Author: Robin

Categories
Training

Self-motivation and staff training

Last week, David Lee King posted a note on his blog about your boss being you and it got me thinking about staff training and the “will to learn” by library staff. I like to think of myself as fairly self-motivated. I learned HTML, XHTML, CSS and PHP without taking any classes – just reading some books and playing. I have picked up on the social networking stuff without doing any formal training, too. I actually like taking classes (that aren’t even for credit…) and learning new things without anyone standing over me requiring that I do so. I still – even with those things in the positive corner – don’t think I spend enough time and effort keeping up and learning new things. I feel behind at times and am occasionally rather down on myself about what little I know (though I have moments of validation – I had a MORENet tech come in to see what I was doing wrong with our firewall and he couldn’t figure it out either, I felt a bit better about my networking skills after that, such as they are…). For staff members who don’t take the initiative to stay current on basic skills, though, how much more lost must they feel?
This year, I’ve asked the department heads to take a quick look around their departments and send me a list of the skills (computer-based, generally, but I’ll take anything and see what I can do about it) that they feel their departments need to work on in 2011. Armed with those lists and some excellent core competency lists that I have stolen borrowed from libraries and librarians across the country, I’ll be focusing on getting staff up to speed on the things that they and their managers feel they need to work on. What I’ll also be working on this year, though, is to really stress to people that these skills are not “extra” work – being able to manipulate a Word document or understanding how to edit a patron’s record in our automation software is not stuff that “might be nice” for staff to know. These are core skills that will make them better employees – here and elsewhere – and that it’s stuff they should probably devote some brain power to. Hopefully, the training this year will not only provide some hard skills in these areas but it will also give staff the motivation to learn some things on their own, without someone standing over them with either a stick or a carrot.

Categories
Web 2.0

Asking for help

When asked what a weakness of mine is in a job-interview like situation, what comes to mind immediately is my utter inability to recognize when I’m in over my head and need some help. Jenica Rogers, an utterly amazing woman who is the Director of Libraries at the State University of New York in Pottsdam, just posted a Lessons from 2010 post at her blog. One of her “lessons learned” was the fact that she occasionally needs help. This is an amazingly capable woman who is making the effort to realize that she needs help sometimes – and it’s inspiring me. From little things like hitting the button at the circ desk when I get overwhelmed (we have a door ringer that sounds in the back office and sends someone out to help when the lines get long at the front desk) to admitting that a particular project requires more time/talent/persistence than I have to give, I need to work on not waiting until it’s too late to ask for some help.

Categories
Web 2.0

Drupal 7

I’ve installed Drupal 7 in two different places – one personal and one at work – and I’m still not able to get it going because of various system requirements and a lack of time and attention to getting those requirements met on my systems. That being said, I have nothing much to say about the new Drupal release – other than to comment on what others who are more successful in their attempts are saying. One thing I’ve noticed, as reported on the ReadWriteWeb blog, that I really like is the fact that RDFa is built into the system’s backend. I spoke a bit about RDF and the semantic web in my Web 3.0 (RDF stuff starts on slide 12) presentation I gave to NAGW a couple of years ago, so this is really pretty exciting for me!! I get to actually make use of the stuff I’ve been talking about for a while!! When I get the PHP versions and various other system requirements updated on my servers, of course… *sigh*. I guess I know what I’ll be doing for the next couple of days. I wanna play now!!

Update: I do have it working now! I have my work test bed running a clean copy of Drupal 7 – first impressions are that it is DIFFERENT. I’ll post more about what I think about it later in the month…

Categories
E-Books iPad

E-books in other professions

I’m a knitter, as most of you probably know, and I subscribe to more than a couple of knitting related newsletters and lists. One of those newsletters just announced that they will be making some knitting books available for e-readers through Zinio’s interface. I just checked and one of the books they were pushing, New England Knits, is available through Zinio but is both out of print (in the paperback format, at least) and not available in the Kindle format at Amazon at all.
This book, at least, is compatible with iPad or computer (PC or Mac) only – not with the Nook or the Sony E-Reader or the Kindle. This (as a side note) is one of the reasons I threw over my Kindle for an iPad – the ability to read books in any format they come in is pretty nice!
It does, however, speak to the fragmenting of the market and the way the announcements are made. The newsletter was all about the new e-readers that folks may have gotten for Christmas, but the two books they pushed (New England Knits and Crochet So Fine) are neither one compatible with any e-reader device but the iPad (and the Crochet book isn’t even compatible with that – just PCs and Macs). This has more than likely created an expectation in their customers that won’t be easily filled – they want books and patterns that are usable on *their* e-readers, whatever they might be, and the newsletter is focusing on books that aren’t going to be usable on most e-readers that were gifted this year.
This is something to consider when pushing our services with e-books in libraries. We have already seen patrons who received off-brand MP3 players complaining that they can’t use our service because their device isn’t compatible with Overdrive. We try to be clear and publicize the lists of compatible devices, but there is only so much we can do.
I’m pointing this out not to criticize how other professions handle the emergence of e-readers for their customers, but to show that we all have the same challenges with these devices and, maybe, to suggest that we should be looking at what knitters and engineers and teachers and lawyers are doing about the fragmented state of the market now. They may have some good ideas. They may do some things we can point to as “learning moments” and try not to do. We’re all moving ahead on this stuff together, so getting some ideas from how others are handling the issues can only be a good thing!

