Look, I like fireworks as much as anybody (although I shouldn’t–they aren’t good for the environment), but I have to say I’m not very comfortable with the July 4 emphasis on militarism and American superiority.
When the rights of, and respect for, women, gay people, immigrants, minorities, people from other cultures, those living in poverty, and many other groups are compromised, it seems we could find better ways to spend July 4 than patting ourselves on the back.
The Pew Research Center recently published 7 Surprises About Libraries in Our Surveys, in which they share “some surprising facts about what Americans think of libraries and the way they use them.”
I think you’ll find the list interesting, and it may lead you to change the way your library offers some of its services. And maybe you’ll even find the list surprising too.
Spend some time with the post Earning Trust by Aaron Schmidt. Think about his opening premise: “Earning the trust of your library members is crucial to delivering a great user experience. Without trust, it is impossible to connect to library members in a meaningful way.” 
Additionally, he ties trust to loyalty, which in turn leads to support: “loyal patrons will also be more apt to sing the praises of the library to neighbors and colleagues.” Of course, this verbal support can, in turn, lead to financial and municipal support.
There are many ways to earn (or lose) trust, and the post shares several:
I know you’ll want to read the full post to learn more.
Good question!
But you’d be surprised at the Project Management Lessons from Meditation you can learn!
If you’ve read or heard anything about marketing, you probably know that experts say the most powerful tool is word of mouth marketing (WOMM). This always troubles me, because I think that too many of us then think, why bother with other forms of getting our message out, when the “only” thing that works is WOMM. Of course, the real reaction should be, how can we get LOTS of people talking about the library, spreading the news by WOMM?
Contagious Marketing (American Libraries, February 2014) has all the information and tips you need to have your messages go viral, and get everyone talking about your library.
I have often shared posts by Jesse Lyn Stoner here, because I think I agree strongly with just about everything she says.
Jesse Lyn was recently the spotlighted in the Huffington Post article Role Model with 20/20 Insight because she achieved success with heart.
An excellent way to lead, especially in libraries, I think.
I’m pleased to have been asked by the training site Webucator to write a post about the skill I think most essential for success. This was hard for me. After thinking long and hard, I have decided that, to me, possession of good communication skills is the most essential quality.
You may wonder why I have chosen a “soft skill” over a “hard skill.” Believe me, it wasn’t easy. I have worked with many people who have not been able to do the jobs they were hired to do. That is, they didn’t possess the hard skills—the ability to perform specific tasks, whether that involved certain software, or math skills, or whatever. That is indeed, frustrating, to say the least! But I tend to think that if an employee has all the hard skills in the world, but is lacking in the most basic soft skills, such as communication, empathy, positivity, time management, and so on, they cannot work effectively and harmoniously with other staff or the people you serve. So I’ve chosen a soft skill, communication, because I do think it is the most basic and important.
If you can’t effectively communicate with those you work with and for, or those you supervise, and perhaps most importantly, your clients, you really are not serving your organization well. Communication involves both sending and receiving messages, and I can think of very few fields where that isn’t important—but it is certainly important in libraries.
I think if you search the literature, you will find that others agree with me about the importance of communication skills. Here are a few that do:
Part of being good at communication is understanding communication styles and being able to flex your style to work well with those with other styles. Want to Be More Productive at Work? Know Your People Style (from The Fast Track) and the book People Styles at Work by Bolton and Bolton are excellent resources about communication styles and style flex.
Like so many other skills, communication is one that we must constantly work at. I know I do.
The post What Makes Many People Successful? presents several quotes about success and then notes that what they have in common is that they describe what success means to the speaker, not what it means in terms of others.
So what does success mean to YOU? Or do you let others define whether you are successful?
Something to think about!
As a former medical librarian, public librarian, and public library system consultant, the provision of medical information to users is often on my mind. The post Just What the Doctor Ordered: Medical Libraries and Public Libraries Reinforcing Community Health describes an excellent example of a medical library partnering with public libraries to provide much-needed information.
If you are in a public library, seek out opportunities to partner with medical libraries. If you are in a medical library, please let public libraries know what you have to offer, and how you can work together. It is all part of our mission to educate the public.
pills
There are many “helping professions:” medicine, nursing, social work, and counseling are just a few. I would add librarianship to the list.
It is important to help those who use our libraries. It is also important to help those who work in our libraries. And finally, it is important to nurture a culture where library staff help each other.
And here’s a post to help you do just that: IDEO’s Culture of Helping. Here are some of the reasons you will want to read it:
- Few things leaders can do are more important than encouraging helping behavior within their organizations.
- Helpfulness must be actively nurtured in organizations, however, because it does not arise automatically among colleagues.
A Life in Libraries 