ALA Learning – staff

Training for Change: a 6-Step Program

May 5, 2010 By Betha Gutsche

As I get older, I have come to realize that embracing change is like drinking from a fountain of youth. Change keeps the brain healthy. The brain thrives on learning new things and forging new neuronal pathways. An active brain supports overall health and quality of life.

Riders heading out from Seattle, courtesy of joshua_putnam on Flickr

There are many types of change that we welcome in to our lives—travel, children, new languages, athletic challenges. But even when change is voluntary, there are times when it makes me feel old and tired, like I’ve been asked to adapt too often for too long. That’s because the mental muscles get overworked, according to Switch, the new book from the Heath brothers of Made to Stick fame. The brain muscles for creative thinking, focus, and persistence, which are key ingredients for effecting change, can get exhausted, just as the body’s muscles fatigue from strenuous exercise. Preparation for significant change in a person’s or an organization’s life is critical. It is akin to preparing for an athletic event. If I want to participate in the annual bicycle ride from Seattle to Vancouver (RSVP), I would set myself up for failure if I were to embark on the ride without any prior training. Planning for any major change is no different. Create a training program for change and enhance your probability of success.

Here is a 6-step training program to prepare for change.
(This plan is based on much of the Heath brother’s book. It uses some of their terminology, without going into their elephant/rider metaphor. You’ll have to read the book.)

1. Know where you’re going
For the RSVP, the destination and direction are straightforward. I can look up the route, the distance, even the location and elevation gain of the hills (obstacles). There is little ambiguity about what I’m aiming for and what success entails. This kind of specificity feeds the cognitive part of the brain, the part that grasps logical sequence and strategic analysis.

It is too often the case that organizational changes are vague. “Everyone in our library will be web 2.0 savvy by next year.” “Our library will become a learning organization.” What does that mean to each individual involved? What is desirable about the change and how will we know when we’re there? What is the distance and where are the hills to be climbed, i.e., when can we anticipate the tough spots and potential setbacks? It’s not possible to predetermine all the variables in a big project but the more specific and clear you can be, the more you engage the cognitive processes of each of your team members.

2. Get the feeling
It is crucial to motivate the emotional side of the brain, that ancient lizard brain that can put up amazing resistance to the rational, cognitive side. If it’s not on board, the change is not going to happen. For the RSVP ride, it’s not hard to feel enthusiasm, to be caught up in the excitement of my team members and to imagine the satisfaction of crossing the finish line.

For any organizational change, find a way to appeal to the emotions of your team. Create a vision of the library thriving in its ability to reach new users by telling stories of how social network tools dramatically extend that reach. Frame a learning effort as a fitness program with near-term targets and rewards for small steps toward the goal. Emotion is infectious—both positive and negative. Get ahead of any negative tendancies by identifying early enthusiasts and working with them to infect the rest of the team with their excitement.

3. Cultivate identity
Identity is a powerful aspect of emotional engagement. It promotes a “growth mindset” in which the entire brain is geared toward success. If I start calling myself a power cyclist and start thinking of myself as someone who can go the distance on a bike, I increase the likelihood of actually becoming that person. The Heath brothers cite some convincing examples: a Brazilian tin can manufacturer calling all of its employees “inventors” and thereby inducing thousands of suggestions for improvements to their production; a class of disadvantaged students calling themselves “scholars” and leaping ahead in scholastic achievement. Notice how these identities eliminate hierarchy or elitism. Everybody is an inventor or scholar or power cyclist.

I would love to find a strong identity for people who work in libraries. I would start by ditching that strained differentiation between librarians and library staff. What if we all started calling ourselves “catalyzers”? Everyone who works in a library has the potential to catalyze information access, research, community connections, demonstration of impact, etc. Everyone is invited to envision better ways for the library to thrive.

