But all librarians use writing to do more than remind patrons of fines. To keep up with the latest, you have to go back to the basics of stringing words together to make your meaning clear. Writing is all over new technology, so much so that we don’t even think about it or notice it until it’s glaringly unprofessional or outright unhelpful. Still not convinced good writing is useful anymore? Consider this:

Writing is the backbone of all communication. The ways of getting and staying in touch with people seem to be multiplying every day, but all are just variations on the written word. If you don’t have strong writing skills, it will show quickly and across any social, electronic, or print media you might use.

The way you write shapes the way you speak (and vice versa). Writing is a way to think “out loud” before you say anything. Strong writing skills indicate strong analytic skills, which translate to better problem-solving. The more you practice, the quicker those skills come to you, and the easier it is to share them as your brain gets used to its new, improved rhythms.

Writing connects you with your core audience. Even if you pride yourself for never lapsing into text speak and have no idea how to reply to a tweet, your writing should connect you with the people you want to find. You should be able to engage with your intended public in a way you all understand, because your writing has better staying power than your speech and can help you remember what works and what does not.

Writing brings ideas to life. Think of writing as blueprints for ideas. Before anything can be built, plans need to be laid out, assessed, discussed, and tweaked to perfection. Writing gives you the same abilities to further your own projects with your peers, superiors, and patrons alike. It sets out a space to exchange details and the big picture in ways that you can all connect and communicate to others who can help you along the way.

Resource

Boomerang Respondable: Personal AI Assistant for Writing Better Emails (free)

The post Essential Librarian Skill: Writing first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Hiring

Whether your library has its own human resources office or goes through your local government, finding the right employees is the one of the most important building blocks of a good library system. Human resource directors are in charge of not only advertising open positions and overseeing the application process but also discussing and negotiating the best hiring practices for the general system. Is your library going through hierarchy shakeups, rapid expansions, a wave of retirements? The human resources director works with upper management to negotiate the right solutions and coverage for upcoming changes.

Salary and benefits

If you enjoy pay raises and health insurance, thank your human resources director. Each year they research the best-case scenarios your library can afford: They perform salary studies of libraries of similar size and ranking, stay updated on your third-party insurance company for any hikes in price or changes in coverage, find more perks to share with all employees, and keep your best interest in mind way beyond your open enrollment period.

Government regulations and library policies

The human resources director acts as advisor, instigator, and administrator for any changes he or she sees need to be enacted in the library. The Affordable Care Act, for example, has gone through hundreds of changes both big and small—but all significant—since being signed into law. Your human resources director tracks each nuance and how it applies to your library so you don’t have to. They bring the same level of attention to detail to every bit of legislation that’s used to regulate your part of the employee industry, including whatever notice, paperwork, and permissions are legally needed. Library policies also fall under this scrutiny. Any changes to how your library works goes through the human resources director to make sure it’s airtight, legal, and exactly how the library wants to operate.

Employee relations

We realize that 98 percent of your coworkers are awesome and you wouldn’t part with nine out of ten them. Right? Well, for those 2 percent or one out of ten who rub you or the public the wrong way, don’t get along with their supervisor, or act as antagonists instead of the model public servants your library needs, the human resources director has you covered. They know how generous to be with second chances, how to coach supervisors on molding major changes in an employee, and when it’s time, legally and professionally, to let someone go. They are there to cushion the blow of leaving staff, referee interpersonal conflict, and make sense of hiring and discrimination regulations.

Human resources directors may seem out of touch, behind the scenes of everyday life facing the public, but trust us—they have your, and all your coworkers’, backs.

Follow me on Twitter! @BookStaxxMG

The post I’m Not Actually a Librarian: Human Resources Director first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Not good at tooting your own horn? You don’t have to brag, just give your awesomeness a voice. A lot of librarians recoil at the thought of self-promotion, and that’s both understandable and admirable; however, nobody’s going to make use of the resources and programs you’ve carefully pruned to perfection until they hear about it. So if you’re not comfortable talking up your efforts, here are a few pointers to get you proactive while keeping you humble:

Work with your marketing, PR, or communications department.

These are the guys who get paid to do this! They are passionate and skilled at getting messages out to your patrons, plus they are the official voice of the library itself. Regularly updating your marketing department guarantees that your public will see what’s going on. If you don’t have a dedicated marketing department, get in touch with whoever runs your social media. Having an online presence is the best way to reach all sorts of potential patrons.

