When I think of my grandmother, I remember the food she always had in her pantry: Honey Nut Cheerios, Ritz Crackers, Folgers coffee, Joy ice cream cones, and Tang. When I think of my own cupboards, I rarely have one consistent item. Sometimes I will purchase brand names and other times I will get the dollar store version. I like to try out different items, different brands, or buy whatever is on sale. This is not what companies like to hear. Millennials’ fickle trends, popular diets, and adventurous exploring do not provide a dependable customer base.

Programming for Millennials

What does this mean for libraries? One day, 3-D printing is the latest fad, and the next day “no-tech” coloring books are the craze. With every advice column instructing managers to stay on top of what millennials want, directing programming can be like a wild guess. Education consultant Steve Matthews notes that “a recent assessment of millennials’ purchasing habits claims that their changing interests and behaviors are having detrimental effects on retailers. Libraries must understand their younger users or face the consequences of irrelevance to their community, just like clothing retailers are facing commercial irrelevance.”¹ Interests of millennials are so unpredictable that it is difficult to know what types of programs and services to provide. That said, researchers have identified certain trends among millennials that you can use as focal points in your planning.

Adventure-driven experiences are becoming more important than physical possessions.² Millennials are more likely to save up in order to visit every U.S. state, go bungee jumping, or ride in a hot air balloon, than to get a designer purse or have a brand-new car. To help millennials achieve these goals, library managers can plan programs that feature apps that help to monitor finances or keep track of adventurous goals. Libraries could host a weekly “adventure” series with presenters that have backpacked in Alaska, traveled through the rainforest, or climbed mountains in Africa.

Arlington (VA) Public Library has been staying a step ahead of millennials’ changing habits and views of how libraries are useful to them. The librarians there develop fun, educational programs, like “trivia nights in local bars, book clubs in restaurants, and adult recess and game nights at the Central Library.”³ Various New Jersey libraries are also adjusting to the increased millennial population. New Jersey branches have expanded the resources they believe interest young adults the most: 3-D printing, video studios, and text message reference help.⁴

Millennials want to make the world a better place. Library managers should plan programs for millennials that benefit the community, programs that involve creativity, or programs in which patrons can better themselves. A “sense of progress, the opportunity to be creative, and a sense that what they are doing matters” are big motivators for millennials.⁵ Park systems around the country have taken notice of these concepts when attracting people to their programs. Program participants beautify the community by planting trees, picking up litter by the river, or volunteering in other areas. Park systems also have programs that encourage creativity and progression, like photography, moccasin making, archery, or nature identification. Attendees at these programs grow their skills and challenge their abilities. Because parks are already creating adult programming that appeals to millennial mind frames, they attract many participants. Library managers could model programming after these examples, or collaborate with their local park system to engage millennial patrons who are looking for new experiences.

Millennial Employees and Patrons

Millennials make up a third of the adult population in the U.S., around 74 million people.⁶ They constitute a significant portion of not only potential library patrons, but also the workforce. Managers must understand the motivations and needs of millennials to attract the best employees and to keep patrons coming through the doors. We have all heard the stereotypes: millennials are entitled and praise-hungry, they’re technology addicts, they’re job-hopping trend followers with short attention spans. While some of these negative stereotypes can be true, they also can be positive attributes.

The millennials joining the labor pool now (workers born after 1982)⁷ are used to hearing stereotypes and generalizations about their generation. Not all of them will fit in the millennial “box,” as Susan Heath eld, a human resources expert, forewarns: “As always, when I characterize a group of employees based on age, or any other characteristic, some employees will t this description; some employees will t part of this description; some employees will not t this description.”⁸ Nonetheless, it’s useful to know the trends that millennials are immersed in, and to know the reasoning behind them.

The U.S. economic recession of 2008 intimidated many college students, deterring them from venturing into the career world.⁹ Students delayed graduating, taking on more classes and more debt, ultimately producing the most educated generation. Well-educated millennials are now inundating the workforce because the economy is on the rise. This is beneficial for library managers because their prospective employees are very knowledgeable.

However, this trend has an adverse effect on the patron side. Millennial patrons are so well-educated and tech-savvy that they may not use libraries in the same ways as older generations do. Millennials’ searching skills work toward the goal of “satisficing,” explain Laureen Cantwell, a reference librarian at Colorado Mesa University. Cantwell noted in a Library Journal article that millennials “feel satisfied in their research when a sufficient answer is reached, often at the expense of looking deeper into information resources.”¹⁰ In addition, many millennials do not have landline telephones, so they rely on smartphones, with which in addition to making calls, they can browse the Internet and use various helpful apps. This makes coming to the library for computer use largely unnecessary. However, there are still two reasons smartphone users come in to the library: for printing and Wi-Fi.

The Library Journal article cites a 2014 Pew Research Center report that notes that millennials use libraries as much as older adults, with half using a library in the prior year. There is plenty of untapped potential to create new regular library users: 43 percent of millennials reported that they read a book in print, eBook, or audiobook every day, but do not regularly use library services. More troubling news is that only 19 percent of millennials surveyed said they were informed of the services provided at their library and only 36 percent had visited a library’s website that year. However, though millennials may not use libraries as often as previous generations, they still understand libraries’ intrinsic value: “71 percent [agree] that public library services are important because they promote literacy.”¹¹

One Generation Forming the Next

With all the complaining older generations do about the kids these days, they have to concede that young people are shaped by the environment they are born into: an environment of older generations’ own making. Millennials “developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people.”¹² When baby boomer and generation X parents praised them in excess, overscheduled their children with afterschool activities, stressed education for a successful future, and required team activities, they did not know they would be shaping a new type of work ethic. This parenting style laid a foundation for the next generation’s working style: working well in teams, craving extra training, and wanting feedback often. The website Business Know-How underscores the need to let millennials work in teams (since they learned teamwork skills from a young age in class- room and afterschool activities), provide trainings (since millennials were taught that education would lead to success), and give them multiple projects (because they are great multitaskers).¹³ But, what should managers do about millennials yearning for feedback? The once-a-year evaluation can no longer be the status quo. They want their manager’s approval, constructive critiques, and frequent leadership. Tammy Erickson, an author that writes about managing millennials, points out the generational differences: “I was brought up in an environment of ‘no news is good news’ … Feedback meant I was going to be judged in some way, usually negatively. [However, for millennials,] feedback is getting a tip. It’s coaching, and they want it multiple times a day.”¹⁴

Feedback and attention is extremely important. Millennials were “raised by ‘helicopter parents,’ who doted on them, giving them an ample supply of attention and validation. Because they were heralded with high expectations, [m]illennials tend to display an abundance of self-confidence and believe they are highly valuable to any organization from day one.”¹⁵ Because they grew up treated this way, it is what millennials have come to expect. Managers should help millennials to feel appreciated and essential at their company. The best managers are those who express their appreciation and are actively supportive. This management style works well for many millennials, who “grew up with the Internet and social media, and are more familiar with instant gratification and instant feedback than previous generations.”¹⁶

Many parents of millennials raised their children with lots of structure and plenty of rules introduced to keep them safe. Now that they’re adults, millennials can get lost when given too much freedom. Digital marketing CEO Gini Dietrich writes that “If you set the rules [for millennials], tell them what they are and what you expect, they will succeed. If you leave it loosey-goosey and let them decide how to work, they will falter.”¹⁷

Progression of Do-Gooders

Millennials are used to achieving discrete, sequential goals, such as earning karate belts, reaching higher levels in video games, and progressing in difficulty levels of college classes. “They are extremely focused on developing themselves and thrive on learning new job skills, always setting new challenges to achieve. They are also the ‘can do’ generation, never worrying about failure, for they see themselves as running the world and work environments.”¹⁸ Dan Epstein, CEO of ReSource Pro, describes how he changed his company’s structure to provide a good motivation framework for millennials. Millennials “want forward progression,” he says. “Rather than infrequent promotions with large increases, we do more frequent with less increase. It lets people feel they’re moving forward.”¹⁹

The feeling of progression can also be established by working for a company that yields meaningful work. Library managers are at an advantage when hiring and retaining millennial staff because librarians are affecting patrons in a positive way every day. Millennials are “primed to do well by doing good,” says Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania. Management consultant George Bradt writes, “Millennials won’t commit to you or your organization. They will commit to a meaningful, good-for-others cause.”²⁰ Epstein, meanwhile, “attempts to satisfy the newer generation’s desire to be creative, to have important, interesting roles and to have a say in their company’s activities.”²¹ Emphasizing libraries’ social commitment can help inspire millennial workers to succeed. Despite all the hand-wringing about how difficult it is to manage millennials, they may be perfectly suited to library work after all.

References

1. Steve Matthews, “Millennial Library Users Need. . . What?,” 21st Century Library Blog.
2. Sasha Zhivago, “Millennials have Figured out That Adventurous Experiences Trump Material Goods,” Bit of News, Jan. 19, 2016, accessed June 19, 2017.
3. Stephanie Cohen, “Will Millennials Kill off Libraries?,” Acculturated, Sept. 15, 2015, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
4. Ibid.
5. Chad Halvorson, “6 Key Principles for Managing Millennials,” When I Work, Apr. 20, 2015, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
6. “So How Many Millennials Are There in the US, Anyway?,” Marketing Charts, Apr. 28, 2015, accessed June 28, 2017.
7. Philip Bump, “Here Is When Each Generation Begins and Ends, According to Facts,” The Atlantic, Mar. 25, 2014, accessed Feb. 13, 2017.
8. Susan M. Heath eld, “11 Tips to Help You Manage Millennials,” The Balance, Sept. 23, 2016, accessed June 28, 2017.
9. Victoria Stilwell, “Millennials Most-Educated U.S. Age Group after Downturn: Economy,” Bloomberg Markets, Oct. 8, 2014, accessed June 28, 2017.
10. Lisa Peet, “Pew Report Finds Millennials Are Readers, Library Users,” Library Journal, Sept. 16, 2014, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
11. Ibid.
12. Heath Field, “11 Tips to Help You Manage Millennials.”
13. Terri Klass and Judy Lindenberger, “Characteristics of Millennials in the Workplace,” Business Know-How, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
14. Rob Reuteman, “This Is How Millennials Want to Be Managed.” Entrepreneur, Mar. 1, 2015, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
15. Klass and Lindenberger, “Characteristics of Millennials in the Workplace.”
16. Halvorson, “6 Key Principles for Managing Millennials.”
17. Gini Dietrich, “How to Manage Millennials: Treat Them Like Adults,” Spin Sucks, Apr. 29, 2015, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
18. Klass and Lindenberger, “Characteristics of Millennials in the Workplace.”
19. Reuteman, “This Is How Millennials Want to Be Managed.”
20. George Bradt, “Trying To Manage Millennials? Give Up and Lead Them Instead,” Forbes, May 27, 2014, accessed Apr. 22, 2016.
21. Reuteman, “This Is How Millennials Want to Be Managed.”

