MS’s presentation about the research gathered for his CAVAL 2009 Fellowship.

Setting the stage: Things are changing quickly… social media/tools are increasing and people are using them at an astounding rate… Those using these technologies fall into categories according to age…(Older folks not as likely to be using the technologies, though those numbers are becoming smaller –  the “inactives” (those that do not use 2.0) is growing small…

CHALLENGES we’re facing:

SaveLibraries.org — most recent fight: Charlotte Mecklenberg –
MS asks: What are we going to do in library school to prepare future librarians for this?

> Embedded
> Silos of Knowledge – what happens when those with institutional knowledge retire and take information with them?
> Organizational Structure
> Barriers and Rules
> Technology — includes: technolust (wanting something because it’s cool); technostress (the stress of keeping up with all the new technologies); technodivorce (how can we let stuff go); technoshame (libraries that have access vs. those who don’t); technophobia (not moving forward)

Libraries must know new media in order to stay relevant…

His research looked at organizations that have utlilized the web 2.0 teaching programs (“23 Things on a Stick”, etc.)

He looked at the institutional impact – transformational/viral activities take place
Transparency – offer inclusive learning – when libraries are approached to do outreach – SAY YES!

[ps - MS highly recommends reading Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind - it discusses the way we are evolving our thinking from right brained to left brained...]

Ways to foster learning in an organization: HAVE FUN! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Libraries should move to a culture of experimentation…

How will you reward failure and recovery? MS mentioned the Librarian in Black is working on compiling information about failure — We need to get away from being afraid to fail because that stifles creativity and moving forward.

MS presented his findings from researching web 2.0 programs in Australian libraries… [See his slides for information on specifics].

Going forward:
> It’s never to late to jump in… See Darien Library’s program for the public – they created a program for the public to learn about new media.
> Map a strategy first!
> Promote core values
> Service
> Trust – staff, each other
> Be Transparent – let folks know what you are doing
> Self-directed exploration – have self-directed workers…
> Break down barriers
> Look for connections
> Use Champions – know who to go for to help ensure support and success
> Be Human – share experience
> Know it’s ok to fail.

Clay Shirky quote: “When technology gets boring, it gets interesting.”

New technology — GIS, mobile, geo-tagging (4-square)

Develop your own personal learning network (PLN). Don’t create an echo-chamber, however — include some folks who you might not agree with – it’s good for learning.

Lastly… Encourage the heart!

Oh I wish I said that: Dealing with Difficult People

Gail Johnson & Pam Parr
Link to the presentation (pdf).

[LB note: wonderful presentation - great presenters! Very entertaining!]

Five Questions:
1. Who are these People?
2. what’s it really about?
3. what do they want?
4. What do you Want
5. What do you do and how do you do it?

WHO:
> bullies, know-it-alls, narcissistic, impatient, in a hurry, passive aggressive, whiners…

Hostile — angry people…
Know-it-alls – the real ones vs. the bogus know-it-alls (they think they know everything)
Whiners or Complainers — they don’t want anything, they just want to whine and complain
Royalty – think they are entitled to whatever; that policies and rules don’t apply to them…think they deserv preferential treatment
Emotional Vampires – they will suck the life right out of you. When they call, you don’t answer; when they come in, you leave to go to bathroom…

“Experience is not what happens to you; its what you do with what happens to you” –

Sharing our stories helps us figure out what to come up to in situations…

Decrease the power and increase your control in the situation

You only have control over these three things:
What you think
What you Say
How you behave

It’s useless to argue with someone who is angry… in every conversation there needs to be an adult… you’re never going to win an argument with a difficult person (because they have much more experience being difficult!)

Because you work with the public, you are a target for frustrations because, simply, you are there… difficult people may take it out on the first person they see…

So what do these difficult people want?

> Sympathy, to be heard, acknowledgment…power…
> Empathy – putting yoruself in their shoes…
> Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone…
> They want the “F” word: fairness….
> Difficult people just want you to fix it – take care of it.

