How I Conquered Conflict

On Thursday I attended a training session called "Conquering Coworker Conflict." Although the content seemed to be more directed at strategies for dealing with challenging users, there were some gems that would be helpful in any situation of conflict. In fact, I had an opportunity to test out some of these strategies this weekend, when I had a little argument with my sister (ok, I thought it was little, she was threatening to pack up and leave which indicates that to her, it was rather big):

• Avoid justifying your right to be upset. This makes sense to me because every time you think about your justification, you are talking yourself into continuing to be upset! It was actually by not following this one that I started the argument in the first place. My first instinct was to keep my mouth shut, then some little gremlin in my head screamed, "This isn't FAIR! I have a right to be upset!" That's when the trouble started.
• If things get in a stalemate, call on someone else to try another way of communicating. This could be a colleague or a supervisor. In my case, it was my Mom, who, by talking with my sister, was able to identify exactly what I had said that had touched a nerve, and calm my sister down so she could listen to my apology. In a situation with a library user, referring to a colleague might just give the "refresh" that's needed to solve the problem.
  
• In any situation, you have the power to make things better. You also have the power to make things worse. First I made things worse. Then I made things better.
• Put yourself in the other person's shoes. My sister had been up throughout the night with a sick toddler, then the thing I criticized her about was probably something she was already feeling kind of bad about. Once I realized this it wasn't so hard to create a way we could both save face.
  
• Create an opportunity for the other person to save face. In any kind of conflict, rather than trying to "win" by continually zinging the other person, if you create an "easy out" for the other person, the conflict can be solved. This is how I made things better.

The library is trying to bring this session back so that many more staff can attend. I'll be sure it's scheduled at a time when the majority of Access Services staff can make it.

And, my sister and I have patched things up. We've been through worse blow-ups and we'll get through this, too. It's probably not the last conflict we'll face but at least I feel I have a few new tools to conquer conflict!

Hawk Cam Update

As many people know Bobst Library has a pair of red-tailed hawks nesting on a 12th floor window ledge. I have been checking their web page (http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/hawks/) for a look at the hatchlings since Kimberly told us about them. To date, I have only seen one hawk sitting on the nest barely moving.

Until tonight. Tonight I got to see a changing of the guard.

In seconds another hawk (Bobby or Violet I have no idea which) landed on the ledge, nudged the sitting hawk to move, took a moment to move the eggs around, and settled down to take its turn sitting.

All quite exciting.

Future of Libraries

Hmmm, the future of the libraries???

This topic seems to come up for discussion at every meeting I attend. Technology has taken over the world and will continue to play a larger and larger role in the future of libraries. But does this really mean fewer books, librarians and other staff who work in different areas of the library? Can this be entirely true? Hopefully, I will be alive to see this what this kind of a library looks like for myself! While I must admit that I do spend more time on the computer, searching for information when I am writing a paper, I still want to do research the old fashioned way…..FINDING A BOOK AND READING IT!

When I am in class, professors strongly suggest that we get most of our citations from either the library’s electronic databases or Google. This surprised me because I believed that books are the best source of information. Nowadays, such may not be the case. I guess it may be time to throw out my 1980 Britannica Encyclopedia Set. SIGHHHHH.

I am not saying that I’m too old for this new technology movement, but I never thought it would completely change the way a library operates. I may not be too old, but I am not that young either. Anyway, this is a neat clip on YouTube that explains and shows what modern library looks like.

Augmented Reality as a Shelf Reading Tool

Maybe I'm cheating by just redirecting you to another blog, but it's worth it: A tablet ap that assists with shelf-reading, including a video of how it works:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/shelving-made-easy-or-easier/30792?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en