I also had two valid reference questions today that I totally rocked out. The one I’ll mention was from an education student at a local university who was looking for information on Resource Rooms in Special Education.

I have no idea what Resource Rooms in Special Education means – so I did a quick google search and fell onto the about.com web page that gave me a little bit of background. I knew pretty much off the bat that we weren’t going to have much in the public library on the topic, especially in our print materials. The student related that she had already been through WilsonSelect and ERIC without much success. She said she had found one article that she Interloaned from 2000, but it wasn’t enough, and that she wasn’t finding much at her University Library.

I did a quick keyword search for “resource room special education” in ERIC and came up with something from 2008. But she was right, this was gonna be a little bit narrow on the results. I’m not familiar enough with educational terms to do the whole synonym thing – so my next step was to head to Google Scholar with the author’s name as a search.

We found the original article and I pointed out how Google Scholar shows you who has cited the article – and how you can use that to kinda expand your search. (Forgive me, but I’ve forgotten the official citation search database I was using at WSU — somebody refresh my memory please.) Then – once she grabbed the journal names that the articles were in – she could likely use her University’s resources more wisely. Her professor had enlightened her to ERIC and WilsonSelect – but something was nagging at me that she had failed to mention the specific journals as opposed to the conglomerate databases.

The end result was that she walked out with what I’m going to take as a swing in her step – a little confidence – ready to do the business herself. It really saved MY day today – almost as much as my sole.

*edit* Oh. I almost forgot to mention Google Reader Play. There. I mentioned it.

Yeah. I know. Not really all that grand right? But it’s made for some fun diversions at work and in chat, so I thought I’d mention it.

Actually, the past couple of days I have mostly spent in bed. I think between Friday and Saturday I was out of bed for about 8 hours total.

Then I went to work on Sunday. It was hellish.

So I really haven’t had a lot of time to cruise the interwebs in order to scrounge up any other tasty morsels. About a week or two ago I did manage to stumble across Programming Librarian. Immediately added it to my diet of feeds and look forward to seeing their booth at PLA (booth #1035) in a couple of weeks.

I’m also rather intrigued by this Anythink business. They’re really pushing out their message along the social channels – but I still don’t quite get it. LISNews ran a story about ‘em back in September. The comments on the story, while brief, are somewhat telling. (They seem a bit angry too, don’t they?) I especially like the “branding” comment. Right now this seems like somebody has taken a library system, changed the philosophy, and really pumped up the marketing. David Lee King did a presentation for them in October, also mentioning the word “brand” in his blurb. I look forward to seeing them at PLA as well, and maybe getting my hands on a kazoo. I kinda feel like I’ll have to watch myself though, or risk indoctrination. I really need to know more to say anything else about it.

More about PLA Portland – I’m once again working on constructing a map to guide me around town.

View PLA 2010 in a larger map

Thankfully, http://www.portlandbeer.org had already mapped out the breweries, and http://foodcartsportland.com the infamous food carts – so that saved me a lot. If any PDX residents want to drop some helpful hints on what else we should hit up while we’re there – the comment box is open.

*edit 3/12/10 3:55pm*
just came across this video

*edit 3/12/10 4:18pm*
Hidden Portland Facebook page

*edit 3/21/10 1:16pm*
Zinester’s Guide to Portland

I have sadly become one of them.

There’s a lot of stress in library world right now. What with property taxes taking a nose dive and the economic downturn as a whole, not only is the general public on edge, but your friendly, normally heavily sedated librarians are feeling the grind as well. At our library we’re looking at a 15% reduction in the budget, on top of the 5% or so drop we took in last year. Where does that leave us? Substitute librarians are a thing of the past for now. Department, committee, and any other meetings that take us away from the desk are being shuffled and cut and spaced out further and further apart. (I can’t say that this is completely a negative thing. There are often better ways to communicate within an organization than through monthly meetings. Still, the encouragement to become involved with your professional organizations or any other outside the box thinking is not as boisterous as when I first arrived on the scene about 5 years ago. Our lot has been cast, and that lot means that) Our eight hour days are now to be spent with additional hours on the desk dealing with increasing amounts of reference transactions.

Yet, even with the increased gate counts and reference transactions – libraries are taking a hit. It’s a cruel twist that in the times we’re used most, we don’t get the support we need. So it goes.

