Category Archives: Communication

Communication, Podcast

Episode 305: Discipline and Termination

Austria - Göttweig Abbey - 2015Introduction

Welcome back to Season Three of Linking Our Libraries! We are Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we are here to share information with all types of libraries, archives, and other nonprofits working to build their skills. This season, we are working on building a toolbox of leadership skills and ideas. By the end of this season, you will have fifteen specific skills that will make you a stronger leader and manager in your organization.

This week we discuss two topics managers hate to deal with: Discipline and Termination. No one likes this, but it is vital to keeping your library healthy and functioning.

Joining us is Guest Host Kathy Parker, Director of the St. Ben’s College and St. John’s University libraries.

Check out our full information page for all the details, including links to this week’s books!

The Basics

These human resources topics are deceptively hard to discuss. On the one hand: employees do the wrong things, or are terrible, or get caught up in budget cuts, or other situations will occur. This will definitely happen, and managers will need to develop strategies to best handle them.

On the other hand – this is not an area where you can just guess what to do. Laws are involved; and good intentions are not wrong, but are not enough to depend on to know you are making the right decision and doing the right thing. We are not giving any legal advice here, and we really encourage you to talk to your library’s or your city or your college’s HR department, and their attorneys before you make decisions. Depending on where you work, you may also have union rules that you need to follow.

Not disciplining employees, and not terminating employees, is not an option. So let’s talk about ways to do this well. We are going to skim some of the big areas of these topics to get everyone started in thinking about it, and putting together policies and procedures for your library.

We cannot give you legal advice here – and most HR matters will involve legality. So always make a point of talking to your library’s HR department and /or the attorney. And if your parent organization has these people – then talk to them from your college, your school, your hospital, or whoever else is near you. Be fair, and do the right thing.

CMLE, Communication, General

Office Hours for March!

Can you believe March starts tomorrow? Neither can we!
Starting in March we will be holding our CMLE Office Hours on Wednesdays! (With the exception of March 20th, which is a Tuesday, because we have a Board Meeting on Wednesday) So on March 7th, March 14th, March 20th, and March 28th between 11am and 1pm we will be available at CMLE HQ to chat, no appointment needed, about all things libraries!

Why do we offer Office Hours? Well, a vital part of being a multitype library system like CMLE is that we want to be easily available to our members! You can always email us at admin@cmle.org or call our office, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to have a face-to-face conversation, especially if you need shared excitement for a new project, or sympathy for a challenge you’re experiencing.

So stop by, pat Office Dog Lady Grey who will likely be in attendance, and let’s talk libraries!
CMLE HQ is located at 570 1st St. SE St. Cloud MN 56304. We are in the cmERDC building right next to East Side Target. If you want to setup a different time to meet, send us an email at admin@cmle.org.

 

Communication, General

Learning About Library Associations: Cache Valley Library Association

Library science is an enormous field, home to every interest you could imagine! This means that there are many organizations out there for you to join, in order to connect with other people who share your professional interests.

So even if you work alone in your library, there are other people out there doing work similar to yours! Each week we will highlight a different library association for you to learn more about, and depending on your work, potentially join! You can also check out our page dedicated to Library Associations.

This week we will learn about the Cache Valley Library Association (CVLA)! CVLA is a relatively new association that was founded in 2012 and has more than 130 members. Their goals include:

  • Facilitate communication, networking, collaboration, mentoring, professional development, and socializing among all persons engaged in any aspect of library services.
  • Promote awareness of library resources, activities, practices, and goals both within its membership and to the community at-large.
  • Advocate on behalf of all libraries and their services, resources, and workers.

Membership to CVLA is free and open to anyone in their area interested in library services. “To officially join, send an email to cachelibraries@gmail.com or sign up at one of our bimonthly meetings. Registered members are eligible to vote and serve in leadership positions. ” Check out their map directory of members on their website.

CVLA has an awesome resource called “Phone A Friend” that connects members with the knowledge and experience of other library workers in their community. If you have a question in your library work, you can contact someone from their list that has signed up to offer assistance. Or if you are knowledgeable in a certain area, you can sign up as someone willing to answer questions that other library workers may have!

Check out CVLA’s job postings, annual reports or meeting minutes, or just stay up to date with the latest news. It looks like CVLA is doing great work in their library community!

Communication, Tech

Training Tips: Pick up another language!

