Annotation #9

Steele, P. (2006). Blurring of lines: academic and public libraries revisited. Indiana Libraries, 25(3), p. 6 – 8.

This article focuses upon the user feedback received via Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership. The information for this comprehensive user feedback report was gathered in the spring of 2005 and released late 2005. The author, Patricial Steele is in the unique position of “having strong associations with both a vital public library and a large academic library.” She is a trustee of MCPL as well as the interim dean of IUB Libraries. Steele reports that according the the OCLC study, there has been a shift in the manner in which libraries exist within the information landscape and that this shift has led to a certain commonality among different types of libraries.

Steele asserts that the growing commonality of libraries has to do with both technological and economical developments. Because information is more freely available via the web and electronic resources and because their are more commercial competitors that provide viable and affordable alternatives to traditional libraries of all kinds. Also, because many of the information resources that were previously available only within the walls of academic libraries have become available electronically, users can choose the most comfortable and convenient destination for them. These changes have also influenced the manner in which public and academic libraries have altered their collections and services. For example, while outreach once was a concern only for public libraries, academic libraries now see outreach as an essential part of their mission and are concerned with “more agressive integration into curriculum development and new teaching methodology.”

Another area where academic and public libraries are blurring is in the question of funding and accountability. Whereas public libraries have long been held to a closer scrutiny by their funders, the taxpayers, the academic library was largely immune to these immediate concerns. However as university funding models are changing and budgets are tightening more than ever, a focus on the accountability of all academic units has forced libraries to define their role and justify their existence “in ways never considered in the past.”

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I very much agree with the sentiments of this article. In fact it is one of the things that I have wanted to write about for a long time. I have had the great fortune to work in many different types of libraries in many different types of capacities; from an assistant to an archivist at a historical society to an instruction librarian at a large academic institution to the reference desk at the local public library and more. Having these many and varied experiences has only proven to add value to any single situation I have been in. I am always amazed when librarians (and I say librarians because we are the only ones who do this) insist on categorizing types of librarians by the institutions in which they are currently (or potentially) employed. To me, that is completely counter-intuitive. I believe that librarians should be organized by their users, their communities, their interests, their strengths, and their experience not the building in which they work. I was shocked when, while attending my first ALA conference this past June, I was repeatedly asked what my ‘focus’ was – academic or public. Each time that I was asked this, when time allowed, I patiently explained the fact that I am deliberately not focusing upon a specific type of institution. Instead I am focusing on the user, the technology, the resources, and the community of any libraries that I might be involved with – they are no longer really so different as some believe them to be.

Annotation #8

Woodruff, S. (2006). Rah! Rah! Go, staff morale!: what we can learn from flying fish and contented cows. Indiana Libraries, 25(3), p. 45-47.

Woodruff begins her article by asserting that librarian morale has suffered with the evolution of patron expectations for the newest dvds and innovative technological offerings. This is because morale, as defined by Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is related to a “sense of common purpose” as we all know, because our purpose as librarians is continually in flux, our morale can suffer.

Woodruff makes many suggestions for how to positively affect staff morale during periods of transition. She gets most of these suggestions from various books including John Yokoyama’s 2004 book When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace, Catlette & Hadden’s Contented Cows Give Better Milk (1998), and Anne Bruce’s Building a High Morale Workplace (2003).

First and foremost, the key to good workplace morale starts with teamwork. According to Woodruff (et al.), this begins with a “rethinking the attitudes of managers.” This means that the managers and administration of the library organization should be committed to receiving input from all areas and levels of staff. This will foster a sense of ownership and pride among the workers when changes are made as a result of open dialogue rather than simple delegation. Teamwork is extremely important to a positive workplace. Employees like to feel appreciated. It is important for librarians to know that the library depends on them and that their work is valued.

Another method for maintaining a positive workplace is to add variety and responsibility to a person’s daily job. The author asserts that “few people like to do the same thing every day, and one of the assets of working at a library is that a variety of tasks need to get done.” Rotating responsibility for system-wide programs can help foster creativity and beneficial changes. Also, when librarians are able to work on new projects they are afforded a sense of ownership – which is a positive feeling.

Another area that managers can help create a positive workplace is by offering flexible scheduling that respects the fact that librarians have a personal life outside of the library. Since many libraries are open seven days a week and in the evening, this flexibility is of the utmost importance.

The final suggestion that the author makes is for employees to become involved in professional development activities such as membership in professional organizations. This involvement will foster connections between librarians both internally and externally and will offer opportunities for training and exposure to new technologies, programming and services which will “make work more enjoyable.”

