. 500,000 non-Latin script references in the LC/NACO File with data derived from bibliographic headings.

Expansion of LCCN authorities indexing, in order to help identify the history of personal names previously on undifferentiated authority records and subsequently established as a separate authority record.

As Expected

As expected I haven't had time to be doing daily posts once the conferences get underway.

But, there are a couple of Aussies at the conference. Alysan Dalby, Fiona Bradley and Andrew Spencer, are here presenting a session talking about NLS's, Gill Hallam and Jennefer Nicholson at the IFLA stand.

The Book Cart Drill Teams were on today and I have videos of them all, 8 this year. It was fun to watch them do their routines.

Day 3 – 25th June 2008

When to a couple of different places today. Went to Downtown Disney and had lunch at the Rainforest Café. This is a unique place to eat. The décor is supposed to be a rainforest containing typical vegetation, birds and animals. The novel thing is at certain times the large models of apes and elephants move and make appropriate sounds. Also, they put on a rainstorm. Flashing lights for lightning and appropriate sounds but no water.

Then it was off to Disneyland. To fully see and participate in everything you would have to get a 3 day ticket, spend say 6 hours a day and have far more patience than me. So I can say I have been to Disneyland. I bought myself a ‘Grumpy’ T-shirt.

Day 2 – 24th June 2008

Didn’t do much today just went for a bit more of a looksee at Anaheim, working out ways to get around town, etc.

Katella Av., Anaheim

Day 1 - 23rd June 2008

The flight took off at 2.00 pm on Monday 23rd June and I got into LAX at 10.00 am on Monday 23rd June. During the flight I watched, ‘Vantage Point’ (wasn’t a bad flick) and ‘From Here to Eternity’, watched some TV programs and did a bit of reading, which is currently, The Tesla Legacy / Robert G Barrett. Yep, he is the same guy who writes about Les Norton, but this not a Les Norton novel.

Anaheim reminds me of Parramatta Rd., Sydney, except there are some palm trees and there are more traffic lanes on each side of the road. I am sure every city in Australia has a similar area. The weather was about 23 C, with a breeze, but it was still a bit warm walking around. One thing though, the days are a bit longer than what I am used to at the moment.