In Which I Live in a Hyperbolic Chamber

(photo by Jim LaPaz)

It's been just over two weeks, but I can say, with and without hyperbole, that I am in love with my job, that this is the best job I have ever had.

Oh, it's going to be a lot of hard work. As Assistant Director of the Waukesha Public Library, I am in charge of the direction the library takes where technology is concerned. There are other pieces to my job, but that's the big one. That includes keeping the equipment working and up-to-date, finding new technologies (hardware and software) and ways to implement them in the library, and many many other things.

That means doing a lot of reading and research, working with national groups like Library Renewal and EQUUAC (ALA's Presidential Task Force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content) as well as local groups like the WLA and WCFLS and the CAFE program.

I've spent two weeks meeting people and being in meetings. Listening. Talking. Learning. It will take six months to a year before I have a sense of what this job needs. There is so much to do and so much I want to do, I don't know when I'll find time for it all.

And I love it.

I've never been happier. I've never felt like I fit in a place so well from the start. No disrespect to the other great places and amazing people that I've worked with, but this is the first time I feel like I'm a part of something. This is the first job I've ever had where I wanted to have personal stuff at work.

For the first time since 1994, I'm not looking for work. This is where I want to be. I can make a difference here. I can learn a lot here.

This just feels right.

I Work With the Web, Not On It

This is me. (And my daughter [she's using me as a chalkboard]) Unlike so many others, I don't work on the Web.

I work with the Web.

I live and work in Davenport, IA. Both libraries I work at are behind the times in adding technology to their libraries. I work at a college without a proxy server so we have to hand out user name/password sheets to students and hope they don't lose them. I work at a public library that doesn't see the need to learn social software. In both cases I believe we are doing a disservice to our patrons/users. I also run a small publishing company that would not exist without the Web.

I use the Web everyday in my work: in addition to the ubiquitous e-mail and IM for communication, I use the Web through databases to assist students in finding articles for class; I've posted photos on Flickr of library events; I've used LibraryThing to create online reader's advisories; I attend webinars to learn more about database features and ILS features; I have a website for my magazine; I also have FaceBook, MySpace, Blogspot (since 2001), Twitter, and etc. accounts which I use to promote my publishing/librarianship and reach a wider audience; I sell magazines, etc. online so that people can read what I publish; I belong to Google Groups so I can have discussions with people who don't live anywhere near me; I read LOTS of library and publishing oriented blogs so I can keep abreast of what's happening in those respective fields; and I generally am online all the time at work, doing something.

I use the Web everyday in my life: I post photos on Flickr and Videos on YouTube of my daughter for family in Denver and Arizona and elsewhere; from looking up who's that actor to finding recipes to getting driving directions to weather forecasts to sports scores to buying foodstuffs I can't find where I live, there's a lot of information I get online that, while available through other means, is not as convenient through other means.

I use not-the-Web everyday in my work: I talk to my staff every day, face to face; I answer questions from students at the reference desk; I walk patrons to the stacks and help them find their books (I never point); I attend conferences to learn more about specific aspects of librarianship and to network with other library professionals; I attend conventions (science fiction) to meet authors, editors, fans, etc. and to promote what I publish; I meet with colleagues and staff to talk about concerns and plans for the library; I mail out lots and lots of magazines, etc. to people who purchase what I publish; and I do mundane things like check out and check in books, send faxes, make photocopies, accept fine payments, place books on hold for patrons, sign time sheets, and so many other things I don't keep track of.

I use not-the-Web everyday in my life: as evidenced by the photo above, the most important thing I do everyday is spend time with my family; I love to cook; I sit on a couch and read a book; I take care of my house; I watch tv with my wife; and so many other things that don't involve the Web.

I don't know that I could work without the web (i.e., this morning I sent a story collection to a writer in Serbia so he can write the introduction and also sent it to an artist in MA so he can create interior artwork; pre-Web days this would have been impossible), but there is work I do that does not and cannot involve the web. They are not exclusive of each other, but I do not do only one or the other. I feel that the Web enhances the most important thing I do: provide service to my patrons.

(inspired by Michael and the Annoyed Librarian)

Off My Soap Box

I read a fair amount of library blogs. Of the 270 or so blogs I read, about a third of them are library-oriented (if you're curious, about half are publishing/writing focusing on science fiction, and then a good chunk of marketing blogs, and a nice smattering of art blogs) and I came across this just a moment ago. The main thrust of the post is summed up here:

We can’t rely on our experiences as patrons (or even as a customer) when deciding on policy, collection development, program development, or marketing, simply because we’re not the average consumer of library services.

I see a lot of that. Part of it, IMO, is that there are a lot of people who have worked in the field for more than 15 years. That much time in one profession makes it hard to see how it looks like from the outside. I have less than two years in the profession and I continually see the profession (and the people and the buildings) from the outside.

