I know that my first week isn’t over yet - but I wanted to share what I’ve learned so far.

First, the people and the library are awesome! As you all know (if you’re in the working world) that is the most important thing to look for in a job!

Second, metadata is cool! I can’t wait to actually get my hands dirty (which I’ll get to do this afternoon).

Third, EverNote is essential! I learned about this program from Iris at CIL. It was very handy in keeping my conference notes organized. I never could find a use for it after that - but here it is. If you’re starting a new job and want to keep track of all of those training notes and to do lists - this is the tool to use.

Well, it’s back to some training for me - this morning we’re going to do some copy cataloging.

You may be wondering why I’ve written about change so much lately - well that’s because I have a big one on the horizon for me. I’ve been holding in this secret for too long now!

After 6 years at Jenkins Law Library, I will be leaving on May 8th and moving on to a new position. I cannot share more details yet (papers to sign), but my notice has been given at work and the house hunt has begun.

The change will be hard for me - Jenkins was my first job right out of college and I’ve learned so much and had so many opportunities while there - but at the same time it’s going to be a very exciting time for me.

Keep an eye out for more information later this month!!

On the opposite end of things (I’m referring to my last post from a few minutes ago) - what can managers do to keep new employees motivated? Ryan Healy writes at Brazen Careerist about 7 ways to motivate your millennial employees.

What an amazing list! And a great guide for managers.

One that strikes home for me is #6, Be my friend. I had a manager once (long long ago) who sat me down and told me that we couldn’t be friends - yes, he actually said that - he said it wasn’t appropriate for managers to be friends with their employees and that one day, when I became a manager I’d understand. Well, I can tell you that just ain’t so! I’m friends with the employee I manage and it has worked out just great. Giving a little respect to those who work under you can make all of the difference in the way they complete their work.

Other great tips:

1. Be Spontaneous
You don't have to make any drastic changes. Something as small as going out for a long lunch with a few co workers could be enough to keep me from going insane in my cubicle. If you want to get a little crazy, tell me to go home at 1pm every once in a while - and really mean it. If I think you don't really mean it, I won't use it. Even holding a scheduled meeting in a different location, like a local coffee shop or deli can throw a wrench in the status quo.

5. Keep me in the loop
Not having any idea about major business events on the horizon can be really frustrating. I realize there is often confidential information that needs to stay in the hands of upper management, but I want to understand where I fit in. For example, if I'm on the iMac team then it's fine if you don't tell me about the iPhone. But if you want me to do work on the iPhone, you have to tell explain to me what I'm working on. If you don't trust me to keep confidential information confidential, you should fire me.

Read the entire list and share it with those around you (not just managers).

Technorati Tags: career, millennials

Do something about it! That’s Rachel’s message - and a great one at that! We can all complain the day away (and it’s totally necessary to get things off of your chest or you’ll explode) - but in the end it comes down to you.

If we’re going to continue to remain relevant as a profession, we need first to take personal responsibility — for remaining informed, for building something that goes beyond ourselves, for moving forward in our careers. Our institutions are nothing without their people; our profession is built from our multiple and ongoing contributions to the field. It’s difficult to be proactive in moving ourselves or the profession forward if a sense of entitlement and a belief that we are subject to forces beyond our control permeates our careers.

Read the whole post.

[Via Bill Drew on the Library 2.0 Interest Group on Facebook]

Dear Librarian,

It's been over a decade since Library Journal conducted a job satisfaction survey. That study, in 1994, brought attention to the graying of librarianship and has been quoted widely in both government and media. It also unleashed passionate discussion of salaries, image, and job challenges and persuaded us to do two other surveys, on non-MLS librarians and on librarians of color.

It's time for another wide-ranging survey of the field"”and, like that earlier study, published November 1, 1994–we want it to be more than a mere statistical report. We hope you'll participate by clicking on the link below (or copy and paste it into your browser). The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

www6.rresults.com/mrIWeb/mrIWeb.dll?I.Project=S0082461B

Results of the survey will be shared in a cover story in the May 1 Library Journal. As a thank you for participating, your library will be entered into a drawing to win one of two $250 American Express Gift Cards.

We understand that much of this data is sensitive in nature and pledge that all data will be shown in aggregate form only. With your permission, an editor may contact you to discuss your comments further for inclusion in the article. We will respect any requests for anonymity in these conversations.

Thank you in advance for your time. Please share this link with your colleagues. We want to hear from a wide swath of library staff in all kinds of jobs and at all levels.