The post Managing Library Millennials first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Kokomo-Howard County Public Library (KHCPL) managers recently responded to those questions. There was surprising uniformity in the answers. Overwhelmingly, they chose moments that helped them to see their colleagues differently. Here are some favorites:

Pop Quiz

Whether it’s about personality type, leadership style, or something more specific, our managers have valued quizzes that identify our strengths, especially when used with people we already think we know. There is a seemingly endless number to choose among; one we enjoyed was “Your Leadership Orientation”[1], which we learned about at a Library Journal Lead the Change[2] event. An activity that helped us process the results of the quiz was literally lining up by our numerical score for each of the four orientations. It was definitely helpful to find myself standing right next to a colleague with whom I thought I had absolutely nothing in common. We also benefitted from the chance to see each other as complex individuals with varying strengths.

Round Robin

A highlight of meetings we’ve attended has been when everyone around the table answers a question or completes a statement. After reading The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni, managers used an exercise described in the book by taking turns sharing something that was hard during their childhoods. At least one of those stories created an “aha” moment for me that explains a lot about a co-worker’s personality. The activity doesn’t have to be entirely serious, however, to build relationships. Silliness can also be a great antidote to tension. Try asking, “If I were an ice cream flavor, I’d be _________ because _________.” or “If I could have any super power, it would be __________.” If you need something simple and easy to remember, our go-to is, “Tell us something good.”

Take the Challenge

One way to see your co-workers in a new light is to work with them on a team challenge. The possibilities for team-based tasks are many and varied: setting mousetraps and placing them in a particular order within a set amount of time, working together to navigate an obstacle course, or safely guiding a blindfolded companion to a destination without touching him or her. Working together on something totally outside regular, day-to-day duties will highlight all sorts of personality traits and quirks. Watch for problem-solving skills, risk tolerance, the ability to organize the team, and how individuals respond to the activity’s stated rules.

But We Have Work to Do

If you worry that spending time on personal histories or non-work-related exercises is a waste of time, consider how much time is stolen by poor working relationships. Avoiding working with a colleague can affect productivity in the short-run or outcomes in the long-run. A lack of trust can result in gossiping, complaining, or secret post-mortems conducted after meetings.  Each of these not only takes up large chunks of time but are also likely to hurt morale.

Being proactive about building relationships and trust has proven to be worth every second at KHCPL. It has not only made work more fun but it’s also led to better cross-departmental teamwork, greater willingness to take risks, and all-around improvements in performance.

Try adding a seemingly impractical element to your next meeting. It could be an excellent use of time and become one of your best meetings ever.

References

[1] http://www.leebolman.com/Leadership%20Orientations.pdf

[2] http://lj.libraryjournal.com/lead-the-change/programs/engagement/#_

The post The Best Meeting Ever first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

For years I’ve witnessed librarians shy away from saying no.We try to phrase our signage positively or seek synonyms such as “refrain.” I’ve seen all staffing requests honored, even when it left institutions dangerously short of coverage. I’ve seen abusive patrons placated to the extent that staff was in tears and other library patrons alienated. I’ve seen librarians spend precious hours, made up on their own time, to entertain a vendor presentation for a product for which there was no need or budget. Worse, I’ve seen librarians purchase unneeded items from vendors, saying they didn’t want to hurt the vendor’s feelings by saying no.

Saying no does not mean being rude or mean. Sometimes saying no is necessary. Sometimes saying no is the responsible response. The important thing is knowing when to say it and how. Saying no is boundary setting. It should not be said in anger or vengeance, but with reason and purpose. In a library, we should say no with the same rationales present as when we say no to our family. We should say no for reasons of safety, fiscal management, protection, support, and education.

In the context of libraries, no one is fooled by word choices to soften a message. If anything, it confuses the reader or indicates that the message is insincere; that the message is not really meant to be followed or will not be strongly enforced. If something, such as no eating or cell phone use, should not be done, there is a reason for it and we would have more credibility (and respect) to be direct. Similarly, if there is a patron violating rules, we have an obligation to ourselves, our colleagues, our public, and to our problematic patron to indicate unacceptable behavior and consequences clearly. Patrons behaving badly have negative consequences for libraries. They scare others and they undermine the safety and mission of the library.

We, our co-workers, and vendors should be professional. As such, decisions regarding staffing, collections, or other management or operational concerns should not be happening based on interpersonal relationships. We shouldn’t be worried that our book vendor could be mad at us for a lack of purchase. If such decisions are made this way, it undermines our profession, our integrity, and all of our abilities to do our jobs.

No one likes to be perceived as the ‘bad guy’ and saying no can make us feel in this position. But we would not feel unjust telling our child not to run into the road, telling our spouse not to overspend our savings account, or telling a friend not to engage in dangerous behaviors. We do these things not to be mean, but to be benevolent. We do these things because we care.  Saying no in the library should be considered in kind.

The post The Value of No first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

When I first started working as a children’s librarian in a public library, I had grand plans for the successful programs I would run: charming storytime tea parties at the historic branch of our town’s library; after-school craft sessions based on a different fairy tale every week! I planned and I planned, I purchased supplies and painstakingly prepped materials for the elaborate crafts I envisioned. And then, on the afternoon of my very first special program, I stood expectantly at the entrance to the children’s room and waited. And waited. And waited. That’s right: no one came. Not a single soul ventured into the library that afternoon for my program. As a relatively new public librarian running my own programs, I felt pretty depressed about it. All of that work! All of those supplies! Was my idea bad? Maybe I picked the wrong field, I thought desperately.

Four years later, I have come a long way. I still cringe a little bit when I think about that program and the hours of effort I put into preparation. But I have realized that there are a lot of factors I didn’t consider, or even know to consider, when I held that program. For instance, school gets out at 3:15 p.m. My program started at three. Parking and traffic in that part of town after school lets out is a total nightmare! Even if families wanted to come later, the traffic would have deterred many of them from trying. But more importantly, my advertising was less than stellar. I listed the program in the monthly paper calendar but nowhere else—not online, not with a yer at the bustling main library, not even with a flyer at the branch where it was held.

My lack of expertise (and, ahem, common sense) at that time is somewhat embarrassing in retrospect. But that whole experience shaped my perspectives as I moved forward with my library career. Never again would I put so much time and effort and money into a program I had never done before and that no colleague had ever attempted either. I came to appreciate the value of failure as an unparalleled way to learn what doesn’t work.

The post Facing Failure first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

It’s important to attract up-and-coming librarians with their minds focused on the future, knowledge of trends, and the latest technology. These folks reflect our patrons, and the patrons who will come after them. They have recent educations and they are sometimes aware of the needs of a changing landscape of younger patrons with younger families. In many ways, this Millennial Generation (yes, I’m one of them) is also a reflection of the success of librarians in the 1980s and 1990s. The amazing work done by librarians in those years paved the way for the newer breed of librarians with an updated focus. I’ll be the first to say the reason I became a librarian is because of my experiences with librarians between 1985 and 1995. They made me the librarian I am today, point blank.

Before I go too far patting myself and my millennial colleagues on the back though, there is a lot to be learned from our more seasoned staff members. Essentially every experience we crave and seek out, to develop our careers and our motivations, has been experienced by our older colleagues. Ideas and energy are great, but a real opportunity is lost when younger staff don’t consult their older colleagues, who have carried the torch in this field, to keep our libraries a sought after destination in our community, during many years of change and technological advance. There is no substitute for experience, and it’s the experiences that have already been had, that can teach us about the future.

The staffers we are talking about have seen more changes in libraries than we can imagine, and possibly more than we will have coming down the road. The experiences they’ve seen are ones to be asked about and studied. They saw the rise of the technological era, and every step along the way someone would ask them, “Do we even need libraries anymore?” and they would shout, “OF COURSE WE DO!” There would not have been jobs for us to earn, if not for the work done by our older colleagues before we arrived.

Times change, and the library changes with them. It’s very easy to pigeonhole staff members of a certain era, and say they “hate change.” This frankly is a very short sighted point of view. Some might, but perhaps it’s because they’ve seen success in what works, and have let older processes guide them through successful careers.

The next time you are pondering the point of view of a colleague from a different era, step back for a minute and reflect on all they could share with you, whether younger or older. We are all on the same team, and can utilize our strengths, whether it is experience, new ideas, time tested practices, or a knowledge of new technology, to make our staffs strong, and varied. No one group has everything we need to be successful, because it’s each other that we truly need.

The post Managing a Multigenerational Staff first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

To combat that drawback, I’ve added leadership-specific resources to my Twitter and RSS feeds. At times the gap between a for-profit business and the library is apparent, but more often the topics and advice are spot on. I’ve been excited to learn something new, inspired to reconsider my perspective, motivated to try a new approach, or simply encouraged by another leader’s shared vulnerability.  If you’d like a list of leadership experts to follow, start here.

One of my go-to resources is Tanveer Naseer’s blog. Naseer is an author, leadership coach, and keynote speaker. I’ve always found the entries to be thought-provoking and well-written even when they are created by guest bloggers.  They are meaty, as well, often running two to three times as long as many blog posts do. The length allows for a more in-depth look at the topic and it’s not uncommon for posts to include references to books, methodologies, or field research.

One of the aspects of his website I frequently use is the extra material that goes with each blog post. Each is extensively tagged, click on a single word and you can immediately access an entire list of related articles. In addition, at the end of each post the site lists, as links, the full titles of a few related prior posts. If you want to share what you learn about leadership, you’ll appreciate the ready-to-tweet highlights scattered through the posts.

Michael Hyatt’s website is a wholly different experience. If sales pitches or occasional references to faith would bother you, pass this one by.  Hyatt was formerly CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, and his blog is aimed primarily at people in high-pressure jobs. His site’s tagline is “Win at work. Succeed at life.” His tweets, blogs, and podcasts run the gamut, including productivity tips and tools to life hacks. “How a Small Shift in Your Vocabulary Can Instantly Change Your Attitude” is a great example of the latter and a post that I have continued to think about long after I first read it. His posts generally include specific, actionable points.

If you prefer something more philosophical, Seth Godin is all about ideas. He can look at a concept you’ve been around your whole life and take something new from it. His blog tends to focus on creativity, innovation, marketing, and how to do great work; the very short posts are designed to make you reflect.

If none of these are the right fit for you, take a few minutes to track down other leadership gurus worth following. Having a regular dose of leadership inspiration, infused with a few practical tips, helps me focus on how I can get to where I want to be and makes me believe I can get there.

