Management & Leadership Skills for New Managers

I attended this 2 day workshop on October 14 & 15. Both days were a whirlwind of information and techniques presented by Cherie Scott of Professional Training Dynamics. Cherie is an energetic speaker who demonstrates her techniques by acting out various scenarios which are often suggested by the audience. Some of the many points I want to remember:

A manager's job is to inspire, encourage, protect egos, and develop staff.

Right & wrong has nothing to do with leadership. Would you rather prove a person wrong and then have to deal with his/her lack of cooperation? Or would you rather acknowledge your differences and develop a compromise that gains the other person's cooperation?

You can't motivate anyone; you can only provide a motivational environment.

Principle of Substitution: When people are bored, they create conflict just to have something to do, or they make up something to talk about. If you don't fill the void, they will.

Acknowledge a person's concerns, but don't try to change the way s/he feels; that invalidates his/her feelings.

Encourage complainers to bring solutions to you along with their concerns.

Put a problem employee in charge of the behavior you want them to improve; have him/her lead a training session on it with other staff.

My 2 minutes of fame

Here I am thanking Public Libraries magazine for the award Barb Salit-Mischel and I received for our article "Right-sizing the Reference Collection".

ALA Program: You've Been Shopped...

I attended a program called "You've Been Shopped! Mystery Shopping for Better Service". You can access the powerpoint presentation at www.presentations.ala.org. There were two presenters-one from an academic library (University of Central Florida) and the other from public library (Orange County Library System [OCLS]; also in Florida). Each seemed to have a different movitation for doing mystery shopping and their approach was also different. The academic library was interested in assessing staff members ability to handle difficult customer interactions. The public library was interested in assessing excellent customer service. Both found their programs to be successful within their organizations and expect to continue with mystery shopping. OCLS provided staff rewards for individuals and branches that were successfully shopped. I can share more info if you are interested. Not sure if this fits with BCPL culture and it would be something for further discussion.

ALA08- Xtreme Customer Service or TTWWADI must die

There was an excellent session at ALA Annual in Anaheim called "Would you like an Umbrella with that Beach Blanket? Xtreme Customer Service." Part of the Empowerment mini conference Gail Johnson & Pam Parr spoke about how to be customer activists.

(Originally posted @the strange librarian, here are my notes... )

[My favorite part was TTWWADI (found @the bottom of this post).]

---
The gap between Expectations and Reality is where emotions form and problems happen.

Become a Customer Activist- An advocate for customers

• Passionate, fanatically, committed, progressive, protective about their cause
• Closes gap between expectations and reality
• you need a hat
• you need a creed
• Nordstrom customer service: The Tire (and possibly the best customer service story of all time.
  

• Interact with customers so that they want to come back
• Customer Radar- Look at the library through the customers eyes
• Look through the eyes of who is in your community
• Look at how policies and procedures affect them
• Need to have a radar

Remove the barriers

• don't make excuses
• don't blame
• just find solutions.

You must become an Environmentalist

• What kind of environment do we want to have?
• Think about your favorite places. What do they look like/feel/sound/smell like?
• How do you create the same type of environment?
  

Exceed expectations

• need to know what people expect before you can exceed it.
• how do you find out what they expect? You have to ASK them.

All co-workers are partners. Not rivals

• Libraries are extremely hierarchical

Shift your focus

• Shift from being library focused to being customer focused
• what is good for librarians versus what is good for customers- we *always* need to be thinking about what *they* think is good for them. NOT making them conform to us.
• Expectations are influenced by “others…” (other industries... like google (faster, and "good enough"))

Stoplight Rules

• Red rules- things NOBODY can override
• Green rules- rules that can be bent (this is where staff can get confused as to what they can do)
• Yellow rules- when staff is not sure what to do


• It’s important to know the INTENT of the rules and for staff to be empowered to follow them as they see fit. (empowerment story: @Rtiz Carlton, any employee can comp a customer up to $2k without talking to management first.)


• Some rules seem reasonable but when they come into practice, they are ridiculous

Empowerment

• See it
• Own it
• Solve it
• Do it

Words that say "no" set a tone

• Say things in a welcoming way
  
• instead of "no cell phones" try "courteous cell phone use, please" or "you are welcome to use your cell phone in our lobby." & don't forget the signs as you're leaving the building that say, "don't forget to turn your cell phone back on!"

Thinks about the terms we use

• Calling them patrons allows us to patronize them (Stephen Abrams)
• Circulation/OCLC/ILL/Periodicals/Call Number/Reference/Page. No one should have to understand these terms. Use better things. Not "reference" but "questions."
• Purpose of signage is to help people move through something easily and quickly.

Be Emotional Intelligence Activists

• Empathy (not feeling sorry for, but being in their shoes)
  
• No more Golden Rule. Try the Platinum Rule-Treat them like they want to be treated


• The only way we know what people want is to ask them. otherwise we're treating them on OUR OWN assumptions

Attitude

• When you say I can’t, you here "i won't"
• Be open-minded. All the time.
• TTWWADI (“That’s the Way We’ve always done it”) must die
• Be genuine

Environmentalist plus CIA = Customer Activist

ALA Conference, cont.- Sunday & Monday

I spent most of Sunday, June 29 at the exhibits and then blogging. I only attended the following session:
http://plablog.org/2008/07/who-is-using-your-computers.html

On Monday I also went to just one session and the exhibits. I brought home so much booty, I had to put my dirty clothes in my carry-on luggage!
http://plablog.org/2008/07/collection-management-in-public-libraries.html

After my morning session and lunch, I spent a leisurely afternoon getting all gussied up for the PLA President's Program and Awards Ceremony. (Of course, I wore my Singapore suit and my Hong Kong heels!) Some of you may recall that the only reason why I attended ALA was to receive the award for the article that Barb Salit-Mischel and I wrote that was published last year. We each got a plaque and some money. Stupid me left my camera in my hotel room! Jean Mantegna came early to take my picture for me, but no camera. :-( Fortunately PLA had a professional photographer taking pictures, and I was assured that we'd have access to copies of the photos.

