Posts tagged Sarah Houghton-Jan
27 Questions with Sarah Houghton-Jan
Jan 27th
1) Your One Sentence Bio
I’m an iconoclast who often wishes she could better convince others to find the strength to stand up for their ideals.
2) Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?
I do blog at LibrarianInBlack.net. For my entire library career, librarian or not, I was referred to by library users as “that librarian…you know, the tall one in black.” So, I figured that was a nice name…a bit of a riff on Johnny Cash, and the initials are LIB, which is also a nice library reference.
3) What is your professional background?
I have a BA in English Literature (minor in Psychology), an MA in English/Irish Literature and Mythology, and my MLIS with a focus on technology (which, back in the day less than a decade ago, was a specialty in and of itself, believe it or not).
4) What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes?
I train primarily as a consultant, not in my day job as the San Jose Public Library’s Digital Futures Manager. I train online and in-person, doing a lot of work for Infopeople, California’s library staff training organization. My past jobs, though, have involved training the public, and definitely training staff (something I still try to find time to do).
5) What training do you think is most important to libraries right now?
Dealing with the massive influx of information, change, and how to set up intelligent ways to stay current in our professional areas, including how to position ourselves as the info and media overload experts in our communities.
6) Where do you get your training?
I go to as many relevant free webinars as I can, find the greatest per hour training benefit at InfoToday conferences, and also try to take occasional professional development classes through ALA & its sub-divisions.
7) How do you keep up?
I rely primarily on my several dozen RSS feeds that I read through Google Reader, but have started to rely more on Twitter and the occasional serendipitous Facebook post from my professional contacts.
8 ) What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing right now?
Our biggest challenge is to stop fooling ourselves, each other, and our customers that we can “do more with less” (or let’s be honest, even “do the same with less”).
9) What are biggest challenges for trainers?
Convincing the library power holders that training is an essential use of staff time and should be a priority, and finding ways to reach as many people as possible with the little time and money we have.
10) What exciting things are you doing training wise?
Our training group at work is currently getting ready to launch a databases-themed 23-Things/43-Things style learning course for our staff to help them get more comfortable with our online eResources.
11) What do you wish were you doing?
Resting.
12) What would you do with a badger?
Make friends with him or her.
13) What’s your favorite food?
The vegan garlic bread that I make, dipped in a good marinara sauce.
14) If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want to have with you?
Assuming that a “thing” means not a person or a beloved pet, then I would want my iTunes library of 13,000 songs with a solar panel to keep it going.
15) Do you know what happens when a grasshopper kicks all the seeds out of a pickle?
The pickle cries.
16) Post It notes or the back of your hand?
Post It Notes. I’m known for writing notes to myself everywhere, including in the car while driving, on my legendary long commute…which is why my husband so thoughtfully bought me a tiny digital voice recorder to use instead.
17) Windows or Mac?
Linux, darn it.
18) Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget?
I got very ill, to the point of needing to go to the hospital, 15 minutes into an 8 hour training. Fortunately, the wonderful Carole Leita was there as my assistant (which was the universe’s idea of a cosmic joke–I should have been her assistant). But she took over for me, while I spent the next two days in the hospital. Horrible for me, but I was so thankful to her!
19) What’s your take on handshakes?
They spread germs and they’re kind of gendered and culturally-biased intrinsically. I’d rather that we greeted each other the way that Farscape’s beautiful character Zhaan did (a motion with the hands like you’re bringing water up to your face–what beautiful symbolism!). Go watch Farscape, even if you’re not a science fiction fan.
20) Global warming: yes or no
Assuming the question is “does it exist?” then, yes.
21) How did you get into this line of work?
What I liked about English graduate work was the research, and I faultily believed librarianship meant research all the time. Ha! I was had! My teaching background in English served me well and launched me into doing training, bibliographic instruction, and all that jazz during library school–and forever thereafter!
22) What is the best part of your job?
Having the chance to equalize the intellectual playing field in our society for anyone who chooses to use the library. That’s amazing.
23) Why should someone else follow in your shoes?
No one should do exactly what I did – they have to find their own path with their own shoes.
24) Sushi or hamburger?
I’m vegan, so I’ll say–a nice veggie Dan Dan noodles.
25) LSW or ALA?
LSW.
26) What one person in the world do you want to have lunch with and why?
Neil Gaiman. He inspires me through so much of what he does. Plus he’s a literature/mythology buff and author who has embraced technology as a way to get his work out there. I think we’d get along really well.
27) What cell phone do you have and why?
