Ten Rules for New Librarians – How do they look 6 years later? Ask questions in your interviews. Hard questions, like “How many projects are on the library’s list right now?” or “What is the technology planning process like here?” Read this and remember! Pay attention to the answers and what the librarians interviewing you say about their users. Are they dismissive, bothered by them and their presence in the library? Run away! Read far and wide and immerse yourself in culture, pop and otherwise. It will help you know what your users are doing and into! Understand copyright and the Creative Commons very well […]
Monthly Archives: July 2012
7 posts
Ancient Library Signage, a photo by JenWaller on Flickr. 🙂
Aaron Schmidt and I have combined our columns this month for a double length examination of the site visit assignment in LIS schools: The most responsive libraries would aim to make a change based on the suggestion of the student. The reports and other data would be shared with the staff and the recommendations for improvements evaluated and implemented. The findings might also be shared externally or with the library’s governing body to promote not only transparency but the positive aspects of the library partnering with a library school. These partnerships should be encouraged and leveraged as much as possible. […]
Ned Potter has put together a new book on marketing libraries. TTW’s own Justin Hoenke helped him out on the chapter on marketing to teens using technology in libraries. Super cool! For a list of contributors and more: http://www.librarymarketingtoolkit.com/p/about-contributors.html The Library Marketing Toolkit will be published in July 2012, by Facet Publishing. This website acts as a companion to the book, as well as a stand-alone marketing resource. To quote the blurb, the book is: “A toolkit of ideas to inspire action. As libraries continue to fight for their survival amid growing expectations, competition from online sources and wavering public perceptions, effective […]
Following the inspiration of TED (actually, copying TED), our library partnered with our campus’ Center for Teaching & Learning to create a special event that highlights our campus’ faculty and staff. This event which we affectionately called TLC: Teaching & Learning Community event, featured five faculty and staff members who gave mini-lectures on a range of topics. Our goal was to host a program in our library that produced web-ready content. We purposely limited each speaker to 15 minutes per presentation. Our Goals Find teachers, innovators and leaders who are able to inspire us with “ideas worth sharing.” Create a […]
My new column is available at LJ’s site: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/06/opinion/michael-stephens/our-common-purpose-office-hours/ “Get a blog, launch texting, create a Facebook page” has been the rallying cry—from me, too—for some time, but the reasons for doing these things should be clear. They’re an extension of what we have always done, the foundational purpose of libraries. Service. Access. Context. Many LIS programs include “how-to” technology classes. These are useful for providing the skills new grads need to be marketable. Along with those skill-based courses, however, we must give students opportunities to learn how to engage actively with people, facilitate people’s interests and conversation, and promote […]
Thanks to Warren Cheetham for sharing this via Twitter.