PLA Blog

Many of the emails of interest I’ve received about our Call for Bloggers for the ALA Annual conference have asked, “What does blogging for PLA entail?” Here’s the basics on how PLA blogs conferences, and how you can be involved.

Who can be a PLA conference blogger?
As you might expect, our preference is for public librarians. However, if you are a Friend, trustee, paraprofessional, a library school student, or even a library volunteer who is attending the conference, we’d like to add your diverse perspectives to the mix.

Do conference bloggers need to have a blog, or previous blogging experience?
No, and no. Not only are we into diversification of perspectives, we also like to offer conference blogging as an entry-level experience to the uninitiated. Our blog is powered by WordPress, which is easy to use, and we try to get people set up far enough in advance to answer questions or concerns. I’m even working on setting up a private, practice blog for newbies to help them ramp up on their posting skills before the conference, if they need it.

What do you want bloggers to cover?
Our focus is on the entire conference experience with public librarians in mind, so we encourage our conference bloggers to cover preconference workshops, sessions, meetings, lunches, dinners, receptions, interviews, with pictures, text, and audio recordings (we often podcast interviews and recordings of PLA-sponsored sessions). You can even cover sessions and events sponsored by other divisions, if you can make them relevant to public librarians somehow. We do have a few limitations, which are outlined in the guidelines each conference blogger should read before getting started, but otherwise, it’s pretty open.

How many posts are required of each conference blogger?
This is really up to each conference blogger, since we have no official minimum or cap. We like to see at least one post per day from each blogger, to encourage timely conference reporting, but if a blogger decides to save up their content and post them all on the same day at the end, that’s OK, too.

Is there a required length for posts?
No. The key to good blog posts is content that is easy to read on the screen, which usually comes down to clearly written short prose and a wise use of bullet points (taking a nod from Jakob Nielsen). A post can be as simple as a picture with a caption, or as involved as a 6 paragraph mini-essay. For examples, check out our archives.

When do conference bloggers start writing?
Conference bloggers can begin with their introductory post as soon as they start traveling to the conference, if they want, since part of the conference flavor is documenting the journey to and from the meeting. Conference bloggers also have 1 week from the end of the conference to post any wrap-up content, since we know that the conference is fast and furious, and some content just waits until bloggers arrive home.

This totally sounds doable. How do I sign up?
Use the Contact Us link on the PLA Blog site to send us your name, your title, your library/organization, your email address, and your blog URL (if you have one). You’ll receive information on how to proceed from there.

Hope this enlightens the mystery that is conference blogging for PLA, and encourages you to take the plunge and give it a try!

I love it when the PPO thinks so far in advance. If you’re heading to ALA, here are some programs you should consider hitting (via the PPO listserv):

The Public Programs Office will present several Annual Conference programs for library programmers at all levels and in all types of libraries including:

LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage
Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Take a break from a day of meetings and programs and visit the LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage to enjoy readings from new and favorite authors and poets, learn how to develop author programs for your library, and find new recommendations for your patrons. This year, in honor of YALSA’s 50th anniversary, Monday’s stage will feature YA authors Cecil Castellucci; 2006 Michael L. Printz Award Winner, John Green; Barry Lyga; 2004 Michael L. Printz Honor Book Winner, Carolyn Mackler; Catherine Murdock; and Patrick Jones.

Break on Through to the Other Side: Cultural Programming for New Librarians (co-sponsored by NMRT)
Saturday 6/23/07, 10:30 am - Noon
Congratulations! You’ve earned your MLS and you’ve been hired. Whether you work in a public, academic or school library, you need to know how to develop cultural programming for your library’s community. Leading a book discussion is just the tip of the iceberg. The ALA Public Programs Office offers resources, funding, training and the framework needed for you to conduct high-quality cultural programs. Empower your professional career with a review of best practices and a model program demonstration.

Partnerships Produce Successful Cultural Programs
Sunday 6/24/07, 10:30 a.m. - Noon

Working with partners outside the library is an essential element of successful cultural programs in the library. Find out how the ALA Public Program Office’s collaboration with the National Library of Medicine has produced traveling exhibitions popular in all types of libraries. Public and academic librarians will also talk about successful partnerships that have led to unique cultural programs with maximum community impact.

PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME®: A Model Outreach Program
Sunday 6/24/07, 10:30 a.m. - Noon
How can your library reach the under-served, or never served, families in your community? Attend this session to hear library, literacy and humanities representatives discuss their successes with PRIME TIME in reaching this audience to create new library users. Learn about bilingual initiatives, evaluative outcomes, funding opportunities and strategies to bring this award-winning family literacy program to your community.

