Blog June Post 11 - Mud Poo and Cows

Today's mantra: Live the life you have imagined.

Thanks to @geocachinglibn for writing a responding blog post to my post concerning libraries and communities.

He writes: There are certainly a range of different communities on a university campus, such as the research community, teaching and learning community, and the internationalisation community, and the library is usually represented in them all.

This got me thinking - do public libraries have a research community, teaching and learning community and internationalisation community?  I think they do, and I think they have more - the reading for relaxation community, the education community, the hobby community, the book club community, the student requiring a space community - and I use the word community instead of individual as there are many and often the come together in the library or network through the library.  But I suppose we could just call them the public library community!

I will be interested to read/learn more about how @geocachinglibn feels the health library he is now working in builds community.  But there are other's that follow my blog that already work in health libraries and they may be able to discuss this as well.  The floor is open to you.....

Today was a good day in the library.  I had a query for an item that turned out to be not what it was first thought to be.  I love it when I have to do a bit of sleuthing to work out just what the customer is wanting - especially when only provided with a snippet of information.  I miss using these skills as the role I am currently in calls for more people massaging (management) then the fun "using library skills" stuff!

This morning was also fun.  I ran 21km with my running friends.  We left at around 5am in the dark and went out along one of the road that passes a few dairy farms.  Unfortunately, for us we had some rain last night which caused parts of the road to be slippery with mud and cow poo.  It was a case of yelling out "puddle" "pot hole" "mud" "cow" - yes cow!!  A cow was outside the paddock and due to the lack of light it was a bit of a shock to look up from concentrating on the ground so as not to fall over and see a huge beast in front of you.  I think the cow was more scared of us - as you would be with numerous bobbing head lamps coming towards you looking somewhat like UFO's - and ran off to find the gap in the fence and return to the safety of the paddock.

You can feel sore tomorrow or you can feel sorry tomorrow. You choose. #blogjune #2

Today's mantra: You can feel sore tomorrow or you can feel sorry tomorrow.  You choose.

It is your choice to complete the task, to make the change, or to do a killer run and feel sore, tired, exhausted.  Or you can not do any of them and feel only regret!

Today I procrastinated a lot.  The library was closed and I usually use that time to catch up on a lot of work I can't do when we are open and I'm constantly being interrupted.

Funnily enough, there were a number of interruptions today - air-conditioner maintenance people turned up; council staff dropping things off or ringing me up; customers ringing up to renew items (yes I answer the phone just in case someone is actually trying to find me); other libraries ringing to check if we have such and such book - so the list goes on.

I did manage to get one exciting thing done today - I registered for the upcoming NSW Public Libraries Conference.  This year it will be in Mudgee, NSW in November.  Another town I have never been too and another exciting networking/professional development event to look forward to.

I also booked my accommodation at the Mudgee Riverside Caravan and Tourist Park.  I booked a cabin as I found when I recently visited Nundle, staying in a cabin in the local caravan park can be just as comfortable as staying in a motel.  And it gives you a bit extra room around you so that you don't feel cramped.  Basically it means I can make more of a mess.  I don't know if anyone else finds that their suitcase contents becomes scattered all over the hotel/motel room when they stay over.  But mine certainly does.  So now I can have a whole cabin full of mess!!

I then got a bit distracted and started looking at possible running routes and places that I could check out during my early morning runs.  Also checked out the local sporting fields and ovals to see if there are places for me to do my makeshift boot camp.  Yes I have my priorities right.  Closer to the date I will get onto my FB running pages and ask if there are any local Mudgee runners who might like some company while I'm there or to show me the best running routes.  I love being connected to other runners and we are such great bunches of people that it doesn't matter if you don't know each other, you will run together and find stuff to talk about - mainly pace, fuel, different races etc.

Talking about running - my lunch time run today was a bit of a killer.  I had heavy legs and was really struggling with the hills - but I felt sore rather than sorry!!  And since I did manage to tick 2 things off my "to do" list today - I will say I ended the day not feeling sorry!!

Did you make the choice to day to feel sore or sorry?!?

It's not the number of reps I do, it's the quality #blogjune #1

I'm back!!  Yes it's that time of year again where I commit to writing something on my blog for all of June.

To get me motivated this time, I'm using some daily mantra's I'm stealing from Women's Fitness magazine, the first being: It's not the number of reps I do, it's the quality.

While that quote is related to working out, it can also be related to many other things, basically it's not the quantity it's the quality!  We only get one life so let's make sure it's a quality one!!!

It can also relate back to libraries - it's not how many books/items you have in the collection, it's the quality of what you have!  It's not the size of the library, it's the quality of what's inside!

Recently, well about 2 weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend the Public Libraries NSW Association North East Zone meeting at Nundle, NSW.

Nundle recently had a new library built.  Nundle Library is part of Central Northern Regional Library service.  Like a few small libraries I've visited in recent years (Guyra comes to mind), it is built within the council administration building.  This allows the library to be open even when library staff are not available.  You see, Nundle library has a self check out kiosk that can be used when library staff are not working.  And if they need any assistance, council customer service staff are trained in the basics to assist.  Now isn't this a great idea for those smaller council areas that don't have the financial resources to have long opening hours!

I shared some photos of Nundle library on my facebook page (note only my friends can see them but if you aren't my friend, send me a request).

Nundle is a beautiful town just North of Tamworth, NSW.  I love driving out this way because the landscape is beautiful and while the drive is long (approximately 4 hours), it is no way boring.  Driving through Dorrigo, Uralla, and Armidale is never boring.  I am so thankful that my job allows me to see such places.

