COMMITTEE WORK - THE 411

While on the Path train the other day it occurred to me that I have served on several library working groups as well as several committees. Some of them I distinctly remember volunteering for but the others your guess is as good as mine. I suspect that Kimberly had something to do with my “Volunteering.” Whether I volunteered or not is moot, the only real point is that I participated in the groups. My role on the committees have been varied, on some I was the leader and for others I was just one of the members playing whatever part/role that made sense. I lead the access services open house working group (some of you might remember that) and I headed the two library art show committees, I do hope that you remember the Art shows. I am one of the founding members of the University sustainability advocates group and also a founding member of the library sustainability committee and still an active member. I am also currently on the quality of life and the rewards and recognition committees.

My thoughts regarding the committee work are all positive: all of the experiences have help me grow as a manager, I have had and continue to meet and work with many wonderful and talented co-workers and colleagues some of whom I otherwise would have probably only known in passing. There is a diversity of talent in this organization which I find absolutely fascinating and I realize that it is because of the committee work that I have gotten exposure to this community. While committee work stretches you a little thinner and adds one more thing to your already packed daily schedule, I cannot help but argue that the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Not everyone has had the opportunity to be a part of or work on a committee or working group but I encourage you to embrace the opportunity when it arises - take the leap because the experience is very rewarding. You will meet great people; learn a lot about what is happening in the library and you will have the opportunity to make your contributions to the growth of this organization. There is no doubt that all of us have something to contribute and there is undoubtedly a place at the committee table for everyone. That includes "YOU."

"Our Super Technological Future"? Here's Hoping Not!

Recently, I came across this video of a presentation by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jesse Schell, given at D.I.C.E. 2010.

Schell spends the first part of the talk discussing the surprising success of certain technology and games over the past year, and trying to explain that success, but then he spends the last part projecting a near-future world which will emerge from this "Facebook Games" era in which we find ourselves. He argues that all aspects of our lives could soon be governed by (primarily) corporate technology that will monitor quite literally everything we do, in order that we may earn various points and rewards.

You can find the entire talk posted on various websites, but this excerpt contains the scariest part:



At the 7:11 minute mark, he brings up something that hits especially close to home - the tracking of our reading habits. Here is a transcript:

"You sit down with your new Kindle 3.0, which, of course, has the eye-tracking sensor in it that can tell what you've read and how much you've read of the book. And it's important to read the whole book because, then, if you leave a review on Amazon, you'll get super bonus points if it knows you read the whole book through. As you finish the book [...] you get an achievement unlocked. This thing has been tracking you for 20 Years. You finished 500 novels, this is like a big achievement. You are thinking, "I'm really embarrassed that my 500th novel was this dumb Star Trek novel that I'm reading, because, like, I'm going to remember that forever". And then you start thinking about all these achievements and points and things and realizing that, you know, you have no idea what books your grandparents read or where they went on their daily basis. But these sensors that we're going to have on us and all around us and everywhere are going to be tracking, watching what we're doing forever. Our grandchildren will know every book that we read. That legacy will be there, will be remembered. And you get to thinking about how, wow, is it possible maybe that -- since all this stuff is being watched and measured and judged, that maybe I should change my behavior a little bit and be a little better than I would have been? So it could be that these systems are all crass commercialization and it's terrible. But it's possible that they will inspire us to be better people [...]"


So here's what I thought when I heard this, in approximate order:

1) What is wrong with Star Trek novels?!
2) Dude is actually saying that this will cause us to self-consciously police our own reading lists and this is a good thing?!
3) Didn't librarians win acclaim for, you know, not revealing users' reading histories when faced with the Patriot Act? Why on earth would people entrust their reading histories with corporations instead?
4) OMG, I have a Kindle. Big Brother is watching me right now...


Setting aside the fact that it would indeed be interesting to know what our grandparents read, it is a little bit narcissistic to assume that our grandchildren will wish the same about us. (Personally, I would be thrilled to discover that my grandmother was reading Star Trek novels!) And setting aside that concern about narcissism, I must admit that it's still a boon to anthropologists of the future that we are leaving behind such a huge amount of information about ourselves already.

But! And this is a really big BUT. I fail to see how reading, not reading, or secretly reading particular kinds of books is an accurate measure of a person's worth, intellectual or otherwise. And I also fail to see how any corporate interests collecting our reading histories would always use their powers for good.

Technology, books, privacy and libraries - this is far too much to unpack in a simple blog post.
But after seeing Schell's presentation, I am even happier to be part of a profession that helps people to read whatever they want, without fear of commercial enterprise, or the Thought Police.

Knowledge Exchange - the Assessment Method

When Jen Salvo-Eaton was designing the Knowledge Exchange program, she determined a need for assessing its success. The Access Services Supervisors decided to create an anonymous aptitude test that would be administered to every staff member and supervisor before the Knowledge Exchange training began, and then again upon the completion of the program. I was tasked with organizing and editing the questionnaire, based on the input of the Access Services Supervisors.

