Librarian by Day » manager

Managers – The Message You’re Sending About Time is Affecting Customer Service

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:47:07 +0000

CC image courtesy of Robbert van der Steeg on Flickr

The choice you need to make is will it affect it in a good way or a bad way?

We are all busy. My to-do list is so long at this point I keep a master running list and a small list just for today, because looking at the long list inspires panic.

As individuals, managers and organizations it can be easy to keep adding responsibilities, expectations and tasks to our list and to the lists of others. Especially at a time like this, when you may be short staffed, or just busier than normal (library usage goes up during a recession) or both.

Unfortunately this attitude towards time can really hurt you in customer service. How staff feel about their time and the expectation from management affects how they interact with patrons. It’s the difference between handing someone a call number and vaguely gesturing towards the stacks and leaving the desk and walking the patron to the book. It’s the difference between hand the book over and walking away or asking if you can help them find anything else. It shows up in the type of greeting patrons receive in that minutes of extra chit-chat so many love, in determining if the information they are asking for is really the information they are seeking.

Don’t think it’s just front line staff either. It can mean the difference in pulling that raggedy looking book or letting it circulate one more time, in ensuring the door knobs and other areas are properly disinfected, in how fast a phone call is returned. I could go on but I think you get the idea.

Want to get smart about time? Here are some suggestions from How Smart Leaders Talk About Time on Harvard Business.

1) Establish a shared language that distinguishes between the “pressure on time” and “impact on goals” factors.

Team leaders often fail to make this distinction clear. Tasks are transmitted without specifying if the emphasis on such task is due to:

a combination of the above mentioned two factors

the fact the task has a remarkable impact on the individual or group’s goals

the restricted timeframe within which the task must be completed

2) Reduce those activities that, despite being important, must be performed under pressure. (emphasis mine)

A successful leader reduces “urgent and important” activities to a minimum, by monitoring:

How tasks are planned and delegated.

How “urgent and important” activities can be reduced.

How much free-of-distraction time people have for high-impact activities.

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Why did you particpate in the Library Day in the Life Project?

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:03:16 +0000

Was is self promoting narcissism? Desire to share the most boring mundane details of your life with others (wake up, make coffee)? Or something else.

Sarah Faye Cohen shares why she didn’t participate and she’s wondering why others did. A legitimate question, actually one I’m curious about myself. The first two rounds of Library Day in the Life were small, I think less than 30 people total, then somehow this one took off, I’m not sure if it was David’s post or the mention on LISnews or what, but all of a sudden there were loads of people I’d never interacted with doing it (over 200 last count). Whoa. Awesome. Scary. Exciting.

I can’t speak to why everyone did it but I can speak for myself.

“who we are writing these memes for.”

Well, the whole thing started because I look at my blog stats and the search terms used to bring people there, the most popular ones were: librarian’s day, what it like to be librarian, what’s it like to work as a librarian, you get the idea. I assumed, because how could I know, that these were searches done by people considering librarianship or just curious. So I thought I should blog my days, give the people what they want right? But there are so many of us doing so many things, my days wouldn’t be a good representation, so I tried to start the meme. I didn’t give it a lot thought, I just picked some people doing new and interesting things and linked to them. I hoped people would share what they did and give insight into all different aspects of libraryland and they did!

So I wrote this meme for the people who wonder what a librarian’s day is like. Who are those people? I don’t know, I generally don’t ask patrons why they want information, I just give it to them.

I wrote the meme for myself too. I wanted to know what other librarians were doing, there are so many new exciting positions out there, I wanted to know how are they spending their time? I’m selfish like that.

After the first round I got a lot of email from professors, librarians and lots of other people saying what a great resource it is. Lets face it if you’re considering being a librarian today there aren’t a lot of resources for you, the last book is from 2003 and my job didn’t even exist in 2003. I’ll admit some of the blog posts are more informative than others and I’ll be suggesting a better format if there is another round. But over all it accomplishes what I’d hoped for; a wide range of library people, not just MLS holding librarians you don’t have to have an MLS to work in a library, writing about their average day.

She next says:

But this meme leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth in part because I don’t see the meme itself having a role in our relevance, or our creativity, or out sociality (is that a word?!).

Who says that was the point? There are a lot of people working hard on our relevance, creativity and our sociality, I like to think I’m one of them. But the purpose of the meme was to share what our average days were like, with each other, with students, with potential library workers everywhere. It did that. Doing this meme didn’t stop me from working on our relevance, creativity or sociality, and in face it might have helped me do those things better. I understand Sarah and Amanda’s point, but you can be talking about something AND doing it at the same time, the acts are not mutually exclusive, but that’s another blog post.

I could go on and on but in I think Meredith Farkas has written a reply that covers most of what I’d say and I’m sure she’s written it better than I could.