Use your own social media account(s).

If you’re a librarian, you have friends who love books, free activities, and useful services. Use that to your advantage by posting about your specific awesomeness on whatever social media accounts you happen to already have. This doesn’t require signing up for anything new, attempting the awkwardness that is making new online friends or trying to attract followers, or doing anything besides posting a link to what you’re most excited about in the upcoming days. Trust me, your followers will be very excited to find a post they can actually use in the midst of brunch photos and election headlines. If you don’t have a social media account, consider signing up for either Facebook or Twitter; they have proven their staying power, don’t cost anything, and let you post as much or as little as you want.

Connect to a bigger group.

What if your library marketing initiative doesn’t seem to be making a difference? Don’t sweat—if you’re connected to bigger groups such as ALA and PLA, you have another platform to showcase your ideas. Professional organizations are built to connect workers in the same field, which means that you can get advice from peers as well as use the network to pass along your awesomeness to an otherwise inaccessible audience. This is a two-way street—give back and share your successes to someone you recognize is struggling, too!

Marketing shouldn’t be hard, but we have to work with the reality to reach who needs us the most. Have you had any massive successes or failures in getting your library’s awesomeness out there? Share in the comments!

The post Sharing Your Awesomeness: Personal Library Marketing first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Customer service experience
Since it’s their job to constantly patrol the library, your security workers will come in contact with patrons for many reasons other than safety or loss prevention. Make sure you choose security staff that is able to assist the public with general library logistics such as finding different sections, explaining checkout rules, and which programs are occurring on a specific day. The extent of this may vary between large branches with full-coverage staff and small locations that need more help, but every security worker should be aware of what peripheral needs might come up.

Physical requirements
Make the physical requirements for any security positions absolutely clear in your job listing. If applicants do not realize that they will be standing or walking for their whole shift or that they will be expected to help lift boxes of books or help set up furniture for programs, you may unintentionally hire someone who is unqualified. Stress the physical requirements from the beginning to guarantee that you choose the right fit for your location.

Technology savvy
Another job point that doesn’t seem obvious but becomes crucial immediately, security workers must be familiar with basic word processing and email at the very least, to create and file incident reports. This is a skill that is rapidly becoming universal, but don’t take it for granted in all your applicants. If your library has its own security system set up, your security workers will need to either be familiar with it or able to learn how to use it properly for the safety of all staff and patrons.

Flexible schedules Your security workers will have to cover more than just the hours your library is open. They will be your first line of contact if anything goes wrong overnight or whenever the library is supposed to be empty. To truly secure the library, they need to be willing to respond to alarms; help cover late, early, or distant events; and keep your materials, staff, and customers secure at all times.

What do you look for in security staff? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Further Reading

Melanie Griffin, “I’m Not Actually a Librarian: Volunteer Coordinator,” Public Libraries Online, January 25, 2016.

Melanie Griffin, “Safety & Security Workers Are An Integral Part of Library,” Public Libraries Online, April 15, 2016.

The post I’m Not Actually a Librarian: Security Staff first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Your library staff and patrons deserve the security of mind that comes with a security team. They can help with:

• Regulating unruly customers.
  As painful as it is to admit, not all who walk into the library are looking to enrich their lives peacefully. Fortunately, a good security worker can defuse a situation before it gets out of hand, whether it’s ejecting someone who is intoxicated or helping a lost child find their parent.
• Keeping buildings and collections up to safety codes
  In conjunction with maintenance staff, security officers also work with local safety officials to make sure all areas of the library (including physical storage areas) comply with fire codes and any other physical safety measures that must be taken, whatever the shape of the building.
• Protecting both patrons and employees during emergencies
  Ideally, all staff would know exactly what to do in case of a sudden fire, structural collapse, tornado, or on-the-job injury. Security workers strive toward that optimism while staying alert to the busy realities of everyday work life. They are there not only for direction and guidance during a real disaster but may also provide training or disaster drills.
• Coordinating and updating building access.
  As the eyes and ears of the library, security officers are in charge of the flow between the public and staff-only areas. This includes keeping updated, ongoing records of new and exiting employees—including volunteers, staff from other locations, members present for library board meetings, and cleaning, construction, or other third-party workers—not only to make sure only those authorized are coming and going but also to track where keys and access cards are at all times. In conjunction with human resources or on its own, the safety and security office can help keep the library’s backstage free and clear of trespassers.