Once the awards were out of the way, Jamie Lee Curtis spoke for the rest of the program, and she was wonderful!

ALA 2008 Annual Conference

As I've mentioned, I'll be blogging this conference for the Public Library Association so I'll be linking to my posts on their blog. I visited the exhibitors this morning and have a session at 4pm that I might be attending called "Who is Using Our Computers". There's also blogger training at the same time so I might attend that instead since it seems as if I'll be BCPL's main blogger. :-)

http://plablog.org/2008/06/going-green.html

http://plablog.org/2008/06/serving-older-adults-in-libraries.html
http://plablog.org/2008/06/people-spaces-in-libraries-the-community-off-line-experience.html

Rose

test post for linking to PLA blog

Hopefully this link takes you to Andrea Mercado's post from today about her preconference:

http://plablog.org/2008/06/the-day-before-foresight-2020.html

Hello

Just wanted to let you know I'll be glad to help you modify the settings on the blog!

Ellen

ALA Annual Conference June 26-July 1

I'll be blogging the conference for both BCPL and the Public Library Association. Due to copyright restrictions, my posts will only be published on the PLA blog for the first 30 days. However, I will be able to post links here to my content on the PLA blog.

MLA Today

This morning I attended Exploring Web 2.0 Through Blogging. Now, you may wonder why I attended this when I've been blogging for a while, but I did learn a few things and was reminded of a few others. (Reinforcement can be a good thing!) I found out about Box.net which is a filesharing storage space online and about something called green print which is a software tool that allows you to print portions of a page that has different frames and no option for a printer friendly version. This session also made me realize I should probably offer an RSS feed option on this blog so I'll see if I can figure out how to add that. If not, I'll be calling one of my friends in Technology Support (ooooh, Ellen!) Another thing I thought of during this session is how annoying it is that when I finish posting to the Collection blog, I have to scroll to the top to click on the link to the home page of the blog; there should be a link at the bottom of the page too (ooooh, Ellen!) :-)

The second session I attended this morning was Hidden Patrons, and our very own Susan Waxter was one of the presenters. The main point I took away from this program was that before you try to serve a specific population in your community, you must understand their needs. To that end, I'm sure that some of the information from the White Marsh needs assessment will be useful to us in the new Perry Hall building.

Last, but not least, was an animated presentation this afternoon by Dr. Joseph Janes, a professor at the Information School at the University of Washington (state, not DC). He's also a regular columnist for American Libraries magazine and has authored several information science books. He made several interesting points:
We should be happy that more people are getting connected with information via the Internet. So what if we're not the go-between? We need to decide how we fit into this new information environment, though.
How do you beat free, easy, quick, and good enough? You don't! You do something else. Find what you do better than Google or Wikipedia and do that.
We should be happy that people are coming to us to use the Internet. Hey--they're in the building and they trust us enough to come to us for something!
We need to participate in established online forums--Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, etc. (a recurring theme in many sessions during the conference).
Be willing to try and fail at figuring out your niche.
A great library is somewhere (physical building) and everywhere.
Whatever we offer or do online has to be better than what we offer in person because the online patron can go somewhere else instantly.

MLA Thursday cont.

Other sessions I attended on Thursday included Ding Dong Reference Is Dead, or Is It?; a program on using wikis within your organization; and a discussion group on growing new librarians from within our own staff.

Ding Dong Reference is Dead... was led by BCPL's own Information Relevance workgroup but also included presenters from Cecil and Washington Counties. Some good points: make sure all circ staff know how to show customers how to use the catalog and access their patron records through your website; allow customers to rate your titles and add reviews to the catalog; post training modules on your website; and make unique local content available on your website. Book Mate is an interesting service offered by Cecil County. Patrons fill out a survey with their reading interests and give it to staff. Within a week, staff contact the patron with reading suggestions. Washington County will begin a similar service soon, but the survey will be on their website, and they plan on getting back to the patron within 3 days.

The wiki program was the primary reason I attended MLA. I'm very interested in how BCPL can use wikis for documents that need frequent revision and/or collaboration. First the presenters went over the differences between blogs and wikis and how you would choose which is the more appropriate format for your task. Blogs are best for static informational posts on which people are allowed to comment, but the content is not changed. Wikis, on the other hand, are meant to be interactive, living documents that metamorphose as people collaborate on them.
Workplace benefits of using wikis are a growth in collaborative work, simplified document management, it establishes an institutional memory, increases staff feedback "voice", and improves customer service. And it only requires Internet access--no special software is needed by users, although your organization does need the software to create and maintain a wiki. However, there are free software options as well as fee-based ones.
The presenters went through the process they used for setting up the wiki from setting the goals for the wiki, considerations in choosing wiki software options, to issues that came up once the wiki was created and went live.
Some of the possible uses for wikis in BCPL are: iPOF, the training checklists for new staff, the staff directory, the staff handbook, the CARL Circulation Manual, and any other manual that gets revised by a group of staff. I think wikis offer great opportunities for staff to more efficiently collaborate on document revisions.

The last session I went to was a discussion forum about growing our own staff. The intent was to share helpful information with current or prospective MLS students and ask them what kind of support they'd find most useful from their organization. Students indicated that the most helpful support would be time to do assignments at work, money to help offset school expenses, and mentoring. Helpful information shared by former MLS students included points to keep in mind when comparing various schools' programs, don't overextend yourself if you work full-time and have a young family, and know your learning style and decide if a particular program is a good fit for your style. Some attendees pointed out that discounts and scholarships available to MLA members need to better marketed as do opportunities for internships. The presenters are trying to develop a mentoring program within MLA and have created a website for this purpose http://www.mdlib.org/MLS_Mentor

MLA this morning

Today was the first official day of the conference. The exhibit area opened today; there's not as much free stuff to pick up nor as many vendors as at national conferences, but most of the vendors are offering drawings for free stuff.