The post Cultivating Your Inner Leader first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Master of All

The purpose of public libraries can be hard to pin down because it is so broad. We want to be everything to everyone. I struggle with the simultaneous goals: circulation, programming, outreach—you know the deal. I once read about a visioning technique where you discover your purpose by imagining your library receiving an award: What is it for? You can do this at the department, branch, or system level. In one year, what should your library receive recognition for? Lives have been changed, the community has grown, what did you do to contribute?

Focus

Take your vision and focus on it until it becomes a part of the culture. Clearly state where you want to go and try not to waver. When something shiny pops up, quickly assess: Does it fall in line with your vision? If not, move on! We tend to overcomplicate things. We don’t just want to create a new program; we want to add ten elements to make the program really great! Wasn’t it Coco Chanel who said to take one accessory off before you leave the house? Take some items off of your grand proposals so that you can focus on the vision.

Don’t give people room to guess. This leads to many versions of the truth, low morale, and general grumpiness. If you can tell your staff the vision in ways that makes sense to them, you will be successful. Will it be overnight? No. Will it be fireworks and unicorns? No. Staff will begin to trust you once they see the results. Sharing information is a skill some must learn and some have naturally. Take time to develop the skill of immediate information sharing.

Once you have shared the vision, and any relevant information, the staff will begin to learn how to behave. They will look at new opportunities with a more critical eye. Does this fit in with where we want to go? Your customers will notice the change, your volunteers will want to be a part of it, and your staff will reach new heights. I promise.

Maintain Forward Movement

You set a vision, and you shared it. How do you maintain movement with all of the daily tasks? Sometimes you have to recommit by reviewing your vision and your goals. Post them in your office and the staff work room. Refer back to them during staff meetings, say the word “community” fifteen times a day—whatever you have to do to communicate and push everyone forward.

Be sure to catch up on Part 1!

The post Tips for Managers – Part II first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

How/when did you become a library director? Can you walk us through your career?

I was a history major and got my MLS from Simmons [College]. I was hired as Adult Services librarian at the Framingham (Mass.) Public Library in October 1974, in charge of adult programming. When the assistant director left in the summer of 1976, I was promoted—I was in the right place at the right time. That fall, I wrote a grant application, and in December we received funding under the Public Works Employment Act to build a new main library. Two months later, the director then had a heart attack. I was twenty-six years old, acting director, and didn’t know which end of a hammer to point at the wall. Six months later, the director returned, but I remained heavily involved in the planning for the new facility. When she retired in 1981, I became director and served there until I left to become director in Brookline in 1993. I retired from Brookline two years ago and have had two interim-director assignments since then.

Did you ever consider leaving libraries?

At first I thought I might try something else, but after a few years, I was hooked.

What is the hardest part of being a library director?

Sometimes I felt very alone, especially when faced with a difficult decision. That’s when having an assistant director that you really trust is so important. I was blessed with a couple of great ones and was also lucky as my wife was a library director as well.

What is the best part of being a library director?

I always felt that what we were doing mattered, that it was important to the people we served, that we were contributing to people’s lives.

What was the first hard lesson you learned as a new library director?

That you can’t always say “yes” and that everyone isn’t always going to agree with you.

If you could go back in time and talk to yourself when you were just starting out as a director, what would you say?

Be more patient, and know that it is OK to fail once in a while, so long as you learn from it.

How was your second year as a library director different than your first? Your third different from your second? Is every year different?

Proposition 2.5, a tax limitation initiative, kicked in my first year as director, and I immediately had to lay off sixteen staff members and close a branch library… It had to get better after that.

Did you have a mentor (official or unofficial) when you were first starting out? What did you learn from them?

My BA is from Northeastern, which ran a cooperative education program.  As a history major, I was fortunate to have a position at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Massachusetts Historical Society for three years. I admired the librarian, John Cushing. He did not hold an MLS, but he steered me away from a masters in history and to the [library and information sciences] program at Simmons. He cared deeply about what he did, and I wanted a job I would care about as much as he did his.

How do you juggle all the people—staff, patrons, trustees, friends, town government? Is there a certain priority you place on one versus another?

Patrons always have to come first, no matter what your number one priority is.

How do you prioritize all the tasks you have to do (e.g. staff supervision and support, budget, building)?

I always had a list going, but I am also something of a procrastinator. If a task was unpleasant, it sometimes got bumped to the next day.

How do you keep staff morale up?

Communication. I wrote memos, which later became e-mails, but I also talked to as many people as possible. I was never one to hide in my office. Keeping people in the loop is important. I was not as good at this as I wish I was, but I tried.

Do you have a particular management philosophy you identify with?

Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Many mornings I’d come in early and help with the unpacking of our network delivery, sometimes as many as a thousand items. It was work no one really wanted to do but vital to our operation. I think it important that staff know you value the effort it takes to make the wheels turn.

What’s the best way to prepare to be a library director?

I believe the most important skills and interpersonal qualities needed are learned from your family when you are young. Once you start working, do your best and always try to learn more. Try to view every challenge as an opportunity.

What suggestions do you have for continuing education?

Keep your eyes and ears open, and learn from your peers. Be honest with yourself about your weaknesses, learn from your mistakes, and find ways to improve. Get involved outside your library. It doesn’t have to be ALA, it can be something else. For me it was the Minuteman Library Network, our local consortia.

Are there any books or conferences that you think are absolutely essential?

Going to a national conference once a year is great if you can do it, but which one will vary from year to year.

Any additional words of advice for new or aspiring library directors?

Hire good people—it is the most important thing you will do. When deciding who to hire, look for people who gain satisfaction from going out of their way to be helpful. It doesn’t matter what level the job is, that one quality is what I have always felt was most important.

Save something for the big ones. If you fight too hard on every issue that isn’t going your way, people may not hear you when something is really important. If the board really wants to spend a few hundred dollars to have a float in the parade, but you’d rather use the money to buy books, sometimes you should just let it go. Save banging on the table for when it’s really important.

Reference

Chuck Flaherty, retired director, in an e-mail interview with Alex Lent, date.

The post Hire Good People – Advice from a Retired Library Director first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Manage your people and yourself.

Your role has changed dramatically. You are no longer the person who gets things done. But wait, that was the fun part, right? From finding an answer for a customer to ironing out the details for a great program, the satisfaction was immediate. So if you aren’t getting things done, what are you doing? You are managing others so that they get things done. This can be incredibly hard to understand and accept. If you can look at each opportunity as a chance to manage someone else by coaching them, spelling out expectations, checking in, and encouraging time to reflect, you will begin to actually manage people in order to see results.

Manage your stress.

If you are like most new managers, you are stressed about your role. The worst thing you can do is to internalize it. You are frantic about getting schedules completed, responding to two staff members fighting, and trying to think long-term for your library. You have to find your flow—that place where you are being challenged, but you feel confident in your skills. Give up the illusion of catching up. You are not going to get caught up. You are always going to have pending emails and looming deadlines. Seek out ways to handle your stress with articles similar to these from Forbes and the American Psychological Association.

Manage your priorities and workload.

A lot of management is delegating and then managing the employee you delegated to. You have to stay on top of their work. First, admit that you don’t feel comfortable delegating. You think, I won’t add as much value, my employees have too much to do, and honestly, they probably won’t get it right. Holding on to these doubts can lead to so many problems. You must delegate and then manage the process or person. Just passing a task along and hoping for the best will not lead to a productive library, but being overly involved won’t help either. There are many layers of management, but when you are starting out you will quickly learn the benefits of delegation, or you will burn out. You should be thinking strategically, and you can only do this after you put in a lot of effort to delegate.

These are just three tips to help you develop your skills. Ultimately, you have to study management. You have to read, explore, and discuss it. Being a librarian is different than being a manager. Take some time to be better at your craft!

Resources

Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves

How to Communicate Employee Expectations Effectively

15 Books Every Manager Should Read

12 Ways to Eliminate Stress at Work

Coping with stress at work

Successful Delegation: Using the Power of Other People’s Help

Coursera’s Leadership and Management Courses

Manager Tools’ Podcasts

The post Tips for Library Managers – Part I first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Communication/People Skills

For a manager, it is important that employees are given well-articulated direction and that they are supervised with respect. Sean Casserley of Johnson County Library (Kans.) says that communication skills are especially necessary in “giving and receiving professional critique, conflict resolution, and active listening.”[1] If one does not have people skills, they should not be in a managerial position. There is always room for growth, and your employees just want to be heard. How can your employees feel valued if you are not actively listening and participating in conflict resolution with them?

What works for employees, though?

Charles S. Jacobs’s book Management Rewired explores the scientific evidence of which manager-employee dynamics work and which do not: “Rather than hand objectives to the employee, the manager should ask the employee to set them” and “Rather than tell the employees how to fix a problem, the manager should ask them what they think they should do to fix it.”[2]

Jacobs suggests/recommends managers to allow employees to participate more in alleviating problems. Instead of instructing employees to do something, a manager should ask them for input. Inviting an employee to be part of the decision-making process diminishes the boss/staff divide and allows the employee jurisdiction. In turn, the manager now has a supporting role in making sure that the employee alleviates the issue. Jacobs’s chief idea is that managers allow their employees to be involved in participative management. While the manager gives the final say, it gives the employees a chance to express their perspective.

What makes a leader?

In her article “Leading without a Title,” Bridget Kaigler suggests that work ethic and disposition make a leader, not a title.[3] All too often in our profession, it seems people are so quick to sign their degrees after their names, but I believe it can be viewed as a pretentious gesture. I am proud of my education, but it takes people with different jobs to run an organization—ultimately, I just happen to be the information services librarian.

Kaigler writes: “[L]eaders pull-they don’t push. Leaders pull through influence. They influence others by giving them a voice. If you listen to their concerns, they will listen to yours. Leaders pull by acting as a team facilitator. Others push by acting as a dictator. Working in a team-based organization has benefits. As a team, everyone works together to get something done.”[4] Dictators like to jerk around their authority and do not think of “their” staff as a unit; however, it is by working as an alliance that respect is harbored by your colleagues. When one finds themselves working in a team-centric organization, they feel valuable because their input is indispensable.

Final Thoughts

When I was in library school at Indiana University-Indianapolis, a “Library Management” course was required. Now that I know my management style a little better, as part of my library’s management team, I really wish I could retake that as a refresher course. I strive to be an “in the trenches” manager. By understanding how my department works, I have a better sense of the issues and desires of the patrons. Although I am the manager, I make a conscious effort to treat my colleagues like colleagues, and I value their opinions and feedback. After all, are we not all here to make sure that this organization runs smoothly and above all else to serve our public?

References

[1] Meredith Schwartz, “Top skills for tomorrow’s librarians,” Library Journal, March 9, 2016.

