Teaching is hard - more reflections

I recently posted on Facebook. Here is what I said:

Teaching is hard. I always knew that, I just did not quite appreciate how hard until (a couple of years ago) I started teaching some classes in our courses for the Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSC). It requires not just knowledge of the subject, but also creating a way of presenting the information which will make sense to someone else. [Creating well designed "learning objectives" is one key.]

I wish that those who are trying to regulate the education process would teach some courses to begin to understand just how much work it really is.

I guess this is a little bit of "now I get it" for my friends and family members who are teachers and have been doing it for a while.

That post received 60+ likes, 1 share, and 9 significant comments. 


I keep thinking about this. First some background: As a librarian, I am always teaching. Sometimes it is small, short teachable moments (as a parent, also). Other times it is more formal and structured. I have taught as part of Boy Scout adult leader training (Wood Badge, Powder Horn, various other leader training). I have taught one-time presentations. In my current position, the last category has been the most common. A fair amount of the former has been material which was developed by others, and all I had to do was make the presentation, and answer the (inevitable) questions.

Back in 2009, the State Library of Louisiana became one of the pilot agencies for the Library Support Staff Certification Program. (The certification is offered through the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association.) The first course we offered was Supervision and Management.

This is the fourth time we have created a course. Why does it seem so much harder this time? Perhaps because the other courses were specifically skill oriented, and this one is much more philosophical in nature. I guess that is reflected in why my friend Gina said:

The learning objective is the foundation for any learning event (any stage of learning) in my opinion. It becomes a constant beacon by which you determine what content to share. I'm a fan of the "performance objective" personally. Not so much answering what the learner will learn, but what the learner will be able to DO or achieve as a result of the learning.

This course, unlike Reference Services, or even Supervision and Management, does not really have a "DO" aspect to it. It feels mostly like a KNOW class. And that may be why I have been struggling.

Tom (W.), who recently retired noted: 

I feel your pain (and sometimes joy!). I'm happy to be no longer involved in teaching, but I miss the joy of having someone "get it" all of a sudden, especially when it's someone you thought would never get it! Trying to segment learning experiences meaningfully, especially online, so that all the dots are connected by the end of the semester is a challenge, but as a practitioner, you get to weave together the theoretical stuff with the practical stuff, and that is what most students see as the most valuable learning they get.

There is both the joy of seeing someone "get it" as well as the pleasure of building a relationship. Unlike the students Tom was teaching, these courses are specifically aimed at people who are working in libraries, and (for the most part) are not going to go and get the Masters. These are the folks who really make a library run.

One last comment shared (from a Canadian colleague, and I did not change her spelling): 

I taught in both the technicians programme and the masters programme. Students are demanding, prep is critical. I adored teaching -- HATED marking . I send props out to anyone who teaches full time.

That is the part that I dislike the most, the grading, the marking, the judging. I know I am told it is assessing and a way to judge how well I/we communicated the content. That does not mean that I have to enjoy it.

I wrote all of that before starting. It was still a bit of a struggle, but I have now made it through the first two classes, and passed the baton (for a bit, and please pardon the pun) to the other instructor for a couple weeks. However, that does mean that the part I like the least - grading - is up for the one set of homework completed, and the next about to flood me.

I am grateful for the positive feedback from those taking the course, many of whom have taken other courses I have taught. It has been an enlightening growth experience. 

Runners and Readers

I had an interesting experience Sunday.

It was the Baton Rouge (Louisiana?) Marathon this weekend. I was asked to staff a table on Sunday morning. It was set up in the Welcome Center, right near where the runners picked up their checked gear after the race.

I shared space with two other folks from the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism (the parent agency for the State Library of Louisiana). The other folks were from State Parks and from Retire Louisiana/Audubon Golf Trail. I was there promoting the Louisiana Book Festival (LBF). [The 11th Book Festival will be on November 1, 2014. The date has been set, the web site has wrap up information from the 10th Festival.]

I was the middle agency of the three. As we handed out information for each of our "projects" I was fascinated to see that most of the runners (and their families/friends) were not golfers and had very little interest in the golf information. However, a good number of them were interested in the Book Festival, and a significant proportion of them had at least heard of the LBF if not having attended it in the past.

There seems to be a larger overlap between runners and readers. Who knew? It occurs to me that this could be another segment to whom to promote libraries and reading.

State of the State Library

State Librarian Rebbecca Hamilton began her presentation with an overview of where the State Library is, mid-year budget cuts, and where the library is going.

The state is facing $1 billion deficit this year. Every state agency is taking a cut. For the state library, the mid-year cut is very minor $107,000. Not bad for the Library because the Library spends a lot of money on the front end.

The presentation which will be on the web site, has many graphs. Over the past few years the State Library has lost seven positions as well as funds from database budget. In 2005, the Library restructured after the storms. One of the arguments that the State Library makes on behalf of the Library is that the SLOL has already streamlined, back in 2005.

As a point of reference, the State Library pays a total of database costs of $650,000 for access for all of the libraries in the state, if libraries had to buy, it would cost libraries in the aggregate $8.5 million.

