quiddle

Candidate for ALA Council

2009-01-19T12:20:00.002-08:00

I've decided to run for ALA council again, which means it's time to write my "Statement of Professional Concerns."

I'll admit that I'm a tad ambivalent about the whole thing myself. It's a pain to go to six days of conference twice a year, especially given that it's 70 degrees in San Francisco right now and I don't even have a winter coat to wear in Denver. Council can be frustrating, but I feel like there are more people saying things that make sense these days. The trouble is, their numbers are still small, and they can still use all the help they can get. So, my name goes in the hat once again.

What would you want someone to care about in their statement? How can I say something meaningful about technology, participation, risk, and change in 150 words or less?

Statement of Professional Concerns:

I am optimistic about the future of libraries and librarianship, yet I recognize that ALA must prepare for and anticipate a future that is marked by great changes. ALA members are embracing new modes of communication and participation, and as a result are developing new expectations for involvement in ALA. We as members have a responsibility to address these changing expectations, a responsibility that holds an inherent promise of the opportunity to become a more inclusive, dynamic organization.

As a member of Council, I will continue to advocate for students, recent graduates, early career librarians, and paraprofessionals. Our best chance for success lies in a future where we combine the fresh perspective of new professionals with the knowledge of veterans gained through years of experience.

My library is where all the awesome lives.

2009-01-13T19:11:00.001-08:00

hmm, where are the librarians?

2008-09-03T20:13:00.003-07:00

How come the interesting forums always happen while I'm at work? The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy is holding the first in a series of public forums over in Mountain View, and I'm wondering, why aren't there any librarians on the agenda? I hope there will be a few in the audience.

Sometimes it feels like us library folks aren't making friends with the right people...

Sundays!

2008-09-01T09:17:00.002-07:00

Starting this month, my library will be open on Sundays! Super exciting, there's such a demand for it. The OCLC report on library funding was extremely helpful in preparing my presentation to City Council.

ALA Anaheim

2008-06-23T20:07:00.004-07:00

Hiya. Hope i'll see you there.

Friday Jun 27
13:30 - oclc symposium at marriott ballroom 1-5

Saturday Jun 28
09:00 - elections task force at HIL laguna A
11:00 - coffee with k
15:30 - membership meeting at ballroom b/c
17:30 - LJ reception for s at tortilla jo's, 1510 Disneyland Drive

Sunday Jun 29
07:00 - brekkie with f
08:00 - council video at cc ballroom b/c
09:00 - council at ballroom b/c
13:00 - planning & budget assembly at CC 201 c
17:30 - president's reception at CC arena plaza
17:30 - blog salon at hilton palisades
19:30 - nmrt social at hyatt grand A

Monday Jun 30
10:15 - council at ballroom b/c
11:30 - membership meeting at ballroom b/c
13:30 - exec board at hilton laguna a
20:00 - council forum at hilton malibu

Tuesday Jul 1
09:15 - council at ballroom b/c
16:30 - council forum at hilton malibu

Wednesday Jul 2
08:00 - council at ballroom b/c

Read, ride, and go.

2008-05-30T11:10:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, I woke up at 4:30am and caught a BART train all the way to the end of the line. My library unveiled something that is kind of a big deal, a book vending machine.

It felt a little bit like a human game of Space Invaders as I tried to give everybody a bookmark. People arrived in waves as a buses dropped folks off at the station, and almost everyone willingly took a bookmark, even the ones running to catch a train. A little surprising, since I probably wouldn't have taken one if I had offered me a bookmark. Even more surprising was hearing people say, "Oh, I saw it on TV," or, "I heard about it on the radio this morning."

It was amazing and entirely unremarkable at the same time. Amazing because I know about all the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes. Unremarkable because, sitting there right next to an automated ticket vending machine, our little (well, actually, rather big) book machine seemed totally integrated into the way people live their lives today. Which is exactly where the library should be, right?

I can't possibly embarrass Steve more...

2008-02-29T20:26:00.002-08:00

...than I already did by nominating him for Library Journal's Paraprofessional of the Year award. Oh, and guess what? HE WON.

The best part is, when LJ called him to offer congratulations and announce that he won, he was too busy doing his job to take the call. Poor John Berry had to call three times before he could get through to Steve.

He's the first guy to win, and at a wee 30 years old, definitely the youngest. Rock on.

After I found out (and after the squealing and jumping up and down and running in circles), I totally blew the "keep it under your hat" nudge from LJ and told almost everyone I know. For the non-library folks, it mostly translated into a text message that referred to a "big deal dorkalicious nat'l library award."

You should go get your hands on a hard copy of the magazine. The cover is awesome, but I especially like his smiling face in the picture that goes with the article. My only complaint is that the article is too short. I wanted more Steve stories! I had to make do with reading the same two pages about a dozen times.

Here's a little excerpt from the 365 words that got the whole mess started:

It is in the small details that Steve truly demonstrates his delight in the role that the library plays in people’s lives. He is a constant source of encouraging words and fun ideas...Steve sees the best in other people, and he employs this same sense of visionary optimism in his approach to libraries. He inspired me during the time we worked together, and he continues to challenge me to make my own dreams of an extraordinary library into a reality.

Now, I knew from the start that Steve would win. He's just that fabulous. But a little premeditated persuasion couldn't hurt. When I wrote the nomination, I spent a lot of time thinking about the people that would be reading it and choosing the winner. I knew that, in the end, they'd have to write an article about the winner. So I didn't just tout Steve's accomplishments and sing his praises, I served them up a good story. I'd been planning to nominate him for about a year, so I saved it up until he turned 30 because it has a nice ring to it. I talked about his mom, who also works as a paraprofessional (at the same library!), and I gave one small, understated example of his day-to-day work. I threw in a nice atmospheric comment about the library where he works. I talked a bit about Steve the person, not just Steve the library employee. And I didn't even come close to using the full 500 word allotment.

So, Steve, you've just won LJ's Paraprofessional of the Year award. What are you going to do next?

Well, since the conference and award ceremony are in Anaheim, there's really only one answer. We're gonna go to Disneyland.

The first rule of book club is you do not talk about book club.

2007-09-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I led a couple of book groups at the county juvenile detention facility. The participants were all girls in their teens. The first group was in a lock down unit, meaning the girls are locked in their rooms unless they are participating in a scheduled activity. It took quite a while just to enter the building. There wasn't a guard stationed at the front door, so we had to ring a buzzer and wait for someone to come down and collect us. Next was a metal detector, which felt a little bit like airport security. I took off my studded belt and keys, but got to walk through with my shoes on. The other librarian and I stood in the waiting room for a bit until someone from the girls unit came to collect us.

The facility is brand new, with fresh paint everywhere and a beautiful atrium planted with native grasses. It hasn't been open long enough for dust to have settled in the corners; if it weren't for all of the locked doors, you could almost imagine it was a high school or a college dorm. It took a while to reach the girls. There were lots of hallways that all looked exactly the same, and every 20 feet or so we had to press a button and wait for some unseen guard to buzz us through a door.

I facilitated an adult book group a few years ago, but this is my first with teens. The group was small, just five girls. Book group is at the same time as AA, so we don't get all the girls on the unit. We walked in and right away two or three of them said, "I didn't like the book."

I was okay with that. When I think back to some of the books that I was forced to read in school, I disliked most of them on principle. The fact that they didn't like it meant that they had actually read it, and that they had strong opinions about it. I can work with that.

We started with introductions, then we spent about 30 minutes or so talking about the book -- the graphic novel/comic book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I owned up to choosing the book and told them they could blame me if they didn't like it. I explained why I like the book: I like to learn about different cultures and different countries. I don't know a whole lot about Iran, and I thought this would be a good way to learn something. It's a novel about growing up, and I like learning about the experiences that make someone who they are. I like that she shares a bunch of really difficult experiences without becoming maudlin. (Okay, so I didn't say maudlin. I said, "without becoming all boo-hoo-woe-is-me.")

They thought the book was confusing, they didn't understand all of the stuff about the Shah and her grandfather being a prince. And why the teachers taught them one thing before the revolution and something else after. I pointed out that Marji is ten when the book begins and asked them if they thought she would have understood everything going on when she was so young. They got it right away, and I could see their opinion of the book starting to shift. They were critical of the teachers because they lied to the students. I reminded them that Marji's parents didn't always tell her the truth, either. How was that different? All in all it was a great discussion.

The second group was bigger, about 15 or 16 girls. This group was referred to as "the camp," and the girls aren't locked in their rooms. I photocopied pages of the book with the dialog blocked out and had the girls fill in the text. Lots of creative stuff from the girls...some of it funny, some of it banal, some of it quite serious, though when it came time to share, even the serious stuff was read aloud through a veneer of giggles.

Later that night I went to a screening of Delicatessen in a park near my apartment. An appropriately surreal sequel to the first half of my evening.

I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say next week.

The other Potter

2007-07-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

Just helped someone find a book. "I'm looking for...Potter."

"You're looking for Harry Potter?"

"No."

I stare in stunned silence for a moment. There's another Potter? Today of all days?

"Oh, do you mean Beatrix Potter?"

A look of delight registers in their eyes. "Yes! That's it."

Huh. Guess they're probably not impressed with my Nimbus 2000 t-shirt.

Yongsan Library, Seoul

2007-06-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the next installment of Libraries spotted while on vacation in faraway countries. (Actually, I will admit to a thoroughly premeditated visit. Library was on the "to see" list right between palace and mega-mall.) You may remember our abbreviated tour of the Quepos library. Well, this one is much more gratifying to the library voyeur...I visited when the library was open! Our story begins in Seoul, Korea, home of the ubiquitous free internet. Really. In subway stations, post offices, and of course, the Apple store. You can see more of my vacation here.

I was actually aiming for the Namsan library, but that one was closed.

Lookie, a book drop!

The library was up a rather big hill.

When you walk in the door, it's just hallways and stairs. I wandered around for a bit thinking, where are the books?

Ahh, finally. Looks like a library, quacks like a library.

I got really excited for a minute, I thought they were using Dewey! Then I came to my senses and realized it was some other decimal system. Amazing how your brain will jump at the prospect of anything familar when you're surrounded by so much that is foreign.

My guess would be an OPAC. But then again, I thought the little rice snack with a picture of bean sprouts on the package would be vegetarian...

The place was filled with people hanging out, reading, studying. You had to put your bag in a locker before you could enter each section.

I must have looked awfully suspicious skulking around and taking photos. Eventually, I went up to the circ desk and gave them my business card. I pointed to myself and said, "Librarian!" Much smiling and head-nodding ensued.

Shhhhh!

Storytime

Their comic books get a fair bit of use, too.

Wait a sec, I recognize those...

I know my hair is getting longer...

2007-05-30T19:22:00.001-07:00

but do I really need a haircut that much?

Just your average Tuesday night at the liberry...

2007-03-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

These guys were very cool. Sorry the pictures are a bit fuzzy, it's hard to hold a camera phone still when you've got 200 kids, a turtle, a tortoise, a gecko, an iguana, a 14 foot python, and a few cockroaches running around the library.

Pirate memory game

2007-03-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the ref desk feels a little like this...

My expense report is cooler than your expense report.

2007-03-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

I love it that my expense reports include things like stickers and bubbles. But today was the coolest one yet...a Wii. Better yet is that I rode to the video game store on my bike to pick it up.

Council so far (or, notes on Midwinter in which I attempt to make Council sound really, really interesting)

2007-02-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

One of my responsibilities as a Councilor is to report back to my constituency. As an at large member of Council, my constituency is, well, everybody. Actually, this gives me a great deal of freedom to vote my conscience and act however I see fit. Since I am accountable to everybody, I am beholden to no one in particular (thus the tardiness of this report). This puts me in a very different position from say, a division or state chapter Councilor who may be obliged to vote the party line. Some of these folks will send a hasty email to the state association listserv during Council sessions to gauge the pulse of their constituents on a particular issue. I took the approach of sending a text message to all of the library-types in my cell phone contacts, a rather motley crew of friends and conference acquaintances. (Who knows what questions and controversy will face us in DC...if you'd like to sign up for my "live from the Council floor cell phone survey" for annual, just drop me a line with your cell phone number. And thanks to the folks I pestered for your input during this go-round.)

Most of the votes that come before Council pass with an overwhelming majority. There's lots of stuff we approve to keep the cogs of ALA greased and moving forward, like revisions to the ALA policy manual in support of more inclusive language on the topic of diversity. And sometimes, just because something passes easily doesn't mean there wasn't a whole lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. It's fun to watch the political dance. Although a number of people stood up to express concerns about the resolution on a non-binding minimum salary for professional librarians, nobody voted against it.

Council kind of reminds me of jury duty. Some people try to avoid it, and most people don't know what really goes on. You're thrown into a room with a bunch of people you don't know and expected to reach decisions about important stuff. And in both cases, I walked away impressed by how seriously everybody took their responsibilities, not to mention a much better understanding of how things work.

Take for instance, some proposed revisions to ALA bylaws and policies regarding elections. Somebody noticed that there was a contradiction in the rule book: on the one hand, "All personal members of the ALA shall be eligible for nomination to Council..." but "No member of the Election Committee may stand for election on the ALA ballot..." Basically, that second bit is null and void anyhow, so we voted to strike it. But then again, we want to avoid any suggestion of impropriety, so there were some proposed changes to the policy on elections. Surprisingly (at least to me), there was quite a bit of debate. Folks were really, really concerned about any potential limitations to someone's ability to stand as a candidate for an elected office. It's almost funny in light of our earlier discussion about how Council is viewed amongst the general membership. If you look at the Council roster, it's a bit of a library director's club, and plenty of people feel that they don't have the experience or name recognition needed to participate. Yet here were those selfsame Councilors working to ensure that anyone, anyone has the opportunity to run for Council. Kinda makes you go, "aw, shucks," and want to give 'em all a great big hug.

Then there's the juicy bits. At Midwinter, we had a resolution to end funding for the Iraq war, one in support of impeaching George Bush, and another one about the Boy Scouts.

Let's start with the Boy Scouts. First, the facts: ALA sets forth very explicit guidelines (scroll down to 9.5) regarding relationships with organizations that violate what ALA considers to be basic human rights. We don't allow them. The Boy Scouts of America National Council has some opinions about religion and homosexuality that don't measure up to ALA standards. Therefore, q.e.d., plain and simple, we shouldn't have formal relationships with the Boy Scouts of America National Council. In fact, Council already addressed this issue back in 1999. The question that remains is, does ALA still have formal relationships with the Boy Scouts of America National Council? (I've been particular about writing out the entire name of the BSA National Council, because it's really the National Council policies that we're taking issue with, not individual scouts or troops.) Until recently, the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) website listed a liaison to the Boy Scouts. The listing has since been removed, so this is now a bit of a moot point, but anyhow...although ALSC considers these liaisons to constitute informal relationships, there was some discussion about the public perception of such liaisons and whether the Boy Scouts should still get one. Again, we're not talking about stopping a local library from working with a local troop, we're talking about relationships on the national level. In the end, we referred the resolution back to committee. I think ALSC felt a little put out at not being consulted before the resolution was presented to Council, and the resulting hubbub had more to do with procedure than opinions about Boy Scout policies per se. Once again, I was forced to acknowledge that ALA is a behemoth and the quick and straightforward approach to solving something is not always an option.

As for the Iraq war resolution...there was much debate over whether this resolution reflected the goals and mission of ALA.

(This is where the text messaging came in. I summed up debate with the following question to my constituents:

"war bad, but ALA's mission?"

Here are some of the replies I received:

"stick 2 resolutions against things that directly affect libs"
"ala involvement? its sort of token..."
"I don't like the war. How will the ALA resolution change things?"

Instant feedback from my constituency. Neato, huh?)

Although I am in agreement with the sentiment behind the Iraq war resolution, I had to agree with my cell phone buddies. Rather than vote no, I abstained. This one divided the house enough that we had to stand up and be counted (usually we just raise our hands and it's fairly obvious where the majority stands). 48 voted yes, 98 voted no. There were a number of us who abstained, but those votes didn't get tallied.

Finally, there was the resolution declaring that George W. deserves impeachment. This was incredibly confusing simply in terms of procedure, so I can't promise I'll get it right. As we reached this topic on the agenda, some Councilors walked out in protest. By my count, we were actually within 15 or 20 people of losing quorum. Right away, someone raised a point of order questioning whether or not the resolution was germane. Meaning, if the issue is outside the purview of Council, it doesn't really make sense for us to take action on the resolution. As ALA President, Leslie Burger presides over Council meetings, and rather than make that call herself, she turned it back to the assembly for a vote. I thought to myself, hey, that's a good point, and voted the issue not germane, along with the overwhelming majority of Council. Straightforward enough, right? Next agenda item, moving right along...

That's when all hell broke loose.

Okay, we're a bunch of librarians. So it wasn't total anarchy. Maybe just a wee bit of heck broke loose. Still, it was fun to watch.

People were literally up in arms over the fact that we'd closed off debate. There were cries of censorship. One Councilor summed it up best by saying, "I didn't realize my vote would mean we wouldn't get a chance to debate the resolution. Let's talk about it first, and then I'll vote no."

As I listened to the tumult, inside my head the penny dropped. These people value process. And by these people, I don't just mean Council. I mean library people. Hey, hold on...that includes me. It's not just about the decisions we make, it's about how we reach those conclusions. I think I still marvel at just how long it can take to reach a decision, but my appreciation for the process is slowly growing. And it made me smile, swell with pride even, to see all of those Councilors stand up and wave the banner of intellectual freedom and free speech (though I find it rather amusing to see our policies on intellectual freedom and opposition to censorship invoked to accuse the very body that established those policies).

I'll admit it. I actually do think Council is really, really interesting.

Update your RSS feed

2007-02-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure whether this was a Bloglines hiccup or Blogger glitch, but today a bunch of posts from this blog about WWI literature showed up in Bloglines under the atom feed for my blog. No, I didn't move to British Columbia to take up a job as an English professor at Simon Fraser University. (this is all especially weird because last year I lived quite close to SFU). There's another feed for my blog that didn't go haywire, you might want to update your feed subscription to http://quiddle.blogspot.com/rss.xml.

We are all part of the Reading Rainbow

2007-01-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

from The Onion: Nation's Gays Demand Right To Library Cards

"No one's preventing gays from using libraries—they're fully welcome to walk into them, browse all they want, and sit down and flip through any book they choose, even in the reference section...But to issue them the same library cards as a regular American citizen would demean what our nation's library cards stand for."

Seattle/Midwinter

2007-01-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

First things first. Here are the places I want to eat while I'm in Seattle:

Glo's. Brunch. Veeeery slow. Get the bennie.

Collin's Pub. Tasty food, tasty beer. 2nd & Yesler.

Pike's market. There's a little Russian place I like in one of the alleys, all sorts of good bakeries, humbao, and tasty fish sandwiches in the market proper.