4. Clear the path
It is a major point in Switch that so often we tend to blame character flaws of individuals and ignore the impact of the situations in which they are involved. The Heath brothers repeat throughout the book that “what looks like a person problem is often a situation problem.” Let’s say that I’ve been on a few practice rides building up to greater distances. While I’m improving my stamina, I’m still frustrated that I seem to always lag behind the rest of my team. I start to think that I’m just too old and out of shape. When three of the other women on the team tell me how much their performance improved by switching to road bikes with high pressure, low friction tires and light frames, I get a clue about how my situation on a heavy, fat-tired bike impedes my progress. Getting a faster bike clears my path for success.

In your large organizational change effort, think about how you can reduce the friction and smooth the way. Avoid the tendency to label individuals as flawed: “that person is a luddite and just won’t adopt new technology.” Take an objective look at the situation surrounding the resisters. Are there structural changes that will make it easier for people to adapt? If team members are resisting the switch to a new technology, look for unnecessary hurdles that can be removed. If staff are not finding time to achieve their learning goals, look for ways to build in time by letting them start an hour before opening or reserving an hour/week in a quiet office. Pair up learning buddies to learn together and coach each other.

5. Chunk the change
You may be clear about the direction and still see the end point as daunting and unattainable. For the RSVP ride, the elevation gain in those hills lights a bit of fear in my gut. It would be ridiculous to try to ride the 183 hilly miles on the first practice runs. It’s just common sense to start out with easier near-term goals, building up from 25-miles to 50- and 100-mile rides. A cycling performance recommendation is to increase your mileage no more than 10-12% per week.

Think about the achievable increments in your organizational change. What are the small wins that will help people feel like they are advancing? Knowing that you are 20% toward the overall goal is a sense of accomplishment that increases motivation to go the rest of the 80%. If your overall goal is to get staff up to speed on 23 web tools, set weekly targets with a way to check off the achievement—it worked like magic for the 23 Things programs. When you construct a learning plan for staff, make sure there are some easy successes early on in the plan to build up that “money in the bank” motivation.

6. Find the bright spots
It may happen that I’m following my training plan but find that I’m struggling and getting discouraged. This is a good time to look around and see what’s working for others, or in Switch terminology, “find the bright spots.” If one of my teammates tells me that she makes sure to ride at least 5 times a week, that may be just the tip I need to improve my path.

Organizational change on a large scale will inevitably hit snags. Some of these will have been identified in step 1 so that the team is mentally prepared to encounter and overcome obstacles. It’s those unanticipated obstacles that can cause a plan to founder. When it does, look for examples of people or teams who seem to have surmounted the difficulty and figure out what they are doing that is enabling them and promote the solution to everyone. If one person is keeping on top of blog and Twitter news while the rest of the team claims to have no time, it may be that the exceptional person has her computer set to logon to those accounts so it’s the first thing she sees in the morning. If something is working for one person, it just might work for the many.

Good luck with your training and may the change be with you!

Betha Gutsche

Betha Gutsche has been a virtual librarian ever since receiving her MLIS from the University of Washington Information School. Immersed in the online community of WebJunction, she has cultivated community connections through forums, live online events, and writing stories about the library community. She has delved into e-learning design, curriculum development, needs assessment, and all things connected to social learning in the online world. Betha is the editor-in-chief of the Competency Index for the Library Field. She is now the manager of Project Compass, a program working with public libraries to augment their service to communities impacted by tough times. Underneath it all, Betha is an artist and loves to raise awareness of visual literacy and introduce people to the power of image.

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Filed Under: Learning Styles, The Training Life Tagged With: change, librarians, library, program, RSVP, staff, students, success, training, youth

Database Delight: Library eResources, 23-Things-Style

March 31, 2010 By Sarah Houghton-Jan

On April 1st, the San Jose Public Library will launch its Database Delight online training program for staff. Riffing off of the 23-Things model, we created a 13-week self-paced online learning program for staff where they learn a different database every week. All staff are invited to participate in this self-paced online learning activity.

There are individual and group incentives to participate too. Over 40 staff-donated Prize Packs are raffled off at the end of the program. If you participate for one week, you get a raffle entry. If you participate all 13 weeks, you get a bonus 5 entries. In addition, the branch or unit with the highest percentage of participation and completion will win the “Database Awesomeness” Pizza Party for entire branch or unit!

