Notes from Black Belt Librarians: Dealing with Difficult Patrons

Swiss Army Librarian recently posted notes from a Warren Graham session at the Massachusetts Library Association conference. There are some really useful tips and guidelines, including elements of library security and how to (safely) approach a stranger and get them comply with policy. Good stuff.

Do you use your local library?

Librarian.net recently posted a link to a thread on Ask Reddit. I found the responses to "Do you use your local library?" to be revealing and uplifting. Try sorting the comments for even more perspective.

Staff Day Notes

I took some notes during staff day. Some of the highlights I came away with were:
Get a camera
Get with social networking, particularly facebook and flickr
Should we delve into the social networking arena, we will need to commit to updating it and creating a presence (be reliable, be responsive, be available)
Create, foster, nurture partnerships
If libraries do not stake their claim in the digital realm, it will move on without us - we will lose leverage; we have expertise in organizing and providing information, regardless of format

Our Future Library: Evolved, Even More Practical, Everywhere and Different
Michael Porter

Libraries = content + community

photos
- get cameras
- record memories – makes people feel good

What makes you love your library?
- people
- help
- books
- internet
- needs met

technology
- libraries are well-placed in community to take advantage of technology

fidelity
- defines what we are as institutions
- things that used to be sci-fi aren’t any more

library 101
- whole new set of basics
- find ways to engage the technology

-technology innovations are jumping exponentially every year – what does this do for libraries?

What do we adopt?
What’s part of our mission and vision?

- we are getting leapfrogged by for-profit companies (i.e. facebook)
- we need to jump onto their platform to compete with them
- we could get usurped if we’re not careful and adapt to the changes – find new ways to provide access to content
- we have a window of opportunity we need to plan for and we need to talk about

- what we do in libraries that doesn’t have to do with technology is not matching up with what we do that has to do with technology (we’re good at interacting with community but not good at the software side)

- digital content – libraries don’t have a platform to circulate
- we don’t own or have control over it

- articulate what you do well and say it

- take blinders off when we look at what we offer on the web
- what could we try?

Tutor.com Feedback

Michelle had the SV information specialists study the tutor.com website and provide feedback so that we would be more familiar with its offerings. Per Michelle and Ellens' request, I'm sharing my feedback with ya'll.

I got online at 9 AM on a Monday and played around with Tutor.com – the “live help” portion of the website was closed, but there is a quite a lot that it offers in the SkillsCenter Resource Library, including tutorials and practice tests for math subjects such as absolute values and inequality (I tried to read a couple of these and they were way over my head – not surprising considering I haven’t taken a math class since high school), for science subjects (categorized both by grade and also by subject), for Social Studies and also for English. For Social Studies I clicked on “Middle Grades” and then a host of subjects came up – I chose “India” and then four links to websites/articles appeared from various sources on The Ancient River Valley, Buddhism, Hinduism and the history of Bangladesh. Interesting reading even for adults, really.

Also in the SkillsCenter Resource Library is information for State Standardized Tests, including a link to a sample WASL that kids can take. This will be a great reference tool to use for parents wanting to find WASL study guides for their children. Also included in this section – and also incredibly important – are sample quizzes and tutorials for the AP tests, SAT, ACT, GRE and other college entrance and graduate school entrance exams. Great to know for when you’re working at the second floor information desk.

It’s not just young children that can benefit from Tutor.com – Live Help is available for both college students and for adults trying to find a new career. College students can read about and take sample quizzes on Calculus, Physics and a host of other advanced subjects, and adults have tutorials available to them on resume and cover letters, job searching, helping their kids with homework and even citizenship testing. Adults can also upload resumes for proofing, as can college students who want another eye to comb over their research papers (this, of course, is also available to the younger kids who need help with papers, etc).

When I got online later, during hours when the Live Help was available, I was impressed to see that you can start with the most basic inquiry (ie, I don’t know where to begin with a paper that’s due in a week!) to the final editing process (where you upload a paper in Proof Point and have a tutor thoroughly check it for you). I wrote a convoluted thesis statement about Edith Wharton and sent it in to be evaluated but then was asked to come out to a reference desk and had to abandon the experiment. Nonetheless, seems like this is a great service, although I can only imagine what the tutors must read everyday – guess it’s probably not much different from what we experience working in a public library – some requests end up being rewarding, some are just plain weird.