While at Nundle library, Central Northern Regional Library staff gave us a brief demonstration of a 3D Printer.  They have purchased a small one which they plan on taking around to all of their branches and providing library users with demonstrations and hands on experience with this relatively new technology.

I am still in mixed minds over whether this technology would be embraced in my library's communities, and it was interesting as some of the councillor's that accompany the library staff who attend these meetings also asked whether it really is the library's place to spend huge amounts on technology when it could be spent on more relevant resources.

I suppose this rings true with libraries constantly battling for extra funds, but does technology like 3D printers open the door for some money making opportunities???

The other fun thing that happened at Nundle, was some fellow librarians participated in geocaching.  Now fellow #blogjune (well I hope he is this year), Andrew at Geocaching Librarian, has composed a number of posts about geocaching so I was familiar with it.  But I had to laugh while I was out running in the early morning cold, I noted that some fellow librarians taking a lot of interest in an old piece of machinery by the river that runs through Nundle.  Later I asked if they were trying to work out what the machinery was and they said that they were in fact looking for a geocaching item.

After a hearty breakfast they continued on their hunt for the various geocaching items left around Nundle.  This may be something I look into further and make it a family activity.

On the third day of Christmas....

I did amateur bootcamp with a fellow bootcamp attendee in the absence of our "real" bootcamp leader and learnt a bit of yoga in the process; did two loads of washing; took Miss A to the park (you see a trend here); watched some trashy TV; went for an afternoon walk and caught up with a friend; and am now typing this post.

A month ago, I attended the SWITCH Public Libraries NSW Metropolitan conference in Sydney.  As usual, it was a very good conference with lots of interesting things shared and ideas gained.

The focus on the conference was community and partnerships.  Thank you to Robert Leckie for capturing the tweets from the conference via storify.

There were two main things that I took back from the conference.  The first was from Steve Coffman - Library Systems & Services, USA.  Steven spoke about reinventing libraries.  He mentioned that there are moves towards a bookless library but thought this was a bit pointless because if a person wants a book, they can now access it from home via Amazon and the likes. But he questions, if we move away from physical books, what makes us different?

Steven encourages a focus on printed books, as the leverage for clients.  We should focus on books as it is our brand. As libraries try to reinvent we need to be aware of what makes us special, print books, the demand is still high.  We need to celebrate what we do and what we are. Stop apologising for what we do.  We should focus on discovery.   If they can't find the book they need in the library we need to let them know there are other ways they can access it.  We need to be good at readers advisory.

However, I am still interested in the journey of some libraries that have made the move to offering things like maker spaces, and as such, will be following Shewgirl's progress with her upcoming conference paper on maker spaces/hacker spaces.

For me, it all comes back to what your community wants/needs.  But on the other hand, they may not know they want/need it until it is offered!!

The other thing that I took with me is something most of us are aware of - Achievement and success depends a lot on who you know.  But Meredith Wallace from Rockdale City Council also had some great ideas of how libraries can get in the face of their council colleague and why it is important that we do so.

Look at your council plans and find the bits where you can use your skills and expertise can be used beyond your library.  Be visible in your organisation beyond the walls of the library.  Step outside of the stereotype. Go beyond offering a venue. Celebrate more than what's on the library calendar.  Get on tender panels- shows consideration for hard financial issues faced by Council. Be seen within your organisation. Think what you can present to senior managers and Council. Persevere, look for angles.

So what ideas do you have for being visible in your organisation?  I posted a bit about Embedded Librarianship back in #blogJune.  And must admit that I haven't got any further.  I'm open to ideas.

And finally, I have to share this wonderful and inspirational presentation by Paula Pfoeffer from City of Canterbury Libraries about what they have done working with the youth of Lakemba.  Make sure you check out this clip.

What did you do on the third day of Christmas?

#blogjune Post 20 - Embedded Librarianship in Public Libraries

This morning I read this post - Embedded Librarianship - Not as Painful as it Sounds by @GeocachingLibn.

While the post refers more to Embedded Librarianship in academic libraries - which seems to be discussed a lot - what about Embedded Librarianship in public libraries.

The Embedded Librarian recently posted about Embedded Librarianship across all sectors, including public libraries - The Embedded Model, the Future of Librarianship and What to Do at Work Tomorrow!

In their post, they explained how they see Embedded Librarianship as being part of a team with an Embedded Librarian being one whom:

• develops strong working relationships with members of a team or community;
• achieves mutual understanding with the team, which means that the librarian understands the team's goals and operations, and the team understands the librarian's role and value;
• shares responsibility for achieving the team's goals;
• and makes customised, highly-valued contributions to the team;

And, in short is a member of the team like any other, just with a unique set of skills - the information and knowledge expert on the team.

I believe a librarian working in a public library can be an Embedded Librarian.

Think for a minute about the Council you work for.  How can you become an Embedded Librarian within that Council?  What can you offer the Council team(s)?  How can you project your unique set of skills to the Council team(s)?

I think if more public librarians did this for their Council's then our profession would receive greater recognition rather than being the service to the community that has no economic value.  Just note that I know there is research that shows our economic value but not all Council staff/community members believe that, especially when that economic value isn't visable in the Council budget.

However, the Embedded Librarian also notes that there are differences between Embedded Librarianship and Traditional Librarianship:

1. Embedded Librarianship focuses on relationships not transactions;
2. The embedded model requires the librarian to specialise, not try to be all things to all people;
3. The Embedded Librarian is out of the library and fully engaged with other employees and groups of the enterprise;
4. Embedded Librarians aren't just service providers;
5. Traditional Librarianship has become a commodity.  Embedded Librarianship finds new value in new roles.

