Feb. 15, 2008 (Vol. 14, No. 8) – Cool Ideas

National Library Support Staff Certification Program

Believe it or not, we may actually get a national library support staff certification program before I retire. I was starting to have doubts…

The national Library Support Staff Certification Program project is an attempt to establish nationally recognized professional standards for support staff. This project has been awarded a 3-year grant, and the first year is already half done. This is what they hope to accomplish:

*Finalize competencies in Year 1.

*Develop an assessment program in Year2 (starts July 1, 2008). Develop policies and procedures in Year 2.

*Field test the program in five organization types in Year 3.

So far, the draft competencies have been written.

Competencies cover the following areas:

• Foundations of library services
• Access services
• Reference and information services
• Technical services
• Reader’s advisory services
• Supervision and management
• Public Programming services
• Technology services
• Communication and teamwork
• Marketing services
• Youth services

The goal of the competencies is not to establish everything everyone should know to do their job, but to establish a baseline–what every library worker should know and be able to do.

Certification won’t automatically lead to an increase in pay–the job market will have to take care of that. But it will do a number of positive things. It sets up the baseline standard of what support staff in libraries should know. It will improve library service–states such as Minnesota that have voluntary programs have already seen improvements in morale and performance. It can provide a refresher course for older employees, and a possible chance for promotion or recognition for other workers. It will help those who want it a chance to be a little better.

It has always seemed a bit crazy to me that the current job structure does not officially recognize any education for library workers between the high school diploma and an MLS. That’s a big gap. Certification might be a useful marker of an interim step.

You can find more information about the program at:

http://www.ala-apa.org/certification/supportstaff.html The FAQ page at http://www.ala-apa.org/certification/supportstafffaq.html is quite helpful. The project directors’ names and addresses are at the bottom of the page, and they welcome questions.

Susan Gilmont

Feb. 1, 2008 (Vol. 14, No. 7) – Cool Ideas

ilovelibraries.org
ILoveLibraries.org (http://www.ilovelibraries.org/) is a website designed for the people who use and love libraries. It’s meant to keep the public informed about everything libraries have to offer, as well as develop new ways to involve the public in their continued health and vitality. Links to YouTube movies and a Flickr library stream are available through this site.

ILoveLibraries.org is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) and it features the 65 Reasons to Love Your Library tool kit (PDF).  Developed by the Texas Library Association Public Relations Committee, under the leadership of Sue Haas, committee chair, 2003-2005, this tool kit is used by Texas libraries to develop local promotional campaigns. The elements of the 65 Reasons tool kit can be adapted to fit your library and your needs.

Jan. 15, 2008 (Vol. 14, No. 6) – Cool Ideas

Google  Custom Search Engines

www.oregonlibraries.net/find is a Google Custom Search Engine that limits a search to websites that Oregon librarians have shared with patrons on L-net more than once. If you want, it can limit to specific pages shared more than once, or search the QuestionPoint global knowledgebase.

I don’t think reference work is a real substitute for collection development, but I think that if more than one librarian thinks a site answers a question, it is probably good for something.  The main advantage is that it gives patrons a self-service option before asking a question from a librarian. I haven’t evaluated whether or not they find what they are looking for, or how often someone clicks on chat after searching.

The search gets rid of ads and other search “results” that aren’t web pages, like images, news, etc. If you search ‘Martin Luther King’, it is mostly the same as Google, except an infamous hate site is left out of our results. Good for research, but maybe bad for information literacy.

On the negative side, if L-net librarians usually find resources on Google, we are essentially creating a search engine of just some of the things found in Google, and it might not ever be as good as Google itself.

The list of resources it searches is updated every day automatically when I export transcripts from OCLC.
—Caleb Tucker-Raymond, Oregon Statewide Digital Reference Project Coordinator

Dec. 15, 2007 (Vol. 14, no. 4) – Cool Ideas

Oregon Battle of the Books
If you think kids these days are just playing video games and checking their MySpace accounts, think again.  OASL’s (Oregon Association of School Librarians) Oregon Battle of the Books program has kids devouring books in preparation for an epic showdown between schools.  The premise of the Battle of the Books is that students are assigned a list of books to read, they then read the books, discuss the books together, and then compete in a quiz-style format to see which school’s team knows the most about the contents of the books on the list.

Students are already warming up for the competitions which are set to start this spring.  Competitions will be held regionally, and the regional winners will meet at the state level for a final competition.  Check OASL’s website for the schedule:  http://www.oema.net/OBOB/Calendar.html and plan to attend a Battle of the Books in your area.  Reports from last year indicate that students could hardly wait to beginning reading again in preparation for the next Battle of the Books.

Dec. 1, 2007 (Vol. 14, no. 3) – Cool Ideas

Food for Fines

Looking for a way to spread some holiday cheer this season?  You might try a “Food for Fines” program.  There are a variety of ways to implement this, for example the Williamsburg Regional Library system waived the fine on one overdue item for each non-perishable food item the patron brought in; Oregon’s Corvallis-Benton County Public Library is reducing fines by $1 for each canned food item brought in up to a maximum of $5, which is similar to a program run in Park City, Utah.  And not just public libraries have been participated in this program, American University’s Bender Library has been operating a Food for Fines program for twelve years.  The food goes to a local foodbank and patrons just might be a little more likely to pay off those fines!

November 15, 2007 (Vol. 14, No. 2) – Cool Ideas

OSU Creates Childcare Center for Student Parents

In order to help Oregon State University student parents in need of care for their children, the Associated Students of OSU and the Valley Library have teamed up to create Our Little Village-Library.