So I am pressed for time, and I’m pressed for sanity. It hasn’t been an easy three years for me. I’ve experienced unspeakable pain and loss, well, unspeakable in that I won’t talk about it to anybody but my therapist. I really had no desire to sit down here and type anything out. But the other night I was lying awake in bed and I was thinking about how good it felt to finally sit down and actually think things through and just write it out. I have a post about group/silent study rooms or the lack thereof to thank for that. I’ve read Nicole’s work on the web as far back as I can remember, but group study rooms and their demand has become such a flashpoint in the past two years that I had to respond. I was a little unfair in picking at her choice of words, but I was trying to convey that there was equal frustration on the other side of the coin in regards to what libraries can and can’t do with the space and resources that we have. I think she understands that, and I’m glad that she takes the time to write up posts that are more often than not worth the time none of us have to read.

So I want to start writing again.

I used to put pen to paper daily. I used to love the ink releasing and actually used to have decent handwriting. I’d go all out for the loopy letters. These days I’ve been reduced to chicken scratch. I would much rather type than pen. I think I just have to accept the new medium, but I can’t accept where it’s put me as regards to my writing. I don’t need to find the time. I need to make the time, getting back to the introductory paragraph. I don’t want to be that person who shuns off something because they feel they’re too busy. I know I can do this. I see other people doing it everyday.

There are really three things that stopped me from writing. One was the aforementioned unspeakable. I went to a dark place, and I think I’m just about ready to emerge from that. I’m not afflicted with clinical depression, thank goodness – but I was definitely not in a good place for the past 3 years. The second was the chilling effect from worrying about what work would think about what I wrote. It was doggone thoughtless to register this site and expect to write about professional matters without fearing the repercussions. I’ve got a backup plan in the works for when I feel like I need to vent, something akin to this, but not. The last reason was that I’ve become fed up with my hosting provider. All I wanted was for the lifestream to update on its own, every 30 minutes or so – but these guys haven’t been able to get it done. So – for the first time since Yezbick.com has existed (2003?) – I’m likely to migrate to a different host once my lease runs up here.

There are other things, of course. Facebook and twitter are worthwhile distractions. But they don’t give me the release I can get from pounding at the keys to usher in an 800+ word update. They distract me from that. I’m fairly convinced that this is my return. That I’ll go ahead and make an hour an evening and have a go at it. I’ve got plenty of material to rehash. For starters there’s my delicious account. I could talk about any one of those sites that I’ve found it worthwhile to store into my own personal database. It was actually my “Read it Later” queue that inspired me to sit down here tonight. I’ve let it grow and I meant to make this post an exploration of the links I haven’t quite gotten to as of yet. Instead I’m on a rant. Perhaps I’ll put that off until tomorrow. I’ve become quite adept at procrastination.

1000 words. I promise it won’t be like this every night. Not even close. More than likely it will be more akin to:

Interesting –

Social Eyes presents librarians with an exploration and discussion of new social tools and current trends. The column will address both practical and innovative uses of social technologies that will improve the quality and efficiency of library services.

Unfortunately I don’t remember where I grabbed this from – as Read It Later – doesn’t give you the spot where you actually noted it from your twitter stream or wherever. So I can’t give credit. SOZ. This isn’t the case with my delicious account. There I often make the effort to at least plug a little bit of what the site is about and try to hook up a via tag. Either way – I think there’s a lot more to be said about the things I come across – if just to make me feel better and more productive.

And here I am – closing out this rant – and it turned into something exactly the opposite of what I expected it to be. Here’s hoping I have the same resolve tomorrow to go over what I didn’t get to today.

But every superhero has their kryptonite, and the other day I ran into mine.

But every superhero overcomes their kryptonite – and this is how I overcame mine:

Sometimes it’s best to channel your angry into creativity.

I’d already posted this to twitter – but I thought I’d give the fam a taste of what I sometimes encounter in my daily life.

- Laughter Club – 3 per month – 2.5 years
- idea came from senior
- folder with “laughter club” written on it
- Senior Residence
- What is a laughter club
- Improve health
- reduce stress
- feel more positive and optimistic
- what happens
- breathing
- stretching
- laughter exercising
- good-hearted living
- Unique features
- no jokes in laughter club
- sounds of laughter and motion create exercise
- simulated laughter stimulates laughter
- laughter exercises done in group setting
- led by a certified laugher leader
All you need is a willingness to laugh
- how do you become a laughter leader
- www.worldlaughtertour.com
- What does it cost?
- $400 for training workshop
- texts separately
- $75 annual registration
- $45 annual certification renewal
- can be run for free or a fee
- Why Laughter is Good for you
- reduces stress

- Talking points
- partners for vibrant educated communities
- partners was chosen for a reason – toned down
- essential for a free people

