Governance, Process

One of the things I get to do at ALA Conferences is to chat (at least briefly) with ALA's Parliamentarian. Eli Mina became the official, paid parliamentarian for ALA a number of years ago.

Among the important changes in the culture of governance at ALA which is a direct result of his actions is the level of civility, and spirit of cooperation on Council. (I still monitor the list, and usually attend at least one session of ALA Council each meeting.)

Among the key concepts he has taught me is one that applies to a lot of life: Suffering is optional.

An equally important concept is that the goal of Parliamentary Procedure is to allow business to be accomplished while protecting the rights of the minority. This latter is highlighted in one of the articles he has posted on his web site. He talks about it as "community engagement" while I think that there are bigger implications for decision-making at all levels.
     http://www.elimina.com/insights/shared-oct12.html

In another part of my life, I am serving on a nominating committee. That is always an interesting process, and the person running this one is doing a spectacular job. He is doing what Eli suggests in his article about nominations and elections.

      http://www.elimina.com/insights/rule-sep13.html

In my list of saved links, I have one more word of wisdom from him, and I really don't need to say much more than quote the title and give you the link: "Pause before pushing send"
     http://www.elimina.com/insights/shared-Oct07.htm

Learning from Failure

One of the books on my list of titles read was Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love. In the book is a section called "Hungry Ghosts" about failure.

A key sentence at the beginning of the section says: "...I have come to understand what part of me is suffering when I fail: It's just my ego."

Later she says: "Some version of that hunger dwells within all of us. We all have that lunatic presence, living deep within our guts, that refuses to ever be satisfied with anything. I have it, you have it, we all have it. My saving grace is this, though: I know that I am not only an ego; I am also a soul. And I know that my soul doesn't care a whit about reward or failure. ... "

I commend the whole book.

The web site for the book (the author's site) is: http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/books/

What is my job? A question for Board members

I don't currently serve on a Board for any organizations, nor do I work for one. However, for much of adult life (certainly since 1985), I was intimately involved in Boards. I was both an employee for a Board, and in many cases served on Boards of other organizations either where I lived or in my professional life.

Actually, it was during that board service that I met Eli Mina. Eli is the current professional Parliamentarian employed by the the American Library Association. But, he is more than just a Parliamentarian. He helps groups to work effectively together, and is an insightful observer of organizational dynamics.

I subscribe to his e-newsletter, and would highly recommend it. There are also some great resources on his web site: http://www.elimina.com/

In the most recent newsletter he has this:

A corporate board member asked me this question: "Isn't my primary duty to the shareholders, to ensure their investments are protected and their dividends are maximized?" A similar question was raised by an elected municipal official: "Isn't my duty to vote as per the wishes of the citizens who elected me?" A third example is a Member of Parliament who, ahead of a vote on a contentious issue, said: "I have to go back to my riding [i.e. district] and find out how my constituents want me to vote."

I looked around on his web site and did not find this article (there is other great stuff...). The second paragraph is key. It is the concept that so many in governance on the larger scale seem to forget:

The above examples reflect a widespread misconception that the primary duty of elected officials is to please their constituents. In fact, the primary duty of elected officials is not to one constituency or another, but to the organization as a whole.

As a Board member, or representative, your job while acting on the Board is to consider the good of the organization as a whole. I just think what Congress could accomplish if they were to act this way. Now, this still let's people disagree about the idea, but would mean that the discourse would be different.

Here are a couple of the concluding paragraphs:

And what about that Member of Parliament? His/her duty is to the country as a whole and not exclusively to constituents back home. Basing one's vote solely on their preference would politicize the process (i.e.: develop perceptions that political leaders will do anything to appease voters in order to boost their re-election prospects). It may ultimately be unfair to the country as a whole.
The above comments mean that elected decision makers who perform their roles correctly (i.e.: placing the organization's interests ahead of narrow interests) can become targets of harsh criticisms by their constituents: "You did not keep your campaign promises" or "You capitulated and did not stand up for us" or "You can be sure we'll campaign against you at the next election." Being punished and chastised for doing your job correctly is not fun. This can make it feel very lonely in elected positions.

How can elected officials do their jobs correctly while coping with abuse and personal attacks? The typical advice is to develop a "thick skin" and not be swayed by criticism that may arise from widespread misconceptions about the roles of elected officials.

Can this problem be addressed differently? Yes, possibly by educating constituents, electors and shareholders, and by making them aware of the complexity of the work of elected officials and the fact that their duty to the organization as a whole must come first.
In an optimal setting, constituents will adjust their expectations and abandon the culture of personal entitlement. Given the prominence of the culture of entitlement, eradicating it would require sustained educational efforts by elected leaders. Such efforts would be a good investment that will strengthen the foundation and the backbone of your organization or community.

While ALA Council and the EB get bashed in some circles, I have seen much more of a move towards the healthier behavior of considering what is good for the organization rather than what helps the individual.

Passwords - Humor and a gripe

I picked this up from Stephen Abram (always has good "stuff"). It is about choosing a password. He picked it up from newsbiscuit.com which seems to be like the Onion, but British.

Their humorous post begins "Popular pet names Rover, Cheryl and Kate could be a thing of the past. Banks are now advising parents to think carefully before naming their child’s first pet. For security reasons, the chosen name should have at least eight characters, a capital letter and a digit."