So based on this brief overview, can Embedded Librarianship work in public libraries?

I think it can to a certain extent, depending on the size of the library and number of resources available.  I think public librarians have to focus on what they can offer to their Council team(s), but also focus on what they can offer to other community organisations and move out from the library.  I think this is more than outreach services.

What do you think?  I'm certainly going to ponder this a bit more and may even post about it again, once I gather more thoughts together.  But I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this topic.

Blog12daysxmas Post 11 - We are one, are we not?!

Today's Destiny Card is Harmony.

The combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions with a pleasing effect. The study or composition of musical harmony.

Synonyms concord - accord - unison - agreement - unity I'm actually at a loss of what to post.  In fact, something I read this morning has upset me but as most of those discussing it think it is not worth wasting the energy to respond to it, I'm reluctant to post about it. But at the same time, I'm a bit disgusted that in the LIS profession that something like this has been allowed to be published. I will share: Annoyed Librarian: Do Public Librarians Have Any Standards? How do you feel after reading that post? I mean in the Australian Library and Information Associations journal Incite, there was the Library Provocateur that had a column back in 2010 called On the Edge.  But there was never anything as degrading to the profession as what has been published on the Library Journal site. While our profession is made up of many different industries - public, education, health, etc - I feel that as a profession we are all about unity.  When it comes to fighting for our fellow library professionals whose jobs may be at risk, we all come together to fight the fight.  We don't criticise each other - well not in public anyway 8-)  Which is why I'm a bit stumped as to why Library Journal published this post. I don't particularly like being referred to as a "professional entertainer" and regarded with looking after a persons entertainment not education.  Well my belief is that public libraries are all about lifelong learning and that can include recreation/entertainment because even if it is not considered "education" you are still learning something when participating in recreational/entertainment pursuits. Anyway, this is just making me all worked up - which is probably the author of that posts whole goal. But I am interested in other's thoughts on this.

Blog December Post 6 - Tomorrow's Library

The future library trend continues into today's post as Victoria releases stage 1 of the Tomorrow's Library report.

The key finds state:

The environment in which public libraries operate is changing rapidly. It is challenging for public library services to keep pace with changes in technology and the phasing out of obsolescent technology. Identifying emerging trends and changes can be difficult, as is anticipating the impact on library usage, particularly for smaller services. There is an ad hoc approach to implementing new services. For example, some public libraries are providing commercially acquired ebooks while others are not.

The future of public library services is set to be exciting and innovative. To ensure public libraries remain valued and treasured public institutions, they must continue to adapt and evolve. At the same time, public libraries must continue to deliver high-quality services that meet the needs of their communities. It is important that public libraries position themselves to adequately embrace and meet the challenges of the future. 

The MAC concluded that the public library sector needs to increase collaboration and take a unified, strategic approach if it is to effectively adapt to the future and remain relevant in a globalised, digital world.

The statewide initiatives and responsibilities include:

·      Increase accessibility to a quality statewide collection developed and owned by local government.

·      Establish a statewide languages other than English (LOTE) collection.

·      Improve access to the statewide interlibrary loan service.

·      Expand the statewide courier system to more efficiently deliver interlibrary loan requests.

·      Develop a common platform for digital material consisting of two parts: access to downloadable ebooks and eresources and digitised local history and heritage material.

·      Establish a single library management system.

·      Investigate best value collection procurement options.

·      Establish common processing and cataloguing practices.

·      Deliver shelf-ready material directly to branches.

·      Install RFID readers at all public library services and tag all items in the statewide collection.

·      Develop one library card with local branding.

·      Develop a single discovery layer and integrated content management system.

·      Develop a Victorian Library app.

·      Establish a Victorian Library social media presence.

·      Investigate central procurement options for hardware (computers, tablets, eresources) and other services.

They also go on to talk about a statewide marketing approach.

These are all great ideas and I am wondering if other states will follow and do a review/report on their library services.

Blog December Day 3 - The best library is an empty one

Ok so some of you are probably thinking I have lost the plot after reading the title of this blog post.  I assure you I haven't but I am wondering if by the end of my post you will agree with that statement.

Anyway, I was umming and aaahhing about what to blog about this morning, so I thought, since it's coming up to Christmas, often it means that libraries start to slow down.  Ok, not public libraries as they start to offer school holiday programs, but I do remember my days in an academic library and Christmas was always a time to tidy things up or shift things around.  Mainly because there was less students around so less disruption to them.

Where I work, all the branches are closed on Monday's.  I don't want it to be this way but it is so I work with it.  My other staff do not work Monday's but I do (although the public always tell me that it is so good that I get Monday's off - I do try to correct them but they think that there is no work to do in a library when it is closed).  So this is what brings me to - the best library is an empty one.

For me Monday's are my catch up day.  I can plough through my "to do" list in record time without interuptions.  I can fix any public computer problems because I'm not disturbing anyone.  I can weed collections without having anyone look over my shoulder.  But best of all I can have quiet time!!

Some may question that working in a library should be pretty quiet anyway.  Those working in public libraries will understand that this is not the case.  While we don't let noise get to a disruptive level, there is always the quiet chatter, the tapping of keyboard keys, the hum of staff talking to library users.  So on Monday's there is none of that.  There is also no interuptions!!

So on Monday's I allow myself the thought of the best library is an empty one!!  But of course, on every other day the best library is a full one!!

Blog December Day 1

As a personal challenge I am going to try to blog every day of December.  This will be a challenge as my parents are coming up this week so perhaps I will miss a couple of days but hopefully I will have a bit of time in the day to do some reflection.

I don't reflect enough so blogging will force me to reflect.