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I enjoyed reading this article, however I am finding it to be a sort of blue sky scenario. It seems to me that some of the librarians that I work with resent the imposition of working in areas that are not ‘part of their job description.’ For example, since the library has merged the audiovisual and fiction departments into the umbrella department of ‘adult services,’ many librarian flat out refuse to work at the A/V desk. What’s worse, now that new tasks have emerged, due to developments in information technology, some librarians refuse to help patrons with computer issues.

In another example, the author suggests that small gestures like remembering birthdays and offering chocolate will create a positive workplace. I can personally attest that while a lot of folks seem to enjoy the constant supply of chocolate (conveniently placed in a drawer labeled ‘emergency supplies’), it does not seem to make them enjoy their jobs.

Scheduling is an issue. I do think that the schedule is not a problem because of the lack of flexibility, however, I think that it is an issue because of the lack of staff. That said, I must say that I do believe that if the staff would be more willing to work together and perform tasks outside of their routine, the scheduling issues would be less apparent.

I am not meaning to paint an overly dark picture of the library that I work in, but I am trying to convey that articles like these, and others that I have read during the course of my time at SLIS, do not take into account the reality and gravity of longstanding institutional problems that cannot be simply solved by offering a kind word and a trip to ALA. I do think that these methods are wonderful suggestions, and that they should be incorporated into any institution if they are not already, but I think that I would be better served by reading a case study that provides real examples of how to repair problematic situations rather than create them out of thin air.

still trying to sort this out.

Staff Morale is low. I’m not sure if it is lower than usual or at an all time low or just simply an average low – I’ve only been working 16 hours a week for 3 months, after all – but my general experience has been that staff morale is pretty low.

I suppose this is related to the fact that the library has a new director and the fact that the library budget is in a bad spot and the fact that there are a few librarians (at least a handful of them) that just don’t want to deal with the changes that both of these facts purport and the fact that there are another group of librarians that don’t want to deal with this archaic and ineffective resistance to change.

Okay, so I know that I should be understanding that some of these people have been in their jobs for 30 years and now they are being told that their retirement benefits are changing or their work responsibilities and schedules are evolving – this, I’m sure, is difficult, however I’m not sure how much I can sympathize with folks who would rather complain than find useful ways to adapt the current situation to their own needs/strengths and vice versa. I’m seeing a lot of whispering and huffing and puffing about, but I’ve yet to see any real dialogue. I know, I know, I’m only there 16 hours a week and all of that time is spent on the desk. The staff may be having meetings that I am not aware of, in fact, I’m sure they are – but attitudes do not seem to be shifting.

I am really concerned and confused by this. First, I have just signed on to continue working at the library throughout the fall. I am really happy about this as I thoroughly enjoy working with the users and the resources and learning as much as I can about Public Library services, but I’m concerned with the type of environment that I am entering into. Sometimes, I work the desk and the other librarians I am working with are so upset and busy talking/whispering/complaining with each other that I am uncomfortable interrupting them to ask a question and just feel kind of shunned in general. I know that they are not doing this on purpose, but it just happens when folks don’t make an effort to work with changes and respond to them in a professional manner – or at least off desk. If I am uncomfortable approaching them from behind the desk, what kind of message are they sending to our users? I’m confused because I don’t understand how they can be reacting this way and how the adminstration can allow them to react this way. I know it’s harsh, but hey – things change. It’s a fact of life, and it’s a definite reality in libraries. I’m not sure how sympathetic I can be to someone who complains that their job hasn’t remained the same for 30 years. In fact, I might be more sympathetic to someone whose job had remained the same for 30 years – how boring is that?

What’s worse is the fact that this situation is causing new staff to consider leaving the institution. Because so much energy and funding is taken up by these senior librarians, the environment and the pay for younger professionals is considerably lacking. This is frustrating and makes me wonder, “how will they sort this out?”

a secular library

Today a man asked me for a book on the religious beliefs of the founding fathers (he didn’t know the title, but knew that it had recently come out). I located the book utilizing my increasingly talented gumshoe skills and asked him if this title sounded familiar. He affirmed that was the one, so I set about looking up the book in our catalog. I couldn’t find it right away, so i searched again. During this moment of delay, he rather disdainfully said, and I quote, “Well this is a sort of secular library, you probably wouldn’t have anything about religion.” First, I have never heard a libary described in this fashion. Second, the assertion that because the library is a secular institution it would not carry materials on the topic of religion is completely ridiculous. Third, I put in a suggestion for purchase.

brown bag and the next town over.

Today I went over to the Ellettsville branch of MCPL to attend the brown bag lunch with the director that occurs on the first of every month. Basically, the director comes down to the break room or staff lounge and eats lunch with anyone who wants to attend and everyone has casual conversations about what is going on in the library and people have the chance to talk to her about whatever is on their mind or whatever questions they might have.