But at the end of the day, in a nut shell, why did I do? Because its my blog and I could.Similar Posts:

A Day in the Life of a Digital Branch Manager

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:39:29 +0000

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please see the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post

First thing in the morning with coffee in hand I answer emails, and DMs from Twitter that had come in the night before. Being on the East Coast a lot comes in after I’ve stepped away from the computer for the night.
Arrive at work – First thing answer emails, make a few updates the website, chat with Head of Teen Services about updates to her page.
Meeting with Director – we’re moving her blog from Blogger to WordPress because of some of the options she want, and walk through adding some RSS feeds to Outlook.
Back to website
Deal with paycheck problem
Work on patron survey about the website that will go up on Monday.
Spent most of the rest of the afternoon working in policies one for Social Media in general and one specifically addressing Flickr. Both of these will be part of the Digital Branch Guidebook when its complete. Part of this will address how the Digital Branch helps the library meet its mission and vision statements, and because we’re in the middle of updating these I spend sometime going back and forth between the old and the new.

I think what amazes me most as I read through m notes of the last week is how much of my time is spent, reading, writing and well, just thinking. I didnt’ really think being a Digital Branch Manager was all that different from other jobs I’ve held, but I can see there are less completed items in my day. Less projects with a clear beginning and a clear end. As someone gets a sense of accomplishment from starting and finishing clearly defined projects I wonder how this will affect me as I go forward.Similar Posts:

Day in the life of a Librarian Day 4

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:44:22 +0000

Thursday was a rather unremarkable day for me, so I’ll spare you most of the details

Checked email, tried to post notes from Day in the Life, but thanks to Dreamhost my site has been down most of the week. Unhappy does not do justice to my mood about this.

Got to work, talked with IT, we’re using the multimedia room for the Handheld Librarian conference later today and I’ve never used it before and wanted to be sure I set everything up correctly. Also gave me a chance to ask the staff member to be a part of Super Friends, I’d be missing her all week. She said yes – excellent now we have one member of IT on board.

Room set up and then back to my office. A staff member brought me peaches! Lots to do today but a lot of time will be taken up with Handheld. Spent most of my day in the Multimedia room for the Conference, we had some trouble getting in as I understand a lot of people did.

Wrote a post on my blog for library staff

Took the boys for a long walk even though it was sprinkling the whole time, we all enjoyed it!

Worked out, ate dinner and readSimilar Posts:

Day in the Life of a Librairan Day 3

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:09:59 +0000

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please see the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post

Stayed up way too late reading the night before (I guess you never grow out of this!), so really need the coffee this morning!

First thing in the morning, prepare for and attend Branch Manager meeting at our Mildred L. Terry Branch. Its our newest one, we haven’t even had the grand opening ceremony yet. This meeting took up most of the morning so go look at the pictures of the branch for something fun!

Grab something to eat on the way back my office

check email, check twitter

Teen Programs Meeting – I’m there to find out what they need/want from a Digital Branch, good information

Run downstairs between meetings to check on something for tomorrow, run into a staff member I want to be a member of Super Friends, talk with him about it, he’s in! Hurray!

Database Committee Meeting- we’re looking at what we have and what we need to add over the next year. It goes really well.

Grab peaches on the way home. I am really tired tonight and decide this should be my night away from the computer, I make myself take one once a week. Similar Posts:

A day in the Life of a Librarian – Day 1

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:48:52 +0000

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post

First some background info: I’m the Digital Branch Manager at the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries in Columbus Georgia. This is a brand new position that started when I did, May 18th. I’d share my job description but it’s changing everyday. Basically its my job to move the library from a website to a digital branch mentality. There is a lot more involved with that than just planning a new site. We have 8 branches (mine will be the 9th when it goes live) in 4 counties. That is a huge community to serve and a lot of people to introduce to the ideas behind a digital branch. So here is a look at my average week, I have absolutely no doubt it will be very different in 6 months and very different 6 months after that.

6:00 – get up make coffee, check email for emergencies, check Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook for anything that needs a response now. Check vanity feed.

Today was my first day with the rolling briefcase, my back loves it, my sense of style not so much

8:00 arrived at work, check voicemail, one from a vendor about an invoice. Emails, too many to count really, answer priority ones including an update to the website. How do I decide what’s a priority, no I dont’ read them all, I have a touch one time rule for email. I look at the subject line (these are important people! non descriptive subject lines are a pet peeve of mine) and who they are from.

then start to prep for admin meeting at 9:00

9:00 admin meeting

10:00 talked with Head of Teen Services about serving on The Super Friends. Ok we’re not really calling it Super Friends, well I am, because I like it and its my committee, but the official title is FIT or Future, Innovation and Technology Committee

10:15 more email including database vendors, setting up remote access with one, looking to expand service with another, I sent 23 all together

Turned in Tech Toys Wishlist
Called Chamber of Commerce about working with the Small Business Association

11:15 checked, Twitter & Friendfeed and the Day in the Life, after seeing at Tweet from a friend about the Day in the Life Project taking off (woulda linked but his account is private)

11:40 back to emails, seriously what is with the emails today?

