Concept Work / Concept Workers

This eLearning Technology post reminds me of a tech support cartoon that has made the rounds at work.

It also touches on an issue that has been preoccupying me lately. When the technologies we are using in libraries are changing so rapidly, how can I as a trainer help library staff learn new skills, not as singular steps to master a particular tool/product/application, but to approach them as classes of tools/products/applications that share certain conceptual characteristics, but always evolving slightly different variations? Can I?

A particularly harrowing (as in seriously-lost-my-nerve-and-considered-becoming-a-barrista-instead harrowing) class where I tried to use the old "reference source evaluation" (a good, traditional library skill, right?) as a model for dealing with new web applications. It turned into a "why can't you tell me exactly how to use this thing for my library" grilling. Well, um, not because I'm a tongue tied fool up here, but because I don't know your context, or what you need. You know that.

An interesting product of the class was a discussion of generational differences, "head space", and the socio-cultural baggage we all bring with us to technology. I only wish I knew how to advance the discussion.





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Evaluating Library Services

Attended a session presented by Beverly Choltco-Devlin of the Mid-York Library System this morning about evaluating library services, using the Evaluation Decision-Making System (EDMS) portal. While the resources located in the EDMS site are largely self-explanatory, I found a lot of food-for-thought in the presentation. But then I have analysis, planning, and evaluation on the brain these days.

Evaluation: PRE thought, not after thought
Libraries are required to do a lot of evaluation for grants, state reporting, etc. but often it seems that "evaluation" is something tacked onto the program report just to satisfy some kind of requirement and that it is a burden that has little bearing on or merit toward library work. Mostly because state requirements are irrelevant to library work? Because the recommended evaluation methods (we're looking at you, Outcomes Based Evaluation) are not always appropriate? Because the needs assessment part of the equation is almost always overlooked? Because results (other than bodies in a chair, or numbers on a chart) are also undefined? Because it's more fun and is doing "real work" to jump into the project right away?

It's frustrating. Skipping the dull, difficult planning work just seems to result in frantic scrambling later on, when the report needs to be writen or decisions made.


Two basic subjects of evaluation - finite projects and ongoing services
Most library evaluation focuses on specific projects - a grant, a program, etc. Which is of course great and necessary. But we should also be looking at evaluating ongoing services - like customer support or collection development - and internal processes - such as how we make major decisions or organize departments.

I think the internal evaluation - how we do what we do is almost entirely missing. Maybe we should be looking not just at what we do for our public, but also for ourselves. Why don't libraries look at how they do things in addition to what they do?

Two basic purposes of evaluation - management and promotion
This was one of those so obvious it was blinding points - we need evaluation for two distinct purposes, which require different types of information and different uses of information.

Google Book Downloader

I'm all over eBooks these days (even though the cool kids seem to like digital audio books) and there is an explosion of free stuff.

I'm particularly fond of Many Books which presents Project Gutenberg books in tons of different formats, including the ones I already use for downloads from the library.

Have to check out the Google Book downloader next...

Google Book Downloader

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American Libraries Direct links to a post by Jenny Levine, the Shifted Librarian - The Shifted Librarian» Another Reason for Libraries to Make Their Sites Social - about adding plug-ins to your web content to enable visitors to easily share your content.

A related idea is actually using such gadgets yourself - to share content you like with your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and blog readers.

I use, and am rapidly becoming addicted to, AddThis in the form of a Firefox browser add-on. It's easy to download, always right there, and makes sharing any web content extremely quick and easy.