Which gets to my gripe. It is a two part gripe. First is about passwords. If you are going to let me choose a password, let me choos it! Yes, tell me if it is strong or not, but don't require things like at least one capital letter, one special character, and one number ... and if you do, tell me BEFORE I try to create it the first time! My second gripe is this: If you want me to use my email to identify my account, DO NOT CALL IT A "USERNAME"!! A "username" is just that. The name of the user, and one which I can choose. (With an unusual last name, I don't have too much trouble getting what I want.) If you want me to use my email address, TELL ME THAT!!

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now!

Early September Links, volume 2

Well, here is the second part, and my list of unread posts in Google Reader is finally back to zero! Now to tackle the work email in-box, where I keep getting automatically generated "mailbox full" notes!

Iris Jastram always writes thoughtful pieces. (Often they are based in her real-life experiences.) She recently posted about her philosophy of librarianship. It is well worth reading, it notes the important role of librarian (especially reference librarian) as generalist. In fact, it makes me think that once upon a time when I was part of a team doing book selection, we made it a point to include one of the support staff who worked the circulation desk (and handled ILL). She brought some of that real-world grounding to our work.

One of the library humor blogs on my list is obnoxious librarian from hades. Its subtitle is : a satirical look at life in a large bureaucracy. One of the more recent posts, while posted as a satire, really pegs the state of e-books and libraries today.

I mentioned here that Abigail Goden is doing a series of "Data Friday" posts which continue this week. The most recent post talks about a book published in the UK (and soon to be published here) about access to web data.

Letters to a Young Librarian has a recent post by a law firm librarian talking about professional development. (This is also falls into my category of "continuous education.") Here is a key "take-away" quote:

It is true that you get out of professional development what you put into it. Anything that you can use to further your career, enhance your skills, or support learning and progress in librarianship counts as professional development.

There were a couple of posts about mobile apps and libraries. First from Bill Drew who casts his headline as either/or between mobile apps and mobile web sites. It turns out that he refers to two separate articles in Computers in Libraries each of which tackles one of the two topics. Based on his comments, the web sites will be easier to produce in the short run. I wonder how long the "apps" portion will be relevant.

Aaron Tay has a fairly long post about mobile friendly databases being offered by libraries. He notes both of the trends talked about by Bill, but focuses on database access as provided by our vendors (i.e. not library created). Because he is a librarian in Singapore, he takes a (literally) more global view than do many other bloggers I read.

Librarians are on strike at the University of Western Ontario. The author (Mita) blogs library issues at New Jack Librarian. She has an interesting philosophical take on information, copyright, the library's role, and how the university should be treating its librarians. (I will confess, while I have heard about the strike, I am not very well informed on the issues...)

Rory Litwin is continuing Library Juice and Library Juice press, but he has returned to school for a PhD, and has started a new blog, Non-Robots and Their World. One of his recent posts is about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has the great title
Feeling and not feeling.

Finally, there are a series of four posts from Eric Hellman (I have mentioned him before). I am going to list them and comment in the order of chronological appearance:

1. The first is on the value of a book. The post includes graphs and some sophisticated economic analysis. I'll probably have to read it a couple more times to really understand it.
2. The second is about his new venture which is the process of raising money to make creative-commons licensed ebook editions of the books ... so that everyone, everywhere can read them.
3. The third reflects on the sense of smell. I have often heard that it is the most powerful of the senses in memory recall. I have certainly experienced that in my life, times when just an odor brings back a very strong, vivid memory. One of my favorite quotes is: "When we smell a book all of these feelings resonate across time and they comfort us."
4. Finally, Eric posted about orphan works and finding the true copyright holder. He noted that the Hathi Trust had proposed posting some orphan works. The Authors Guild then sued them. As part of their prep, the Authors Guild used its membership (and blog readership) to identify many of the authors not found by Hathi Trust. Eric's post is full of links.
   

Early September Links, volume 1

I started this post thinking it would be a short one with a few links...it is now turning into a two-part post. Here is "volume one."

First some humor. While most librarians know about Unshelved (along with its computer programing cousin/half-brother Not Invented Here), one of my favorite library humor sources is Shelf Check. It has not been as frequent of late, but the latest is a great one.

LISnews alerted me some time ago to the wonderful book based paper sculptures which are popping up (literally) in libraries around Scotland. It started in March, and the most recent (that I have learned about) appeared at the end of August. Here is a blog post which has photos and descriptions of all the items which have been reported so far. In the comments there is speculation as to who the creator is.

There is a longer web version (and shorter print version) about pricing of database packages from academic publishers (mostly). Commonly it is referred to as "the Big Deal." Richard Poynderhas a good explanation and history. In a lot of ways the sub-title says it all: Not Price But Cost.

I don't remember where I picked this up, and I have always had a good relationship with IT folks, but I love the headline: Why IT pros should be more like librarians. One of the points that the article makes is about the ability to communicate clearly about what is happening. I'll say that in my present place of work (MPOW), the folks in IT respond quickly to requests, and do keep us informed about what is happening.

Stephen Abram has been blogging for just about as long as I have. [He started his blog, two days after I started this one! He is much more consistent and prolific, though.] Stephen picks up stuff all over, and shares it willingly. Two recent posts struck me:

1. The first concerns the use of location based services. Stephen is a huge fan, I am not as sure about that. However, it does have implications for library services and as he notes: "libraries have branches and multiple locations because geography is important for face-to-face service, community and learning. That’s one reason why I track location based services so much." And later he says: "I believe that geo-based web services and products will be essential to library strategies in the future." Both of those are statements with which I agree.
2. The second post covers an important topic and has an insightful title: Preparation for Living in a Public World. He wrote the post for the AASL Banned Sites project. As you might expect, he is against schools blocking specific technologies, and suggests that students would be better served if schools taught appropriate sharing behavior. I encourage you to read his post.

