Have you ever started a job and had no idea what you were supposed to do? Have you tried to hire someone, and realized you have no good direction on where to start finding a qualified replacement?
Where are the pens kept? How do you file a report? Who does the scheduling? When everything is new and different, even the most basic things are a challenge. And when an employee is trying to get through the basics, s/he is not focusing in on getting to the important parts of the job.
Every job should have some level of succession planning in place. Employees may move, get promoted, or abruptly depart from their jobs for all kinds of reasons, either permanently or temporarily. Having some basic procedures to help the next person will make the transition easier on everyone. For most jobs in the library this can be fairly minimal. It is a good idea to have everyone make some notes about their work and the things they do each day, each week, or annually. (Sometimes this request stirs up fears in employees that they are going to be replaced. Managers: be quick to reassure them this is not the case!) These will be useful if an employee has to be out of work for a couple of weeks, or if they win the lottery and depart without notice. (Who could blame them??) Continue reading Planning for your successor (Hiring series #4)→
Meet our newest CMLE-HQ staffer! This nice guy arrived here from the MLA Annual Conference silent auction. (Thanks!!) He comes complete with a bag of books, and a librarian button on his vest. He has been designated the Official Office Bear.
He is currently making himself at home, checking in with the Team Plant members, and trying out different spots in the HQ to see where he may want to hang out. And he made his Instagram debut, to immediate acclaim.
But: he arrived without a name! We want you to contribute your ideas and your vote to give Official Office Bear a name.
Getting your voting skills sharpened and VOTE here for a name!
We need to get them to us before we can hire great employees!
Part of hiring great people is making sure that they are applying to your library! Without a pool of good candidates, you can’t make good people appear.
How do you get these good people? Like so many things: you need a plan. A solid recruiting plan will help you to bring in the good applicants, and give you the best kind of hard choice to make when hiring – picking among people who would all be good in your library.
It sounds hard. Where will you get the time? How will you know if it is working? What kinds of decisions should you be making?
CMLE is here to help you! We will walk through the basic steps of creating a plan here, so you can start working on your own plan for your library. Then, we are here to work with members to finalize their plans, to make decisions, and to help with the evaluation. Continue reading Recruiting to hire good people (Hiring Series #3)→
It is always great to have a voice in the profession, to get to know other interesting library people, and to share your experience with others. You can do all of this by joining an ALA committee! I volunteered today, and I’m looking forward to seeing some of you there too! The information from ALA is below, for each perusal. The next annual meeting will be in Chicago, and we can get a CMLE van trip organized to transport people! Of course, also consider joining your local library groups, state groups, groups that focus on your specific professional interests – no matter what you do in the library world, there is a group for you!!
CHICAGO — The online committee volunteer form (http://www.ala.org/CFApps/volunteer/form.cfm – select “ALA” in the drop-down menu) for ALA, Council and two joint committees closes on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Please complete the form if you wish to be considered for appointment (or reappointment).
This week I got to take a tour of the library at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School! Director Maria Burnham escorted me around the library – not an easy task in a library filled with students working on school work, group projects, and puzzle creation before school started for the day. There was a lot to see here, and everything looked just great. (Yes, it was hard to pull myself away from the books in the collection; but I was brave about it!) Maria is based here, but spends a lot of time charging around the building helping out in classrooms, teaching, and working with students wherever they could use a librarian. She is a great example of the way library service is changing for the better: we don’t sit and wait for people to come find us, instead library service goes where it can best be of service!
When you walk inside the door, you are immediately aware you are in a library that is connecting with patrons!
Lots of good books on display here!
Not only is this a very nice looking book shelf, displaying all kinds of interesting new books – but it was created in shop class at the school by a student. Engaging patrons to that extent is an impressive achievement! Continue reading Library Visit: Sauk Rapids-Rice High School→
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