The questionnaire consisted of six questions for each of the Access Services departments (with the exception of Offisite). The first question was the same for each department: On a scale of 1(Low) to 10(High), please rate how familiar you are with the following department’s policies and procedures. The other five questions would pertain to specific policies for the department that the Supervisors felt every staff member should be aware of.

The questionnaire was taken by 34 staff and supervisors from Access Services, and below are the initial results (with the familiarity rating and the percentage of questions answered correctly):

Circulation, 6.12 familiarity rating, 47.6% correct

Delivery Services, 3.97 familiarity rating, 16.5% correct

Interlibrary Loan, 4.21 familiarity rating, 44.1% correct

Library Privileges, 5.79 familiarity rating, 84.7% correct

Reserves, 5.38 familiarity rating, 63.5% correct

Stacks, 5.81 familiarity rating, 67.6% correct

(Fun Facts: The question most people answered correctly was “What is the shortest length of time someone can rent a locker for?”; the question most people did not answer correctly was “What type of items can be requested through Delivery Services?” If you do not know the answers to these questions yourself, you should seek them out.)

The Knowledge Exchange is an entirely new approach to interdepartmental learning, and as we move further along we are adjusting the program as needed. Similarly, this is the first time we have attempted to assess one of our projects in this manner, and in retrospect there are certain changes I should have made, to help the questionnaire be more uniform. The test should have included at least one multiple choice question and one true or false question for each department, as well as a long-form response. Instead, one department was heavy with true or false questions, while another department was devoted to long-form responses, and a third department asked questions solely with numeric answers. I feel the disparity of the questions may have influenced, in part, some of the disparity between departments in the number of questions answered correctly (and may be reflected in the amount of change when the questionnaire is administered the second time).

So far there has been a lot of positive feedback from staff about the trainings they have received. It will be interesting to see how their experiences will translate into improved knowledge and understanding of the various departments. Fortunately, we now have an assessment tool that will help us determine that. Stay tuned.

Now that My Time has arrived can Flex-time be far behind?

Now that My Time -- the university web-based time management system -- has become part of the landscape of the University, is it time for a conversation exploring the possibilities of flex-time also becoming part of the picture?

Many years ago, I asked a director about the possibility of flex-time being implemented here during the summer -- four days on three days off -- the answer was, “no.” And, that “it would be impossible to keep track of staff time.” Although there could be a myriad of other reasons that could make the implementation difficult, My Time may have eliminated that roadblock.

My Time is a time keeping system that provides NYU with a system for tracking time worked and time off balances. It also provides employees with online access to vacation, sick and personal time balances. Could My Time possibly make a dream come true?

What is flex-time? It is a variable work schedule, in contrast to a standard 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday schedule. As employees try to find a balance between work and personal obligations, flex-time could possibly be the answer for many. Often, many life events (for example doctors’ appointments, school, childcare, and elder care obligations) cannot be accommodated by a traditional nine to five schedule. Access Services hours of operation lend themselves to accommodating a new paragon for scheduling staff.

What are some of the benefits of flex-time for the employer?

There have been many studies that indicate that flex-time improved job satisfaction, increased productivity and loyalty. Companies who have implemented flex-time have less burned out employees, unplanned absenteeism and a higher retention rate of their top performers.

It may be early in the process to look at other applications for My Time. However, it can never be never too early to start the conversation.


Flex-time studies:
Current Population Survey (CPS) 2004 Workers on Flexible Shift Schedules

National Study of employers (NSE), 2008:
www.familiesandwork.org/site/research/reports/2008nse.pdf

RFID chips don't save the Library World (yet)

A few months ago I had the opportunity to attend, and present, at an Access Services conference in Atlanta, GA. There were over 150 people representing dozens of libraries across the country. The program consisted of many interesting topics discussing various issues that most libraries all seem to have in common: customer service, staff management, collection management, and statistical data collection, to name a few.

One presentation, by Catherine Jannik Downey from Georgia Gwinnett College Library, stuck out in my mind as it dispelled a couple of myths I have been holding on to. GGC Library is a small but growing library that recently moved into a new building. Starting with a small collection it was(financially) feasible to convert from their existing barcode system to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips as well as being able to upgrade equipment in the new facility.

When I first heard about RFID chips for books a number of years ago I was thrilled with the possibilities. Patrons walking out the door would have any books in their bag automatically checked out to them as they pass through the security gates. Shelf reading could be done with a wave of a wand across library shelves. Missing books could be tracked down anywhere in the building. Teams of library ninjas could seize unreturned materials from dorm rooms…

It turns out patrons still have to visit a circulation point to have their books checked out and that sometimes the antenna misses a book or two and patrons can leave with uncharged materials in their bag (and set off the exit alarms). Shelf reading wands do not necessarily read the books in order and metal shelves can deflect chip radio signals. Chip signals are not strong enough to track down missing materials. And campus security would probably frown on a team of ninjas.

