We’re all in this together: Trustees, Board members and Libary staff

ALTAFF, Citizens for Maryland Libraries and local Friends groups should all work together.

Speaker: Valerie Gross, CEO, Howard County PL

inform + inspire + interact = educate
Choose Civility initiative

The unique roles of Trustees, Friends and Director

Library Board of Trustees
Hire and fire director
Set policy (not procedure)

Friends of the Howard County Library
Convey library values
Advocate for public funding
Advocate for private funds

Director/CEO
Inform, inspire, engage
Attend meetings
Submit report to trustees
Ensure language alignment: vision and mission
Develop succinct, yet powerful, message

What does your organization do?
Howard County’s 3 pillars: We provide equal education for all Howard County residents. Libraries are in the Maryland Code as a component of education.

Speaker: Pat Fisher, President, P. Fisher and Associates

Role of Trustees
Represent the community
Help set vision
Determine and adopt policy
Advocate to elected officials, family, friends and neighbors

Role of Director
Advise board
Helps set vision
Implement policy of the board
Develop strategies for using legislative advocacy
Encourage neighborhood advocacy
Give numbers and statistics
Develop analogies

Role of the Friends
Advocate for the library
Raise funds to supplement government funding

Vision is put in motion by carrying out the library’s mission, goals, etc.

Greatest advocacy message is a short, heartwarming story (…backed up by statistics).

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. – Yeats

Don’t wing it.
Don’t forget to mention your affiliation.
Don’t tell everything; pick 3.
Don’t forget that relationships are the key to successful advocacy.
Don’t forget your stories, facts and figures.

Speaker: Ari Brooks, Executive Director, Friends of the Library Montgomery County

24 paid employees, plus part-time staff with $1.2 million budget

Branch Friends groups have 1 annual meeting with umbrella group.

Ms. Brooks is invited to staff meetings.

Ms. Brooks and her staff are invited to strategic planning meetings, then her Friends board drafts their own strategic plan in alternating years, so that goals of the library and the Friends are aligned.

Friends fund Staff Development Day ($50k) for 600+ staff.

Joint meeting with branch managers, Friends chapters and library board held annually.
Library Director delivers State of the Library address.
An elected official is often the featured speaker. (Most recently, County Manager)
Come up with 3 points, a unified message for the year.
Listen to and follow through on what the elected officials say.

The Library Director has a column in the Friends newsletter.
The Friends Executive Director has a column in the staff newsletter.

MLA 2009 Keynote: Paul Holdengraber

His programs are often discussions (no lectures). They are best with no rehearsals and with allowances for the unexpected.

Break all the rules of the library.

Try different things.

Don’t worry about failure.

The power to try, fail, succeed

Bringing solitudes together (respecting reading as a personal and isolated act, but recognizing the power of programs to bring individuals together)

Find humor in programs

Seek new forms of engagement

We must recognize the importance of the cultural sphere in the midst of scarcity, like the WPA during the Great Depression.

Make art popular or make people artistic – Oscar Wilde

The goal of library programs -- seek to create a moment of focus for your community.

Every good book, every good painting is a victory over death.

Learn the community, what they appreciate and then take them one step further. Don’t just give them what they want. Give them what they didn’t know they wanted.

What are subjects that people are thinking about today? Find themes that matter.

Smaller libraries can move very fast and are more agile. Use this to your advantage.

NYPL does not pay their speakers. Their programming budget is shoestring. Most programs have 800 seats and the library sells tickets to these events. There are two seasons for these programs. Sept – Dec & Feb – June; Summers off.

The importance of partnerships and sponsorships.

Stressed the importance of building a collection of email addresses. NYPL currently has 25-30k.

Holdengraber recommended Alain De Botton's The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

It is natural for people to initially feel small in the presence of so much culture (at the library); we must discover how to move them, to empower them.

How to Collaborate in the Workplace: One Conversation at a Time

Presenter: Andrea Mayfield

Leadership and how it guides organizational culture

Which behaviors encourage collaborative cultures?
How do leaders create an environment that ensures staff are engaged with the organization?

Rankism = organizations in which the hierarchy gets in the way

Many problems arise because of confusion about process. Often staff within an organization are working toward the same goal, but there has been no discussion of process. This can result in infighting between departments.

The importance of moving from the implicit to the explicit

The intent/impact gap. Leaders should try to narrow their own intent/impact gap. What is your intent? What is the impact of your actions? Our actions can be easily misinterpreted. We should strive to narrow the gap between intent and impact.

Don’t assume intent of others. Discuss things--particularly with difficult people. Ask direct questions. Is your intent to…? That is how you are coming across to other people. Make assumptions visible. Get it out on the table.

Un-discussables—-the elephants in the room--result in nasty surprises or missed opportunities. Discuss and understand.

Robust dialogue is a vital and healthy part of conversation. If you or your organization is uncomfortable with disagreement, frame the conversation and prepare for opposing viewpoints.