11:50 Finshed up the question for an upcoming patron survey about the website and sent questions to Director & Deputy Direct for approval

12:30 email again, including answering a request for more info on the Tech Toys list

12:55 Start writing Digital Branch Guide, includes philosophy, vision & mission statements, goals, policies etc, its gonna be a book when its done. And yes we do need this.

1:30 take a quick look at Twitter, FriendFeed and GoogleReader

1:45 meeting with boss about The Super Friends and other issues

2:15 – lunch

2:30 back to writing the digital branch guide

4:00 leave for appointment with the optometrist, my eyes are great, hurray!
stop at the market on the way home for produce, walk the boys, workout, make dinner (BLT yum!)
talk with my sister on the phone about Wii Active, some research she needs me to do for her, yes get these requests from family all the time, this is for her work, she’s a pharmacist, and one of her friends dogs getting attack in the park by some dog not on a leash. We both freak out a little as we are both owners of smaller dogs, Big Dog is 18 lbs and Small Dog is 7 lbs. She has two beagles.
Check twitter & my blog

8:15 – sit down to write this post and read the over 100 entries on the day in the life blog

All in all this seems pretty boring as I’m writing it up, but it was hectic, Mondays always are and I knew I had to leave early.

Oh, I brought some reading home, it aint gonna happen.Similar Posts:

Stress Management in the Library Workplace

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:14:38 +0000

Yesterday I attended a MaintainIT webinar – Using MaintainIT Resources for Technology Training, where they shared some useful information and links. One of the sites was Infopeople, a nonprofit that archives their presentations and handouts and makes them available under a Creative Commons license!

As I was exploring I came across materials for a previous workshop - Stress Management in the Library Workplace. There are a lot of workshops listed but since my post – Library usage will go up during a recession – management are you really prepared? is still getting a lot of hits, I thought I’d share this one specifically. You can download the PowerPoint presentation, some exercise and these handouts:

The “Bakers Dozen” – How to Reduce Stress
Relieving Stress through Exercise
Stress Relief through Nutrition
Stress Relief and Sleeping Habits – 10 Tips for Better Sleep
Symptoms of Stress and Causes of Stress
Seven Quick Tips for Time Management

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Library Usage Will Go Up During a Recession – Management Are You Really Prepared?

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:49:48 +0000

I’ve seen many news articles and video lately about usage of libraries increasing during a recession. I’ve personally noticed my library seems busier. While many have celebrated the increase of use and the public attention we so rightly deserve, we also need to consider the down side. Our funding might be cut, the public is less likely to approve bonds or tax levies to increase services, in some cases staff may be laid off. Libraries are masters of doing more with less and we are really going to need that skill now.

The other side of recession is that is causes stress. Patrons are likely to be less happy about paying their fines and, in general, be a little more on edge. Staff are aware of the news and what is happening, even those who feel secure in their jobs, have family and friends who have been affected.

So why am I asking management if they are ready? All of this stress means an increase in irritable, angry, demanding, stressed out patrons who are rubbing up against your irritable, angry, tired, stressed out staff. See where I’m going with this?

The one thing you can do is try to decrease the stress level of your staff. Happy library staff makes everything run just a little smoother (not to mention they are healthier and less likely to call in sick). So given the hard times how can you do this? You probably don’t have the funds to hire a masseur to be on call in the break room. I found a great many articles on workplace morale, some things kept popping up :

make sure staff feel appreciated
encourage open communication
training (almost any it seems)
provide clear goals and expectations
encouraging a sense of team
empowering staff
be flexible with time and schedules.
And there is always the fish books

These are great general principles for all workplaces. Oddly enough I couldn’t find any article or recommendations that were specific to libraries. I can think of a few library specifc ones and a few general ones:

ensure employees get break time away from a service desk
make sure they have a clean, comfortable place to take that break
make sure staff feel supported by management in customer issues
empower employees to waive fines or make other concessions that will smooth patron interactions
cross train staff so they are comfortable working all service desks and understand what each point of serivce does
pay attention – just being aware of employee attitudes will allow you to intervene to boost morale faster and more appropriately when/if need
be ready – have a plan, know how will you boost morale overall and on a case by case basis
take action – don’t wait to see the need before you put your plan into place

What suggests do you have? If you’re a manager what steps have you taken with your staff? If you’re staff what things could management do to boost morale?