An old Treo, but I’m looking for a new phone and eyeing the Droid options.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Paul Signorelli’s “Getting To Know Me” Post
Jan 19th
1. Your One Sentence Bio
I was born; have been deeply immersed in writing, training-teaching-learning, and working with libraries and nonprofit organizations for many years; am honored to sometimes be mistaken for ALA Learning colleague Peter Bromberg when the two of us are lucky enough to be on Maurice Coleman’s T is for Training podcasts at the same; and plan to die someday—which, I believe, covers all bases.
2. Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?
You’ll find me blogging here at ALA Learning and at Building Creative Bridges. I came up with the name because “Librarian In Black,” “Library Trainer,” and “(almost) Bald Trainer” were already taken by writers better than I’ll ever be, and Building Creative Bridges seemed like a good way to describe what I hoped to accomplish through the blog and everything else I’m doing.
3. What is your professional background?
As far as I can tell, I’ve worked for newspapers, magazines, a couple of schools in Japan, the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the San Francisco Public Library system, and with a variety of other groups and organizations, but if you’ve heard differently, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
4. What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes?
My position as Director, Volunteer Services & Staff Training for the San Francisco Public Library system had me providing orientations, software introductions and updates, and other learning opportunities for staff and volunteers; current training-teaching-learning efforts include writing e-learning courses for Infopeople and LE@D (Lifelong Education @ Desktop)–http://www.leadonline.info/–and conducting workshops at professional conferences.
5. What training do you think is most important to libraries right now?
We need to be combining sessions on practical matters (software upgrades, customer service, leadership and collaboration skills, conflict resolution, health and safety issues) with inspirational/visionary/long-term matters (how to continue serving library members and guests on site and online, maintaining libraries as on-site and online community centers, becoming collaborators with members of the communities we serve rather than one-way providers of information and services).
6. Where do you get your training?
For training-learning, I try everything I can think of, including conversations with colleagues; on-site and online workshops and courses; blogs/RSS feeds; books; journals, magazines, and newspapers; webinars; conferences; speakers at ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) and ALA (American Library Association) meetings and conferences—and I’m sure that’s only about half the list.
7. How do you keep up?
Keep up?
8. What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing
right now?
One of the many large challenges is to recognize and respond to their increasingly huge role in being learning centers for their local and online communities while not abandoning any of the important and life-changing roles their members and guests still expect them to fulfill.
9. What are biggest challenges for trainers?
All too often, we have training-teaching-learning as part of our job rather than as the entire focus of our job, which leads to lots of half-finished projects, lots of stress for everyone, and less than optimum learning opportunities; focusing on our own continuing education and our primary roles as workplace learning and performance providers might be the best lesson-by-example that we can provide to colleagues whose workplace focus is equally divided to their own detriment and the detriment of those they serve.
10. What exciting things are you doing training wise?
Trying to be creative face-to-face and online in the way I respond to learners’ needs: delivering a synchronous online learning opportunity through live Google Chat, for example, was a fun distance-learning experiment with a University of Nevada, Las Vegas colleague and his class in October 2009.
11. What do you wish you were doing?
Writing; oh, wait, I am writing.
12. What would you do with a badger?
Teach it to use Google Chat so it could more effectively participate in synchronous online learning opportunities.
13. What’s your favorite food?
Pizza. Purchased somewhere in NY, NJ or the Philly area. If you’re not buying pizza in one of these geographic areas it’s not really pizza. Sorry, it’s not. (OK, an exception for Chicago deep-dish. As long as you qualify it.)
14. If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want
to have with you?
A confirmed flight back to the mainland.
15. Do you know what happens when a grasshopper kicks all the seeds
out of a pickle?
I live in San Francisco; can someone tell me what a grasshopper is?
16. Post it notes or the back of your hand?
No, thanks.
17. Windows or Mac?
OK, but definitely not on the first date.
18. Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget?
Can’t remember; must be an occupational hazzard since at least one other ALA Learning colleague has responded similarly.
19. What’s your take on handshakes?
A handshake is certainly a pleasant way to avoid open warfare in a learning environment.
20. Global warming: yes or no?
Best response I’ve seen is Jill Sobule’s “happy song about global warming”; who am I to argue?
21. How did you get into this line of work?
My supervisor at the time told me I had to take over the organization’s staff training program if I was going to keep my job; I found that to be tremendously motivating.
22. What is the best part of your job?
Being part of what ASTD refers to as the effort to “create a world that works better.”