Cafe Bengodi/Denunzio's. Italian. Yum.

Maybe Bonzai, just for nostalgia. Sushi. Used to eat very hurried lunches here because it's close to the train station.

Hopefully I'll have time to check out the new Sculpture Park, have dinner with my mom, and see Faye, Maria, Michael, Bryan, and Anna.

Public transit from the airport is super easy. Catch the 194, it's an express. Even if the 174 comes first, wait for the 194. Make sure you get the one that says Downtown Seattle. $1.25 or $1.50, depening on whether it's peak fare or not, about 30 minutes, runs pretty often. The only tricky bit: riding toward downtown Seattle, pay when you get on the bus; riding away from downtown, pay when you leave. Downtown the bus is free.

WARNING: Seattle streets make no freakin' sense. Back in the day, there were two guys who disagreed as to how the city should be laid out. They each went on their merry way, and eventually one of them died and the other one connected the grids. Pay very close attention to whether something is Street or Way, S or W. I once got lost at the corner of 47th and 47th.

If you want to run for Council as a petition candidate, let me know and I'll help you collect signatures.

My schedule so far:

Friday, January 19
OCLC Symposium. 1:30pm-4:30pm

Saturday, January 20
Council Orientation, 8:00-10:00am
NMRT Midwinter Social, 6-8:30pm, Elephant and Castle
Blogger Salon 7:30-?, Sheraton Hotel Blue Suite
Council Reception, 9-10pm

Sunday, January 21
ALA Council/Executive Board/Membership Information Session, 9:00-10am
ALA-APA Council Information Session, 10:00-10:30am
ALA Council I, 10:45 a.m.-12:15pm
ALA President's Program, 3:30-5:30pm

Monday, January 22
ALA-APA Council, 10:15-11:15am
ALA Executive Board Candidates Forum, 11:30 am-12:30pm
Council Forum, 8-9:30pm

Tuesday, January 23
ALA Council II, 9:15am-12:45pm
Council Forum, 4:30-6pm

Wednesday, January 24
ALA Council III, 8:00am-12:30pm

I'm staying at the Mayflower Park Hotel, 4th & Olive. Best to reach me by cell phone.

Tinfoil tandem

2007-01-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

(For a companion piece to this, please go visit Rochelle. She and I spent some time earlier today talking about the plague of politeness in library work environments. The discussion really starts with her post, so go read that first.)

Last month, I went to a fun class on leading teams. It reminded me of my management class in library school...lots of talk about the forming-storming-norming-performing model of team development. Politeness is definitely one of the stages of forming a team, but it's an EARLY stage and you need to move beyond it to get things done. Teams may return to that stage periodically, but generally the goal is to move beyond it. And moving away from politeness doesn't necessarily mean moving towards conflict. It can also mean moving towards trust. (That's an important bit, in my opinion, so i'll say it again.) It means moving towards trust, where you feel comfortable enough to tell people what you really think, and to know that in doing so your team will give genuine consideration to your remarks.

I recall reading this article on teamwork in liberry school. The class was on social collaboration and technology...very cool class, but unfortunately it wasn't in the liberry school. It was electrical and computer engineering. This one really stuck with me...I underlined stuff and I didn't recycle it when I graduated. The article mentioned that teams that always agree with one another produce mediocre work, lowest common denominator stuff. (from one case study: "...desire for harmony in the team had interfered with scrutiny of business ideas...The whole team was never in conflict. Everyone was very polite." p362) If nobody offers criticism, if nobody says "hey, what if we changed this or did that," then nothing improves. Or worse, you get a wishy washy environment where your ability to choose between different options is limited, because once somebody's offered up an option for consideration, everyone just agrees instead of offering alternatives. When people disagree, you get qualitative debate about which idea might be better. And if you're lucky, you just might end up choosing the better idea. Of course this will lead to situations where people don't get their first choice, but hopefully the choice that is implemented is the strongest of all available options. And because you've engaged in debate, everybody understands why a particular decision was made.

So, are we all in agreement on this?

Stuff you didn't know about me

2007-01-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Okay Sarah, the guilt trip worked. I've been meaning to blog more often. Really. Honest. I've just been kinda busy, and then I was sick, and then the dog ate my homework...

I'm not calling this a New Year's Resolution or anything, but here's a new post for a new year.

I was a mailman for a brief while. As such, I know that the proper title is letter carrier, but I prefer mailman. I have the ear flap hat and everything.

I don't know how tall I am. Somewhere years back I got sick of people asking me how tall I am and I just quit measuring. Suffice it to say that I am rather tall, probably taller than you. I do have a best guess that I use for things like my driver's license. And when I'm at the doctor's office and they measure me, I tend to sing la-la-la-I'm-not-listening...

I can never remember the melody for Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. I use it in story time constantly, and I always just start and hope that someone else will carry the tune. It usually comes to me around the eyes and ears bit.

I have a vast collection of refrigerator magnets. (Which mostly started out as gifts for my mother, but I prefer to give them to her in person, and sometimes I would forget to take them when I would visit, and then they started to pile up...)

I don't own any furniture that I can't lift all by myself. Yes, even the sofa bed.

Let's try Meg, Andrea, Esteban, my neighbor, and my pen pal. I'm late to this party, so if anybody out there is still reading my blog, consider yourself tagged, too.

Halloween, in which Heidi completes the transformation into children's librarian.

2006-10-31T10:51:00.000-08:00

I know several of you will be pleased at the triumphant return to blue hair. But this time I promise I used temporary dye. Really.

(Sorry for the prolonged radio silence. Things have been busy lately. I'll be back soon.)

Katrina

2006-06-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

On Friday I met up with Beth, a librarian from Slidell (on the northeast side of lake Pontchartrain). She took us on a driving tour around New Orleans and showed us the community college library where she works. I had a fair bit of morbid curiosity, but I definitely got the feeling that Beth wanted to show us the damage so that we would go home and tell others. She had an amazing sense of humor about the whole thing. As we were walking through her house, which was basically just a skeleton with a roof, she pointed out that the week before the storm hit, she had just had the carpets cleaned. A neighbor had just repainted and only moved back in two days before they had to evacuate.

We drove by a Rite-Aid with a big "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" sign. Of course, they were referring to the trailer parked in front of the building. There were FEMA trailers everywhere. They lined the yeards of suburban homes and formed little camps in the Toys R Us parking lot. Next door to the toy store, the Home Depot was thriving. If you closed one eye, you could almost overlook the damage. It was like my brain couldn't handle what it was seeing and would have been more than happy to imagine roofs where only blue tarps existed.

These photos were taken on Friday, June 23, 2007, nearly ten months after Katrina. (click photo for larger image)

Everywhere I went, I saw signs welcoming librarians.

The French Quarter looked mostly normal, if a bit empty.

There were quite a few "for lease" signs.

Elsewhere, signs of the hurricane were obvious. The flood water line runs through the house number.

Still, there were signs that people could find humor in the most bleak circumstances.

The house across the street, well along the way towards being repaired, looks like it belongs in a different picture.

FEMA trailers were everywhere.

This is the library at Delgado Community College. Water rushed in through broken windows and destroyed almost everything. They saved about 1000 volumes, roughly 1/4 of the collection. The books are still in boxes because they don't have any shelves. Beth continued to amaze me with her resilience and humor. In a way, she saw the whole experience as an opportunity. When she explained how the room had been remodled, she added, "I never did like those windows in the corner."

The Pontchartrain branch of the St. Tammany Library, one of two branches in Slidell. It was new and shiny last August. Next door at the Winn-Dixie grocery, repairs are complete and the parking lot looked full.

Around the side of the building.

There's a shopping cart from the Winn-Dixie.

That's a photocopier.

The children's section.

The Cliffs Notes and cockroaches will outlast us all. The ground is covered in sludge, muck, and mold. That's carpet you're looking at.

"Discover what's inside."

The printer is actually outside the building. The line in the background is where the wall used to be.

I'm still reeling from everything I saw. After our tour, Beth was on the phone with her husband and she remarked, "Yes, they were duly impressed with our devastation."

Mine is only the account of a weekend. In 1 dead in attic, there are a host of post-Katrina stories by Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose that need to be heard.

The Gulf Coast still needs our help.

Rebuild New Orleans Public Library
Dewey Donation System, Harrison County Libraries, Mississippi

NOLA

2006-06-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

I've arrived in New Orleans and will be spending some time over at the PLA blog, along with a host of other conference bloggers.

Yesterday I met up with Laura and Beth, a librarian from Slidell (across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans). Beth took us on a driving tour of some flood-damaged libraries and led us to some tasty gumbo. After everything that I saw yesterday, I am duly impressed with how good the city looks. I'm sure it would be possible to spend a few days downtown and not notice much out of the ordinary. On the shuttle to the conference this morning, the folks behind me were lamenting that not much had been done to beautify the area around the convention center. I turned around and suggested that what they saw was the result of rather extensive beautification efforts.

Developing a children's collection

2006-06-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

This week, another new youth librarian and I got to meet with the children's books selector for a little collection development training. I put a big dent in my list of questions and came away with a much better understanding of policies and procedures, but I also got homework. Homework! And I thought I was done with all that...

For our next meeting, I'm to bring books that are important to me...books that I rely on, refer to, and frequently recommend. I'm supposed to select 10 each from the picture books, easy readers, and toddler collections. Not a bad little assignment, but I hope we meet at my branch, that's an awful lot to carry.

But that's not all. I'm supposed to read my way through everything in Anita Silvey's 100 Best Books for Children. Which isn't too bad, considering I've already read about half of the titles. Some of them I haven't read since I was a kid, some I've read over and over. Some I read for school, and of those, there are some that I fiercely disliked. Others were given to me as gifts when I was young, things a grownup thought I should read (and didn't).

We started our chat with a pop quiz: What do you think makes a good children's collection? From there, we worked our way through the cycle of collection development, and more specifically how it is approached at MPOW. Our collections guru broke it down like this:

Adding
Weeding
Displaying
Recommending
Knowing

I gotta admit, that's as nice as any summary I've seen, and certainly easier to remember than anything in a library textbook.

New Orleans schedule

2006-06-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

This is all the stuff that I should/have to/really really want to attend. If you know of something nifty that I missed or want to meet up for a meal, let me know.

Oh, and if you hear about a program called, "Heidi, here is a step by step guide on how to rennovate the children's section on a modest budget so that you gain shelf space and display areas without making the room feel crowded because it's already too small as it is," I definitely want to go.

FRIDAY

7:30-8:30pm / NMRT meet and greet - NMRT hotel Pere Marquette

SATURDAY

8:30-10:30am / Council orientation - La Nouvelle ballroom

10:30am-noon / YALSA all committee meeting - Hilton ballroom B

3:00-4:00pm / LIS education forum on jobs - SRRT booth #3450

4:00-5:00pm / ALA membership meeting - La Nouvelle ballroom

5:30-7:00pm / Opening session - Hall F, follow the crowd

10:30pm-midnight / Blogger party - Hilton Riverside #2706

SUNDAY

10:45am-12:15pm / ALA Council I - La Nouvelle ballroom (I'm just observing, my term doesn't start until Midwinter.)

1:30-3:30pm / YALSA gaming discussion group - Hilton Riverside, Chequers 3rd fl
1:30-3:30pm / NMRT all committee - Sheraton Napoleon BR C1/C2
(I don't know what to do about this one...the hotels aren't even close.)

6:30-7:30 / NMRT student reception - Sheraton Napoleon BR B3

7:30-11:30 / NMRT social - Sheraton Grand BR C (Or one of the many other socials...)

MONDAY

early / Breakfast, anyone?

noonish / go home

I voted today

2006-06-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I've voted anywhere other than Oregon, and it's actually the first time I've voted at a polling place. The first few years I voted absentee. By the time I moved back home, Oregon was exclusively vote by mail.

I couldn't wait to get my "I voted today" sticker. The one I got says "I voted touchscreen," but that's close enough. The whole thing felt a bit like a video game...I followed a bunch of arrows to arrive at my destination, and all the important stuff happened on a video screen.

To make things even more exciting, I got to vote on a statewide bond measure for public libraries. It almost feels like I'm waiting to get a report card from millions of people.

Diary of a patron

2006-06-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad patron.

I drop books all the time. I'm not talking about a little tumble. I mean spine-breaking, jacket crumpling drops. (I would never treat my own books like this. But c'mon, they're library books.) I often eat while I read, and I tend to dribble or get crumbs all over the page.

And yesterday, when I went up to the information desk to ask for help, I didn't even come close to asking a question that truly indicated what I wanted to find out. I wasn't playing secret shopper, I genuinely had a question that needed answering, and I couldn't answer it myself.

Well, that's not entirely true. I tried to answer it myself. I knew exactly where to find the information, and frankly, I would have preferred to figure it out on my own. All I needed to do was check a particular website.

So, I walked up to the information desk and asked for a guest internet login. The person I spoke with got flustered, and explained that they don't do that. They can generate a temporary login, but only if someone is having trouble using their card. I explained that I just moved here and am actually elligible for a card, but I don't have anything with my address yet, so I can't get a card. She suggested I go ask someone at another desk and maybe they would give me a login. As I was walking away, she started to explain what I should say at the next desk, but it was so confusing that I couldn't quite follow her.

Desk number two. I ask again, with the same story. I briefly considered lying, but that was just too much effort. This time I get a lengthy explanation of library policy. Which under normal circumstances I would find fascinating, but right now all I really wanted was about three minutes of internet time. I was already grumpy because I had a hard time figuring out the stairs and elevators to even reach the floor with the books and computers. Now I was being lectured about how tourists and homeless people were sitting at the computers all day so that regular people couldn't use them. Because I was feeling ornery, I pointed out that homless people are regular people, too. (Nevermind that tourists are a huge source of revenue for the city, and it's probably in the library's best interest to be nice to them.) Again, I was told to try asking someone else, although this time I received no coaching on what to say. Number three said, "Don't ask me, I'm not going to contravene the rules. Go ask somebody else."

Sigh.

I'm very good at following directions, so I in fact do ask somebody else. Second verse, same as the first. Only this time, she mentions that there are guest computers on every floor that don't require a login and points me in the right direction. Unfortunately, there are only two guest computers and a bit of a lineup. At this point, I'm so discouraged that I have to go call a friend. Yes, I used my cell phone in the library. I felt very naughty.

So I called a friend and told him how the library made me sad. Usually he's good for a pep talk, but he had his own sad library story that day. He was at the coast and wanted to know if it was legal to build a fire on the beach. So he called the local library and asked. The answer? "Umm, I don't know. You could try calling city hall, but it's Saturday, so they're closed." In the end, all he got was, "Well, I think it's probably okay."

It never even occured to me that I could ask someone to check the website for me. Since I'd exhausted all other possibilities, I returned to the information desk. I made sure to find somebody new since I didn't want to talk to any of the mean people again.

Here's what I wanted to find out: I'm apartment hunting, and I found a place I like. I want to know what my commute would be. So, traveling by public transit, what time would I have to leave home if I wanted to be at work by 9:30am? The Caltrain is only a few blocks from the library, and I know there's a train that arrives at 9:13. I can catch the #47 bus to the train station. What time would I have to catch the bus to make my connection? There's a nifty trip planning website that will tell me exactly what I need to know. I've looked it up before, I just need a little reminder. I suppose I could even ride my bike to the train station if that would be faster.

Here's what I actually asked: How long does it take to get from San Francisco to San Carlos by bus?

I was greeted by the sharp intake of breath and mild look of shock that instantly signals to me that this person is not familiar with public transit. I do not own a car and thus assume that all things are possible on public transit. Most car owners believe precisely the opposite.

She shakes her head for a bit and asks the person sitting next to her. I learn that it is about a half hour drive. Not particularly helpful. She then guesses a travel time of about an hour. Although this does (somewhat unreliably) answer my initial question, I am feeling grumpy because it's not actually what I want to know. I try again, and my second question hits a bit closer to the mark. "What time would I have to catch the bus?"

Let me assure you that none of this subterfuge is on purpose. I am just being incompetent.

She manages to find the parent site of the trip planner, and I point out the appropriate link. I then give her the exact departure location, arrival time, etc, and finally get my answer.

Still undaunted, I decide to go look at a San Francisco guide book to read about the neighborhoods. I go to one of the catalog computers and type san francisco guide books, hoping to find out what floor the travel books are on. The first five results are:

The San Francisco Bay Area Jobbank

The Chowhound's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area

Wild Ireland: A Traveller's Guide

Awakening Your Sexuality a Guide for Recovering Women

Inside the Music

Well, at least the Chowhound should be in the right section. I click on the title, but it's an ebook, so no hints about which floor I want. At this point, I remember that I am a librarian, and I know I want the 917s. So I look around for signs and get even more confused. Eventually I find the right section, if only by accident. One book has a "San Francisco top ten" list at the front, with the library listed as number one. I can't help but wonder if that's why the library bought the book. Another book suggests the library or the Apple store if you need to check your email. I guess they don't know about the library's tourist policy.

On the way out the door, I got stopped by a uniformed guard because I beeped going through the sensor. Well, again, not entirely true. Actually, some random good samaritan decided to help the uniformed guy by yelling at me until I turned around and came back. I knew I would beep on the way out because I had beeped on the way in. I had books from another library, things I had checked out to myself and not bothered to desensitize because I exit through the staff door -- no sensor. I wasn't the only person to get stopped. Everyone who walked through at the same time had to open their bags for our accuser. It wasn't enough to explain what had happened, I had to turn over the offending books and walk through the beeper again.

Honestly, I never want to go back. I got to thinking about what the book said about the Apple store, and I think I might head there next time I'm downtown and need a quick email fix. No login, no time limit. Hmm...

Indulge me as I ask another dumb question: What if we didn't make people login?

I know, I know, there's about ten zillion reasons not to. Try to push past the "but we could NEVER do THAT" reflex. Is time management software really there to create a better user experience, or is it there to make things easier for libraries? Are we really meeting demand, or are we just managing it by imposing a bunch of restrictions? What if we started from a different place? What if the goal were no user login? What would that look like? Hmm...

Ranganathan's sixth law

2006-05-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard of Ranganathan's five laws. His sixth law is lesser known, but perhaps the most widely implemented:

6. Every teenager has his or her Teen Zone.

(Enough already. Whose idea was this, anyhow?)

Business cards

2006-05-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

Aren't they pretty? Unfortunately, no IM address. We'll see what I can do about that.

(Oh, and that's the book I'm currently reading. I have to remind myself to read grown-up books every once in a while.)

Library education discussion in New Orleans: Jobs

2006-05-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars! (or in my case, a scrap of paper with all sorts of times and room numbers scribbled in a vaguely chronological order...) On Saturday, June 24 from 3-4pm at booth 3450, I will be facilitating a little chat on jobs as part of the library education discussion series in New Orleans. The Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) and Radical Reference are coordinating the series to continue the conversations that began at the Library Education Forum in New York this spring.