The opening session featured Dr. Pier Forni of Johns Hopkins University speaking about the necessity for civility in our society. His latest book is called the Civility Solution. His philosophy is that life is a relational experience; the quality of our life depends upon our relationships; and the quality of our relationships depends on our relational/social skills. Civility is the key to good relational skills.
He defines civility as a kind of gracious goodness, weaving respect and restraint into the fabric of our life. He gave 3 reasons for fostering civility: civility encourages ethical behavior; incivility often spirals into violence; and we all need to be part of a group that cares about us so we need the social skills that allow us to become part of and/or remain part of such a group (isolation breeds illness).
Dr. Forni also gave 4 reasons behind incivility: a lack of self-restraint; anonymity; stress; and personal achievements/pursuits in a society of equals. He noted that it's hard to be kind when you're self-absorbed, and that, to be kind, you have to have time or make the time.
One technique he's found helpful to keep him from responding in kind to rudeness is to imagine that his response to the rude behavior is being videotaped for training purposes. He also advocated being prepared for rudeness by having a repertoire of responses that you can call on when necessary. When you experience rude behavior, he recommends that you take time to do three things before responding: cool off/calm yourself; do not take it personally; and decide your course of action. Often the rude behavior may be in response to what happened to them before they encountered you. Remember that ignoring rude behavior can seem to give permission to the behavior.
If you decide to address rude behavior, remember S I R: State the problem; Inform the person about the effect of their behavior; and Request that the behavior cease.

MLA 2008 Annual Conference in OC Preconference

I attended a half day preconference on Wednesday, May 14 entitled Book Repair for Every Library. This turned out to be a little more involved than I expected, but I still learned several things that I can share/teach to other staff or volunteers. A few absolute no-nos that I learned: do not use tape to repair pages on any items that you want to keep long-term; do not glue the inner spine of a hardback book to the spine of the cover—there needs to be a hollow area there for flexibility in opening the book; and never use rubber bands to hold a book together because the friction can cause more damage to the book. I’m bringing back a lot of information that I plan to pass on to the branches with history rooms.

Leading From Any Position I, Day Two

Day two focused on teamwork, working in groups, and brainstorming. We talked about setting ground rules or norms for working in groups. The norms should be agreed upon at the first meeting, posted somewhere prominently (such as a flip chart or the wall) where everyone can see them and used right away, as well as at every subsequent meeting. The group should also decide by whom and how they will be enforced. One sample ground rule that really struck me was, "Ask why so that you can explain why."

We talked about brainstorming and practiced it, but we were required to simply give the idea with no story or background attached to it. We often found this hard to do, but it was more productive when we could do that. Often the stories drained the energy from the brainstorming, and the ideas began to peter out. We revisited the idea of using someone's primary motivator as the basis of your arguments in favor of a particular idea. For example, in a prison library, the administrators value the security in the prison above all else. If the prison librarian is trying to persuade administrators to let her try a new program, she needs to show how it will improve security in the prison. If you're trying to persuade a decision-maker who prizes efficiency, then that should be the focus of your arguments.

Some profound thoughts:
So what if you're really busy? How do the tasks you're doing affect the customers' experience and your community? If they don't, what's the point of doing them?
What are the primary issues in your community? How can the library connect with those issues?

We also discussed delegating which is "the process of accomplishing great things through our employees, thereby raising their self-respect." Delegation is not dumping. When determining if there are jobs you can delegate, decide which tasks must be done by you; everything else should be considered for delegation or elimination. Pareto's Principle (80/20 rule): 20% of your activities yield 80% of your results. Focus your energies on the activities that yield the most desired results.

Working in groups: assume that each person has something valuable to say/contribute; paraphrase what other person has said to verify your understanding of it.

When evaluating possible solutions to a problem, list positives first, then list concerns about the idea, but phrase all concerns as a question--how to.... For example, "We don't have the money!" could be rephrased to "How to fund?" This forces an examination of the concern, making it a concrete issue that can be addressed and phrases a negative in a positive way. It occurred to me that this strategy has powerful possibilities beyond larger group problem-solving. If you can train a frequent complainer to re-state his/her complaints in this positive way, you might help the person to verbalize what exactly s/he wants to change. Once a concrete issue has been identified, it may be easier to address. This also may prevent you as a supervisor from tuning out the staff member's grumbling "because s/he's always complaining about something."

Leading From Any Position I, Day One

This two day workshop was sponsored by the state's Division of Library Development & Services (DLDS) and presented by Schreiber Shannon Associates. Before we even attended, we had homework. We took an enneagram test to see which of nine personality types we most closely resembled. The nine types are (taken from Enneagram Workbook presenters gave out):

One-Reformer/Perfectionist/Achiever
Ones are reasonable, objective, and principled. They are constantly striving to achieve their high standards. In doing so, they can become judgmental of themselves and others, and get angry when they or others don't meet expectations.

Two-Helper/Giver
Twos are compassionate, caring, generous and thoughtful, tending to go out of their way to help other people. They need to be needed and sometimes remind others of their service to elicit gratitude from them.

Three-Motivator/Performer/Achiever
Threes are adaptable, energetic, ambitious, and desire to improve themselves. They know how to fit into their situation. They are sometimes overly competitive and can be very image-conscious.

Four-Individualist/Artist/Romantic
Fours are individualistic, emotionally sensitive, and self-expressive. They share their feelings in such a way that others can relate. However, they may become too aware of their negative emotions and imagination, reducing their self-esteem.

Five-Thinker/Observer/Sage
Fives are alert, curious, original learners. They want to understand everything around them. But as they become insecure in their environment, they feel they have to be totally certain about something before they can do it. Thus, they sometimes think about doing something rather than doing it.

Six-Loyalist/Traditionalist/Devil's Advocate
Sixes are faithful, committed, and loyal to people or ideas with which they identify. However, as they become insecure, they seek permission from some type of authority figure (person or belief) before they act.

Seven-Enthusiast/Generalist/Adventurer
Sevens are very enthusiastic and are typically accomplished in a wide range of fields. They tend to go into the world seeking new experiences and sensations. Sometimes they get a bit greedy for experiences, wanting to do everything at once.

Eight-General/Challenger/Boss
Eights are self-confident, courageous, using their strength to lead others. They tend to be resourceful and action-oriented. Power may go to their heads if they become domineering and aggressive toward others.

