(It’s funny…I used my new Dell Mini netbook at the conference and now that I’m home I’m using my regular laptop and it’s like ‘Whoa…this screen is huge!’)

PC basics, troubleshooting, and web familiarity are essential skills for library staff, especially now that our computer usage is skyrocketing and patrons of all skill levels require assistance. To illustrate one point that presenters Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly make, yesterday morning a patron asked me why she wasn’t able to access a document from her USB drive on our computers. I checked it on my computer and discovered it was an MS Works file (file extension .wps). Our computers don’t have Works and tries to open .wps files as .wpd which is WordPerfect. I explained the problem to her and said that next time she could save her document at home as Rich Text Format (.rtf), which is compatible to most word processing programs. Other options are Works converters and open source software like Open Office, if they feel comfortable downloading and installing something.

That’s pretty basic stuff, and library staff should have the know-how to deal with similar problems. As Holly and Mary emphasized at the program, keep libraries relevant by making sure your staff are trained and up-to-date on technology!

Holly aligns her presentation with WebJunction’s publication “Competency Index for the Library Field”, which is a good starting point and guide for tech training in libraries. Also recommended was Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki.

And, just for fun, check out their blog dedicated to Awful Library Books . Their most recent example is quite retro…very funny!:

Maintain IT Webinar: Wireless Acceptable Use Policies
May 21 at 11:00 AM Pacific/2:00 PM Eastern
Louise Alcorn, Reference Technology Librarian at the West Des Moines Public Library and contributor to Recipes for a 5-Star Library Cookbook, and author of Wireless Networking: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians [and also a frequent conference blogger for the PLA Blog], chats about her experiences with wireless, including considerations around the ever-important wireless acceptable use policy. Take 30 minutes out of your day and learn from the experiences of others. Get started with wireless at your library!

WebJunction Webinar: Introduction to “Shaping Outcomes”
May 29 at 11:00 AM Pacific/2:00 PM Eastern
Join presenter Rachel Applegate as she introduces the online course, ‘Shaping Outcomes,’ which teaches the principles of an ‘outcomes-based planning and evaluation’ (OBPE). The course was originally developed to help LSTA and IMLS grant applicants create stronger grant proposals and stronger programs. Trainers can use the website and extensive instructor’s materials to deliver the course on their own, or enroll at www.shapingoutcomes.org. This webinar will provide an introduction to outcomes-based planning and evaluation.

Learning Webinar: Cultivating a Culture of Learning at the Library
June 10 at 11:00 AM Pacific/1:00 PM Eastern
How much time does your library spend on “training?” Statistics show that most learning takes place on the job or with a coworker, yet as trainers we spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for and delivering classroom training. In this webinar you will learn why you need to get your staff out of the classroom and instead focus on creating a culture of learning in your library. Presented by guest speaker Lori Reed, Training Specialist for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.

More and more people are accessing information and resources from home and work computers. Does that mean the physical library will go away? NO WAY! In this session we will talk about the evolving role of the physical library space. We will highlight innovative and interesting rural library examples. Join the Rural In Focus webinar facilitator, Brenda Hough, and guest presenter Cindi Hickey, Continuing Education Librarian and WebJunction Coordinator for the State Library of Kansas. Find information on joining the webinar in addition to archives of past webinars at Rural In Focus.

The webinar is FREE, and advanced registration is not required, you can just show up the day of. Visit WebJunction for information on how to attend the webinar, and to make sure your computer is ready to help you join the conversation. While you’re there, visit the archive of webinars (scroll down a bit on the page) that you can watch at your leisure.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Library Surveys
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET
“Surveys can be rich sources of information about your community’s needs and your library’s services and resources. When should you conduct a survey? What are the essential elements of an effective survey? How can you best evaluate your survey results? Colleen Eggett, Training Coordinator from the Utah State Library will be presenting and she has developed a Participant Guide as an option for those attending this session.”

If you’ve never attended a WebJunction webinar before, take a few moments to review the joining the webinar instructions in advance to make sure you’re all set up for the session. Also, feel free to post questions and comments here.

Be sure to follow the instructions for making sure your computer is ready for the webinar, and arrive 10 minutes early.

In Focus Webinar: Joy of Computing with practical techniques for supporting public computing

Each month the Rural Library Sustainability Project presents an hour-long webinar related to the work of sustaining rural and small libraries. This month join us on August 23, 11:00 am PT/ 2:00 pm ET for You can do it! Practical techniques for supporting public computing. How are your peers meeting the challenges of providing access to public computers? Pooling resources, developing technology plans, and staff training are three things that can help. In this webinar, we will take a look at The Joy of Computing Cookbook for small and rural libraries at www.maintainitproject.org. Join a lively discussion around best practices that will include some of the libraries who contributed to the cookbook. Bring your success stories as well as your nightmares, and let’s find solutions together!