This meeting was very small and never contained more than 5 people at time. Topics discussed included the library television station (currently still in planning phase but scheduled to be up and running by the first of the year), staff movement (one employee is moving from Ellettsville to the main branch), the new library certification program being offered at Ivy Tech (the technical college in Bloomington), and the summer reading program.

I think that it is a good idea for the director to maintain this kind of casual interaction with staff in a this deliberate fashion. I’m not sure how much actually gets accomplished in these meetings, but the fact that she makes it part of her day is important. I am interested to see how these meetings go in Bloomington where the staff is much larger and more diverse.

The Ellettsville branch of the library is very nice. It is one level, but has very high ceilings and a lot of great light. They have a really nice Video/DVD browsing area and it seemed to be full of families and children. I didn’t get a chance to look around as much as I would have liked, so hopefully I will be able to make it back over there at some point to see what they have to offer for computer access and meeting rooms and such.

Annotation #7

Goodrich, J. (2005). Staffing public libraries: are there models and best pracitices? Public Libraries, 44(5), pp. 277-281.

This article summarizes the result of a recently conducted PLA survey regarding the staffing models of public libraries. The purpose of this study was to try to determine whether there are models, best practices, or even norms among public library staffing models. The data recovered (878 usable responses) concluded that there exist no regular practice among public library staffing models.

Top factors influencing staffing decisions included hours of operation, expected patron traffic, actual usage factors (e.g. circulation transactions, reference transactions, etc.), physical factors (i.e. number of flooors) and number of service points. Staff recommendations and superviser requests are also factors in determining staffing models for public libraries – however it seems that the larger the system, the less staff input is recognized in favor of automated or quantitative reports. Influence of staff unions, however, remains a factor in large libraries (p. 279).

The establishment of standards in public library service has not been attempted since the 1960s with the publication of Minimum Service Standards for Public Library Systems, 1966 by the American Library Association (p. 279). That publication prescribed library service in an itemized and almost ‘cookbook fashion’ that was problematic in its implementation. One of the major problems of this publication was that it focused solely upon ‘inputs’ of library staff, books, etc. and not upon the needs and realities of the communities being served. Since that time, libraries have defined their service standards on a local basis determined by their unique circumstances. Even libraries that ‘borrow’ staffing and service models from other libraries must significantly modify them according to their own environment (p. 280).

While all of the factors cited by survey respondents are certainly credible, the author notes a particular factor that was not included by any survey respondents but most certainly must play a role in organizational decisions — local politics. According to the author, local politicians can mandate that libraries be open certain hours, be staffed by a certain number of professional librarians, etc. regardless of the impact of these regulations upon the effectiveness of service. In the opinion of the author, this can often result in the squandering of library resources. THe author does not cite any support for this argument, however, and therefore I really don’t know how much credit I give it. It sounds to me like perhaps the author is cynical about political involvement in library staffing models, and while she is probably correct to be, putting forth unsupported arguments is not helpful to her cause.

The conclusion of the article is the same one reached after the failed implementation of standards in the 1960s – there is no staffing model that will work across libraries. Best practices are defined by responding to local needs.

update on the staffing issues.

So my last post was a little exasperated. Now that i have had some time to think about this, talk to some other librarians (including my superviser), and read an article, i’m a little more informed now.

It seems that MCPL is having serious budget issues. I’m not exactly sure why – i’ve gotten various explanations from the cost of still paying off the new (ten year old) building to a change in the amount of funds being allocated to the library from county property taxes – either way, it seems to be the reality – or at least what the administrators are citing as their rationale for making staff-unfriendly decisions.

The reason for the frustration last week was this – apparently the staff had had a meeting wherein the administration announced a change in the retirement/health benefits system. Previously, staff were eligible for retirement at age 60 and the library would continue to pay their health insurance until Medicare kicked in for them at age 65. Under the new plan, the library would no longer cover the insurance costs for employees that chose to retire before age 65. This seems completely logical to me, however the staff who have been working here for 30 years and banking on this old system are plenty angry (and really who can blame them?). Apparently the administration gave the people who are eligible to retire one week to make their decision to retire under the old rules (before the new rules take effect). One week! Now, they have been convinced to lengthen that decision time and things seem to be getting less tense as people have had more time to think and reflect. I really hope everything works out.

Staff Stress

Everybody is all stressed out. MCPL is apparently going to be short-staffed starting in August and the already existing scheduling problems are on the verge of becoming nightmarish….