Mayor R.T. Rybak couldn’t make it
Mike speaking for him
Urban Libraries Council
Making cities stronger
- Publication “How to start a business in Minneapolis”
- business plans
- working through the county
- 20 page document
- Strategic Plan Language of Closing the Gap
- Mayor’s speech to the city
- “Economic Opportunity in a City that Works”
- www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/speeches/speech_sotc2008.asp
- mayor outlined economic development of the city

- Build an investment strategy in youth
- Three part program to the Minneapolis Promise
- working closely with the libraries
- 1. Step up – at the university – interns – University of Minnesota
- effective feeder system for young persons of color
- 2. College and Career centers at every Minneapolis High School
- online
- 3. Free College
- 720 High School students went to school for free
- Founders free tuition program

Amy Ryan Director Hennepin County Library

- Strengthen Partnerships
- Foster non-traditional Partnerships

- Hennepin merged with City of Minneapolis
- Better governance
- streamline services

- Lifelong learning
- the people’s university
- the old model needs to be updated

- 21st century library with an interactive learning environment
- People are now looking for librarian’s to help them navigate the 6 billion hits on google
- Moving away from 1 to 1 reference and towards 1 to many
- in the community – online -

- Importance of early literacy
- Importance of online resources
- HCL’s award winning website
- Partnerships
- Head Start
- connect with 1500 families every year
- Read to me
- incarcerated parent records story – book sent to home
- upon release set up with early literacy materials
- Two Literacy Mobiles
- go to where your users are
- cultural fairs, school events
- Serving New Americans
- HCL’s website World Links
- specific resources that welcome new americans to the county
- Welcome Stranger
- Urban Libraries Council

- Business information
- grassroots
- Micro entrepreneur and Business Planning Building

- Library as Place
- for families
- free
- generator of economic development
- Henn. Co. Board of Commissioners approved expansion of library hours
- paid for with the overage of tax revenue from Ballpark
- Sunday hours – family time

- Marketing materials from HCL displayed
- New Central opened 2yrs ago
- teen section
- new american section

- Space Allocation 30/30/40
- 30% children, 30% teen, 40% adult

Carlos Manjarrez, Senior Research Associate – Urban Institute
- Return on Investment and Monetizing what Libraries Do
- Shared a story about his visit to the mall of america
- fulfilling certain needs in many different ways
- at end of search, transaction, walk away with what we needed
- obvious analogies to libraries
- Information Literacy
- Job seekers
- Libraries in business of building human and social capital
- Economic environment
- communities amenities
- workforce
- opportunities
- Conversations
- not framed in the typical manner
- difficult to monetize – and in some cases you don’t want to
- meeting specific needs
- really important needs in economic and private sphere
- example – memphis library move – physical placement of the library
- front door wasn’t facing well healed community or lower income community
- right in btwn the two – symbolic

Mike – Far more likely that someone (70%) will be trained for employment and retained than a business startup succeed — (29%) nature of the beast.
Amy, Director – Guys Read – very important that we quantify the impact of what we’re doing

http://www.peabody.org/pla/resources.html

julie.edwards@umontana.edu

Overview
Why you should program
Tales from Peabody
- 55k people
Striking a Balance
Making peace with grant writing
Finding and creating programs

Program really for 3 groups of people

Programming librarians
- balance
- renew your energy
easy to get burned out

Aspiring program writers
- tools

Directors / Asst Directors / Board
- institutional ethic from the top down
- must become routine
- creative / play
- be supportive – hire librarians that want to program

Why you should program -

- “it’s the job and responsibility of the public library to be a part of the community” – the main ethic
- programming let’s you be visible and connect in your communities
- good for publicity – newspapers, cable, fliers in churches
- think carefully about branding – have a tag
- stay relevant
- circ stats are going down
- you need statistics for relevance
- change focus from circ stats to door count
- people want and expect entertainment
- why not give them what they want
- keep patrons happy
- entice new patrons who may become regulars
- programming begets programming
- people expect it to continue
- increase membership in friends and donations
- attracts people who WANT it to continue
- programming increases materials circulation
- set up a display
- programming creates library advocates
- gets people in the building and excited

Two reasons why programming works at Peabody
- aggressively program
- 1 or more programs a week
- book group
- YA dropin
- every day a craft / game
- the hook is the food
- really really encourage you to try it
- mission of library really tied into programming
- Support of the Director, Asst Director, Trustees
- Emotional
- even if their idea doesn’t sound that great — be supportive
- don’t say no, tweak it
- Show up at the program – once or twice – just by being there you will be giving your librarians moral support
- Encourage your library board members to do this as well
- they see what’s going on
- get a sense of your staff
- they can circulate the room
- Financial