The RFID chip is not a dead idea though. Companies like UPS and Fedex would not be using them if they did not work very well, but those companies have a great deal of automation and materials are generally handled only by people trained to do things a certain way. Libraries don’t have that luxury. We let people paw through our books and often training patrons is limited to a well worded sign.

But times are changing and so are libraries. Some, for example, have moved toward off-site storage facilities and the RFID chip could play a role in moving materials in an efficient manner. And the cost of converting existing collections could be balanced by limiting it to those materials that are housed outside the traditional library.

RFID technology has the potential to change how libraries operate, but for now they are not ready to take over the library world for a variety of practical reasons that are as yet cost prohibitive to try and overcome.

So until then I will keep working on plan B: the Force and Jedi Knights.



(yes, this entire post was written as an excuse to post this video)

Delightful Customer Service

A couple of weeks ago something terrible happened: my cell phone broke, making it useless for anything other than answering it. No outgoing calls (unless I knew the number, but I don't even know my own number), no email and worst of all, no texts. As a working mom, I use my phone for a lot more than uploading pics to Facebook--it's how I catch up on work on the subway and how I keep in touch with my son's babysitter (she's 17, so texting is our primary form of communication).

I thought I'd have to replace my phone, which wasn't something I was up for, and was happy to learn that certain stores will do this type of repair. One store, on 32nd street isn't too far from my dentist, so last week when I was early for an appointment I stopped in. I explained what was wrong and said that the phone was part of a family plan under my husband's name and that I hoped that wouldn't be a problem. The woman assisting me wore a name tag that indicated she was Kiana, the store manager. Kiana asked me if I knew the last four digits of his social (um, I don't even know my own phone number) and I said that I could probably find it out if I called him. I used their courtesy phones to call my husband, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't pick up since he was bringing our son to school.

After 4 tries I explained that he wasn't available. She asked for my phone and about 2 seconds later, it was fixed! She suggested that to avoid future inconvenience my husband could add me as an authorized user to the phone plan. I thanked her and joked that I now had thousands of voice mails and texts to catch up on and she invited me to take a seat in their waiting area if I wanted.

At any point during this process she could have turned me away. She could have even turned me away nicely and been entirely within her rights. Instead, she bent the rules a little bit to help me out. It absolutely made my day!

How do you show remorse?

On Saturday, I was pulled over for speeding. Not bad, considering I've been driving since 1987. Bad, considering I was driving much faster than I should have, didn't even notice that I blew past a state trooper and am now $150 lighter, not including any surcharge my insurance may assess.

Strangely, all I could think about was library fines. Eric, David Perry and I recently collaborated on an article about our move to get rid of daily overdue fines. One quote we included is:

An unpopular law will be broken, whether or not there is a penalty. Speed limits are probably the best example of this situation in the United States—a large proportion of drivers exceed the speed limit much of the time. Draconian measures can affect driving speeds, but enforcement at that level is difficult and expensive. Library fines appear to fall in the same category. Borrowers will comply with due dates unless they are inconvenienced enough to believe that keeping the item longer is justified. (Shontz, 1999, p. 84)

The trooper approached the car and said, "Ma'am, do you know why you are being stopped?" I told him I figured I was probably driving too fast. He said, "Ma'am, I was going 75 and you flew past me. Is there a reason you were driving so fast." I said no. I was totally freaked out and knew there was no excuse for it. He pushed the issue, though, asking, "is there a reason why you passed a marked state police car?" Honestly, I didn't notice it. So I said that, which I'm sure made me sound even stupider and less remorseful. I was thinking about our users, so I figured there was something he was expecting me to say. When I talk to a user about a fine I want to hear that they have learned their lesson. By being honest, I just sounded kind of bold and arrogant about the whole thing, even though that wasn't really how I was feeling. But Trooper Diolte probably thinks I have no regard for the law.

When I help a user who has a library fine, am I waiting for some coded acknowledgement on their part before I waive the fine? Could it be that those users who provided that coded acknowledgement do so randomly and the others are out of luck. Clearly, I wasn't on the same wavelength as Trooper Diolte (if I were, I would have received a warning). Is being on the same wavelength as someone who is in a position to waive your fine simply a matter of luck?

I actually have learned my lesson, and I feel like this experience shocked me sufficiently to keep me from excessive speeding for the next 23 years. On my return trip I stayed within 5 miles of the posted speed limit, which is about 20 mph slower than what I was caught for. And, instead of getting to my destination in 4 hours I got there in 4 hours and 15 minutes, with an extra quarter tank of gas, at less risk to my family, and without the risk of further financial penalties. I'm sure this will inform the next interaction I have with a user who doesn't seem to get it, because maybe they actually do.