[2] Charles S. Jacobs, Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science (New York: Penguin, 2009), 82.

[3] Bridget Kaigler, “Leading without a title,” Strategic Finance, March 1, 2016.

[4] Ibid.

The post In-the-Trenches Leadership first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

MARY GRACE FLAHERTY is Assistant Professor, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Contact Mary Grace at mgflaher@email.unc.edu. Mary is currently reading The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman.

Originally published in Mar/Apr 2016, PUBLIC  LIBRARIES,  VOLUME 55, NUMBER 2.

Anyone who has worked in or patronized a small public library knows that in order for the organization to thrive, the manager must employ a wide variety of skills on a daily basis. “From chief cook to bottle washer” is a commonly heard phrase when public library managers are asked to describe their duties. While there are skills that can be taught and learned ahead of time to maximize success in the public library manager role, many of the management skills necessary for success are acquired on the job. The job doesn’t necessarily have to be in the public library setting, however. There are commonalities across library and organizational settings that allow for managerial skills to be acquired and transferred so that the public library manager can excel, no matter how he or she might have gained that experience.

The effective manager must be highly skilled at interacting with and dealing with people on many levels, including patrons, staff members, boards (or similar oversight committees), local and state legislators, community members who are potential patrons, community leaders, other organization leaders and members, and vendors. Logistics—from staffing, to programs, to budgets and advocacy—also play a role in managerial tasks and day-to-day library functioning. In many small libraries, another major duty that demands regular, if not constant, attention is likely to be management of the physical facility.

It’s All about Dealing with People

Patrons and Customer Service

Any job or volunteer activity that requires interaction with the public can be a training ground for all types of employment, including public library management. Learning how to provide high quality customer service (sometimes by attempting to reproduce personal encounters of great service) starts with understanding how to interact with and respond to your user community. In every setting, the first step is to identify their needs. How you go about that obviously differs across settings; for example, in the special corporate setting where you may serve a small number of researchers, you can interview them individually to ascertain their interests. In the academic setting, faculty members are likely to seek you out to make their interests known. In the public library setting, there may be some vocal patrons who make their interests known, but the effective manager must be sure to also reach out to the community of potential users as well. This can be done informally as well as formally.

Informal Patron Needs Assessments

There are a number of venues where you can meet with people and gather information about their information needs, through casual conversation with little effort:

• Attend local organizational meetings (for example, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Kiwanis, and so on).
  • Often these groups will welcome a presentation about the library.
  • Consider joining, as membership can have its advantages.
• Attend town council (or the community’s equivalent) and school board meetings.
  • Take the opportunity to increase the number of library advocates in the community.
  • Tell them about the latest formats, programs, and so on.
• Take a walk on your lunch break and greet people on the sidewalk.
  • Ask what the library could be doing for them if they’re non-users.
  • Attend local events (for example, Memorial Day parade, school sports events, and so on).
  • Chat with folks on the sidelines and see if they have library cards.
• Patronize local businesses.
  • See if they need help learning how to use business software, for example.

These approaches not only can be used for assessing needs but have the added benefit of increasing the visibility of the library in the community. There is extensive literature available on how to conduct more formal research to assess your user community’s needs.[1] Formal needs assessment generally falls into three categories: surveys, focus groups, and interviews.[2] Keep in mind that you can delegate and rely on knowledgeable staff, community members, and graduate student interns (if available) to assist with more formal research efforts.

Counselor or Coach? Working with Staff

Working with staff can be the most rewarding as well as the most challenging part of running a library. It doesn’t take long to discover that different individuals require differing levels of support, feedback, guidance, reassurance, and training to bring out their best attributes. If you’ve ever been a coach, a parent, an aunt or uncle, a sibling or team member, you’ve already been acquiring tools for dealing effectively with staff. Skills I learned in settings as diverse as the concession stand at a state park (as server), gymnastics camps (as coach), rehabilitation centers (as recreational therapist), jewelry manufacturing (as hand crafter), and corporate and academic libraries (as librarian) have readily been applied to the public library setting. What were the common threads of those experiences that were used to effectively engage staff?

• Mutual respect—to be respected, show respect.
• Positive outlook and attitude—your staff (and those around you) will follow your example.
• Flexibility—there is likely to be more than one path from problem to solution.
• Gratitude and recognition—praise in public; provide constructive criticism in private.
• Compassion—show true interest in staff members’ well-being and concerns.
• Patience—it may take time to win over the majority and it may take time before you see the results of your efforts.

Playing Well with Others

The same attributes for working with staff can be applied to working with boards, members of consortia, and colleagues from other institutions. In Hernon’s and McClure’s classic study, stunning findings indicated that patrons rated reference encounters as successful even if they may have not received an answer to their questions, basing their opinions on the affability of the encounters they had with reference librarians.[3] Of course, we should strive to supply accurate and authoritative information to our patrons, but Hernon’s and McClure’s findings demonstrate that patrons place a high value on pleasantness of encounters with library staff when they are seeking out information. It is likely the same effect occurs in encounters with colleagues across organizational levels. In order to be an effective leader, the following attributes can go a long way to inspire cooperation among colleagues at all levels:

• Preparedness
  • Time is a valuable commodity; prepare so that you maximize meeting times.
  • Familiarize yourself with the agenda ahead of time.
• Organization
  • Be ready with information, data, and so on, so that decisions can be made easily and readily.
• Willingness to go the extra step
  • Paying it forward exacts large dividends in the long run.

Logistics and the Day-to-Day

Planning

Have you ever helped with a wedding, relocated or moved to another state, gone on a big trip or family vacation, or carpooled for kids’ activities? It’s likely that you’ve had extensive planning experience, but as it’s a regular part of daily living, you may not have characterized it as such. For any type of successful planning, key components include knowing when to involve others, willingness to delegate, and taking charge with authority when it’s warranted. Keep in mind the following whether you’re crafting a long range plan or working on the details for your summer reading program:

• Gather the necessary data.
• Be willing to take calculated risks.
• Involve staff in the process.
• Don’t be afraid to delegate.
• Celebrate successes.

Budgets

Do you regularly balance your bank account? Pay your bills on time? Management of library budgets is similar to personal budgeting processes, just with more categories and on a larger scale. If crunching numbers is not your strong suit, then work to surround yourself with staff and board members who can offer support in this area. Software programs, such as QuickBooks, can help to streamline budgeting and make it a more straightforward task. Using previous years’ data and comparator libraries can aid in setting targets, evaluating your status, and setting benchmarks. Key aspects of successful budgeting include:

• continuous review of expenditures;
• continuous planning;
• ongoing assessment of spending activities;
• ongoing assessment of revenue generation;
• involvement of key staff (including board members);
• transparency;
• annual audits; and
• annual reports to your constituents.

Fundraising

Were you ever a band booster or Boy or Girl Scout? Did you sell cookies, or do fundraising for a group you (or your child, neighbor, niece, or nephew) were involved in? There are countless books and references dedicated to fundraising in the nonprofit sector (see, for instance, the highly readable Yours for the Asking: An Indispensable Guide to Fundraising and Management by Reynold Levy, 2009), so we won’t duplicate those efforts here.

The small library director is increasingly being asked to do more with less these days. Some ways to stretch funds may seem obvious, such as grant applications to local foundations for program and materials support, but don’t overlook less obvious mechanisms. For example, service organizations such as the Rotary and Kiwanis are often looking for worthy causes to sponsor, such as children’s materials. Keep an active “wish list” so that when they offer support, you can provide tangible opportunities. If you don’t have an active Friends group, start or revive one—they can be a huge support, not only for fundraising, but for advocacy within your community. Think out of the box. Is there a local company that produces solar panels and can use the library as a model installation? Opportunities such as these will not only raise the library’s visibility but can also reduce electricity bills and thereby reduce expenditures at the same time. Remember, if you don’t ask, they won’t know to give.

Advocacy

Have your ever pitched an idea to a friend? Interacted with a health care provider on behalf of a loved one? Have you ever stood up to a “bully” for yourself or someone else? Acts of advocacy are happening somewhat invisibly all the time and can be formal or informal efforts to ensure support of a cause. Please see the case study sidebar for an example of advocacy in the public library setting that had the ultimate result of dramatically reducing fees paid by the library to the cooperative public library system of which the library was a voluntary member.

Programs

Programming in public libraries can be an undertaking that involves whole departments, budget lines, and dedicated staff. While that may be the ideal, for small libraries it may not be a realistic model. Have you ever been a member of a book or gardening club, shared recipes, hosted a dinner party or read a book to a child? It’s likely that there are many resources within your community that you can “exploit” for program opportunities at your library.

Consider some of the following options for relatively low-cost, low-effort program provision in your library community:

• staff members with an interest in a hobby—for example, card making, quilting, soap making, and so on;
• local extension agents for demonstrations on a wide variety of activities;
• community members with interests—for example, car enthusiasts, collections to display, ethnic cooking demonstrations, and so on;
• film night—bring your own popcorn, library provides the screening;
• local theater groups—”dress rehearsal” at the library; and
• big equipment day—invite local contractors, the fire department and ambulance to park “big rigs” in the library parking lot and allow children to explore and interact.

The possibilities can be limitless, depending on your imagination, community resources, and facility accommodations.

The Facility

Did or do you participate in any kind of sports or fitness activities? Have you worked in a circus? Is your sister a plumber? Do you own a home? Facilities management in the small public library can cover an array of activities, planned and unplanned. You may find yourself shoveling entryways when your contractor can’t make it, plunging a toilet when your custodian is out sick, or clearing roof vents when there’s a leak during unprecedented amounts of snowfall. When it comes to troubleshooting facilities issues, it’s likely that you’ll have to deal with unexpected circumstances more often than you’d like. In order to meet these challenges with grace and poise, remember:

• Learn about the physical facility ahead of time.
  • Know where shutoff valves, emergency switches, and so on are located.
• Take charge; don’t shy away from what may be a noxious chore.
  • Lead by example; you’ll earn your staff’s respect and gratitude.
  • Do remember to keep safety as the first priority.
• Be as prepared as you can be.
  • Make sure you have an updated, regularly reviewed disaster plan.
  • Complete regular facility audits—internally and externally checking for issues.
  • Have fire drills and mock emergency situations so that staff can “practice.”
  • Make friends with emergency responders—know the fire and police chiefs, and town engineer (or equivalents).
• Don’t ask your staff to do anything you’re not willing to do.
  • Very often when they see you stepping up to the plate they’ll do the same.
  • Different staff members will have different gifts—learn what those are and use them to the best effects.

Individual Characteristics that Foster Success

Besides experience, there are basic qualities to keep in mind when striving to be an effective manager or leader. The primary characteristics that I’ve found to be common among truly effective, even visionary supervisors include:

• curiosity,
• flexibility,
• adaptability,
• humility,
• compassion,
• strong work ethic,
• passion for what they’re doing, and
• when all else fails, a well-developed sense of humor.