Also, the archive for the recently presented Core Competencies for Library Staff webinar is also available, complete with close captioning, and it’s definitely worth the watch. While you’re there, you should check out the WebJunction Core Competencies as a companion document to the webinar archive.

Yolanda Cuesta presented the first segment of the program on marketing to Spanish speakers. Yolanda’s advice was practical and very useful:

- Work with community leaders to start the needs assessment for the community; try to create a personal connection so that you will come to be trusted in the community. It is very important in this community to establish personal relationships and rely more on personal contact via phone or in person, since email or mass mailings may not be as relevant in this culture.
- Develop the “library as a brand that is culturally relevant”; a place that provides services that the community needs and wants-a place for getting help, for entertainment and fun, for learning, and for family activities- vs. the traditional promotion of the library as a provider of books and information resources.
- In the first marketing stage, translate the library card application and basic brochures into Spanish. Jump right into marketing, without over thinking it: send press releases to Spanish media outlets and start to participate in community events, where you can hand out information about the library and meet more of the leaders.
- In the second stage, start to realize the differences within the community itself, including age, country of origin, degrees of acculturation, and marital status. These factors all have a great impact on the services you provide and how they should be marketed. Also during this stage, start adapting traditional library services, such as story hours or computer classes, for the Spanish speaking community, and begin to experiment with marketing at local gathering spots such as grocery stores or pharmacies. Additionally, you should never undervalue the importance of word-of-mouth marketing.
- The third marketing stage follows a more holistic approach, where you look at the entire library and the Hispanic community in more depth, deciding which specific segments of the community you would like to target. It is hard to make this decision, since selecting one segment means you will not reach everyone, but these are necessary (hard) choices that will help the services grow well and target the marketing more specifically. During this stage, the library should also try to increase its presence in the community by organizing community events such as Dia de los niños.
- Once you have completed this process, you can start over, targeting a different portion of the community: look and learn who makes up the community, determine their needs and develop a program. It is important to keep the process going and not neglect it after the first try, as continuity is an important factor for establishing trust in the community. As the projects progress, continue to make inroads with community leaders to get a better understanding and form partnerships.

The session continued with a few stories from individuals who had participated in the workshop and the way they applied the training to their libraries. John Tull from Wallens Ridge State Prison in Virginia described the progress he has made at his prison library, including the translation of signs and procedural documents into Spanish and collaboration with the ESOL classes. Previous program participants then broke up into discussion groups to brainstorm about their different outreach projects.

To learn more about the workshops and find materials about the topic, visit Webjunction’s Spanish Outreach page: http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=10555

I spent most of Friday at Webjunction’s Rural Libraries Sustainability Forum at the Embassy.  I am one of the lucky 185+ librarians from around the U.S. who won an all-expense paid trip to ALA 2007, compliments of Webjunction and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there is no way I, or my small library, could afford to pay for this trip without Webjunction’s support. This is true of the four other Wisconsin librarians who joined me at yesterday’s forum. 

I have long been impressed with and inspired by the whole Webjunction concept. Their website is full of resources on a large variety of topics, including fundraising, library advocacy, marketing, and technology. I’ve gone to download curriculum materials when designing computer instruction courses for my patrons. I’ve gone to the discussion boards for advice on solving a particular problem. And sometimes I go to rant about someone or something (stress on the job, tight purse strings on the part of public officials, etc.) with folks who, I know, are in similar situations and will understand my frustrations. 

As was made clear when we all introduced ourselves at the forum, sometimes small-town librarians are working in very isolated situations. We are often the sole voice in our communities advocating for libraries in the wilderness of municipal politics and tightening belts.

You couldn’t listen to all the stories about the creative and resourceful ways librarians are surviving, and even thriving, in these tough budgetary times and not be inspired. They are making a genuine difference in their communities.  I am always so darn proud of my profession when I attend things like this.

I’m attaching some photos from the Webjunction forum, as well as from last evening’s premiere of The Hollywood Librarian. What a treat that was! What an absolutely wonderful film!  Director Ann Seidl spent years raising the funds and building support for this project; she is clearly passionate about this project, which features librarians working in a variety of situations – from prisons to school media centers – and juxtaposing them with the myriad of librarian images, both good and bad, in American film.