Nine-Peacemaker/Mediator/Preservationist
Nines are receptive, peaceful, and create a harmonious atmosphere which most find very comforting. Nines have a tendency to get too accommodating, wanting to keep the peace rather than raise their own voice. Thus, they go along, but don't develop their own identities.

The analysis of my responses to the test indicated that I'm a three with mid-range influences (40-48%) from one, eight, nine, six, and seven. A few years ago, my responses indicated that I was a one with a strong three influence and mid-range influences from five, seven, four, and nine; either way, that sounds about right.

We spent most of the first day of the workshop talking about the difference between the personality types and how you can use this information to help you in daily interactions with co-workers, especially if there is someone with whom you're having a problem. It could be that you're dealing with this person in a way counterproductive to his/her personality type. When trying to persuade someone to your way of thinking, consider what motivates that person, and pitch your "arguments" to the focus of their motivation. For instance, threes are motivated by status, so when trying to persuade a three, suggest that your way of doing things will bring status or recognition; a seven would need it to be fun or new & exciting, etc.

We also learned about the five disciplines of a learning organization, which BCPL embraced several years ago, but it was a good review. We discussed the importance of the library having a vision/mission statement. If your library has one, can you see your daily jobs contribute to that statement?

Minneapolis Pub Lib--new books area

Nifty fireplace with public art

Minneapolis Pub Lib- sorting area

Automated sorting area

Minnepolis Pub Lib-- Children's area

Minnapolis Pub Lib--Teen area

Teen Department

Minneapolis Public Library

Minneapolis Public Library

Jo's Notes on PLA

Preconference: Who Said Management Can’t Be Fun?
Presented by Gail Johnson and Pam Parr of Face to Face Communication and Training
A manager’s primary role is to be a mentor and teacher and to cultivate trust in the workplace. Using a circus analogy with the library as the circus tent, the five poles holding up the tent of the customers’ ultimate experience are:
1. (Center Pole) Communication: the goal is to get information from me to others EXACTLY as I meant it so that I get the outcome I want.
a) Clarity: avoid ambiguity in words and actions; give the “why”—the rest of the story
b) Honesty: say exactly what I mean (with discretion); “I feel…when you…because I think you….”
c) Use facts, not judgment
d) Open: stay open-minded to people who drive you crazy; make no judgments
Phrases to use:
• “What questions do you have?” (invites clarification)
• “Help me to understand…” (non-threatening, diffuses the situation)
• “I must not have been clear…”
• “What I really meant was…”
2. Accountability: Being answerable for our actions and performance
a) Clear expectations and consequences are motivators
b) Underperformers steal my attention and energy that is better spent on overachievers
c) Set clear expectations and boundaries
d) Silence means acceptance or agreement
3. Staff Development: Priority #1 is to upgrade my staff
a) Hire for characteristics, not for skills—NOT the reverse! Skills can be taught; attitude cannot.
b) Reward staff with opportunities: “Behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated. Stop rewarding bad behavior.”
c) Discover their strengths (a consistent, near-perfect performance in an activity)
d) Three things employees need:
1) Visibility—people need to know that they matter
2) To know that their work matters
3) That their work is objectively measurable
e) Let people do what they love/enhance their strengths—that is what allows for the greatest possibility for growth. Spend time developing weaknesses only to the point that they do not interfere with employee strengths.
4. Empowerment: Develop a strategy to enable and energize the staff
a) Stop making decisions for your staff; then let go and get out of their way!
1) Encourage dialogue/ give them confidence: “I would like to hear your opinion.”
2) See their POV: “What would you suggest?”
b) Authorize decision-making; everyone is responsible for the organization’s success
c) Capture their discretionary energy and claim it!
d) Staff need:
1) Knowledge: ongoing training in decision-making
2) Information: shared with all
3) Feedback: Immediate and specific—Praise in public; teach in private
5. Influence: the power to effect something or someone
a) Accept and own the power that I have already been given.
b) Model it 24/7/365. I am their role model. I am the library. I am NOT their friend or co-worker.
c) Have credibility—walk the talk.
d) My allegiance is to the Team of management of the library—micro and macro.
e) Interdependence of “we”
Protect, Project and Present! Essential Tips for Supervisors, Speakers and Storytellers
Katie Damp Klossner, Community Relations Manager for Douglas County Libraries in CO, uses her background in the theatre to train her libraries’ staff to be succinct, calm and confident when speaking in public. Within 90 seconds, someone has formed their first impression of you: only 7% is related to the content of your speech (38% arises from your vocal quality and 55% from your body language), so your “likability quotient” is four times more dependent on non-verbal cues. If you read only one book about public speaking, she recommends I Can See You Naked by Hoff.
Protect your voice: Two days before your presentation, consume no dairy or caffeine. Drink plenty of water and get lots of rest; humming is good, as is yawning with noise, and breathing exercises. Stretch your neck and back and shoulders.
Project to your audience: Use volume, enunciation, varying rates of speed and quality and intensity of voice, along with proper breath support. Use a wide range of pitch and inflection (a low pitch is associated with credibility). Use silence! Silence is an important clue for the audience to start listening! It draws people in and makes them pay attention! Try to limit “uh”s. Use an “open face”: raised eyebrows and a genuine smile imparts sincerity and honesty. Use your nervousness—adrenalin makes your eyes sparkle. Make eye contact around the room: the focus of your audience’s attention is your eyes, so “stop, lock, and pause” to connect individually with audience members. Wear dark colors (associated with credibility) that are comfortable with no flashy or dangling distracters. Plant your feet and stand tall with your arms dangling at your sides. (If you are a flailer, practice holding a heavy book in each hand. If you still raise your arm, that designates a sincere emphasis that should be maintained). Avoid gripping the podium with both hands—it sucks the life out of what you are trying to communicate. Professionalism outranks perfection: proceed beyond mistakes and do not draw attention to flaws in your performance.
Present effectively: To conquer stage fright: Write a detailed fear inventory; use the adrenalin; OVERPREPARE; practice in front of a mirror; be a fool as you practice—try cartoon and movie voices, etc. and use your fear inventory to try out all worst possibilities; take a brisk walk; insert pauses for silence. If nothing else, memorize your introduction and your “Thank you”s (conclusion). Accept in advance that you will be nervous either five minutes before or ten minutes in! If your voice shakes, STOP. Use that silence to gain your audience’s attention. “Credibility is associated with determined, short speech.” In Say it in Six, Hoff advises to break long presentations into six minute sections to help the audience focus.
Posted on behalf of Jo Blankenburg, Hereford

Other PLA sessions

I had planned on blogging each day of PLA, but the Hyatt Regency did not have free Internet access in my room, and I couldn't get to the business center to blog anymore while I was actually in Minneapolis.