To follow up on the first of the two items immediately above, smartphones and e-books have been a continuing topic of interest. My friend Michelle Boule writing for ALA Techsource talked about what the growth in smartphone use means for libraries, including library web sites. A good article if you missed it.

This post reminds me of why we gather statistics. And the title says it all "Assessment isn’t about the data, it’s about the results." I think, for me, there is another important aspect of assessment which is buried in Jenica's post, and that is the value of anecdotal evidence.

David Lee King has a great recent post about the importance of relationship building for libraries (as institutions). It is a great concept, one which I always tried to implement (including in the days before social networking technology). It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: You can never have too many friends!

Abigail Goden who used to work for my friend Rochelle in LaCrosse has started a series in her blog Hedgehog Librarian, called "Data Tidbits." It has been appearing regularly on Fridays. The first one was August 12, and as the name suggests, it is a mish-mash of items. (In this one she suggests following data "queen" Dorothea Salvo on Twitter....I loved reading her blogs, I guess I am going to have to go back to Twitter.) Both the first and the second ones include data jobs as part of the post. Both the third and the fourth ones continue in the same vein. Well worth following.

"I quite like using the word 'assets' with reference to library collections." This is the introductory sentence of a post by Lorcan Dempsey. I guess it is my MBA education and activity in the business part of the library that I have always thought of them as assets in the accounting sense. However, Lorcan goes on to say "We tend to think of assets in positive terms, as things that are valuable." I think that may be the more important part of his message.

I am not sure where I first picked up on Jennifer Meyer's blog. She is a (the?) librarian at a for-profit college. Her blog is called careercollegelibrary. She posted in a series about some of the perspective from that kind of institution. I was put off a little bit because in the first one, she uses "perspective" when she means "prospective." She does focus on the library's potential role in recruiting students. In her second post, she focuses on retention. This is especially important as higher ed institutions are being judged on graduation rates, and retention is what is needed to keep that rate high. Her third post focuses on the final phase of higher ed, critically important to for-profit institutions and one where they have been most criticized, placement. It is a slightly different take on the world, and I think a blog worth following.

Also in the nitty-gritty of the library world, Michelle McLean (Connecting Librarian) talks recently about some of the mechanics of information flow. It is certainly worth a read as you try to manage organizational blogging, tweeting, and other social networking activities.

On Gorman

First about my relationship with Michael Gorman. I first met him when I started Library School at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in June 1975. He was teaching the introductory class for the library school at the end of his first stint in the US. Later, our paths crossed occasionally at ALA, including on ALA Council. At the Midwinter Meeting in 2003, I was nominated for election to the ALA Executive Board. Michael Gorman was nominated from the floor. When we gave our speeches to Council (the extent of our "campaigns"), I was assigned to sit at the end of the table on the podium, with Michael Gorman next to me. Thank goodness I got to speak first!

Along with Jim Rettig, we were both elected to the ALA Executive Board. The three of us began our service at the end of the ALA Annual Conference in Toronto. It was a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun. It was during our three year terms that Michael ran for, and won election to serve as the ALA President in 2005/06. So, at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans (2006), he ended his term as ALA President as Jim Rettig and I ended our terms on the ALA Executive Board. (And for those who don't know Jim, he ran for, and won election, as ALA President in 2007, serving as President in 2007/8.)

So, why am I blathering on about Gorman? I just finished reading Broken Pieces: A Library Life, 1941-1978. It is his autobiography. I found it fascinating, partly because I know him. It is also very personal and revealing about some of the mental health issues which he faced as he began his library career.

Cataloguers (especially those of a "certain age") will find the discussion on the production of AACR2 (Ango-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition) most enlightening.

As is his style, he is very forthright about his opinions. In this book, most of those opinions related to cataloging issues, from his evaluation of the older rules (pre-AACR) used in both the US and UK, as well as the proposal for a whole new scheme for cataloging methods.

He notes that AACR2 probably should not have been called the second edition, but been given a whole new name. Based on what I read in his work, I think I agree. I also agree with his comments about "tagging" versus the controlled vocabulary offered by Library of Congress Subject Headings (even with the shortcomings of LCSH).

It will be interesting to see what happens in the cataloging world. I feel better prepared to think about it and talk about it.

I think the book is well worth the time to read, even if you do not personally know Michael Gorman.

Writing/Blogging

As I pulled into the parking lot at work today my almost 3 year old car turned 98,000 miles exactly.

What does that have to do with writing and blogging?

I got to thinking about some of the work-related writing I have done over the years, and this blog as well. Back when I was first a library director, I had not yet begun the habit of writing monthly reports for my Board, but I did have to write for the Annual Report. It was not a difficult task, and only occurred once a year. But then, after almost a decade I changed jobs.

I became the Executive Director of the Southern Connecticut Library Council (SCLC), a multi-type, cooperative library organization with schools, academic, public, and "special" libraries as members. [SCLC no longer exists.] There were two parts to the writing. First was a monthly report to the board. That was not so difficult, and my audience was only a dozen or so. However the monthly newsletter was different. The Director's column was on the front, and we printed multiple copies to send to our 300+ members. It scared me at first. However, I soon got used to it.

It was interesting to find out what people reacted to. During that time I also served a year as the president of the Connecticut Library Association. For the newsletter I had to write a column also, and it had to be different than the SCLC one, since most of the SCLC members were also CLA members. That is where we loop back to the opening of this post about my car. In both of the columns I wrote that year, I included occasional persona snippets including about the car which I was then driving, and turned 100,000 miles. I told stories about driving and the car at the end of some of my columns (in both publications). I was amazed at how many people commented on those remarks.