To kick off, on Thursday I attended the Public Libraries NSW North East Zone meeting in Taree.  It is the last time the librarians and councillors who attend the meeting get to catch up for 2012 and the first time for some of the new councillors who were elected in September to actually meet.

I will discuss the meeting in more depth in a later blog post.

My two councillors were unable to attend so I travelled down with our new Information Services and Collections Librarian.  We decided that we would do a library road trip on our way back on Friday.

So while this post will be short and sweet - I will share with you some photos I took of some of the libraries we visited.

Our first library was Great Lakes Library - Forster branch.  I didn't take any photos here because I have visited this branch before and must upload the photos from this visit at some point.  So I will share later.

Next we went to Harrington Library.  It is 4 years old and located within the towns new shopping centre car park.

Then on to Wauchope Library.

Both libraries were small branches but I find visiting smaller branches very worth while as my branches are small and I can get some great ideas that I can implement in my libraries.

It is worth noting that when I visit libraries, I first go to the customer service desk and introduce myself and ask if I can take photos.  Most times I encounter a proud and enthusiastic library staff member that is happy to provide a tour and answer questions.

Sometimes I have visited a library where staff have not been very helpful.  I sometimes drop a note to the library manager (especially if I know them) and make them aware that my encounter was not a friendly one.

I'm sure other library staff do this too - well I would hope that if someone visited my branch libraries they would let me know if the customer service was not up to scratch.

What are your thoughts on this?  Would you contact a manager about customer service or would you let it slide?

Sorry this post is a bit rushed but Saturday mornings means chores and I have lot to do with the parents visiting this week.  More later!!

PLNSW Imagine Conference Final Thoughts - I Promise!

On the way to the conference, my colleague and I visited 3 libraries:

1. Port Macquarie Library
2. Laurieton Library
3. Raymond Terrace Library

And on the way home we visited Tomaree Library and Community Centre, and Tea Gardens Library.  I took heaps of photos but am yet to load them to Picasa.  Once I have, I will share them on this blog.

The library visits were great.  It is always exciting visiting libraries and getting ideas to take back to your own branches - well I think so.

 The conference was well worth attending.  The theme of reading brought me back to our roots - well what I believe a library's roots to be.  Although, Marcus Bauber did get us thinking more about the role a librar has of developing wisdom.  The bottom line, I think, is that we are about reading - be it for gaining information or for leisure, it is what we provide.

I think sometimes we get lost trying to be too many things for our community.  I do believe we have a roll to play in providing access to and instruction on how to use new technology.  I really think we have to focus on what new technology we are going to be good at - what new technology our community will be wanting to use.  Because that is what it comes down to - what our community wants and sometimes I think we all get carried away focusing on what we want.

What I would love to see at a conference is more of someone telling us what we are doing wrong.  It's great to have speakers from outside our industry but often they spend all the time tellings us how good we are.  I don't really want to hear that - although it is nice.  I want to hear where we are going wrong and how we can change that to going right!

Having a chance to talk to the trade exhibitors is also a great thing at a conference but I felt rushed.  I love that many conferences I have attended have the exhibitor passbook to get stamped to go into the draw to win prizes - it does get delegates out there visiting the trade.  But it also gets delegates to the trade without having any questions to ask other than "please stamp my book."

In a past life I was involved in a conference committee and I realised then the importance of making the trade feel that it has been worth while attending the conference.  I don't think they want delegates just asking to stamp a book and then running off.  They want to have a conversation about their products - what's new, what's working, what isn't working.

While some delegates believe that they shouldn't talk to trade because they don't make purchasing decisions - they are often the end users of the product or the one's showing our users how to use the product.  Therefore, they are the most important person, apart from our users, that can talk to the trade about any issues we might be having at the end user end.  They are also the staff member who is hearing what our users want.  So again, they should be talking to the trade about those things!!

On a social note, I have found that the last few conferences I have been sticking to the people I know - which is very unlike me but I think I'm going through a few confidence issues at present, and really have been since moving to a different state.  So I don't feel as outgoing as I used to be and as confident to go up to people I don't know and introduce myself.  It's something I will be working on at future conferences.

The venue was excellent - who can complain about staying at a resort.  The costs of registration and accommodation was very economical.  I would have loved more time to explore the area but it did get me out and about at early hours of the morning to take it all in.

Well that should be all the PLNSW conference blog posts I have.  Till the next blog challenge or till the urge hits me again...

Public Libraries NSW Imagine Conference Part 4

Day 2 started with a bookcamp facilitated by Angela Meyer.  The broad theme was Booking into the future: transforming and supporting storytelling with new media.  Angela asked for some members of the audience to come up and help assist the conversation along it's way so the first part of the conversation focused on the never-ending story engaging readers + the power of story.

How do we get current and future readers into the library?  Some ideas included the Bookstart program (from memory this was where a bag of books and library information is provided to new mothers).  Offer a variety of events to cater for all ages.  Does it matter if the person doesn't enter the library but uses it virtually?  Getting people into the library is getting people using library resources and tools, wherever they are.  Some libraries used local bands to draw the young people in by having Live and Loud sessions.

The conversation then moved on to print vs digital.  Libraries should be role models for using new technologies.  We should offer technology petting zoos.  Library staff should have a wide range of digital skills.  Some libraries use volunteers who are technologically savvy to assist library users to use technology.  Library staff should be open to trying, learning and providing opportunities to our communities.  Some libraries have trouble convincing coucil of the importance in having new technology and being able to access it.  We should not forget our core business but the shelf is now also digital.