23. Why should someone else follow in your shoes?
This question reminds me of a story from Martin Buber’s Tales of the Hasidism, which I will now paraphrase to the best of my recollection. The gist of it: Samuel, a very devout man who is struggling to be good in the eyes of the Lord, approaches the Rabbi and asks, “Rabbi, should I try to be more like Moses or more like Abraham?” The Rabbi replies, “Rather than trying to be more like Moses, or more like Abraham, the Lord would be pleased if you tried to be more like Samuel.” And that’s all I have to say about that.
24. Sushi or hamburger?
Depends on who is asking.
N.B.: Special thanks to Peter Bromberg for allowing me to insert, verbatim, his answers to questions #13 and #23 here. I figured if I couldn’t match his responses for cleverness, I might as well just outright steal them and see if I could further confuse colleagues about which of us is speaking (please see response to question #1, above).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Welcome Sarah Houghton-Jan to ALA Learning
Jan 18th
Please welcome Sarah Houghton-Jan, Digital Futures Manager for the San José Public Library, to the ALA Learning blog. Sarah is author of the librarianinblack.net blog and was named a 2009 Library Journal Mover & Shaker. She is a well-traveled consultant, speaker, and writer, and has been published widely in both library and technology publications.
We are thrilled to have Sarah join our team!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...On Leadership, Training, and the Opening of Doors
May 28th
Looks as if we have a little revolution on our hands, and it’s centered on the issue of access—or the lack thereof—to training opportunities for potential library leaders.
It started late last week when Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County Training Specialist Lori Reed posted an article on her personal Library Trainer blog to explain why she would not renew her ALA membership next year: to protest the exclusion of library Support Staff from the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program.
Lori writes of the excitement she felt when she first read that the program is “designed to enable more than 100 new librarians to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership,” then felt the wind being taken out of her sails when she realized that she, as someone without an MLS degree, could not apply to participate in this wonderful opportunity being offered by an organization which she supports through membership fees.
“So ALA will happily take the money from library support staff…for membership but does not allow those same members to apply for leadership opportunities within ALA as this one…No thank you.”
A few responses—including mine, meant to encourage her to work within ALA to change the situation rather than leave and give up hope for opening the doors to more opportunity for non-librarians within ALA—trickled in over the weekend. And then the number of responses doubled and included thoughtful pieces in support of Lori’s dissatisfaction from two treasured associates whom I have known since we first met through Infopeople: Pat Wagner and Sarah Houghton-Jan.
Pat suggests that “a goodly number of libraries in small communities are run by people without masters’ degrees” and says she has been involved in “a number of library leadership programs that were open to everyone, and the quality of participants remained very high.”
Sarah takes this a step further with a posting on her Librarian In Black site today in addition to what she wrote in her “Library Trainer” posting, assures her readers that “I agree with Lori wholeheartedly,” and calls for ALA to “pay them (members of library Support Staff) the respect they deserve.”
Lori, encouraged by the responses, produced a follow-up post this evening as I was editing this article. Perhaps the rest of us who so passionately support training opportunities for the widest possible audience can support her and our colleagues by trying to gain the attention of those who are already involved in the program and might be willing to expand the definition of—and playing field for—prospective library leaders today.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The Change Competency
Aug 20th
The “C” word looms larger every year as the pace of change seems to increase relentlessly. Talk abounds of new technologies in libraries and the competencies necessary to implement them. Sarah Houghton-Jan recommends holding a class on coping with change as part of technology training. A recent discussion on the CLENE list revealed that many library organizations understand the need to address a fundamental acceptance of change before real advancement can be made in training. Infopeople shares its materials from two workshops on change—Effective Change Management and Living With Change.
In compiling the WebJunction Competencies, I added sections for “staying on top” in which I defined competencies for understanding the “resources and strategies for keeping up with new technologies.” I would like to augment that with a definition of competencies for CHANGE:
- Be Curious. Maintain an openness to new ideas and, at the very least, find out more about them—how they work and how they might enhance library service.
- Put your Heart into your work. If you seek to provide the best service to your patrons, the need to change will follow more naturally.
- Take Action. If you are proactive in looking for new directions and possibilities, you’re less likely to feel steamrollered by change.
- Nix the negativity. The “no, it won’t work” response to innovations won’t help you, your library, or your patrons.
- Set realistic Goals for yourself. Accept that you won’t meet all standards all the time. Define for yourself (or with your supervisor) what skills and knowledge you need to do your best at your job.
- Exchange knowledge freely. Help your colleagues to understand new systems and technologies. Avoid the all-too-prevalent tendency to play one-upmanship with techno knowledge.
Change is here to stay, so we might as well learn to love it.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Recent Comments