The Soundtrack of Your Book?

This sounds like a cool thing to me, but maybe you disagree?

A service called Booktrack adds music, sound effects, and sound to the text of e-books.  From the New York Times August 2011 article:  “It makes a new and engaging way to read and really enhances the experience and enhances your imagination and keeps you in the story longer,” Paul Cameron, Booktrack’s 35-year-old co-founder and chief executive, said in an interview. “And it makes it fun to read again. If you’re not reading all the time, it might help you rediscover reading.”

Recently, Booktrack announced the debut of its BookShelf, from which users can browse the Booktrack catalog, try free previews, and purchase titles.  It looks to me like the entire catalog is pretty small, but they plan to continue to release additional titles.  Interestingly, one of their titles is a Salman Rushdie short story.  Mr. Rushdie was apparently skeptical at first, but agreed to give it a try.  “Mr. Rushdie said he was impressed with the orchestra’s work. He was particularly pleased when his 14-year-old son pronounced it ‘super cool,’ he said. ‘What I didn’t want it to sound too much like was special effects,’ he said.”  (Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2012.)

I do like to listen to music while I read.  I haven’t checked it out yet, and maybe I’ll let you know what I think once I do.  In the meantime, if you’ve tried it, I’m interested in your comments.  And if you haven’t, I’m interested in whether you think it’s a good idea.

Photo © 2010 Vectorportal.   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

I Think I’m an Elder Stateswoman!

I think I’ve become an elder stateswoman.  Maybe I should have called my blog “The Elder Stateswoman of Libraries.”  Various online dictionaries I consulted define elder statesman (or stateswoman) as a “prominent, highly experienced older man/woman, especially one acting as an unofficial advisor.”  Is it conceited of me to think I might fit this definition?

I guess I’m not exactly prominent (“widely known,” “eminent”), although maybe I am, in some circles.  But I think over thirty years in the profession qualifies me as “highly experienced.”  And yes, I’m not exactly young, so let’s assume that “older” part of the definition applies.  That leaves “one acting as an unofficial adviser.”   I’m definitely acting as an unofficial advisor more often, especially now that I’m retired.  So, conceited or not, I’m going to start calling myself an elder stateswoman.

I’ve been contacted by individuals who are about to interview for a library directorship, and others who are just wondering how I suggest they become more “marketable” the next time they apply/interview for a job.  Here’s some of my advice:

• Research the library you’re applying at:  look at their web page, their board agendas and minutes, tour the library if possible
• Become active in our state library association, whether on committees, or presenting at conferences
• Become familiar with state laws regarding libraries, especially if you are applying for your first library director job
• If you don’t have the exact same experience they might be looking for, explain how you have similar experience that translates to the job you’re applying for

I’m enjoying being an elder stateswoman.   I like visiting with the next generation of library leaders.  And I like to think that my advice is helping them set out toward their future, and helping libraries to hire good staff.

For further reading:

• Professionalism Matters in Job Search (Michael Stephens’ “Office Hours” column, Library Journal)
• ALA JobList Facebook page 
• AskAManager blog

Photo © 2004 Laughlin Elkind,  Flickr.   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The Power of Blogging

The post 6 Reasons Why You Should Quit Blogging is really targeted toward businesses. And yes, it is from an Internet marketing agency, that is trying to sell you its services.     But, its message is valid, and applies to libraries as well as other types of business.

“It’s difficult to produce valuable posts, and it’s even tougher to do it on a consistent basis. Especially in the beginning, it’s frustrating to create content that no one sees. It’s hard to put your time, money and effort into an endeavor you only hope will lead to new business.” Since I just started blogging a few weeks ago, this quote certainly rings true to me!

It may be a lot easier to simply post library events and news to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, but consider what happens when you do, and the following “reasons” to quit blogging: 

1. You want an uncertain future.  There is no guarantee that the social networks you use will continue to exist, whereas YOU own the content of your blog. 
   
2. You want to sell to the wrong audience.  It’s very easy for individuals to become your fans on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  You may have a lot of “fans” you may never really be able to “sell” to or be relevant to. 
   
3. You don’t want to get the most out of social media.  “Social audiences should be seen as the starting point.”  You should use social media to drive followers to your more substantial content.  
   
4. You don’t want improved rankings.  “Creating content for your blog is one of the most powerful things you can do to improve the way your website ranks in search engines. . . By abandoning blogging, or by only engaging on social websites, you’re giving up on the power content has to generate the links that drive organic ranking improvements.”
   
5. You want to be limited by someone else’s rules.  For example, Twitter limits you to 140 characters.  If you need social networks only to get out your messages, this can severely limit your content. 
   