Everyone who works in the library has a tremendous amount of power…you can do whatever you want…you can make their visit pleasant — or not; you can check them out with a smile — or not…

Give the illusion that they have some of the power back by listening, let them feel they’ve been heard and acknowledged…

What do you really want?
(The person to go away) — but… to arrive at a common understanding and do so in a…

What are the “buts” in your head….? i.e., I would help you if you said, “I would do that for you, but….” If you weren’t a jerk... I’ve done this for her before…  It’s not part of my job… You can easily do it yourself… Which person showed up today (not sure who I’m dealing with)… We’ve always done it that way… I’m too busy… We’re getting ready to close…If I do it for you, then I have to do it for everyone else..

What do you do…?

Not fair: Paris Hilton is not fair — she can’t sing, can’t dance, not the smartest…yet everyone wants to know what’s she’s buying, who she’s dating, etc… Express lanes at the grocery store… Neither is the customer who cuts to the front of the line with “one quick question..”

Fairness is in the eye of the beholder…

In order to reach an understanding in a productive manner… we have to get the “but’s out of our head”… the “BUT” stops here…

What do I do and How do I do it…
two phrases that will fix or avert 90% of your difficult situations…

Phrase 1: “I’m sorry that happened.”
[Phrase doesn't accept blame... ]

Phrase 2: “I can take care of that for you..”
[adresses the fix-it, fairness, and empathy issues]

Hear them out… don’t cut people off in the middle of a comment… [what happens? they start over and you hear it twice...]

Listening skills:
Zip your lip, zip your emotions… We have two ears and one mouth, use them proportionately!

Q-tip example: QUIT TAKING IT PERSONALLY

Usually the comments, the arguments, etc are not directed at us…

KNOW your HOT buttons… learn to turn them off in those difficult situations… Another thing you can do is tell people the rest of your story….It’s just in the way you say it…Tell them the WHY we do things… i.e., We can’t watch your child because we don’t have enough staff and we can’t provide the ability to watch your child 100% – and we wouldn’t want that…

You want to arrive at a constant understanding…

BREATHE!

Issues —Audience chosen issue:

>Body Odor:
If it’s a patron… social service agencies are happy to make visits to talk about services/options…

If it’s an employee, make the conversation in private…Often they’re not aware of it… Don’t be afraid to confront it… You have to be sure it’s an issue and not just something that’s an issue with you only…

>Mentally Ill:
Note: Having a mental illness is not a problem – it’s the behavior that may come with it, that is the issue…

People who are not on their meds usually KNOW they’re not on their meds… If you have someone who is absolutely disruptive, you can say, “This is not a good day for you to be here… while you are always welcome to be here at the library, but today is not a good day for you to be here. We would love for you to come back again tomorrow.” –99.9% will get up and leave… If they don’t leave, check with your police department – have the convo ahead of time – ask them to come and do a well-check (no sirens and no guns) and ask them to come in to talk to the customer. Make a plan to rescue one another…. example of a patron that is monopolizing another employee’s time: “Sue, we have that meeting in two minutes – I need you to come with me.”

Realize that not everyone in your library is comfortable doing everything… Know who in your library is comfortable with what…

Note: difficult people are the ones that always come to mind, but the VAST MAJORITY of patrons are in your corner, very supportive, etc…

Question: patron hits on you: “Wow, that was the most inappropriate thing someone has said to me” — be direct with the patron – you have to make sure — don’t smile and tee hee – say wow, that was really inappropriate. If it continues, remove yourself and have another employee come in and help out.

- Top Ten Tech Trends

- The Impact and Benefits of Learning 2.0 Programs in Public Libraries

- Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data

- Green Acres and Milk & Cookies: Understanding Your Community Through Market Segmentation

- Civic Connections: Using TEchnology to Build Bridges in Your Community

- Cents and Sensibility: Will Your Technology Pay Off?