The program was created by the SJPL Staff Development and Training Team (which I chair) and the Electronic Resources Team in response to a growing need for eResource awareness.

Why did we decide to do this? Like most libraries, we have found that we could improve upon existing staff experience with and knowledge of library eResources. As the chair of the Training Team, I strongly believe that all staff, no matter what position or experience, should be familiar with the library’s collections and services–both physical and virtual. This training program is inclusive of all staff and will hopefully help us meet this goal.

The three biggest challenges:

Finding training time for staff. Staff time is at a premium, and with huge budget cuts looming it has become even more imperative for everyone on board to become familiar with our digital collections. Hosting the program online and letting people find the 30-60 minutes per week whenever they can will hopefully help with that problem.
We had no prizes. Due to City of San Jose policy, we are not allowed to spend library money on prizes for staff (it’s seen as “paying staff twice to do their jobs”). Wait, it gets worse. We are also not allowed to solicit local businesses for donations either. So we were left with no prizes until we hit on the idea of asking our staff to donate the very prizes that we would raffle off. The prizes (or incentives, as we call them, as the city won’t let us use the word “prize” either), are not huge as a result and not everyone will get something. But it’s the best we can do with a bad situation.
The technology. As much as it pains me to say this, sadly our library is still in a technological state where we cannot host blogs on our web servers. We ended up hosting the site on a free WordPress blog (thank goodness for that). And all of the photos are hosted on our Flickr account, in a set just for the prizes.

So what’s next? I encourage other libraries to think about using this training style to teach staff and customers about your online resources. Our next project is to do the same style training for our eBook and eAudioBook collections. If you want to learn more about how it works and what we’re doing, check out our “About this Project” page.

Sarah Houghton-Jan

Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: Database Delight, Electronic Resources Team, libraries, library, Prize Packs, program, SJPL, staff, training, Training Team

On Sunshine, Smiles and Kittens

February 18, 2010 By Marianne Lenox

This post is not going to be about workplace violence, even though it’s recently been heavy on my mind. On February 17th, an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville opened fire in a staff meeting killing three coworkers and injuring three more. Dr. Amy Bishop is now charged with those crimes. My library is in Huntsville, everyone who works here knows someone at UAH.

Nor is it going to be about conflict management, though I’ve got a fairly good presentation on that topic and can talk about it for hours.

While this post is about workplace etiquette, it’s not a broad guide. There are plenty of those available. I’d like to step back even further and discuss one small thing we can do at work to reduce daily stress and create a better work environment for everyone.

I remember staying after school one day in elementary school to help a teacher pack up her room at year’s end. As I said goodbye, the teacher handed me an old poster with ragged corners. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours” quoted the poster, complete with rays of sunshine on a kitten. She told me she wanted me to have it because she’d noticed how quick I was to smile at the other children, always cheerful and ready to help. She spoke of kindness and courtesy, manners and graciousness. It has a huge impact on me, I would even call it empowering.

In 2006 I attended a SirsiDynix Webinar with Pat Wagner called “Library Conflict Management for Consenting Adults Turning Enemies into Allies” in which she mentioned that libraries should have a “civility clause” for employees. Soon after, I conducted a little experiment in the staff-only halls of the library. Moving through the building, I pulled up my the corners of my mouth and set a smile there. Every single person who passed said hello or wanted talk about something. The next day, I set a frown before I roamed the halls. A couple of people said I looked tired, one even asked what was wrong. It was as if the energy around me changed instead of just a few facial muscles, I was really struck with the results. Many times since I’ve heard someone make a nasty remark or slam a door in anger at work and wish we had a policy for Being Nice.

Call me Pollyanna, it’s been done before. I’m a firm believer in the power of positivity. When doing research on a class for managers on giving evaluations, I relied heavily on The Power of Positive Criticism by Hendrie Weisinger. He writes of emotional intelligence, being improvement-oriented and guarding self-esteem in those around you. The book had a profound effect on the way I deal with people in every aspect of my life and I recommend it often to others.