The guidelines for sessions are very open, and if you're interested in leading a discussion you should contact Jenna. There's more info here and suggested topics here.

I'll probably try to lure folks from the New Members Round Table (NMRT) session on jobs just beforehand, and I'll drag anyone who comes to the ALA membership meeting at 4pm (in the convention center La Nouvelle Orleans ballroom).

NOLA public transit

2006-05-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

It looks like it is possible to take a bus from the airport to downtown. Jefferson Transit operates a bus from the airport to Tulane and Carrollton, then you can catch the 39 Tulane into town. The whole thing should take less than an hour if you make a good connection. Both Jefferson transit and RTA (they operate the 39) are free at this point. Neither one runs particularly often in the evening, and the airport line stops running a little after 9pm. Unfortunately, my flight to NOLA gets in a little late for the bus. I saw a blog post or email a day ago that said something about no bus service from the airport, but of course I can't find it now. There's an airport shuttle since the cab situation seems a bit dodgy. I think I'll have to go with the shuttle when I arrive, but I might give the bus a shot for the trip back. Unless someone wants to share a cab/adventure? I arrive 8:15pm on Thursday and leave at 1pm on Monday.

Claws, paws, scales, & tales

2006-05-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read the California summer reading manual. One of the sample activities included a "What animal am I?" puzzle. It listed the names of animals from various stories and you have to fill in the blanks with what kind of animal the character is. For example: Chet (gecko), Wilbur (pig), and Nicodemus (rat). Except it matched up Crookshanks with cat! Hellooo, everyone knows Crookshanks is part kneazle.

Council facebook

2006-05-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, not really. But there is going to be a photo gallery of ALA Councilors. I just got the email asking me to submit a photo. At the end of a laundry list of pixel sizes and caption guidelines, I found this:

10. Photos that are deemed inappropriate by the ALA Executive Director shall be returned to the Councilor with a written explanation and a request for a more suitable headshot. Inappropriate submissions may include: avatars, caricatures, or other symbolic representations.

Oh well. I tried to make myself into a Simpson's character, but I couldn't manage to come up with anything that looked like me.

Autograph

2006-05-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today I got to have lunch with the author and illustrator Kevin Henkes. I was the only one who brought library books for him to sign. Which is good, because that way I didn't feel guilty making him sign four books. He even drew a little picture in one of them.

It's fun to place buried treasure for our users to uncover. Alongside the posters and promotions, we need to create opportunities to experience the pleasure of discovery. When you find something that's hidden, it makes it feel all the more like it's yours. It's part of the social nature of asynchronous events...you feel connected to other people when you find the trail of breadcrumbs that they've left behind.

Libraries are offering more and more ways for users to scribble "I WAS HERE" in the woodwork. What else can we do?

Three weeks, four books

2006-05-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

It's the beginning of week three. Week one was a pure adrenaline blur, week two suffered under a cloud of exaustion, I'm thinking week three might begin to suggest shades of a normal rhythm. Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out where writing/blogging fits into the new schedule. So in an attempt to stall for time, instead of a post or two with thoughts on the new job, my plans to raise a ruckus on ALA Council, and details of the agony of apartment hunting in San Francisco, I'll just share a few books that I've read during my lovely train commute:

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. Despite the awful title (you know it's bad when you can't remember the title even though you're a hundred pages into the darn thing), I really enjoyed this one. Two parts sci-fi, one part fantasy. Futuristic yet technologically backwards cities on wheels roam around gobbling up suburbs in acts of "municipal darwinism." Add a dash of the usual: an evil plot, a dastardly villain, and a couple of clever kids who must save the day. Adventure ensues. The ending impressed me by not doing what I expected. Evidently, it's a series and there are more books on the way. (Thanks for the suggestion, Steve.)

Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls by Bennett Madison. Sassy girl detective who makes fun of Nancy Drew at every opportunity. A little bit of romance, but not the sappy kind. More of a carrot that's dangled in front of your nose, always maddeningly just out of reach (but in a good way). The characters are all over the top in that hyper-real, beautiful rich kid way...just let the parallel universe wash over you and don't dwell on the fact that most high schoolers don't get chauffeured around in white strech limos. This book impressed me by having gay characters and not making it a BIG DEAL. I found this book by stumbling onto the author's blog.

Geography Club by Brent Hartinger. Okay, so the gay thing is a BIG DEAL in this one, but that's kinda the whole point. A small group of gay teens start a club to talk about what it's like to feel alone. The characters aren't perfect, they make bad choices and eventually learn from their mistakes, but not in a preachy annoying way. The style is conversational, like you're listening in on a really good gossip session. Like most good books, it's not a one trick pony. There's more here than just the gay stuff, there's a whole lot of life stuff, too...friendships, love, bullying, peer pressure.

Luna by Julie Anne Peters. Luna's a boy who's really a girl, and up until now she's mostly hidden it from the rest of the world. Her sister Reagan acts as confidant, shrink, and narrator, which makes for an interesting look at the ripple effect of Luna's struggle to live as her true self. There's a nice girl-boy romance here, too. I cried a little at the end.

We should do this

2006-05-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

I was walking around Burlingame the other day waiting for the library to open, and I happened to walk by the Apple Store. There was a big beautiful sign in the window advertising how-to podcasting workshops for seven to ~~ten~~ thirteen year olds. My first thought was, we should do this. Eventually the penny drops and I remember that I am now a youth librarian, and the thought changes to whoa, I should do this.

Free coffee

2006-05-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

If you're thirsty in New Orleans, look for someone named Michael and see if he'll buy you coffee.

Both Michael McGrorty and Michael Golrick just offered to treat students to a chat and a free coffee at annual (proof that newlib-l is good for more than just the occasional job posting). Guys, I raise you a sandwich. Anyone willing to sweeten the pot?

Here's what they look like:Michael McG., Michael G. I'll even help you track them down.

(hey, I may not be a student anymore, but I still got yer back.)

First day (really)

2006-05-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

I know exactly five people in the entire region, and I ran into one of them on the train this morning. It's already starting to feel like home here.

The morning started out with checklists and a tour, and I got to hang out in the children's area in the afternoon. I answered my very first question (how can I find a book about wolves?), and I even remembered who wrote the Magic Treehouse books without checking the catalog. They did a very good job of not overwhelming me with too much stuff on the first day.

I met tons of people, and I think I might remember most of their names.

I called a bunch of people while I was waiting for the train to take me home, and someone asked what I wore for my very first day. I started to describe my shirt..."it's got a big embroidered butterfly"...and I realized it made me sound like one of those librarians who wears the holiday-themed jumpers. (No offence, I'm sure they're very nice people.) I had to take a picture to prove I didn't look frumpy.

First day (kinda)

2006-05-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

I went to a meeting and filled out paperwork yesterday, even though I don't officially start until Monday. The administration building, aka Central Library, is in a pretty random location. I think I may be the only person ever to have travelled there by bus (a remarkable feat, considering the bus only goes that direction five times a day).

In the middle of the pile of tax forms and email policies was something a little odd. I had to swear an oath to the Constitution.

I, ________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any [???] reservation or pur[???] of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties [???] which I am about to enter.

Road trip

2006-05-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

On the road again. Honestly, the only time I use my driver's license is when I'm behind the wheel of a moving truck.

Elev. 14,162. Mt. Shasta and me. (That's Steve's thumb, btw.) The highest point on I-5 is actually a ways back, just across the Oregon border in the Siskiyous.

Madam, I'm Adam. Sadly, the Yreka Bakery went out of business. This is as close as we could get.

Exit 631. The fuel pump went kablooey and we broke down about three and a half hours from where we needed to be. The engine lost power on the interstate...luckly we were able to coast to the offramp. We were stuck there for about three hours, and it was pretty hot. The folks in Corning, CA, are incredibly kind. Several people stopped to give us water.

Rescued! If you're ever stuck in Corning, Phil's Towing gets a big thumbs up from me.

Backwards. We got towed to Redding the next day to swap the truck (that's about an hour north of where we broke down).

Second time's the charm. Things got very deja-vu-y at this point. The same Madonna song that was playing when we broke down even came on the radio again.

Aaaah.

All grown up

2006-05-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just found out I'm getting funding to attend ALA this summer! To commemorate this milestone, I'd like to announce the Starving Student scholarship, in which I will treat current students to some tasty morsels at annual. (I'm not promising anything fancy, I've still got student loans, after all.) No application essay neccesary, all you have to do is find me in New Orleans. To qualify, you've got to promise to do the same for another student once you're able to. And a big thanks to everybody who fed me in Chicago and San Antonio. I'll be sure to raise a glass to you.

Elected!

2006-05-01T11:48:00.001-07:00

I just took a break from unloading the moving truck to check my email, and it looks like I got elected to council!!! Hee hee!

Thanks to everyone, and congrats to my soon-to-be-fellow-councilors!

(more when the truck is empty...)

Hired!

2006-04-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Introducing MPOW! In a few short weeks, I will be the new Youth Services Librarian at the San Carlos branch of the San Mateo County Library. Youth means children in this case (though technically, I'm a "Public Services Librarian," so really it's babies and seniors and everybody in between).

I was hired a while ago, but I wanted to wait until I had the official piece of paper before saying anything publicly. End-of-semester chaos was quickly replaced by packing-up-everything-I-own chaos, so I'm a bit late with the news. And in case you were wondering, this is the interview where I showed up 20 minutes late. I love these people already. Not to mention, I get to work with the Librarian In Black!

If I weren't so distracted by carefully wrapping my dishes in paper and forwarding my mail, I'd be really really excited.

I suppose I should have all sorts of thoughtful comments reflecting on my experiences of the past two years, but quite frankly, my brain shut off after my last class. I went right from indexing to a shift at the agriculture library, and I think I was the most useless accessory at the reference desk that afternoon. When a student came up to the desk and asked, "Can you help me?" the only honest answer would have been, "Nope. Sorry."

So, allow me a brief hiatus, and stay tuned...

call for submissions

2006-04-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

I'm done with interviews for the next little while (at least as an interviewee), but if you'd like to share, send me the questions you get asked and I'm happy to post them. Just a few guidelines...

Include the relevant details, minus the specifics (I'll take out names and places if you don't):

Type of position

Type of library (public, university, college, corporate, non profit, etc.)

Size (small, medium, large)

Setting (urban, suburban, rural)

Phone or in person?

How long did it last? (estimates are okay)

Number of people on the panel (job titles/roles are great if you have them)

If you can't remember all the questions, let me know how many were asked in total

If you include commentary:

Keep it brief.

No complaining.

If you're critical, make sure it's constructive criticism.

When in doubt, ask yourself: would other people care?

Focus on stuff that might help other people.

Salary negotiations

2006-04-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

I firmly believe that it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to do our part to improve library staff salaries by taking a cue from Oliver and asking for a bit more, please. You're in the best position to do this at the time a job offer is made. This requires keeping your wits about you. It's easy to get so excited by a job offer that you just say yes right away. I suggest you always take a couple of days to think it over. It's okay to ask how long you have to decide.

If you make up your mind to ask for more money in advance, it's a lot easier to follow through. And you should always ask for more. You're worth it. But be prepared to articulate why.

If you have more than one job offer, use that as leverage. Call attention to your past experience, and if you don't have any experience, point out your unique qualities and explain how you're utterly fabulous.

If there's no budging on salary, what else is negotiable? More vacation? Money for conferences? Moving expenses?

(here's a tip: Sometimes it's easier to steel yourself up for this sort of interaction if you know it's coming. If you're expecting a call about a job offer, I totally recommend screening your calls. That way, you can call back an hour or two later when you're prepared. It puts you in control of the situation a bit more and gives you time to get your game face on.)

Being savvy when it comes to negotiating salary is part and parcel of the skills you need to be a good librarian. If you can't advocate for yourself, how can you advocate for your organization? That said, being savvy doesn't mean being unreasonable. Know when to push for a little more, but also acknowledge when it's time to concede, compromise, or back off.

Academic librarian, telephone interview (engineering)

2006-03-23T18:25:00.000-08:00

I didn't do this one myself, either. 20 minute screening interview for an engineering librarian job at a large university. (this one made the first cut, too! best of luck!)

General Questions (15 min. max.)

What aspects of this position do you find most exciting and why?

Describe a situation, preferably in a library, in which you developed a creative solution to a problem. Include in your description any collaboration with others that was involved in implementing the solution.

How would you go about building relationships with faculty and students as liaison to your departments?

How has your current workplace changed in the time you have worked there? How have you adapted your own job priorities?

Specific Questions (5 min. max.)

Your resume mentions extensive public speaking experience; could you tell us about that?

Please describe the online reference service you've provided at [your current job at an academic library].

Have you been involved in any professional activities yet?

Second interview, children's librarian

2006-03-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Three person panel: branch manager, head of youth services, and another children's librarian. This one was face to face, and the car I drove broke down on the freeway on the way there. We're talking smoke coming out of the engine. A spectacular friend rescued me and I was only 20 minutes late. I phoned ahead to explain my predicament, and they were remarkably kind about the whole thing. (The transportation jinx continued into the next day, but I'll spare you the gory details...)

What made you choose librarianship as a career?

What do you see as the role of a children's librarian?

Name a book, CD, and movie that you've seen/read/watched recently. (They laughed about how this question was kind of silly and mostly for their amusement. They weren't looking for children's material, which is good, because the last movie I watched and the only thing that came to mind was Godfather II.)

What three words would you use to describe yourself? (I actually said, "Oh, no, not that question!")

A fourth grader comes to you for help with homework. Describe what you would do.

A sixth grader asks you for a good book to read. What steps do you take to help?

Something about emerging technologies, like: give an example of an emerging technology and how will you use it to serve youth.

How do you prepare for storytime?

The parent/book challenge question. What do you do?

What do you do when a child is disruptive during storytime?

How will you build relationships with schools?

Describe your experience working with volunteers.

Describe your ideal work environment.

What are your criteria for weeding?

How do you make yourself approachable to children? (I thought that was a great question, and I told them as much.)

Describe a time you have received good customer service. Now relate that to library service. (Extra points for the creative question!)

What question haven't we asked yet? Now answer that question.

I'm impressed that I remembered all 17 questions...they're definitely not in the order they were asked. They did a really good job of asking follow up questions based on my answers, so this list doesn't really capture the entirety of the interview. Afterwards, I got a tour of the branch. The whole thing lasted just under an hour and a half.

Academic librarian, telephone interview (techie)

2006-03-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

A guest interviewee! Since I didn't actually do this one myself, I don't have much to say other than the basics: mid-sized university, quickie 20 minute screening interview, five person panel, techie/systems type librarian job. (oh, and the person was selected for an on campus interview...good luck!)

What attracted you to the job, and how does it relate to your professional background, skills, and experiences? How does it relate to your long term career goals?

How do your skills and background make you a good fit for the job?

What's your preferred programming language?

Can you give an example of a professional accomplishment that you are particularly proud of?

What new technology have you heard about recently that most excited you?

Like mother, like daughter

2006-03-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

From the "hey, lookie!" department: a blog post from my mom!

It's much more fun to imagine my mom reading this aloud. She has a great way of telling stories that feels almost conspiratorial, and somehow she manages to sound completely earnest while making you feel like she just might be pulling your leg.

If you're ever in Portland, I can hook you up for a tour of the Pittock Mansion with her...she can sneak you into all the creepy back passageways. Last time, we made ghost noises and tried to scare the tourists.

Telephone interview, academic librarian

2006-03-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

My first academic interview! It's a subject specialist position, and this was a quickie screening interview. Six person panel: four librarians, two faculty.

Why did you apply and what attracted you to this university?

How would you build relationships with faculty?

What [subject] resources are you familiar with?

What do you do to help facilitate student success?

What is your greatest professional accomplishment?

The questions were broad to the point of being vague. I suppose that was on purpose, and the direction you take the question could say as much as your answer. I should have gotten all reference interview-y on them and asked more clarifying questions to figure out what they meant.

It's definitely tricky to switch gears from public library to academic interviews. I'm kind of on autopilot with the public library stuff at this point, but I had to come up with mostly new material for this one. The result being, I think I rambled a bit more than usual.

The bit where I got to ask questions was really helpful. I asked my standard, "What is the greatest challenge you will face in the next five years?" They talked a lot about liaison to departments and building relationships with faculty, as well as self assessment. I liked the emphasis on self assessment, that tells me they're looking seriously at ways to become better. It was fascinating to hear the different perspectives from librarians versus faculty. The faculty seemed more concerned with concrete user issues, like subscriptions to online journals.

Good advice

2006-03-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

Just got an email from one of the people I use as a reference:

Make sure you don't compromise. You have a clear idea of what you want, so make sure that you don't accept a place just because they make the first (or highest) offer. Which library is best suited for you? What age group do you prefer working with? How can you be an advocate for the institution? Will they utilize your knowledge and skills well? Find or wait for the one that suits you best.

Bonus points for nailing the key issues 'cause she's not even a librarian.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

2006-03-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

No, it's an ALA election!

I got the reminder postcard today, but I still haven't received my email ballot. Polls open today, and here are the folks that are running for Council who I have met real, live, and face to face and can personally give them the thumbs up:

Samantha Schmehl Hines
Rochelle Hartman
Michael Golrick

Here's a name that came up on the nexgen-l list:

Ria Newhouse

There are also some NMRTers (New Members Round Table) on the ballot :

[UPDATE] Tiffani Conner
Michelle Baildon
Aaron Dobbs
Amy Ferguson

And finally, somebody I know nothing about, but her name jumped out because in a long list of director this and head of that, she's the only administrative assistant:

Dorothy Morgan

And remember that by exercising the power to vote, you too can become faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. :)

Teen librarian, second interview

2006-03-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

Scheduling nightmares aside, this was actually quite a nice interview. It's the second interview for the position, and I think that's reflected in the kind of questions they asked (more scenarios and hypotheticals). Three person panel, one of whom was a teen volunteer. 45 minute phone call.

Give an impromptu book talk. It can be anything, aimed at any teen.

What makes a summer reading program successful?

Teens come to the library with lots of energy after school. We've tried having a homework area, what other suggestions do you have for after school activities?

Our teen collection consists of books and DVDs. You have $8500 to spend annually, what materials, sources, and criteria would you use to select materials?

(the obligatory disruptive teens question...) Some teens are making noise and misbehaving in the library, how do you handle the situation?

Hypothetical situation: You have some teen volunteers who come in for a two hour shift once a week. You don't really have enough for them to do, and one volunteer is showing up for all the shifts (in addition to his/her assigned shift). What do you do?

Describe a situation where you have worked in a team. Do you prefer working in teams or independently?

Hypothetical situation: A teen comes in and asks for help finding information on the "great dismal swamp." You've checked the catalog and didn't find anything. What do you do?

A parent and teen come up to you with a question. The parent wants the teen to read more "classics," while the teen isn't really interested in reading, even though she has no difficulty reading at that level.