Tutor.com webinar

Hello all:
I signed up for yesterday's "webinar" (I was the only person from SCLD) and I thought I would heads up everyone about it. I have already sent an email to Region II supervisors on what I discovered.

Tutor.Com has a new look and a new name. It used to be "Live Homework Help" and it is now "Learning Suite" and one of the first things they do is show you the new look, log on to an actual session and pull up some new features such as graph paper and more white board capabilities. I thought this would be the focus of the session: using Tutor.Com., but that part was very short--less than 10 minutes.

Most of the time was spent showing us how to download and customize posters, fliers, bookmarks, etc. and how to market Tutor.Com. The marketing section went beyond what we do when talking to customers in the library. They have power point presentations that you can take to a PTO meeting, for instance, webinars that you can set up for educators, things like that. Certainly helpful tools, but not things most of the staff will use.

There are some training features. They have always had an online power point presentation about Tutor.Com; you have always been able to ask a tutor about the website and soon there will be a four minute video tour you can take. I am not sure if these online options are available from our link on SCLD's website or from a client access. This second option requires a password. Staff logging in to later sessions might inquire about this if we don't already have the information.

Even though the material covered was not what I expected, it was fun doing it. You can send in questions during the presentations and at the end they unmuted the link and people could ask questions (there weren't many). I was impressed by their responsiveness: one person in West Virginia was brand new to her job (second day on the job) and brand new to Tutor.Com and the presenters arranged right there for the account person for that region to call her and help her get up to speed.

If anyone has any questions, give me a call.

Mary Kay

WLA: Benefits You Can Afford

James F. Brown, who puts together Health Services for the Actors Fund of America, flew in from New York to share all of the goodies he's managed to put together in one, multi-purpose website. Funded by grants supporting artists health service needs, the website also serves any self-employed person seeking health insurance benefits. There is even good info for people who have health insurance, but don't seem to be covered for what they need.

The Health Insurance/Resources for Health Care (AHIRC) database, can be accessed at: http://ahirc.org/. It focuses on resources for the self-employed, lower income workers, and the under- and un-insured. For Washingtonians there are two main points of access located on the homepage. Click on the Map, on Washington State, for the usual links and resources. And, click on Washington State in the lower right hand corner of the homepage under Regional Healthcare Guides, to link to a special information project for 2008-2009.

Regional Guide for Washington
This special aggregation of healthcare resources for Washington State, includes links to: kinds of health insurance, COBRA, employment related options, private insurance, government-subsized programs, programs for special health conditions, obtaining medications, dental coverage, mental health options, Community Health Centers, and 24-hour pharmacies, and much more.

Choose Washington on the Map
Includes full menu of options for:
* Getting Health Insurance (including info for Children, Veterans, Uninsurables, Long-Term Care, Legal Assistance, etc.),
* Affording Health Care (costs, programs, assistance opportunities, etc.),
* Finding Health Care (organizations, programs, etc.),
* Changing Health Care

I invite you to spend some time working around the website, to know what's there -- lots of good resources.

WLA Redux - Advocacy By All session

I'm pretty sure I was the lone SCLD staff member at this WLA session so I thought I'd give you the skinny.

After a failed passing of a levy, Kitsap Regional Library had to figure out what to do next. They decided that the levy failed because they had not effectively communicated to the community the value of the library. In response, they created a staff-led committee with diverse members from many branches and departments in the system called C.A.F.E. (Collaborative Affiliates Fostering Education). The purpose of C.A.F.E. was to "celebrate the library system" through outreach to the community, informing them what the library has to offer.

The presenters discussed how C.A.F.E. was formed, the challenges they had to face, and their current and future projects. Probably the most crucial aspect in the formation of this group was the openness of the administration in tasking this project and allowing the committee to run with it. Staff had strong buy-in and dedication. Throughout their brainstorming sessions, they kept track of all the ideas presented and made them available. They created a Did You Know? campaign highlighting the library's services, began selling bags based on customer comments, and provided a space on their website for patrons to tell their own library stories.

It remains to be seen if their next levy will pass, but they are hopeful and much better positioned now than they were. Reaching out to community partners, creating a dialogue with their customers, and arousing a sense of pride and accomplishment in staff should go a long way in positioning themselves as a vital resource.