Too often we forget simple courtesy in the workplace. Don’t wait until you have to bring in a conflict resolution arbitrator or consult the attorneys on harassment law. It’s too late when you’re forced to hire grief counselors.

You have the power to give someone a smile today. It’s free and it feels good. Who knows? You might just get one back in return.

Funeral services for Dr. Adriel Johnson, Dr. Gopi Podila and Dr. Maria Ragland Davis begin today.

Image credit: The Huntsville Times

Information about UAH’s Department of Biological Sciences Memorial Scholarship Fund may be found here.

Marianne Lenox

As the Staff Training & Volunteer Coordinator for the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library in Alabama, Marianne is responsible for planning, directing, maintaining and implementing a comprehensive staff training and volunteer program for her library. She consistently strives to provide learning opportunities, professional information and technical training to ensure both better library service and the professional development of the Library’s staff and volunteers.

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Filed Under: The Training Life Tagged With: Adriel Johnson, Amy Bishop, free, Huntsville Times Information, libraries, library, Maria Ragland Davis, school, staff, UAH

Maurice Coleman’s Getting to Know All About Me Post

January 11, 2010 By Maurice Coleman

I am Maurice Coleman, one of the writers here at the ALA Learning blog and I have been tasked to both reintroduce myself to celebrate the (awesome!) redesign of the blog (thanks Lori!) Another challenge point is that I have to follow Peter Bromberg, again. (I followed him at Pres4Lib. Not easy since he is a great live speaker.)

So, how to do this you may ask?

The following questions were “crowd-sourced” during a few posts on the T is for Training (the library training podcast’s) Google group. A number of members of that group, which is pollinated by several ALA Learning writers, came up with this set of “getting to know you” questions. They are to be answered in one sentence. Let’s see how long that lasts. So Let’s Get This Party Started. Remember: Nothing Beats a Failure but a Try according to the Godfather, James Brown. The annotated version of this post will be up on my blog later this week.

1) Your One Sentence Bio

I am a tech/sports/tv/history geek that loves to educate, excite and stir up the status quo (when needed) in my position as the Technical Trainer for my public library system and as host of the T is for Training podcast who happens not to be a librarian. (Whew, that was hard to keep that to one sentence.)

2) Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?

Yep, but not a frequently as I once did. The name I came up with was The Chronicles of the (almost) Bald Technology Trainer As for the name: well it is a continuing story about a guy with not too much hair who shows people how do stuff with stuff. The Chronicles of the (almost) Bald Technology Trainer sounds better. This is how I started blogging. (Yeah, that “one sentence” thing lasted long.)

3) What is your professional background?

I have been training for over fifteen years starting with community development and neighborhood organizing training, then technology training in NY, then a variety of training my library system, focusing on technology and organizational development and culture immersion here in Maryland.

4) What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes?

My organized trainings are for staff, while I do “just in time” training for the public as needed. I teach both face to face and virtual classes, on computer skills, management skills, Microsoft Office products, social networking tools and organizational culture.

5) What training do you think is most important to libraries right now?

Teaching staff and public that our mission of connecting people to information does not change even though the vessel of delivery or what we deliver changes.

6) Where do you get your training?

Trial and Error, lots of experience and a Train the Trainer class back in 1994. Learning to accept failure as a learning experience was essential to developing what training and speaking skills I have today.

7) How do you keep up?

By depending on the kindness of my friends inside the computer via Twitter, Friendfeed, (both locked because of previous spam stupidity) some RSS feeds and list-servs, and outside the computer at meetings and conferences.

#8) What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing right now?

Show the non library using public why libraries are a vital community resource on par with schools and public safety.

9) What are biggest challenges for trainers?

Balancing life and work.

10) What exciting things are you doing training wise?

At MPOW we are creating a Civility Through Customer Service training using blended synchronous, asynchronous, and face to face modules. The T is for Training podcast is in the middle of our intersession featuring interviews and a 27 question trainer questionnaire that may sound familiar to you, gentle reader.