Tales from Peabody

- Teen programs are big – 200 to 300 programs a year
- partner up Adult and Teen programming
- example – a fencing program / scrapbooking
- play around and see what you can combine – you may be surprised

- Primetime Peabody
- Active older adults
- $5,000 LSTA grant – 25 programs
- 539 attendees
- 433 unique sign-ups
- let them run themselves after a while
- writing workshop spun off into it’s on weekly group
- get the ball rolling, set up the room space
- Alternative Teen Fashion Show
- learn how to sew
- competition ups the ante
- really successful
- Annual Fall Concert series
- music very easy to do
- series of 5 concerts from August to December
- called the high school
- local college
- music students like to do this
- resume builder
- less than $150 per concert
- 35 to 60 people a concert
- gentleman wanted to sponsor
- now can pay musicians
- gratifying

Tips for success

- Change the philosophy
- make it a priority
- think of it as part of your job
- other duties as assigned
- Don’t be afraid to fail
- learn from the mistakes

Tips on making it a priority
- Balance your time
- the key is pushing something off the plate
- knowing your library’s cycle
- know when your library is really busy
- know when it is quieter
- summers – christmas
- know when things can wait
- you can always shelf read
- nobody is going to die if you don’t order books
- you can get to it – it’s ok – leave it for a week
- freedom to be creative
- multitasking in a library is a necessity
- don’t discourage work at the reference desk
- let your librarians run a book group during library time
- program when you’re actually working
- make friends / delegate

Grant Writing

- If you are going to do programming you have to write grants
- can take days / weeks
- Variety of grants
- ALA grants are a good way of getting your feet wet
- cast a wide net
- look locally, nationally, businesses
- budget the time
- learn about the process
- create some boilerplate information
- history of programming
- library mission
- have a hook
- catchy title / theme – work through grants
- collaborate with other librarians / businesses / community
- granting agencies like to see community process / program
- friends of the library

Finding and Creating Programs
- Use local talent
- be prepared for overanxious programmers
- keep you on file
- doesn’t fit in with programming cycle this year
- Surf the net
- Don’t do all the work yourself
- Volunteer instructors
- Wind up and Go Programs
- Creative writing workshop example
- Book Groups
- Use local networks
- local libraries
- librarians love to share information
- Know your community – Know what they want
- Advertise Advertise Advertise
- make a friend at the local paper
- Plan ahead
- room size
- food (refreshments will be served)
- Be Flexible
- sometimes stuff is not going to work
- you can’t judge one on another
- presenter may be late
- know how to improvise
- If you are programming – you become a public face
- put your best face forward even if you are over it
- Make it part of your day to day job, an institutional ethic
- plan 5 months out

We can be passive and wait for the community to come to us or we can be proactive and offer a series of programs that invite the communities in.

Q&A
Difficult to program with grants – bc if you don’t get the grant – you can’t run the program.
How do you learn your community?
calling local businesses
donate materials

Rx for Small Libraries
Carmel Clay Public Library

3 desks – Reference / Technology / Reader’s Advisory
Not just RA – busy part of the library
Commitment is made to RA

Initial Training
- from manager
- 2 weeks
- bookmarks / displays
- pics of librarians with books with lists
- how to talk to readers

Genre study
- flexibility
- romance (chocolates)
- westerns (cowboy hats)

Reader’s Advisory for the Public Library – Joyce G. Saricks

Appeal Annotations

Library Journal Article 2007

Genre study
- core list of authors
- Homework
- CCPL Sample Annotation
- helps to think about the book

Joyce Saricks column – write a reader profile

Cross training
- useful books and websites – how to use
- return to the starting point – reread Saricks

Medium Sized Library

Libraries are notorious for being behind the curve.
- meeting yesterday’s needs today
- we love databases but we hide them from our users

Web 2.0 Levels the playing field
- magic wand idea

Web 2.0 is
- social
- collaborative
- creative
- personal

Web 2.0 is about customization – individuality
It’s your library – we should make it your library with tools
- think about goals which drive services to your community

Aren’t they just going to ignore me? Maybe
What do I do? Experiment
- These technologies can’t be understood in the abstract
Designing for uncertainty – motto of the virtual library

Flickr slideshow wrapped in a website
LibraryThing – what engages your user
Teens made videos on YouTube – and the users are engaging

Online Summer Reading
- eVanced – 300 book reviews from teens – worked
- Teen Book & Poetry forum didn’t work
- threaded
- Don’t be thwarted by failure

2.0
- my life
- your life
- our life
- there is no failure

We use people
- you can’t do it all
- have a team
- focus

Don’t forget your staff

Wiki people
- Wetpaint private login
- 23 things program – over 200 libraries have done this
- using a wiki for the FAQ
- it’s not going away – you can’t ignore it

What have we learned?
- 2.0 website is moving towards conversation
- new way of interacting and connecting with your library

It’s all about you.

