Turning over Librarians Part 1

No, I do not think that librarians are like rocks and that if you turn them over you will find all kinds of interesting things crawling around. I do know that librarians (or most of them) are multi-dimensional individuals that do know a lot of interesting and amazing things, if you just ask they may well tell you. In using the phrase “turning over librarians,” I am referring to the term often used by businesses, “turn-over.” This will be a two part post. In the first one I will discuss turn-over in lower level employees and in the second I will discuss turn-over and the lack thereof in upper level employees.

In the business world turn over relates to the loss or attrition of employees. In many industries, there is a very high rate of turn-over, especially in lower paying service (think fast food) or seasonal (ski resorts) industries. Many businesses spend a vast amount of resources managing turn-over, so what do they gain? They mainly gain lower wage employees that seldom have benefits or any of the other costs associated with long term employees. The down side is that they constantly have to hire and train new employees that do not become effective parts of the business’s culture and seldom are able to add more than basic labor to the mission of the organization.

Do libraries have a high turn-over rate? Speaking from my experience working at my library the answer is yes and no. The vast majority of manual labor, say shelving books, is provided by library aides. These tend to be 10 hour a week positions that work for minimal or near minimal wage, with no benefits. This keeps the line item for payroll down, but are there “hidden costs” to this practice?

From my experience in the business world, as a bookstore manager, business owner and a divisional manager in a technology company, I feel comfortable saying yes to the question of hidden costs. It requires a constant and huge effort to find and hire even reasonable employees for basic tasks. They must go through training and learning periods before they become even reasonably skilled. During this period “regular/full-time” employees are often performing these lower level tasks to the detriment of their regular duties. This also can put additional stress on the longer term employees resulting in lower performance, job satisfaction and loss of productive time. This period of adjustment and learning can also lead to significant declines in the quality of customer service provided by the organization.

As you can see there are many other costs relating to high turn-over rates of lower level employees that go well beyond the directly measurable ones. With this recognition, what steps can be taken to mitigate these additional costs and maintain customer service levels?

Give more to less?

One common methodology for reducing these costs is to give more hours to fewer lower level workers. This may result in greater employee loyalty and tends to create employees that are more knowledgeable and skilled at their jobs. In a library situation this would be most welcome, since it would greatly increase the accuracy of shelving materials and the rate at which materials could be shelved. It would also tend to create employees that could provided superior customer service to customers they encounter while performing their regular duties, rather than referring basic questions to the desk personnel.

So what are the disadvantages to the “more to less” method? First the organization may have to bear increased costs such as health and retirement benefits if the employee meets the minimal hours required. Second with fewer individuals performing the same duties the library may experience small extend periods without any of these employees being available due to illness or family situations.

Better Hiring & Training Methods

An alternative approach may be taken to the “more to less” methodology that takes advantage of advances in training and an effective marketing/recruitment program. Marketing program? That’s right! If you are going to be replacing and hiring a continual stream of low level employees you are going to have to have a steady source of bodies at hand. Working with local high school guidance counselors, college student employment offices or state employment services may reduce the amount of time required to find qualified candidates. Also having any of these agencies administer any required written tests may reduce the load on your full-time staff. Finally, you may offer bounties to other short term employees to bring other candidates to your attention.

These employees may not be on the job for all that long, so OJT (on the job training) may not be the most efficient approach with these individuals. Try creating a very short and intensive training program that will give them the required skills in a very short period of time, before throwing them to the wolves. This is an opportunity to use technology to its’ fullest by deploying such items as: computer based training, online training and testing, screen casting and simulations. Finally create a mentoring program with other employees at their level and those more permanent employees within your organization.

Regardless of which methodology your library or organization uses, it is important that it be well thought out and not just “the way that we have always done it.” Carefully evaluate the cost and benefits, as well as your organizations commitment to creating meaningful employment opportunities beyond throw away short term workers.

Next time we will discuss the benefits and problems that can be associated with long term employees. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Accepting the Public in Public Library

Recently there has been a bit of media coverage on incidents that have happened in public libraries ^[2]. As a public librarian I find myself a bit bewildered by the tone of these articles and the outrage expressed by some citizens and librarians. What do they expect to happen in a public space? Where have they been for the past thirty years?

Are libraries safe places? I would argue that libraries in general are as safe as any other public space. Does this mean that it is a good place to just drop off your kids or to leave your purse sitting around? No. You should not expect your local public library to be any safer that the local shopping mall.

I would say to the “outraged” citizens and librarians who do not feel safe, that the library is much safer than many other private and public spaces. I feel much safer working in my library than I would if I worked at the local convenience store. If I where a banker I would worry about bank robbers with large caliber weapons pointed at my head. Here at the library, I know that I will have to deal with unstable people and potentially acts of violence, but I face the same threat when I walk with my family downtown.