The thing with scenario questions is, I think it's important to figure out what they're really asking. When I heard the "great dismal swamp" question, I realized, oh, this is the reference interview question. The next one with the parent and the classics was obviously the reader's advisory question. Don't get hung up on the particulars of the scenario.

I had a book in mind for the book talk before the interview even started. I made sure it was a book I really liked, and something that I'd read recently so it would be fresh in my mind.

On the eve of ALA elections...

2006-03-04T19:42:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should respond to some of the discussion floating around in response to Meredith's What could ALA do? post. I'd love to be able to point to all of the reasons you should join ALA, what it can do for you, and why it's worth your time and money. Truth is, I don't have a very good answer. So, instead of trying to convince you that you should join, I'd rather give the folks on Council an earful and work on improving ALA so there are reasons why you should join. I might end up just as fed up as everyone else, but I figure I'll give it a go and bang my head against the wall a few times before trying something else.

So, if I've got your email address, I've probably bugged you in the last day or so and asked you to vote for me. (and Sam!) I've also been contacting representatives from ALA student chapters. Here's my attempt at blatant self-promotion (feel free to cut, paste, and forward willy-nilly):

Voting for ALA elections begins on March 15, and I wanted to remind you about my candidacy for ALA Council Member-at-Large. My name is Heidi Dolamore, and I'm an MLIS candidate at the University of British Columbia. I'm also writing on behalf of Samantha Schmehl Hines, another candidate for Council. Sam got her MLIS from Illinois in 2003 and is the social sciences and outreach librarian at the University of Montana. We both began our careers in libraries as paraprofessionals, and we're both from the west coast, an area that is currently underrepresented on Council.

As a soon-to-be-graduated and recent graduate of MLIS programs, we are eager to see the interests of students and recent grads represented in ALA. Students make up a significant portion of ALA personal members (fifteen percent!) and we have a lot to contribute to the profession.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you have about why we're running or to let us know what issues you'd like to see Council address. We both keep blogs (Sam's is at http://www.lisnews.com/~Samantha/journal and mine is http://quiddle.blogspot.com) if you'd like to find out a little more about us.

If you're an ALA member, you should receive an email ballot between March 15 and March 17, 2006. If you're not an ALA member, you can still help by passing our names along to other library people. Make your voice heard!

What do I hope to accomplish? Though I'm tempted to just say ditto, there's an awful lot on Meredith's list. I'm a little reluctant to make a list of things I'd like to accomplish as a Councilor. I mean, things come up that nobody expected, right? I don't want to be so focused on a predetermined agenda that I'm ill-equipped to respond to new issues as they arise. And for a little while, at least, I'd rather do a lot of listening. I want to get a better sense of how things work on Council and draw attention to issues that concern me within the context of the conversations that are already happening on Council, rather than try to hijack conversation from the get-go. (I'm speaking in theoretical terms here, we'll see how long I'm able to keep my mouth shut...)

Still, you gotta give props to Meredith for being specific. When I ask people what they'd like from ALA, the usual answer is, "I dunno." Here's what I think about when I imagine a better ALA:

Simplifed. To me, this means make it easier to understand how the whole darn organization works. A better website is a BIG part of this, and so is mentoring new members.

Cheaper. Maybe this means staggered dues levels, maybe it means a discount rate for virtual members and more free online professional development opportunities. Maybe it means taking a close look at operations and identifying ways ALA can save money, or coming up with new and improved ways to generate revenue. I might even be satisfied if I just had a better understanding of where my dues money goes and how much different parts of the organization cost to operate.

Personalized. I've got a vague sense that people have more nice things to say about their state organizations than the big national association. Maybe this is because it's easier to get involved at the state level, so there's more of a personal connection. So let's make ALA less of a faceless behemoth and more of a community.

More value for individuals. This really goes back to the first two points...make it easier for new members to figure out how to get something worthwhile out of ALA, and give everybody more cheap/free opportunities to build communities and social networks and engage in professional development.

So there you have it. These are the thoughts that will be in my head while I'm in Council meetings. Now go vote.

Interview, eh? A Canadian student.

2006-02-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the next exciting installment of my occasional interview series. I'd like to introduce Wendy Huot. Wendy's a fellow student at the University of British Columbia School of Library, Archival and Information Studies. She came to library school direct from an undergrad in Computer Science (which means that whenever a computer makes a funny noise and she's in the room, everyone looks her way and expects her to fix it). Since ALA handles accreditation for Canadian LIS programs, students in the six schools up here have a pretty big stake in what goes on in ALA. Don't we?

Heidi: Here goes. I know you joined the British Columbia Library Association (BCLA) last year (who wouldn't? the first year is free for students) but you've let your membership lapse. Why?

Wendy: I figure I'm probably going to be moving out of B.C. for my first post-library school job, so I figure I should save the money for membership in the provincial library association of wherever I end up. If I do get a job in B.C., I'll probably rejoin.

H: You've told me you're not a member of any other library associations. Why not? What would make you consider joining?

W: Being a student, I don't quite feel like I'm part of the professional librarian community yet -- I currently associate more with the library school community. There's a certain intimidation factor in the various professional/networking events the associations offer, and as someone who isn't a practicing professional yet, I don't feel like it's "my place" quite yet. I'm interested in the "continuing learning opportunities" that library associations offer, but I've got plenty of "learning opportunities" to focus on in school at the moment. I anticipate that I'll join the big professional associations once I get my first library gig, but I'm more interested in groups that are based on specialization or interest area rather than geographic location.

I considered joining CLA last year, but then I looked at the list of benefits and realized that, realistically, I wouldn't be taking advantage of many/any of them while still in library school. If I were to join, it would just be to give myself a false sense of feeling "professional," without actually *doing* anything.

H: Although you're born and raised in Canada, you're a dual citizen. It sounds like you're planning on working in Canada, at least for now. Would you consider joining ALA while you're in Canada? Would you join if you got a job in the US? Why/why not?

W: I would consider joining the ALA while in Canada, if someone gave me a compelling reason to do so. If I got a job in the US, I would definitely join. And why would I join? For Michael Gorman.

H: You went to the BCLA conference last year, right? Do you feel you benefited from attending a conference midway through your degree program?

W: Yeah; it was definitely a worthwhile experience, if for no other reason than that it gave me a mental picture of what a library conference is actually like. The sessions varied in quality, but they all gave me some food for thought. I can see the value of speaking at a conference, and I will consider doing it as a professional if I have an exciting project/approach that I'd like to share with the library community.

H: You came to library school right after undergrad, and you mentioned that you had a hard time meeting new people at the conference because you didn't feel equipped to talk shop with other librarians. Is there anything that could have improved your experience as a first time conference goer?

W: Actually, I can't think of anything the conference organizers could have done differently that would have made it less awkward -- and frankly, I didn't make much of an effort to mingle/network anyways. I have a better sense of what questions/conversation starters I'd use at my next conference, now that I have a better sense of the profession, the professional community, and the conference "experience."

H: What do you know about ALA? What's your impression of the organization? How does that compare to your knowledge or impressions of the Canadian Library Association?

W: It's big. Michael Gorman is the president. They publish reports and things I've referenced in papers, and I often wind up at their website for one reason or another. They've got lots of subcommittees. The big annual ALA conference is *huge.* I don't know what the subtle differences are between the ALA and the CLA; I just kinda figured that it's the American and Canadian flavour of the same kind of institution.

H: ALA handles accreditation for the Canadian LIS programs, yet there's zilch as far as an ALA presence in Canadian schools. Do you think ALA should make more of an effort to reach out to Canadian students? Do you feel any connection to ALA?

W: I feel their presence online, and in the library literature. I have no idea what they could possibly do to reach out to me specifically, as a Canadian student. What is this "reaching out" that you are talking about? What could it consist of? How could I benefit? Are we talking free pens or tote bags with the ALA logo on it? We all usually agree that "reaching out" is a good thing, but I don't know what the ALA could do for Canadian students that would be meaningful and beneficial for both parties.

H: Michael Gorman, ALA president, is focusing on LIS education during his term of office. Conceivably, this could have an impact on Canadian LIS education, too. Has this issue been brought to your attention at all? Have you paid much attention? If yes, what do you think about it?

W: I've heard a tiny bit about Gorman's LIS education focus, and it seems like a good focus, given that the profession is at a bit of a turning point right now and in a position to redefine itself. As for ALA influence on Canadian LIS education, I don't know much about the issues surrounding this or whether I should be concerned or not.

H: What role do library associations play in your professional growth and education as an LIS student?

W: Well, as mentioned previously, going to the BCLA conference was really beneficial. They publish some reports and articles that help me form a better sense of the role of the library, the library profession and its values. The student chapters of the BCLA/CLA and SLA have sponsored some great talks from guest speakers.

H: Are you as involved in library professional organizations as you would like to be? Why/why not? What factors affect this?

W: I'm not very involved with the professional organizations, but I guess I'm as involved as I want to be. My plan is that I'll become more involved when I become a practicing librarian. I look forward to partaking in some professional development opportunities (workshops, conferences). I look forward to reading the association publications and recognizing the names of people I know and feeling apart of the professional community.

Renewal

2006-02-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

I've gotten two membership renewal reminders from ALA, one in an email and another on a postcard. The email notice was much more functional...it told me which divisions etc I'm currently a member of, and it included instructions on how to renew online. I think the postcard was trying to be persuasive:

Your membership in the American Library Association is set to expire on March 31, 2006. Don't miss out on your chance to continue as a part of the association that works for libraries and for you. We value you as a member and hope that you will continue to use all the professional resources available only to members...

(boring stuff about what phone number to call to renew)

...It's more important than ever to work together to support libraries, library funding, and library workers.

DON'T LET YOUR ALA MEMBERSHIP EXPIRE
Renew Today!

You tell me. Do you feel persuaded? Personally, I could do with a few more specifics. Kindly remind me, what are those professional resources available only to members, exactly? I've gotten a few email newsletters with links to the ALA website, but every time I've clicked through and been asked to login for members-only content, I've decided it's too much bother and moved along to something else. Maybe for the next postcard ALA could list three accomplishments they're really proud of and demonstrate how my membership (or at least my dues) contributed.

Trouble is, by the time you get the postcard, you've probably already made up your mind about whether to renew or not. Either you feel you've gotten value for your membership throughout the year or you don't. And that doesn't happen with a postcard. It doesn't even necessarily happen when you get one really great experience out of your membership. It happens when you get one really great experience out of your membership, then you turn to ALA and ask, "What's next?" and ALA says, "Here, try this."

Here are the boxes I checked last time around:

Basic Dues

Library Administration and Management Association (and all the sub-sections, 'cause they're free after you buy into LAMA)

Public Library Association

Young Adult Library Services Association (I joined about six months into my membership year)

New Member's Round Table

Social Responsibilities Round Table ('cause it's free for students...how very socially responsible)

I signed up for a bunch of stuff because I thought I'd give it a try at the cheap student rate. When I renew, I think I'll go for NMRT and YALSA again, but that's it for now. I like the Public Libraries journal, and I love the PLAblog, but I can enjoy both of these without being a PLA member. I might sign up for ACRL at some point just to see what it's like. I'm sticking with NMRT and YALSA because I've gotten involved in committees. I'm sure there were opportunities to be more involved in LAMA, I just didn't find them. The difference with NMRT and YALSA is that the opportunities found me.

If you're curious about a section and want to give it a try, I'd suggest joining halfway through the year. The online form calculates membership cost based on how much time is left on your annual membership...if you've only got six months left, you'll get in at half price.

I've been stalling on my renewal because I thought I'd wait and see if wherever I'm going to move to has a deal for reciprocal ALA membership when you join the state association. But last night it occurred to me that I should just pick a state that offers joint membership and join. Kind of a neat way to hear about what somebody else is doing.

You know you're a big library dork when...

2006-02-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

...you take pictures of libraries while you're on vacation.

This is the public library in Quepos, Costa Rica. Unfortunately, it was closed, so I don't know what it's like on the inside.

I didn't set out to find the library, but I did make sure to go back and take a look after I noticed the sign saying "library thisaway."

When I'm visiting a library I've never been to before (perhaps because of aforementioned library dorkishness, or perhaps because I've got a job interview), I like to take public transit there if it's possible. It helps me get a sense of how easy it is to get to the library. I'll usually stop people on the street and ask for directions to the library, not because I don't know where I'm going, but because I'm curious about whether people know where the library is. Usually the first person I ask is able to point me in the right direction. The only time I've really had trouble was on the way to a library board meeting a bit south of here. I had to ask three or four people because it took me a while to find someone who spoke English.

Telephone interview for children's librarian job

2006-02-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

It's a suburban county system in a large metro area. Four person panel: someone from HR and three branch managers. At just 25 minutes, this is the quickest interview I've done, and to be honest, it felt rather rushed. Interviews of this type are more typically 45 minutes to an hour. I know I said 30 minutes for the last teen librarian interview, but I think I was underestimating. This time, I looked at the clock when I hung up because I was so surprised it was over already.

This is also the first time I wasn't given a choice of interview times. They sent me an email with the time and date of my appointment and I got to RSVP with a yes or no.

Why are you interested in the position and how does it fit with your short and long term goals?

What is your experience providing story times and children's programming? Please describe age levels and types of programs.

Discuss your experience developing collections for children. How do you make selections, what is your area of expertise, and how would you market the collection?

Promoting early childhood literacy is an important part of being a children's librarian. Give a specific example of something you have done to promote literacy. (They had an alternative question if you couldn't think of an example, but I didn't write that down and I can't remember what it was.)

Describe a time when you had to deal with a discipline problem in the library.

What experience do you have working with diverse populations?

Give an example of your experience providing technology instruction to children and their parents.

I also got to make a "closing statement" where I was asked to tell them what I knew about the library and why I would be a good candidate.

This post is brought to you by the number four

2006-02-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Okey dokey, Meredith.

Four jobs I’ve had:

USPS Letter Carrier (boy, did that suck)

Courtesy clerk (aka bag girl aka janitor) at an organic grocery store

The person you call when you want to complain about a parking ticket

Artist

Four movies I can (and do) watch over and over:

HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban ('cause it's the only DVD I own)

LA Story

Gosford Park

The Incredibles

Four places I’ve lived:

Salamanca, Spain

Glendale, AZ

St. Louis, MO

Hamburg, Germany

Four TV shows I love:

Canadian: Rick Mercer, This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Teen dramarama: Gilmore Girls, The OC

Crime: The Closer (especially the opening titles: black screen, nice serif font in white, just the title...classy), Crossing Jordan, CSI

Cartoons and medical: The Simpsons, House

Four places I’ve vacationed:

Costa Rica

Monaco (just for a day)

Venice

Manhattan

Four of my favorite dishes:

cheese

cheese

dolsot bibimbap

nectarines

Four sites I visit daily:

google.ca

bloglines

LISjobs (via bloglines)

Chronicle.com - Jobs in Librarians/library administration (via bloglines)

Four places I would rather be right now:

the beach

on a ferry

on public transit

on a train

Four books (or series) I love:

Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston

Shopgirl by Steve Martin

The Haunting of L by Howard Norman

Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

Four video games I can (and do) play over and over:

Tetris

Snood

Sudoku widget

Mastermind widget

Four bloggers I am tagging:

Scrappy Librarian

Tinfoil+Raccoon

lis.dom

Letter of recommendation

2006-02-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

My boss at the agriculture library passed this along to me last week:

My undergrad is in art history. I've been working in the engineering library for about a year and a half, and added in some hours at the agriculture library about a year ago. I endured about a week of panic at the beginning. Every time someone came to the desk, I was overwhelmed by the realization that I had no idea what they were talking about. Eventually I remembered that I had other skills to fall back on and got really good at asking questions. In the mean time, I developed a great poker face. I don't even chuckle when someone asks for the journal Poultry World.

I still remember my first question at the agriculture library. Someone wanted to know about gable top milk cartons. I'd never heard someone describe a milk carton that way (though it makes sense, if you think about it), let alone considered that someone would be interested in studying such things at university. But I managed to figure out that she was interested in the sterilization of food packaging, and I found her some books on the topic.

Working in a library doesn't just mean that you have to stay on top of the newest Internet gizmo, sometimes it means becoming familiar with entirely new bodies of knowledge. Which is scary at first, but eventually, you'll get the hang of it. Last week someone asked me for a book about PVC and I caught myself saying, "Oh, you mean polyvinyl chloride? We've got a great three-volume encyclopedia right over here..." Going to library school is like learning to use a compass. Once you've got down the basic principles, you should be able to find your way around just about anywhere, even if you've never been there before.

Midwinter job interviews

2006-02-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

It's hard to tally up how many interviews I did at Midwinter. It was more of an ongoing thing, where I could end up in an interview situation at any moment. There were some definite interviews, then some kinda sorta interviews, and a whole lot of networking and making contacts. The entire weekend was such a blur, I'm having a hard time remembering any specific questions. And being on time for the interview wasn't as much of a factor. That is to say, I was on time, but the folks I met with almost uniformly weren't. Each one lasted about half an hour. I scheduled most of the appointments after arriving in San Antonio.

I met with a fellow who had contacted me about an academic library job. This one started out with me answering questions, but the last ten or fifteen minutes was mostly him trying to sell me on the job. He asked me about the kind of job I'm looking for and more personality type questions rather than anything about specific skills. Oh, but he did ask me about my languages, and we switched over and spoke in German for a bit.

I had an appointment for an interview with one of the large public library systems who had a booth at the placement center. There were people from HR staffing the booth, but I met with one of the regional administrators. She asked about my experience/interest in working with different age groups: children, teens, adults, seniors. There were some general questions about my experience, and then she asked me to tell her what I knew about the system and to describe my ideal job. This was definitely a screening interview. I wasn't interviewing for a specific job, just making an initial contact.

I managed to meet up with someone from an academic library who I had contacted through the placement center website. He didn't really have any questions for me, it was mostly him answering my questions. I asked about the workplace, details about the job, and what they were looking for that wasn't in the job description.

Midwinter redux

2006-02-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

I know most folks post their schedule beforehand, but I didn't really know where I was going to be until I was there.

Friday

Went to the NMRT meet and greet.

Dinner with folks I met at the meet and greet.

Saturday

Wandered the exhibits for 10 minutes. Met Nancy Pearl.

Got a squished penny at the Alamo.

Volunteered at the NMRT resume review service, then had someone look at my resume.

Wandered aimlessly. Ran into: someone I went to college with, someone I used to work with, someone I was trying to schedule a meeting with, someone who works somewhere I used to work that I saw at a party in December, someone I had interviewed with a couple of months ago. All sorts of good things came out of these chance meetings.

Forgot to eat lunch.

Went to the NMRT all committee meeting. Volunteered for a committee.

Met with someone for an interview. Saw someone I knew in the middle of the interview.