On Fri March 28 I attended "Great Libraries for Dummies." Some key points: 4 trends in library service are library as destination; customer convenience; customer-based technology; connect w/the community. The presenter had 10 items that every library should be doing to become excellent libraries, many of which BCPL is doing, just not to the degree that this man advocated. I was really impressed with the automated DVD dispenser that his library uses, and I also realized that instead of multiple stackable merchandizing cubes in the new Perry Hall, we should purchase wheeled merchandizing units which will be more portable and therefore more flexible. Here are a few of the presenter's comments that really struck me:
"Consensus is not always required & is sometimes counter-productive"--capture staff's enthusiasm & energy, focus on the customer, then the majority will follow.
"Try to meet customers' needs not manage them."

I also attended "How to Move a Library." I guess I expected there would be more involved when you're actually moving from one building to another, but this session reassured me that my work on Towson's renovation had prepared me for the task of moving into a new Perry Hall. These presenters used a chart similar to (but more complicated than) the Shelf Space Allocation chart that I created for Towson and marked boxes in a similar fashion.

After lunch, I attended "Making Space for Teens in Libraries" which presented case studies from 3 libraries. Some key points: even without much money, you can use wallpaper, fabric, etc to bring color/drama to an existing teen area; changing some of the furnishings (chairs, tables) is another way of making over an existing area--need versatile, interesting seating areas (not standard table w/4 chairs); in teen areas, social experience should trump the collection; teen areas need identity very distinct from rest of library; incorporate new technology; have different zones in the teen area for various levels of social interaction--alone vs. groups.

For anyone who couldn't attend PLA, some of the handouts are available from PLA's website http://www.placonference.org/handoutspage.cfm In addition, PLA taped some of the presentations and Jean Mantegna indicated that she will purchase the CD for the Staff Development Library so look for that in the future.

PLA 2008 Annual Conference in Minneapolis

That's in Minnesota, don't ya know. :-) Jo Blankenburg and I attended our first Public Library Association Conference this year. On Wed March 26, we both attended a wonderful half day preconference entitled "Who said Management Can't Be Fun?" The presenters used the analogy of a 3 ring circus. The canvas of the tent is trust in your organization and its people. The poles that support the tent are communication (center pole), accountability, empowerment, staff development, influence, and impact. We both came away with some good tidbits for being effective managers. We also received an excellent handout called "Rights & Responsibilities" which lists 10 rights and their corresponding responsibilities for healthy relationships in any sphere of your life.

After lunch we went to the opening session; the speaker was John Wood, the Microsoft executive who quit to build libraries and schools in developing countries. (We own his book.) He was a very inspirational speaker, and there were some tears generated. (Who knew there'd be crying at a library conference, and not from boredom!)

After that it was on to the opening of the exhibits: let the freebie grabbing begin! Jo and I both have picked up a lot of stuff to share with the staff back home. And, of course, I've been on the lookout for ideas for furnishings at the new Perry Hall. There is some really cool stuff out there!

Today I attended a session called "Why We Borrow:Redesigning Libraries Using Retail Strategies", and the speaker was from Paco Underhill's company. (He wrote Why We Buy, a book with which many BCPLers may be familiar.) Some of the points from that presentation: everyone in America is looking for a 3rd place--the library seems to be it; get out from behind the desk & encounter customers on the floor; give customers the opportunity to help themselves first--they prefer self-navigation; teens will spill out of their designated area--consider where they'll spill into; signs need to have odd/interesting shapes/colors so they stand out & create movement in our static spaces; use fixtures/signs to "brand" sections, especially the children's & teen areas.

I also attended "Preparing Your Staff for a New Building." Presenters noted that even when staff are looking forward to a new building, they can have unspoken fears about performing in the new location: fear that a bigger building means more work, increased expectations on the part of customers; fear that they won't perform adequately in the new building. It's important for staff to analyze how they do things now and how those tasks will change in the new location. All staff should be involved in brainstorming solutions to issues that arise so that they are more likely to buy into new ways of doing things. Presenters emphasized that staff should be allowed to visit their new work areas throughout various stages of construction so they begin to have a sense of ownership and they become acclimated to the space. It was suggested that management prepare staff for negative comments about the new building since invariably there will be unhappy customers--possibly have a script or a FAQ sheet and assure staff they can send complaints "up the line."

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to the session How to Move a Library since it looks as if I'll be doing that next year.

Final Day!

This was our last full day in Hong Kong. Mollie went her separate way today and visited a local monastery. She saw "the largest sitting Buddha in the world", and bought a small laughing Buddha. Carl and I took the ferry to Kowloon for more shopping. The money over here looks so much more interesting than American dollars, but unfortunately that makes it seem not quite real--kind of like monopoly money--so it's deceptively easy to overspend (don't worry dear, I didn't go TOO overboard!). And Barb, I bought something new for librarians' meetings that's got your wacka wacka beat!

After shopping, Carl & I took the tram up to Victoria Peak, the highest point on the island. This tram travels up the incline at up to a 45 degree angle in some places. On the ride back down, we had to stand. When it got to the steepest part of the incline, a little Chinese lady held on to my arm to keep me from sliding. Carl said he would have taken a picture but thought it would have been rude. He said it was the funniest sight to see her holding on to me when I'm so much bigger than her. While we were on the Peak, we did some more shopping, had dinner, and then watched the light show in the harbor. Every evening the buildings light up and change colors for several minutes. My dusk picture turned out okay, but my picture of the light show may be too dark for you to see much.