11) What do you wish were you doing?

Living a life of leisure on a live aboard in the Caribbean snorkeling, diving and eating too much seafood.

12) What would you do with a badger?

Take it to Wisconsin.

13) What’s your favorite food?

How can you have ONE?!?

14) If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want to have with you?

By myself? A sturdy sailboat. With my wife? A sturdy sailboat.

15) Do you know what happens when a grasshopper kicks all the seeds
out of a pickle?

Yes, it claps with one hand.

16) Post it notes or the back of your hand?

Palm of hand.

17) Windows or Mac?

Windows with a mancrush on Linux.

18) Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget?

Like Mariano Rivera, I have a short memory of failure.

19) What’s your take on handshakes?

Solid, with a big hate of “wishy-washy” handshakes.

20) Global warming: yes or no?

If you call it Overall Global Climate Adjustment due to man made chemicals in the air, then yes.

21) How did you get into this line of work?

At a FPOW I started as a trainer helper (really an apprentice) then started to deliver then develop trainings.

22) What is the best part of your job?

Helping people “get it” and feel empowered.

23) Why should someone else follow in your shoes?

I get paid to teach and learn new stuff.

24) Sushi or hamburger?

Hamburger Sushi. Done and done.

25) LSW or ALA?

Actually, I like them both for different reasons.

26) What one person in the world do you want to have lunch with and why?

I would like to have lunch with my father.

27) What cell phone do you have and why?

A very dumb but rugged one for the moment. I want a smart phone but every service and phone had serious pluses and minuses. Presently trying to work out what I want to do.

Maurice Coleman

Maurice Coleman, has been Technical Trainer at Harford County (MD) Public Library in North Eastern Maryland for the last 7 years. He has 20 years of experience training all ages how to sensibly use technology, computer hardware and software. He has also trained on effective technology planning and deployment, social media skills, nonprofit organizational development and fundraising, community organizing and presentation skills. He has presented at numerous conferences on topics such as digital personal branding, technology implementation, presentation and training skills, community development and effectively using social media. He hosts the library training podcast T is for Training and writes for the American Library Association’s LearnRT blog ALALearning. For his work he was named a 2010 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and received the Citizens for Maryland Libraries Davis McCarn Technology Award. You can find him on twitter @baldgeekinmd

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Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: ALA, Bald Technology Trainer, handshakes, libraries, LSW, Maurice Coleman, One Sentence Bio, staff, Technology, training

Pete Bromberg’s 23 things (minus 3): A getting to know ya post

January 7, 2010 By Peter Bromberg

Lori Reed, our intrepid blog manager, has asked each of the ALAlearning bloggers to begin the New Year by telling a little bit about ourselves. I had no idea what I was going to write. Enter Maurice Coleman, he of T-is-for-Training fame (and fellow ALALearning blogger), who sent around a fun training meme. Voila! Instant getting-to-know-ya template.

So here, in a slightly modified form (Maurice suggested one sentence answers, but — notice my attention to detail here– I didn’t notice that until after I finished writing my post) is a little bit about me.