It occurs to me, that the reason is that so many own a car that they can really identify with the situations I described. (BTW, I did talk about driving in earlier posts (in chronological order): July 2005, and again, June 2008, August 2008, March 2009, and August 2009.

Now, in thinking about the writing thing, it occurs to me that blogging has helped to channel what has become a need to write. It was stirred by my SCLC/CLA experience. What I did not note is that starting with the SCLC job, and continuing through my next two directorships, I instituted a monthly written directors report. In both of those cases, I wrote the initial part, and then compiled from the reports which I requested from each of my "direct reports."

Interestingly, I was recently catching up on links and blogs and found that Andy Woodworth also wrestled with the issue of "why do I write" in a recent post.

Unlike some colleagues, I am not a trained writer. [I am thinking in particular of Karen Schneider who has an MFA in writing.] And I would note that I am not even as talented a writer as Walt Crawford who often downplays his talent in this area. Here is a link to his "writing and blogging" category. In so many ways I am a hacker at this writing thing. I know that I am more unpolished as a blogger than I was as a column writer or even as a library director reporting. In all those cases I had editors and someone to review and make suggestions for editorial revisions. At the same time, for me, and many others, this is a great outlet.

Mid August Links

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is what, 25 or so years old, I wonder what took so long for Final regulations on disability access to libraries and other places issued reported in Library Law Blog, among other places.

Library Society of the World (a sort of anti-ALA) has its second coloring contest (in part to celebrate the end of the summer).

The last couple days, Rory Litwin of Library Juice, Library Juice Press, and Litwin Books (among other ventures and adventures) has been waxing philosophically about libraries and librarianship. On August 18, he ruminates about standards and accreditation. The next day he wrote A Brief Note about Libraries and Elitism. Both are well worth a read.

Bobbie Newman (librarian and writer at both Librarian by Day and Libraries and Transliteracy) has a thoughtful post on the role of control in the age of social networks. [I found it fascinating since my daughter has just taken a new job where social media is part of what she does. She even gave me permission to tell her when I notice something...]

Brian Herzog (a librarian in Massachusetts) has an interesting blog: Swiss Army Librarian. There are two recent posts which caught my attention: the "Reference Question of the Week" in July and dealt with Postal Service and address changes, and a Checklist Reference Desk Manifesto. The first reflects an notable federal government attitude/policy where some things are free online and others cost, while the paper process is free. Address changes is one. Filing income taxes is another. As of this past filing season, you could file for free if your income was low enough, if you were too high, you had to pay to file electronically (even though electronic filing saves the government money). Where is the logic? The second....is on my list for work.

I just loved this Illustrated Guide to a PhD, especially since getting a PhD in LIS was a topic in the car this morning.

One of my new guilty pleasures is reading Will Manley, daily, at his new blog!

Opening General Session

LLA President Melissa Hymel began with introducing Dean Beth Paskoff from SLIS at LSU who gave a brief state of the school address. Course offerings have changed since I was in library school including: courses on graphic novels, getting a paper through the refereeing process. One course offered each semester is on designing web sites, if you want your library to be on the list for a real web site design contact the school. She said that we should continue to encourage folks to come to library school. She noted that, like us, she is waiting to find out about the fiscal future. Governor Jindal will release the budget today on Friday, March 13. It is a long process. The school’s proposal for PhD program has been put on hold. The University’s Regents have put all ne program proposal on hold for three years. In the rumor control, she noted that the newspaper reported that the MLS program had been included on a list of “low-completion rate programs.” This was an error. The program actually has a high completion rate; registration is up 9% over last year. She also encouraged contributions to the LLA scholarship fund.

Melissa then introduced Keith Michael Fiels, the ALA Executive Director. Keith began in his usual, inimitable, sometimes casual style. He noted that he is having dinner tonight in Seattle with 10,000 academic librarians – it is where ACRL is having its conference. He also apologized for bringing “cold weather” with him. He has made many trips to New Orleans but has also been told that it is not Louisiana. One of the most memorable trips was 4 weeks after Katrina. What he saw was shocking. It was part of making one of the toughest decisions in his life. It was the right decision and that conference showed how libraries can really change lives.

He started as a school librarian, worked in a public library, went back to school. He then was hired by E.J. Josey as a consultant for the New York State Library. Then he ran a multi-type library system in NJ, and the NJ state Library. When he went to Massachusetts, he arrived at a time when libraries being closed. In the next decade all were reopened and they re-built 350 of the 356 main public libraries in the state.

He talked about the future of libraries. But without PowerPoint; with no discussion of paradigm shifts; no demonstration of new cool technologies; he also agreed to not talk about the economic crisis and how things have now changed forever.

There is a danger in talking about the future. Can make you look silly. In our attempts to anticipate the future, we can accidently create it. If we talk about the fact that there will not be enough money for libraries, the result may well be a loss of funding..

“The future does not create us, rather we create the future.”

Series of challenges and choices we face today. How we can respond to the challenges and how our responses will face the future.