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Biblio-blogs

In the current Booklist Online Newsletter (sign up for free!), editor Keir Graff asks

"If a book is published, and no one blogs about it, does the book really exist?"

he's part of a group of bloggers speaking about blogging about books at ALA Annual (tomorrow - no help to those of us not at ALA). But, play along at home and check out some of these biblio-blogs:

• Points of Reference (a Booklist blog) - " team of library reference experts talk about resources (books, databases, Web sites, e-books, and more) and publishing trends. We also take a look at what’s happening to reference collections, and what’s going on at the reference desk. "
• Audiobooker (a Booklist blog) - All things audio books: reviews, awards, MP3 players, and more.
• Book Group Buzz (a Booklist blog) - "We want to be a one-stop book group resource, and our corps of bloggers will be talking to you about books that worked well (or books that bombed) and providing organizational tips, read-alike comments along the lines of, “if this worked well with your book club, try this,” and more. We’ll also be pointing you to Web sites that offer book club ideas, reading guides, and other useful stuff."
• EarlyWord - "EarlyWord’s goal is to help Collection Development and Readers Advisory librarians stay ahead of public demand and identify hidden gems."

Principles of Adult Learning

Adult Learning theory is a set of assumptions about how adults – typically defined as people outside of primary and secondary school – approach the learning process. As with any assumption, of course, not every person fits the same mold.


Adult learning theory assumes:

• Autonomy and self-direction – adults tend to approach learning with a sense of themselves as responsible “grown-ups”, and need to be involved in the learning process
• Existing experience and knowledge – adults contribute to the learning process by sharing their prior experiences and skills; learning is most effective when it is related to, and builds on, their experiences
• Readiness and motivation – adults tend to link acquiring new skills with greater self-esteem and personal satisfaction, and are motivated and willing to invest energy in learning, when those intrinsic needs are met
• Relevance, value, and practicability – adults are most responsive to learning that is linked to things that are important to their daily life; that will help them perform tasks or solve problems better; and that can be applied right away. Adult learners are less interested in the theory than in the application.

I can't help, however, contrasting some of these assumptions with anecdotal evidence that I've gathered in the course of presenting training.

• "Intrinsic" rewards for training don't really compete with the million other demands on learners' time.
• We have a lot of socialized expectations of the learning process - what it is, what their responsibilities are, what the trainer's responsibilities are
• There are so many other factors at play - generational differences, learning styles, etc., etc., etc. - that who knows what is the biggest influence?

What say you?

Read more about it:

• WikiBooks: Learning Theories / Adult Learning Theories – http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Learning_Theories/Adult_Learning_Theories
• Cranton, P. (2006). Understanding and promoting transformative learning: A guide for educators of adults. The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2005). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2002). Telling ain't training. Alexandria, VA: ASTD.

Valuing your library services

Buried way down at the bottom of the 6/17/2009 ALA Direct e-Newsletter is a blurb and a link to a Retail Value Calculator (from the Nation Network of Libraries of Medicine, Mid-continental Region) which allows you to "Calculate what it would cost to buy library services - at a book store, through pay per view for articles, from an information broker - if you and your library weren't there."

I tested it a little bit with some Annual Report data for circulation statistics. It's pretty eye-popping on several levels!

1. What the heck does NYS actually do with the data it collects?? Looking at this calculator - admittedly designed for medical libraries, which house different types of (very expensive research oriented) materials - it's really difficult to slot our data into these categories. For example, we seem to track the number of participants, but not the number of programs held; we lump video, audiobook, eBook, and periodical loans together as "other materials" (??!!??) although we do count how many of these various things we have...; we track the number of "Users of Electronic Resources" but not the uses of the electronic resources, or even the type of electronic resources, themselves. Maybe (hopefully!) I'm missing some key info here, but, seriously...
2. How seriously are we undervaluing our services? As an example, say your library circulated 25,000 books in one year. At $35 per item per transaction (figuring most books at retail price are about $25 plus some extra for all the processing, handling, etc.) the cost of those transactions come to $875,000.00. That's just one service!

Eureka moment #1 - Job Aids are Very Important

In my first post-ASTD comments, I wrote about informal learning and patted myself on the back for a few right-track ideas. Here’s one of which I am particularly proud—

Weekly Workflows [edited to add link to past WWs - internal only link, login required - L.]