Sincerely,
Francine Fialkoff
Editor-in-Chief

I’m writing up a report for one of my classes. I have to compare 2 library associations and I chose SLA & AALL since they’re both close to what I do. One way I can gather info is to ask others - so if you’re a member of either or both and want to share a pro, con, or story with me - please feel free. The report is due on Sunday - but I leave for Internet Librarian on Sunday so I’ll probably hand it in early.

In case you didn’t already know the newest issue of Lisjobs’ Professional Development Newsletter - Info Career Trends is out. This issue covers writing for publication.

SlimTimer is a nifty little tool that I read about on TechCrunch. It provides you with a web based personal timer. This is great for people who work from home or work for time. You can keep track of your time and then run reports for both yourself and anyone else who has shared their timer with you.

While it does still depend on the honesty of the employee, it’s a pretty neat way to see how much time everyone is spending on certain tasks.

Technorati Tags: SlimTimer

I just realized how long it has been since I’ve written anything. I’m trying to get things organized around the house before I start classes. I’m currently reading The Accidental Systems Librarian. In addition, at work I’m working on a huge project to replace the software we’re using for ILL. So as you can see I’ve been a little busy.

This project I’m working on is so much bigger than I thought it would be when I started - I’m loving it, but it takes up a lot of my time. I find myself solving problems in my dreams - you know it’s big when that starts happening. Last summer I developed an application for our Document Delivery department. They weren’t using any particular software to handle their orders or statistics so it was a fresh start for me - hard, but still easier than replacing something that has been in place for several years. When I completed that the Research and ILL departments wanted something to replace what they use to bill time and keep track of ILL requests. So this summer that’s my project. I have decided to replace 2 applications with one. Right now the ILL department uses one application to bill time and create invoices and another to send out ILL requests to other libraries. This means that there is a ton of duplication going on. Plus, neither application is specifically designed for our type of library.

After at least 6 hours of meetings and 2 months of programming - we thought we were ready to pass the new product on to the ILL and Research departments for testing, so my assistant and I sat down yesterday and went over the entire process and how it will be entered into our database. We left the meeting with a weeks worth of fixes before we can let it go into the testing phase.

As hard as it is to keep track of all of the information we need to keep (both for statistical purposes and to produce an accurate invoice) I’m really learning a lot about the way things are done on the other side of the library. I have no idea how they kept track of everything so accurately without an all in one solution (like I’m building), but they did!

Anyway, I’m still here, reading what everyone else is talking about - but I have one thought on my mind - finish this project!!!

Jessamyn has posted a great image over at librarian.net. The image shows a chart that explains a library director’s job. I think all employees should have to create a chart like this. I think that if we all had one of these we could show them to our board members when we’re up for review. This way they’d see that the web manager doesn’t just make sure that the web page looks pretty - or that the reference librarian doesn’t just sit behind the desk answering simple questions.

Most people (at least at my library) go above and beyond in order to do what’s best for the library - and a one page job description is not going to explain that to a board member when that person is up for review. Just my 2 cents.

WOW! Change is the major theme on the biblioblogosphere right now. Meredith has a great post about Knowledge Management at her institution.

T. Scott has a great comment on the post:

One of the things that I would encourage you to remember is that it doesn't take a LOT of the people in an organization to make change happen. The cultural shifts happen very subtly, when a small core of forward thinking people adopt new tools and processes and start to demonstrate successes with them.

This is how I get most of my work done. When I decided that I didn’t want to be the only one adding content to the Intranet anymore and when our staff decided they wanted improved communication in the library I went right to my deputy director. I told her what I wanted to do and she said okay. I did not consult with anyone else. I went about my job designing a communication and knowledge management hub for our library. While I was working on it I would drop hints about how things would work when it was done and the staff started talking. When I released it I made sure to offer a happy upbeat presentation - happiness is contagious. Seven months later I can say that at least 1/3 of our staff is using the Intranet on a regular basis. But Meredith is right:

Clearly, though, the solution to these problems is not so simple as creating an Intranet or a wiki or whatever. There has to be a real change in culture or people won't use the tools they are given. That's really where the managers have to come in. Management style is so crucial to KM. The way you manage people will make them more or less likely to share what they know.

