National Library Week: Library Workers Day

Since 2003, the Tuesday of National Library Week has been used to recognize the contributions of library workers. Good idea!

While we depend on a lot of community support, volunteers, and donations, the backbone of what we do is provided by our library staff. Here at the Appleton Public Library, we have 114 people on the payroll -- most of them part-time and non-benefited.

Sure, it's a job and they're working for the money. But we also know that they're working for the rightful pride in their accomplishments, in what the library does. Many could be making more money working elsewhere: the job market says libraries don't pay as well as other sectors of the economy.

But they do a heck of a job for our community and our patrons. All the truisms about the value of libraries, that we:

• change lives
• build communities
• promote economic development
• build family literacy
• connect people to ideas
• enable lifelong learning

are true because library workers make them happen. We have an amazing team here, and it takes the whole team, every person, every position, to make it happen. I'm profoundly grateful to be part of such a team and to work with such people.

So we'll put a "National Library Workers Day" poster in the front door, and we'll hand out small acknowledgments to the staff. But I hope some of our users take time to say thanks to any of our workers: they all deserve it -- and spoken or unspoken, I believe the appreciation is there.

To all my co-workers: thank you.

PLA: From Awareness to Funding - a study of library support in the U.S.

Listen, this is important...

The best thing Bill Gates ever did was to marry Melinda. Now we've got this rich couple with a conscience and progressive ideas. They help libraries a lot. Thus we have, among other things, the OCLC Gates-funded marketing/advocacy study. The grant is to study "development of a potential national marketing campaign to increase awareness of the value of libraries, and the need for support for libraries at local, state and national levels." On the surface, this sounds remarkably similar to the Campaign for Wisconsin Libraries, which I'm proud to support. But given the scope and ambitions of the study, I think the OCLC effort goes deeper and has some messages that deserve a lot of attention, that may call us to change how we do some things.

OCLC will publish the study next month. But there was a preview at the PLA conference in a program:

From Awareness to Funding
Join Cathy De Rosa, OCLC Global Vice President of Marketing, for a presentation of OCLC’s advocacy research program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Learn who you should talk to in your community and what messages can help your own advocacy and marketing efforts.

In an environment where libraries continue to face major cuts and even closing, the study is a follow-up to 2005's Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources. I took pages of notes at the program, but we only scratched the surface -- it will be necessary to read the full report.

Selected highlights:

• public impressions of libraries are positive but inaccurate -- there is a lot that people don't know
  
• library referenda are increasingly failing to get on ballots, or where they do the success rate is dropping
• without action, critical funding for public libraries will erode
• sufficient latent support exists in local communities -- 80% of funding is local, but there is high competition
• it is key to position the library as a vital part of the community infrastructure and a key to transforming lives
• most people will claim to support the library, but fewer are truly committed to doing so
• elected officials believe that they support the library more than their constituents do
• there is no correlation between those who visit the library and those willing to fund it
• the desire to fund is related to belief in the library as a self-actualization tool
• perceptions of the librarian are highly related to support -- valuing a passionate librarian is very important -- qualities include:
• advocates for the library
• is knowledgeable
• has a commitment to life-long learning
• is passionate about making the library relevant
• everybody consistently lies in surveys
• there is a spectrum of perception and value, and we should make efforts to move the perception of the library from information toward transformation -- if we're perceived as being for information, we lose to Google
  

There was a lot more about the segmentation of our market, identifying super supporters, probable supporters, those with barriers to support, and nonvoters. A key will be to identify those segments of the probable supporters who can make the difference for us, and tailor our messages to them.

We need to:

• create a brand selling library support, not selling library use
  
• craft our our brand to reflect the beliefs of our most avid supporters
• re-frame the library when we lay out the case for support
• change perceptions to reflect:
• transformation NOT information
• infrastructure NOT institution
• necessity NOT nice to have
• the future NOT the past
• "return on investment" NOT altruism

This will turn into a national campaign, requiring scale and endurance. But local efforts will be critical: we need to be passionate, know our base and motivate our base.

I don't know that we want to jump right on the bandwagon -- letting go of the idea that we're about information will go hard with some. But we'd better think about it and discuss -- it seems that if we keep on doing things the way we have, support will continue to erode. Our library may be better off than many, but it's an ongoing struggle to maintain support.

National Library Week: I love my job

What can you say? Some days the serendipity just gets you. I had a call late this morning that the Children's desk was going to be short-handed due to a family illness. A few quick calls did not get us anyone to cover, so I went in, grumbling, to work it until we could get somebody.

I was grumbling because I wasn't thrilled about going in on my day off -- especially since I got called in the previous morning at 4:30 AM with a security system problem -- and because I was pretty sure that I couldn't do very good work for the patrons. What if I got a tough reader's advisory question about current children's lit? What if somebody needed to book a group tour? Their tough luck to get a supposed librarian who's more of a bureaucrat, and who knows more about budget spreadsheets than how to sign up for story hour.

