Tag Archives: training tips

Training

Training Tips: Weeding

We are very interested in helping all our members (and other library people!) get the training they need to be ready to serve their communities. Working in libraries means constant change, new services coming along all the time. Staying on top of it all is tough! Stay tuned here each week for some ideas you can use to dazzle your library with skills!

This week let’s look at weeding.

Yes, weeding can be scary. You never want to give people the idea that you are just randomly flinging books into the trash. Eeek! There is no easier way to ensure you lose funding, respect, and maybe your job.

Fortunately, none of that is necessary!

Let’s think about weeding as it should be: a necessary and useful tool to keep your collection tidy and up to date.

First: Have A Policy

I can’t stress this enough. Have a policy written down, and follow it. Hopefully you were able to work with a team to share ideas as you created that policy. (Members: call CMLE to chat about your policy!)

You can get policy ideas, and a lot of other information about weeding from the classic manual for libraries: CREW A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries.

Second: Decide on Your Criteria

You are not usually going to weed the entire library at once. Pick a section, or go to your assigned section, and look it over. Anything look horrid right away? Are there lots of holes?

Run a report to see how long books have been on the shelf without moving. (Your ILS should do this; give the vendor a call if you are not sure how to make that happen.) One thing you will find is that a bunch of books are missing. Yay! Well, it’s good news at least that those books can either just be deleted or reordered to keep sharing with people.

Then look at the standard stuff:

M = Misleading–factually inaccurate
U = Ugly–worn beyond mending or rebinding
 S =  Superceded–by a new edition of by a much better book on the subject
T = Trivial–of no discernible literary or scientific merit
I  =  Irrelevant to the needs and interests of the library’s community
E =  Elsewhere–the material is easily obtainable from another library

Third: Make It Happen

All of these books need to LEAVE YOUR LIBRARY!

Don’t worry if your shelves look too empty. (Well, okay, sure, worry; but that’s a different topic.) Junk on the shelves is still junk, and it’s not helping you serve your community.

FLING THIS STUFF IN THE TRASH AND NEVER LOOK BACK!

If getting rid of books is hard for you, call us and we will come over and help you. If your administration, or other stakeholders, are getting twitchy about “all that wasted money” call us and we will come over to talk about the value of weeding!

Fourth (and Final): Bask In Your Success!

Congratulations!!!

Now the lovely flowers, fruits, and veggies of your collection can bloom without all those pesky weeds dragging them down! (Okay, that got a little tangled, but you see where I’m going with it.)

A few things should happen now:

  • you feel professional pride
  • your collection looks better to visitors
  • your circ numbers go up because books are actually on the shelves, and patrons can easily find the good stuff

At this point, you may want to start working on the other end of collection development: bringing in new stuff. It’s beyond us today, but be sure your collection is a living thing: it grows and changes to meet the evolving needs of the community.

Now go! Weed one thing that needs to go! Take a picture if you dare, and tell us all about it!!

Training

Training Tips: Decision Making

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Decisions, decisions!!!

They can be so hard!

Do we turn left or right? Do we spend $100 on books for the library, or do we buy a new robot? Budget cuts are coming for us all – when they hit the library will we have to furlough staff, or stop buying material??

We have been reading material lately about automating decisions, and that sounds like a great idea when it is possible for you. Check out some of these resources for ideas on trying that. (I’ve done it, and it really does work for me!)

We have an entire podcast filled with ideas on making good decisions – for yourself and for your library! You can find it here!

Have you met bad managers? Well, of course you have – everyone has. There may be many reasons they are not good at their jobs; but it is very easy to think picture bad managers who are dithering around decisions, constantly asking for more information or other people’s opinions. Then when a decision is made, it is too often a bad one, or is so often second-guessed that it becomes meaningless.

Instead of falling victim to this terrible fate, we will walk through some processes for making decisions in an effective way. No one single procedure will be right for every situation, but some basics will always be useful to you.

We walk you through Formal Decision Making, so you get a feel for the whole process. We look at using a flowchart (fun! visual!). And we browse through a few quick strategies you use when you don’t have the time or energy to do something complex.

Good decision making is critical. Everyone will make some bad decisions – it happens. But having a process for making decisions helps to ensure you are more likely to make good ones.

Think about your own process, and let’s make some good decisions today!

Training

Training Tips: Copyright Basics

 

If you are in a library, you are probably the point person for answering copyright questions, or for enforcing copyright rules for your organization.

But: how confident do you feel in your knowledge of federal copyright law?? If you are like a lot of library people, you would probably feel better if you had more basic experience.