Went to the NMRT social, stayed for dinner.

Sunday

Interview at the placement center.

Observed Council session I.

Went to the Best Books for Young Adults session. Bumped into someone I hadn't seen yet. Left halfway through.

Went to the President's program with Andrei Codrescu. Spotted someone I'd met on an interview panel.

Left early to chat with someone about a job.

Back for the last few minutes with Andrei.

Blogger salon.

Dinner with folks from the blogger salon.

Monday

Met someone for breakfast. Turns out we were on the same flight, so we shared a cab to the airport.

Here's my helpful hints: If you don't have business cards, make yourself some. There's a template in MS Word, and you can get them printed up at any copy shop. Conference lunch fare (in the convention center, at least) tends to be of the hot dog variety, so I went all school lunch style and brought juice boxes, granola bars, fruit leather, and little containers of applesauce. I packed enough for breakfast, too.

This was my second big ALA gathering. I went to annual in Chicago partially so I could get the whole business of being overwhelmed out of the way and focus on interviews and job stuff at Midwinter. When you're heading to your first or second conference, don't be fooled by the big glossy program. In fact, I would suggest skipping most of the sessions as a first timer. There's a good chance that somebody will blog about what happened, so you don't have to physically attend to get the content. If you do go to a session, get there early, mill about, and introduce yourself to people. Because conference is all about people, folks. Make sure you go to a social every night that you're there. And schedule some time for aimless wandering. By the end of the weekend, I started to think of myself as a pinball. The more I let myself be jostled around, seemingly at random, the more I started to bump into really exciting stuff.

Yet another teen services interview

2006-02-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's a large system in a large metro area. Three person panel, roughly 30 minutes. They had some telephone issues, so I got a couple of phantom calls before we managed to establish a connection.

They started off by asking me if I'd had a chance to find out much about the library on the web (though this wasn't one of the official questions). Then they told me a bit about the job, including the salary range and their hiring timeline. Oh, and they reminded me to answer the questions as if they'd never seen my resume or application.

Give us an overview of your experience and education as related to young adult services.
Imagine you have to give book talks to two English classes, one middle school and one high school. What books or authors would you recommend?
How would you go about developing ideas and planning for teen programs?
The YA librarian works closely with the teen advisory board. How would you go about introducing yourself into the group and gaining their trust?
As a YA librarian, you also interact closely with parents. How would you deal with the following: a parent who thinks the subject matter of materials in the teen section is inappropriate, a parent who asks for book suggestions for a 4th grade child reading at an advanced level, and a parent of a teen who wants to attend a teen program.
What are the benefits of community outreach and what are some ideas you have for community outreach?

Once again, I wore my pyjamas. And just to make things exciting, I had to deal with the plumber coming into my apartment in the middle of the interview.

So, I've done enough teen librarian interviews to identify a few trends. You're going to be put on the spot to talk about some YA books, and you're going to get the angry parent/inappropriate content question. Be prepared.

Interview: a student perspective

2006-02-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

This interviewing thing is fun. Maybe if the librarian gig doesn't work out, I could try to find work as a talk show host.

Next up is Sara Zoë Patterson. We actually met through this blog and have been emailing back and forth a bit. We've never met in person. She wins a prize for correctly guessing where one of my job interviews was (and I thought I was being so discrete and vague). Sara Zoë works in a high school library in Hampton, NH, as a library facilitator, and she just started the distance MLIS at Rutgers.

Heidi: You've already told me you're not an ALA member? Why not?

Sara Zoë: I guess I'd ask you, why? My boss is, out of a feeling of obligation and duty. And what does it get her? Used to get her free Oprah books for our library, but we haven't seen them lately. And the American Libraries publication is the most irrelevant, fluffy, waste of paper I've seen. We can't afford to buy stuff from them for Banned Books week, or Teen Reading Week, even at the member price. I do appreciate what they do on behalf of intellectual freedom.

H: Is there an ALA student chapter at your school?

SZ: Probably. There are many student orginizations at Rutgers, and their members are very dedicated, as evidenced by my always full email inbox. I considered joining ALA as a student member, but on the website it says you have to be full time, which I'm technically not, and it wasn't worth it to me to see if they would really hold me to that.

H: You mentioned that you had a chance to go to a big conference (well, a free ticket to the exhibits, at least) but you decided not to go. Why?

SZ: I couldn't figure out why I should go at the time. Now I realize I could've at least gotten plentyo'free schlock. And I could have skulked around meeting people I've only met online. But at this time last year I wasn't clued into those things or those people. So at this point I would travel an hour to go for free. But I'm not sure I'd travel much further, and I'm really not sure I would pay money. Part of that is my own newness and cluelessness.

H: But you've been to state level conferences, right? How did you find the experience?

SZ: I actually love going to conferences. I've been to several, I've spoken at one and will speak again this year. I love the content. Hearing new ideas, talking to people about what they are doing and what their experiences are - that's why I love the concept of blogging so much and why I read so many. It's like conference content all the time - someone presents, and then there is a nice conversation about it after. So I've been to NH state library conferences, New England regional, and several times to a NH technology in education conference. I always come back jazzed up with either an idea to implement or something that alters my thinking in some way.

H: What kind of benefits/value would you look for or expect from ALA membership?

SZ: This is the rub, isn't it? People aren't interested in ALA but they can't be specific about what they want, either, can they? My boss and I had a good talk about AASL today - (I'm not totally committed to being a school librarian, but being in a school library makes it very relevant to discussion - and by not committed, I mean I'd like to explore public librarianship a bit) - and she was outlining the places where she finds AASL falls very short - in communicating how to deal with NCLB, and practical info on moving to a standards based curriculum. To get back to your question, ALA has always given me the impression that it is an organization for public libraries primarily. And if so, no biggie. Us other kinds of libraries have other organizations. But it should be more honest about this. Maybe ALA should slim down and do what it does well - fight intellectual freedom fights. And stay out of job availability prediction altogether.

H: You just started your MLIS, right? Was ALA introduced to you as a professional resource when you started your program?

SZ: Real ALA was not introduced, but the Rutgers chapter of ASIS&T was, in a big way. They helped out at our orientation, student members tutored us through a lot of techy stuff, recruited us and so on. Oh wait, now I went back to look at some things to make sure I was giving you the right names of the organization, and I realized our listserve (for all Rutgers MLIS students) is called LISSA after the Rutgers student chapter of ALA. Maybe the website will be of interest to you. At any rate, I didn't realize it had anything to do with ALA.

H: As a library student, do you feel connected to ALA? In what way?

SZ: No, but I'm interested. I'm glad to see ALA blogging, I subscribed to the YALSA blog and have been really pleased with its range and relevancy thus far. I think ALA itself is just too far-ranging to be that relevant to that many people - there are just so many sub-groups - so this model of having the subgroups blogging works for me.

And I know this is dumb, because as a future librarian I should have the curiosity and wherewithall to find this out myself - but I want someone to personally tell me why ALA matters to me. I am looking for some sort of personal recommendation, and I just haven't seen that. All the bloggers that I read don't love it, my mentors and people around me don't have any use for it. I don't really have that much connection to the grad students who are further along than me, except through our listserve which is populated almost entirely by messages about lost cats and books for sale and trips to various libraries in NJ.

H: Are you as involved in library professional organizations as you would like to be? Why/why not? What factors affect this?

SZ: I am a member of the New Hampshire Educational Media Association - the school library association. I've been invited to serve on the scholarships and awards committee - but I turned it down because I want to apply for said scholarships and awards. As a member, when I talk at their conference, I get no reimbursement - but I do get into the whole conference for free! - and I could get gas comped if I really needed it. Also if I have to stay overnight because the conference is far away they will put me up - though its usually a room sharing situation - all this is to say that the dinky little NH organization is doing better by its people than ALA at this point.

Back to the point - I will probably join the New Hampshire Library Association soon, I've been meaning to do it, and there are a couple of committees that I'm interested in - the state's teen reader award, for one. These organizations are pretty small, but that keeps them relevant. It's easy to email the person in charge and suggest something - you may get an email back saying, "Great! Go for it!" because everyone is very volunteer and part time, but things happen, statements get made that create action. We fight our own fights here for issues of keeping funding where it should be, keeping state standards or improving them (as we got passed last year) to improve student access to libraries and librarians. Since we are small, we can be quick on our feet. Of course, we have a smaller pool of people to draw from, and in the ebb and flow of things there are years where the people running the organization are not so progressive or hard working.

One thing that gets me as involved as I am (which for a para, is a lot), is that they sought me out. They saw my webpage, saw the stuff I was doing with digital audiobooks, and came to me - which was flattering. But it was individual. And they kept in touch.

Paraprofessional

2006-02-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

I had a really good chat with an urban library administrator at Midwinter. Here's something that she said that's stuck with me:

"I don't like the word paraprofessional. They're professionals in their own right."

Well said.

I mentioned starting as a paraprofessional in my "Statement of Professional Concerns" for the ALA election. I decided to use the word clerk instead. How do you feel about the word?

Interview: Vote for Sam!

2006-02-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

This just might turn into a series after all. Here's the second of my informational interviews related to running for Council. Samantha Schmehl Hines is also running for Council. We met on nexgen-l and met again, in person, at Midwinter in San Antonio. I might be stating the obvious, but I think the work that Council does is ultimately shaped by the people who participate. Getting to know my colleagues better is an important part of figuring out how the whole thing works.

Why are you a member of ALA?

I originally joined ALA when I was a library outreach coordinator for a nonprofit group after graduating from college. I thought it would be a good way to get to know what librarians and libraries need, and how my organization could help out with that. Joining ALA and my previous experiences as a page and ILL clerk made me realize that being a librarian would be a great career choice!

What is the most rewarding part of being an ALA member and what are you most dissatisfied with?

The most rewarding part of being in ALA is meeting so many great folks, and feeling like I'm supporting the profession into the future. As for what I'm dissatisfied with, that's a hard one. I guess I would say ALA doesn't always do the best job it can in reaching new librarians and proving its worth.

Why did you decide to run for council?

I'm already committed to go to Midwinter and Annual as an intern on the Intellectual Freedom Committee, so it wasn't going to be a burden on me to have to attend Council meetings. I wanted to give back my time and energy to ALA, as I feel that it has provided me with many opportunities to get involved in librarianship even before I got my masters. I also hope to help ALA show its worth to newer librarians.

What do you think you have to contribute to council that is unique (or perhaps currently lacking on council)?

I'm under thirty, I'm relatively new to the profession, I'm from the Rocky Mountain West (an area without too much representation), and I have a wide range of experience despite my age in academic, special, and public libraries in paraprofessional and professional positions.

If you were going to submit a resolution before council, what topic would it address? Why?

Oh, my. This is a tough one! Well, at Midwinter there was talk of a resolution supporting Google's decision to not turn over user information to the government. Nothing ever happened with it, for a number of reasons, but I could definitely see myself getting behind similar privacy concerns, intellectual freedom issues, and the like. I would make sure, however, that there was a strong relation between the issue and library services or ideals, and that the resolution wasn't just a political statement.

Teen librarian interview

2006-01-31T14:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's a one-branch library in a smallish town on the edge of a large metro area. Three person panel: the head of youth services, the library director, and the head of reference. I think we were on the phone for about half an hour.

What experience do you have providing reference services? Include job experience as well as courses and training.

Why are you interested in being a teen librarian?

The teen librarian is often called upon to assist with children's services. What experience do you have in that area?

What experience do you have with public speaking?

Give an impromptu book talk.

What are your goals for your career, how do you plan to accomplish those goals, and where do you see yourself in five years?

Why do you think teen volunteers are important to the library?

Scenario question: a father complains about a book that is inappropriate for his teenage daughter, say a graphic novel with lots of violence. What do you do?

How do you envision attracting YAs to the library, what are your ideas for developing programs and collections? Describe your philosophy of YA services.

Any questions for us?

I did something kind of funny for the book talk. I have a couple in my head that I've done before, and I'm always telling people about my latest favorites. I read mostly YA stuff, so there are plenty of books fresh in my mind, but I didn't feel like using recycled material. So I grabbed a magazine that was lying around at my feet and talked about it. My answer probably wasn't as good as if I'd used something I'd talked about before, but it was more fun for me because it was spontaneous. I think I've done so many interviews lately that I'm starting to get a very laissez faire attitude about the whole thing. I can't decide whether that's good or bad.

Assistant Director telephone interview

2006-01-27T09:53:00.000-08:00

This time it's a public library in a small town about an hour away from a major city. No panel, just me and the director chatting for ninety minutes or so. In spite of everything they say about getting dressed up for phone interviews, I wore my pyjamas.

I was asked to prepare something for the interview:

Please bring one idea for a program aimed at an adult audience and an outline of what your plan would be for such a program, including everything from conception through marketing through execution. This only needs to be an informal project; notes and/or a bulleted list of your organized thoughts would suffice.

First off, she acknowledged that interviews are a two way process and encouraged me to ask questions at any point. Then came the questions:

Describe your favorite place that you have worked.

Why do you think libraries conduct adult programming? (This is also where I was asked to present my program ideas.)

A patron who is using the computer comes up to you and says the printer isn't printing. Describe the steps you would take to respond.

Talk about your philosophy regarding collection development and name three sources that you rely on for collection development.

Tell me about your experience with community outreach and working with community groups.

Why are you the best candidate for the position?

In terms of your qualifications, what are you most confident about and what are you least confident about? (I like this so much better than the "what are your weaknesses?" question.)

Describe your management style.

Describe a typical day at your current job and what you think a typical day would be like in this position.

What attracted you to this position?

What have you found out about this library that surprised you?

How do you enter into relationships with co-workers when you are new to a job?

Is there anything else that you would like me to know?

I must say, along with the questions I was asked in the teen librarian interview a while ago, these are the best interview questions I've run across. I found myself being really honest.

I was still pretty exhausted after all the excitement at Midwinter and didn't really have a chance to prepare. I've spent enough time preparing for interviews that I wasn't overly concerned, but I'm starting to think that for the right job, you shouldn't have to prepare too much. If it's a good fit, the questions should tap into things that you're thinking about all the time anyhow.

For the adult program bit, I emailed someone I know at a library that does great programs and asked her for ideas. She sent me a couple of events calendars, and I picked something that looked good. Then I spent five minutes drafting an outline of the steps involved: planning, promotion, evaluation, etc. Five minutes was really all the time I could spare. In that sense, I suppose this was a very realistic exercise.

p.s. In class yesterday, one of my profs referred to librarians as information alchemists.

Vaguest rejection letter ever

2006-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

This was in the mailbox when I got back from San Antonio. From the Human Resources Department:

The Library Services Department has advised us that they have made a decision, and the individual they have selected will be made a job offer.

This would have been totally depressing (I was really excited about this one) if I hadn't run into someone from the interview panel at Midwinter. It was great to be able to talk to her without having to maintain the interview poker face. Turns out they liked me, they just couldn't hire me. After chatting for ten minutes or so, she recruited me to work with her on an article she's writing.

Moral of the story: sometimes you're not interviewing for the position you think you're interviewing for.

Nancy Pearl sighting!

2006-01-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

I just shook hands with an action figure! And I was so excited, I forgot to tell her my name...

So, the midwinter blogging begins. I'm also blogging for PLA, and there's already lots of interesting stuff over there.

p.s. My UBC email is currently broken (aargh!) and I don't have a cell phone, so if you're trying to get in touch, email me here.

Interview: to join or not to join?

2006-01-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

Turnabout is fair play, right? I've been answering so many interview questions, I thought I'd try asking a few. This is the first in what I hope will be an occasional series of informational interviews loosely related to my candidacy for ALA council. The little survey I did a few months ago suggests that a lot of folks out there feel disconnected from ALA. So, I thought I'd talk to someone who is very involved in libraries, but not active in library associations, and try to figure out what is going on.

Meet my pal Steve. He's a good friend, but he's also a library buddy, which means I can call him up when I'm being a big library dork and say things like, "OMG, I visited this library today, and you wouldn't BELIEVE their circ policies..." Steve knows more about libraries than just about anyone I know, and he keeps me from getting too uppity about library school.

Heidi: For your age, you've already had a remarkably long career in libraries. How long have you worked at the library?

Steve: I volunteering for the library when I was ten. I continued volunteering until I graduated [high] school, and then I got my first job as a library page in 1995. So it's been ten years of employment, but almost 19 total with the library.

H: What kind of work do you do at the library?

S: I'm a library assistant, which means I do reference work with librarians but get paid less. It's paraprofessional I guess.

H: Do you think you'll stick with the library gig, or do you have plans to move on to something else?

S: Right now I'm gonna stick with it. I have plans to finish up my BS and after part-timing school AND work for ten years, I'm ready to get more involved at work (i.e. full-time, more projects, moola, etc).

H: Any interest in getting an MLS? Why/why not?

S: At this point in time, I'm not sure. I've been in school for ten years, and just want some time away from it for a while. I might consider it after a couple years, but just don't know. Also, what I'm wanting to do at the library doesn't necessarily require an MLS, so I'd need to weigh the benefits later on if I do decide for more schooling.

H: I know you're not a member of ALA. Why not?

S: I'd ask you "Why?" I don't know what the benefit of it would be. I'm not a librarian, and even some librarians I talk to don't know what the real benefits of belonging to it are. I guess I see it as way too much money to spend on something that I wouldn't get any use out of.

H: What's your impression of ALA? Its purpose, goals, structure?

S: I guess you could say I have a negative impression of ALA. I know they're around to fight for libraries, freedom of information, etc etc, but I also know that for such a progressive organization, they can be a little...for lack of a better word...unprogressive. I read a lot of blogs. I've seen Michael Gorman stick his foot in his mouth more times than needed. It's almost embarrassing to have a leader of such a potentially great organization talk smack about technology that he clearly has no idea about. Shouldn't we be embracing change? Shouldn't ALA work towards helping backwater libraries come into the big 21? I think so. I also think ALA should be working to help educate the American public on what a fantastic idea the library is. There's something for everyone at the library, public or private. Wouldn't it be great if every single citizen realized that? Perhaps these are things that ALA is doing. Perhaps they've already done them. I guess I don't know because I'm only familiar with ALA in terms of banned books lists, and Gorman's comments. Oh, and occasionally fighting against the Bush administration.

H: Is there anything that would convince you to join ALA?

S: I really doubt it. They'd have to put on a great campaign to win my support, and I'm sure what I'd expect would cause other people to have the opposite reaction that'd I'd have. They'd also have to really lower the cost of [membership]. I already spend too much on causes that I have a greater interest in. Why put money I don't have into something that almost seems "work-related"? Perhaps if they had some way for my employer to contribute money (like the "$3 to the presidential campaign" thing on tax forms where I don't have to spend money)...

H: Even though you're not a member, as a library worker do you feel a connection to ALA? Do you feel it represents your interests?

