Making a Report

My boss recently informed me that I would be presenting an annual report to the board about youth services for our library.  Of course I wanted out of this obligation as I am new.  (I like to use the "I am new" excuse for as long as possible!) No dice.  After a thought or two I realized this is a great opportunity for me to make sure that my community and board also see eye to eye with my philosophy of service and communicate the overall goals for my department.  For those of you that must communicate a similar objective or write an annual report or even a personal review, here are some things to consider.

Take a long view

I am new in my position and relatively new to the community. I can't possibly do EVERYTHING my first year and it does take time to "grow" a service and a reputation with a community.  Think 4-5 years out and how you want to get there.  In youth services, I really wanted to focus on the babies and toddlers. Get them in the door and start making the library a habit. As years go by, those kids will grow into my other programs.

Highlight activities that illustrate your philosophy

Sometimes, I have discovered my personal library attitudes are not shared by everyone in the library world.  This annual board report gives me an opportunity to communicate some of my personal philosophy in library service. Here are some examples:

Summer reading programs are about participation and enjoying what the library has to offer.  Side effects are community literacy, higher test scores and grades, increased skills in technology, etc.   I really am going after non-readers and non-library users. What this means is that my activities and programs will be geared to participation, not racking up books read.  Slow readers are never penalized in my library programs.  Non-readers are also welcome.

This year, after discussion with my director, we decided to really try and get the pre-literacy skills addressed in our community with our Pre-Kindergarten story time.  I am really proud of this program and I want to make sure it has a prominent place in my report.  Next step for this program is coming up with some metrics that we can talk about with the community.

For my teen patrons, I want them to know that the library is available.  I am going to focus on awareness.  I am going to try and get my business card into the hands of every teenager I run across. My main message will be that libraries are for everyone, not just book people.

Collection Development

Don't assume that board members or even directors will understand the finer points of collection development.  Make sure your philosophy for a collection is understood.  For me, I want the board to understand that I understand about how our library will work.  For my tiny library, collection management for the youth section will be qualitative rather than quantitative.  Currency and relevance will be important factors in selection and weeding of the collection. 

(As an aside, a librarian once told me at one of her former jobs, a board member asked her when they would be "done" buying books for the collection.  They didn't understand why the book budgets were a continual purchase. Lesson for the day: don't assume that everyone knows what you are talking about with a collection strategy.)

Even though making a report is hardly my favorite thing in the world, this is a great opportunity to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Mary

Stuff from the Hive Mind of Twitter and Diigo

I am constantly looking for the quick answers in improving my life, my job, my family, etc.  Yeah, I know that is tilting at windmills, but thanks to some great Twitter and Diigo suggestions, I have a few links worth sharing that might make you think or provide a glimmer of insight as we ride down life's road.

30 Habits that Will Change Your Life
This is a good article and not too preachy.  All decent advice we know but often just forget to embrace regularly.  Of course what kind of librarian would I be if I didn't endorse a habit of reading. (I will let you know if I manage to follow through on the other habits.)

Why Your Boss is Wrong about You
Great New York Times article for both managers and employees.  If you have ever done a performance review or had one, it is worth a look.

Working Together: Tips for Vendors
Having been plagued by unwanted phone calls and endless chit chat about the weather, I am grateful to ACRLog for writing this.  You want to sell to librarians? especially in tough economic times?  I could almost hear librarians around the country rising up in a collective 'amen' to this speech.  Library vendors, you need to read this!

Evil HR Lady
I love this blog!  I have been reading this blog steadily for almost a year and her advice is first rate.  No sugar coatings or whining but real answers about the work world.  Almost anyone in library world or in the "real" world will find her advice helpful. Job hunters and others going through transition will also find a gold mine of information.

Twitter Notes (follow me at @librarymary40)
If you have known me for more than 5 minutes, you probably know that I am a twitter lover.  Librarians, you do yourself a disservice if you don't plug into this amazing discussion. I have shared and "talked" about day to day job issues and gotten excellent advice and feedback. The librarian crowd is wonderful and I can't believe how many great things (and people) I have discovered from the confines of my little desk. (I already wrote on this, click here if you want to read)

Thanks to @conniecrosby who pointed me to this site about 12 Twitter Search Tools.  I already have been digging into some of this stuff.  I would also recommend adding @conniecrosby to your feed. Connie seems to reach beyond the boundaries of traditional library thinking and is now one of my favorites in the library Twitter world.  Catch her blog here: http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com/

Also,I have been a recent convert to Diigo. My partner in crime and library craziness, Holly Hibner  (@hhibner on Twitter)  is a bookmarking fool and is always looking for the latest and greatest in tech short cuts. I figured out that I can save my twitter favorites right into my Diigo.  Diigo also made it easy to import my bookmarks from Delicious.  I am already doing better at keeping track of all the cool stuff that floats my way via all the social media. I predict that this will make me much smarter very soon.... (cough, cough)

Mary

Time Suckers: The Library Customer from Hell

In general, I consider customer service to be the heart of library service, we help patrons to the best of our abilities. Period.  I am also not naive.  I have been around long enough to understand that beast of all library customers--the Time Sucker.  Time Suckers are often the most needy, helpless and annoying of library patrons.  In other situations, they are mean and demanding. They suck time and energy from all staff (and probably everyone else they encounter). Time Suckers are in every library in the world.  Experienced librarians are wary and rookies never see them coming.

The bad news is that you can never protect yourself fully from a Time Sucker.  You must accept this as just one of the facts of life in library service. The real problem of Time Sucking patrons is that they can cause us to retreat to self protective measures (read: policies) that inhibit good customer service. How do you at least minimize the negative effects from Time Suckers effectively but also keep yourself open to providing good customer service opportunities?

First, forewarned is forearmed. Be proactive with your co-workers about potential customer frustrations. Share with your co-workers about possible Time Suckers.  Communicate about regular customers that have "issues".  Tag team a problem whenever possible. Remember, you do not get to "excuse" yourself because a customer is difficult.

Next, do a thorough reference interview (good advice no matter what).  Lots of Time Suckers have unrealistic expectations about what technology or research can produce.  Ask for context and don't be afraid to say that  you are concerned about the scope.  Ask about time constraints. Ask about the purpose of the research or question. Reiterate that you are a guide and helper in the process.  This does not mean you can't share an opinion or discuss options. Suggest a specific appointment time with an agenda so you can control time allocation.  Librarians can and should be sounding boards but you also want to communicate the value of your time and the customer's.

Finally, understand that often Time Suckers can be lonely or have psychological problems, be under tremendous stress, annoying opportunists or completely lazy.  It is easy (and normal!) to get frustrated.  If this starts to happen, break from the action using any excuse you can manage. (restroom, even if you have to feign illness, answer a phone, consult with another staff member).  By disengaging yourself from the customer for even a moment, you can collect your thoughts, slow down and rethink your approach and ask for help. Feeling the frustration as the librarian is not unusual or should it be unexpected.  Losing control of your emotions or letting your frustrations fly in the face of a customer or in the general public is more damaging to the library and to your career than you can imagine.

Again, you can never avoid this kind of customer completely, but you can arm yourself with humor and acceptance of what library service is all about.

Go forth and serve the public (even the annoying people)!

Mary