Library security is an often-overlooked but incredibly important job on both a day-to-day and big-picture basis.

Further Reading:

Griffin, Melanie. “I’m Not Actually a Librarian: Volunteer Coordinator.” Public Libraries Online. January 15, 2016.

The post Safety & Security Workers Are An Integral Part of Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

But what about your library’s own creations? Your marketing department wants more authentic user experiences, so you recruit patrons to take photos and guest blog for your website; your program’s folks ask you to record a song for summer reading and hand out copies as catchy reminders; your writing group wants to publish an anthology of their best work — how do you protect all of this?

I am not a lawyer, so this does not constitute legal advice, but I do have a few good starting points for you.

Web/Blog Content. Blogs and websites with their own content are considered “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” This means that as soon as you or a guest writer types, saves, and posts, the words are automatically protected as the author’s own creation by copyright; however, that won’t be obvious to the outside world. You can add a copyright symbol (©) next to the year and the author’s name at the bottom of the post as a visual reminder.

If you or your guest writer are especially worried about certain content getting shared or used without permission, you can register individual posts on United States Copyright Office’s website for a $35 fee. You can only register what is posted on the website or blog on the date you file for copyright and have to file (and pay for) each of those updates separately. (This is because updating one post at a time does not qualify a blog as a “collective work,” which is like a newsletter that updates all its content at once.)

Standalone Multimedia. Videos, photographs, and other visual art are all covered under the same physical storage clause as website and blog content because their creation includes permanent fixture as part of their definitions. But what about songs, dances, or plays? Those are not copyrighted until the performance of them is recorded OR instructions on how to perform them are written down (such as sheet music or a script).

Publications. You’re proud of your writers’ group and want to print a tangible reminder of their hard work. You find a good deal on a printer, but before you set your pages, send each of your writers a contract for First North American Serial Rights. That gives you copyright for one printing, then reverts back to your writers for them to use as they wish.

Social Media. Unfortunately, copyright law has not kept up with social media growth and individual ownership. Anything typed into or uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (among others) is copyrighted by those sites under their user terms and conditions. Make sure to give credit to whoever created the content of your post, and brush up on your Fair Usage before you share.

Using Likenesses. This is not strictly a copyright concern, but it’s a good practice nonetheless to make sure you have permission to use the likeness of all the people you photograph for your library promotions. If you’re covering an event with a large crowd, you can place posters around the event letting people know that by attending, they are agreeing to be recorded. If you’re hosting an intimate group of six or less, you can hand out individual permission forms to make sure everyone’s on board.

The post The Other Side of Copyright first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

What Exactly Do They Do?
Here are a few examples of what volunteer coordinators do to help the library run smoothly:

Recruit volunteers. The most obvious job of the volunteer coordinator is also the most difficult. Not only do they have to find people who are willing to spend free time working for no pay on tasks that are often repetitive and possibly physically straining, but they also have to be able to read personalities well enough to match their recruits with the best-suited departments. This requires exceptional organization and people skills, as well as good communication with all of their coworkers to keep up with the needs of individual sections and branches.

Field volunteer requests. Related to recruiting, volunteer coordinators also exercise good judgement, tact, and multi-level scheduling to handle requests from other organizations who want to volunteer as groups or individuals who have to complete required volunteer hours for court or school. The coordinator must know how many hours a group or individual needs and whether there will be enough work for them to be truly useful by their deadline.

Organize orientations and celebrations. Volunteers need to know what they’re doing and that they’re appreciated when they do it. The volunteer coordinator handles both events, running orientations on a regular basis to make sure all volunteers can start with the necessary knowledge, throwing annual parties to make them feel appreciated, and presenting awards as individuals meet service milestones.

Regularly check and record progress. Tracking individual volunteers’ hours and their fit with their specific department takes exceptional organizational skills. The volunteer coordinator can tell at a glance who has passed a service goal, who needs to move to a different area, and how to diplomatically let them know when things aren’t working out.

Organize and track employee volunteer opportunities. Volunteer coordinators are also in charge of any volunteer opportunities sponsored by their employer for fellow employees. Along with advertising the information to coworkers, they connect with other volunteer coordinators at participating venues and keep track of any hours their colleagues might log. Volunteer coordinators are multi-faceted employees who juggle many different talents to merge the library and community in mutual help.

The post I’m Not Actually a Librarian: Volunteer Coordinator first appeared on Public Libraries Online.