S: Again, I feel I keep in touch with the library world, but ALA for some reason just isn't a part of what I see when I'm looking. I read Library Journal, about ten library blogs, articles concerning libraries, etc. Occasionally I see they're in court, fighting for something I believe in. Or they are working to educate some school board about why a certain book shouldn't be banned, but other than that I rarely see them. I know they exist, as I know that my library probably wouldn't be as great if ALA weren't around. But I don't see them.

H: You've been super involved with committee work at the library (staff day, training, summer reading), you've even presented at a national conference (you presented at PLA, right?). But you're not really involved with library associations. Why is that?

S: I guess you could say I've been involved in almost everything the library does. I've held varying positions in a number of locations, been involved in committees that helped shape and mold our own organization, and yes, even presented at PLA back in 2000. I enjoy a challenge, and [the library I work for] continues to encourage me. I recently joined the Virtual Reference team that provides statewide chat reference (email ref too!). It's the first statewide project that I've been a part of. I've also looked into what my options would be if I were to join a committee or team through ALA, but paraprofessional opportunities are few. Maybe in the future...

ALA job placement center: before the conference

2006-01-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

This is my first time using the placement service, so I'm still learning how it works. I logged in, created a profile, and posted my resume last month. Nothing really happened, so I sent a few messages to recruiters through the website mentioning that I'll be at the conference and am interested in speaking with them. Some replied, some didn't. I figured I should try to set up meetings in advance, but the replies I did get made it seem like I should just show up at their booth at the conference. Then today, out of the blue I got an email from somebody I hadn't contacted before. Very exciting. The job looks pretty interesting, so I agreed to meet for a chat at the conference. I'm not quite sure what to expect. I don't anticipate a full-on interview, more of a screening/get-to-know-you conversation, but really it could go either way. Fingers crossed!

Mid-job hunt update

2006-01-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

jobs applied for: approx. 30
interviews: 5
rejections: 11

It feels like I've applied for a lot more. Four of the interviews didn't work out (one because I couldn't start soon enough), and I'm waiting to hear from the fifth. Three of the interviews were for management positions.

The interviews have tended to be in places that are geographically closer, and the rejections are mostly from far away. More rejections on the academic side, which is interesting because I've applied for more public stuff.

I'm still fairly picky at this point, I'm looking for the magic combination of a job that interests me in a place I'd like to live. I've applied coast to coast, everything from entry level to director. If it's a big system, I apply for entry level, but if it's small, I'll shoot for more responsibility. My goal is to have something lined up before classes are over.

ALA Election Candidate Information

2006-01-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

Here's all the info that ALA asks for election candidates to submit. Do I include this blog under publications? You'll notice I tend to come in under the word limit. Whaddaya think? It's a bit dull, but judging from the recent election debates here in Canada, I think that's how candidates are supposed to be generally. I find it a bit odd that they ask for dates of degrees. That feels like they're asking my age, which is really nobody's business. And besides, if you did the math according to normal conventions, you'd get my age wrong. My list of accomplishments and activities is a bit slim, but I feel like that's part of why I'm running in the first place. You shouldn't have to have a 25 page CV in order to participate.

EDUCATION: Please give, in this order, College/University, Graduate or other study indicating field such as MSLS followed by DATES of degrees:
Bryn Mawr College, BA 1999
Washington University in St. Louis, Graduate Fellow, 2002-2003
University of British Columbia, MLIS Candidate 2006

ALA ACTIVITIES: Please give, including DATES, in the following order: ALA Council, ALA Committees; ALA Division/Committee Offices; Round Table/Committee Offices (specify member or chairperson); representative to other groups:
memberships held: Public Library Association, Library Administration and Management Association, Young Adult Library Services Association, New Members Round Table, Social Responsibilities Round Table, and the Canadian Library Association

Offices held in state & regional library & other associations (including DATES):
Representative to the Library and Archival Studies Student Association, University of British Columbia, 2004-2005

Honors and Awards (library and non-library, including DATES):
BA received cum laude, Bryn Mawr College, 1999
Suhrkamp and Heller fellowships for graduate study in German, 2002

Briefly indicate major accomplishments that are to be included in the biographical sketch accompanying the ballot, including outstanding publications, professional contributions, etc. Please limit to NOT MORE than 175 words.
My experience in libraries includes positions at Multnomah County Library (Portland, OR), North Vancouver District Public Library (BC), and the University of British Columbia Library, in addition to collaboration with librarians at the Missouri Botanical Garden on a museum exhibition and catalog. In 2004, I received a grant from Arts in Transit (St. Louis, MO) for a community outreach project promoting public transit and urban renewal. Currently, I am an MLIS Candidate and contribute reviews of young adult and children's books to the publication Canadian Materials.
Current Word Count: 87

Statement of Professional Concerns (Council: 150 words maximum; President: 300 words maximum):
As one of the nearly 10,000 student members of ALA, I'd like to see strong student involvement throughout all levels of the association. I am a soon-to-be MLIS graduate and can provide a recent perspective on LIS education. As a resident of the west coast, I will contribute to the geographic diversity of Council. I began my career as a paraprofessional and I've worked in variety of library settings − public, academic, special, and school. I can approach the issues facing libraries from a variety of perspectives. I'm passionate about libraries, fascinated by discussions of policy, planning, and governance, and look forward to channeling my enthusiasm into service to the profession.
Current Word Count: 111

San Antonio

2006-01-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

It's my first Midwinter conference! I'm off to 80 degree weather on Friday. I had no idea it would be so warm, I have to completely rethink my wardrobe. How does one look professional, yet not sweaty?

If anyone wants to say hello, I'll be at the blog salon on Sunday evening. So you can recognize me, here's what I looked like at the last salon. My hair is a bit different, but you should be able to spot the glasses. I'll be the one wearing the FOR HIRE sign around my neck.

I'm keeping my schedule fairly open. I'll be volunteering at the NMRT Resume Review Service booth, but mostly I'll be lurking around the Job Placement Center. I'm also blogging for PLA. I think I'll go to the NMRT Social on Saturday evening at the Hard Rock Cafe. I can't remember, is there a nexgenlib-l gathering, too? And if I have time, I'd really like to squeeze in a visit to The Alamo. Did you know admission is free?

I tried the trip planner on the San Antonio public transit site, and it told me I need to take four buses (!!!) to get from the airport to my hotel. Don't believe them! I spent an hour figuring it all out, and if you don't mind walking a half mile or so, the #2 Blanco will be your best friend while in San Antonio. It goes right from the airport to St Mary's and Market, a few blocks from the convention center. It takes a little under an hour, and it only costs 80 cents!

How I find out about jobs

2006-01-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

I subscribe to a bunch of listservs and RSS feeds. Actually, I started subscribing in my first or second term of library school. Back then it was only one or two lists. Subscribe to a couple a few months before you're ready to start applying to get a sense of what's out there, what regions are hiring more heavily, what types of jobs come up more often, what qualifications employers are looking for, and salaries. You'll notice that some libraries constantly have openings, and you might start to wonder about their high turnover. You also get to see what kinds of jobs have to repost or extend the deadline.

There's the old standby, the IFLA jobs mailing list. But don't forget to cast the net far and wide...

Library school job listservs

You don't have to be enrolled in a particular school to subscribe to its jobs listserv. (At least, nobody's given me the boot yet.) Most of them get national postings, but of course there will be some regional focus. Pick schools in places you'd like to live. Here are the ones I watch:

UT Austin iSchool JobWeb National listings. Nice daily digest with links to full listings. If you only subscribe to one or two listservs, include this one. They get the job categories wrong sometimes, so sign up for a bunch.

iProJobs Univ of Washington Some national, but heavy on the Pacific Northwest. Lots of special library/techie jobs.

UNC Chapel Hill SILS-jobs National listings, with some southern focus.

San Jose State slis-job National, with lots of California.

Regional library associations

If you're interested in jobs in a particular state, the state library association listserv will have job postings, and it's a good way to get a feel for what's going on with libraries in that region.

I subscribe to the California Library Association (CALIX), the Oregon Library Association Hotline, and the Pacific Northwest Library Association listservs. The Mountain Plains Library Association stopped posting jobs to its listserv and the Washington Library Association is members only. Bummer.

There's also the New York Metropolitan Area Chapter/Association of College and Research Libraries list. Mostly New York, but some national. Not just academic jobs.

RSS feeds

lisjobs.com This one's great. National listings. Again, if you only monitor one or two sources, be sure to include this one.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed has feeds for library jobs. National listings, academic only. They have three or four categories for libraries with a lot of redundancy, I forget which one gets the most traffic.

Metro Magnet (NY) New York metro area. You also get emails about workshops on this one.

So you want to become a Canadian...

Don't forget there are 6 schools in Canada, and provincial library associations to boot. The SLAIS jobs listserv is mostly BC and lower mainland stuff, but quite a few national listings.

Admittedly, this means I get a LOT of email (I'd guess in excess of 100 a day), and quite a few duplicates. But I'm pretty satisfied that I know about almost every job that I'd be interested in.

Project manager interview

2005-12-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

This one's a project management job with a non-profit serving libraries. Two person interview panel.

What attracted you to the job and the organization?
What was the most challenging project you've worked on?
Give us an idea of the range of projects you've worked on.
Are you involved in any online communities?
Give an example of a time you worked on multiple projects simultaneously and discuss how you prioritized competing demands.
Describe a project you worked on that went wrong.
How do you feel about doing the more mundane side of project management (the grunt work that just has to get done)?
What kind of tasks do you enjoy most?
What kind of supervisor do you work well with?
Talk about your Spanish skills.
If you had to describe yourself using just three words, what would they be?
What one thing do you want us to remember about you?

I'll admit, it was hard to be in interview mode on December 22. On the upside, I was too exhausted to feel nervous.

This one was interesting because it's a different sort of job than I'd been picturing for myself. Actually, the more I think about it, the more it seems like it might be a good fit. Still, it can be tricky to switch gears. You can describe your duties and responsibilities at one job in half a dozen different ways. It all depends on what you choose to emphasize, and what works for one interview won't necessarily work for the next.

There's a lot you can tell about a job from how they conduct the interview. Sometimes the questions are vague and you get a sense that they're not really sure what they're looking for. Other times you can tell that they're looking for something in particular, that there are right and wrong ways to answer each question, and how well you do will depend on your ability to match their expectations. This time, I felt like the questions were pretty open, and the interview wasn't just about my answers, but about judging how I create structure when presented with general guidelines rather than precise instructions. I imagine that is representative of what the work environment would be like.

Personally, I don't like the "pick three words to describe yourself" kind of question. It's a little generic, and I'm more impressed when the questions are tailored to the specifics of the job. As an interviewee, I like it when I can tell why a question is being asked and what it will tell the interview panel about my qualifications as related to the job description.

I still think one of the biggest challenges in an interview is to give specific examples. It's to easy to generalize, and every answer can be improved when you pair it with an example that illustrates what you mean.

And, this was the first time that I talked about this blog during an interview (hello to my interviewers if you're reading this).

20 minute phone interview

2005-12-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

This was one of those screening interviews, 20 minutes on the phone, and they'll invite the people they like down for lengthier interviews.

Just one person on the other end, and he dove right in.

Where did you hear about the job and what interested you in the position?
What skills do you have, as related to the job description, that make you a good candidate? (This isn't just me being vague, he really didn't mention any specifics and left it up to me to identify things from the job description.)
Can you give a specific example of one of the skills you just mentioned?
Can you describe how you approach working in teams?
Give a specific example of a team project you worked on.
He also asked how I deal with ambiguity and change. (I loved that.)

That's it.

The entire call lasted 25 minutes, and the last five or ten were devoted to the "do you have any questions about the position" part.

The toughest thing about the quickie interview is there aren't any warm-up questions. I'm always a little twitchy for the first question. It takes a moment to hit my stride and relax into the rhythm of the interview. I think the appropriate thing to do would have been to take a moment, sip my tea, and then resume talking.

It was also interesting because the person doing the interviewing isn't directly involved with the position I was interviewing for. So it wasn't just about the skills and the qualifications, but about how I would fit into the culture of the place.

(Okay, it's always exciting to get a job interview, but part of me was excited for the new blog content. Is that wrong? I mean, I haven't done a 20 minute screening interview before.)

Cover letter formula

2005-12-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Having a formula may seem to fly in the face of all the advice you get to write an individually tailored letter, but I think having a formula actually makes it easier to customize.

Here's mine:

1st paragraph: Just one or two sentences. First sentence clearly indicates the position I'm applying for. You never know who is going to do the first sort through the resumes, and you want to make sure that whoever it is knows which pile to put your application in. HR also likes it if you mention where you saw the job posting, but as I usually see a job posted in a dozen different places, picking just one source can be tricky. Sometimes I'll put in a second sentence that says something about the mission of the institution, but be careful with this one. The cover letter is about you, not them, so limit yourself to one sentence, and make it short. Sometimes I pull a key phrase out of a planning document or a mission statement I've found on the web. This lets them know you've done some reading about their institution.

2nd paragraph: I dive right into my skills and qualifications. These are based directly on the job posting. Don't be afraid to use the exact language of the job posting, especially if it's a civil service or government job. Wherever I mention a skill, I provide an example of where I learned/developed/demonstrated it. As a result, I tend to group my skills by place of employment. Depending on the job and my qualifications, I might devote two paragraphs to my skills.

3rd paragraph: When appropriate, I sometimes include a paragraph with additional skills that aren't mentioned in the desired qualifications, but that might set me apart from other applicants. For example, I'll mention that I speak other languages or that I have experience with grant writing.

4th paragraph: This is where I mention my all-around skills that are useful in any job, again providing evidence of where I obtained each skill. I talk about my professional values and involvement in professional associations.

I tend to take up a whole page. I've written the 4th paragraph so that it can go almost as-is into any letter. That way, I don't start off by staring at a blank page and the whole process seems less daunting. I spend most of my time editing the 2nd paragraph. This is where you get to employ those weeding skills. You may have to delete some things that you're really proud of. But remember, if it's extraneous to the job you're applying for, it's just going to distract them from the stuff that you really want to emphasize.

Once you've got the basic framework, it's much easier to go back and expand on the parts that are especially relevant for a particular job, and the bits that don't belong become obvious.

The trick, of course, is in how you talk about your skills. My cover letter used to be a bit of a laundry list: I can do this and this and that. Then I revised it to apply for a management job, and it completely transformed. I now use wording from that version even when applying for non-managerial positions. The difference: my cover letter now focuses on accomplishments. I tend to mention special projects and activities where I directly contributed to a measurable improvement. (I even mention numbers and percentages.) The place to talk about the basic duties and responsibilities is the resume, not the cover letter.

So, here's a fun exercise. Try writing a cover letter for a job that's a real stretch. Find a job posting for a library director or department head, or anything that is one step beyond your comfort level. How would you sell your skills? What would you emphasize? Which parts of your most recent cover letter would the hiring committee not care about?

Statement of Professional Concerns (first draft)

2005-12-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to get around to this, but certain things get left undone at the end of the semester: dishes, laundry, submissions to the elections committee...

With school under control once again, I feel like I should get back to the business of running for ALA Council. Samantha's already beat me to it and blogged a draft of her statement. I shouldn't have read hers first, because she says a lot of the same things I want to say.

I've only got 150 words, and here are my talking points so far:

As one of the nearly 10,000 student members of ALA, I'd like to see strong student involvement throughout all levels of the association.
As a resident of the west coast, I will contribute to the geographic diversity of Council.
I've worked in variety of library settings: public, academic, special, and school.
I began my career as a paraprofessional and can approach the issues facing libraries from a variety of perspectives.
I'm passionate about libraries and strangely fascinated by discussions of policy, planning, and governance.

Hmm. How else to differentiate myself? What would you like to see in a candidate's statement? And what would persuade you to hand over your vote???

Ms Library Director?

2005-11-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Another small town library manager/director interview. One of the challenges of this type of interview is that you're talking to a lay audience. You have to constantly remind yourself to phrase everything in terms the general public could understand. The panel included four board members and one staff member. The interview lasted almost two hours, and by the end I was starting to get a little raspy. I'm sure there are some questions I've forgotten. They didn't provide me with a list of the questions to refer to, and this was the first time that I've been tape recorded during an interview.

What have you found out about our library since you applied for the position?
What is your experience working with library boards?
How would you respond to a patron that is very angry and complaining about library services?
Describe your ideal library.
If you're not able to resolve the complaint, what would you do next?
What is your experience with bookkeeping and library budgets in particular?
Describe your experience with library programming.
Talk about your experience with computers and technology.
Describe your experience working with volunteers and friends of the library groups.
How will you balance the competing demands on your time?
Describe your experience working with community organizations such as the Lions Club or Kiwanis Club.
What is your knowledge of the state laws concerning libraries?
Describe your involvement in professional organizations.
Describe your communication style.
Do you have experience with grant writing?
Describe your experience with fundraising and discuss one success that you are particularly proud of.

When it was my turn to ask questions, I followed up with some old standbys: What is the greatest challenge facing your library in the near future? What is the library's greatest strength? What is your hiring timeline?

The questions were very broad, which gave me the opportunity to cover a lot of ground in my answers. With vague questions, I found it helpful to ask clarifying questions to identify what it is they're getting at (with the communication style question, I asked if they meant communication with the board, with staff, or with the public). If you can't get the panel to narrow it down, try to break the question down and give yourself a framework for answering (for the ideal library question, I pointed out that you could think of a library in terms of the physical space, the collection, the working environment, etc, and addressed each of those in turn).

I'm always curious how people respond to my age in interviews for management positions. I talked up my tech skills and emphasized community outreach, especially to youth, aspects of the job where my relatively young age will hopefully be viewed as a strength.

Teen librarian interview questions

2005-11-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

Four person panel. 45 minutes, 10 questions. Entry level teen librarian job at a mid-sized urban public library. Fairly standard library interview fare. The questions are very paraphrased, but you'll get the idea.

Tell us about your experience and your strengths as they relate to the position.
How would you handle a complaint from an adult patron about noisy teenagers?
How would you respond to a woman who complains about inappropriate content in a YA book?
What would you do if you overheard a colleague doing a bad job of answering a reference question?
Talk about your experience working with English language learners, teachers, and school librarians.
If you received $500 to spend on anime books, how would you spend it?
Describe how you would help a high school student who is looking for books on the Civil War for a homework assignment.
Describe the process of planning and promoting a successful library program for teens.
Tell us about a YA book you read recently that you enjoyed. Who would you recommend this book to?
Do you have anything else to add? Any questions for us?

Overheard on the bus

2005-11-17T14:47:00.000-08:00

"Yeah, that's the thing about library staff. They're all really nice, but they can be so...frustrating."