Categories
Web 2.0

The week in Tweets

  • I just got a $5 credit for movies and TV shows @amazonvideo. Click http://amzn.to/hh8gTP to get yours. #get5 #
  • @geekandahalf I'd think you would shout out when they get it right… it would be less shouting, yes? #
  • @J_Nellie I hear ya – but holds on Overdrive are pretty cool & easy – click a link or two and you've got it! #
  • All mah WordPress installs are updated! Can I just say how much I LOVE one-click updates in WP and how much I LUST for that in Drupal? #
  • Biting the bullet and installing Drupal 7 on a test machine because I just realized it will be released on Jan 5. EEEEEEEK! #
  • @godaisies Will do – I have to do some tweaking to my server before I get it going, though. Not a good sign… 🙁 #

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Categories
Personal

These are not resolutions!

But there are some things that I would like to do more of in the coming year… Now that I’m not in school full time, along with being a mom, full-time employee and doing enough writing/presenting to qualify as a part-time job, I’m ready to start focusing on things other than school and work.
First is cooking. I do sooooo much better when I spend a few minutes each weekend before hitting the grocery store just going through some cookbooks (super-easy with all the resources I have on my iPad!) and picking out meals for each day of the week. I get the ingredients on my weekly shopping excursion and I don’t have to wonder each night what I’m going to make when I get home (something that generally encourages a close enough relationship with *more than one* restaurant delivery person that they start asking how my life is going between visits), it’s already planned and in my RTM daily to-do list. Not only will this be cheaper than ordering take-out a couple (or more) times a week, but it should be healthier – especially since I’m going to really try to keep red meat to a weekend-only indulgence. I’m not saying we’ll stop ordering take-out, just that we might try to limit it to weekly, instead of what seems like all-the-freaking-time.
Second is knitting. I’m going to work on getting Christmas gifts knitted in advance this year. I’m still working on the last Christmas gift scarf, days after Christmas is over, and I have spent way too much energy freaking out about getting stuff done this year. I may take January off (since I’ll still be knitting that last scarf into January, I think…), but I’m going to work on a Christmas knitting project a month starting in Feb. That should get everyone on my list *something* next Christmas!!
Third is yoga. I’ve done something really, really mean to my back and last night was miserable – finding a position that didn’t make what feels like a pulled muscle hurt even more (and I really haven’t done anything to earn a pulled muscle!!). I’m hoping that spending some quality time stretching and toning with some yoga will help stave off these random aches and pains. Combine this with healthier eating by cooking at home rather than out all the time and I may just lose a pound or two as well!
Again, these are not resolutions that I’m making – these are just things that I’d like to focus on a bit more in the coming year. No hard-and-fast goals attached to them (well, maybe the knitting one, but other than that…), no pressure on me to keep resolutions, just some things to consider as I try to figure out what to do with the extra time I’ve been devoting to homework and school participation.

Categories
Web 2.0

The week in Tweets

  • LunarEclipse-Totality [pic] http://ff.im/vBWPQ #
  • @desertlibrarian It ran off with my motivation. I saw them leave together. I would have gone after them, but… #
  • @mstabbycat Merry Christmas to you guys as well. We miss you all too – very much!! #