Who’d have thought? I like writing them, and have received positive feedback about them, but I never really thought of them as a key part of the overall training initiative. But as it turns out, job aids – the class of learning documents to which things like Weekly Workflows belongs – play an important role in informal learning, learning transfer, and post training support.

Definition: A job aid is an external resource designed to support a performer in a specific task by providing information or compensating for lapses in worker memory. (Job Aids Basics, ASTD Press. Read a sample in Google Books)

The good things about job aids:

• Targets a specific issue
• Focuses on performance
• Quick reminders
• Point of need guidance
• Low cost to prepare and distribute
• Minimize time away from the job/task

So the questions now are:

• How can these job aids be even better?
• What topics need to be covered?
• Where’s the fine line between enough and too much?
• Should hand outs from training sessions be comprised of jab aids, rather than less-than-informative PowerPoint slides?
• Is there a design or style that would be an improvement?
• What could I, and others at PLS, be doing to facilitate libraries in getting and/or creating these types of materials?
• How can we take tools that already have a solid foundation and take them up a notch?

I’m sure every single library has its own job aids – wouldn’t it be beneficial to share the wealth and increase the “knowledge pool”? (This comes from a book I scored from the Expo floor, and which may form the basis of my possible “Business Skills Self Help Book Club”… )

The dark side of (not) weeding

I know it's hard to get rid of books and that there is a certain romantic attachment to the ideal of libraries as mysterious places full of hidden treasure (my home is a monument to wayward books - old, printed on real rag paper and crumbling tree pulp, interleaved with lavish lithograph illustrations or covered with lurid pop art, deliciously and ironically outdated...)

However, in the real world of libraries, used by people who are touchy about germs, irritated by outdated social mores, require current facts, prefer craft books with color images of the projects, and have stopped wearing frosty blue eye shadow looooong ago - well, some of our collections just don't quite cut it.

For an interesting new angle on the issue, check out my new favorite blog (Ellen Reynolds, resident Weeding Guru, is also a fan): Awful Library Books and get the real scoop on what people think about some of the "treasure" on our library shelves.

I did a quick search of our catalog for one of the titles they posted, Why Your Child is Hyperactive, Feingold, 1975. Two of our libraries still have this in their collections. Why? Read the comments - it's a great discussion of weeding old medical titles.

For more information about weeding non-fiction in particular and collection development, check some of our (internal only - login required) Weeding Recommendations and Non-fiction selection guidelines.

LSSIRT newsletter, June 2009

The latest LSSIRT (ALA's Library Support Staff Interests Round Table) Newsletter is now available.

Check it out online at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/lssirt/lssirtbenefits/2009_LSSIRT_June_fin.pdf

This issue is all about LSSIRT activities going at at ALA Annual - being held July 9-15, 2009, in Chicago - and the Support Staff focused conference-within-a-conference Empowerment Conference.

A few (of many) thoughts on the ASTD 2009 Conference

I spent the past week in Washington, DC attending the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) International Conference and Exposition. ASTD is a professional organization for people involved in training and personnel development (primarily curriculum designers, training presenters, managers of the “learning function” and human resources professionals). It was a fascinating, if occasionally disconcerting, time and I came away with fresh inspiration, ideas, and some reassurance that I am (theoretically) on the right track with training initiatives here at PLS (Yay! But…my post-conference action plan starts with “move from the theoretical to the practicable”. More on that later…)

The overall themes of the conference were informal learning and learning transfer. Two concepts that have been looming in my mind for a while and directed the sessions I attended (also more on those later! But here’s a general overview…)

Informal learning describes the learning that happens outside of the formal classroom (physical or virtual) environment – peer to peer sharing and instruction, the use of job aids, personal learning, etc. The president of ASTD, Tony Bingham, opened the conference with a keynote speech calling on workplace learning professionals to be more actively engaged with supporting and facilitating informal learning. I think this is a particular strength of PLS already – we share information and resources extensively via PLS-L, the Director’s email lists, OWWLUG, System Meetings, PLS Notes, PLUM, and more. Library staffs work hard to support their colleagues on the job, everyday. So what can PLS training do to facilitate and/or improve these processes?