Another thing that helps me is that at my last non-library job one of my responsibilities was business analysis. I worked primarily as a programmer, but it was also my job to assess the software and see how it could be enhanced, fixed, changed, etc. There was a constant need to wear two hats and try to use the software as a non-programmer would. There were things I knew about the software that people who had been using the software for years longer than I had been working on it didn't know. Often, the business analysis became a training exercise where I could teach someone something about the software that would enhance their job and then there was no need to go into the code and change anything.

Same thing in the library. My current library has a confusing website. There are things I'd like to change about it. (There's time before this needs to/can happen) But I know that what I would change about the website doesn't necessarily reflect what my patrons want or need. Before I can begin making changes, I need to understand how my patrons hope the use the website. What sort of things are important to them. It does not matter what I think is important. It's important that my patrons can find what they want.

Talking to the public is scary, but vital. You need to understand your customer before you can begin to think about serving them.

So You Want to Start a Revolution?

Emily Clasper is, among other things, the creator of Library Revolution, a well-needed shot in the arm to the library field. Emily pulls no punches, writing about everything from librarian's fashion sense (or lack thereof) and how you can't complain about the public's image of a librarian if you don't promote a positive image to how she doesn't feel (in general) that the library is very convenient and that she'll use other services that are convenient even if she has to pay. It's great stuff. She makes me angry almost every day.

And that's a good thing. She presents an attitude, an opinion of the library that's very honest and probably directly in line with how many patrons and potential patrons think. Her basic premise is: this is my life (points to space around her), what is the library going to do to make a presence for itself in my life?

Yes, what can the library do to make a presence in the patron's life? Be open 24 hours? Extend checkout times? Get rid of due dates (a la Netflix)? Provide easier and multiple ways to sign up for events? (why do we insist people come INTO the library to sign up for an event? What if the patron has the time during the event free, but really doesn't have any time leading up to it free?)

The library is about the patron. The librarian is not better than the patron. The patron is not some evil thing out to destroy the library.

The patron may cause the destruction of the current library model, and that's ok. Libraries mostly exist in a 19th century frame of thought. Times have changed.

Today, Emily makes an important point that I've tried to make in the past. It's not enough to keep up with library blogs and journals. You need to read outside the field. And you need to make time to do this. This is true of any profession you're in. You cannot be successful, you cannot be revolutionary (and maybe many of you are content to put in your time and retire some point in the future...I'm not) if you subsist only on your field.

Think about it. Do you listen to only one type of music? Do you watch only one type of movie? Do you read only one type of book? And by one, I mean one. By one I mean you watch sports television and NOTHING else. No news, no sitcoms, no dramas, no DIY, no cooking, nothing. Just sports. Who does this? No one. There is no librarian who is so singular in focus that they do nothing but one thing in their time outside of work. If you're like that outside work, why not during work?

Branding Librarians

No, I'm not talking about a scene out of City Slickers 3: Cataloging on the Range, I'm talking about the image of the librarian. Andrea Mercado posted on the PLA blog about this very issue. She poins us toward a survey from the Emerging Leaders Initiative member Brendan Gallagher. The survey lead me to this LONG comment on the PLA Blog:

As strange as it may sound, I really enjoyed taking the survey. It reminded of the reasons why I changed careers from computer programming to librarianship back in 2004. It gave my batteries a nice recharge to think about the questions--and my answers--in the survey.

I never worked in a library until 2005 (at the young age of 34), so of course my ideas of what should happen in a library are very different from many of the people that I work with. I'm always thinking of things in a more business-oriented way, and I think that's beneficial to the current state of affairs in libraries.

I think that at one point libraries were at the forefront of people's consciousness when it came to information, but we've fallen WAY behind the rest of the world in the past decade or two.

I know a lot of people don't like to think about marketing (or don't think we need marketing) but there are so many things going on at the library that public don't know about. They have other things consuming their attention.

It's even gotten to the point when I would tell people that we could get them a book we didn't have in the catalog that they were amazed. Isn't this the most basic thing we do as librarians? Provide books for people? And they were amazed that I would do this 'just for them.'

It's not good that people are unaware of our most basic functionality. It only drives home the idea that the public will even less of a clue that we offer MP3 audio books, online databases, book club in a bag, movies, live music, cafes, etc.

I think there are three areas every librarian can improve on no matter how good they already are:

Marketing
Customer Service
Passion for the field

At the same time, there is a lot I'm learning from people who have been in the field as long as I've been alive. These people know so much about the community they're in, the field they're in, the specific area they work in, it's something for me to aspire to. I look forward to the day when I can be an expert, a role model, for a new librarian.

We need to get the public to see us the way we see us.

What about the rest of you? Are you tired of librarians ranting about this issue? Or are you tired of librarians claiming that things are just fine?

Note to self....

It would be a good idea when one of your employees goes home sick to make a backup plan for desk coverage for the next day. That way, when you get into work and realize you forgot one of your other employees had the day off you aren't totally screwed and forced to cover the desk yourself all day.

So, it's been about a month-and-a-half...

since I moved to IA to take the job as Access Services Librarian at Palmer College of Chiropractic. So what's happening with me, you might ask?

I have to say the transition from public to academic library has been (and will be) a little rough. Things are very different from one type of library to the other.