Informational interview with a teen librarian

2005-11-06T19:44:00.000-08:00

I met with a teen librarian this week to chat about the nature of the work and get advice on interviewing for a teen librarian position. We talked for about an hour. Lots of good stuff. I went prepared with a few questions, but the librarian was really talkative and answered most of my questions before I had a chance to ask them!

on working with teens:

Act on suggestions from teens and the teen advisory group. Teens want to be involved and following through on their suggestions develops trust. Teens are very busy and it's important to reciprocate when they take time to send you an email or come to an advisory group meeting.
It can be exhausting, you need to pace yourself.
People who are drawn to this kind of work often seem to have an inner teen that fuels their interest and enthusiasm. Find your inner teen!
Bigger, one shot programs seem to work best, sustained program series take a lot more planning and it can be challenging to get a good crowd.
Teens recognize when the library isn't treating them equally and they stop using the library as a result.
Programs scheduled during school hours are very successful. You can book class groups and you have a guaranteed audience.
Teens will surprise you. At an event where local high school bands performed in the library, performers brought their families, not just their friends, to watch.
It's important to bring passion and vision to your work, and to find a vision that will work for your community.
When you visit schools, teens see you as a teacher (a sub!), not a librarian.
Look to local organizations for sponsorship. They can help build community support and awareness. A local radio station recently interviewed members of the teen advisory board. That helps build momentum. How something is perceived has a big impact on its success.
Don't be afraid to fail. Talk about what isn't working with teen advisors if an event fails.
Try programs that don't necessarily seem like "library" programs. Fun programs are important to get them in the door.

on working in libraries:

A lot of the work that you do is within the library to build support for teen services among staff.
Work with people and follow the procedures that are in place. Policies can be tedious, and it's tempting to sidestep them, but by working through the system you can learn a lot and you build relationships with other staff.
Librarians are incredibly generous with sharing ideas, don't start from scratch. Ask for suggestions and people will often send you their entire project plan or press kit.
After you've done something, there's a very short opportunity to celebrate. People are always looking to what you have planned next. It's good to have programs on the horizon to keep you focused on your goals for the future.

on interviews:

When you get asked really broad questions, they're looking for the steps you take when approaching a project. Talk about the planning process, e.g. consulting with staff.
For union job interviews, the questions are usually scored according to specific guidelines, and unless you say it, it doesn't count. Even if you mentioned something while answering a previous question, say it again. Don't be afraid to repeat yourself.

biggest priorities:

Collection development.
Programming. This is where you spend the most time, but don't do one thing to the exclusion of all else. Rotate duties and try to balance your time.
Reading literature written for teens.

Experiment

2005-10-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

I've got an interview for a teen librarian position next month. My current awareness radar is going to be keenly focused on teens and libraries for the next couple of weeks. Why not share what I find? So, I've set up a spinoff blog, the teen library. We'll see how it goes.

Verve

2005-10-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

I met with my mentor earlier this week, and I must say, she's pretty cool. I recently applied for a part time student librarian job at the public library, and when I showed up at the interview, it turned out my mentor was on my interview panel. So, I got the full de-brief afterwards on what I did right and what I did wrong.

First thing I did wrong: I didn't call my mentor right away. I guess I'm still getting a feel for our relationship. The turnaround time for applying was pretty tight, and it's just a part-time student job so the stakes seemed low. Okay, okay, even so, I should have called her. If she already knew she was going to be on the hiring panel, she wouldn't have been able to coach me on the interview, but if I'd caught her early enough, she could have given me the inside scoop.

It never occurred to me to list her as a reference because I haven't worked with her professionally. Of course, she pointed out that since she actually works at the library where I was applying, the folks who would be looking at my application would recognize her name, and that could be enough to get my foot in the door. After that, it's up to me. Even though she can't speak to my on the job performance, she can act as a character reference. And her reference might even carry more weight since she's a known quantity to the people in HR. Even if all she could say is, "Yeah, she's a good egg," at least they have it from a reliable source that I'm not crazy.

The moral of the story is, if you have a mentor, be in touch! And if you don't have a mentor, get one. Check your local library association for a mentorship program, and if one doesn't exist, get one started. All it really takes is a few emails and maybe an Excel spreadsheet. Think of it this way...you'll have first pick at assigning your own mentor (though I'm a big fan of serendipity).

As for my performance at the interview...

Ms. Mentor commented on my appearance and said I looked nice, appropriate. By comparison, some people were a wee bit casual. All the men wore ties. No suit coats, but ties. I didn't wear a suit because I thought it would be overkill, but I did wear slacks and a button down. I was aiming to project "stylish and youthful, yet crisp and professional."

There was one question where I got a little "library school" and started to talk about an article that I'd read recently. She commented that it's good to mention that you're reading professional literature, it speaks to involvement and current awareness, but keep it brief. It's too easy to get wrapped up in describing the article and get sidetracked from answering the question. If you refer to something you've read, just say, "Oh, I recently read an article in Library Journal that summarized that issue well." Period. Leave it at that.

On that note, if you feel yourself getting off track, it's perfectly alright to ask your interviewer to read the question again. Ms. Mentor told me a little secret she's figured out now that she's on the other side of the interview table. The people interviewing you want you to do well. After all, they want strong candidates to choose from, right? Chances are, they're mentally willing you the "right" answer, or at least the answer they're looking for. If you give them the chance to prompt you, they just might point you in the right direction (unless they're bound by specific union guidelines on how to conduct the interview). Follow up your responses by asking, "Does that answer your question?" or "Is there another aspect of that question that you would like me to address?" Put those reference interview skills to work!

I gave a weak answer to the last question. Honestly, I thought it was a little weird: How would your references describe your working style? My interpretation of what they were asking was thoroughly poisoned by all of the readings I've been doing on HR for school. I started to overanalyze the question and ended up completely misinterpreting it. Here's my thought process: What does my answer tell them about me? Well, it illustrates how I believe others see me, how perceptive I am at reading others. So, I tried to think of what qualities would stand out for each of the people I'd listed as references.

What were they really asking? They just wanted me to talk about my strengths. Lessons learned: be on the look out for simple questions reworded in complicated ways, and if you start to wonder what a question means, just ask!

I think the question that got me the job was the one about reader's advisory. I got excited, I talked about how my skills had developed over time, and it was all done with a great deal of sincerity. Evidently, I was rather charming. This was where I established a rapport with my interviewers, and this was where I convinced them that I was someone they wanted to work with.

So, I think I'm going to approach my next interview from a slightly different angle. Realistically, everyone who gets to the interview stage has the skills and qualifications to do the job. What they're looking for in the interview is someone who will do the job with verve. I've got a couple of interviews next month, and the jobs are dreamy, so the stakes are high. I asked a friend of mine for interview advice, and he told me, "Be as Heidi as you can be." Ultimately, I think that's the best advice anyone could give. I'm going to pack as much "me" into my answers as possible.

I'll be back with more interview questions soon. Fingers crossed!

Nominated!

2005-10-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hooray! And yet, I have to wonder...did they accept everyone who submitted an application? Even so, I'm excited. Time to work on my "Statement of Professional Concerns." Which sounds like something to be uttered with pursed lips and a furrowed brow: "I am very concerned about..." Can't I write a "Statement of Professional Enthusiasm" instead? What's the best way to persuade someone in under 150 words? Hmm, maybe I should just start asking people what issues they'd like to see council address.

There's still time to submit your name as a candidate, by the way...you can still run as a petition candidate.

---

Congratulations! The American Library Association's Nominating Committee has selected you as a candidate for Councilor-at-Large in the 2006 election. You were selected from a pool of many well-qualified potential candidates. Your nomination indicates the high regard in which your peers hold you.

If your plans have changed and you are unable to stand for election in 2006 or if it becomes necessary for you to withdraw as a candidate prior to the election, I would ask that you notify me immediately at iabdullahi[at]nccu.edu

The information that you submitted on the Potential Candidate Biographical Information Form will be used to generate the ballot copy for the election. If you would like to update the form to reflect your current accomplishments or employment, you may do so at any time through January 30, 2006. In order to allow sufficient time for ballot preparation, the database will be locked at the close of business on January 30.

To edit your information, go to https://cs.ala.org/potentialcandidates/login.cfm You will be prompted to enter your email address and password. To get a password, select the "Send me my password" option the first time you use the form. If you have trouble logging in, please contact Jack Briody, ALA Information Technology and Telecommunication Services, at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4394 or jbriody[at]ala.org

Candidates are asked to submit a Statement of Professional Concerns to be included on the ballot. The Statement of Professional Concerns MAY NOT exceed 150 words and must be submitted by January 30, 2006. Please submit the Statement electronically in the space provided on the Candidate Biographical Information Form, using the instructions above to log in.

At the 1992 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, Council charged the Nominating Committee with the task of monitoring the length of Statements of Professional Concerns. Please stay within the 150-word limit for this statement to avoid the necessity of editing.

Preliminary information on the ALA candidates will appear in the December 2005 issue of American Libraries. Election polls will open and the paper ballot mailing to members will begin on March 15, 2006. Polls will close on April 21, 2006. Certification of election results by the ALA Election Committee will take place on May 1, 2006. All candidates, elected or not, will be notified on May 1, 2006.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the information needed for the ballot or the election process.

Thank you for your willingness to assume a leadership role in ALA. Best wishes in the election!

Ismail Abdullahi, Chair
Associate Professor
North Carolina Central University
School of Library & Information Sciences
1801 Fayetteville St.
P O Box 19589
Durham, NC 27707-3129
Tel: (919) 530-5213
Fax: (919) 530-6002
Email: iabdullahi[at]nccu.edu

Board games

2005-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

I've been making the rounds at local library board meetings. So far, I've been to meetings at five different library systems. There are seven systems in the metro area, so I still have a couple left to go. The libraries range from a one branch suburban system to a large urban system with around 20 locations.

Board governance is definitely on the list of things that I didn't think about much before library school. It never would have occurred to me to observe a meeting. Although most, if not all, library board meetings are open to the public, I don't know if I even realized it was an option. At four out of six meetings (I went to one library twice), I was the only member of the public present. Looks like I'm not the only one who isn't paying attention. As for my fellow spectators at the other meetings: in one case, there were two of us. I got the impression that the other guy was a regular, a self appointed citizen watchdog. At the other, two friends from library school joined me. There were several staff observers at two libraries, but in general the meetings felt cloistered.

There was a noticeable difference in how I was treated at the various meetings. At some, I was introduced (I had called each library in advance to let them know I planned to attend), at others, I was asked to introduce myself, and at another I was an anonymous observer. Four out of five libraries provided food, but I was only invited to partake at one. And finally, only one library opened up the floor for questions from the public. Once, I got to sit at the same table as the board. Otherwise, I sat in a chair off to the side. Not a big deal at the larger meetings with staff observers...at least there were a bunch of us sitting quietly in the corner. But when it's just the nine board members and the library director around a table in the center, and me in a folding chair against the wall? I felt like something of a pariah. Sure, the meeting may be open to the public in name, but I don't think they're expecting (or encouraging) anyone to show up.

The longest meeting was around 3 hours (and that doesn't include the top secret in camera part that I wasn't allowed to watch), and the shortest came in at just under an hour. And no, the longest meeting wasn't at the biggest library.

Being in library school, I'm surrounded by librarians and library-types talking about libraries. The great thing about board meetings is that you get to hear bankers and grandmothers and lawyers and city council members talk about libraries. And they don't say things like MARC or ILS or OPAC very much. Instead, they use words like community and impact. Occasionally, they say things like internet filter. And that's when it gets interesting.

One of the most challenging aspects of being an outside observer is trying to get a read on everything that isn't being said. Someone will fidget, or squint their eyes, or start frantically scribbling on a notepad. Looks or whispers are exchanged. Sometimes you can almost see the bureaucracy. Even when things get tense, it's still cloaked in the pseudo-politeness of Robert's Rules of Order. And then there's the stuff that gets said out loud that you still don't understand (maybe it would have helped if I had been given an agenda).

The real fun comes with sensing the overall vibe. It's like taking the blood pressure reading of a library. Some meetings felt vital and alive, while at others I had to struggle not to yawn. The meetings I enjoyed most were the ones where the board looked to the future and envisioned ways that the library could be better. Other meetings were much more focused on the present and where we are now. Interesting, to be sure, but lacking a sense of momentum.

Personally, I found the meetings fascinating, and if I didn't have night classes, I'd be a regular fixture at one or two of them. If you haven't been, I say give it a try. (And help yourself to some of the cookies.)

E) None of the above

2005-10-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hmm, what would interviews be like if they were multiple choice? Since that's not likely to happen, here's a selection from some of the questions I've been asked lately. These are from two different interviews for quite different positions, both in public libraries.

You're approached by an 8th grade boy, a reluctant reader, who needs to find a book to read for a school assignment. Describe what you would do to help him, and give an example of a specific book that you might recommend.
How do you stay informed about the newest ideas in children's services? Give an example of a new idea you've heard about recently, your opinion about it, and how you learned of it. Then, give an example of a new idea that you've implemented in a previous job.
What appeals to you about this position?
How would you deal with a group of rowdy adolescents causing a disturbance in the library?
How would your references describe your working style?
What tools do you rely on for selecting and evaluating materials?
Give an example of a time when you provided good customer service.
What online databases are you familiar with for children's reference services, which ones do you find useful, which ones do you prefer, and why?
Name a YA book that you've read recently and the criteria that you would use to evaluate it for inclusion in the library collection.
Describe your ideal children's section in a library.

Phone is ringing, oh my god

2005-10-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

Now, I don't want to jinx anything, but I've got a telephone interview on Tuesday. Luckily, it's not my first telephone interview (okay, it's my second), so at least I can focus on the message and not the medium. Nevertheless, I asked around and I got some good advice on the phone aspect of phone interviews (from a prof who does phone interviews all the time for her research):

Keep your voice low. With the loss of visual cues, tone of voice has a huge impact on how you are perceived. High pitched and squealy isn't going to do you any favors. A low and even tone of voice (I don't mean monotone) over the phone is the equivalent of cleaning under your fingernails for the in-person meeting: it just makes a good impression.
Write down the names of everyone on the panel, and when you answer questions, respond to whomever asked the question by using their name. This can help you connect with your interviewers as individuals, something that is challenging to do telephonically with someone you've never met before.
Make them laugh. It can be really hard for folks on the other end to get a sense of your personality over the phone and whether you're somebody they'd like to work with. My prof actually suggested that I come up with a personal story that is slightly embarrasing to put everyone at ease and make me seem more like a real person and less like a disembodied voice.

I've done all my standard interview prep stuff: contacted the references to let them know they might expect a call, looked at every single page of the library's website, checked out the census statistics for the region, looked at statistics from the state library website, tried to imagine myself in the job, thought of some specific examples of my qualifications as related to the job description, gone over the key points that I want to be sure to mention regarless of what questions they ask, and spent some time pondering life, the universe, and libraries and why I got into this librarian gig in the first place.

Where I'm stuck is trying to figure out which questions to ask to determine whether this is someplace I want to work. If I'm going to move a few thousand miles, I want to make sure it's a good fit. Here's what I've got so far:

What do you do to support professional development among staff?
How does your library promote adaptability and flexibility among staff?
What is the greatest challenge facing your library in the next five years?

I hope these questions get at some of the things that are really important for me. I'd like to work somewhere that is forward-thinking, somewhere that plans for the future in a strategic way (question 3). I'd like to work in a library that acknowledges the value of staff as a key resource and backs that up with some tangible action, a place that promotes professional values and growth among all staff (question 1). And I'd like to avoid a pervasive navel-gazing "we've always done it this way" attitude and work somewhere that actively prepares for ongoing change (question 2).

And even though I could, I don't think I'll wear my pyjamas to the interview.

So you want to run for ALA council...

2005-09-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the results of my very unscientific survey...

I only planned on posting this survey to the NexGen and NewLib lists, but then it showed up on Tinfoil + Raccoon, so the responses may come from a larger pool.

DEMOGRAPHICS

1. What group do you identify with (choose as many as apply)?

MLS/MLIS/etc. student 39% (30)
NexGen/GenX/Millennial 63.6% (49)
New/recent MLS graduate 46.8% (36)
Paraprofessional 7.8% (6)
Other (please specify) 6.5% (5)
Total Respondents 77
(skipped this question) 0

Those who chose "other" mostly identified themselves as a librarian, just not a recent grad or nexgen age group. One person listed "Establishment" (ha ha), and there was one intern.

PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT

2. Are you a member of ALA?

Yes, I'm a student member 34.2% (26)
Yes, I'm not a student member 46.1% (35)
No, and I don't plan on joining 3.9% (3)
No, but I would consider joining to run/support a council candidate that represents my interests 15.8% (12)
Total Respondents 76
(skipped this question) 1

Hooray for supporting your professional organization! Of course, the fact that you’re subscribed to NexGen or NewLib (or read Rochelle’s blog) might mean that you’re keen on professional involvement to begin with. At least we know that most of you are eligible to vote in ALA elections. And if you're not a member, keep in mind that you have to join before the online voting starts to be eligible to vote in that year's election.

3. Are you an active participant in a library association? (choose as many as apply)

Yes - ALA committee/roundtable etc. 22.7% (17)
Yes - state library association committee/roundtable etc. 13.3% (10)
Yes - SLA (special libraries) committee/roundtable etc. 4.1% (3)
Yes - MLS student library group committee/roundtable etc. 9.3% (7)
Yes - other committee/roundtable etc. 12% (9)
No, but I'd like to get involved 53.3% (40)
No, and I'm not interested in serving on a committee. 8% (6)
Total Respondents 75
(skipped this question) 2

Kudos for being involved! It looks like a fair number are already making their voices heard. There’s a large number who aren’t currently involved, but would like to be. How do we make that happen? What is getting in the way?

4. Have you ever attended a national library association conference? (includes ALA annual and midwinter, PLA, SLA, etc.)

Yes, once. 27.6% (21)
Yes, 2-5 times. 19.7% (15)
Yes, 6-10 times. 5.3% (4)
Yes, 11+ times. 1.3% (1)
Total Respondents 76
(skipped this question) 1

5. Have you attended a state library association conference?

No. 47.4% (36)
Yes, once. 26.3% (20)
Yes, 2-5 times. 22.4% (17)
Yes, 6-10 times. 2.6% (2)
Yes, 11+ times. 1.3% (1)
Total Respondents 76
(skipped this question) 1

Getting to conferences may be the biggest barrier to more involvement among students, new professionals, and nexgen-ers.

THE $25,000 QUESTIONS

6. What are your thoughts on ALA council?

Don't know enough about council to have an opinion 63.2% (48)
My interests are well represented on council. 1.3% (1)
My interests are somewhat represented on council. 21.1% (16)
My interests are poorly represented on council. 14.5% (11)
Total Respondents 76
(skipped this question) 1

Ouch. I think we’ve each got to shoulder a certain amount of responsibility for staying informed about what is going on in our profession, but if this many people are in the dark about council, it suggests that either council is perceived as irrelevant or inaccessible. If you want to learn more about council and ALA governance, you’ve got a few options. Try reading the council listserv archive (all standard listserv caveats apply). Or, try reading the blogs of a few councilors--they usually mention their council activities once in a while (a google blog search for ALA council turns up quite a few). And if you go to a conference, participate in the membership meeting or listen in on the council meetings. Other suggestions? As for those of you who do have a sense of what's going on, things still don't look very good. If you're the I-like-to-work-from-within-the-system-to-change-things type, all the more reason to run.