Dissent is not disloyalty. A good (productive) fight is healthy. Frame it up and depersonalize it.

I trust your passion about the collection and about our goals. I have concerns about whether you’ll meet deadlines. What can we work on or change?

As you prepare for a meeting, try to determine what your role is and why you were invited. Was it to drive the meeting? Discuss issues? Play Devil’s Advocate? Offer your experience and expertise? Each meeting is different and, to be most effective, you must determine and embrace your role.

With elements of organizational culture (example: assigned parking, close to the building for management), we must ask ourselves -- Does this help us or get in our way?

The say/do gap: What we say we believe versus what we actually do

Find examples of corporate cultures that you admire. Look at and learn from them.

System theory breaks staff into top, middle and bottom. Middles can be allied with upper management or front line staff. There are strengths and weaknesses to either alliance.

Arrogant/confident line – we walk it everyday.

A culture that promotes almost exclusively from within is not looking outward for new ideas. One administrator stated, Incest made us slow and dumb.

The quickest way for leaders to erode trust in their organization is by allowing incompetence and bad behavior.

Decision making – if it will be I want to hear from everyone, then I will make a decision in my office, then say that beforehand.

Understand that this is very different from We want consensus. Consensus means that everyone must eventually agree; that is an extremely long process.

Perhaps the decision must be made by the leader and then you seek consensus on how to roll out a new product, policy or service.

Sunk cost bias = We’ve already spent X dollars on this, let’s stay the (wrong) course

Learning solutions through technology

Slides here.

Learning Solutions through Technology--Lori Reed

eLearning solutions
synchronous (like Horizon Wimba, WebEx, Dimdim)
asynchronous
blended
informal

The information people need to do their jobs will not be posted on a whiteboard, it will be found from interacting with other people.

Check out T is for Training

Tips to implement e-Learning
You need support from the top
Include IT in discussions early on
Trainer, train thyself
Don't put speed over quality
Have a plan
Be prepared to demonstrate Return on Investment
Enlist the help of tech-savvy staff
Look for support from local businesses

Rockin' Staff for everyone: Empowering your staff through tech skills building-- Sarah Houghton-Jan

Why is staff tech training important?
Increase staff retention rate
Show institutional commitment to lifelong learning
Save money
Strengthen staff skills and confidence
Improve customer service
Increase efficiency and productivity
Motivate staff to keep learning

Benefits of a skills based approach
Equitable expectations for all staff
Reveals training needs
Accurate job descriptions
Helps with performance evaluations
Consistent customer service
Helps staff adjust and handle change

Project planning
Goals
Skill lists
Assessment
Training
Reassessment
Evaluation

What are your goals?
Who manages the project?
Do you have, or need to create, a skills list?
Do you have a timeline in mind?
What are your resources (funding and staff)?
What training resources exist and which ones need to be created?

Ensuring staff buy-in
Listen: ask staff for their input and use it.
Keep everyone informed.
Reassure staff that they don't have to know it all now.
Managers must follow project plan.
Hold a brainstorming session or party.
Fun. Rewards. Food.

Ensure Admin buy-in
Write a purpose statement
Determine measurable deliverables (% increase in skills by individual or unit, # of classes or hours completed, etc)
Build training into performance evaluations
Train Admin/Management first or separately (if need be)

Creating a training program
Decide on types and numbers of trainings
Start with the basic topics
Open trainings to all staff
Mandatory or voluntary attendance?
Training budget based on staff needs
Set goals and rewards

Four types of learning
Scheduled learning
Unscheduled learning
Ongoing learning
eLearning

Tips
Add fun!
Use real world examples
Personalize the exercises
Highlight tips and tricks
Encourage student independence
Ask students to dream at the end (...now that you've learned this, what could you change about where you work...)
Be available and accessible

Importance of ongoing reassessment
What about staff who don't meet expectations
How will you measure success? (assessment, anecdotal reports from staff, evaluations, successful tech launches, better customer service)
Celebrate successes!

Evaluating, Recommending and Justifying 2.0 tools

Presenter: Marydee Ojala, Editor, ONLINE magazine

New technologies include all things 2.0, social networking/software/media.

Each social tool has a use, but not all need to be used by your organization, necessarily. Use common sense. Not everyone has to follow the cool kid on the block, but, social and 2.0 are real. They are the future and they are evolving.

Does your management appreciate the power of social?
Does your staff?
Do you?

Social media are becoming more traditional methods of communication; meanwhile, traditional media becoming more social themselves.

Current Challenge: our professional and personal lives are blending because of the use of these tools.

Benefits of Social in a Business Setting
Evaluating products, services, technologies
Recommending them for internal use
Justifying your recommendation

Why add Social Tools?
Customer expectation
Marketing yourself, your department
Product promotion
Transmitting information, sharing knowledge
Learning others' expertise
Reputation management
Back channel at conferences, meetings

These tools get us outside our comfort zone.
This isn't just a library decision.
Opportunity to join a larger organization.
They position the library- and information professionals-as tech experts.
Put info pros at the center of decision making for entire organization.