6. You want to do more busywork and less real work.  You are better off creating unique content via your blog or website and promoting that via social networks, than by spending all of your time simply posting ephemeral content to social media.
   

This is NOT to say you shouldn’t start posting library news and events to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, but it is best to post links there that lead back to your original content on your blog.  So even though it may be hard, don’t quit!

Photo © 2011 paz.ca, Flickr.   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Empowering Employees

Came across this thoughtful post this week:  Leaders Need to Understand the Risk and Trust Relationship.  I agree, it is so true:  “How can we get staff to make more decisions on their own, they always come to us for answers.”   And as the post suggests, employees who are afraid or have trouble making decisions have probably been criticized for making a decision, perhaps making an exception, on their own.    Sometimes this has happened before you became the employee’s manager, and sometimes you may have been the one to criticize the employee, causing them to fear making future decisions on their own.  Either way, if you are their manager now, it is up to you to help change the behavior.  “You have to make them feel safe” in taking risks, and you need to applaud them for doing so—at the same time, discussing why or why not the risk paid off in each particular case.

You need to empower them to make decisions, make exceptions, take risks.  In a way I think it is like being a parent, teaching your children to make their own decisions, while teaching them the parameters for good and safe decisions.   Or, in a way, perhaps it is like the mama bird teaching her babies and then letting them spread their wings.

ALA Looks at Equitable Access to Digital Content

From the PLA Blog:  New ALA Report Explores Challenges of Equitable Access to Digital Content:

The American Library Association (ALA) has released a new report examining critical issues underlying equitable access to digital content through our nation’s libraries. In the report, titled “E-content: The Digital Dialogue,” authors explore an unprecedented and splintered landscape in which several major publishers refuse to sell ebooks to libraries; proprietary platforms fragment our cultural record; and reader privacy is endangered.

“This report reflects both the here and now, and what is to come down the digital road,” said Alan Inouye, director of the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, and editor of the publication.

View the supplement. For more information about the ALA’s efforts on digital content and libraries, visit the American Libraries e-content blog.

Photo © 2011 Daniel Sancho, Flickr.   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Does Your Policy Pass the Smell Test?

I noticed mention of a complaint about body odor the minutes of a Wisconsin library last week.  Unfortunately, this is a topic that comes up periodically, and is a somewhat sticky situation to deal with.   How does a public library balance its desire to be welcoming to a diverse population, against its desire to keep one person’s use from infringing upon the rights of others?

In the history of this topic, the landmark case is that of Richard Kreimer, a homeless man  who sued the town of Morristown NJ, when the Joint Free Public Library of Morristown removed him because of complaints about his personal hygiene.  A 1991 federal court ruling in Kreimer’s favor was overturned the following year, but he was awarded $150,000 in damages.   And apparently, Mr. Kreimer continues to file lawsuits against those who he claims violate his civil rights.

There are many, many examples of libraries with policies that prohibit users from disturbing others because of their poor personal hygiene.  I understand that—but I also understand that sometimes such policies may discriminate against the poor and the homeless, among others.  I don’t presume to know, but it seems to me that for Mr. Kreimer homelessness may be a  life choice—however, for many, it is not.  In the current economy, some people may be one paycheck (or less) away from homelessness.  For many of these people, the public library, the heart of the community, the people’s university, is a place of refuge, a place where they may find resources to help them change and improve their lives.

So as you craft your library policies to deal with this issue, I ask you to also keep in mind the needs of those people you are trying to remove from the library.  The post Welcoming the Homeless Into Libraries (from In the Library With the Lead Pipe) may help you look at the problem differently.   Here’s a quote:

I’d like to dedicate this blog post to some of the wonderful libraries that have met the call for help in their communities, and I’d like to share their stories from my research and reading on this topic. Perhaps their stories can inspire the rest of us to greater understanding of the plight of the homeless. Perhaps they can remind us of our ability–and responsibility–to work with local organizations to create programs and services to assist the needy in our own towns and cities.

For more on the topic, see:

• Library Services to the Poor (ALA)
• Critics Say New Houston Hygiene Rules Target Homeless (ALA, 2005)
• Ordinance Bans Body Odor in Libraries (LA Times, 2005)
• Public Library Bans Offensive Body Odor (UPI, 2009)
• Why So Many Homeless @the Library? 
• Outreach Resources for Services to Poor and Homeless People (ALA)
• Bromhidrosis (Excessive Body Odour)
• Telling An Employee She has Body Odor
• Are Public Libraries Criminalizing Poor People? 