Engaging the Community with Documentary Film Screenings in Your Library
Sunday 6/24/07, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Experience a model for working with Public Television’s P.O.V. program through their Community Engagement Program. Attendees will learn how to select and secure P.O.V. films, develop program content to support the films, and lead a facilitated post-screening discussion. Librarians who have run successful programs screening these films in their communities will share their experiences. As part of the model, a P.O.V. film will be shown.

We the People Bookshelf Project
Monday 6/25/07, 10:30 a.m. - Noon
Representatives from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and experienced “We the People” project directors talk about the “We the People Bookshelf” grant, the books, themes and application process. During the past four years of this initiative, 6,000 Bookshelf collections have been awarded to school and public libraries nationwide.

Let’s Talk About It: 25 Years of Reading and Discussion Programs
Monday 6/25/07, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
The 25 year old Let’s Talk About It (LTAI) reading & discussion model has been engaging people through provocative theme based, scholar-led discussions of excellent literature. Learn about new themes, funding opportunities and resources as LTAI project directors, participants and scholars discuss the evolution of the program model, favorite themes and books and ideas for the future. Program followed by a LTAI 25th anniversary celebration.

On Friday, March 2, 2007, about 55 people delayed the consumption of a well-earned dinner after a long day of learnin’ to attend my presentation on wikis and the PLWiki project. You can listen to the podcast of that presentation, attached to this post. You can also download the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file of the presentation, “The Wikipedia of Public Libraries: A quickie wiki primer, the PLWiki Project, and You,” and follow along (requires Adobe Reader).

At the presentation, I promised I would post a link to the original post, A wiki for public libraries: your feedback requested (posted 1/29/2007), which includes the original idea for the project and links to wikis librarians should know about, plus the 4 big questions we have for everyone:

• As a public librarian, a graduate student, a patron, an administrator, a friend of the library, or even just an onlooker, seeking information specifically about public libraries and librarians, what would you be looking for in an encyclopedia/almanac/pathfinder/ of public librarianship?
• What kind of information about public libraries and librarianship would you seek that you can’t readily get your hands on right now?
• What about Wikipedia, which is powered by the MediaWiki software, do you like or dislike? Is it easy or hard to use? What do you think would be better?
• What about Wikipedia, as an editable encyclopedia where you can search, navigate, and edit content, do you like or dislike? We’re looking for comments on the layout and usability, and not a discussion of judgments about Wikipedia itself.

We still need your feedback! Please feel free to post your answers (and anything else you want to share about the project) as a comment on this post, or email us with your thoughts. We’ll keep you posted as the project progresses!

 

 Standard Podcast [55:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (456)

Many thanks to Po Bronson for giving us the permission to podcast his presentation at the 2007 PLA Spring Symposium Author Luncheon!

After a brief introduction from PLA president Susan Hildreth. The author of What Should I Do With My Life? and Why Do I Love These People? spoke about recent research in child learning and self esteem (you can read more about it in his New York Times article and on his blog) and how it pertains to librarians, inspirational stories from his childhood and his travels, his family’s 45 books per month library habit, and so much more.

Have a listen, and feel free to add your feedback about the presentation by posting a comment here.

 

 PLA Blog: Po Bronson, 2007 Spring Symposium Author Luncheon [56:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (261)

I am attending Karen Hyman’s morning session on customer service and the customer-centered library. She is a fantastic presenter full of deadpan humor and insight. Everyone here she pointed out is an expert on customer service because everyone is a customer. THINK LIKE CUSTOMERS! It is so natural to look at other models and so far Karen has pointed out doctor’s offices, airlines, emergency rooms, the insurance industry… So step one in becoming the customer-centered library is caring, however, caring is not easy. Administrators need to offer support and rewards for caring. Like laughing- even when we fake caring- we get the same endorphins as the real thing. Curiosity is the touchstone. “Wouldn’t it be great if we…?” We can’t out-guess the customer either. We cannot continue to think we know better.

“The muffin isn’t moldy… It just looks moldy.” Karen told us the story of buying a muffin at Gloria Jean’s in the Philadelphia airport. She complained because the muffin looked moldy- apparently this was a common complaint, because batter was mixed in the same bowl as the blueberry batter and created the unusual green palour. As a frequent complaint- why didn’t Gloria Jean’s change the product? A conference participant behind me called out, “we’d make a brochue to explain it!” The room erupted in laughter, but clearly we try to change the cusotmer more often than we change our service or approach.
Like brochures, sign pollution means no one reads signs. “You pay a price for every sign.” is one of Karen’s rules. Signs should be respectful not negative and disrespectful- will it even work?