How will the Internet and new technologies affect the library. Let’s face it “Library 2.0” is here, let’s embrace it. Welcome to your new collection, not just books, but also e-books and other user generated content. New services: work in person, but also via IM, Facebook, wikis, and blogs. What will be there local history, homework help, e-government. Gaming is now “hot” or Second Life. Twitter…is anyone twittering this? People will be using your library remotely as much as in person. In Florida 20 of use is remote, but they use more frequently up to 3 time faster. E-government is here. Most dramatic was lines at libraries to file for FEMA aid. All government services will be online. Where will people go? Not Post Office or DMV. Why? There is one in every town, and people are trained. In the US there are more libraries than McDonalds. “The library is the only place you can go and consult with someone with an advanced degree – for free!”

There will always be a gap, and we will need to be there and will need to be there in the future. To do that, we will need more funding. Gates study shows that libraries are at capacity. Bandwidth is a huge issue. There is a significant amount of money available in stimulus package to increase bandwidth for libraries.

Technology is more that popping a piece of software on the computer. Librarians are trained to help and find what you need.

What about the traditional book? By the time as electronic books are as portable, durable, and inexpensive as a book, they will look incredibly like a book. Until they invent one which is “sand-proof” you cannot take it to the beach.

We continue to serve all. Need to overcome barriers of race, disability, language. We need to lead the way in diversity. Profession must change as the nation changes. Spectrum scholarships 70 last year, but it is just a drop in the bucket. We need to work to preserve the first amendment rights of our users. Things like CIPA, USA PATRIOT Act infringe on user rights, and our leadership on these issues increased the role of librarians. Need to fight to keep information free. Copyright is a huge issue. Access to government information is key. There is a constant struggle to get government information. About 18 months ago, EPA started to close their libraries, and ALA fought to get Congress to change that. We need to continue to recruit the best and the brightest. Need to shatter the image of librarian. “Libraries are about people.” We need people-people in the profession. The retirement myth: Baby Boom-Y2K. [Thanks to the stock market, I will work until 90.] Need to be careful about the myths we create. Globalization has an effect and librarians we need to lead the world. We need to be involved in development. Important role in

Library funding…what can we do to increase funding? We will need more money because we are doing more not less. The economy is in tough shape. It goes up and down. The problem is that the library is often the first to be cut in a bad time. The reality is that we will be seeing cuts in the next year. More disturbing are proposals like, why don’t we run it with volunteers. Privatization. Can we do anything? Yes…advocacy is critical. Everyone talks about it, but what does it mean? Advocacy is the process by which we secure additional support by working with community members to reach those who make funding decisions. We need plans. If we had more money, this is what we can do. It is vision which drives funding growth. We need to assert our role in education. Public libraries are where most children develop their reading habits, often before they even get to school. Need to go head to head with the education establishment. “How can you say you care about education and cut libraries?” We need to use research on the value of libraries, and there are many studies out there. We need to do a better job of involving the public in promoting the role of libraries. FOLUSA becoming part of ALA. www.lovelibraries.org has opportunities to be involved in local groups. Need to increase public awareness of the importance of libraries using radio, TV, print media, and the Internet. Many are not aware of the range of services offered at the library.

Easier than we think to get increased funding, mostly because we get so little. Locally we get 1%, statewide 0.1%, and nationally $0.001. We need to shamelessly plug libraries. We do good things. OCLC study: resonate – equal access to all.

Need to ask for money!

Last challenge and toughest challenge, can libraries survive? Those who say that libraries are not needed with the Internet – don’t believe them. Our libraries are busier than ever. Library visits are up 10-15% nationally: economy, e-government, etc. People come to libraries for more than what a library provides (including social interaction).

The library is a mechanism by which a community gathers resources for use by all.

This is hard work. Nothing has ever been achieved without persistence and hard work. The libraries we have today were built, brick by brick through the hard work of our predecessors.

Facebook: The current controversy

Now, I am not opposed to change. Generally, I am in favor of change. In one of my prior jobs, I redesigned (i.e. changed) the newsletter twice and was about to do it for a third time. I also created a new logo!

Facebook has sowed the seeds of its own destruction with its latest moves. Awhile ago, they introduced a new look. They let users try it. Some liked it. I did not like it. The new design took away the kind of graphic design which design professionals say is most effective in a web site. There was a column on the left with tools, there was a column on the right with tools (and ads). The middle had "the meat" or the content. Look at sites like the new L E Phillips Memorial Public Library. It also has a bar and boxes on the top. It is what a professional graphic designer would have done. (Although I am kind of proud that we had the talent in the building to create it!)

Facebook made a critical mistake this week. They FORCED everyone to the new format. Some developers created a work-around. Now Facebook has blocked/disabled those. Over 1.2 MILLION users have joined a group against the forced move. That is in a matter of days!

If Facebook is not careful, they soon will be replaced in the marketplace by someone else. (If I knew who that would be, I would invest some of my limited resources!!)

The new version asks for input/feedback. Who knows what happens to that feedback. I have offered any number of comments. Have I heard anything? No!! It is not good to build a frustration level with your core constituency and talented users. (I am in the first, but not the second.)

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

America's Health Care System is broken

This has been perking in my head for almost a month now, but yesterday and today pushed me over the edge.

One of the problems with the system is that it is dependent on employment. My current health insurance is scheduled to end with the end of this month. I will "suck it up" and pay the COBRA to be sure that I (and my dependent) continue coverage. We have health issues, and need the continuity of coverage. That alone indicates that the system is broken.

Here are the three issues which pushed me over the edge about speaking out:

• who choses the medication?
• who pays the bills?
• why does it cost so much for insurance?
  