Photo © 2009 Ed Yourdon, Flickr.   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

So Good that People Remark on It

One of my very favorite articles about customer service is “Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service” from Joel Spolsky.  I love everything about it, starting with the title, deliberately chosen because it is about “customer service so good people remark on it.”

Spolsky is the co-founder of a software company—and anyone who knows me knows I have nothing in common with software developers!  Except, I guess Joel Spolsky, who has amazing insight into running a successful company, and delivering excellent customer service.   Read the post, and you will be impressed by his philosophy, and also on how easily the steps can be applied to libraries, and any other field.   You really must read all about the 7 Steps yourself!  But as a little preview, I list them below, and then expand upon a couple of them:

1. Fix everything two ways.
2. Suggest blowing out the dust.
3. Make customers into fans.
4. Take the blame.
5. Memorize awkward phrases.
6. Practice puppetry.
7. Greed will get you nowhere. 

Here are some of my favorites of the seven:

“Suggest blowing out the dust.”  My version of this is “Rephrase the question.”  This step is referring to people who call customer support to say their keyboard isn’t working.  Often, this will be because the keyboard is unplugged.  If you ask them if it’s unplugged, they’ll say indignantly, “Of course it is!  Do you think I’m an idiot?”  But what if you say, “Sometimes the connection gets a little dusty.  Can you do me a favor, unplug the keyboard, blow into the connector, and then plug it back in?”  In the course of doing so, they’ll discover it’s unplugged and come back and say something like “Uh, yeah, that fixed it.”  By rephrasing the question, you did fix their problem, plus you also allowed them to save face.

“Make customers into fans.”  Spolsky tells of an experience with Lands’ End (yup, good old Lands’ End, based right here in Wisconsin).  He ordered shirts with their logo, and when the shirts arrived it turned out that the logo was too dark to read.  Lands’ End took them back, redid the shirts with a different color logo, and Fedexed the shirts the next day, all at no charge.  Let me repeat that:  No Charge!  Yes, they lost money on that transaction, but they have probably gotten many orders they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise, because now Joel Spolsky orders all of his logo gear from them, and tells everyone he knows to use them too.  “When customers have a problem and you fix it, they’re actually going to be even more satisfied than if they never had a problem in the first place.”  (Isn’t that amazing?  And isn’t that easy to do in libraries?  And don’t we want our customers to be “fanatically devoted customers, who will prattle on and on about what a great job we do?”)

“Practice puppetry.”   When an irate customer is complaining, or venting, you can never really win these arguments, and if you think you have “won,” what have you really won?  You’ve probably made them so angry they’ll never darken the library’s door again, and they’ll tell everybody they know not too as well (kind of the opposite of making them into a fan; see previous paragraph.)  Instead, try to remember they’re not really angry at you, they’re angry at the library, or the policy, or the situation.  Pretend you’re a puppeteer and they’re angry at your puppet.  What can you make your puppet say that will make them a happy camper?  “I’m sorry” is a good place to start.

Photo © 2008 Gary Knight, Flickr. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

Storytelling with a Twist

I just read the most uplifting story on NPR’s Health blog.  It is about a program called TimeSlips.  “The idea is to show photos to people with memory loss, and get them to imagine what’s going on — not to try to remember anything, but to make up a story.”  What an amazing idea.  The person with dementia doesn’t have to try to remember something about their own life,  which is often frustrating for both them and their family members.  Yet, it does allow them to communicate, something they may not be able to do otherwise:  “An independent study published in Nursing Research showed participants were happier and better able to communicate in general.”  The story’s closing quote says it all:  “Basting [TimeSlip’s founder] tells of one man who came to her in tears of thanks. For the past three years, he had been driving his wife crazy, trying to get her to talk about shared memories. He tried her on storytelling so they could talk about the story and play with the plot line. And eventually, he was able to communicate with her again.”

Of course, this story has me thinking of the great program opportunity this could be for public libraries.  You could have a training session for TimeSlips facilitators.  You could have a facilitator do a session for people with dementia and their families.  You could have a facilitator talk to family members about how they could use the program with their loved one at home.   Perhaps you can think of other ways to incorporate this into a library program?

I’m especially pleased to see that TimeSlips is based right here in Wisconsin!

Photo © 2007 Patrick Doheny, Flickr. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

Hiring? Don’t forget about Recruitment

It seems I’m seeing more announcements for job openings lately so I thought I’d share some thoughts on hiring.  I’ll focus on just one aspect of hiring, that of recruitment; in fact I’ll focus on just one aspect of recruitment.  Although recruitment includes not only writing a job ad, and posting it in print and online resources, I’m going to focus on the other part of recruitment, that of actively encouraging candidates to apply.

