This made me think...many kids are animal lovers too...and also love to create things! Why not encourage kids in your area to get involved? Post a sign advertising the contest and display animal themed books. Have the kids create their video in your library and make a great program out of it. Even if the video doesn't win, you could screen the video at your library to the rest of your community and inspire community spirit. The deadline for submissions is April 23, so get started today!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Alberta SPCA 2010 Video Contest
As many of you know, two of my many loves are my dogs. As such, I also tend to chose the Alberta SPCA as one of my favorite charities. This month, they are holding a video contest:
The Book From Chinook Travels to Australia and Back!
In the fall of 2009, the Interlibrary Loan team at Chinook Arch received an email from the Busselton Library in Australia. They had one of our books! Crikey! It was found by one of their patrons at a local campground...likely left behind by a Southern Alberta traveler. The Busselton librarians mailed the book back to Chinook Arch along with some Australian goodies: Tim-Tams, postcards, booklets, etc. To thank the Busseloton librarians, our Interlibrary Loan Team sent back a Chinook Arch care package containing Chinook Arch swag and Maple cookies (after all, we are Canadian, eh?) Today, we received yet another package from the Shire of Busselton containing even more Tim-Tams, chocolate-carmel Koalas, and the Busselton Library Newsletter: Busselton Library - Paging All Readers! The newsletter featured a story called "The Book From Chinook" about our book's travels to Australia and back. It's funny how books can form friendships between people across such great distances! Hopefully we can continue this friendship that has been established by our wayward traveling book!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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. :)
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. :)
Friday, March 26, 2010
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!
Friday, March 19, 2010
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
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)
Monday, March 15, 2010
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
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
Friday, March 12, 2010
We want your thoughts!
Are you one of our region's many librarians? Would you like to take a survey about using your library's website?
If so, click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CY2J2KD
The survey should take you no more than 5 minutes and will help us to build a better website for you and your library's patrons. Your assistance is greatly appreciated!
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