Does digital change the way we read?  An e-device makes it easier to read titles that the reader may be embarassed to be seen reading e.g. 50 Shades of Grey.  Reading in the digital world is rewiring our brains to how we read and we do more skimming over text.  eReading great for home library service as you can adjust the text size.  And then there are the digital reading groups like the Twitter reading group.

The topic then moved onto trends and constants.  We do have transient genre and must know what our community wants and will read.  How do we predict a trend?  eBooks make supply of popular books easier.  Libraries need to be aware of male readership and cater to their interests as well as those of others.  We must have a balanced collection.

And finally library users as content creators.  Must have qualitative assessment of what you are getting in content creation from your community.  And how do libraries integrate econtent into their collections?

And once more my blogging has been cut short as I have to go to work - more from day 2 tomorrow. 

Public Libraries NSW Imagine Conference Part 3

Following on from Sophie Cunningham was the best practice sessions.  I chose to attend People of the Book with Chris Jones, manager of Great Lakes Library.  Chris shared how his library had created their book club sets collection.  The collection started via Chris's own book club donating copies of books to the library once they had read them.  They now have a collection of around 102 sets with 31 registered book clubs.  Each book club that registers with the library has to purchase one book club set for the library each year.  This is very similar to how other libraries have been doing it.

Chris said the greatest challenge has been the success of the program and how to manage storing the collections.  To generate interest, put the collection/kits on display and offer annual book club events.

Chris was kind enough to donate some sets to our library to start us of.  We have since purchased more sets - I think we now have about 20 and we will soon launch the collection and start registering book clubs.

The last session of day 1 was a very interesting panel session discussing indigenous voices in literature.  Panel members were Dr Anita Heiss, Nicole Watson and Dr Brooke Collins-Gearing.  All panel members agreed that they are writing Aboriginality to educate the non-indigenous.  And the process of writing has allowed them to follow a journey to their identity.  It was a very interesting session and they did suggest webpages to find lists of good indigenous titles to have in your library but my tablet battery went flat so I didn't catch them.

Nicole Watson is a Brisbane girl and she mentioned something interesting which I didn't know about and am wondering if it is fact or fiction.  She said that there are a number of Boundary Roads in Brisbane and apparently if you are aboriginal you can not cross a Boundary Road as you will be killed.  Can anyone out there verify this for me or has heard of this before?  She also described Brisbane as a city of addiction to construction.  This prompted me to think of tunnels!!

I have once again run out of time so will post thoughts about day 2 tomorrow.

Public Libraries NSW Imagine Conference Part 2

Richard Glover shared his love of reading along with some funny stories.  Noteworthy quotes include: every book has a friend it wants to introduce you to; reading is a trapdoor to escape through; literacy is the engine to social change.
Rev Tim Costello spoke about reading for justice.  He spoke about how literacy is important for both the rich and the poor and how literacy benefits not just the individual but the whole community.  He highlighted the importance of the Millenium Development Goals - which to tell you the truth, I had never heard of - and that libraries have a role to play by having them on display in their walls and highlighting how these goals are being achieved.  And what stood out: it's the little things that are the measure of you.

Judith Parke then shared the achievements of the UK's National Year of Reading in 2008.  We need to engage in reading across a range of formats.  I was saddened to learn that some children were reprimanded for inappropriate reading, i.e. for fun.  The UK was clever enough to do a literacy review prior to NYR2008 so that they could measure the impact.  It is a shame that Australia didn't have the funding to do the same.  She spoke about an excellent program called the Haven Holiday Park partnership.   Where families go to a holiday park for holidays and each family was provided with a get a pre-holiday reading pack with a free audio book, a reading welcome pack in their chalet, plus reading activities on site run by Haven staff.  Overall, the UK offered lots of great programs it is a shame that Australia did not get the same funding support for it's NYR program.

I'll take a break and talk about the excellent catering provided at the conference and the novelty of a "take-away" lunch.  Due to the conference venue being located across the road from the beautiful Shoal Bay, it was an excellent idea to offer delegates the opportunity to take their lunch (from a buffet choice) in take away containers so they could sit across the road.

The photo above shoes some delegates eating lunch on the stairs down to the bay.  Lovely!!

Also, Port Stephens and Gosford Councils had their mobile libraries parked outside so that delegates could view them during the lunch break.  Another excellent idea!!

After lunch, Sophie Cunningham spoke about the future of reading, writing and publishing in the digital world.  She told us that the publishers knew that ebooks were coming and did nothing to prepare themselves.  Like libraries, publishers should of been proactive.  She warned us that publishers and libraries rely on readers but sometimes keep them at arms length and that all of us can learn from Amazon and how they successfully interact with their customers.  We should not engage with social media for the pure purpose of advertising - it needs to be an interaction with our customers.  She then shared the article that I wrote about in a previous blog post - Your ebook is reading you.  ebook or print - libraries should just concentrate on making good books available as that is what we are about.

Time has run out for me yet again so I will continue this post tomorrow.

Public Libraries NSW Imagine Conference Part 1

I promised I would do a post about the conference and I really need to force myself to reflect somewhere other than just in my head. The problem is that my tweeting was my note taking. Now it is hard to access my tweets as they are in the past and Twitter has issues when you keep trying to go back in time because it's about the "now." And since my laptop is so old I was unable to try to capture tweets using Storify - I say "try" because I've never done it before. Anyway, I will do my best.

In a nutshell, the conference was pretty much all about reading. Which since it is the National Year of Reading, it was timely to be discussing reading.