Libraries and archives are often the locations in an organization where copyright laws meet the demands of your community members. We need to be ready to explain why it is not appropriate (legal) to just scan the latest expensive textbook and put it online for an entire class. We need to provide information on why we can not just photocopy articles from a popular journal every single week to distribute. We need to train our community members in using images online, in sharing information from behind paywalls, and so many more things to help them follow copyright law in their own work.

This summer, CMLE is offering a Copyright Class in our Summer Library  Boot Camp series, to be sure everyone knows what they need to tell their patrons. In this class we will walk through the basics of copyright law, and some ideas about training your community members in understanding and following copyright laws. (Pointing out some of the massive potential financial penalties can be helpful! This is federal law after all, not just “oh, if you get around to it” kind of stuff!)

Check out some of this information, and see if it can answer your questions. If you get stuck, you can always contact us at CMLE Headquarters and we can help you answer questions.

For some quick basics, check out our “Linking Our Libraries” podcast episode on copyright!

 

Training

Training Tips: Stress in the Library Workplace

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You know that working in a library can be stressful! People who do not understand about working in customer service jobs do not see how hard this job can be. When you add in all the details, fast-changing responsibilities, and ever-changing tasks – it’s just a lot!

We are sharing some links to material on our site, and then we are passing along a survey from a researcher looking for academic librarians to talk about burnout.

Use some of the information we have for you here to address stress BEFORE it becomes a problem!! Stress is a real issue in the profession, and it touches everyone. Take steps to address it, each day!

Here is a survey from a researcher looking for information on academic librarians, talking about burnout in the profession:

Dear Colleagues:

I am writing to you to request your participation in a brief survey on
academic librarian burnout. The survey consists of 7 questions and will take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

For more information and to take the survey, click on the following link:
https://kennesaw.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_56e0qWsVvciT69T

Thank you very much for your time and participation.

Best Regards,

Ana Guimaraes
Director of Collection Development
Kennesaw State University Library System
(470) 578-7920
aguimar1@kennesaw.edu

Advocacy, Training

Training Tips: Everyday Advocacy Has Lots to Offer

If you have been around CMLE at all, you know we love to talk about libraries, and to tell EVERYONE how lovely our libraries are!! For the uninitiated, that is advocacy.

We like to talk about that a lot here, because sometimes people get nervous or intimidated by the idea of advocacy. It sounds like only something that people with super-special skills could do. But advocacy is for everyone! Do you like your library? Do you have cool stuff? Tell someone about it. And presto! You are a library advocate!

You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t need a degree. You don’t need a fancy, big library with tons of funding. You just need to care about libraries.

And then you can build on that, and get some skills to help yourself to feel more comfortable in advocating for your library and for the library profession. Check out this material from the ALSC Blog about Everyday Advocacy, by  Laura Schulte-Cooper for some ideas.

“With National Library Legislative Day (May 7-8) just about a month away, this seems an appropriate time to remind everyone about Everyday Advocacy (EA)! Are you familiar with EA? According to ALSC’s EA website, Everyday Advocacy is “a grassroots effort that starts with you and the incredible things you’re already doing for the youth and families you serve.” Consider Everyday Advocacy an antidote to the advocacy intimidation factor!

Need more convincing? Just take another (or first) look at the site. It truly is filled with resources compiled to help you get comfortable in the role of advocate or to get inspired to do more in the way of advocacy. Here’s just a small sampling of what you will find at the Everyday Advocacy site:

Be Informed | The Power of Stories

Human beings learn through stories. A well-told story is an extremely compelling way to convey your message, which will linger longer in the mind of the listener than a fact. Use these strategies to help your audience cement your message through images.

Be Informed | Using Statistics Effectively

Totals, percentages, averages, ratios. We’re guessing you’ve got no shortage of numbers to share! Statistics are compelling when used strategically to tell your library’s story.  Keep these points in mind as you incorporate numbers and figures into your message.

Engage with Your Community | Identify Key Stakeholders

Who directly benefits from your library’s programs and services? Who’s in the background, supporting your efforts and cheering you on? Take first steps toward advocacy by identifying these key stakeholders in your library community.

Speak Out | Crafting Your Message

Advocating for the most compelling issue or worthy cause is a losing battle if nobody hears what you are championing or knows why they should join you! Getting your message out is essential, so prepare yourself for success with these tips.

Get Inspired | Your Advocacy Stories

Get inspired by these Everyday Advocacy stories from our very own ALSC members. Cheer your colleagues—and maybe even snap up a few new ideas in the process.

Great stuff, right?! And, there’s so much more to dive into on the website. Check it out.

Still looking for more? The April Everyday Advocacy Matters newsletter came out this week. In this issue, find: interviews with several of the newly-deemed Library Journal Movers & Shakers; library-related articles from outside the library world for you to read and share; and quick acts of advocacy for when you really only have five minutes.

Spring is a time for new beginnings. Become an Everyday Advocate!”