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Categories
E-Books Web 2.0

E-materials and libraries

I work in a public library, as most of you surely know, and we have recently begun offering Overdrive audio and e-books to our patrons. On one hand, I’m delighted. I’m listening to the Hunger Games on audiobook as I rush through my Christmas knitting projects and love the fact that I can listen to them for free (though I still have my 1 book a month Audible subscription – it’ll be a while before I feel comfortable giving that up). I’m not as crazy about the ebooks because neither of the readers that work with Overdrive on my iPad are particularly pretty (as compared to the Kindle app in which I spend a LOT of time…). Overall, though, it’s a great thing! I’ve informed the librarian in charge of the service (who, in the interests of disclosure is also my boyfriend) that he can forward any iPad related Overdrive questions on to me, since I have the only iPad at the library and can hopefully answer them for patrons as they come in.
What this has taught me is that Overdrive is not a particularly easy to use service – even on the iPad, arguably the absolutely easiest way to use it! Both audio and e-books can be downloaded directly from the Overdrive catalog to the iPad and then consumed using the Overdrive media player, a free iPad app. This should make things easy, but the combination of format issues (not really Overdrive’s fault that the iPad won’t play Windows media files, I suppose…), poor documentation on the Overdrive site and glitches in the Overdrive software make for some frustrating experiences for our patrons.
While Overdrive can (and hopefully will very soon!) fix the documentation and software crashing issues, the format issues are larger and beyond the control of the service. I spent a good 20 minutes on the phone trying to assure a patron that, despite the fact that she “read somewhere” that Windows Media files (WMA) could be played on the iPad, I’ve not seen it happen, nor have I seen any indication that it can happen – and Overdrive says specifically that it won’t happen. This confounded her. She didn’t understand why, if she had Windows Media Player on her computer, she couldn’t then transfer the file to iTunes, then to the iPad. Beyond the fact that this seems like a LOT of trouble to me – it’s also not possible due to file format incompatibilities (I understand – if I’m wrong, please let me know!).

E-books and audiobooks are becoming more and more popular with our patrons. While I try to explain to people who are using them now that they are on the cutting edge of technology and many of the bumps they experience will be smoothed out with time, this really isn’t the case. This stuff has been around for a while and file format issues, DRM (and the problems with signing into various bits of software with YET ANOTHER username and password), and the like should have been taken care of by now. Many library types have already covered the issues with e-material formats and DRM – I know it is something that libraries really need to get cleared up if we expect people to use our services, but I’d also like to take a moment to ask our service providers (and yes, I’m talking to you, Overdrive!) to work on making the experience smoother, as hassle-free as possible and as pretty as commercial vendors do. I will, almost without fail, purchase a book from Amazon to read on my Kindle rather than borrow it from my library to read on the unpleasant e-book reader bundled with the Overdrive Media Console. Maybe when Overdrive puts out its native iPad app (the one available now is actually for the iPhone) the issue of ease of use and desire to use will be taken care of – until then, I’ll continue to help out patrons who are baffled by all the arcana surrounding the use of the current crop of e-materials services and hope for better days.

Categories
collaboration 2.0 Libraries Web 2.0

Collaboration and Social Networking at WWD

Web Worker Daily (www.webworkerdaily.com, WWD) has been posting some great stuff about collaboration and social networking over the past few days. Here is a quick list of the best posts:

* Social Networks allow companies to call “Contingent Workforce”
* Social Tools make managing remote workers easier
* Integrating social collaboration into workflow
* Unleash employees to remain relevant

but there is much more at the WWD site, but those were posted fairly recently and all of them are applicable to any kind of collaborative work – whether you are an enterprise or non-profit organization or library!

Categories
GTD

Capturing and GTD

Reading through an excellent post on the importance of capturing information at The Cranking Widgets blog, I was reminded of how regularly I fail at this activity. I carry with me a smartphone with Evernote, Memos and unlimited texting on it, an iPad with all that and more and a moleskine notebook with a pen just about everywhere I go (phone in a pocket, iPad and notebook/pen in my purse). I still can’t manage to write stuff down when I should.
I used to use the Jott service, but it started charging for more and more of the stuff I used (occasionally) and I couldn’t really justify the price of the service for how I used it. It was handy to be able to call up a number and dictate a note that would be in my email when I got back to a computer, though. Now I keep thinking I can use Google Voice for that, but I’ve gotten out of the habit and I never think to do it (maybe I should reprogram my speed dial key that still goes to Jott’s number to my Google Voice number… hmmmm). Even then, though, I didn’t remember to write down everything that needed to be written down.
This post won’t conclude with a “and then, I got a brilliant idea and this is how I’ve solved that problem” statement, unfortunately. I’m still bad at capturing things, but I do think that running across articles and blog posts like the one I mentioned above is of great help – it will remind me, for a while at least, to write stuff down when I hear it/think of it/get told about it and maybe, just maybe, this time will be the one that sticks as a habit.