Our Little Village-Library, a short-term childcare center for student parents, is located in Valley Library Room 3564, directly behind University Archives.

Any currently enrolled student can drop off their children ages six months to 10 years old on a first-come, first-served basis for a maximum of two to three hours. Student parents must stay in the library while their child is being cared for at the facility.

Parents are given a pager when they drop their child off so center staff can contact them.

The space is divided up and there are age-appropriate toys and programs, said Stephanie Duckett, student-parent advocate for ASOSU.

The program is paid for by student fees, so there is no extra cost to use the center, Duckett said.

“This is an excellent way of alleviating the guilt that parents have of being a student, but also being a parent,” Duckett said. “This helps support them in their goal of higher education.”

“It is exciting to be the first university library in the country – as far as we know – to be able to offer this innovative resource to our students,” said Karyle Butcher, University Librarian. “The university’s focus on student engagement calls for all of us to look at new and different ways of providing services to our students so that they feel that they are a part of the university community. Our Little Village is one way that the library can do this.”

Hours for the center will be 2:30 to 11 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays.

November 1, 2007 (Vol. 14, No. 1) – Cool Ideas

The Oregonian Index Database (1851-1987)

The University of Oregon Libraries, with the help of Institute of Museum and Library Services funding and the Oregon State Library and several other sources, has completed the entries for a searchable index to The Oregonian from 1851 to 1987. The index is available to use at http://libweb.uoregon.edu/dc/newspaper/oregonian/. Proofing, authority control and elimination of duplicate records will continue throughout the 2007-2008 academic year. Find out more about this project at http://libweb.uoregon.edu/govdocs/indexing/oregonianindexnotes.html .

October 1, 2007 (Vol. 13, No. 23) – Cool Ideas

Washington state has plans to initiate a statewide catalog project. For those of you like me that may not have already heard about this project, WA state library has an LSTA grant to explore a statewide catalog, using OCLC group services:

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/libraries/projects/statewide_catalog.aspx

There’s also an OCLC web page with links to other OCLC group service-based catalogs (mostly statewide catalogs), at: http://www.oclc.org/groupservices/access/

Several other states have already started their own statewide catalog projects like Alaska and Montana (see here for a longer list:http://www.oclc.org/groupservices/access/).Georgia has even started their own open source library catalog, called Evergreen, which is being used by many public libraries across Georgia.Read here for more information: http://www.open-ils.org/

Wade Guidry

September 15, 2007 (Vol. 13, No. 22) – Cool Ideas

Greening Up the Library

Have you ever wondered how your work as a librarian could make the world a greener place? A variety of groups are working on ways that libraries and librarians can positively impact our environment. The ecolibrarian (http://ecolibrarian .org) shares ideas about how collection development and administration activities can become more earth-friendly. Another option is to attend unconferences. Unconferences are virtual conferences where presenters share their work both during the conferences and after the conference so that their talks are easily accessible. The reduction in travel to conferences results in a smaller carbon footprint.

An example of an upcoming library unconference is the Green Library Unconference which will be held on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. To find out more about this conference, you can contact the organizer, Steve Carr, scarr2@arlingtonva. us. Some additional ideas for greening up your library can be found at http://librarycampnyc.wikispaces.com/Green+Librarianship

If you have any additional ideas or examples to share about how you are greening up your library, please share them on the Hotline blog at http://olahotline.wordpress.com/

September 1, 2007 (Vol. 13, no. 21) – Cool Ideas

Cool Ideas

Deschutes Public Library Implements E.T., a Learning 2.0 Program
The Deschutes Public Library has an exciting Learning 2.0 program for staff called “Embracing Technology,” or—E.T. Our training is modeled after the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenberg County’s program called “23 Things”: http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/ .

We shaped the program to fit our own library system’s needs. For instance, as part of our launching strategy, we created a contest about E.T., the movie, and blended it with Embracing Technology. Those who responded got a prize (we wanted there to be incentive opportunities both at the beginning and end of the training). We also trimmed the experience from 23 to 14 “things,” and we have a second program of only 8 items specifically designed for our Circulation Staff who have less time in their schedules to spend with a computer.

The purpose of the training is to provide staff with opportunities to explore and to have hands-on experiences with new technology and tools, such as blogging, YouTube, Flickr, and more.

The self-paced training runs over 9 weeks (5 weeks for Circulation), with most staff setting up blogs to chart their progress and record their thoughts and ideas. Those who complete the program in the designated time receive a reward—a movie gift certificate.

What do you (or other staff) like about it?

This training is a great way to encourage curiosity and exploration. It also helps us to be on the same page as our patrons who are using these tools in their own lives. It also dovetails into the DPLS learning environment culture—where we are exploring and encouraging staff to be curious and constantly managing their own learning.

Staff love the prizes, and while they are not as splashy as those from the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenberg County (they were giving away MP3 players), they provide incentive and enjoyment for accomplishments made along the way. We hear lots of comments like “wow—that’s cool!” while others admit “I’m glad I know about it, but I don’t know if I’ll ever use it.”

If you’d like more about this exciting program, please contact any one of the project team members: Wylie Ackerman, E-Services Manager (wyliea@dpls.us); Liisa Sjoblom, Adult Services Librarian (liisas@dpls.us), Marian Thomas, HR Manager (mariant@dpls.us), April Witteveen, Teen Services Librarian (aprilw@dpls.us).