First: medication choices

I have a medical condition where, at the moment, there is one medication which works for me. I have tried the generic and it does not work. Here is the story. I had bad, continuous heartburn. I was diagnosed with GERD (Gastro-Esophogeal Reflux Disease). I started with one name brand, it stopped working, and I changed to another. It also stopped working, and I moved to a third. All was good for a couple years. Then I changed jobs and therefore health insurance. The first time I renewed my prescription under my new employer, the pharmacy went back to brand #1. I did not fight, and after a couple weeks, I was in agony again. I talked to the pharmacy, and I was back to what worked. Last July, my employer changed health plan providers. Suddenly I was dealing with a "formulary" process. This is, in my opinion, nothing less than a price-fixing cartel process where the insurance company, for whatever reason (which may include discounts...) did NOT include my drug. Suddenly I went from paying $10 per month to a random amount, usually over $35. Fair? I don't think so? This summer I renewed my prescription, and the pharmacy again provided the generic. I refused to take it. Why? In January, I had taken the generic for two weeks, and my symptoms returned! Would you? What price is your health worth?

Why can someone in an insurance company, who has never met me, and not ever even talked to me, decide that I cannot have a prescription drug that I want. I can tell you that I spent almost 10 hours on the phone and in emails dealing with trying to get the medication which keeps me from having constant heartburn.

Second: Doctors and business practices

The more recent incident has to do with doctors offices and their willingness to deal with health carriers. My current carrier is technically a "cooperative" and is fairly local. My daughter is many states away. I chose a health plan which provides for "out of network" services. Well, my daughter's doctor's office management are a bunch of (well, I will be kind) dorks. (I have not decided if I will call them out publicly.)

Because my health insurance provider actually has a person answer every phone call, and does not use "voicemail hell" to screen calls, but is not a big player on the national scene, that office does not deal with them. The first time I called they referred to my carrier as "non-par." As a lay person, that sure sounds like "sub-par" which is not a compliment. Each time I called, they used "insurance-ese" even though they knew I was not an insurance person. They consistently refused to even talk directly to the insurance provider, and once when the insurance provider called were "more rude than anyone [we] have ever dealt with." And that was according to one of the experienced "member services" staff of my insurance provider. The fact that a medical office would refuse to deal with the insurance carrier of one of their patients absolutely boggles my mind. It is so antithetical to the customer service attitude which we in libraries try to provide.

I may be telling my daughter to find a new doctor for the rest of the time that I am responsible for the medical insurance. How else can you send a message?


Third: Insurance costs

I think I have known this for some time, but it has recently been driven home to me when I received my official COBRA paperwork. For my personal situation, it will cost me over $1,800 per month for insurance. Where does that money go??? That is $21,600 per year. I know that is more than many library workers are paid! I guess I always knew that it was expensive, but I had not really paid attention to the level.

Now, I don't begrudge any of my caregivers what they receive. When it costs $150 for a doctor's visit, I know that only a small part of that goes to the doctor. There is money for the rest of the staff (receptionist, nurses) and overhead (space costs, utilities), and even worse for them, malpractice insurance. Medical personnel must have to see a large number of people each month to meet the bills (plus have money to eat -- and to pay for their own health insurance!). But the amount paid for the insurance seems to me to be outrageous. Even more so when I remember that in July 2007, my employer changed providers when the prior provider wanted to boost rates by more than 50%!

I rest my case. The system is broken. I wish I knew how to fix it.

Driving thoughts

I have done some driving this summer. One trip was back to Connecticut to collect the last of my personal possessions so that they are all together in one city.

I have been sporadically reading the various blogs on my list. One of the non-library ones I heard about via the Brown University alumni discussion list (which is sporadic in volume). It is a personal blog written by a Brown staffer, and the "listmom."

Earlier this month she posted about driving. It is a very thoughtful post which somewhat reflects my experience. In my work life I have driven with traffic flow and against the traffic flow, as well as short within the city commutes, and in the even older days, I took the bus.

I will note that her last experience reminded me of the one thing I miss about the longer commute: listening to NPR and "All Things Considered" each evening. [And in finding the link, I found this great Wikipedia article about ATC!]

Cutting Hours or Cutting Materials

On PUBLIB today, there was a post which I am putting below. My comments will follow, and I'll post the link to my comments to PUBLIB. Of course, any and all are free to comment. Because I did not ask permission, I am not posting the name of the organization wrestling with this issue.

Hello out there,

I'm a new subscriber to the list, having just joined to post this question (although I was a subscriber many years ago). In these tough economic times, we're having to make some difficult choices. We are trying to find any data, anecdotal or otherwise, to support or refute a decision one way or another. We have been searching the literature but not doing too well - it's sort of a tough concept to put into search terms, due both to such common words and the many synonyms of them that appear in the journals.

Put briefly, is it better to cut hours/days of operation or acquisitions?

Or, the way it was phrased to us to look into:

XXX Library has been asked to consider cutting deeply into its Library Materials budget in order to fill personnel vacancies, which might allow some library branches to expand public hours. If you cut deeply into your materials budget, did your circulation and/or visitor statistics decrease? By maintaining or increasing public hours, despite cutting your materials budget, did your circulation and/or visitor
statistics increase?

Many thanks for any information you can share.

What is presented here is the proverbial rock and hard place question. Or when I was asked once at a City Council budget hearing "Which branch would you close?" I answered, "That is like asking me which is my favorite child, and I have three!"

There is no right answer!

When I first worked at the Bridgeport Public Library I was told that one of the reasons why that library had such a great collection was that during the Depression, the Library paid its workers with "scrip" which was honored at local stores to save its cash to purchase library materials. Even in the 1980's the result of the depth of the collection was evident.