Summary

As it’s difficult to anticipate all the skills an individual might need to run a library and to teach those skills through formal coursework or training, we can augment our skills through other job and life experiences. Whether the setting is retail or realty, waiting tables or renting boats, previous employment experience can be put to good use in the public library setting.

Case Study

Advocacy in a Public Library System: Making Your Case with Data and Endurance

After I had been in my position as the director of a small, rural public library for about two years, I attended the state’s annual conference. In this state, libraries were members of larger systems that offered support through ILL and resource sharing; but individual libraries were autonomous entities with their own governance, oversight, and budgets. In a casual conversation, I asked the woman next to me what their system charged her library for providing the service of their online automation system (the ILS).

I was stunned to discover that we were paying more than eight times the amount her library paid (in real dollars, not as a rate) even though we were a much smaller library. I decided to investigate, and see if this was a fluke, or if we were being overcharged within our system.

First I found six more comparable libraries in other library systems (based on population chartered to serve) and phoned the directors and asked what they paid for their ILS. I found that we were paying between four and ten times more than those six libraries. When I looked at the same data on a per capita basis, our residents were paying close to $3 per capita, and residents from five of the other six libraries were all paying less than $0.50 per capita, with the sixth library’s per capita rate at $0.80.

To ensure that our particular vendor agreement was not the reason for the high expenses, I then sought out libraries that were similar in population and whose systems used the same vendor. My findings were the same; we were still paying four to ten times more than comparable libraries for the same service. These findings led to the obvious question: Why were our fees so high compared to other systems? There seemed to be three possible explanations: (1) we received more services for our fees, (2) our system was comparatively underfunded, or (3) our system charged member libraries more for services.

In order to examine the first possibility, I administered a twenty-question survey to twelve library directors in other similar systems to assess the services they received. Services were similar across systems, including interlibrary loan and computer support. Workshops and Internet were also provided, though our system charged for these, while the other systems didn’t. To assess funding level discrepancies, I examined square miles served by the systems, median average household income, and federal and state income received by the systems. Our system fell in the middle range for all of these indicators, implying lower funding rates or higher service area were not the reason for our higher fees. The primary difference I found between the other systems and ours was that our system had the highest number of personnel and highest personnel costs. After presenting these multiple iterations of research and negotiating with the library system board, our fees were dramatically reduced.

In one year, they went from $23,600 to $13,000; and in the following four years while I was director, they increased only slightly, and they never returned to the 2004 level. My previous experience working in medical and health research settings provided a mindset of using data to understand and explain phenomenon. In this case, the data showed member libraries were being overcharged. The lesson of this experience was: don’t take for granted that your library’s best interests are being looked after by others, don’t be afraid to ask questions, investigate, and follow through on your findings.

References

[1] Shannon Crawford Barniskis, “Embedded, Participatory Research: Creating a Grounded Theory with Teenagers,” Evidence Based Library & Information Practice 8, no. 1 (2013): 47–58; Katherine Becker, “24 Hours in the Children’s Section: An Observational Study at the Public Library,” Early Childhood Education Journal 40, no. 2 (2012): 107–14; Alan Bryman, Social Research Methods, 4th ed.( New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2012); Ian Chant, “Impact Survey Aims to Help Libraries Increase, Explain Their Worth,” Library Journal 138, no. 20 (2013): 1. John W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 4th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Pub., 2014).

[2] Richard A. Krueger, Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, 4th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Pub., 2009). Steinar Kvale and Svend Brinkmann, InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Pub., 2009). Floyd J. Fowler, Survey Research Methods, 5th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Pub., 2013).

[3] Peter Hernon and Charles R. McClure, “Unobtrusive Reference Testing: The 55 Percent Rule,” Library Journal 111, no. 7 (1986): 37–41.

The post Applying Previous Library and Non-Library Experience to Best Advantage first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Retail marketing is often uses this type of information to make many decisions on how or where to place products. It also focuses on where complementary products or impulse purchase products should be placed. It questions whether there is a way to drive customers to high demand products by way of other things. Retail marketing explains why milk and bread tend to be in the back corners of the grocery store. Using some of these same general principles, what can your patrons tell you about your library through their behavior?

What do your dirtiest carpet and rattiest furniture tell you? If you’re in a cold weather climate, where are there white salty circles or carpet that never dries out from snow? In general, your carpet shows wear patterns even if you don’t live in an area with a lot of snow. It shows where patrons stop and how they travel within your building. Those are the places where the dirt never quite comes out no matter how many times it gets cleaned. Should you make sure there are more displays in this area or information about upcoming activities? Is this the place to put the OPAC, if people are already stopping nearby? The same is true of your furniture. Are there permanent indentations in some of the chairs from constant sitting or scratches on tables from where watches and other jewelry bump and scrape? If you know what chair everyone sits in, should you put materials or displays near it? If everyone stops where the new movies are located, do you need even more copies than you’re already buying?

Are there patches of grass that never grow or footprints in one of the flowerbeds? Your patrons are using the outside of your building as well. If everyone stands in the same spot to wait for the building to open, do you want to pave that place instead of trying to grow grass there? Should you purchase a bench? Should you place advertisements for library services there? Do you want to put an “ash can” in a different place because there are always cigarette butts getting caught in the lawnmower? Probably you don’t want to put outdoor signage, no matter how helpful, in the flowerbed that everyone seems to step through as they take a shortcut to the library, but putting pavers there may make life better for everyone involved.

Why do they keep moving the furniture? If you find at the end of most days that there is always a conglomeration of chairs in an area, it’s a good sign that you need to consider reorganizing your furniture or space a different way. Your patrons are congregating in a specific area for a reason. Groups are meeting somewhere. Should you find out why? Is there no other place to gather? Is the material there supporting the purpose of the gathering? Can the library support this group?

Why is this area always a mess? A surefire sign that people are using your materials is that they are in disarray. Do you let things get a little messy just to see what people are using? If things are still in order, then people aren’t using them. Sometimes order hides valuable information you can use. Magazines are a great example. What magazines are all crinkly with issues out of order? Those are the ones people are reading. Where do people leave their piles of materials they have looked at but are not taking home? Are you consistently finding materials from one section of the library being left in a different part of the building? It could be that the messy place has better lighting, more comfortable seating, or a better sightline to watch small children. Is there an array of cell phones strewn somewhere in your building? Does that tell you there needs to be more accessible outlets for people to use? It is frustrating to find your “house” a mess, but it is telling you what your patrons are using.

Most librarians love cleanliness, tidiness, and order. Look at what the absence of these things can tell you. How do you want to integrate what you know about how your patrons use your library into what you are doing at the library?

The post Being a Library Detective first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

“We should be more like a business”

“I hate calling patrons customers”

“We’re more than books”

Sound familiar? While libraries strive to remain relevant, you can see the slide to the “let’s run it like a business” mentality. I firmly believe we need to think outside of the box of traditional operations of a library. Creative problem solving is a must in our business! I picked up this monograph and was surprised to be faced with a different line of thinking—we don’t need to be like a business, we just need to be great.

Exceptional performance

What is exceptional? What makes a library great? Figure out what that means for your library and work every single day to get there. If you spend too much time looking at your barriers, you won’t focus on this goal. Let’s review some options for how to make a library great, in practical terms:

Superior performance

• Every interaction with every customer is treated with respect and dignity
• Every politician knows your name and your library’s mission
• Demand for your services increases every year

Distinctive Impact

• Everyone wants to talk about your services (word-of-mouth-marketing!)
• Other libraries copy what you do
• You win awards, receive grants, and make an impact

Lasting Endurance

• People give your library money—lots of money
• People return after years to tell you how you made a difference
• You change the world

As managers and world-changers, we must lay the groundwork for greatness. I have to tell you, the political jungle gym that is a government job does not make it easy to advance the organization. We all know this to be true, but that shouldn’t stop you from working every day to get to greatness. Collins makes the point that people want to be a part of something great. Yes! They do! And not just staff—this includes community leaders, politicians, companies. If you work tirelessly to make something great, they will be drawn to your organization.

So, what’s next?

As a manager, you have some options to start laying the groundwork for greatness.

• Make sure your mission statement and strategic plan are updated and relevant— no joke, start at the start
• Review employees early and often—consistent reviews show that you are disciplined and you have high expectations of your employees
• Only accept the highest goals with the loftiest priorities—don’t let employees get away with weak goals that don’t move the organization forward
• Be more than books—alter your space, be creative, don’t settle
• Change the culture—yes, it can feel like beating your head against a door, just keep at it

I highly recommend this monograph. I’m sure the parent book From Good to Great is even better. I hope to read it soon, and I hope you all focus on greatness at your library.

More resources:

A great organization starts with great communication: How to Build a Great Organization By Doing Something You Already Know How To Do http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/06/25/how-to-build-a-great-organization-by-doing-something-you-already-know-how-to-do/

What makes a company a great place to work? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-hardman/best-companies-to-work-for_b_2287193.html

Podcast: Building Greatness with Jim Collins http://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/building-greatness.html

Collins, Jim (2005). Good to Great and the Social Sectors. HarperCollins. http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Social-Sectors-Monograph/dp/0977326403

The post Are You Good? Or Great? first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

According to the Pew Research Center, these Millennials “are relatively unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of people, in no rush to marry”—yet optimistic about the future. They have placed themselves in the center of self-created social networks, and over 55% have posted a “selfie.” Ironically, they express a lower level of social trust in spite of their social networking and have detached themselves from traditional institutions. However, as in any generational group, they insist they are not all alike, and hold a wide variety of opinions on political and social issues. As for their educational status, over a third of them have a four-year-degree or higher. The Pew Research Center concludes that they are the most racially diverse generation in American history, with 43% of them non-white (i.e., Hispanic, Asian, African-American). In addition, the 2014 Millennial Impact Report reveals that approximately 80 million Millennials live in the U.S., and by the year 2020 they will comprise 50% of the work force.

Frankly, I didn’t pay too much attention to the Millennials’ impending arrival. Many decades ago I burst shouting out of the “Silent” or “Seniors” Generation—a part of the Greatest Generation—and have been working alongside members of other generations ever since: the Traditionalists (1900-1945), the Baby Boomers, (1946-1964), and the Generation Xers (1965-1980). We have shared a great deal of collegiality in both the educational and the library world, along with a deep passion for the mission of libraries in general. I assumed I would relate in the same way with this Next Generation (1980-2000).

However, my curiosity about them was piqued when I spoke recently with a “newbie,” a part-time clerk who had stopped by Technical Services to deliver something to me. I asked her how she liked her first-time public library position. Her response was almost bombastic.