Dr Alex Byrne (State Librarian and Chief Executive of State Library of NSW) kicked off the conference with a keynote titled Imagine a 21st Century Public Library Network for NSW.  Alex started his talk commenting about the State Library's role of providing memory of past, and collecting new memories for the future.  He spoke of how they have been successful in gaining some grants/funding to focus on digitisation and how SLNSW has a role in capturing informal content such as blogs, emails, tweets etc and the challenges faced in doing this.

The talk then moved on to SLNSW relationship with public libraries in NSW.  He asked us to think about how we can reach more people.  Public libraries in NSW currently have 46% of the population as members of a public library.  He said our network is bigger than McDonalds and that for every $1 spent on public libraries it equals $4.24 in economic benefit - see more about that here at Enriching communities.  He felt that for us to push the importance of public libraries, Public Libraries NSW Association, Public Libraries NSW Metropolitian and the State Library have to work together as one voice.

He pushed Local Governments to invest more than the current $1.85 per person in public libraries and public library staff have to better communicate the role of the public library to the community.  He recognised that LGA's cannot provide public library services alone and that statewide access to resources is important.  This is where the talk got interesting as Alex discussed that a public library network should not only be local it should be state, national and international.  And perhaps the one card one library is not that far away.  See my previous blog post on this dream of mine.

We must speak with one voice and work in unison.

Well here I was thinking that I would get through more than one speaker in this post but due to time restraints I've barely touched on the conference.

I'll be back with more thoughts from the Public Libraries NSW conference.

Blog June Post 22 - Revisit and Ideas

Today I have no idea what to blog about - so I thought I would allow my readers to do a trip down memory lane and have a read of another blog I had back when I was doing my Dunn and Wilson Scholarship on secondments.

This blog is rather special to me - especially after I revisited it a few weeks ago.  Revisiting it made me realise that yes, there was a time I could write semi professionally and research, and it also recorded a wonderful moment in my life - the birth of my baby girl!!  Another interesting thing is that it spans over 3 years - which I think is a long time to be writing about something.

I would love to revisit secondments and in fact, a colleague (not the same workplace) and I threw around the idea of a job swap with some of our metropolitian counterparts last year at the SWITCH conference.  We both work in regional and rural libraries - her library is a tad more rural than mine - and thought it would be a great idea to spend a week - a month in a city public library and allow the city public library manager to spend a week - a month in our libraries.  Just to explore the similarities and differences.

While I have worked in both city and country libraries, I still feel this experience would provide a more realistic comparison because you are doing it for the now and you are doing it as an exercise.  When I was working in a city library I wasn't thinking about the tasks and the differences to a country library because I had yet to work in one.  And now I'm in a country library, while I do make comparisons it is not something I am purposely doing to "research" it.  Does that make sense?

Anyway, life gets in the way of these ideas - how would you fund it?  Where would you stay?  Would you house swap too?  What would your family do? etc etc etc.  But we have not yet let go of the idea - I suppose we are both waiting for the best time.

Blog June Post 15 - It's days like this....

You need patience and more technical skills then you have.

Yesterday afternoon tested me in a lot of ways.  Yesterday morning was peaceful and there was not much traffic in the Urunga branch library - mainly due to the rareness of a sunny day.

So when I went to open a link from an email sent via one of my professional email lists to see what seniors were doing with iPads - I was surprised when the screen screamed (silently) at me that there was a virus and what did I want to do with it - so I put it in the "vault."  Then the computer went stupid - pages after pages opened and wouldn't stop - EEEEKKKK!!!

So I did the sensible thing - I clicked on the scan and repair button.  So it scanned and then found some serious hard drive errors - EEEEEKKKK!!!  So I hit repair to which it asked for an activiation code - WHAT ACTIVATION CODE??!!  At this point I phoned our ever trusty IT officer.  BTW - we don't have an activiation code for that software.

Considering my trusty IT officer had had a challenging day he thought it would be good to escape to the seaside so quickly suggested he'd come and take a look.

So the bad news is yes there is a hard drive issue and it has wiped all the programs off the computer.  Good news is that it may still be salvagable and we have another staff computer for circ.  Bad news is that I then had to set up email on the other computer as well as try to get it to act like the main print server. FAIL!!  I tried various things.  I managed to get the slip printer to work - YAY!  I managed to get the drivers in for the printer/copier machine - YAY!  But could I get the public machines to talk to the printer/copier?? FAIL!!!

So this morning I will walk into the branch feeling a little bit defeated and I will start the day in a frustrating position of trying to get something to work.  Hey, I managed to work it out in Dorrigo but do you think I can remember what I did??  NO!!  You know when you just fiddle around until you get something to work but then you can't remember what you did?  Well that's what I did in Dorrigo!!

On a side note, I have asked our IT officer that perhaps it would be a good idea to use the rest of my equipment budget to purchase some spare hard drives as I think a trend is happening.  All of the computers were purchased at the same time and they are coming up to 4 years old.  Two hard drives have already decided they have worked too hard - it is only a question of WHEN not IF that more hard drives on our library computers will fail!!

A bit off topic but I'm about to venture into a task that I have never done before.  I have the appropriate training and qualifications to do it but I have never acted on it.  So I'm feeling a lot of self doubt but I'm going to have a go.  You may hear more about it in coming posts - depending when it all begins to happen.  But the important message here (and probably relates to what I have written about above) is that you should always HAVE A GO!!   And perhaps a couple pack of minties wouldn't go astray to stop you screaming and scaring the customers!!

Blog June Post 13 - Outreach with One Hand

Outreach has been a thing on my mind since I started working here in 2008.  Due to our limited staffing it is something that is not done to it's full extent.  When I think of outreach I think of school visits, home library service, giving talks to local community services/groups, having a stall at the monthly markets, getting the library to places that have access issues.  I'm sure there is more to outreach than just these things I have listed, but this is what comes to my mind when I think about.