Of course, my fears were -- as usual -- unjustified. Vicky, my colleague in Children's, covered for me admirably. We were able to find another worker who graciously came in and covered (and did know how to work Children's). In the meantime, I was able to help a fifth-grader and his mom with a homework question, and discussed with them the uses and limits of Google and Wikipedia before pointing them to some books in the collection. I managed to quiet a rowdy group of twelve-year-olds fairly gracefully. I got a truck of adult DVDs shelved and got in some reader's advisory: "Yes, there were two versions of Wicker Man -- most critics consider the first one better, but they're both pretty strange." It's nice to feel like a librarian sometimes!

And then there was the barbershop quartet singing in the atrium. Dozens of people stopped to sit in chairs downstairs or just paused in the entryway to lean over the rail and listen to a song or two.

Most of all I was impressed with the very large and diverse group of people using the library. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, sunny and warm and the nicest weather for the past several days. But the library was jammed. Half an hour after we opened, there were about fifty people just in the Children's area. There was a long waiting queue for the Children's Internet stations. The adult nonfiction stacks had lots of browsers. Almost every table was full. There were lines at the checkout. The public services staff was hopping, answering questions and helping people find stuff.

Needless to say, this leaves me a lot more fired up about what we're doing than committee meetings or budget spreadsheets ever do. I'm impressed with how the community uses us, I'm impressed with how our staff comes through, and I'm impressed that we're doing the right thing to study our facility needs. It's great, but it's crowded!

No grumbling here -- I'm glad I got the chance to go into work today.

LSTA: allocating federal funds

I'm two days in Madison for the Spring meeting of Wisconsin's LSTA Advisory committee, which advises the Department of Public Instruction on allocation of federal grant funds. The annual appropriation of funds for Library Services and Technology Act, under Wisconsin's five year plan, has the committee reviewing DPI staff proposals and making recommendations for grant categories and amounts. Each state has its own allotment, based on population, and its own approved plan and distribution of the funds. The program overview of Wisconsin's LSTA info on the web notes:

The LSTA funds in the states grants program provide seed money for projects that improve library services throughout the United States. The program is designed to ensure that everyone can have the information resources they need for school, work, and daily living.

Funds in the LSTA state grants program can be used

• to improve library services through the use of technology
• to encourage libraries to establish consortia and share resources, and
• to target library services to persons having difficulty using a library and to underserved urban and rural communities.

Some states may use all their federal funds for statewide programs, but I like the balance we strive for in Wisconsin. With a bit over $3,000,000 to allocate, some of it is designated to support statewide programs, some of it is allocated to library systems, and some is designated for competitive grants for systems and individual libraries. There's a list of this year's Wisconsin grants on the state website.

Naturally, any time you strive for balance, there will be strife in determining that balance. Grant funds supporting literacy projects, disability access, digitization and innovations in library automation fall short of needs and requests. As a public librarian, I appreciate state and system level support, but would like to see more of the funds designated as competitive grants to individual public libraries.

Wisconsin makes a good effort, bringing together a cross-section of the state library community in our Advisory Committee to debate allocations in the Spring and make grant recommendations in the fall. The final determination is in the hands of the elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction, but the opinions of many who volunteer to review grants and the Advisory Committee are given a lot of weight.

There are tremendous disagreements, and good professional arguments. This is my third and final year on the committee, and though it is difficult and intense, the time has flown by. I appreciate the work of state staff, especially Peg Branson and Terrie Howe, the LSTA coordinators in the past three years.

Library staff "play more, learn more, fear less."

Project Play has come to its planned end. Even as I heard library leaders at the PLA conference encouraging more places to emulate the "23 things" library curriculum, a big chunk of Wisconsin was doing it and wrapping up this eight month effort. Part of what I learned is a model for an effective online training program for staff -- one that works even for part-time people who have trouble fitting regular classes into their schedules. Two groups I want to thank and acknowledge:

• Project Play leaders from three library systems, OWLS, South Central, & Winnefox. All three of these systems devoted a lot of time and effort to helping member library staff learn. A special thanks to our fearless leaders: Beth Carpenter, Jean Anderson, Stef Morrill & Joy Schwarz. They seriously rock!
  
• All the staff hare at Appleton Public Library who got involved. Most finished both semesters, though some, like me, did only part -- due to limited enrollments and other time commitments. I loved it that people from all parts of the library, and at all pay grades, participated. Big kudos to everyone who worked at it, including:
• Judy Abitz
• Kathy Beck
• Kathy Berholtz
• Carole DeJardin
• Kathy Dreyer
• Elizabeth Eisen
• Melody Hanson
• Sharon Harp
  
• Ellen Jepson
• Barbara Kelly
  
• Brian Kopetsky
• Sue Kempf
  
• Vicki Lenz
• Katie Scullion
• Kay Shearier
  
• Meg Shriver
• Lisa Smith
  
• Maureen Ward
• Julie Weyenberg
  
• Kristie Wilson

I know it's not always easy to take time out of our way-too-busy schedules to learn, especially new and intimidating things. But the Project Play leaders broke it up into bite-size pieces and offered hand-holding -- and the many participants explored fearlessly and learned. Way to go!

