Tuesday, January 30, 2007
"You have to let it go."
He wonders,
"…think about your library staff for a sec. Are their customer service cups half-empty or half-full? Are they prone to to be reactive or proactive? Do they go the extra mile to help customers find something, or do they say “it’s up on the next floor” and point vaguely to the elevator? Do they “flip her the bird” when no one’s looking (or at least, when they THINK no one’s looking)?"The best way to answer this is to staff your library with people who have the attributes you want in an excellent service provider. Either they have the skills to handle problems well or they don't. My guess is that the person mentioned in the book felt they just had to let that steam off. For them it may have been a safety valve and others might say it was a smart way to deal with it. But my goodness, think about the level of planning involved just to get that act over without being noticed (by almost everyone...). No, the better way is to have the ability to let that transaction go and move on to the next one in the first place. You can't prevent yourself from being affected by problem patrons, but you can control your reactions to the situation. It's just part of a person's mental, professional and emotional makeup. Much of this can be taught, but it's a lot easier if you can hire people who have a lot of the tools already in place.
Robert Spector, author of the Nordstrom Way, writes at his website,
Hire Nice, Motivated People:
"The company’s preference is to hire a nice person and teach her how to sell, rather than hire a saleswoman and teach her how to be nice. The corollary to that rule is "hire the smile and train the skill." I once asked Bruce Nordstrom who really trains the sales people. His answer was: "Their parents."
Friday, January 26, 2007
Urban Libraries Council Report on Libraries and Economic Development
Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development
The study was announced on January 11th on the ULC website.
"The study concludes that public libraries are positioned to fuel not only new, but next economies because of their roles in building technology skills, entrepreneurial activity, and vibrant, livable places. The combination of stronger roles in economic development strategies and their prevalence -- 16,000 branches in more than 9,000 systems -- make public libraries stable and powerful tools for cities seeking to attract and build new businesses."
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Libraries are good for the community
Yeah, I know this. You know this, too. It's just really nice to have it in the press once in a while.
Even if one of us has to write it.
Monday, January 22, 2007
My name is Steve and I'm a sports fan.
Excellent post over at Pop Goes the Library about sports and librarians.
One of the challenges about being a librarian is acknowledging the legitimacy of art forms, cultural phenomena, politics, career choices, etc. for which one has no interest. Susan mentions the disdain of sports (or at least the lack of interest) by librarians and how it may prevent us from attracting a particular segment of our clientele. Spot on, I say. Believe me, I struggle with this all the time. For instance, I HATE pro-wrestling (and the fact that LC seems to think it belongs at 796.812 and not 791.3), but I know it's a form of entertainment that a lot of people like. So, I try keep my professional self from wondering outloud about the irony of a book by this title. Okay, so I'm not perfect, but one has to admit there is a problem before moving on to the next step.
Anyway, I have also noticed this with business sources. Now, far be it from me to generalize about librarians, but well, I am about to do so anyway; my guess is that a lot of us come from backgrounds that have little to do with business. We were all a bunch of comp lit, poli sci and anthropology majors. Sure, we have great educational backgrounds (and masters degrees!) and we may be tremendous reference librarians. Nevertheless many of us, lacking any business, economic, or finance training either fear or loathe the mention of EDGAR, historical stock quotes, ETFs, annuities, or anything having to do with ammortization and/or the time value of money. If a patron asks us where the Morningstar Mutual Fund Report is, we're happy to hand it to them. If they ask us how to use it, or if (oh no!) they want to know what an A++ rating means....we get clammy, we look around for someone else, we wish the world would open up and swallow us. Then we page to the introduction to Best's and (with relief) read the ratings part to them aloud.
Of course, I am only half serious, but Susan has touched on something very important here. If you want to serve your community as well as you can, then you have to acknowledge and work within the contexts that shape their interests. Of course, you can't master every subject- that's not what librarianship is about- but at the very least you make sure your own biases don't prevent you from building services and collections that are relevant to the people who come to your library (or who don't because you don't have what they want).
Me? I'm a sports fan, so there's one bias I don't have to worry about. And I listen to AM radio. And I golf. Just doing my part to shatter the stereotype....
Friday, January 19, 2007
Job seeking advice for newly minted librarians
I will be giving a presentation to students about job seeking in public libraries in late February. Below are a few things I want to discuss, based on my experience in hiring librarians directly and as part of search committees and it would be great to have the opinions of others, too. If you have suggestions or advice that you think would be valuable to someone starting out in the career, please leave a comment or email me directly. I'm especially interested in experience others have had with negotiating salaries and moving expenses at the entry level.
Getting a job is about finding a match (in more ways than one):
Learn to trust your impressions. There are a lot of factors about a public library that might make it a good match such as its size, the location, the management structure, etc. The more you consider what you actually want and what interests you, the easier it is to recognize whether a place has those qualities or not. Additionally, it is just a fact of life that some people don't mix well together. It could be one person, or an entire unit within a library could have a culture that you may want to avoid. Choose well, and don't be afraid to walk away from a job because the personality of the place seems like it would turn work into something you don't enjoy.