It has been really odd spending so much time with a man other than my husband. Add to that the fact that my husband and I haven't spent more than 2 or 3 days apart in our 25 years of marriage. It's been tough on both of us. But tomorrow we'll be heading back home so we'll see other soon now. Unfortunately, we have an interminable Monday ahead of us. Our flight leaves here around 1pm Monday, lands in San Francisco around 8:35am Monday, then lands in Baltimore around 7:15pm Monday. In Baltimore time, the trip back will begin at about midnight Sunday.

This will be the last post on this blog. I hope everyone back home has enjoyed vicariously traveling to Asia with us. We've had a great time and can't wait to get back and share more of the trip.

Sneaks Does Asia

You may not have realized that Sneaks came with us to Asia. Mollie brought some Sneaks dolls to give as gifts and I brought my T-shirt. You can't see it very well, but Sneaks saw several street meat vendors. (They might even have been selling some of his relatives, but we won't go there!) There's also a picture of the offerings of one of the vegetable vendors. The boat in the picture is a sampan. Mollie took a ride on one to see a fishing village where the people actually live on the boat year round.
In the background is the world's largest floating restaurant.

We took a sightseeing tour today so we could see a little more of the island. Our guide was very good and told us many interesting things about Hong Kong. Hong means fragrant and Kong means harbor. It was named this because there used to be an incense factory whose smell scented the air. Most people here live in very small apartments in high rise buildings. A family sized apartment is about 1000 sq ft. Only rich people own cars because the import tax is 150%; the average cost of a car is $200,000 (HK$, divide by 7 for US$) but taxes more than double that cost. Also a gallon of gas costs about $7 (US). Only very rich people live in single family homes;most of the rich people also live in apartments--they are just in better neighborhoods and VERY expensive--$7,000 (US) per month.

It is incredibly crowded here! Think New York multiplied. Carl has some great footage of the crowds. Sometimes you feel as if you're salmon swimming upstream. There are all kinds of restaurants here, but I have yet to see any restaurant here with cereal. And it seems as if many Asians don't have different foods for breakfast; they just eat their usual foods such as noodles and rice dishes.

Tomorrow Mollie is going to visit a monastery while Carl & I go across the bay to Kowloon. We're hoping to see the evening light show from the height of Victoria Peak at 8pm.

Mollie and Carl are quite content to let me do all the blogging. Carl said to tell everyone Hi, but he came over here to get away from computers. (Don't tell Mollie, but I think she's just too wimpy to blog!) :-)

Whirlwind Day!

We had a very quick tour throughout the Hong Kong Central Library (pictured) this morning, a traditional Chinese banquet for lunch (9 courses), and a ride out to the New Territories for a quick tour of a district library (serving a population of about 200,000). Let me just say that when we talk about our libraries being busy, we don't even know the meaning of the word. The Central library circulates 10,000 items per day and sees 14,000 people a day! Even their smaller libraries have much higher statistics than we have. Their numbers are staggering, as were Singapore's. The importance of libraries is so ingrained in the culture over here; both governments give strong support to libraries and emphasize lifelong learning.

The library we visited in the afternoon was probably about the size of one of our area branches; there were probably at least 2oo customers in there. The reading room was packed and so was their student study room. The study room is a room filled with cubicles for single student study; it had about 140 seats. From March-May, these rooms are in such demand that students have to sign up for 4 hr blocks of time to use them. At that time of year, they also extend the hours of the study rooms beyond the library's normal hours. We were told that these are so popular because people here live in small apartments in high rise buildings (25-30 stories high) and they don't have good study space at home. Also Hong Kong doesn't have the number of book stores that we saw in Singapore so people are more likely to come to the library.

Hong Kong also uses the postal system as their delivery system, but it takes 3-5 days for material to get between locations. The road and street traffic here reminds us of New York but with narrower streets.

The senior staff with whom we spoke all indicated that they work very long hours. They start at 7am and often work until 7 or 8pm. One of them said she worked from 7am-midnight! Jim, will you, Debbie & Lynn be trying that?

The Hong Kong library staff made it clear that they felt extremely honored for us to be here. We got the sense that they feel kind of ignored, that Singapore libraries get all the attention. There is some tension between the two areas. As one of our hosts said, "If you want to breathe clean air, go to Singapore. If you want to breathe free air, go to Hong Kong." It's interesting to me that they feel more free in their Communist controlled country than people in Singapore. The Hong Kong librarians were constantly mentioning that there are certain things they can't do because of customer privacy issues or copyright concerns--things that would infringe on someone's personal rights. (In fact, we couldn't take pictures after they opened because of privacy issues for their customers.) In Singapore, everything is about the common good--forget personal rights.

Blogging 101

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Hong Kong Welcome

Tonight we were welcomed to Hong Kong by several librarians and administrators from Hong Kong libraries and the library committee. I wore my new suit and shoes, and we dined at the Excelsior Hotel on a 10 course meal. I tried everything tonight including jellyfish and roasted pork skin. The official menu (I brought home a copy) was:
barbecued combination platter
sauteed scallops and deep fried with vegetables
minced winter melon soup with crab meat
sweet and sour garoupa (a fish) with pineapple
braised assorted vegetables with deep fried mushrooms
steamed chicken with ham
fried rice with seafood
braised e-fu noodles (no it's not a typo) with abalone sauce
sweetened walnut cream
seasonal fresh fruit platter (the only "normal" thing I had all evening besides my diet coke!)

Mollie and I were at the same table with several of their "chief" librarians and had a wonderful time sharing information about libraries and each other. Hong Kong has about 3.5 million registered users and does a circulation of 62 million (or 65-I can't remember). Chimene Ho (one of the librarians) gave the impression that their libraries are wall-to-wall people. Their average branch library has a collection of about 115,000 volumes and does about 1 million circ a year. Tomorrow we visit the Central library and 2 libraries in the New Territories. Hong Kong libraries are divided into four areas: Hong Kong Island, New Territories, and if I understood them correctly, Sai Kung Peninsula,and Lantau Island. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

Hong Kong--first impressions

My first impression of Hong Kong is lots of people, tall buildings, not as clean as Singapore, and shopkeepers aren't as versed in English as they were in Singapore. Our hotel is on a little side street, what feels like an alley amid skyscrapers. Here's the view out of my 12th floor window.