Volunteers of the Year

Remarks delivered at the City Council meeting, after Mayor Hanna delivered his National Library Week proclamation:

Thank you, Mayor. As we're coming into National Library Week, with the culmination of the community Read and the Book Festival, we at the Library feel very fortunate to be part of an effort that does so much to enhance the quality of life in our community. We know that the library makes a difference in people's lives, and I want to acknowledge and lift up the critical support of all of you, our elected officials, in making that happen. I also want to acknowledge and thank all the hard-working, dedicated people on the library staff, and tonight, I especially want to thank all the volunteers.

From the Board of Trustees to the Friends of the Library and Library Foundation, people delivering books to the homebound, people who show up every week to shelve, middle school children who help with the summer programs for younger children, the library is very dependent on our volunteers. In 2007, the number of volunteer hours grew by 22% over the previous year, and continues to grow in 2008.
So on behalf of the Library Board of Trustees and the Library staff, I would like to acknowledge and introduce to you our two volunteers of the year.

Roberta Bawden has been selected as the APL Adult Volunteer of the Year. She was nominated by the Circulation team for the following reasons:

• she has been coming 3 times a week for four years,
• calls if unable to come in,
• walks to the library in all kinds of weather
• does a great job of keeping the children's section neat and orderly.
• her work has been consistent
  
• she is dedicated to keeping the library nice for the patrons.

Ryan Nelson is our teen volunteer of the year. This is not an award we present every year, but Ryan's contributions in the past year have been exemplary.

Ryan joined the Library Board last June in a non-voting capacity representing the APL Teen Board, providing input to Board deliberations from a teen perspective.
In addition to serving on the Teen Board, Ryan also

• assists at library programs
• shelves materials.

Ryan attends Appleton West high school.

From left: yrs truly, Ryan Nelson, Roberta Bawden, APL Volunteer Coordinator Lou Hull

PLA pix

Photos from the PLA conference in Minneapolis, including many pictures of the Minneapolis Public Library.

Creative Journey

For some years now, we've held a weekly adult program called "Creative Journey." The series grew out of a book discussion of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Our adult program staff facilitates the series, which is open to the public but has a dedicated group of regular attendees.

Creative Journey participants explore their own creativity through discussions, sharing stories and writings, presentations by speakers, and on occasion, through hands-on art. Yesterday the group did some painting and sent me a few scans of the results. Project costs are fairly low, but purchased with grants from our Library Foundation.

I know that for many participants, Creative Journey fills an important place. It's a chance to meet weekly, be part of a learning community, and explore the ways in we interact with our own creativity and the creations of others. This may not be traditional library service, but it's a good example of how public libraries enrich lives and encourage the heart.

80 Online Resources for Book Lovers

This has been kind of blogged to death elsewhere, but it's still worth noting. This is a list from Kevin Bondelli of 80 sites worth a look for those who love books and reading. With our Fox Cities Book Festival coming up soon, this is timely!

The sites are divided into categories:

• Social networking for book lovers
• E-books
• Online bookstores
• Find the best prices for books
• Audiobooks
• Study guides and summaries
• Library resources
• Bibliography and research
• Book exchanges / swapping
• Online documents
• What to read
• Miscellaneous

Useful & fun!

PLA: "If you're not comfortable with experimenting, get over it!"

I really enjoyed the Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis last week. Six days away from home, but it was worth the time. There were many highlights for me, and I'll write about some of the sessions in detail. Things I liked:

• excellent program -- too many good choices for sessions
• a fine reception at the very cool Open Book in Minneapolis -- "Minnesota's enter for reading, writing and the book arts"
  
• online resources -- downloadable handouts and PowerPoints make a lot of information accessible even for non-attendees
  
• talking with many vendors
• meeting people and comparing notes on the programs, vendors and our jobs -- including face-to-face meetings with people I've only known online
• spending time with my daughter, Gillian, as professional colleagues; color me proud
  

One of the most inspirational and empowering programs was "The Cutting Edge: the latest on Web 2.0." Speakers included Jen Maney (Pima County Public Library), Michael Stephens (Tame the Web & the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University) and John Blyberg (formerly AADL, now the Darien Library). The entire presentation is online as an .MP3 file; I recommend listening while reading along on the handouts.

Jen Maney noted that 2.0 levels the playing field and is not a technological phenomenon, but a sociological one. She said "if you're not comfortable with experimenting, get over it!" She encouraged us to play, to know that we can't do it all and to pick and choose -- her motto is "Designing for Uncertainty".

Michael Stephens had a lengthy and detailed PowerPoint (large .pdf version) with lots of good examples and reminded us that though we talk about and use technology, it's not about technology. 2.0 is "not a shiny new toy, but a carefully planned response to a changing world."

John Blyberg humorously and beautifully deconstructed Andrew Keen's Cult of the Amateur and defended the virtues of Web 2.0 with this PowerPoint. He noted we need to "encourage the heart." Thanks for lifting those lingering twopointopian guilt trips.

Nobody was lifting up 2.0 or any technology as a panacea or bandwagon, but talking about interesting new ways to implement our enduring values.