“I have talent and capabilities that aren’t being acknowledged! No one understands how to work with me.”

“And how is that?” I inquired.

“Give me something to do that’s not busy work, work that means something that can do some good, and then let me do it!”

She told me she expected to be approached as an equal, no matter what title or position that she or anyone else held, and to work on projects that allowed her to move beyond the status quo. I reassured her that several collaborative projects are strongly in motion and that she could easily become a member of those committees already making a difference in patron programming.

“But, I can see so much that needs to be completed that I could do myself. I’m a Millennial!”

I hadn’t encountered too many individuals who identified themselves so strongly with their generation. She used the word Millennial as though it were the only key to understanding her, a password that would open doors just for her. She made me wonder if our other staff Millennials held the same view about themselves. In our library system we have seven professional librarians who definitely belong to the Millennial Generation, and another three who fall on the cusp between the GenXers and the Millennials. In addition, there are six young Millennial staff members who are either full or part-time. Determined to know more about what they feel about technology and their attitudes about how they are perceived, I asked them if they would be willing to participate in a survey, and that I would use their responses in this blog. Fourteen of the sixteen responded in the affirmative.

I used the free template at www.surveymonkey.com, which meant I was limited as to the size of the survey. I asked them to respond to ten statements, paraphrased from several sources and relating to either librarianship or technology, by either agreeing or disagreeing with the statement, or to select “no opinion.” If they were not degreed librarians, I asked them to consider the statements in view of what they did in their library job. I also provided a text box for their comments. All survey results would be anonymous. I followed this survey with two additional questions, to be answered “yes” or “no,” with opportunity to provide additional responses.

I admit that my survey is flawed. I provided no way to compare them in light of their ages and length of library experience. I did not provide a distinction between those who are classed as professional librarians and those who are not, thus risking skewed results. I should have refined the third statement, as it deals with two concepts. The survey statements, the follow-up questions, and the results with their comments, are as follows:

Survey statement #1: Technology was a major factor for a Millennial when deciding to become a librarian.

Results: 64% disagree

Technology itself is not why I chose this field. It’s like saying “Oxygen is part of the atmosphere, [but] is that part of the reason you became an air-breather?” Technology is available and present everywhere, in all job fields, and [in] all aspects of life.

Survey statement #2: Millennials have more interest in libraries because of the way information is accessed, stored, and applied.

Results: 77% agree

I became a librarian because I like books, I like learning things, I wanted a job where I could do many different tasks, and where I could help people. Technology is a tool to accomplish that.

Survey statement #3: Millennials believe that they can quickly learn any new technologies, but they are not used to creating it or understanding its infrastructure.

Results: 43% agree

…people my age are tenacious and dogged in learning new skills.

…a lot of new technologies are created by Millennials.

Survey statement #4: Millennials want to transform libraries into technology-enhanced spaces.

Results: 86% agree

(No comments on this statement. I think it spoke to the obvious.)

Survey statement #5: Millennials are not “wedded” to particular technologies because something newer and better will always come along.

Results: 64% agree

Comments:

“Millennials are more wedded to a brand, not a type of technology (example: Apple vs. Android). Technology updates are making devices outdated and unusable within 2 or so years.”

“…every generation is going to have a technology paradigm that they are most comfortable with. Ours just happens to be a very morphable and accepting paradigm. If there is a fundamental shift in tech provision or access, I think a lot of Millennials who think themselves open to changing technologies are going to realize they are actually rather comfortable with the status quo.”

Survey statement #6: Millennials like to work in teams to accomplish goals that matter to them.

Results: 57% agree

Comments:

“Accomplishing goals that matter to me is important, regardless of whether or not I’m working on a team.”

“Millennials like to work individually on projects that matter to them, and to have those projects linked to other projects to create a larger whole. A small difference, but we’ve been “teamed up” all through school and life, and all of us are familiar with the strain of carrying someone else’s weight. Work life is a chance to stand on our own and be judged on ONLY our own work.”

“I enjoy working alone.”

Survey statement #7: Millennials rely on peer influence to attend events, participate in programs, volunteer.

Results: 62% agree

Comments:

“It’s so much a part of me to text, to facebook, to twitter, to instagram others…I get input, but basically I make up my own mind.”

“I am not influenced by peer pressure.”

Survey statement #8: Millennials don’t want to work in an environment that is not exciting or rewarding to them.

Results: 92% agree

Comments:

“Many of us are unemployed or underemployed in an economy that the older generations ruined. Studies say that we don’t live for our work, but want a job where we earn a fair wage, are happy, and then can leave at the end of the day so we can pursue our hobbies. We just don’t want to sacrifice our health and happiness for a job that pays us poorly and makes us miserable.”

“I would not thrive in a less rewarding and unstimulating work place.”

Survey statement #9: Millennials want immediate feedback on how they’re performing, not annual reviews.

Results: 92% agree

Comments:

“Tell me right away how I’m doing. Then I can fix anything that’s not right.”

Survey statement #10: Millennials use multiple methods of self-expression [social networking, getting tattoos; posting videos online], but most have protected their social media profiles.

Results: 77% agree

Comments:

“We use these tools because they’re there, and they’re useful for different purposes. If other generations were as familiar and comfortable with these platforms and with the relaxed culture of self-expression, they’d be all over it as well.”

“We don’t do these things to make other people look at us; we do them to make ourselves match our ideals of how we want to be. Our “self-expression” is more self-examination and self-inspection, rather than narcissism.”

Follow-up question #1: Have you ever referred to yourself as a Millennial or describe yourself in terms of the generation in which you were born?

Results: Yes: 55%   No: 45%

Comments:

“I sometimes refer to myself as a “Millennial” to be funny…as a joke.”

“I’m comfortable with who I am. I don’t need a generational label to define me.”

Follow-up question #2: Are generational classifications important or useful to you in your job or in your life

Results: Yes: 35%   No: 65%

Comments:

“I think individual differences in work styles play more of a role.”

“Yes, if only because understanding the different generations makes it easier to understand how/why some people treat me in certain ways.”

This is funny to me: so many times I hear older people complain that we are always on our phones or at the computer, but the second they can’t figure out their email suddenly we are the omniscient Tech Gods who can work wonders with their virus laden PCs running Windows XP and Internet Explorer.

“I have trouble sometimes with how other “generations” define me, but in my job, I deal with all age levels…they come to me to help them figure out how to use their tablets or cell phones. I like that age-gap interaction, and they see me in a different way when they get my help. I’m not such a mystery to them, then.”

The results of my humble survey about our Millennial colleagues seem to agree in large part with the most recent research. Technology is ubiquitous for our Millennials; therefore, technology was not the motivating force in choosing their library career. However, because technology is inherent in library work, they want to use their technological skills to improve the access and delivery of information. They want to enjoy their jobs and perform tasks that mean something.

I perceive all our Millennials to be intelligent individuals, collaborative and creative, who work well within the existing institution. Yet they are also able to apply their technological skills in new and exciting ways to provide service to patrons of all ages and to promote more innovative library services. They participate in both their social media world and in the community. They get a little annoyed at how they are portrayed in all the surveys and articles, and are irritated that they sometimes are put in the position of having to defend why they use technology. One respondent told me she doesn’t have to defend why she drinks water, so why does she have to defend her use of her smartphone! They did not abandon one information resource to replace it with newer digital formats. To them print materials are just one way that information is stored. They are not hesitant to use existing technology as another vital tool to help them succeed. They are relieved and happy to use what they know to help others. I have not heard them complain that they are not involved in doing something worthwhile in their library job.

Our Millennials take the steps through the digital environs that the rest of us don’t know how to. They do what the rest of us don’t dare to—or care to—do, and they do so with ease. One of our staff Millennials is our Digital Librarian, responsible for getting the word out about our programs on all possible social media venues and on our website. Another is active in digitally promoting Tween literature and is deeply involved in the Summer Reading program centered around superheroes. The Millennial Librarian in charge of Adult Programming, with the collaboration of our seasoned Community Services director, has obtained a substantial LSTA matching grant—I’ll tell you more about that excitement in a future blog! Three of our Millennials were instrumental in planning and organizing our August ComiCon. And all of them use devices—Apple or Android—at the service desks and carry them into the stacks to help our patrons navigate our system

I feel at this point that I need to mention the obvious: our Millennials thrive at our library because our director and assistant director are not threatened by innovation and creativity on the part of the staff. Millennials blossom under transparent leadership when the hierarchy is bendable.

The 2013 Millennial Impact Report states: “We don’t study Millennials because they’re a part of the culture. We study them because they’re defining the culture.” I firmly believe they are the reason why we should feel so optimistic about the future of public libraries. And I, for one, am going to have a blast having them help me redefine my corner of the library world.

Resources:

1. Anderson (SC) County Library System
2. Mind the gaps : the Deloitte Millennial Survey 2015.
3. Inspiring the Next Generation workforce : the 2014 Millennial Impact Report, Six-Month Research Update.
4. Inspiring the Next Generation workforce : The 2014 Millennial Impact Report.
5. Caraher, Lee. Millennials & management : the essential guide to making it work at work. Brookline, MA: Bibliomotion, Inc., 2015.
6. Cummings, Bethany. “How millennials are redefining the role of public libraries.” com. October 23, 2014.  (accessed July 21, 2015).
7. Emanual, Jenny. “Digital Native Librarians, Technology Skills, and Their Relationship with Technology.” Information Technology and Libraries, September 2013: 20-23.
8. Hais, Morley Winograd & Michael D. Millennial momentum : how a new generation is remaking America. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2011.
9. Henig, Robin Marantz Henig & Samantha. Twenty something : why do young adults seem stuck? New York: Hudson Street Press, 2012.
10. Huang, Belinda. “Why Millennials May Save Our Libraries.” Emertainment Monthly. Entertainment News from Emerson College. September 29, 2014.  (accessed July 21, 2015).
11. LePage, Evan. “Why Millenial [sic] is Meaningless for Social Media Targeting.” June 6, 2015.  (accessed July 21, 2015).
12. McClary, T. M. “Marketing the Public Library to Millennials.” NJ State Library. April 24, 2014.  (accessed July 21, 2015).
13. “Millennial Impact Research : The 2013 Millennial Impact Report.” 2013. http://casefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/MillennialImpactReport-2013.pdf.
14. Pew Research Center. “A Portrait of “Generation Next” : How Young People View Their Lives, Futures and Politics. Summary of Findings.” PewResearchCenter : U.S. Politics & Policy. January 09, 2007. (accessed July 21, 2015).
15. —. “A Snapshot of Reading in America in 2013.” PewResearchCenter: Internet, Science & Tech. January 16, 2014. (accessed July 21, 2015).
16. —. “Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change. Executive Summary.” PewResearchCenter: Social & Demographic Trends. February 24, 2010. (accessed July 21, 2015).
17. —. “Millennials in Adulthood: Detached from Institutions, Networked with Friends.” PewResearchCenter : Social & Demographic Trends. March 7, 2014. (accessed July 21, 2015).
18. —. “Younger Americans and Public Libraries.” PewResearchCenter: Internet, Science & Tech. September 10, 2014. (accessed July 21, 2015).
19. Pollak, Lindsey. Becoming the boss : new rules for the next generation of leaders. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2014.
20. Schawbel, Dan. Workplace Trends :The 2015 Millennial Majority Workforce Study. (accessed July 21, 2015).
21. Schawbel, Dan. “Talent management : 10 ways millennials are creating the future of work.” forbes.com. (accessed July 21,2015).

