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Matt Hamilton
What is a sandbox?
Safety model Place to test code that is isolated from production environment
Software development model test installation that allows to role back changes as necessary
Wiki model environment not consider production but just for ppl to learn new skills

Who can learn from software – staff, ppl who want to play & learn, helps keep up on cutting edge technologies, small IT staff to explore if its worth to develop expertise in something

Sandbox is a safe place to place
Learning environment
Inviate patrons to be beta testers, get feedback before implement new services
Is this something that is really going to be good for patrons but something were just enamored with for the moment.
Place to perfect your craft –

Two approaches – and internal option
Lisa Haitts at
Installs software that is heard about at conferences

How do you make it happen? 3 approaches
Virtual appliance marketplace, from VMware preconfigured virtual machines

Wanted to be the type of IT department that says yes, still have mission to protect data etc so can’t just say use, but can say yes, but…

Working with virtual desktops, so when patrons log into machines they would also see their own desktop, own software etch

Bitnami – free, includes a small SQL & linux installation, and allows you to run about 24 apps, can install on home pc or an old pc in the back
Also have virtual machines, doesn’t require a server, there are machines
Probably wouldn’t trust to run production environment, but great to play around with

JumpBox – will cost, will run on a server or a virtual machine
Can put into a production environment
Includes administrative panel, control back ups enable ssh

If IT dept isn’t comfortable with it you can install all of these in the cloud with Amazon EC2, Bitnami & Jumpbox both have agreements with Aamazon so both services are both available

Librarysandbox.info

Greg Schwartz
Have you flood proofed your sandbox?
Ask a few key questions before you start your project
Why are you doing this? What are you trying to accomplish? How does it tie itself to the mission of you library?
If you can’t answer those questions you’re wasting your time and your resources

Do you have a plan? Sure
But do you have a plan b? What will you do when your plans don’t work out, can adapt & move fwd

Got support? Everybody has so much to do already, how do you get staff buy in? How do you get them to be willing to play explore and learn
Do you have commitment? You can’t just set up a sandbox and walk away from

Are you sure you have the time?

Do you have a plan? Even if the sandbox is just for play you may need access to that information?

Questions
Looking for a place to allow an employee to play & explore but want it for a long term option not just for play, so is the virtual environment the right place for that? IT wants to use a virtual machine to avoid installing anything ever on the PC
Matt – yes it’s a great use
Stephen – SLA innovation lab, free to use & play with for any member

How do you get people to play?
Matt – it’s include in directors goals,
He doesn’t ask people to do anything; he waits for them to ask him
references Bobbi Newman (hey thats me!) – Stop talking about the tools
Stephen tie it to their value system
Audience – make it fun, do it in public so others can see it and ask
Have staff bring in and share stuff
Bribery

Distinction between internally & externally facing sandboxes
Redesigning website, allow patrons to beta test?Similar Posts:

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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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Because these impromptu, or on demand, sessions are one on one, people often feel more comfortable asking questions they may not ask in front of a group. One on one sessions have other advantages too. You move at the pace of the individual, not the group or a schedule. You can walk them through the process step by step, more than once if needed. You can see if the person doesn’t understand right away and explain it again or in a different way.

I also find that providing on demand training can make staff more interested in attending your training classes, give you new ideas for training sessions and even get you invited to department meetings for training!

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In times like these when we are asked to do more with less this is something managers should keep in mind.

One of the videos I watched is this TED talk by Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation. He talks about the mismatch of what science knows about motivation and what business does.  Essentially as long as you’re paying people adequately and fairly, money is no longer the most powerful motivation. Watch the video and maybe buy the book when it comes out. You can also read the entire transcript on TED.

There are a lot of interesting points, here is one of my favorites:

“Results Only Work Environment. The ROWE. Created by two American consultants, in place in place at about a dozen companies around North America. In a ROWE people don’t have schedules. They show up when they want. They don’t have to be in the office at a certain time, or any time. They just have to get their work done. How they do it, when they do it, where they do it, is totally up to them. Meetings in these kinds of environments are optional.

What happens? Almost across the board, productivity goes up, worker engagement goes up, worker satisfaction goes up, turnover goes down.”

What do you think? If more money wouldn’t motivate you, what would?

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I had read somewhere, it might have been on your blog in fact, that it might be a good idea for library school graduates to learn some web design languages. I am thinking of picking up in my spare time (whats left of it) some web design language and I’m not sure what would be appropriate in the library setting. Which brings me to my question. Do you have any suggestions as to what technical languages or proficiencies would be good to pick up? I have thought about HTML, ColdFusion, ASP, and JSP, but beyond knowing a little bit of HTML/XML I am unsure what would be most useful. What do you think? What would you like to see on someones application if you were hiring?

What advice can you give Chris?

Some other blogs that have addressed this

• Why every Library Science student should learn programming
• Technology education and the “real world”
• Core skills: Curiosity
• technology advisory

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Library Learning 2.0 or 29 Things

Library Learning 2.1

Slides from my patron training classes are in my slideshare accountSimilar Posts:

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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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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?

Further reading:

• Libraries Are Used More in Recession
• The library – a recession sanctuary
• The Public Library Renaissance
• Library usage increases with the recession
• Library usage up in wake of recession
• Obama Warns of Severe Consequences Without Stimulus Package
• Foster Success for People: Two Musts for Employee Motivation and Positive Morale
• Eight Leader Behaviors That Increase Motivation, Morale, and Performance…And One That Won’t
• Downturn in economy increasing stress in the workplace
• Top Ten Ways to Retain Your Great Employee

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