Librarians, and anyone else, should not have to work in a hostile environment. So what should they do? Since my daughter was able to understand what a phone was both of her parents have taught her how to dial 911. Imagine that, a nine year old who knows to call the police if she feels threatened. If she can do it so can librarians. Librarians are public service workers and thus must accept the fact that they will have to deal with all kinds of situations and they may never feel 100% safe. They have the right and authority to call the police any time they feel unsafe, regardless of what they may perceive their administrators position to be. Be an adult and make the call.

Let’s face it, most librarians tend to be a fastidious lot, but the general public is often much less so. When you are in a public space you are likely to be exposed to the full range of unwashed and tasteless humanity. Many people, including librarians, seem to have this Hollywood image of what a library should be, but the reality is much different. Is any of this radical or new? Honestly I don’t know. I might imagine that the increase in homelessness (not intended to accusatory) and the current economic situation may be placing additional strain on individuals that may be more obvious in our public spaces ^[1].

Unless we are willing to give in to the bigots within our communities or turn our libraries into police bunkers, we will always have public space issues in our libraries. Just as most of us do not expect our library spaces to be the nearly silent edifices pictured in movies, we must realize that much of our personal security is in our own hands. Public libraries were intended to give free access to, well the public, thus the name.

Additional reading/resources:

1. A very interesting and informative article was written by Chip Ward on Libraries and homeless people: http://www.alternet.org/story/50023/
2. A recent series of articles about the Hartford, Connecticut Library: http://www.courant.com/community/news/hfd/hc-hartfordlibrary-may18,0,2336731.story (original article) & http://www.courant.com/community/news/hfd/hc-ctlibrary0606.artjun06,0,7150601.story (follow-up article)
3. A recent ALA article on the Hartford library: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6562745.html

Kindle Update

For those of you who read my original Kindle report, you know how my experience with it went. If you did not read it you can find it here: My Short Life with Kindle.

Since then the kindle has been circulating through the library staff and four more people have had the opportunity to experience it. Reaction to date has been completely positive. Some of the issues with usability/ergonomics that I originally pointed out have been repeated by other staff members. But along with the criticisms there have been many more comments from my fellow librarians like:

I must confess I am in love.

Once I got used to the ergonomics of the Kindle, it was easy and enjoyable reading from it. I was captivated by the Kindle’s potential as a study tool for students, teachers, clergyman, and people with specific areas of personal passion and research.

I began to see possibilities for the Kindle that surpass those of the humble book. Devoted Luddite that I am (was?), I already adored two features: the option to supersize the font and the capacity to highlight a word and instantly link to a dictionary.

I just placed our library’s Kindle in the hands of yet another librarian. It should be interesting to see if the support and excitement continues.

Presentation

Yes this is a filler post and is basically self promotion!

Last week I had the opportunity to give a 15 minute presentation and participate in a panel discussion at the Midwest Library Technology Conference. The session was called “Avatarbrarians: Librarians at the Point of Need, Virtually” and my presentation was titled “Learning to be Avatars.” If you forget the first part with the puppets (inside joke) things went well. If you would like to see the slides from my presentation you can view them on SlideShare.

This was my first presentation at a library conference, buy not my first presentation. I had a great time at the conference and recommend it to all librarians in the Midwest, think about adding it to your calendar for next year. After many discussions between sessions and over food, I have several more thoughts on presentations I am gong to be developing, some I have already touched on in previous posts here and others are thoughts I have been developing lately that play off my technology and marketing backgrounds. I look forward to sharing them with you.

DRM is Evil?

I heard it at CiL 2008 and have heard it talked about on blogs. There seems to be and obsession with DRM (Digital Rights Management) with many librarians and with some of the general public. Since I come from a business background I don’t quite understand all the huff amongst librarians. Following is a reply I made to a post on another blog regarding DRM that kind of encapsulates my current thoughts on the issue:

The above comments offer great insights into the whole libraries and DRM issue, but I have a little bit to add, even though I am a public librarian.

Many academic institutions are moving towards a more open standard, which I fully applaud. Harvard Law School is an example in the academic realm that is starting to use CC to open up their materials to a wider public and improve the dissemination of knowledge. But in my humble opinion, academia and the “real” world should not be lumped together.

When discussing DRM and who is pushing it, the finger can not just be pointed at the publishers. Any real discussion must include the authors of the materials. If authors where interested in producing works truly free of any form of DRM, then they would not be sending their works to the publishers in the first place. Why bother? Just type it up in your favorite word processor, attach a CC license to, make it a PDF file and put it online. Done no DRM!

But the reality, as we have all heard before, is that self publishing CC content is not the way to get your books into libraries or make a decent living. The author – publisher relationship is a financial one and is not generally based on altruism. I seriously doubt that you would find one bestselling author today that would have rather been self published into obscurity and the poor house.