I can say that as a business librarian, it really impressed me to walk into the [closed] stacks and see every single Moody's Manual ever published. And there are many more examples.

Unfortunately, in the 1990s, the City hit very bad financial times, and cut both staff and acquisitions, that began a death spiral for the reputation of the library. By the time I returned as City Librarian in 2000, my predecessor had done a yeoman's job of increasing both, but neither adequately to meet the needs of a city with so many economically disadvantaged. In my tenure, there was a constant battle to increase both, with only collection funds being increased more than the cost of living. We even reduced hours modestly once.

In the position I just left, the discussion is beginning for the Fiscal Year (January - December) 2009 budget. There will be some tough choices. In the last budget cutting cycle, that library was able to save collection resources by "being lucky" and having several long-term employees retire.

My ALA colleague (and dare I call him: friend?), Jim Casey, frequently argues on PUBLIB that cutting Sunday hours is punishing the public. And while I agree, I would also note that it is the very same public which pressures elected officials to reduce taxes, in nominal dollars, without thinking about the impact in real dollars or in services. The City of Eau Claire (Wisconsin), has used all possible options, and now is facing the prospect that the funding base (given the state-imposed "levy limits") will only support a city operation which is 2/3 the size of the current one. What will go?

I do not know the answer. I do know that cutting hours can send a strong message to the public, and *may* rally support (not will). As I told the staff at my last staff meeting, it is not a choice I like making, even if it sometimes in my job to make that choice!

What are we scared of -- Censorship

In my last post, I talked about public library funding, in the same issue of AL Direct, there was a link to a post on the YALSA blog titled "What are we scared of?"

This is a critical issues, not just for librarians serving youth, but for all librarians. However, it seems that it is those who serve young people who are most likely to feel under fire.

Linda Braun does a great job of covering the topic, and as of this morning there are several thoughtful responses. Sue Wargo made a particularly telling admission when she wrote "I found over the past few years that since I took greater risks and provided a broader selection that my circulation has gone up dramatically." The public, particularly the teen public, recognizes when we take risks. Ellen Snoeyenbos had a great comment about her having been "banned" from doing book talks at the high school after she talked about a book that "made parents nervous." She noted several areas: "In our community issues such as cutting, suicide, and depression are worrisome to parents - not just sex." I look at that list, and I think about some of the young people (and even some in their twenties) for whom all three of the issues are important, and at the same time very hard to find information on. I have a friend here in Eau Claire (who is actually a smidge older than me) who has recently discovered that she not only has issues with depression, but also ADHD. These are medical issues which are not limited.

It is a critical role of the public library to have the information which people need -- even if it makes other people "uncomfortable."

Now, I worked only briefly as a "Young Adult Librarian" (back when I actually was a young adult). I have been an administrator for the past quarter century (wait, make that 25 years, it does not seem as long then). One of my cardinal rules has been that if "my" library does not have at least one thing which is not liked by every person in the community, then the collection development team has not been doing its job. As the library, and the source of information for the whole community, we must take on this role.

Management Techniques

I had been quite behind in reading my RSS feeds. Over the holiday, I caught up.

I don't remember where I picked up this one, but it could have been Karen Schneider's Free Range Librarian. It is about "Employee of the Month" programs. In several of the places I have worked, comments have been made about recognizing good public service. In offices and in fast food establishments, you often see plaques with photos. I know at least one car dealership I have used has a program. Even the grocery store near my apartment has a parking space reserved for the Employee of the Month. (Actually, so does Best Buy. I parked in it once when I was in a hurry and knew it would be a quick visit.)

Many times those parking spaces are vacant, and I have seen plaques which months or years out of date.

Once I informally proposed the parking space idea. I received immediate, negative feedback from the "middle managers" of that organization. I think that Ask a Manager is right when he/she says "Recognize employees who are doing a good job in ways that really matter -- with strong evaluations, great raises, good management, new challenges (if they want them), and ongoing positive feedback." I am beginning to realize that I have been successful because I have done all but give the "great raises." That is really tough in public libraries today!

It is an interesting and thoughtful post. If my list of RSS feeds was not already ridiculously long, I would add this. It seems to be a good source of thoughtful ideas and comments for managers.

A Loss -- Personal and Professional

I have spent part of the last 24 hours or so reeling from the news which I received from a couple of my Connecticut friends/colleagues. The Business Manager for the Connecticut Library Consortium died on Sunday. Prior to that she was at the Southern Connecticut Library Council where I worked from 1995 - 2000. Her name was Jan Gluz. I know that when I started there, she and the rest of the staff were very nervous. Among other things, it was the first time that a man had worked there. Since my Connecticut library experience had all been in a different part of the state, I was also an unknown quantity.

The note which went out on the Connecticut lists (and which Executive Director Chris Bradley kindly sent to me) included some wonderful stories and comments about Jan, I am going to past Chris' words, and then add some of my own:

Jan was someone on whom so many of us in Connecticut's libraryland knew we could always depend. Jan started at the old film co-op in Seymour. … Then there came (and went!) the CLSUs, and Jan went to Hamden for two decades with SCLC, which is where I suspect she developed her signature phrase, "I'll give it a shot!" When CLC appeared from the merger of the CLSUs, Jan gave the job of office manager/bookkeeper a really good shot.

In Jan's office at CLC in Middletown sits a Mac, a PC, and a typewriter, and Jan used them all. (Although she never refused to give any new technology a shot, Jan knew enough not to go unarmed into the night!) She did betray her conservative Midwestern roots by voting Democratic, but Jan was always an old-school money manager, keeping the books and the money safe from the big-spenders like yours truly. People who did business with SCLC and CLC during the Jan years always got paid on time, could always count on their paperwork being correct, and had their inquiries answered not only competently and completely, but friendly-like.