The post Millennials Among Us first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

For this first blog post I want to focus on the issue of building trust. Patrick Lencioni addresses this in his book The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. According to Lencioni, before you can get healthy as an organization, you need to establish a strong team. To establish a strong team, you must establish trust.

Building Trust

What is trust? We aren’t talking about trust in the way you trust your partner to tell the truth, or you trust a friend to follow through on promises. Lencioni calls it vulnerability-based trust. Be vulnerable in front of your management team. Tell them when you screw up, tell them when you struggle, and tell them when you’re sorry. In general, be vulnerable. If everyone on the team does this you avoid a lot of issues. One, everyone is speaking freely which can lead to breakthroughs. Two, you get to the heart of issues much faster. Fear takes a back seat as you express your vulnerable side more often.

But!

Librarians like to know everything, and rarely admit to not knowing something or not having thought something out. It goes against our nature to admit we don’t know. This is why you have to be the example. Truly, it should begin with the leader, but it can begin with anyone at the table. Next time you find yourself feeling defensive, take a moment and explore what you are feeling, and say it! I’m feeling overwhelmed, I messed up, I need help. Start building the trust by being honest.

Practical Steps to Building the Trusting Team

Lencioni shares two steps that essentially do the same thing: force you to get to know yourself and your team members.

• Share Personal Stories – Talk about yourself, your personal history. He suggests answering the question: what was the most difficult or interesting challenge you overcame as a child? This allows you to get to know each other’s motivations. Someone may micromanage out of fear, and another might be tight with money because he/she grew up in a certain environment.
• Take a Personality Test – I love this! I prefer Myers-Briggs, but there are others (see below). Yes, they can feel awkward to take and share but, man, I have learned a lot about myself this way. Take the test, share with others, and see how it will help your organization in the long run.

But!

We have been a team forever, this seems a little late in the game. It’s never too late. Tell your team you want to try something new. Use a consultant as a catalyst. Many local consultants will come in for just a few hours to help with something like this and it won’t cost you much money at all! But please understand it is a culture change, and it won’t happen offsite in a day-long session. This is skimming the surface to deeper cultural behaviors.

The rest of the book is really great. I recommend you read and marinate on it, then go back and read the sections that stuck out the first time.

Take some time to explore these resources as you start to build your team:

• Team Building 101 http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/05/team-building-101
• Effective Managers Earn Trust Quickly By Doing 5 Things Well http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/07/10/effective-managers-earn-trust-quickly-by-doing-5-things-well/
• Titles from ALA http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3717

Personality Tests:

• Enneagram https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/guide-to-all-riso-hudson-tests/
• Myers-Briggs http://www.mbtionline.com/

Reference

Lencioni, P. (2012). The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. Wiley.

The post It Takes More Than a Trust Fall: Establishing a Great Management Team first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

It is her contention that during the twentieth century, American society developed an “extrovert ideal,”² in which extroverts were celebrated and honored, while introverts were sidelined, derided, and finally even pathologized as being antisocial or having inferiority complexes. But Cain insists that the world is richer for the presence of varying personality types, believes that we need the unique gifts of the extroverts and the introverts, and we need to stop praising one at the expense of the other. Introverts are often more creative than extroverts, many of them excel at complex problem-solving, and they tend to prepare meticulously when asked to speak in public. When she identifies librarianship as one of the great bastions of introverted personality types, she tacitly credits these traits. The question is: Are we as a profession ready to acknowledge and embrace this element of who we are?

Who Are We?

In what is considered a seminal study, Mary Alice Scherdin tested 1,600 librarians in 1992 to determine their Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a widely used personality test that analyzes which of the opposing traits of Extroversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging /Perceiving determines an individual’s type.³ She found that the majority of librarians are indeed introverts, 63 percent versus 37 percent for extroverts.⁴ This number is especially significant when compared to the results of a test given to the general population between 1971 and 1984 by the Center for Applications for Psychological Type (CAPT) in which there were 35 percent introverts and 65 percent extroverts.⁵ These numbers are almost opposite the numbers for librarians.

In the Scherdin study, the most common types were ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) at 17 percent and INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging) at 12 percent.⁶ ISTJ individuals are described as responsible, practical, and organized while INTJ individuals are goal-driven with high standards for competence⁷—all valuable traits for librarians. Interestingly, the CAPT study found that the most common type (19 percent) of librarian was ISFJ (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging).⁸ This type is characterized by individuals who are quiet, conscientious, painstaking, and accurate—characteristics of the stereotypical librarian.⁹ Scherdin’s study found the incidence of the ISFJ type to be only 8 percent and other studies found it to be most common in support staff.¹⁰ It would be interesting to discover if the difference in the common personality type is due to errors in the testing process or if actual changes have occurred in the makeup of library staff. Perhaps the changes in the library environment have made it more difficult for the ISFJ individual to be in positions of authority.

Out of curiosity, and with no expectations of statistical significance, we asked the full-time employees at Webster Groves (MO)
Public Library (WGPL) to take one of the free online versions of the Myers-Briggs test, Humanetrics.¹¹ Of the thirteen tests that were given out, ten were returned. Similar to the results of Scherdin’s study, the percentage of introverts at our library was higher than that of the general population as determined by the CAPT study; five out of the ten (50 percent) were determined to be introverts. Four of the introverted employees were either ISFJ or INTJ, the two most common types in the Scherdin study.

While Scherdin’s study was completed in 1995, we can surmise that even today a large percentage of librarians are introverts. For those that consider themselves introverts and those who work with or supervise introverts, there are lessons to be gleaned from Cain’s book, particularly in dealing with the shyness inherent in the introverted personality.

Working with Introverted Personalities

Often, during our annual staff training day at WGPL, we try to elicit staff input on things such as best new services to provide or good ideas for public programming throughout the year. Staff members are split into three or four groups and asked to brainstorm and discuss, and report their ideas. But the results of these exercises are often less than hoped for, rarely yielding significant new programs. This is perplexing given that our staff members, like most employees, are well-educated, interested in their work, and dedicated to good service. So what is happening?

When these group sessions take place, it is very likely that our more introverted employees experience a set of problems mentioned in Quiet. Cain enumerates three problems with the brainstorming dynamic usually cited by psychologists: social loafing, production blocking, and evaluation apprehension.¹² Social loafing is the phenomenon experienced by anyone who has ever worked in a group —that one or more members of the group will simply sit back and let others do the work. Production blocking is based on the fact that only one person can speak, or at least be heard, at a time, and thus the people who are the loudest or most outspoken are heard over their quieter counterparts. Finally, evaluation apprehension is about the fear of having one’s ideas adversely judged, of looking stupid in front of one’s peers. While social loafing can be a problem in any group, it’s clear that the latter two problems could significantly affect a group of library employees. Introverted people, being quieter, are less likely to have their ideas heard, and since they take criticisms more personally, less likely to share ideas in the first place.

Moreover, there is a basic problem with the exercise itself. Brainstorming, as a concept, was invented in the 1940s by Alex Osborn, an advertising executive who, as Cain describes it, “believed passionately that groups—once freed from the shackles of social judgment—produced more and better ideas than did individuals working in solitude.”¹³

His ideas were so influential that even to this day employees across America are subjected to brainstorming sessions. But the curious and troubling thing is that, according to Cain, brainstorming doesn’t really work, and there have been studies since 1963 confirming this fact.¹⁴ She quotes organizational psychologist Adrian Furnham, who asserts that the “evidence from science suggests that business people must be insane to use brainstorming groups . . . If you have talented and motivated people, they should be encouraged to work alone when creativity or efficiency is the highest priority.”¹⁵

If we take a moment to reflect on these facts, the reality should be clear: that encouraging quiet creativity among individual staff members, working alone, may yield better results than the standard brainstorming sessions, particularly if a number of your staff members identify as introverted.

After debunking the whole idea of brainstorming and group work as superior to individual work, Cain goes on to do the same for open office plans. She writes that the amount of office space per employee shrank from 500 square feet in the 1970s to 200 square feet in 2010.¹⁶ Almost all offices have gone to the open plan at least to some extent, and many are completely open, eschewing even cubicles. And of course libraries have followed suit.

The problem with this is succinctly summarized in one experiment conducted by consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, which they called the Coding War Games. They asked six hundred programmers from 92 companies to design, code, and test a program, working in their own office space during normal office hours. The results revealed huge performance gaps between the best and worst programmers. But in analyzing the results, DeMarco and Lister could not isolate any factor they thought might matter, such as years of experience, salary, or time spent on the project. What they eventually found was that “top performers overwhelmingly worked for companies that gave their workers the most privacy, personal space, control over their physical environments, and freedom from interruption.”¹⁷ According to Cain, these findings are corroborated by many more studies. Her conclusion: “Open office plans have been proven to reduce productivity and impair memory.”¹⁸

A visit to the technical services area or workroom of many public libraries will reveal desks pushed up against one another, or cubicles where various employees are performing a variety of duties side by side. The person processing interlibrary loans, who makes a number of phone calls every day, sits beside the collection development librarian, who is charged with reading hundreds of book reviews per day and making informed decisions based on them. Catalogers are particularly notorious for their need to concentrate on the minutiae of their craft, and doing so in an open office space can only detract from that concentration.

WGPL recently underwent a complete renovation and expansion which resulted in much better office space for most employees. But there is still significant dissatisfaction among staff members who find that their office spaces are subject to as many distractions as ever.

While these distractions are a problem for any employee, they are worse for introverts. Social interaction wears on an introverted person, especially when it is more or less constant. Coming into the library each morning, greeting coworkers, and making small talk for a few minutes before getting down to work is one thing: having to endure some level of personal interaction all day long absorbs a good amount of the energy that could be expended on work. Of course, many libraries favor open office design simply because it is more economical, but if efficiency and accuracy in getting library materials into the hands of eager patrons is a value, we need to ask at what cost we are economizing.