Your One Sentence Bio: I’m just a simple librarian trying to make it in this crazy world.
Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name? I blog with a bunch of wonderful people over at Library Garden. We’re all from New Jersey which is the Garden State (no laughing, we’re 2nd in blueberry production, 3rd in cranberry production, 3rd in spinach, 4th in bell peppers, 4th in peach production, not to mention our tomatoes, corn, etc.) so we called ourselves Library Garden. I almost immediately regretted it though because the blog was conceived for a national audience and there was a tendency early on by some bloggers to post only about parochial NJ items. We got past that issue though and it’s been a great ride ever since.
What is your professional background? My first job out of college was working for Nordstrom, which I really view as the foundation of my professional experience. It was wonderful to work for a company whose culture was steeped in customer service and employee empowerment. I’ve been unable to work (for long) in any other type of environment ever since. I received my MLS from Rutgers SCILS in 1992. My internship was in the AT&T Law Library (I thought I wanted to be a law librarian.) My first job was for the Spokane County Library District where I worked as both a reference and YA librarian. I then worked at the EPA in Manhattan, learning a lot in a relatively short time from a certain Free Range Librarian. From there I moved on to Head of Reference Services at the Camden County Library for four years, and then to the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative in 2001 as Program Coordinator, and more recently as Assistant Director. Among other duties, I currently provide continuing education to over 600 libraries in the southern seven counties of New Jersey. If you’re looking for the best job in librarianship, please accept my apology–it’s taken.
What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes? These days I do more scheduling of training then actual training, but I somehow still managed to do some speaking or training 14 times last year. (I wouldn’t have guessed it was that much.) Most of my training/speaking is for library staff. I talk about change, the future, technology, effectiveness, training, virtual reference, cool tools, communication, teamwork, goal-setting, etc. As a creative generalist I’ve never quite found a niche. I’m the nicheless librarian (hmmm… maybe I should buy that domain right now…)
What training do you think is most important to libraries right now? The most important thing for us to focus on is Information literacy in the broadest sense. And I don’t mean we need to teach others about information literacy (although that is a role for us), I mean we need to be information literate, and think of information literacy in a new way. Librarians and library staff need to understand how the world of information behavior is changing. How do people produce, search for, track, consume and process information? How are technologies and economies of scale (think: mobile phones, social networking) affecting the role that information plays in our lives? How are human relationships being affected, and how does this all relate to the role of libraries in society and in peoples’ lives? These are the questions that would keep me up at night if I wasn’t such a sound sleeper.
Where do you get your training? I don’t get trained that much these days, but do sit in on many workshops that I schedule, so I pick up bits and pieces all year long. I also take advantage of webinars as much as possible (thanks Webjunction!) Most of my learning occurs through… oh wait, that’s the next question…
How do you keep up?
1. Blog Reading (155 feeds and counting) through Google Reader (which I only recently started using–and I’m really loving.) There are also a handful of blogs that I subscribe to through email (thank you feedmyinbox) because I want instant notification and/or don’t want to miss a single post.
2. Twitter: I’ve cultivated a great network of tweeps who are always tweeting something incredibly interesting, thought-provoking, or just plain entertaining. Follow me, I’ll follow you: http://twitter.com/pbromberg.
3. Listservs: Digref, Publib, many NJ library listservs, and ALA/NJLA listservs, among others.
4. Old School: I read Library Journal, Public Libraries, American Libraries, and a variety of Association newsletters. (Maybe listservs belong under the “Old School” category too?)
What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing right now?
1. Figuring out our place in the rapidly changing world. While I think every business and organization is facing a similar challenge, the challenge to libraries is exponential because so many of the changes directly affect how people find and use information which goes to the core of our mission.
2. Marketing/Telling our Story: For years and years libraries have had a pass; we haven’t had to work very hard to demonstrate our value, and some librarians (still) seem to actively resent the idea that we should have to demonstrate our value. Those days are over and getting overer. (Hey, I like that quote–maybe bartelby’s will pick it up.) Which is one reason I was so pleased to see The M Word on LISNews’ list of blogs to read in 2010. If you’re not already reading The M Word, I cordially invite you to begin.
3. Focusing on Customer Experience. To simplify as much as possible, but not simpler: If our customers have a good experience when they interact with the library or any portion thereof, we’re golden. If they don’t, we’re toast. (Note: I recently posted a piece on customer experience, with a basic overview and suggested links. )
What exciting things are you doing training wise? Any training I do these days is exciting. Right now I’m working (with my wife) on putting together a full day preconference on the Enneagram. This is very exciting!
What do you wish were you doing? As an Enneagram nine, I’m not sure I know what I wish I were doing. But playing tennis or laughing with my wife is always better than a poke in the eye.
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.)
If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want to have with you? A book on how to survive on a desert island for less than five dollars a day. And a sturdy guitar–maybe I’d finally learn how to play it!
Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget? Once, while teaching a class on communication, I used the old example of a loaded question, “So, are you still beating your wife.” As a man presenting to a group of mostly women, I quickly realized that perhaps a better example was called for. Such are the dangers of ad-libbing. I felt terrible. Awful. Embarrassed. But at the end of the day, it was still better than digging ditches.
How did you get into this line of work? I was going to be a teacher but then had a dream (yes, an “I was asleep at the time” dream dream dream type dream) that suggested librarianship might be a good career. So I went to library school instead of for a Masters of Ed. I think this story is true. I’m almost certain it is. And if it isn’t, it should be.
What is the best part of your job? It’s hard to pick a best part of a great job. I suppose I enjoy a certain amount of freedom and creative control, and I enjoy that my job brings me into contact with so many people.
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. (note added 1/11/10–As a geeky librarian, it’s been bothering me that I probably got this story a little wrong–it’s been 20+ years since I read it, and I think I conflated two stories. In any case, here is a more accurate version of one of the stories, the gist being more or less the same)
Sushi or hamburger? Both, thank you.
LSW or ALA? A false dichotomy if there ever was one.
What one person in the world do you want to have lunch with and why? I would love to have lunch with my paternal grandfather. He passed away when I was two so I never really got to know him, and by all accounts he was a decent, and gentle man. And I have a feeling he’d pick up the tab even if I insisted otherwise.
What cell phone do you have and why? I just bought an iphone five days ago because Verizon gave me such terrible service, compounded by billing errors–ugh, I’m exhausted just thinking about it… The iphone has been fun but all of a sudden I’m getting “no service”, so I hope this doesn’t turn into a problem as some quick googling suggests it might. Fingers crossed!

