What I learned about customer service

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Portland, Oregon.  It was a great experience and I learned a lot - so, I thought I would share a bit of what I learned with you this morning.
All of the sessions I attended were great, but one in particular was extraordinary.  It was entitled: "You Want Me To Do What? Innovative Training for Soft People Skills."  Cheryl Gould, Molly Westmoreland and Mary Nacu from San Jose Public Library in California opened the session by saying, "Everyone, stand up."  With that, more than 300 librarians got to their feet for the first of four exercises designed to build people skills that could enhance customer service.  This was no longer just a conference session, but a fun learning environment.  These exercises are just part of the program that was carried out across the San Jose Library System to "redesign their staff."  A study done in their library determined that signs and layout were great, but patrons were still looking for (and not finding) library staff.  To do this, an experiential training model was used that allowed the trainees to practice "connecting behaviour" skills, such as eye contact, tone of voice, listening and body language.  
Here's an outline of the four exercises that we did during the session:
Try them with your staff - you might learn something!
1. Magic Refrigerator: With a partner (or a group of three) work together to tell a story about a magic refrigerator.  One participant starts the story and stops when the facilitator yells "switch!"  Continue the story where the first person left off until each person has had a few turns.  This is a really fun exercise and helps to teach listening skills.  Many people realized that they were thinking about what they would say next, rather than listening.  Are you a good listener?
2.  Hand Mirroring: This exercise is about fostering cooperation. Two partners standing face to face with palms toward one another pattycake style (but not touching), took turns leading one another through hand motions and then trying to share the leadership.  There is no talking allowed during this exercise - and without talking, the shared leadership task is very difficult.
3.  Eye contact vs. Sliding Away: This exercise makes people aware of their eye contact habits with strangers and can be very enlightening.  Using the same partners as the Mirroring exercise, take turns being the one that holds eye contact and the one that looks and then "slides away."  Next, practice the exercise with the strangers around you.  The feeling of someone looking at you and then looking away is really uncomfortable - imagine how your patrons feel if they get that in the library from staff.
4.  Voice Mirroring: This one is simple and is another one that works on developing listening skills.  One person speaks slowly and clearly and the other works on predicting their next word before they say it (speaking along with them).  
Try these out and see what you can learn from them - plus, they are really fun.
I've asked the presenters for the full training module, so I may be able to share more about this with you in the future.
You could even practice these with your families over the long weekend - see how well your husband, wife, daughter, etc. listens and cooperates. :)

Library Thing

Stumped for ideas on what to blog about, I turned to my good friend Google. I typed in the ever so specific phrase: "Library Things" and was pleasantly surprised to find a very neat website called Library Thing (www.librarything.com). Library Thing is an online social cataloging application that allows users to store and share their own book collections and lists. Library Thing claims to be an "easy, library-quality catalog" that "connects you to people who read what you do". The biggest feature of Library Thing is the automatic cataloging of books by importing data from several booksellers like Amazon and around 680 libraries including the Library of Congress and Library and Archives Canada. Another cool feature is the "Suggester" tool, which will recommend similar books to those in your catalog. There is also the "Unsuggester" feature which will list books that are least likely to share a catalog with the book you suggest. Basically, Unseggester will tell you the complete opposite of the book entered...which is actually quite amusing. When I chose Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, for example, the Unssuggster came back with, among others, The Foundation Trilogy: Three Classics of Science Fiction by Isaac Asimov. Library Thing is a fun website for book lovers and I would encourage you all to check it out!

Reader's Advisory Tips

I'll admit it - one of the things that scared me a little in library school was the concept of Reader's Advisory. How are librarians expected to know about every genre, author and topic in the library? It's impossible. And therefore, how do you make recommendations to patrons for a "good book" based on their own reading interests (and not your own)?

The January/February 2010 Issue of Public Libraries is all about Reader's Advisory. There are a number of great articles to read if you are interested in honing your Reader's Advisory skills. But there is one in particular that answers the questions posed above, and gives some great tips on being a "Jack of All Trades" - in terms of Reader's Advisory anyways. The article is "Jack of All Trades Reader's Advisory: How to Learn a Little About a Lot", by Rebecca Vnuk. The full article should be available via the Wilson Web professional database soon, but here are a few tips from the article in the meantime:

1. Put aside some time each week for self training. Break out of your "reading rut" and at least explore other authors/genres. Use the Adult Popular Fiction Checklist on Novelist as a way to find authors and genres you are less familiar with. You don't have to read every author, but pick one new one a week and at least skim some of their works or find some information about them online. For each genre get to know the top 5 of each of the following: classic and up-coming authors, must-know titles, and trends or subgenres. Get to know these and you'll astound any patron with your knowledge.