Jan had edited SCLC's newsletter for years, and so quality control for CONNtext also fell to her.

It is the last which became part of Jan's and my enduring relationship. When I started at SCLC, I was scared to death about having to create (almost from scratch) a monthly newsletter. I doubted my writing skills, and had never used anything other than a word processing program to "lay out" a newsletter. Jan was "a doll" in getting me started. In addition, I had to transition from a DOS-based PC to a Mac! What fun we had over the five years of doing the newsletter, including two complete re-designs. We "fought" over commas and other punctuation marks, we discussed grammar at great length, we searched together for appropriate graphics and dingbats, and we talked about type size and fonts. In short, we worked really hard together on the newsletter, and had fun doing it. Jan was probably the best editor I have ever had, as well. She often had me re-write for clarity. I am an incredibly better writer for having had her edit me for five years.

Jan is one of the people who remind me why I do not like to use the term "professional" to designate librarians with degrees. Jan did not have an MLS. However, she was always the consummate professional. She treated members and vendors with equal charm. She made sure that the organization was on firm financial grounds and that the reports balanced to the penny! She was a true professional in every single thing that she did.

When I left, I know there was true sadness, and we saw each other frequently at library related events during the remainder of my time in Connecticut.

There is an obituary and information on the memorial service, which I cannot attend, alas. You can rest assured that on Saturday morning, she will be in my thoughts and prayers.

More on being a professional

Brian Matthews (The Ubiquitous Librarian) had a great post back in early January entitled: Be like Emeril: my response to Steven Bell.

It is so well written I can only say: READ IT!

I am a huge Emeril Lagasse fan, although I do not currently watch the show as much as I used to, it is on at a different time here than it was in the East. But Brian is correct about how the enthusiasm and charisma of Emeril brought The Food Network alive for many people. He set the stage in the same way that Julia Child did years and years ago on public television.

Why am I a Librarian

Well, Walt Crawford did not tag me, but I am going to take up both parts of his challenge. I will answer the question, and also, like my semi-hero Walt, not "tag" anyone. I am again behind in reading my feeds, but so far I have read the posts from Iris, Rikhei, and Steve Lawson.

My answer is short: Miss (Betty) Osborn and Mrs. Carson.

As a child I spent a lot of time at the library and reading. Miss Osborn was the children's librarian, and took an interest in me. She later became the Library Director, and hired me as a page/shelver. The longer I was there, the more responsibilities she gave me. She talked about professional association activities and was active in the New England Library Association. She went to the (now legendary) annual conferences at Wentworth-by-the-Sea.

Mrs. Carson was my supervisor at my financial aid provided job in the library at Brown. I started in the Biological Sciences Library which, in the December of my freshman year moved into a new building with the Physical Sciences Library -- the now Sciences Library. I guess because I was willing to work hard and work more, I got to be part of the team which helped get all the books on the right floors. (We were integrating the collections.)

As I stuck it out over the years, I was given more responsibility. By the end of my four years, I was often in charge of the service desks for the last couple of hours of operation. All my supervisors encouraged me. Mrs. Carson wrote a letter of recommendation when I was applying to schools and for the NELA scholarship (which I did *not* get). I had the opportunity a couple of times to go back and thank her for her support.

I started grad school one week to the day after my graduation from college. From there on it has been a straight shot. Although there were times when I thought about, and even explored, other options. But none of them felt as "right" as librarianship.

Once working in libraries, I knew I wanted to become a Library Director. I wondered why some decisions were made the way they were. I wanted to have some of that control. I also wanted to share why things are the way they are with my staff. So, back in 1985 when I had the opportunity, I jumped and became a director. It was a small enough library that during my tenure there I worked the circ desk to pitch in, and worked regular shifts on the reference desk.

I left that position and took one running a multi-type library organization. It is what has taken me away from direct public service, but that was an incredible learning experience about other types of libraries, and gave me the opportunity (and push) to become involved in professional associations. Since then, I have been the director of large enough libraries that I do not work the desk. Let's face it, while I still have the customer service skills, I no longer have the technical skills, and don't have the time to learn them.

I love being a director. It fits my personality and style. I get to be out in the community talking about the library and what we can do. I do advocacy on a daily basis, and love it. I cannot picture myself doing anything else -- except maybe teaching how to do this.

[Note: I could not get Walt's blog to come up...I got the address for the hot link from the cached version in Yahoo!]

Giving Thanks

I know that I am late....but I went away for the Thanksgiving holiday, and turned off electronics for the duration. Yesterday (Monday) was left to catch up -- both at home and at work.

I have been composing this post in my head for some time.

This year I am thankful for:

• Having a job which I enjoy and which has challenges
• Having been accepted into a completely new and different community
• The many adventures I have had over the past year
• For my friends:
• My new Rotary friends in Eau Claire
• My friends from Leadership Eau Claire
• The many friends I have at work
• Friends in "the Cities"
• My many virtual friends who offered support
• My many professional colleagues (especially within ALA)
  
• For my family:
• My mother who survived a health crisis this fall
• My brothers and sisters who are watching over her more carefully and keeping us all better informed
• My kids (even when they don't answer my emails!)
• For being healthy. While I have pus some weight back on, I am still close to my lower band of weight, and feel great because of that!

It has been an interesting and surprising year. It was just a year ago that I left Bridgeport to move to Wisconsin. It was the right decision.