Home library service (HLS) is something that has now been raised at an executive level - i.e. it got a mention in the organisational restructure report.  Volunteers was mentioned as a solution to delivering this service.  I do believe that perhaps people lack an understanding of what is involved in HLS and yes volunteers can be used but can't be used alone.

In our branches we already do some HLS.  We provide resources to two nursing homes and a ward of the local hospital (long stay ward).  We also provide resources to Neighbour Aid who then deliver - actually they are really good because the reserve their own resources so we compile them and have them ready for pick up.

I recently put it out there to the HLS list - since we now have been provided with statewide marketing resources, should I just put it out there as a service we now offer with no idea of how many people will take us up on the offer and no idea how we will manage staff resources to do it.  Or do I estimate how many people may take up the offer and estimate how much staff time it will take and then recruit some volunteers.  Of course, I have to get some systems, processes and procedures in place first.

Our Northern branches (of our regional library service) have been lucky enough to secure a HLS assistant position.  I do plan on working with this person to look at how it works in the Northern branches, and of course, borrow as many processes, forms, procedures etc as possible to implement in our service.  But my biggest issue is with the limited staffing I have now - how can I make this work?

I am even having problems finding the time to sit down and have some thought into how this will work and at least get some processes/procedures/timeframes etc in place to get us started.

So that is HLS - as for the other ideas of outreach that I listed in the beginning - well I do some of these in a adhoc way.  In the beginning, school visits was very much a head banging wall experience.  I have now managed to visit or have the school visit us with 6 out of 11 schools.  It has often been the good intention of the school librarian to organise these visits but then to have teachers or other reasons result in them not going ahead.  For school visits I try to remain as flexible as possible - you did catch on that I said "I."  Because "I" am the only one who plans, organises and then executes these visits.  So I allow the school to let me know a date/time etc that suits and I organise my workload/roster around this.

Talks to local community groups have also been adhoc.  So far I have spoken with the Urunga Probus club and the Bellingen Rotary Club.  I would love to do this more with other groups but it is knowing what groups are out there and how you get on their radar.

The stall at the market idea is one I've had for ever.  I'm still nutting out what it is I want to achieve out of it - obviously more membership would be good.  How I would set up access to the library's website from the stall - because you want to show people what we offer.  And what brochures etc would I have available.  Plus the weather here is very unpredictable - ok well it usually is more rain then sun at the moment - so how would I organise cover etc.  So I'm still in brainstorming mode about that.  Then it would also be "me" being at the stall from 8am (or earlier) to 2pm.  A long stint for anyone.  Limited funding would mean it would be a volunteer time thing rather than a paid stint.  Which I don't mind.

Getting the library to places where people don't have access - well there is one small town in our LGA that has set up an informal library which I heard about through the grapevine.  They donate their own stock and open at particular times of the week and people can take what they want.  I am thinking this town needs some sort of bulk loan or deposit box or maybe a library staff member to come out once a month with a car full of stock and be available at certain times for people to come in and borrow library stock.  Of course, I will have to consult with the community first to see if this is what they want.  And I would be very interested to hear about other libraries that already offer something like this and how they do it.

So there are my outreach ideas.  And while I'd love to be doing it with both hands - at the moment I'm doing it with one.

Blog June Post 8 - buildings, collections, ponderings

I'm struggling this morning about what to write about.  I'm working from Urunga branch today so I only have to walk down the road and I'm at work.  I sometimes wish it was like that everyday.  However, because Bellingen branch building is only 4 years old, I have to say I enjoy working in a new building.

Out of the three library branches I manage, Urunga is the oldest.  It desperately needs new carpet and some sort of face lift - perhaps a paint job as internally there is a lot of dark wood and tinted windows.  Unfortunately, funds are tight and there is not enough for new carpet.  So each year, since I've been here (coming up to my 4th), I use some of the equipment budget to purchase some new furniture that will lift the library.

So far I've purchase a new lounge, a large colourful mat for the children's area, a colourful activity table for the children's area and a large display pyramid.

We have a number of new collections coming to the branches over the next few months.  So I have warned my staff that we have to find room for these collections, as well as make room for our continually growing collections.

Already, our fiction shelves in all three branches are full - that is adult, junior and YA.  I have been desperately trying to weed when I can, but when there is only one person weeding three branches, you can understand that it is hard to make a dent.

The new collections are DVD's (yes we are only now having a DVD collection - long story) and HSC books - e.g. Excel guides.  Bellingen already has the DVD collection but we are going to start populating our smaller branches now.  That said, Bellingen is already starting to run out of room.  We also received the beginning of our HSC collection this week.  Yesterday I madly did some shelf shuffling and fit the collection on the end of the non-fiction collection - but this is temporary as I want it in a more prominent space.

Temporarily I would like to see the branches use the paper back spinners as a possible location for the DVD's.  Currently the paper back spinners have uncatalogued paper backs on them.  I do have an issue with having uncatalogued items in the library but at the same time, our area is a tourist destination so you often have people come into the library and want to take books without the worry of having to return them.  We do offer free reciprocal membership but as I said, they don't want to worry about returning them.  They are quite popular and we manually count them for statistics but it frustrates me that we aren't gaining these possible new memberships and we are relying on staff to see people walk out with the paper backs as not all people come to the desk to tell us they have taken some.

Does anyone know of other public libraries that have uncatalogued paper backs?  I know it is common up and down the New South Wales coast.

