You know, I'm not typically a hard-ass when it comes to supervision. I'm not a micromanager. I advocate for an open flow of communication and transparency when appropriate. I feel like I'm supportive.

But, I can't get over the fact that some of my colleagues are intensely resistant to change. Of any kind!

For instance, I'm very concerned about the status of our funding since the economy is so poor. Now, more than ever, I feel like we should be prepared to justify all that we do. As a result, I'd like for us to work toward measuring our impact on the public, which is something we don't currently do.

When I brought this up in a meeting last week, all I got was eyerolls and groaning. Someone actually cried (long story). Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about this because of the class that I'm taking.

Here are the things that I'd like to accomplish:

1. Come up with a clear definition of what my library considers a program to be.
2. Indicate what we hope the public will get out of attending a program.
3. Develop some outcome-based programming with measurable impact on attendees.

I'm very passionate about this. I think we need to be aware of the political context in which we're functioning and make every effort to PROVE the value of our services beyond the occasional anecdote.

A Day in the Life...

I found out about the Library Day in the Life project from a blog that I read. I thought I'd try it out, so here goes, more or less in order:

July 31, 2009

1. Sent out the compiled strategic planning objectives our leadership team came up with earlier in the week. We're finalizing them for our first service response. Two more to go!
2. Read a little more in Strategic Planning for Results to make sure we're on track for our next step: Developing Organizational Competencies. This begins in September.
3. Talked to one of our reference librarians about the job seeker programming he's been working on. Found out we just got a copy of ALA's Crisis in Employment report. He was done with it, so he passed it on to me. We also talked about two new search engines I learned about this week: Collecta and Guzzle.it
4. Talked to our business office about some work that's been done recently on our "chiller" unit. Had some invoices to reconcile.
5. Sent e-mails. Cleaned up Inbox.
6. Started reading feeds, which reminded me of Library Day in the Life!
7. Got some information for a patron about a playhouse in our children's area.
8. Lunch
9. Shared a few interesting articles via Google Reader.
10. Received new signs for DVD and hold pick-ups. Worked with Circ department head on placement.
11. Checked on staff working the community art show that wrapped up our "Be Creative @ Your Library" summer reading program.
12. Set up various meetings for August: policy discussion on mobile devices in our children's area, dept heads whose supervisor is on leave, summer reading wrap up.
13. That's it for me! Have a great weekend!

A social science? Really?

I mentioned before that I never took the research course in SLIS (which has changed names and numbers since I was there.)

After being exposed to the concepts in my current class, I have to wonder why I wasn't required to learn how to do research. Why did no one encourage me to justify the sociological importance of libraries through measurable scientific inquiry? Why do those of us practicing librarianship, especially public librarianship, not back up our enriching and enlightening programming with qualitative research?

And if we are doing this, why am I not hearing about it? I scour newsfeeds of all kinds for information like this, and there are slim offerings of research studies regarding the significance of adult programming in public libraries, for instance. How about library management? The impact of libraries on literacy rates? Where is this information?!?!

If library science is truly a social science, then we'd better get on the ball and contribute to the body of knowledge before it's too late.

Back to School

So, I've started my first class in SPEA course: Public Program Evaluation.

Believe it or not, I've never taken a research course. It's just not something that ever interested me, so I seemed to always manage to skirt around it. I cracked open the textbook for the class yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the tone of the author. The way he introduces research really drew me in: "This book is about knowing things--not so much what we know as how we know it."

I guess at this point in my career (life?) I'm ready to really explore the "how" of what we know. I can honestly say I'm looking forward to this class.

Reflections on Strategic Planning

The Hancock County Public Library provides superior county-wide library service convenient to and used by all residents through excellent programs and materials in a financially responsible way. We do this one life at a time.

This is the vision statement of my employer. I think it's a good vision statement. It answers the big questions: what we do, and how we do it.

Our current strategic plan expires at the end of this year, and I'm charged with leading the effort to construct a new one. I went to a strategic planning Boot Camp offered by the Public Library Association back in October, and my director agreed to the use of the Planning for Results model for the next plan.

Since the training, I've been focused on understanding the model and taking the steps necessary to get it started. I'm happy to report that we're on track to get the plan finished by October and move it through Board approval. It will be in place by 2010 and run through 2012.

Reflecting on this process had made me realize just how important it is to have a clear vision in place. Knowing that the goal is to provide superior library service that's convenient to residents makes it easier to drive this initiative and inspire staff to get involved.

I have high hopes for our new strategic plan. I want it to embody our vision and guide our activities for the next few years.

I'll keep you posted on our progress :-)

MPA: New Journeys

So, starting in a few weeks, I'll be undertaking a new venture. I'm going back to grad school as a student in the Library Management certificate program. Once I finish with the certificate, I plan on continuing with the full-blown Master's of Public Affairs degree.

My first class will be "Public Program Evaluation," which is extremely relevant as I continue to drive my place of employment's strategic planning process for the new plan that will cover 2010-2012.

Let's Get Functional

An idea that I used at my first job out of library school was to divide employees into teams to strategize around our libraries' functional areas. The original breakdown I used was: collection development, programming, outreach, and marketing.

In my current job, I transferred the idea with a few changes dictated by context. We're now working with five functional area teams: collection development and maintenance, programming, outreach, public services, and information technology.

The idea behind these groups is to take critical library functions and assign people from all levels of the library to teams which then analyze, evaluate, and propose changes related to a particular function. This keeps those areas under constant "surveillance," allowing for quick adjustments to policies or procedures.

Another key component of these groups is that they're intentionally small. I suggest a maximum of five people per team. This enables the team to make decisions quickly and have an intense focus when necessary.

What are the functional areas in your library? Do you use a similar model for decision making?