Michael Stephens

Where are we now
OCLC – library website use is down 20%

hometown library recently blocked access to facebook and myspace

Is a link to your library’s website in wikipedia

The Wii is hot

Business week found young adults are creators of content

How should the library evolve?
- Ask Here instead of Reference
- Nashville Public LIbrary teen page
- roving reference
- flickr

The Library is transparent
- we are told how the library is spending its money
- speak in a human voice “human conversations sound human” – Cluetrain Manifesto
- say yes
- Hennepin County Library has commenting inside their catalog
- throw out the culture of perfect “let’s look at this one more time before we send this upstairs”
- let the library play

The library is human

Please bring your heart with you to work

Control Fades

Meet the Mission
Convey the Vision
- if it fits in the mission – do it

3 things
- Learn to learn
- Adapt to Change
- Scan the Horizon

Blyberg
Keen on 2.0

Fundamental ideological splits
Andrew Keen – cult of the amateur

Getting a handle on what it means to us

Reasons why we shouldn’t be involved with Web 2.0
- The Great Seduction – Eleven Fashionable Thoughts about Digital Utopianism

- Blyberg: Web 2.0 is the practical application of a network coupled with….

“Writing has never been a democratic process.”

“Ambiguity and paradox are all part of the picture, and that’s ok.” We need to learn to accept it and move on.

Andrew Keen’s manifesto is a wonderful example of what can happen to us if we submit to fear.

Q&A
How do we balance the privacy vs access issues?
- Stephens - King said – if there is filtering in libraries – and somebody says let me in – they have to let you in
- Illinois had a state initiative to block social networking sites

- Blyberg - our notions of privacy are antiquated
- if you are online – at some point you need to submit information about yourself
- talk to our patrons candidly
- these are the risks – we would like to show you how to avoid them

- Stephens - We have a great opportunity to be guides
- especially with teens
- jenny levine – strategy guide

I set up camp on the Adult Nonfiction floor – and checked Netstumbler for a Network — and came across only a very strong encrypted signal. I asked the man at the reference desk (not sure if he was a librarian or not – but I sure hope so) whether or not they had wifi. He responded in the negative with a lil info about Starbucks having one and maybe that’s what I was picking up. I thanked him and went back to my window seat.

Then all hell broke loose.

It started with thunder. Intermittent at first. Then the sky went pitch black. I MEAN DARKNESS. The wind began whipping trees sideways and branches were flying around. WALLS OF WATER. I was stranded.

I approached the desk again, observing as I did that the gentleman was in the process of reading some website flashing a Minority Report Banner. Definitely not busy.

Me: “Excuse me. Do you know how big this storm is?”
Him: “No.”
Me: (Puzzled) Well, do you know if it was supposed to rain today?”
Him: (Somewhat annoyed, perhaps?) “I don’t really keep up with the weather.”
Me: Blink. Blink. (pick up jaw from floor)
Him: You can go down to the 2nd floor and use our internet terminals if you need to.
Me: Blink Blink. Uhhh. Ok. 2nd floor. Right. Thanks.

So I go down to the second floor – and remember that signing onto the terminal in Dekalb requires a library card — which in my case is tucked underneath the glass cover on my desk for fond remembrances and posterity. Signing on requires that I go to the desk and get a desk pass – which I do – and then sign on – for all of two minutes — to check the weather…

Lesson learned — or better said — lesson known but reinforced:
If you can help the patron — help the patron. You are the conduit between the patron and the information they desire. My request — or at least my hint of a request — was not something outrageous – and not something I should’ve been sent to a different floor to accomplish on my own. A minute long request wound up taking nearly 20 minutes…

It may be a tad bit spoiled of me — but I’ll remember this experience, and employ it – if ever I am to be employed…

BTW — Storm passed about an hour later. Several trees were down and the houses at the head of the street where I was staying were completely without power — a tree having crashed down on Coventry Street – knocking out the street light on Scott as well…