Don’t get me wrong:  The creation and placement of a well-written, informative job advertisement, and distributing it far and wide, is an equally important part of recruitment, and one that is worthy of its own blog post, perhaps for another day.   But all too often “recruitment” ends there, especially for public libraries.  They put up the ad and then sit back and wait for applications to roll in (and are sometimes surprised or even disappointed when they don’t.)   They are forgetting that other piece of recruitment.

Recruiting applicants to apply is essential.  Increasing the size of your candidate pool will increase your chances of finding the best fit for your position.  So how can you go about it?  Ask your employees or other colleagues if they have met anyone who might be a good candidate for your open position—and then contact them and invite them to apply.  Encourage your staff to promote the library and its vacancy to their professional networks.  Contact other libraries and library systems, and ask them to encourage good people to apply—or ask them to suggest names and contact them directly.  People who might not have applied are often flattered to be invited, and just need that little bit of encouragement.  Contact people you have met and been impressed with at conferences and other professional workshops or meetings.  Even if people you contact don’t apply, they may often suggest someone else who might be interested, or may encourage others to apply.

I have a couple of ideas why those responsible might be hesitant to go the extra step to recruit applicants:

• The economy (or the “There are lots of people out of jobs.  They’ll find us!” attitude.)   Yes, there are lots of people looking for jobs.  But don’t assume they’ll find you, and certainly don’t assume that the best qualified people will find you and apply.  The hiring process should not be a contest to see who can find you!
• Time (or the “We don’t have time to do that because we need someone right now!” attitude.)   Staff is probably the largest part of your library’s budget, and your most valuable asset.  Although you may be short-staffed, you can’t afford not to take the time to hire the right person, which includes recruiting qualified candidates.  If you don’t take the time, you may pay for it by making a bad hiring decision.
• Skill (or the “We don’t know how to do that!” attitude. )  Or, in the case of a library board hiring a new director, “We’re not librarians.  We don’t have that network to tap into!”  In some cases, that may be true, but you can find help easily by reaching out—to staff at your library, other libraries and their staff, and your public library system, for starters.
• Assumptions (or the “People who aren’t already looking for a job won’t be interested!” attitude.)  Yes, some of the most talented people already have jobs and may not currently be thinking of changing jobs.  But, given the right opportunity, they just might be interested.  These talented people are the ones you want—so why not try to convince them to join your staff?

Don’t fall prey to any of these, or any other, excuses.  Go out there and find good qualified people and tell them why they should apply.  You’ll be glad you did!

Photo © 2006 Chris Owens, Flickr. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

Making Customers Work Too Hard

Today’s post in The M Word blog struck a chord with me.  Here’s the start:

May I Vent?

If I go to one more library’s website that doesn’t include the director’s name, I am going to SCREAM.

I get it.  I feel the same way.  I don’t think it’s great customer service to not include that information, or “hide” it somewhere: Is it under “About the Library”?  or “Contact Us”?  or somewhere else?   And when you do find it, there is often no phone number or email address (as Nancy Dowd “vents” in The M Word).   Nancy goes on to bemoan the lack of contact information for media contact and marketing staff.  Granted, small libraries may not have people dedicated to these areas, but she makes the point that someone should be designated, and their contact information given.

The focus of The M Word is marketing, so it makes sense that media and marketing are mentioned.  For me, it goes even further.  I want to know WHO (or at least what phone number or email address) to contact for WHAT:  Reference question?  Problem with a hold, or overdue item?  What time is this program?   What title is the book discussion group reading?   Yes, some of these questions can be answered by whoever answers the phone, at the library’s “main” number (and yes, many libraries have only one phone number.)    But that’s not always the case.  Presenting the caller with a recording to “press 1 if. . .” or “if you know your party’s extension. . .” are not the most welcoming way to greet the people you are serving.  (And how can they know the extension, if you never tell them?)   And yes, I’ve now gone from venting about the website, to venting about the phone system.  That’s how venting works.  [smile]

When I talk to library staff about customer service, one of the pieces of advice I share is to “think like a customer.”  When you call a business or visit their web page, how does it make you feel when you have to dig for the information you want?  I think some libraries are making their customers work too hard to contact them.  And I think I know why, in some cases.  I know that some library directors are concerned about their privacy and that of their staff members, and I don’t mean to minimize that, but I do think we have to balance that concern with our need to provide the best possible service to our customers.  What is that perfect balance?  I don’t think there’s one perfect answer—every library administrator has to answer that for their library.  But I’d like to see libraries err on the side of making things easier for customers.  After all, that’s why we’re here, right?

• May I Vent? 
• Anonymity, Libraries, and Websites
• Stalking—Is It Really a Huge Problem for Libraries?