Grafton HQ has some older shelving available.  So I will be purchasing some of the shelving from them.  I am unsure how I will get it from Grafton to Bellingen/Dorrigo/Urunga but I imagine that I will have to take a work ute and do it myself.  I'm going to get a few shelves for Bellingen too, although it will mean we mix new shelves with old but I can put them in positions where it won't make it too obvious.  And in reality it will probably only bother me because our users don't really care as long as there are lots of books available!

That brings me to another ponder.  I remember back to my days working in a university library that was in a building with a number of levels.  On the entry level we had reduced our reference collection dramatically so it was really a few bays of reference, lots of seating areas and a 24 hour computer room, circulation desk and information desk.

I remember one day a student walked over to the information desk and asked where all the books had gone.  I said that there were two levels above us with books.  He replied saying that previously all levels had been full of books and where was his student fees being spent if we weren't spending them on books.  I did say that we also had a number of electronic resources.  But he got very disgruntled as he wanted the physical and he wanted the library to be full of physical books.  He was quite young too.

Now back to a more recent thing of when we relocated the Bellingen branch from the old building to the new.  The old building was very small and cramped so it was pack full of shelves and books.  We did weed a few items during the move but not a lot.  But the new building was three times the space of the old building so the collection spread out and there was lots of space and seating areas.  For months after the move heaps of users commented on where had all the books gone.  To which I replied that there was the same number of books they had just been spread out.  They would not believe me.  They felt that the only good library was one overflowing with books -- regardless of the age or condition of them.

So when we all move to ebooks (if that ever happens) - will we still have people asking where are all the books??!!  Will they devalue our library when they can't see the physical??  Will there be any point in having buildings??

Blog June Post 7 - Dismantling the Stack

So yesterday I was once again in Grafton at HQ.  I'm really over driving and am so glad that my commute is only 15mins each way and not an hour and half to two hours.

Anyway, my reason for being at HQ yesterday was to dismantle our stack collection.  You see our library service is made up of three councils and as from 30 June one of those member councils is leaving us.  Therefore, we have to ensure that the member council leaving us gets 23% of all collections - including stack.

What is stack?  Our stack collection is made up of fiction and non-fiction items that are so old but also so useful/valuable that instead of leaving them on the browsing shelves in the branches, they are housed in stack in HQ.  Library users can still access them via reservations.

So the process we followed is that we allowed the two staff from the leaving member council to go through stack and choose the items they would like for their branch libraries.  The staff from the remaining member council libraries then went through and made a decision on whether it was something that was not being used by our users or if it was something we wanted to negotiate with.

Most of the ones chosen for negotiation were things that would break up a book series, or there was no other copy in our branches.  If there was no other copy we applied the weeding concept - if it hasn't been used in the last two years then perhaps it's not going to be used again.  This is a hard rule to apply to stack because the lack of use could be because people don't know they are available because they are not in a browsing collection.  So there was some hard decisions made - but they had to be made.

I then go thinking about should or when a library only has ebooks - how do you create a stack?  Can you even create a stack collection?  What if formats and ereaders change and how then can you still access these resources?  Will licenses allow libraries to keep items "forever"?  Should we be keeping items "forever"?

So while this post is rather short compared to my previous posts - I do leave you to ponder the future of stack and the impact of ebooks on such collections.

We are Family

I have previously discussed Public Libraries NSW and the North East Zone of which my library is a member of.  This week I attended the North East Zone full zone/AGM meeting in Guyra.  The North East Zone meets twice a year, usually one meeting inland and one on the coast.  So Guyra was our inland meeting and in November we will be meeting at Taree.  They also have managers meetings twice a year but these are for regional library managers or stand alone library managers so I don't attend these our regional library manager does.

These meetings are of immense value to me.  Compared to when I lived in the city, networking opportunities are few and far between.  The Zone meetings, biennial PLNSW conference and the annual Library and Information Week breakfast are really the only times I get to do face to face networking.  Hence, why social media is my main form of networking.

The North East Zone is full of many inspirational library managers and the meetings give us a chance to not only discuss things we'd like to lobby - with the help of our ever supportive Councillor representatives - but also to share what we have been doing in our libraries.

This part of the meeting fills me with both excitement and a bit of dread.  I love hearing what everyone is doing in their libraries and I am constantly overwhelmed with how some very small libraries with not a lot of funding or staffing resources manage to pull of some inspiring events.  The dread part usually comes to when I have to share what we have been doing in the three branches I manage.  I almost always follow on from a library that has a never ending list of events and programs.  And then I share mine and I feel a bit deflated at what hasn't been achieved.

This is not to say I'm not proud of what our libraries have been doing.  I just feel that I should be doing more and more.  I say this because due to staffing resources - my libraries are 1.7fte, 1.4fte and 1fte (not sure if these are correct but they are close enough) - a lot of the ideas we come up with are hard to develop and execute.  Although I do hear a number of libraries with 1 staff member still pulling off some excellent events.  So does this mean I'm not working hard enough?!?

So usually after these meetings I do a lot of soul searching, head bashing and generally try to use some of the motivation and ideas I got from the sharing session and see where we can pick up some of these and put them to use in our libraries.

You may be wondering at this point why I titled this post: We are Family.  Our Zone is a very tight nit zone where all members are very supportive of the other.  I think it is due to this that many members of our Zone have been successful in receiving rewards and funding for programs/ideas/events they have executed. 

While I'm relatively new to this zone compared to some members - I'm coming in to my 4th year - I am still made to feel part of the team and very much supported and for this I am forever greatful as it has made my transition into this job so much more easy.

I can't wait to catch up with the Zone again at the upcoming PLNSW Conference in Port Stephens in July.