For me the most moving segments of the film were the interviews with librarians and patrons in Salinas, California, where a financial crisis temporarily closed down three community libraries.

I’ll have much to to say about this inspirational documentary, but for now I just wanted to share some of the images I’ve been able to gather so far.  

Hales, director of Suwannee River Regional Library in northern Florida – and a member of the WebJunction advisory committee - was speaking to the fortunate 180+ rural and small-town librarians (from 34 states) who are attending the conference as guests of WebJunction. But his advice is equally useful to any of the other 25,000 others – newbies and conference veterans alike – converging on the Capital city this weekend. Here are a few of Hales’ tips, some tongue-in-cheek:

• Tip the maid. You’ve got the funds to spare if you’re here on WebJunction’s dime, Hales said. But it’s also, simply, the right thing to do.
• As you go through the program planning out your weekend, always pick two workshops scheduled in the same time frame. That way you’ll have somewhere else to go in case the program you’re in is boring.
• Speaking of which, don’t hesitate to leave a session if it stinks. No one will care. Just get up and go somewhere else.
• Check the cog notes online or at conference headquarters for updates. There may be last-minute scheduling changes or cancellations.
• About the 223-page ALA Program Guide: Don’t think you have to cart it with you all over DC. Tear out the maps and bus schedules and leave the rest of the guide in your hotel room. Travel light (or try to).
• Get to all your sessions early and introduce yourself to the speaker. Offer to help pass out handouts or something. The speaker will be grateful, and you might learn something interesting and unusual.
• Drink lots of water. Carry a bottle of water with you all day to keep yourself hydrated and energized in this hot DC weather. It wouldn’t hurt to bring along a few snacks too.
• Recon, recon, recon … plan your trips in advance, from hotel to hotel or from even from room to room. You’ll save time, and you’ll reduce frustrations.
• Always know where the bathrooms are.
• Take your business cards along with you everywhere. Pass them out to folks you meet and use them at the Exhibition Hall to win prizes.
• About the Exhibition Hall: You KNOW you’re going to collect a lot of freebies (isn’t that part of why you came?) Go ahead and hoard away. There’s a post office right at the conference center; the folks there will gladly help you mail all your goodies home. You don’t have to stuff it all in your suitcase if you don’t want to.
• The free shuttle service between conference events is good. It’s even better Saturday afternoon and all-day Sunday (the drivers will have figured out the route by then).
• Schedule yourself some down time. Go to your hotel room, lie down on the floor and put your feet on the bed. Or use one of the Pilate balls in the Exhibition Hall booths. You need to be good to your body this weekend.
• Remember the 5, 2, 1 rule: Get 5 hours of sleep, treat yourself to 2 good meals each day, and take at least 1 shower.
• Go visit a DC site or do something else away from the conference at least part of the time. Make a point of getting away from your fellow librarians to get a different perspective.
• Get to know the PLA staff. Ask for help. Ask for advice. “They really can get you the good stuff.” 
• Don’t be intimidated by the eggheads and the prima donnas. At ALA, all librarians are equal, whether you’re from one of the big hotshot libraries or from some small burg in the middle of nowhere.
• Talk to people, introduce yourself to unfamiliar faces, and network as much as you can.  Join committees and be useful. Don’t waste your time with the slackers. Identify who the real go-getters are and align yourself with them. Think of ALA as a family, Hales said. “It’s sort of a dysfunctional family, but a family just the same. And just like your own family at home, they know that you’re good. But they also know when you’re not, and when you don’t produce.”

Second Circ: Using Web 2.0 Tools in Your Library
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM EST
This session is part of EqualAccess (a community partner of WebJunction), a professional development program that trains public librarians in how to address their community’s most pressing needs. “This webinar will introduce you to the world of online tools available–tools that make it easier than ever to share information, promote your programs, and mobilize support. We’ll start with the basics, and through visuals and real-time demos, you’ll learn the skills to bring your library marketing into the next generation. All are welcome and no prior experience is required!”

Tools for Planning: Action. Vision. Future. Planning.
March 29, 10:30 AM PDT/1:30 PM EDT
This session is a supplement to the Rural Library Sustainability Project workshops (I attended one myself, and it was super!), where the process of creating a public access computer action plan was introduced. “Attend this session to hear about some action plan success stories and discuss planning tools and resources that are being successfully used in the library world. Moderated by Brenda Hough, Technology Coordinator, Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS).” The planning skills and best practices presented are beneficial even if you haven’t attended a Rural Library Sustainability session!