2. Keep track of what you read. If you are like me and just can't seem to remember every author and title you've read, utilize one of the great tools available that allows you to quickly and easily look up what you've been reading. These include Shelfari, Goodreads and LibraryThing. And don't be afraid to use them when assisting a patron. You can even set up a staff account on any of the above so that your whole staff can add what they've been reading.

3. Read reviews of books. Quite often this will give you enough to go on for a recommendation, even if you haven't read the book yourself. Professional journals and blogs are a good source of information for reviews. The author suggests two online resources she uses often: http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ and www.kdl.org/libcat/WhatsNextNEW.asp

(Source: "Jack of All Trades Reader's Advisory: How to Learn a Little About a Lot", Rebecca Vnuk, Public Libraries, 49:1, January/February 2010, p.34)

This Book is Overdue!

So, I just finished reading Marilyn Johnson's new book, "This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All," (a great read by the way) and I wanted to share this interesting idea with you.  In Johnson's book there is a whole chapter devoted to the New York Public Library (how it works, their interesting patrons, etc) and they had a great idea.  When offering database training to the public, make it interesting (or at least sound interesting!).  Instead of offering a course called, "How to use the Online Databases" they offered one called "Cookery 101."  They taught their patrons how to use the databases, but in the context of something the patron was actually interested in.  Brilliant.
Just something to think about.

P.S. There are a few copies of the book in the system and you can put it on hold here: http://bit.ly/anLiC1

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More teen programming ideas!

In an earlier post, I told you about the knitting club rage that's hitting libraries across North America.  Well, now I have a few more great ideas for teen programming that I picked up at the Southern Alberta Library Conference that I want to share.  
First of all I should tell you that none of these ideas are my own - they belong to Medicine Hat Public Library and Michelle Bien (Youth Coordinator extraordinaire).  Michelle's session at the conference was fun and full of really great ideas for teens that really work.
Here are a couple of my favourites: 
(There were quite a few, so if you'd like me to share all of them, just ask.)
Host an Improv Night.  The teens get to be silly which can be very amusing.  Here's an example of one game to play.
Greetings
Works best with an even number of people, the more the merrier.  Everyone shakes hands and greets each other politely.  Then, you shout out:
"Greet everyone as if they smelled bad"
"Greet everyone as if you are bored"
"Greet everyone like a long, lost uncle"
and so on.
Host an Anime Night - you know this one's going to be popular!
Not only will this program be popular with teens, but it's fairly inexpensive as well.  Provide pencils and markers, paper, erasers, tables and chairs and some Japanese-themed snacks (ALWAYS PROVIDE SNACKS!).  Let the teens practice and show off their anime drawing skills.   If you have "how to draw anime" books in your collection have them on hand too.  Encourage teens to come dressed as their favourite Anime character.
I really liked Michelle's ideas and sort of wished I was still a teen so I could take part (sort of).  Michelle suggested that the best way to improve teen programming in your library is (if you don't already have one) to form a teen advisory group.  According to Michelle, she couldn't create these great programs without them.  Think about how you could include the ideas of teens in your community.

Southern Alberta Library Conference!

We're back - sorry for the blogging hiatus!
Last week was very busy as we were gearing up for our first Southern Alberta Library Conference.  The Conference (SALC, as it unfortunately became known - what is it with librarians and acronyms?!) took place here in Lethbridge at the newly renovated Coast Hotel.  There was a bit of nail-biting over whether or not the renovations would be done in time, but in the end, everything looked really nice (and the food was great!).
Over 160 delegates attended 21 sessions and two great keynote addresses over the course of the 2 1/2 day conference.  Delegates learned about video conferencing, strategic planning, weeding, social networking and more!  There was also lots of time for mingling/networking between board members, library staff, consultants and librarians.  The diversity of the group made discussions in the sessions really interesting.
Thank you again to all who came out to the conference and who volunteered their time and/or expertise.  We couldn't have done it without you!