Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best… and Learn from the Worst this should come as no surprise to anyone, I’ve mentioned Robert Sutton’s first book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t several times on this blog, including in There is No Excuse for Bullies at Work (or Anywhere Else). As Sutton notes in the opening of Good Boss, Bad Boss:

A 2007 Zogby survey of nearly eight thousand American adults found that, of those abused by workplace bullies (37% of respondents), 72% were bullied by superiors.

I highly recommend both of these books to everyone. Workplace conditions affect everyone, even those who aren’t the victims.

A 2007 Gallup survey of U.S. employees revealed that 24 percent would fire their boss if given the chance. Gallup concludes that crummy bosses are a primary reason that 56 percent of employees are “checked-out” and “sleepwalking through their days.” Worse yet, the most bitter employees (the “actively disengaged” 18 percent) undermine their coworkers’ accomplishments.

For those hard to convince, working conditions also directly affect the bottom line

University of Florida researchers found that employees with abusive bosses were more likely than others to slow down or make errors on purpose (30% vs. 6%), hide from their bosses (27% vs. 4%), not put in maximum effort (33% vs. 9%), and take sick time when they weren’t sick (29% vs. 4%). Abused employees were three times less likely to make suggestions or go out of their way to fix workplace problems. Abusive superiors also drive out employees: over 20 million Americans have left jobs to flee from workplace bullies, most of whom were bosses.

No Shelf Required: E-books in Libraries by Sue Polanka – very timely given the recent HarperCollins fiasco and Sue being named a Mover & Shaker by Library Journal. Plus I’ll be contributed to the new edition.

Fiction

I recently finished World Without End and Night Over Water by Ken Follet. I enjoyed World Without End probalby better than The Pillars of the Earth, Night Over Water was definitely my least favorite of his.

I just started finished The Queen’s Fool. I read The Other Boleyn Girl several years ago when I was in Europe and enjoyed it. The Queen’s Fool was ok but I definitely liked The Other Boleyn Girl better.  Now I need something new to read. Maybe another Phillipa Gregory title? Recommendations?

What are you reading?Similar Posts:

• 7 Books that Changed the Way I See the World
• What I’m Reading in November
• January 2011 – Here’s What I’m Reading, Plus a Few Old Favorites. What Are You Reading?

Similar Posts:

• 7 Books that Changed the Way I See the World
• April Reads: Enchantment, Switch and A Game of Thrones. What Are You Reading?
• March Reads

CC image used courtesy of Reigh LeBlanc on flickr

As with most things, the benefits from computers and technology is all about balance.

From an article in The Independent – What the web is teaching our brains, a list of activities and the benefits each provides.

• Internet research: Boosts the ability to integrate and process information as well as enhancing decision-making skills.
• General browsing: Encourages the use of continuous partial attention and multi-tasking, which can impair cognition and cause irritability
• Playing computer games: May improve multi-tasking skills, memory and peripheral vision. Can lead to antisocial behaviour.
• Building a blog or website: Building a blog or your own website improves frontal lobe function, reasoning and memory.
• Sorting email: Boosts information-processing functions in the brain’s frontal lobe. Can also cause stress.
• Using emoticons: Exercises brain centres linked to emotion and social connection; particularly beneficial to those who use computers for long periods.
• Tweeting and chatrooms: Enhances peripheral attention, helps to boost self-esteem and protects the hippocampus.

The article includes more information on the “why” or how it works, and of course some negative aspects of internet & technology usage too.

Worth reading:

• Facebook and Bebo risk ‘infantilising’ the human mind
• In Defense of Distraction
• Is Google Making Us Stupid?
• Gin, Television, and Social Surplus
• How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that’s dangerous.

Similar Posts:

• “Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”
• It’s Teen Tech Week!
• Top Ten Links Week 21

I took my slideshow on transliteracy and turned it into a video.  I was curious about how easy it was to turn a slideshow into a video (its super easy!) so I thought I’d try it.  Most of my presentations aren’t meant to stand alone and so don’t really translate well to video. When I was putting the transliteracy one together I wanted it to be able to stand alone, so I thought I’d give it a try. A little self indulgent I know But anyway here it is.

Learn more about transliteracySimilar Posts:

• Libraries and Transliteracy Slideshow
• Transliteracy is 3D
• KLA Libraries and Transliteracy Presentation

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about transliteracy and how important the concept is for libraries and librarians. I’ve created a slideshow I hope conveys the message and is easy to share.

I have also added page with information on transliteracy.

Similar Posts:

• Libraries and Transliteracy Resource List
• Libraries and Transliteracy at Computers in Libraries #cil2010
• Transliteracy is 3D

Libraries have focused on literacy, the ability to read, write and interact, for years. It is an important service to our patrons and our communities.  People need to be literate in order to be involved in and contribute to society. Times are changing, technologies are evolving rapidly,  it’s no longer enough to focus on the ability to read and write alone. If we only focus on literacy we are doing a disservice to our patrons.  Just as libraries took on the task of helping to ensure all people  are literate, now we need to take on the task of ensure all people are transliterate.

What is transliteracy?

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks. – wikipedia

Soon people will need to be transliterate in order to be involved in and contribute to society. It is already a requirement to participate in some aspects of our society and it will only become more so.  Government agencies are no longer issuing print forms, you have to access them online.  Your health insurance plan was a website and you have an account, when you call they will tell you to go there to get information. Banks are sending alerts and account balance information via text messages. Facebook privacy settings are complex and change frequently. The price of computers is dropping allowing more people to own one. Free WiFi access points are increasing, allowing more people internet access.

For many people all of the above are new experiences. Experiences they can have with no training, no supervision and no support.

In order to best serve our patrons we need to move from literacy to transliteracy. Add it to  your strategic plan, mission, statement and goals.  Commit to it.  Talk with your coworkers and colleagues about it.

Read more about transliteracy.

• Transliteracy: A Trend of Amplified Organization
• Transliteracy Project
• Transliteracy: Take a Walk on the Wild Side pdf
• Transliteracy Research Group
• Transliteracy: Crossing Divides

Similar Posts:

• Transliterate Divide – Working Definition
• Introducing Transliteracy Georgia Public Library Service & Georgia Library Association
• National Broadband Plan & Digital Literacy Corps

My library has a leadership program and we were asked to recommend

• books,
• journals
• articles
• blogs
• blogposts
• podcasts
• whatever

with an annotation preferably, on any topic relevant to leadership, management, customers service or other topic we think would be helpful to participants.  I went through my favorites of the last couple of years and came up with these:

• Predictably Irrational, The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
• Outliers: The Story of Success
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
• The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable
• The Myth of Multitasking: How

What do you recommend?Similar Posts:

• 60 Things We Need Less and More Of, What Would You Add?
• Does the average Joe really need to know what a browser is?
• What DO you wish your patrons knew?