In the public library, there were people coming in the library all the time. True, there were fewer people who used the library than paid for it with their taxes, but all the same, when you were on the reference desk, you had questions. Here, I can sit an entire shift on the reference desk (which entails three hours at the desk and the remainder of the day on call...yes, your reference shift technically lasts for the ENTIRE work day) and not get any questions. Even sitting at the circulation desk I go an entire work day without interacting with a patron.

It goes without saying, but there's a different focus on collection development. I bring it up since here at Palmer, we're concerned with health care and specifically (predominantly) with chiropractic. I do not have a health care background, nor do I know much about chiropractic. It's a steep curve I have to take to learn enough to be able to help someone should they decide to ask me a question. Here, if it's not healthcare...and I should really just say if it's not chiropractic...interest, we don't order it. Instead of getting dozens of books each week, we might get a dozen a month. We do order McNaughton books (remember those from collection development classes? The bestselling books that you keep for a limited time?) so that we have some popular reading; but those books don't circulate very much. I'm not involved in collection development at Palmer, whereas all the librarians at the public library were involved. I do see the McNaughton list and can recommend up to two titles, but that's a lot different from the vast amount of ordering I used to do. At the public library, I did collection development for: fiction, the 000s, healthcare (ah, you lied! you do have a background in healthcare! not really, not when I order books based on reviews and Amazon rankings), parenting, science fiction & fantasy, and young adult books.

I did a lot of marketing and creative planning at the public library. There were easy places to make signs, and create website stuff, have interesting programming items, etc. that just don't exist here. At least, they aren't as obvious here. It's not even like we're a more comprehensive college/university with lots of majors and departments. We're very focused here, and it's something I don't have a background in. The website is set. There's no need/way for me to create cute links, or reader's advisories, or Web 2.0 stuff. I can update content, but I can't change the way things look or feel. There's no programming. I could certainly make signs, but I believe signs should be a minimum and once I have the few done I think we need...then what? It's not like the YA stuff at the last library where I could create a new wacky sign every week.

Like I said, it's been rough. Everything is different. Everyone has been here longer than I have so I feel a lot of pressure (all personal, it's not pressure from my bosses) to do better at my job. So I've been trying to think of ways to take what I do well at a library and apply it here. I could create new signs (i.e., for the new books, for our hours, etc.). I could work on getting some sort of programming going here...have chiropractors come into the library to talk to students about being a professional, or about a book they've written. Maybe even see if anyone would be interested in having in 'fun' authors in to talk about books (sort of a diversion from studies). Maybe I could create some internal wikis or blogs to help set a home for policies/procedures.

It took me until last week to start thinking this way again. I've been so overwhelmed by what I don't know, that I was forgetting what I do know.

Non Library Blogs

From The Liminal Librarian (Rachel Singer Gordon): a list of five non-library blogs that I read regularly. This idea came up when people mentioned that they felt library blogs were suffering from nepotism (they should check out the science fiction world!).

While I'm no Steven Cohen, I have somewhere around 230 feeds in my reader. There are some 60 library feeds, around 80 feeds from science fiction & fantasy writers, some 30 or so publishing blogs (editors, publishers, etc.), about 10 feeds that are searches on different formats for my zine and feeds from my zine, and the rest are a bunch of misc things...five of which will be highlighted below:

BoingBoing - I met Cory Doctorow many years ago when he was an aspiring (and already talented) science fiction author. I worked for his publisher, Tor Books, for a number of years. When I found BoingBoing online through Cory, I knew I had found a place that would collect all sorts of things of interest to me: from science fiction to copyright to movies & television to weird weird weird stuff, BoingBoing has it all. Plus it updates all the time, so there's always something new to read.

Lifehacker - One of the most useful website I have ever encountered. This gives me tips on software and organization and shopping and everything else. There are a ton of great things I've learned from here. This website is indispensable to me. Plus, I'm an approved commenter!

Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch - My daily (who am I kidding, multiple times a daily) fix of Entertainment Weekly Magazine. Updates on movies, music, television, and all things pop culture (not so mcuh books...sniff). I love getting their instant reviews on last night's television. It's like they're inside my head watching what I watch.

Best Week Ever - Covering much of the same types of material as Popwatch, but with attitude. They don't pretend to be nice to the stars and what the stars are doing. If you've seen the TV show, you know what I mean. Often rude, often caustic, but again, often what I'm thinking anyway. They have a great feature called 'Listen Up' where they post links to mp3s of new music, both from established bands and up-and-coming artists. A great way to hear some stuff before it comes out. This makes you sound like you're in the know. :)

I read a dozen or so marketing blogs (what's good for small business is good for the library) but Creating Passionate Users is my favorite. Librarians are already passionate users of the library, and Kathy Sierra (even though she's talking about software) gives great insight to make your users (patrons) passionate users, too. She's creates these great (kind of ugly) charts and graphs to illustrate her points. They show that you don't need to have the perfect design and art to get your point across. Definitely worth checking out. Don't tell Kathy, but I print out her posts so I can refer to them later!