Use a rifle, not a shotgun- apply wisely:
It is tempting to apply to everything you see, but it is probably not an efficient way to land a job. I have been on search committees that have had to wade through over 200 applications for entry level librarian positions and the first order of business is to put as many applications as possible into the reject pile. If you don't meet the required qualifications....you are not qualified. Don't annoy the nice people on the search committee by applying for the job.
Think hard before you apply for a bunch of jobs at the same library. At some places this is fine, like large public libraries that often advertise pools of jobs. Probably the best way to do this would be to make sure the jobs are pretty similar, but if you have targeted a specific library then there is nothing wrong about applying for more than a couple kinds of jobs as long as you are qualified. Applying to be a reference librarian AND the head of technical servcies would seem a little strange to the employer.
Write your application and/or cover letter for the job:
It's tempting to send the same letter (or close to it) to every place. That would be fine if all the libraries and all the positions were exactly the same. But they are not and another way of staying out of the reject pile is by taking time to do the research, to think about the job and to write a thoughtful essay on why you are a good match for the position. These things come through and will help your letter stand out and float to the top of the pile.
I recommend reviewing your letter and checking, point by point, to make sure you have addressed all the qualifications, required skills, etc. If there are any holes, you will have to explain them because the search committee won't miss the fact that you have left something out. And when there are holes and unanswered questions, the search committee won't bother trying to answer them; they will move on without you.
On fonts, fancy paper, etc.:
Just forget it- it's not worth anything. In fact, when I get a resume and cover letter on expensive paper with one of those half cursive fonts, it seems even less polished. Not that I'd throw a letter in the reject pile for such a violation, but it makes an amateurish impression on me. Besides, sometimes the actual reviewers end up with photocopies, so the extra cost in paper is wasted.
The cover letter and resume are all about getting them to ask you for an interview:
Just like the paper and font thing, I don't advocate trying anything wildly creative to get an interview. It probably won't work. Potential employers are often looking for employees who seem like they are easy to get along with, people who come off on paper as someone who will fit in, who will be a solid performer and who will not ruffle a lot of feathers. If your application screams "free spirit" you may get overlooked. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to stand out; just get the person who proof reads it for you to give you a gut check on it.
Writing a good letter is a bit of an art form. There is a fine line between demonstrating your qualifications on paper and blowing smoke up the committees' backsides. Have your trusted friend read your letters and resumes and ask them to act as your B.S. alarm. If there is anything in your letter that sounds pompous, vain, or beyond the normal expectations for this position, then rewrite it and tone it down.
Once you get an interview, know your stuff:
You have to do the research for interviewing just like you do for applying. But you don't just want to find out all you can about the library (if you can, then that's great), you want to form opinions about the place, you want to be able to answer questions in a way that says you have put a lot of thought into this job and this library. For instance, what are their fine policies and what do you think of them? Do they give you an impression that the library is easy going or gulag-like? How do they handle kids' cards- no fines for the kids themselves or no fines on kids' materials? There's a big difference.
Shop the place before you interview:
They don't know you yet, unless you have committed the egregious error of sending them a picture...which you should never do under any circumstances. It's just weird. And a video is even weirder.
Anyway, if you get the job, you will never have another opportunity to have a completely uninitiated view of the place. If you end up accepting a position there, your first impressions are going to be very valuable to you as a new employee. But as far as the interview goes, taking a walk through the place and interacting with the organization will give you some good ideas for questions you can ask them in the interview. It is impressive to interviewers when a candidate shows they have taken this position seriously enough to prepare thoroughly.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Books on the Menu
Another nice job, folks!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Work at my Library
The Monroe County Public Library is looking for two excellent librarians. You'd get to work with a group of pretty cool and smart people (despite my presence among them!), and you'd get to live in Bloomington, one of the nicest little cities in the country.
One of the great things about working at MCPL is the support we have in the community. People love this library. It is also an interesting library because it has a large, central branch right in heart of downtown. Because of that, MCPL is a hub of activity; there are always large amounts of people here, our meeting rooms and auditorium get used for major cultural and intellectual events (Lee Hamilton spoke here last year and Nick Clooney stopped by to lecture on Darfur, too), and the library is used as a gathering space for thousands of people each week. Check out these two positions- they are both great opportunities.
Children's Services Department Manager
Collection Services Department Manager
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Five things....
2) I homebrew. Right now, there are 24 liters of dark lager in my garage. Two more days to go.
3) I have two really great kids.
4) Speaking of my kids, they say my pizza is the best in the world. That may be an overstatement (they're 4 and 5, so their experience is limited to well, my 'za), but it's perdy darn good stuff. We make it from scratch every weekend. There's no pizza like home pizza.
5) My wife and I met in a library. We're both librarians. Cute, eh?
Thanks to Peter for the tag.
And if I'm not mistaken, we've reached the end of the internet; there may be no one left to tag. So, if you haven't been tagged, don't skink away mad. Tag yourself and have at it.