- Improve Employee Wellness: Why It’s Essential in Having a Successful Library

- Defining the Best Customer Experience

- Marketing the Library Using Social Software

- Marketing as Conversation: How to Interact with Your Community Through Your Website

- Multicultural Programming: Sharing Similarities and Celebrating Differences

- Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory: Titles, Tips and Techniques

If you want to follow the back channel on twitter, the hashtag for the conference is #PLA10.

Handouts from the sessions can be found on the PLA Conference website.

I participated in the Online Northwest conference this year. It was a nice opportunity for professional development and it took place right on the OSU campus. I attended several sessions, but the one I enjoyed most was Jen Klaudinyi’s presentation on the Cooperative Library Instruction Project (CLIP): Collaboration and Curriculum Integration: Presenting shared information literacy tutorials at the point of need.

From the CLIP wiki:

CLIP is a partnership between Western Oregon University, Oregon State University, Willamette University, and Chemeketa Community College whose mission is to design and develop sharable, web-based tutorials to assist in library instruction and information literacy… CLIP is creating tutorials that specifically address the larger ideas of information literacy. The collection might look something like an interactive, online information literacy “text book” from which librarians or instructors anywhere can select and use pieces as they choose.

CLIP is striving to serve librarians and instructors with different needs and resources. Our tutorials are free, already hosted on the web and ready to be used as they are. Simply copy the URL provided with each tutorial and distribute via websites, email, etc. We also provide source files for those who wish to download, customize and/or locally host the tutorials.

CLIP has several information literacy tutorials available at the moment:

• Developing a topic
• Incorporating Sources into your research paper
• What is a library database?
• Generating search terms
• Why you need to cite sources
• Internet searching tips
• Popular and scholarly sources
• Primary and secondary sources
• APA style aid
• MLA style aid

CLIP plans to continue adding tutorials to the site. Anyone can download these and customize them to their department, library, or school (as long as the source is attributed). Text files are available of each presentation. Why continue to remake the wheel, if great tutorials already exist? CLIP provides that opportunity.

What about the rest of the conference?

All presentations can be accessed at the Online NW website. Previous conference posts can be found there as well.

On a side note:

I do have one suggestion for Online NW: please consider having a student rate. $130 is pretty spendy for a one-day conference, especially for those that may be poor graduate students or unemployed. (See: Public Library Association’s national conference in Portland this year — the student rate for the 4 day conference is only $90).

But just now — I just stumbled upon Heather Devine’s (Flexyourinfo) ala2009 page – a more comprehensive, all-in-one-place collage of tweets and conference photos. For the visual folk, please check this out! Want to see what was going on at the Unconference? Select that option. Want to know what happened on Tuesday? You can even see the tweets and photos by day! You even have the option to pick which tweets you’d like to see by hashtag.

Read more: Heather posted more about this at her blog.

I’ve noticed a few other folks who have created twitter accounts specifically for the conference, which is a great idea. One example is the Boulder Public Library’s staff professional development twitter account, @bplconference.

And for fun (but mostly inappropriate comments), catch some of @alasecrets tweets. Someone has created a twitter account specifically for the ALA conference. I’ve seen a few folks tweet the password – anyone can log in and anonymously share their thoughts of what’s going on at the moment… Some are quite funny, snarky and a wee bit crude. (In fact, I believe there is a correlation between time and crudeness… as more time passed, the more – shall we say – explicit @alasecret’s tweets became). It’s amazing what people will say when anonymous, though I must admit librarians are quite a creative bunch! (Psst – this is the tamest tweet I could find for @alasecrets).

Update, 6/11 afternoon: @alasecrets has been put to rest/disabled (someone changed the password and protected the updates)…not sure who shut ‘er down, but there is already a new anonymous account: @ALAsecrets2009. For information on how to post, check the directions.