I had management behind me with this project and it’s not up to management to make sure that people are documenting everything in a place where we can all get to it. While I see the whole job security side of not sharing - I don’t understand where that comes in in an organization where people have been there forever. It’s not like out administration is out there looking for someone better to replace people - they just want to know what you do on a daily basis in case you can’t get into work - or you have an accident and have to suddenly go on disability.

In 2002 I had to do just that. I had torn a ligament in my shoulder and had to have it repaired. I spent the whole 2 months or so before that documenting every thing I did on a daily basis - and when I came back 3 months later I still had a job - not only that but people were able to appreciate how much I did just a little bit more.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for Meredith - I don’t know how to make people see that knowledge management is necessary and that change is sometimes required to reach a desired goal. Meredith says:

Some people were just plain antagonistic to new technologies.

This is the most frustrating part of my job - having to fight with people to show them that a particular new technology is going to make their life easier - and I’m not talking only about new fangled things like blogs & wikis - like Meredith said people are against using a simple spreadsheet. The worst part is when you see this antagonistic attitude in someone who deals with the public - then you have even more hurdles to get across in order to make change a reality.

Anyway, while it’s sad that we’re all dealing with these frustrations at work - it’s a little bit comforting to know you’re not the only one out there. Make sure you read Meredith’s post and the comments - there is a great discussion going on over at Information Wants To Be Free.

I wrote my review of The Accidental Library Manager last night. I mentioned that I liked the Managing Change chapter and then this morning I saw that Info Career Trends has a bunch on managing change in libraries:

• What’s Online? Recommended Resources
• What’s Your Story? Knowing Yourself Is Key to Surviving Change
• It’s Not Personal, It’s Business: Practical Advice on Dealing with Change in the Workplace

A week or so ago I finished reading The Accidental Library Manager by Rachel Singer Gordon. I was waiting to have some time before I wrote about it - and now I have some time.

First, this is the second of Rachel’s books that I have read and I have to say I like her writing style. I love that it seems like she’s talking right to you - I love that she makes topics like managing budgets something you want to read in case there is a little pearl of wisdom in there (although I will admit I did eventually start skimming that section ).

So, I guess the first question is: Am I an accidental library manager? I don’t think so. When I was hired in 2001, the deputy director asked me where I saw myself in three years and I said “Not as a Web Assistant”. It has always been my goal to be a manager - although I guess I never knew it would be in a library. I grew up with parents who owned their own businesses - so I learned a lot about managing business and people. I’m proud to say that both of my parents are the kinds of employees who companies seek out - they are so good at what they do that people know their names and want them on their teams. My mother is a manager and she recently described her managerial style as friendly. She treats her employees as friends, staff meetings take longer than they probably should because she wants to hear about people’s weekends or family before she gets down to business. She has found a way to master the friend/boss roll - something I hope to accomplish in my career.

Back to the book. Rachel starts her introduction by telling us that there are tons of other books on being a manager in a library - but I’m glad that I read this one first because - like I said already - I like the way Rachel talks to me through her writing. She covers everything from becoming a library manager to managing people to managing change and what people want in a manager. Bet you know what chapter I liked the best.

Managing Change. “You may need to challenge ongoing, longstanding practices, some so entrenched that no one remembers their original purpose.” (pg 183). Didn’t I just talk about that in my post about managing programming projects? I think I did - except that I believe a lot of these practices came about because of the tools that people had to work with.

If your work life devolves into a constant series of putting out fires, it may be time to step back, look at the overall picture, and strategize a new way of managing change in your organization. (pg 186)

The other key? Communication! This is a constant theme and something that came up a lot in our strategic planning process at work. People want to know what’s going on - and if management doesn’t share then the staff gets cranky and feels unimportant. This is why our intranet has been so great for our library - it has improved communication significantly - everyone can see what other departments are doing and managers have an easy way to share with the entire staff.

Another theme covered in this book - something else that’s close to my heart. Training.

It is the managers' responsibility to offer and support training within the library. Training doesn’t always have to cost money either. At Jenkins we register for free webinars and hold them for our whole staff in our multi-purpose room. This allows the staff to hear speakers they may not ever hear otherwise. The problem is that if your manager won’t give you an hour off of the desk to attend then it’s a waste of time for the people organizing the event.

Rachel mentioned that some libraries have in-service days so that the entire staff can attend training sessions without having to worry about who’s helping the patrons. I love this idea!!

Anyway, I could sit here and summarize the entire book for you - but the people at Info Today probably wouldn’t like that

I highly recommend this book to anyone in management or considering management in a library.