Peter Bromberg

Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: ALA, Blog Reading, Customer Experience, libraries, LSW, Marketing, Old School, Pete Bromberg, staff, training

Staff Day Success: A Free Webinar

November 30, 2009 By Lori Reed

From InfoPeople:

Title: Staff Day Success! Tips for Planning, Delivering, and Evaluating All-Staff Events

Date and time: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 12 pm – 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

This webinar will last approximately one hour. There is no charge for this webinar. Pre-registration is not required.

For more information and to participate in the December 3 webinar, go to http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/306/index.html

Are you involved with planning and implementing an all-staff event at your library? Thinking about a staff day and wondering about the next steps? A staff day may be a regularly scheduled opportunity for team building and morale boosting or may be a day specifically scheduled because of a building program, planning process or other shift in strategic directions.

Whatever the goals for the day, it’s a day with high expectations that is often produced on a shoestring budget by those who are not professional event planners. Planning responsibilities may include finding speakers (often at low or no cost), arranging a venue, dealing with room setups and equipment, developing lunch plans, and ultimately creating a valuable learning experience for library staff.

Those attending the webinar will learn about:

A planning process that involves library leadership as well as employees in all parts of the library

Ideas for creative free or low-cost programs
The importance of “over-communication” and why branding is part of communication
How to evaluate and document the event to leave a legacy for future staff day planners

Join presenter Mary Ross – who has planned and implemented numerous all-staff events, as well as library-related conferences, workshops and training-as she shares tips, tricks and strategies for success. You’ll be able to tackle the challenges in planning and delivering an all-staff event, resulting in a day that is valuable to and celebrates the value of all employees.

Speaker: Mary Bucher Ross. Mary Ross has over 25 years of experience working in public libraries and managed the staff training and development program at the Seattle Public Library for eight years. Under contract to the Washington State Library, she designed “Anytime, Anywhere Answers” and “The Virtual Reference Adventure,” online training programs for virtual reference providers. She has also designed courses for WebJunction and LibraryU. She is co-author of Virtual Reference Training: The Complete Guide to Providing Anytime, Anywhere Answers, published by ALA Editions in 2004. Currently continuing education coordinator for the Washington Library Association, she is also on the board of directors of the Continuing Library Education Network and Round Table (CLENERT) and was a delegate to ALA’s 2nd and 3rd Congresses on Professional Education.