Globe of language

Working in libraries is all about service – and to be good at service it’s necessary to be able to communicate. Languages are always going to be valuable in providing some great service, and in helping you find a lovely job – or get promoted at the lovely job you already have!

What languages could you learn? Look around your community. What languages are being spoken at home in addition to English? That would be a great place to start! You probably have some ideas about those languages: Somali, Spanish, Hmong, Finnish, Polish.

To get some ideas about other languages spoken in your community, do a little investigation – you probably don’t know all of them, no matter how long you have been there. I really like city-data.com – there is a ton of great information about your community to learn! Browse around census.gov for other kinds of information about your community. (More information is never a problem!)

Maybe you have a gift for languages, and you pick them up easily. Fantastic! Maybe you are more like me – and struggling with English is a challenge most days. Either way, we can all learn at least a few words that will help to make our service to our community better, to encourage people to come visit the library, and to keep the library connected to the community members!

Where can you go to learn words in other languages? There are a variety of free sources. Here are a few places you can start:

  • Duolingo “Learning with Duolingo is fun and addictive. Earn points for correct answers, race against the clock, and level up. Our bite-sized lessons are effective, and we have proof that it works.”
  • Babbel: “At Babbel, we obsess over crafting the tools you need to start having practical, everyday conversations.
    We believe the sooner you begin to speak a new language, the sooner you’ll open yourself up to a world that’s bigger, richer and more inspiring. “
  •  Rosetta Stone Travel App: “Take your lessons on–the–go with the new Rosetta Stone mobile app. Learn to speak Spanish, French, Italian, English, German or one of 19 other languages anytime, anywhere. With instant syncing, downloadable lessons and more useful features, it’s never been easier to learn—whenever and wherever you are!”
  • Memrise: “Go from zero to language hero with over 200 courses full of rich content created by expert linguists.”

  • Google Translate: “Translate between 103 languages by typing
    • Tap to Translate: Copy text in any app and your translation pops up
    • Offline: Translate 59 languages when you have no Internet
    • Instant camera translation: Use your camera to translate text instantly in 38 languages
    • Camera Mode: Take pictures of text for higher-quality translations in 37 languages
    • Conversation Mode: Two-way instant speech translation in 32 languages
    • Handwriting: Draw characters instead of using the keyboard in 93 languages
    • Phrasebook: Star and save translations for future reference in any language”

You might start with some general words, and that is never going to be wrong. Learning to say hello, good bye, thank you for visiting, here is a book – all of these are things you say probably a dozen times a day. “The bathroom is over there” will be important no matter what you are doing. Start paying attention to the things you regularly say. Talk to your colleagues -what are their most common words and phrases?

Research says that if you learn the 1,000 most commonly spoken words in a language, you are essentially fluent for most purposes. So don’t worry about making it all perfect; don’t feel like you have to have it all or nothing with a new language. People appreciate your trying to be a better communicator; being able to stumble your way through a few ideas will help immeasurably in providing great service – you do not need to be completely perfect at it all! Just work to get better than you are today, and that is great.

Advocacy, Communication

New ALA Statement Affirms Net Neutrality is Essential to Intellectual Freedom

NetNeutrality logo

From the ALA:

“At the 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting, ALA Council adopted the statement “Net Neutrality: An Intellectual Freedom Issue.” Written by the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee, the document affirms that Net Neutrality is essential to the promotion and practice of intellectual freedom and the free exercise of democracy.

The document’s origins date back to June, when ALA President Jim Neal requested a Net Neutrality position paper written from an intellectual freedom perspective. On Dec. 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal Net Neutrality; the repeal will take effect on April 23, 2018. The Intellectual Freedom Committee structured the paper to respond to arguments in the anticipated fight to preserve Net Neutrality.

“The Net Neutrality statement is timeless, reflecting the core values of ALA and its members,” said IFC Chair Helen Adams.

The document makes clear connections between Net Neutrality and libraries, democracy, intellectual freedom, and equitable access. It also recognizes the work of the ALA Washington Office and other ALA advocacy efforts to defend Net Neutrality.

“There are many forms of censorship. Tilting the playing field toward a few players is one of them,” said Office for Intellectual Freedom Director James LaRue.

The statement is endorsed by the Committee on Legislation, Intellectual Freedom Round Table, Committee on Professional Ethics, the American Association of School Librarians, Library Information Technology Association and IFC Privacy Subcommittee.”