7. What is your interest in running for ALA council?

Sign me up! 20.3% (15)
I'd like to, but I can't afford to go to the conferences 33.8% (25)
I don't want to run, but I'm interested in supporting NexGen/recent grad candidates. 45.9% (34)
Total Respondents 74
(skipped this question) 3

Okay, so I didn’t offer an “I don’t want to vote for you” option, but there seems to be a healthy amount of support for folks who are interested in running on the “I’m a young and/or newbie upstart” platform. So go sign up already! You've still got a few days to decide...the deadline is Sept 30. Good luck! And if you'd like to network/form a posse, send me an email.

UPDATE: Between copying and pasting from surveymonkey, blogging, then going back to surveymonkey to close the survey, one more person responded.

Math vs. ALA

2005-09-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Let's look at some numbers.

Just how many votes does it take to get elected to council? ALA publishes the vote count along with the elections results. In the most recent election, everyone who received over 2000 votes got elected. Last time I asked, ALA had roughly 61,500 personal members, Which means you've got to convince just over 3% of total membership. That's not terribly intimidating, especially if we get some people working together. My guess is that most people have never heard of the majority of candidates.

So, assuming that we can get some folks elected, the next step is getting to conferences. What's a realistic budget for the frugal councilor? Well, we're talking six conferences: New Orleans(?), Seattle, DC, Philadelphia, Anaheim, and Denver.

First, there's ALA membership and conference registration, both of which are significantly cheaper at the student rate. Plan ahead and renew/join at the student rate just before you graduate! (Is that ethical? Shh, I won't tell.) There are a bunch of variables affecting membership rates, but the maximum is $100 a year. And be sure to take advantage of the early bird registration rate ($100 for midwinter, $125 for annual).

Next we've got transportation to the conference. In my experience, you can get from major airport to major airport just about anywhere in the lower 48 for $200 to $400 if you buy early, and the conferences tend to be near airport hubs. If you don't live near a major airport, or you live within a few hours of a range of airports, get creative. To get to ALA in Chicago this summer, I took a bus three and a half hours south and flew out of a neighboring city. I got to have lunch with a friend of mine in Seattle, and I saved about 200 bucks on airfare. The conferences are spread out geographically, so even if it costs a lot to get to one location, odds are you can get to at least one out of six for fairly cheap.

Then there's hotel, food, and transportation.

How many days are we talking? The conferences are usually advertised as nearly a week long, but some of that is pre-conference stuff. I thought you could get by on three days, but it looks like council meetings were spread out over five days for annual in Chicago. That means a five night stay, unless you want to skip the last meeting and send a proxy. Youth hostels run about $30 a night, and the couch of somebody who knows somebody you know is even less.

If you need to get anywhere, take public transit. I spent under $20 on bus fare the whole time I was in Chicago.

As for food...you have to eat anyhow, right? Let's just count the amount that is over what you would normally spend. There's a certain amount of socializing that happens over meals, so brown-bagging it the whole time might not be an option. Here's a hint: vendor receptions in the evening = free food. Besides, librarians tend to be generous. Someone might even buy you lunch (especially if they can bill it to their per diem). If you feel like a mooch, make a mental note to buy dinner for some poor library student a few years from now when you can afford it. Can we agree on $30 a day for food? 5 for breakfast, 10 for lunch, 15 for dinner. Even the über-frugal among you has got to spend at least $5 a day on food at home, so I'm only counting $25 a day.

Am I forgetting anything?

The grand total per conference is:

-----
112.50	average registration
300	average airfare
150	hostel bed
20	bus/subway
125	food
$707.50

Add in membership, and you've got $1515 a year, or $4545 (ouch) for the whole three year term. Less if you're a student, can stay with a friend, or if you can get funding from your employer. If you can find a free place to stay for half of the conferences, get your job to pay registration fees once a year, and have a student membership the first year, that already knocks almost a thousand bucks off the total cost. I'll trade you a couch in Seattle for one in Anaheim.

Not exactly a small chunk of change, and admittedly financially unrealistic for more than a few, but not a bad investment in your professional future. Granted, you could manage a nice vacation for under $1500, and Buenos Aires may hold more appeal than Philadelphia in January, but being around 20,000 library-types for a couple of days is an adventure, too.

Young upstart seeks seat on ALA council...

2005-09-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about running for ALA council ever since I emailed the chapter relations office and found out that 15% of ALA personal members are student members. In my mind, that means there should be several students on council. Jenna Freedman's reasons to run for council are almost enough to make me throw my name in the hat. I emailed someone I know on council to get her thoughts, and she was very encouraging, but she said that anyone who runs probably needs a posse to get elected.

Hmm. How does one get a posse?

While I'd be tickled pink to get elected, the little devil on my shoulder doesn't want to stop there. What if we got a posse elected?

Here's a little survey that I sent to the NexGen and NewLib lists to gauge interest. So far, folks are rather keen. Only 15 minutes and I've got 8 responses. I definitely sense a posse.

Results to follow...

Goal for the fall semester

2005-08-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Brush up on my Spanish. I feel like this is a given for anyone who wants to work at a public library in the US. I lived in Spain for a year, so the language is firmly implanted in my psyche, but it has retreated into the more remote crags of my brain. In the last few years I've spent more time working on my German. Strangely, I feel like the Spanish has been percolating all this time and may have even gotten better (once I brush the dust off of the right synapses). And here's a surprise...I used my German twice this summer while working at the public library, and Spanish only once. Ideally, I'd like to spend a little bit of time each day reviewing grammar and working on my vocab and pronunciation. This means that I'm going to have to be careful with other aspects of my schedule and reserve some time para revisar.

20 questions

2005-08-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer, I interviewed for a rural library director job. I didn't get it, but the interview was a great experience. They asked really good questions. The best part is knowing that next time I interview for that type of job, it won't be the first time. And it's reassuring to know that I can handle the tough questions. It was actually a lot of fun, for a job interview.

Tell us what attracted you to the position of Library Director at this library and what specific qualifications you feel you could bring to this library?
Are you familiar with how a rural county library is operated?
Because our library staff is part-time, scheduling flexibility is a must. Tell us about your experience setting work schedules, your views on staff support as well as how to acknowledge work well done.
Describe your supervisory or management style.
Because so many tasks are required of a single professional in a small library, the Director must delegate tasks to get the job done. Explain to us how you might accomplish the goals you have for the library by using the paraprofessional workers.
Grant writing is an essential element in accessing additional dollars for special programs. Explain your experience in grant writing or grant implementation.
We are fortunate to have a very active Friends of the Library organization. They are present in a small corner of our building every day from 1 until 4 o'clock selling donated books that have been screened by our library director first and also books that have been weeded from the collection. Tell us about your experience working with volunteers.
Currently we are developing a policy on audio books, CDs, DVDs, and videos. Where would you start considering our space situation? In addition, how would you go about collection development as well as evaluating our current collection?
Our library circulation system is Winebago (a better system for schools); we are looking at Dynix -- tell us your experience with systems. How about web page maintenance?
We are fortunate to have a very supportive library district. In 2003, the district voted to tax themselves the maximum allowed by the state for library districts. Tell us about your previous experience with budgets.
How do you visualize your role in the community? What organizations do you feel are beneficial to library growth?
The Board of Trustees and the FOL are beginning to dream about a new facility. How do you see yourself as director helping to make this dream a reality?
We are very proud of our library. We feel we offer a pleasant working environment, a committed staff, a lively Friends group, and the Board of Trustees is devoted to the expansion and enhancement of the library. Are you interested in committing to a year contract, offered after a six month probationary period with salary negotiations each year?
If offered this position, when would you be available to start?

The board was really nice. It felt more like a conversation than an interview. And I really appreciated how they gave me an opportunity to learn more about them. I spent a lot of time talking to an anthropologist friend of mine, (half jokingly) profiling the board to decide what I should wear to the interview. I didn't want to walk in looking like an applicant. I wanted to look like their library director.

I also kept all of my comments about their library positive. I'd looked at their stats from the state library and read the board's minutes for the last year (gotta love the Internet), and there were a few red flags. Twice the state average per capita spending, but half the average circulation, for example. But I decided I wouldn't be critical (which is HUGE for me). These people love their library. How much goodwill am I going to generate if I walk in and start insulting everything? Maybe I would have done better if I could have been critical in a constructive way. I didn't get the job, after all.

Some of the questions were like six or seven questions at once. Luckily, they were all written down so I could refer to the question and make sure I'd addressed everything.

My advice? Don't try to anticipate the questions and prepare answers for different scenarios. Just prepare really good answers and pick and choose from them as appropriate.

I made the mistake of preparing for particular questions once. Really, it's not too hard. I find that most libraries ask the same types of questions. But this time, they threw something at me that I hadn't expected. I was completely flustered and flubbed the question. I just couldn't figure out what the question meant. It was a telephone interview, so there wasn't any opportunity to read body language, and any back and forth clarification just became awkward. But I think what really killed me on this one is that I'd spent so much time preparing for every possible question that when they came up with one I hadn't planned on, I couldn't think quickly enough to respond on the fly. Fortunately, libraries tend to be a little forgiving, and I still got the job. But I learned my lesson.

In the director interview, I think I flubbed the first question. But you have to tell yourself that's okay, and just move on. I hadn't really warmed up yet, and I managed to cover everything that I should have said in later questions.

When you prepare answers, think of what you want the hiring committee to hear regardless of what questions they ask. What are your greatest accomplishments? What are you most proud of? How do you feel about the profession? What's your take on some of the big picture stuff? This isn't a multiple choice test where you can get all the right answers. It's about building a rapport with your future co-workers and finding out whether you're a good fit. Just telling the committee about how you prepared a budget report in response to their question about budgeting isn't going to do that. Being enthusiastic and expressing your professional values might do it, though.

Seattle revisited

2005-08-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well, this week's issue of Library Journal takes another look at Seattle Public Library's central branch, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, a year and a bit after it opened its doors. I've always had a few opinions about the building, too, so why not continue the conversation? Although the title of the article, After Seattle, might suggest an investigation of the building's impact on libraryland, the focus is definitely on what's happening inside the building, rather than what's going on outside in the rest of the world. If I get around to it, I might pull together some thoughts on this latter idea as well.

I've always been a bit ambivalent in my opinions of the building. The art historian in me goes absolutely gaa-gaa. As architecture goes, it's spectacular. If buildings are your thing, it's definitely worth a pilgrimage. Whenever I find myself in Seattle, I go out of my way to ensure that I at least catch a glimpse of it. If I'm walking around downtown, I'll stop by to use the bathroom. And once I'm inside, I always visit my favorites:

The red floor. If this metal and glass building manages to be cozy anywhere, it's the 4th floor. Cozy in an all-enveloping, slightly goth, regressive womb-like way, absent of any square corners. This is also my favorite place to use the bathroom. The color is so overwhelming, it's almost like walking around with weights on your shoulders. But the bathrooms are the perfect counterfoil: bright and cheerful pastel. So cheerful, in fact, that you might start to wonder if there isn't something the teensiest bit sinister about the red outside. I just love the contrast.

The elevator buttons. These are a slice of genius. Literally. The button panel is a cross-section of the building, so to select your destination, you push a button that looks like the floor you want to visit.

Not on my list of favorites is the book spiral. Maybe it just didn't live up to the hype. Maybe I pictured something different. C'mon, mention spiral and architecture in the same breath, and who doesn't think of this? But in this case, really, it's just slanted floors. Granted, the Dewey labels on the floor are cool, and it really makes sense from a shelving point of view. But shouldn't libraries be about making things easier for the user, not just what's easiest for the people who work there? (Oops. That sounds more like a librarian than an art historian.) Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should abandon everything that's beneficial for staff in favor of what our users might prefer. But it's not enough for one group to say "Neato" while the other remains nonplussed.

LJ on the book spiral: "The spiral presents the collection in one continuous Dewey run on series of gently sloping ramps—a parking garage for books." Hmm. Parking garage? Lovely. That's exactly where I want to hang out for the afternoon.

Enough of the art historian. Let the librarian have her say.

Well, to be frank, what the librarian has to say is, "hmm." That, combined with a scrunched up face and furrowed brow. No drooling mouth agape, much to the chagrin of the art historian.

Let's start off with something they did right. Lots of computers. It's just about guaranteed that you can walk in and sit right down at a computer. I've done this once or twice myself with a temporary visitor login. But...whenever I'm in the mixing chamber, with its 148 computers in row after row, the lyrics to Pink Floyd's The Wall always seem to come to mind. The stark orange and black of the decor only add to the sense that I'm a drone in a hive. (The art historian interrupts: you gotta love the Dutch for their garish sense of color.)

Hmm. As long as we've segued into the criticism portion of the evening...

The building just isn't intuitive. Now, I'm not a Seattle denizen, so perhaps it all starts to make sense after repeated use, but I can't escape the feeling that I don't know how to get to where I want to be. To avoid confusion, I just use the elevator. It may also be the reason that I always use the bathroom on the red floor...it's the only one I know how to find. It doesn't help things that the exit on one side of the building is a floor higher than the other side, but that's just Seattle. And I'm not the only one who doesn't get it. There are dozens of homemade signs (of the sort that used to raise the hackles of my former library director) with arrows telling you how to get out of the bloody rabbit hole you lost yourself in. Which might be understandable in a new building. It might take time for the traffic patterns to establish themselves, and I can see the logic (okay, maybe this is a stretch, but who doesn't enjoy rationalizing?) of waiting to make the permanent signs until you get a sense of the directional aids that people really need. But c'mon people, it's been over a year.

My biggest critique of the building? It's a place where you go to be alone. Alone with other people, but alone nonetheless. And I really think they missed the boat on that one. It just doesn't feel like a community gathering place. Drive a couple of hours north to Vancouver, and you get the exact opposite without even trying. The central library there just had its 10th anniversary. And for all my complaints about Vancouver Public, I just love Library Square. People congregate. They bring their lunch. They sit. They sunbathe (yes, sun in Vancouver). They read. And even if you're alone, you somehow feel together. Compare that to Seattle, with its chairs that force you to face away from your neighbor. Aesthetically, they're pretty neat. A big squishy foam plus sign. And I always love it when architects design the furniture for their buildings. But whatever happened to form + function? Even the mixing chamber. Despite its name, there's very little mixing going on.

The art historian wants to say something about the language of glass and steel versus the imagery of a Roman coliseum and their relationship to our perception of public space, but I'll leave that one alone for now.

Waiting for Harry

2005-08-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

On the way home from the library after picking up my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on its release date, I stopped off to do some shopping. I was trying on some shoes and set Harry down on the seat next to me. Suddenly, all of the hipsters who worked in the shop were fawning all over me and making casual Harry conversation. Then somebody realized my copy was from the library.

"Whoa, I didn't realize the library had it already."

I started to smile on the inside. Oh goodie, a little library PR moment.

It went downhill quickly from there.

"You mean you can put things on hold before the library gets them?"

"Sure. I put this on hold in December." And unless you had about 6 months worth of foresight, you're probably number 1156 in line. But don't worry....with 150 copies in circulation, you'll get your turn in less than six months.

"How do you find out about this stuff?"

Um, I work there.

Imagine the same scenario, à la Amazon. Sure, Harry's available for pre-order with delivery on release day, but we're not really going to tell anyone.

Now imagine a world where you can get updates via email/RSS/saline drip/whatever not just for the new stuff, but for the stuff that's just been put on order and won't be published for a couple of months?

Can you resist?

2005-07-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.dontclick.it

Perhaps the most amazing claim is "You will get the hang of it immediately."

And you know what? I did.

(But is it accessible? I wonder how this works with adaptive technologies.)

What would a library or an OPAC look like if it were this intuitive to use?

[Patron has disconnected]

2005-07-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today I was looking for some government info on the web. Specifially, some forms from a municipality on the opposite coast. I poked around a government website for a bit, got frustrated, then I had a flash of brilliance...why not see if the local library has a chat reference service? Maybe they can help?

14:18 2005/07/08 Librarian: Hello, welcome to [ask a librarian chat reference]. What is your question?

14:18 2005/07/08 Patron: hi. i'm wondering if i need a form to [something for which a bureaucrat would probably want a form]?

14:19 2005/07/08 Librarian: Please call [phone number] for assistance.

Huh? Am I supposed to recognize that number?

[brief google interlude]

Okay, I get it. A government agency. But that doesn't look like what I want.

14:19 2005/07/08 Librarian: OK?

Um, no. I don't really want to make a long distance phone call to some government number where I'll probably spend a half hour on hold. I came to you online because I want to find something online. "Um, excuse me. Can you help me find a video on sharks?" "Over there we have some lovely books on sharks." "Um, but..."

14:20 2005/07/08 Patron: can you give me any more information than that?

14:20 2005/07/08 Librarian: Sorry, no. The people at [same phone number] can help you. We don't handle legal questions.

Librarian side of brain: Oh yeah, I knew that.

Customer side of brain: Jeez, that's really unhelpful.

LSOB: Never fear. When all else fails, try a little reference interview. What is it that you're really looking for? What do you want to find?

CSOB: I want to find an online form for a permit.

LSOB: See, that wasn't so hard.

14:21 2005/07/08 Patron: okay, can you help me find permit application forms on the web?

14:23 2005/07/08 Librarian: I will send you a Web link shortly. Please
minimize your browser to see the chat screen.

14:23 2005/07/08 Librarian: http://[municipal government web portal]

CSOB: grumble grumble

14:24 2005/07/08 Patron: i looked on this site earlier and all i could
find was construction permits.

14:24 2005/07/08 Librarian: I'm sorry. Again, the folks at [guess what? same phone number] should be able to help you.

CSOB: GRUMBLE GRUMBLE

[Patron has disconnected]

Whorls, arches, and loops, oh my.

2005-07-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

This story caught my eye because of the recent kerfuffle over the Naperville Public Library's decision to install fingerprint scanners on their internet computers. Looks like the German airline Lufthansa is about to join Naperville in embracing biometrics as a security measure. Makes Sherri's thoughts on this over at schwagbag seem especially prescient ("way to go for making libraries about as inviting and easy to use as a trip through airport security screening").

Opinions about biometrics aside, what really bugs me about all this is the nagging feeling that libraries are caught up in some kind of catch 22 when it comes to experimenting with new technologies. Especially ones that are typically considered germane to other lines of work. Why does it feel like when libraries are among the first to adopt some new gizmo, we must be doing something shady, but when we wait for something to be tested and approved, we're hopelessly behind the curve?