Without state-wide initiatives, almost 2/3 of the budget is personnel. Next largest is Inter-agency transfers for building and grounds costs.

Almost $4 million is spent in providing direct services to public libraries. All cuts to date have been taken on the operational side. Cuts in the future are likely to be made from the direct services to public libraries. These include: databases, ILL, delivery services, Internet, direct state library aid, services to the blind and physically handicapped, and workshops. Lots of discussion at the highest levels about cutting direct aid.

Rebbecca expects the cut to be about 3.8% of the budget which will affect the federal maintenance of effort funding. A cut of $364,000 in state funds would result in a loss of $100,000 in federal funds. For federal funding, the library also needs a 5-year strategic plan which requires a matching funds where the total budget for any federally funded project has 66% federal dollars and 34% state dollars.

The Louisiana Book Festival has been incredibly successful. It is ranked the second best festival to attend for authors. It has been a good tourism/economic development driver. The Festival has also provided more programs including a huge increase in the number of Letters about Literature.

SBPH has sent new digital players to over 1,200 users. Expect to add 2,000 titles this year. Concern is that this program affects only 7,000 people, but it is the only program in the state.

Other current programs include a very important and successful Leadership Grant from IMLS, Statwide staff days (that were so successful that this year it was done in two separate locations), public libraries have site visits by SLOL IT staff. The State Library of Louisiana was the first organization in the country which had a course approved for the ALA-APA Library Support Staff Certification Program. Twenty staff completed the class, a first in the nation.

What is next? SLOL successfully applied and has been notified that it received an $8.8 million BTOP grant. It is a 3-year grant. Had started with a cooperative app with other agencies which would have served just the Delta. Pulled out to do a grant for the whole state. It was ranked #1 by the Governor's office of all grants from Louisiana. Staff deserves great credit for the success.

SLOL is applying for Round 2 with a larger grant, the deadline is Monday, March 15.

Summer Reading Program has been a huge success.

The State Library is moving to a new software for web training sessions. The SLOL is working with the library school at LSU to have a web site for every library in the state. Recently the bandwidth for the State Library has been upgraded.

A question was asked about not the upcoming legislative session, but the one after, and Rebecca is concerned, but does not know what will happen. She worries about what will happen. Do the people that matter understand what it is that libraries (public and the State Library) do in providing service to the public.

Next Transition -- Deja Vu

Today begins my next transition at work.

I started working at the State Library of Louisiana (SLOL) on December 1. I was hired to be a Library Consultant, and to be the State Data Coordinator (SDC). As the SDC, I got thrown right in to gathering the data for FY 2008 (in Louisiana, that is the same as the calendar year). It was fun! I had the opportunity to deal with every public library in Louisiana. The state data report has now been published.

A little more than a week ago, I was asked to take on some more responsibilities. The SLOL, like many state agencies in Louisiana [and across the country], had some budget challenges in the "new" fiscal year (for state government that is July 1 - June 30), and some positions were not funded and others lost.

One of those was the head of the Reference Department. I was asked to take on those responsibilities, in addition to my current ones of SDC and doing special projects like the Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSCP) for which SLOL is one of the pilot sites.

So, I am back to middle management. Since July 2008, I have not been a supervisor. A part of me really likes that. In a way I am back to the same kind of position that I was in beginning in October 1982, when I became Librarian III at the then Tucson Public Library. I continued as a "middle manager" through my first stint at Bridgeport Public Library (April 1983 - April 1985). After that I was "the boss" until July 2008. (That is a quarter century for those counting.)

I have not worked a public service desk since I left Wilton in December 1994. I have a lot to learn -- again. I have some new staff to work with. And, we have a chance to fill a vacancy soon, so I get to start with someone new, too.

Life is full of changes. You never know what is next. [I also believe in "Never say 'Never!'"]

Leadership and Candor

I picked up on a tweet from Amy Harmon who said: "We can handle the truth even if its bad. ... What our profession needs: a culture of candor." It had a link to this article from the Harvard Business Review.

There is a section towards the end which jumped out at me:

Leaders are far likelier to make mistakes when they act on too little information than when they wait to learn more. But Blake and Mouton went deeper, demonstrating that the pilots’ habitual style of interacting with their crews determined whether crew members would provide them with essential information during an in-air crisis. The pilots who’d made the right choices routinely had open exchanges with their crew members. The study also showed that crew members who had regularly worked with the “decisive” pilots were unwilling to intervene—even when they had information that might save the plane.

Wow...that is huge. I am pleased that I can say that my "boss," the State Librarian, here has been candid about the legislative issues related to funding for libraries in Louisiana. When I was a boss, I tried to act that way. I am now being reminded that it is easier to work for someone who acts that way, even when the news is bad.

Fortunately for libraries in Louisiana, while there have been some funding reductions, the State Library is not laying off any staff, and the other cuts are much less drastic than they are in many states (Ohio, California, and Connecticut come to my mind.)