Tonight we have a welcome banquet. I can't wait to see this menu! I'm going to wear my new hand-tailored suit by Picadilly Tailors. :-) I went shopping today to get some shoes and a camisole to go under my jacket. I found a very sexy pair of gold sandals--now let's just hope I don't kill myself in the heels!

This 'n that

Wed I went back to the Library Supply Centre to get more detail about their Collection Development dept (go figure!) while Mollie and Carl went to the Media Authority. One of them will have to give you more detail on that. All I know is that it deals with media and the Internet.

Some general observations:
Teenagers are the same everywhere! One of the directors here kept calling them "monsters". :-)
Every place has its politics.

The National Library Board (NLB) is trying to discover ways to bring their digital content/ resources into the lives of their customers. They are really struggling with how to make libraries relevant to their customers. (Sound familiar?) They are constantly re-evaluating their processes and fine-tuning things. They are willing to try and fail so that they can ultimately succeed. They are committed to customer feedback. They are also very interested in being able to measure their success so that they can evaluate it. They offer research services (for a fee) to customers; they're very interested in packaging information for their customers.

The Singapore postal service is the library's delivery system and is so good that customers can get any book they've requested from another branch in 1-2 days. Books returned at other branches are sent back to the owning branch by the next day--AND postal staff shelve the books! They don't have anything resembling our Book Quick system; everything is done through reserving in the CARL system (charge of $1.55--Singapore dollars). I had a discussion with one of the other attendees, Diane Mayo of Information Partners, about our system and she posed a very good question. "Why do you charge for automatic holds which requires less staff time (& at a lower paid level) when book quick service requires more staff time (at higher paid level)?

National Library of Singapore

I'll devote a whole post to our Tue afternoon visit to the National Library. We started with lunch on the 16 floor, a kind of observation pod on the roof of the building. After lunch, as we were getting ready for our tour, a fire alarm went off. (Patrick Losinski, director of the Columbus Metro Library, took a flash picture in the bathroom, right in front of some kind of detector so he kept wondering if he set it off.) A very polite announcement came on the PA system asking everyone to remain calm and saying they were investigating the problem. Good thing they didn't ask us to evacuate because no one seemed particularly concerned, plus who wants to walk down 16 flights of stairs?

The National Lbrary has a circulating library on the first floor (focusing on business, the arts, & popular fiction), a 600+ seat drama centre, several exhibition areas and several floors of reference, including the rare materials collection and two closed floors of reference. Their rare collection has about 5,000 items, most of which have been digitized. The floors in the closed stacks (see picture) can only accomodate the weight of 6 people due to the weight of the books & shelves.

They have a HUGE computer room for their automation system (see picture with all the people in the hallway), and they have several gardens on various floors. The head of their facilities department said this is to help decrease the ambient temperature & keep down the dust around the building. This must be a common thing here because just about every high building has at least one outdoor garden and all along the roads there is landscaping as well (much more than in the US). It's really a beautiful place!

Catchin' up on Singapore

Now that we're settled in at our Hong Kong hotel (and Internet access is free!) I can catch you up on our last two days in Singapore. On Tue we visited the Library Supply Centre, which is their technical services department, and the National Library (central library).

The Library Supply Centre houses their technical services department and serves as a warehouse for their last copy (of a title) collection (about 500,000 items-see picture) and their floating collection. The floating collection is a sort of "just in case" collection of popular titles. When the branches need more copies of Harry Potter or some other popular title, they can request more copies from this collection. Their tech services dept processes about 4,000 items per day and about 1.5 items per year. Items are moved on a conveyor belt system from one station to the next in the processing cycle. Items are given a barcode & put in a barcoded bin (see picture). They have a process management system that can track the bins & any item so they know where it is in the process cycle.

The library buys about 65,000 titles a year: 75% in English, 15% Chinese, 5% Malay, & 5% Tamil (matches breakdown of their demographics). They can have over a thousand holds on blockbuster titles such as Harry Potter. They weed about 250,000-300,000 titles per year. Last copies and donated items are never withdrawn; they are sent to the depository collection in this building. They receive about 10,000 gift items per year, but they only accept gifts from other libraries, organizations, and prominent citizens. Branches do not accept gifts. One must write a letter to the director of the National Library Board to get permission to donate material.

When items are weeded from branch collections, everything is sent to this warehouse. Books that don't need to go into the last copy collection are stored in another storage facility to wait for their annual book sale which is held in the Singapore exhibition hall--think Smith College book sale to the tenth power.

On to Hong Kong

It's late here, after midnight Tue so I won't take time to talk about today's visits (especially since Internet access here at the hotel costs 85 cents per minute). Tomorrow I'm going back to the tech services department again while Mollie and Carl go to the Media Authority. Then we have a farewell luncheon and head to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong. Wed evening or Thu morning I should have time to post pictures and commentary of our last two days in Singapore.

Craving American Food!

Both Carl & I couldn't stand the thought of another noodle or Asian sauce with mysterious things in it Monday night so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. (Poor Mollie seems to have developed a nasty chest cold so she just went to bed after our visits. We told her not to eat the octopus!) Carl & I had loaded nachos and potato skins (heaven!) and I had a salad.

Everywhere we go, there seems to be a bakery shop selling gorgeous cakes, especially cheesecakes--all kinds. Despite the plethora of goodies, neither Carl or I have had any. Our stomaches have been so traumatized by some of the food that we've tried that we haven't even been tempted yet.

There's a very strong national focus here on everyone's social responsibility to the entire community, including businesses. There are all kinds of campaigns to improve yourself and your community and the library supports these national initiatives, in many cases using contests. One contest was for a stop violence poster. Another contest is for the most interesting question posed to library staff and the grand prize winners get iPods donated by local business--there's a lot of corporate support of the library.

