This is a huge topic for all libraries! If you think your library does not need advocacy, ask yourself: do you like getting paid? Do you like to have materials for your patrons? Is it fun to have a building to shelter your stuff from the rain??
It can all go away without good advocacy!!
We all know it’s important, but it sounds scary. Halloween is over; so no need for terror. Advocacy in generally pretty simple. It goes like this:
We have good stuff
We tell people about our good stuff
We connect that message to them, in a way that resonates with them
We get more resources (money, etc.) to keep our stuff and get more
We have good stuff
See? It’s easy!
Okay, of course there is a little more to it. We can add in some details, work through some ideas – but this is the gist of it all.
And, like all the other big important topics in the library world – you are not alone here. The American Library Association has you covered with information and training. Continue reading Advocacy from ALA! (Advocacy Series #1)→
This is such a nice library! The design, the services, the materials – all have been designed to connect to their patrons. That care taken in libraries for the needs of patrons is always impressive! On this trip I was escorted around the building by Vi Bergquist, CIO for SCTCC – and Treasurer for the CMLE Board.
We could just sit there and relax!
If you do not think “comfortable seating” in a library is important – you are missing an important element of good service! In a research study I did across the state of Illinois, this came up as one of the big things patrons wanted. In this setting, the furniture not only looks well designed and comfortable, but they have thought about user needs. You can see the entrance just behind the couch; these high backs help to block out noise and to let students continue to converse and work together. Great planning like this leads to great results for patrons!
POW/MIA Table
I absolutely loved this! As the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, I know some of the struggles veterans and their families face. The work this school is doing to reach out to veterans in the community is truly impressive! This table, part of a national tradition of remembrance, was set up in the common area, for everyone to see and to reflect. They have a Veteran Services department in the school, which can really help out veterans and family members. A couple of meaningful awards are listed on their page:
“The Military Times Best for Vets distinction recognizes St. Cloud Technical & Community College for its commitment to providing opportunities to America’s veterans.”
“G.I. Jobs, the premier magazine for military personnel transitioning into civilian life, has awarded St. Cloud Technical & Community College the designation of Military Friendly School® for the third year in a row.”
It’s a perpetual problem: Employers complain there are no good candidates applying for their jobs, and job hunters complain there are no good jobs.
Job hunting is just hard. Sorry. There are not going to be any easy strategies here, because they do not exist!
Don’t panic! We do have some suggestions from CMLE on ways you can get started looking for a job, and how to get through the hunt.
For our purposes, I are assuming you want to work in a library, or a library-adjacent job: archive, museum, etc. First: who would want to work anywhere else?? Second: you are part of a pretty specialized audience, reading a library system’s material. So I am just going to talk about libraries here; but if you know someone else who is job hunting in another area (gasp!), the advice will probably carry over to them. Continue reading How do you get a job?? (Hiring Series #6)→
You might blink a couple of times if a patron asked you this question! But we want you to be about to confidently say “Yes! Have you found our library’s cache??”
Geocaching is a popular activity for people of all ages, all tech abilities, and located literally anywhere you could go. It is done at bus stops, at highway rest areas, in parks, at historic sites and in junkyards, downtown and in the middle of the woods, with friends or alone. An astronaut cached on the International Space Station!
But what is it?
“Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.” It sounds easy. Sometimes it is. And sometimes all you get is the fun of hunting for things. And that is the real attraction of caching: the chance to look around for things – either right in your own neighborhood or as you travel to new places! Finding things that others have hidden for you lets you participate in a special community, one in which Muggles have no idea what is happening right under their noses. You discover new places, find new people, and have fun – a great combination. Think Pokemon Go, but more real-world. Fewer monsters, less fighting – more focus on finding things.
Libraries are natural spots for caching, and work well with people who may want to go out to cache to explore the community. Caching involves identifying a specific piece of information (the cache), then hunting it down. Sound familiar? It’s pretty similar to the work we do in hunting down information online or finding books for people! Library people are natural cachers; we know how to be tenacious and to keep hunting for that one thing we need out of a whole environment of other things. And providing caches in our library is a great way to encourage people to visit us!
And many libraries are already getting in on this action. Does your library have a cache? Would you like to?? Read through the instructions here, scrolling down to read Hiding Geocaches.
You can also participate by sharing Travel Bugs! “A Travel Bug is a Trackable that moves from place to place, picking up stories along the way. Here you can add your own story, or live vicariously through each Bug’s adventures.” What kinds of adventures could your travel bug have?? SO many!!
CMLE is setting up some library Travel Bugs. You can follow the adventures of our Travel bugs, and get updates as they move around to exciting new locations; and we will update you as they make their way around to different libraries. Set up a cache in your library, so our Travel Bugs can come visit you! Click on these links to see the Travel Bug individual pages – complete with photos of CMLE Office Bear Clarence holding each.
The Geocaching Vlogger is out having fun near Seattle at a geocaching event, and finds a library geocache
And the Geocaching Vlogger spends time looking for another library cache, which is requiring use of the library resources! (All our patrons should be this excited about coming to the library!!)
Look through these resources for some information about library caching:
The Other Wikipedia: A Geocache in The Library “In 2013, staff created a geocache to be hidden within the Beatley Central Library. Starting at the Information Desk, a series of clues guides players through various collections until they reach the actual geocache. Staff creatively employed the Dewey Decimal System to navigate geocachers from one clue to the next.”
Libraries “Cache” in on Geocaching Treasure Hunts “As physical collections shrink in response to the digital revolution, most libraries are looking for ways to keep the turnstile spinning. In central New York near Syracuse, Liverpool Public Library (LPL) found one answer this past spring in the call of the wild, namely, the growing geocaching craze.”
Hide and seek in the library: Geocaching as an educational and outreach tool A slideshow from Andrew Spencer at the Macquarie University Library
NLD ideas: Let a library geocache help in the hunt for new visitors “It’s a perpetual problem when promoting libraries: how to avoid preaching to the converted and inspire people who’d never normally come through the doors to make their first visit. Libraries as far apart as Cornwall and Norfolk, Glamorgan and Ayrshire have all found an innovative answer – set a library geocache.”
Does your library have a geocache? Tell us all about it! We would love to feature you and your library in an upcoming story!
Working your way through the hiring process is tough on everyone. By the time you to the interviewing stage, employers have looked at dozens (or hundreds) of applications. Job hunters have applied to dozens (or hundreds) of different jobs. Everyone is tired and wants the whole thing to be over.
But this is it! This is the biggie, the final step, the weeding down to the final good candidates. After this, the hiring process will (hopefully!) be done -and everyone involved lives happily ever after!
Well, ideally anyway.
In reality, this is where it can be too easy for either party to make a bad misstep that throws a wrench into the process and prevents the best person from getting the job. It is surprisingly easy to screw this up.
I have spent time on both sides of the interviewing table. It’s hard for both, everyone is nervous, everyone wants to make a good impression. Employers who do not understand they are being interviewed just as much as the candidate are missing a prime opportunity to impress someone who could be a valuable member of the team for the next several years. Candidates who miss the boat on making that same good impression are left to continually wonder why they are not getting offers. Continue reading Interviewing: Let's Ask Questions! (Hiring Series #5)→
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