Authors need to be monetarily rewarded for their hard work. They to have families to feed and bills to pay just like you and me. To imagine a totally DRM free world is simply unrealistic. Would you go to work tomorrow and every day for the rest of your life for free? I sure wouldn’t.

I welcome you thoughts and opinions on this issue and or my response.

Posted on librarian in black 5/18/08

My Signature

Recently over at ACR Log blog StevenB posted the following:

Most academic librarians go through their careers performing a host of jobs and filling a multitude of functions. From selection to reference to instruction and more we are true workplace multi-taskers. But amidst all these different activities have you ever stopped to ask yourself what’s at the center of it all? What defines you as a librarian? What’s your signature statement?

Now I am not an academic librarian and I have not been a librarian for very long, but I found this thought provoking. I am aspiring to be a reference librarian along with the technology side that takes up most of my day. I say aspire, because I have a long way to go, even though I do work the reference desk several days a week. Even though Steven was addressing academic librarians, I think public librarians should attempt to come up with their own signature statements as well.

I originally came across this idea on the Librarians Matter blog, where I posted my signature. My hope is that my signature is a reflection of my personality, job and professional goals. It serves as guide to the way I approach each and every day. I am sure this will change over time, but currently mine is:

“Absorb everything, challenge everything and take the risks needed to get it done and excel.”

You might have noticed that I did not include the words, library, librarian or technology in my signature. I hope my signature is more about who I am than what job I do. Can I take this signature with my when I leave the library? I think I can.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts or reading your signatures.

Feed success

I was part of an interesting conversation the other day that stemmed from a post made by Greg on his blog Open Stacks. For today the most relevant part of his post was this:

The children’s librarian was unable to keep it going as she needed to start gearing up for summer reading.

So I did what any father/librarian would do. I offered to keep it going myself. Well, let me rephrase that. I suggested that the parents who were in attendance might do well to try to keep the momentum going and organize our own weekly storytime at the same time and in the same place as the program that was ending. There seemed to be enough interest for me to pursue it further.

It is what happened to an apparently successful program that concerns me. I do not know all the details of the situation, and never will. The apparent abandoning of a program that was working for another touched on some of my own experiences this week at the library where I work.

In two days, I encountered no less than three “because we have always done it that way” statements. This is apparently much more acceptable/common in the library profession than in the business one I come from. Businesses that stick to this mantra seldom last long and are very vulnerable to “sea changes” within an industry. Successful organizations have a culture that honors tradition and their core mission, while allowing for flexibility.

I know that Greg’s library may have been sort staffed, low on funds or in any one of a dozen other situations that may have precluded the continuation of the program he and his son where enrolled in. My point or maybe challenge is to encourage libraries, especially my own, to feed successful programs the resources and staffing need to keep them going and not end them “just because we have always done it that way.”

Libraries that can honor tradition and be flexible/responsive to the needs of their customers will be successful libraries. Not to sound to flippant, but a lot more “can do” in libraries would be refreshing.

Should Public Libraries Teach?

I recently took an online survey that asked for input from both public and academic libraries. From my view point as a public librarian (although a brand spanking new one) is seemed pretty obvious that the survey was geared towards academic libraries.

Quite a few of the questions on this survey asked about teaching users how to use our resources and what teaching methodologies that we might be using. This got me to thinking about “teaching” in public libraries. Should public libraries “teach?” How much time should be spent “teaching?” Do our customers even want to be taught and if so what? How do we reach them?

Now understand that I am just starting to ask these questions and have not formed any hard answers yet. For me this is an exploration and a request for information. I welcome your thoughts and examples.

While working the reference desk, I have interacted with large numbers of individuals seeking information. I can say that very few of them seemed interested in learning how to find the information themselves. Many times I have offered to show people how to find the information themselves, but only a very few have ever been interested. I am willing to say that my selling skills are perhaps not the best, but I have a gut feeling that this is what most reference librarians in public libraries experience. Can you teach people how to do something that they would rather you do for them?

I have watched many public and private schools take tours of my library and then they are turned loose to do “research.” These tours seem to be mostly composed of here are the books, ask for help. I would not call this teaching. The reference librarians also give a tour of the databases we have and the catalog, if the teacher has allowed time. But to cover dozens of databases in ten minutes does not make it very educational. Is this the kind of teaching we should be doing? I would basically call this giving a tour. But is it also leads me to ask, if we are not given the opportunity to teach, what can we do?

So I see two main hindrances so far: one, people don’t want to learn, they just want the information so they can get on with their lives; two, we often do not have the opportunity to teach. We might not ever actually encounter the individual or we may not have the time, such as the school tours mentioned above. So what are some solutions?