It's a little odd being the only one in the group without manager or director in my title, but everyone's been very nice. Our group is smaller than planned. The four people from Brooklyn Public weren't able to come, and Charles Brown got sick at the last moment. Mollie and Carl keep teasing me that we should rename the blog "Rose's Great Out-of-the-Box Adventure" or something like that and that I should sign myself as the "Singapore Blogger."

Mollie got to sit next to Dr. Beh of the National Library Board at the banquet Sunday evening. He had been to Baltimore in the '90s when their group visited and had many fond memories of his visit.

Carl & I both hired tailors to make some clothes for us. He picked up his four shirts last night; I'm supposed to pick up my suit & skirt tonight. We both get a kick out of talking about "my" tailor. Daalings, I went to my tailor last night for my final fitting (this said lounging in my hotel robe).

Today we're going to visit the National Library, especially their tech services department. The have centralized collection development although they are considering changing that model to one that allows branches more choice in the process. I'll give you details tonight.

Monday's library visits

Today we visited 4 different libraries. First we visited the Woodlands Regional Community Library which is 6 floors housed in the community's civic center. It has 12 self-checkout stations (stop crying Circ staff!) and their door count is about 5,000 per day during the week and 10,000 per day on weekends. Yes, per day!

We learned that all their libraries have collections in at least the four official languages; the state ID card can also serve as the customer's library card; the state cash card can be used to pay for library fees; they charge 3 cents a minute for internet access and don't allow internet use for games; their nonfiction collections are shelved in Dewey order but they have separated out 10 major nonfiction categories (e.g., computers, health, travel, etc.) that have special icons on spines so that there are actually two nonfiction sections--the 10 major groups are shelved in a section and then the rest of the nonfiction is lumped in a general nonfiction section. They also color code all children's material with a yellow stripe on the spine, young people's material with an orange stripe, and adult material with a blue stripe. They then use these colors on all signage for those collections.

Singapore also has centralised telephone reference. Every phone and e-mail inquiry is handled first by the lowest level staff. If the question requires a reference librarian's skill, the call is bumped up. They find that 80% of the questions can be answered by the lower level staff.

We also visited a children's community library on the ground floor of a housing complex. We had to take our shoes off when we went into it. It primarily contained material for preschoolers because that is the population within the housing units. It is open from 4-9pm. The books cannot be returned to any other branch which is not the case for most other branches.

Next we visited the do-it-yourself library (Sengkang Community Library) in one of their many malls. Their malls all seem to be at least 4 floors--they go up instead of spreading out. The library has no customer service counter here, but they do have a "Concierge" counter staffed by security guards. They also have paraprofessionals who rove in the stacks and a "Cybrarian" kiosk where they can pick up a phone and be connected with a staff member. The staff on the other end of the phone can push screens of the catalog or map of a library onto the screen of the Cybrarian kiosk for the customer to see. The circulation here is about 120,000 per month! They don't have chairs here, but do have several backless benches and some "bum rests" which are metal rails around a circular pole used for signage.

Lastly, we visited the library geared toward 18-35 year olds in an upscale mall. It has a lot of clear acrylic and glass so as to "easily see and be seen" in the words of one of its librarians. It only has adult/young adult material and is set up to resemble a shop or boutique. No comfortable seating, just benches; several listening stations and internet stations. Their circ is about 80,000 per month and their door count is about 120,000 per month; open 11-9 seven days a week. There are a lot of people over here and they seem to throng to their libraries as well as the book stores. Every book store has been packed.

All but the children's library had cafes in them.

The Welcome Banquet

We were officially welcomed to Singapore by Beh chew Leng and Dr. Pasad of the National Library Board of Singapore and by Trish Culkin of TLC (aka CARL). The NLB staff made some interesting comments: they are not afraid to use the library as a laboratory; don't be afraid to look at other industries for a solution to your problems; using RFID for simple checkouts and returns is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential--In a few years, you may not need Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress classification because RFID will tell you where on the shelf in the branch a particular item can be found even if it's misshelved.

Here was the menu for the banquet (and I have a paper copy to prove it!) in eight courses:
Vietnamese style spring rolls, roast duck, barbecue pork, petite octopus
braised shark's fin broth with crabmeat
deep fried seaweed roll in Thai style, sauteed shrimp in spicy x. o. sauce
steamed "live" marble goby in noble Tanfu style
crispy skin roast chicken served in mango compote
braised sea cucumber with Shiitake mushrooms in superior oyster sauce
braised thin noodles with preserved vegetables
cream of red bean with glutinous rice dumpling

I tried everything but the octopus and the sea cucumber, but Mollie had TWO pieces of octopus! I don't know what Carl did or did not try because each of us sat at a different table. Here's a picture of my marble goby.

Our hotel

Here are some views of the hotel.


The hotel is wonderful, especially since Mollie and I paid the extra $5 for an executive room. This means that we got welcome chocolates, complimentary bottles of water, slippers, robes, free breakfast, and someone comes in to turn down our sheets each night and give us a fancy paper with a note of wisdom on it. We feel very cosmopolitan lounging in our robes on our duvet bed covers. :-)

Rose

Happy Birthday Mollie

Here's Mollie having her Singapore Sling at the famous Raffles Hotel's Long Bar. And it is too ethnic 'cause we had lamb satay and black pepper bacon rolls with our drinks--so there! :-p

For those of you wondering how long it took us in your time, we started our journey at BWI at about 7am Thu Feb 16 and were checked into our hotel here by about 2:30pm Fri Feb 17. You do the math!

And Essex--Mollie says you better be checking this blog too and posting comments--"don't be wimps!"
Rose

We've arrived!

We finally arrived at the Singapore Hilton at around 3-4am Sat Feb 18 after several flight delays due to thunderstorms in Chicago. Our first official activity is a welcome dinner Sunday evening so we have a little time to sightsee. Tonight we're going to celebrate Mollie's birthday at Raffles.

I can't wait!

Just two more weeks and we'll be in Singapore!

Check out Brooklyn Public Library's blog http://bplaway.blogspot.com/ and the Urban Libraries Council website for the trip http://www.urbanlibraries.org/singaporehongkongparticipantinformation.html .
Rose