Learning transfer is the process wherein information gained as a result of training is integrated and applied on the job. All too often, training/learning seems to “stop” at the end of a class session – but the only reason to attend training in the first place is to be able to perform better on the job. I think this is the most serious gap in PLS training – we need to figure out how to get supervisors, participants, trainers, and managers working together to figure out a few key things: A) what should we see as a result of training that makes it worth rearranging schedules, paying mileage, or paying somebody to not be at the library? B) How can we better design training to achieve those results? C) What do we need to know before attending training to maximize the impact of training? D) What do we need to be doing to ensure that learners can apply new skills at work? E) How will we know that improvements have been accomplished?

Over the next few weeks, I will share my ASTD09 adventures, take aways, and ides I think would benefit PLS. I will (resurrect and) put them on my blog (http://trainingpioneers.blogspot.com – if you happen to have this bookmarked, this is a new URL! Please update your bookmark/subscription.) where I would love to discuss my ideas, your ideas, and PLS training endeavors in general.

Test screen capture video - How to use FireFox one-click Bookmarks

I have created a test case screen capture illustrating how to use the one-click bookmark feature in FireFox 3. Let me know what you think of the screen capture video demonstration - this one is not narrated, which is a definite drawback. But if the video idea seems like it would be helpful, I will spring for a microphone!

FireFox One-click Bookmarking
With just one click you can bookmark your current page. Two clicks and you can customize the information about your bookmark.

Try it!

1. Open the PLUM page for requesting out of system ILLs

• Use the URL: http://plum.pls-net.org/twiki/bin/view/Members/InterlibraryLoanRequest
• or go to the PLS Homepage > TWiki > Quick Links - Request Help... > InterlibraryLoanRequest

2. Notice that the URL line contains a star at the right hand edge. Click on the star – you have just bookmarked the page. Easy!

3. Click on the Bookmarks menu option and select "Recently Bookmarked" - your page is listed there.

Now make it easier to find your bookmarks.

1. Click on the star - now colored yellow - again. This allows you to edit the bookmark: you can remove the bookmark, change the bookmark name, add it to a special folder, and add tags.

2. In the edit box:

1. Change the name to Out of System ILL
2. Open the folder select list
   
3. Click Choose
   
4. Click Bookmarks Menu
   
6. Click New Folder, name it PLUM
7. Add the tag ILL
8. Click Done

Now click on the Bookmarks menu option. The folder PLUM is listed. Hold you cursor over it - your bookmark displays. Click "Recent Tags" - ILL is listed. Hold you cursor over it - your bookmark displays.

Watch a demo:

Free programming resource from ALA’s Public Programs Office

From American Libraries Direct, The e-newsletter of the American Library Association, January 21, 2009:

ALA’s Public Programs Office is offering a new online resource to assist libraries of all types and sizes in creating cultural and community programs. The Programming Librarian website includes a resource library, live learning opportunities, and a blog to keep librarians informed of upcoming opportunities and provide inspiration for new library programs. As the site continues to develop, users will find more resources, ideas, and opportunities to network with peers and programming experts....

Check out the Programming Librarian Blog for ideas, links to other online resources, and downloadable program guides.

See also, the main website of the ALA Public Programs Office - TONS of great stuff! Such as this PDF guide to coordinating a community-wide read. Or try the ALA/PPO's blog, PPO Post.

Considering MLS studies?

[From the Rochester Regional Library Council listserv...]
Posted on behalf of the University at Buffalo

Hello fellow librarians!
Could you please share this information with your staff, public, etc. for those that may be interested in earning their Master of Library Science, School Media Specialist certification and/or post-master's certification?