“Get a grip.” Leaving the victimized librarian attitude behind, own the things that bother you. Finish the following sentence: “My problem is that I…” Among Karen’s examples, try moving services, install skateboard storage, and allow eating in the library. No decision is without consequences, but we should put about customer service first.

I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Mary Baykan, director of Maryland’s Washington County Free Library, executive director of the Western Maryland Public Libraries, and Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year for 2007, present the keynote session for the symposium, which Mary graciously gave us permission to record and podcast for your listening pleasure.

After an entertaining introduction by PLA president and California State Librarian Susan Hildreth, she spoke about how she found out she was librarian of the year, her experiences as the originator of the feat of advocacy now known as the Maryland Poll which measured the importance of libraries to Maryland residents, fun with legislative lobbying, about how librarians choose “to fight the bull” everyday, and so much more. She was entertaining, engaging, and very, very funny, definitely worth a listen!

While there are some interesting tidbits about upcoming PLA developments in the opening remarks, if you want to skip straight to the keynote, Mary is introduced around 10mins29secs.

The Urban Libraries Council report that Mary mentions towards the end of her remarks, Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development, is available for free online (.pdf, requires Adobe Acrobat to view).

Many thanks to Susan Hildreth for the awesome PLA Blog plug at the very end, and for the recognition of the work of our peeps and volunteers as well as our contribution to what she calls “PLA 2.0.”

 

 PLA Blog: Mary Baykan, 2007 Spring Symposium keynote [48:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (275)

Userful generously offered to host a free internet cafe here at PLA Spring Symposium. So, if you’re here at the conference, you can check your email, read the news, and post photos, you can do that in the Imperial Ballroom in the main Fairmont building. Kudos to PLA for continued support of internet access for conference attendees!

If you have a laptop here at the conference, you have a few options. Attendees staying in The Fairmont for the duration of the conference can sign up for a membership with The Fairmont President’s Club, which is free and can be completed on the website or at the hotel front desk. This will give you access to free wifi in the lobby, and free ethernet-based internet in the hotel rooms.

Alternately, there is a network named MetroFi-Free, which is the city-wide free wireless network. So far, my experience with the signal in the hotel is spotty, but since it’s citywide, you’ll be able to sack out just about anywhere with signal and access the internet.

Hurray free interwebs!

I landed in San Jose about an hour ago, and I’m getting my act together to start coverage on the PLA 3-day affair. Kathleen and I will both be working on the podcasts of the keynote, author talk, and my wiki presentation, while I’ll be blogging the Customer Service in Public Libraries, 21st Century Style session, and Kathleen will be blogging the Right People, Right Time, Right Work: HR Trends and Tools session, Friday and Saturday.

We do have a small crew of bloggers helping us out here at the Symposium:

• Meg Canada, Hennepin County Library
• Heidi Dolamore, San Mateo County Public Library
• Sandra Steward, San Jose Public Library
• Kristin Yiotis, Student at SJSU SLIS

You’ll hear more about our fearless crew as they begin to introduce themselves later.

A humorous, documentary-style look at the ALA Midwinter Conference in Seattle by Nick Baker. Hit the play button to view (it’s 4min 58sec long, and totally safe for work).

Susan Hildreth, president of the Public Library Association (PLA), is pleased to announce that Mary Baykan, Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year 2007, will present the keynote address at the Opening General Session of the PLA Spring Symposium. The session, scheduled for March 1, 2007 at the Fairmont San Jose, is open to all Symposium attendees. Baykan is the director of the Washington County (Md.) Free Library and executive director of Western Maryland Public Library. In 2003, when facing a major fiscal crisis in the state of Maryland, Baykan spearheaded an initiative to conduct a survey on the perceived value of libraries. Librarians across the state were able to use the results of the survey to demonstrate the value of libraries to key community leaders, resulting in the largest increase in library support in the state’s history, including $35 million in new state funding.

The Opening General Session will be followed by a dessert reception, which is open to all attendees. Other special events include the Author Luncheon featuring Po Bronson, which is available for an additional cost. PLA thanks Random House for their support of the Author Luncheon.

Registration is still open for selected workshops. For more information on the PLA Spring Symposium, including pricing and registration information, contact the PLA office at 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA, or visit PLA’s Web site at www.pla.org.