If you are unable to attend the live event, you can access the archived version the day following the webinar. Check our archive listing at:

http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/list/archived

Webinar: Staff Day Success! Tips for Planning, Delivering, and Evaluating All-Staff Events

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009

Time: 12pm – 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

Speaker: Mary Bucher Ross

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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Filed Under: Webinars Tagged With: Anywhere Answers, library, Mary Ross, Pacific Standard Time, planning, process, program, staff, training, webinar

On Demand Training for Staff

October 5, 2009 By Bobbi Newman

*CC image courtesy of misterbisson on flickr

Sometimes I think the best training is the training that doesn’t happen in the classroom, it’s the unscheduled training. The kind that happens when you’re walking down the hallway and someone stops you with a question. Or hearing someone talking about a problem in a meeting and knowing you have solution you can offer.

I’m not saying people don’t learn while sitting in a classroom, they do. But sometimes they lose what they learned before they have a time to apply it. Sometimes they haven’t used the tool or service to encounter the situation so they don’t know what questions to ask until later.

Because these impromptu, or on demand, sessions are one on one, people often feel more comfortable asking questions they may not ask in front of a group. One on one sessions have other advantages too. You move at the pace of the individual, not the group or a schedule. You can walk them through the process step by step, more than once if needed. You can see if the person doesn’t understand right away and explain it again or in a different way.

I also find that providing on demand training can make staff more interested in attending your training classes, give you new ideas for training sessions and even get you invited to department meetings for training!

How do you make these on demand sessions happen?

Leave your office

Or cubicle or desk. Get out, walk around, talk with people, ask them questions, don’t wait for them to come to you. There is a psychological barrier to approaching a desk, it is the same barrier that stops patrons from approaching the reference desk. When approaching a desk staff may feel that they are interrupting or be embarrassed to be asking for help. It also requires them to make a conscious decision and seek you out. If you are out walking around they might remember they have a question or a problem and, since you are there anyway, ask. They don’t feel like they are interrupting you or standing in a spotlight.

Speak the language

Or at least don’t make them speak yours. Don’t make staff know the correct terms for everything before they can ask you a question. Don’t make them feel dumb for not know the proper names of tools or processes. It is your job as the trainer to listen to what they are asking and translate it to your terms. It is ok to provide the correct terminology but don’t do it in a way that makes the other person feel dumb. When answering do it terms they can understand.

Show them.

Don’t just tell them, show them and by show them I mean have them do the hands on part, not watch you do it. Go through the instructions slowly enough the person can do them and take notes. People learn by doing, they can watch you and take all the notes they want, but doing it themselves will stick with them much later. Plus it helps improve their confidence using the computer, which can be a problem for many staff.

Show them again.

If they didn’t get it the first time, show them again. For some staff it will take several times through the same instructions before something sticks, that’s ok. For others you may need to show them in a different way. You may need to structure it in a way they understand or that they can apply. People learn differently, be prepared to modify your instructions to help the individual you are helping better understand them.

Be approachable.

This may seem obvious, but it is worth repeating. Even if you are out walking around and possess the most amazing training style if no one feels they can ask you a question it does no good. Smile, make eye contact, say hi, ask how things are going. These may seem simple but we all know it can be easy to let your attention stray to that big project you are working on or that you need to pick up milk on the way home.

Bobbi Newman

Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: on demand, one on one, staff, staff training, teaching, training

Open Books

August 26, 2009 By Marianne Lenox

Google Books announced today that users can download over a million public domain titles in an open source format. “.epub” is the file extension of an XML format for reflowable digital books and publications. Sony Reader, iPhone and iPod Touch are popular digital readers that support .epub, as does software Adobe Editions and MobiPocket.

Though I don’t see a way to search specifically for these titles, on an item page look for a Download button to see if your chosen title is available in the new format or try http://books.google.com/m

Many libraries have already embraced digital downloads and trained staff on how to use Overdrive or NetLibrary. Despite the qualms we may have about the Google book deal, our digital patrons be all over this.

Will we?