There will be a Master of Library Science Info Session on Monday, February 9 at 5pm in 553 Baldy Hall, University at Buffalo, North Campus. Parking is open and free after 3pm on campus- you will not need a permit, some of the best lots to park in are Slee, Baird or Jacobs. Here is a link to a website that will show you where Baldy Hall is and the surrounding area. Parking is at a premium even during the evening hours, please give yourself ample time to park and find the building.

Dr. Judith Robinson, Chair of the Library & Information Studies Department and Sarah Watson, Admissions Advisor and 2004 graduate of the MLS program will be in attendance to answer questions about admissions, courses, programs, etc.

Thank you for your help in spreading this information.
Best,
Sarah Watson

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah J. Watson, M.L.S.
Admissions Advisor
Office of Graduate Admissions & Student Services
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
366 Baldy Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260
(P) 716-645-2110
(F) 716-645-7937
GSE Info Sessions:
http://www.gse.buffalo.edu/prospective/info_se

MaintainIT Webinars - FREE

4 free webinars from the MaintainIT Project (http://maintainitproject.org) scheduled upcoming this January:


Effectively Collaborating with Other Libraries and Partners: A MaintainIT Book Club Discussion
When: 01/06/2009 11:00am - 12:00pm Pacific (Noon Mountain/1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern)
Registration link:http://maintainitproject.org/events
Duration: One hour
Every month, MaintainIT hosts an online book club discussion. We
select a chapter from one of the free Cookbooks, invite people to read
it, and then meet to discuss. January's Book Club Topic is:
Collaborations can enhance the library's ability to serve your
community and make library services more visible and valued. Working
collaboratively opens up possibilities and enables libraries to share
and conserve resources, reach new audiences, and expand services and
programs. Are you interested in learning more about effectively
collaborating and building partnerships? Read the
chapter at http://maintainitproject.org/cookbook-3/communication-and-partnerships/e...,
register for the webinar, and then join the conversation!

Assistive Technology: A Free Webinar
When: 01/14/2009 11:00am - 12:00pm Pacific (Noon Mountain/1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern)
Registration link:http://maintainitproject.org/events
Duration: One hour
Learn about assistive technology!

Using MaintainIT Resources for Technology Training - a Webinar
When: 01/15/2009 11:00am - 12:00pm Pacific (Noon Mountain/1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern)
Registration link:http://maintainitproject.org/events
Duration: One hour
Do you train library staff to use technology? If you do, please
consider attending this free one hour webinar. Learn about resources
for trainers and hear about training happening in the field

A Need for Speed: Measuring and Managing Bandwidth -- a free webinar
When: 01/20/2009 11:00am - 12:00pm Pacific (Noon Mountain/1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern)
Registration link:http://maintainitproject.org/events
Duration: 30 minutes
Does it ever feel like your high-speed connection to the Internet is
somehow trapped in the slow lane? Are you experiencing the 3 PM chug?
There are tools you can use to monitor your network performance and
there are techniques you can use to manage bandwidth. Join this fast-
paced and interactive webinar to find out more. Take 30 minutes out of
your day to learn from the experiences of others and get something
started. This is a part of the MaintainIT Cookbook webinar series
where contributors to the Cookbooks share their insights, their
secrets, and what you can do to get started with projects like
theirs.

ALA-APA Library Support Staff Certification

The Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSCP) Advisory Committee is seeking feedback on their implementation recommendations. Comments will be accepted through January 31, 2009, after which the final revisions will be made.


Additional documentation can be found here: http://www.ala-apa.org/about/certtflta.html

LSSIRT Newsletter

The latest LSSIRT (ALA's Library Support Staff Interests Round Table) Newsletter is now available.

Check it out online at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/lssirt/lssirtbenefits/2008_December_LSSIRT.pdf

It includes a great article by Dorothy Morgan (president of the LSSIRT Steering Committee and Liverpool (NY) Public Library) based on her presentation at the 2008 Empowerment Conference, titled Captain Your Destiny and "Sea" Where it Takes You! she writes eloquently about change, professional/personal development, and staying engaged in one's library career despite the obstacles.