Until there are no more reference librarians to hand out answers and teachers have all the time in the world, the above issues will not go away. What about giving how to use your library classes? This might work, but I have my doubts. Let me know if you have had success doing classes like this in a public library. For me the most interesting opportunity to teach in the public library setting is presented by technology.

I will start this thought process by making a couple of big assumptions. I would guess that users that use our websites or the terminals within the library are technically more savvy, more motivated (most importantly) and more willing to learn if we offer them the opportunity. As we go through our website redesign process I am looking for potential learning opportunities that I can sneak in. Many academic and some public libraries use guides to assist researchers, which is a great first step, but not quite far enough. I am hoping to offer very unobtrusive “learning moments” throughout the website, along with guides, screen casts and video training. I just love to make more work for myself!

So I have a plan to help the people already using library technology become better at it (if they choose to). So what do I do to get others to become more motivated self learners? This is the challenge and what I am still trying to figure out. As for the school tour scenario, I see outreach as the most effective tool we have. We need to get into the classroom before they set foot into the library. Sounds easy? No!

So to answer my own question from the title of this post… Yes, public libraries should teach. It’s the how that we have to figure out and get better at. Feel free to sock it to me!

Marketing Librarians, not Libraries?????

It seems I have become embroiled in a debate about marketing librarians and not necessarily marketing heir libraries at the same time. My friend Greg over at Open Stacks recently wrote a blog where he talked about being interest in:

“And please note, my interest is NOT in marketing libraries. There are plenty of other people worrying about that. I’m talking about marketing librarians. I hope to find ways to demonstrate the importance of that distinction to others in our profession. Who’s with me?”

I made several pithy (that’s my opinion) statements that basically disagree with this approach. After a couple ruffled feathers and back and forth’s I made the following statement:

“Nothing I said was against passion, quite t[he] opposite in my view. What I am saying is that if we are not effectively marketing our libraries, then marketing a librarian does not do us much good. Also marketing librarians outside of the context of the library and its’ services does make much sense to me. Perhaps a balance[d] approach is what is most needed.”

I stick to my statement. Libraries are struggling to find their footing in the realm of marketing their services, we do not need to redirect energy into marketing personalities, unless that effort is directly tied into supporting the libraries mission.

Perhaps a little bit of clarification of my perspective on the issue of marketing versus public relations will help other understand where I am coming from. I think what Greg and some of the others are really talking about is librarians becoming active public relations ambassadors and not really marketing. If you are marketing something you are trying to sell it or get people to use it. If you are doing the public relations things, you are trying to get people to think positively about you, to develop goodwill when they think of an individual or institution. Now if librarians are going to “market” themselves, the still need to have a library (academic, public, law, medical, special or corporate) behind them. How else are they going to give any service or have anything to market?

Now is there a time that I could see marketing the profession of librarian itself? Yes.

Now I may be totally off the mark here, but I am trying to understand, so thank you for putting up with me!

From the Marrian-Webster Online Dictionary

librarian

Main Entry: li·brar·i·an

Pronunciation: \lī-ˈbrer-ē-ən, -ˈbre-rē-\

Function: noun

Date:1 671

: a specialist in the care or management of a library

— li·brar·i·an·ship \-ˌship\ noun

Evolving Solutions

A few days ago I wrote a post where I lambasted librarians and libraries in general about not taking risks (this was part of the committee rant). I would like to briefly continue this train of thought here and perhaps offer you a different way to think about developing solutions within the library world.

Evolution!

No matter where you stand on the issues of the origins of the species, I think we can all see that, at the very least, manmade things do change over time (can you say Internet). This is call evolution. Most manmade things do not strike out on their own and decide to reinvent themselves. They require input from those that interact with them or those who are knowledgeable enough to modify them to suit their needs or the needs of others. I am sure all of you out there in library land have witnessed the demands of your job evolving over time.

Now if we can accept the fact that evolution does occur in the above fashion, we can also agree to apply the concept of evolution to the services libraries offer their customers/patrons. I hope we can anyway.

Design – Develop – Test – Deploy – Evaluate – Redesign – Do it again – and again

Above is my mantra for website and software development. Too many organizations, people and yes libraries seem to get stuck in the design stage. They so badly want to get things “right” the first time, they never make it to the deployment stage.

Take a deep breath and deploy the damn thing! Set a deployment date (make it reasonable) and deploy on that date what you have accomplished, then let the service or product evolve over time. You will learn so much more by putting it out there than you will by keeping it hidden while you search for perfection.

Not going to make your launch date? Then scale back the product and make the date with what you have ready to go. The important thing here is to get projects out the door and into the real world while accepting that it may not be perfect or “finished.”

You can do it, it is okay, I give you permission to make glorious messes and failures. That’s what we call life!