New technology should solve a problem, not provide a solution to a problem your organization does not have.

Questions
Does the tech work as advertised?
Will it survive?
Who provides tech support?
Who owns the data?

These aren't trivial concerns. You need to know the difference and be able to explain the difference. Don't brand people Luddites. Anticipate objections and be prepared to reply. Do background research for their discipline, their world view. Ground your case in the realities of your situation, your organization. Timing is important.

One common objection--This social stuff just wastes time--however, if a deadline is missed, it doesn't matter if it was missed due to Twitter or to plain incompetence. A missed deadline is a management/personnel issue.

Getting management buy-in
Don't surprise them.
Don't complicate their lives.
Prove management skills, vision of organization as an organic whole.
Communication is key.
Stress value of research function

Unconferences

Presenters: Steve Lawson, Stephen Francoeur, John Blyberg, Kathryn Greenhill

Kathryn: Methodology

Barcamp, open spaces meeting, libcamp, bibcamp, mashed library are all terms for unconferences.

Recommended reading: Open Space Technology

Methodology of Unconferences
Turn up on day and talk about what the group wants (sometimes that means more structure, not less; depends on group)
Whoever comes are the right people
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
Whenever it starts is the right time (conversation goes on as long as needed)
When it’s over, it’s over

Law of Two Feet: every individual has two feet, and must be prepared to use them. Responsibility for a successful outcome in any Open Space Event resides with exactly one person -- each participant. Individuals can make a difference and must make a difference. If that is not true in a given situation, they, and they alone, must take responsibility to use their two feet, and move to a new place where they can make a difference. This departure need not be made in anger or hostility, but only after honoring the people involved and the space they occupy. By word or gesture, indicate that you have nothing further to contribute, wish them well, and go and do something useful.

For more, read Dave Winer's post What is an unconference?


Steve: Planning

For unconferences, as with a party, you pick the location, bring the refreshments, invite a bunch of people, invite specific people, but you can’t/don’t plan what each person says.

General unconferences are not about specific library settings.

Casual, but how casual?
What will you keep from traditional conferences?
Keynotes (It can give a basis or establish a theme; this can be good or bad)
Sessions
Registration
Fees
Hybrid?

Select the time and place
Everyday is a bad day for somebody
How many will attend?

Use social software to organize.
Unconferences share a wiki-ethos in terms of participation.
Establish a wiki with details about when/where; seed the wiki.

Supplies, meeting space, etc
Free as in someone else is paying—partner when possible.
Borrow from your own institution.

Consider amenities and grace notes
Takeaways, gifts, schwag

Stephen: Real world examples

Library Camp NYC
Provided notebook printed with logo to participants (200 at $4 each)

Planning
Asked for topic ideas, received 160, merged/combined (via open discussion) into 28 slots.

Use the above moderated method to organize OR...
consider posting a blank grid on a wall and individuals fill-in to present.

Once it is set up, participants run the unconference themselves.
Organizers simply then focus on food and WiFi.

John: Real world experience

Organized 6 unconferences, all different topics.
Most recently--responsibilities of librarians in the future, responsibilities of librarians to the future

Unconferences are agile to address emerging needs.

To be successful, feel free to diverge from outlined model above. Some structure may be important, be ready to activate a topic, if participation is not there.

Unconferences will not replace traditional conferences, but they are a great way to inject intelligent thought into work.

Unconferences can be exhausting (in a good way) when participants are fully engaged.

New strategies for digital natives

Presenter: Helene Blowers, Library Bytes, Director of Digital Strategy at Columbus Metro Library

Slides here

Digital natives = born after 1980

Web 1.0: find, access and chase information
Web 2.0: connect, engage, share and create information

Natives
Access and engagement have always been their reality.
Their digital identities are the same as in-person (...though they may use avatars to test the waters of emerging technologies.)

The Kid who made Obama, social media article from current issue Fast Company

Libraries can teach communities to stop chasing information and how to get information to come to them (via RSS, online alerts, etc). Libraries provide spaces and places to create.

Check out: Digitalnative.org

9 realities of digital natives
Identity
Privacy
Safety
Advocacy
Info Quality
Creativity
Education
Opportunity
Sharing

Top 5 social networks (Jan 09): Facebook, MySpace, Flixter, Twitter, LinkedIn

Book recommendation: Ren Gen

93% of Teens are online
2/3rds of online teens create content like photos, posts and remixed content

In the new environment, information quality shifts from authoritative control to collaborative control with an increase in social responsibility. Study which appeared in Nature found that Britannica has the same average number of mistakes as Wikipedia. Britannica has since added a wiki element recognizing the importance of collaborative control.

According to an OCLC survey, individuals learn about electronic information sources from friends 61% of the time, from librarians 8% of the time.

Digitally…
There are no barriers.
The playing field is leveled.
Access is universal.
Connection is ubiquitous.
It’s all about me.
-------------------------
= opportunity