How Introverts Overcome Shyness

An important section of Cain’s book details the methods individual introverts use in learning to get along in a culture that idealizes extroverts. She notes repeatedly that an introvert will never become an extrovert, but that, with practice, introverted tendencies can be ameliorated. Charged with training staff members, it would be wise for library managers to be aware of these methods, and to call them into play; especially since most library supervisors can recall an employee who showed every trait necessary to be an excellent library worker, but needed to overcome some level of introverted shyness.

The first method for overcoming shyness involves Free Trait Theory. Founded by Harvard psychology lecturer Brian Little, Free Trait Theory postulates that we are all born with certain fixed traits, such as introversion, but that we can call other traits into play as situations demand. Those traits may be things like the ability to speak in public, or to politely greet and deal with a constant stream of library patrons. But the important thing Cain emphasizes is that “introverts are capable
of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important.”¹⁹

Of course, we can’t teach shy employees how to use free traits, but we can strive to ensure that they care deeply about their
work. Many people who decide to work in libraries do so because they care about the work and the mission of a library. By emphasizing to all employees the importance of their role in the organization, and by learning individual employees’ strengths
and channeling them into tasks that implement those strengths, we can keep staff members caring enough to make consistent efforts to overcome natural reticence.

When a shy librarian has to make a presentation to the city council, or appeal to a large group of taxpayers for more funding, or a deeply introverted library clerk stands at the circulation desk with a broad smile warmly greeting everyone who enters the building, they are both performing a personality modification known as self-monitoring— evaluating the situation and becoming more like the other people in that situation. Introverts who successfully self-monitor can seem as if they are extroverts. But again, it has to do with caring about the work. As Cain puts it, pretending to be someone you’re not, minus caring about the work, “is not self-monitoring; it is self-negation.”²⁰ The benefits of self-negation are short-lived and more defeating than enriching.

But regardless of how much one cares about one’s work, this kind of acting out of character can still be tiring. The same interactions that stimulate a true extrovert can enervate an introvert who is only acting extroverted. Thus Cain counsels finding as many “restorative niches” as possible in your daily life.²¹ These niches can be physical places we go to relax, or they can be temporal. In the workplace, we are mostly talking about break periods (coffee, lunch, dinner). While some library employees like to take lunch with other friends on staff and catch up on gossip, there are others who need this time to quietly read or spend a few minutes playing Words with Friends on their iPad.

What You Can Do

Given this information, we as employers are called on to do a few things. We can make sure that our staff break rooms are quiet and comfortable enough that they do provide an oasis. Any plan for a new library building, or for renovation and addition, should consider what business strategists call “the internal customer,” recalling that happy staff members are more likely to offer good service. We can make sure that we do not interrupt employees on break with unnecessary questions or concerns: an employee’s lunch break is not the time for a quick conference about work matters. And we can be as flexible as possible in letting certain employees take breaks when they can be alone. In the public library we have to keep circulation desks, reference desks, and other service points staffed, and so we are not allowed total latitude in this regard. But some degree of allowing for individual needs is possible if we learn to perceive its importance to employees we care about.

Employee management techniques are often geared to the extrovert, with the result that introverted employees are underutilized, unhappy, and unproductive. While this is not a good situation in any business, it is especially undesirable
at a library where introverts may outnumber extroverts two to one. Library managers need to be aware that introverted employees may require quiet workspaces as both a place to concentrate on the job and as a place to recover from the stresses of working with the public; they may need extra time to prepare presentations; and they will be more productive working
alone than in groups. Library managers who are sensitive to these needs will help introverted employees reach their full
potential and create a better working environment for all. A recommended first step would be to read and understand Susan Cain’s Quiet.

References

1. Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012): 265.
2. Ibid., passim.
3. Mary Jane Scherdin and Anne K. Beaubien, “Shattering Our Stereotype: Librarians’ New Image,” Library Journal 120 no. 12 (1995): 35-38.
4. Ibid., 37.
5. Scherdin and Beaubien, 37.
6. Scherdin and Beaubien, 36.
7. Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger, Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You through the Secrets
   of Personality Type, second ed. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995): 45.
8. Scherdin and Beaubien, 36.
9. Tieger and Barron-Tieger, 47.
10. Scherdin and Beaubien, 36.
11. “Jung Typology Test.” HumanMetrics, accessed May 14, 2015.
12. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, 89.
13. Cain, 87.
14. Paul A. Mongeau and Mary Claire Morr, “Reconsidering Brainstorming,” Group Facilitation 1, no. 1 (1999): 14; Karen Girotra et al., “Idea Generation and the Quality of the Best Idea,” Management Science 56, no. 4 (Apr. 2010): 591-605.
15. Adrian Furnham, “The Brainstorming Myth,” Business Strategy Review 11, no. 4 (2000): 21-28.
16. Roger Vincent, “Office Walls Are Closing in on Corporate Workers,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 15, 2010, accessed May 14, 2015.
17. Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (New York: Dorset House, 1987): 84.
18. Cain, 84.
19. Cain, 209.
20. Cain, 217.
21. Cain, 219-20.

The post Quiet in the Library: Working with Introverted Personalities first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Writing strong and effective technology proposals is something that we, as educators and library professionals, should be able to do and be able to do well. Odds are, if we’re going to implement innovative and creative technology in our libraries, we’ll probably have to make a strong case for it to appear in the budget. Let’s face it, innovative technologies like 3D printers, vinyl cutters and professional recording studios don’t exactly fall into the “essential needs of the library” budget line, nor do the latest and greatest computers for that matter. While Macs are cool, they aren’t that cool.

Unless you happen to work for one of those five-star-Library-Journal-endless-budget-how-do-they-keep-doing-it-libraries, you need to accept the fact that you’ll have to put in some extra effort if you want your library to be able to keep up with what’s hot.

The following steps are a framework for creating proposals that will get people to listen:

1. What do you want? How much does it cost? Who cares?
The most important part of any proposal is identifying the thing that you actually want and how much it costs. This is simple and needs little explanation. What is not simple, however, is pinpointing who will actually care or truly benefit from the things we purchase. The best way I’ve found to begin this process is to first propose my idea (and cost) to some of my very close non-library friends. The ones who will tell it like it is. If their response is, “Why would the library waste money on that?” or the rhetorical “Who cares?” and I cannot convince them to respond otherwise, I probably have some more thinking to do.  For further information on this, see step 3, “Purpose.”

2. Know your audience: Think about who are you proposing to and tailor it towards them. The Library Board? Management? The Director? Friends of the Library?

If you’re proposing that the library should purchase a 3D printer, find out what would interest those who are you proposing to. Is the Board President an avid Star Trek fan? Of course she can print a replica of the Starship Enterprise with the new 3D printer.

Want to learn the rest of the steps? Head over to DigitalLearn.org.

Jason Pinshower is the Information Services Librarian and the Technology Trainer at the Fox River Valley Public Library District in Illinois where he creates and teaches technology courses, develops the eBook collection and manages the 3D printer among many other things. You can contact him at jpinshower@frvpld.info.

The post Getting Your Proposals Passed: How to Create Strong Technology Proposals first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

When the make-up of our Library Board changed, personalities shifted and perspectives clashed. Suddenly there were new situations in which it appeared that many of us, as well as the library itself, were vulnerable. It was then that I learned of Directors’ and Officers’ Liability Insurance (often called D&O). This insurance, purchased by the organization, reimburses the organization’s leadership for losses or advancement of defense costs of legal actions coming about from alleged wrongful acts in their capacity as leadership of the institution. Policies vary by the amount of coverage, but are offered by almost all of the major insurance companies. Costs are based on not only the amount of coverage, but the size of the board and institution.

At the time that I began to look into this insurance, my library was facing two possible legal actions. One stemmed from a communication problem over a fundraising event. The other involved the personality clashes of two significant individuals involved with the management of the library. It was a situation that six months earlier would have been inconceivable for all of us.

For our institution the cost increased our insurance line by approximately five hundred dollars annually. It was not an easy sell. However, the cost of one lawsuit would be far greater.

In the end, our fundraising event went off, but not without some very problematic hitches. The human conflict was a bit rougher to deal with, but fortunately it also did not end up in litigation. We were lucky that the Library Board had purchased D&O insurance. For me, it was all a little too close for comfort.

The need for such insurance—as well as the coverage—varies, and must certainly be analyzed on a per library basis. Certainly, one’s needs can be greatly affected by circumstance. Municipal libraries may be covered under town insurance policies, but might not be. What I do know definitively, is that is far better to research and discuss the options before there is a potential need. Based on our experience, I’d advise this is one of those situations where it’s better to be prepared.

The post The Importance of Library Insurance: Investigate It Before You Need It first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The first step with self-assessment is to understand how services are currently provided by your organization. This is done by completing a detailed checklist [1]. For each question, the library indicates if the service/program/procedure is operational or is planned to be implemented. The result is a snapshot of your organization.

Last year Edge released a Toolkit with 11 benchmarks which evaluate the library’s technology services. The checklist is divided into three main areas: Community Value, that is services and collections (programs, training, and individual assistance of patrons, software, and access to electronic resources); Engaging the Community, that is relationships outside of the library (feedback from patrons, outreach, and partnerships); andOrganizational Management, that is internal issues (staff training, technical infrastructure).

The Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative provides the STAR Checklist, which consists of 64 questions about processes and policies, with four final levels of scoring. Libraries which earn at least one STAR receive a certificate. Most of the STAR libraries are academic libraries in Australia and the U.S.A. (actually some of the questions are academic-oriented), but also a few public libraries stand out.

The second step is to identify the weaknesses of the library, the areas where the library can improve, and work on it. Edge offers several training resources: articles, webinars, other tools, and also some case studies. Some interviews with library leaders involved in Edge can be watched in a dedicated YouTube channel.  Library management can use the benchmarks for its technology plans or in determining its strategic goals. Finally, advocacy. The results of the assessment can be showcased to community leaders and demonstrate how your library keeps up with the best practices.

The Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative advocates for a radical change in resource sharing. Its Manifesto (2007) aims for the reduction of barriers and global access for users. For instance, libraries should offer unlimited renewals if items are not needed locally, loan items regardless of the format, loan new items, and accept credit cards for the payment of fees.

The Edge Initiative is developed by a coalition which includes PLA. 160 libraries participated in a “soft” launch last year and during January 2014 it will be launched nationally. The program will be adopted statewide in seven states, while previewed in other states. Any individual library can participate though. A program will be held at the ALA Midwinter Meeting on Saturday, January 25, at 10:30 a. m. during which library leaders will share the results they obtained and attendees can learn more about how to get involved.

[1] Checklists are the topic of a popular book by a Boston-based surgeon, Atul Gawande (The Checklist Manifesto. How to Get Things Right, Picador, 2011)

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