Apparently the department has no money to hire new librarians and instead they are offering new MLS grads (former interns) $10/hr to fill the voids in temporary positions — which at least some are declining. And why shouldn’t they? They can make more at a coffee shop while applying for permanent positions making a livable wage.

So I asked about this…

What I have learned is this — the goal of the department is to reduce the number of staff (librarians), pay them more, and work them longer. Filling the gaps with underpaid (or non-paid) library assistants and interns. A plan that the librarians are not satisfied with at all.
Does this make any sense to anyone? It really doesn’t make sense to me. Tonight I am going to look for an article on Public Library staff budgets to try to gain some insight into this.

832/BMI white

There’s been a lot of punk rock in the library over the last few days. Plan-it-X Records, a local music label, is hosting its annual Plan-it-X Festival – a.k.a. summer camp for DIY punk kids. It has been great fun, really. They’ve been all over the library — reading, using the computers, even hosting some of their programs in the library’s public meeting rooms. They have been super kids – really nice people and the energy of the library has been great.

Yesterday, things got interesting.

A girl approaches the desk and instead of asking for a computer pass (like her 600 predecessors), she places a white oblong pill scored with 812/BMI on it’s front. “I need to know what this is,” she says, “there’s a bunch of kids outside who took a bunch of these pills and they are totally screwed up and I need to know what it is.” Hmmm. “Okay, I can do that,” I say, “Sure, no problem.” Inside I’m thinking, “Can I do this? I mean I know it’s possible to identify pills will little information, but can I do this? It’s not exactly covered in Intro to Reference Sources and Services.” I go straight to the medical reference desk to find a pill identification resource guide, and I don’t see this particular pill. So I do a quick Google search for 832/BMI white pill identification — and I pull up a site that has this pill identified as Benztropine (or Cogentin, commercially). I then go back to the medical reference guides and look up the drug under this name to confirm. It was there. Whew. I identified the drug! Now comes the hard part…what does it do? I start reading the pill guide and it is speaking a medical language that is hard to follow. This publication is clearly written to help inform people or doctors who may prescribe or be prescribed this medication. It is not directed toward the messed up teenager on the street corner. I didn’t need to know what it is for — I needed to know what it does. I figure out that it is a drug prescribed for Parkinson’s Disease, that it affects the central nervous system and influences your ability to be in control of your motor skills. For Parkinson’s patients, this means it helps them to reduce their tremors. For punk kids, it means that their motor skills slow down – possibly to the point of paralysis. Their fingers may go numb, they may get nauseaus or drowsy, and they may even experience visual hallucinations. I explain all of this to the girl, who has been joined by a friend at the reference desk. “Yep, they say, that sounds about right.” Also, I note, it says that this medication should not be taken by people who are going to be exposed to a lot of sunlight or heat. These kids have been in a park all day in 90 degree Bloomington in July. I advised them to get these to a shady spot and get them hydrated, if they can. That’s all I can really do. I photocopied the drug information from the reference guide and gave it to her.

She thanked me profusely. She said that she was really glad that I was there and that I had helped her so much. Yesterday, I happened to be working with an older woman and an older man. These librarians are not really very old, in my opinion, and I know that they would most likely have been as welcoming and helpful as I tried to be, but they clearly appeared to be unapproachable to this young woman. I told her that I was happy to help and that I was glad she came in. I also implored her to come back if she needed anything.

This was great. I am so glad that this woman felt comfortable approaching the library desk with her (somewhat) sensitive information need. I was glad that I was able to give her some good information and offer her a positive experience of the library. It was totally punk rock.

phonely.

I got a call from a woman today who asked for a librarian by name who was not working. She then asked for another librarian who also was unavailable. I let her know when those librarians were next scheduled to come on the desk. One was going to be arriving in about an hour so I asked if she would like me to take a message for him. She said no, she said she would call back. She then asked my name, which I happily gave her. I then asked (again), “Is there anything I can help you with?” To which she replied, “what did you do yesterday?” Hmmm. Now that’s a reference question that through me off guard! What did i do yesterday?! So I gave her a reasonable and honest response (yard work) and then after a period of approximately 20 seconds, she asked how I felt about the weather today and sighed, giving me the general impression that she is just terribly lonely and looking for a little human interaction. We do have some regular callers, older folks who don’t get in to the library anymore, but generally they mask their calls with some sort of an information need, if only to ask what is on television that night. This woman just wanted to chat and it was really one of the biggest challenges I have faced. I mean, should I have asked her what she was up to this afternoon? Or is that invasive? And honestly, I really didn’t have time to chat. We were really busy today, but I can’t help but feel bad for not pulling this interaction off better. I didn’t solve her issue. She sounded lonely when she said goodbye, her voice trailing off.