Overthinking It

I'm so thankful for other bloggers who inspire me to complete and actually share things I've been sitting on forever. Sometimes I get very frustrated with myself for being such a slow processor. I get an idea and I need to think about it and just let it be for a long while before I put it into words. Mostly I am learning to appreciate that about myself, but it's hard sometimes when I see people who are so talented at just getting things done quickly and efficiently.

I recently attended my first ALA, and it was amazing. I was able to have some great conversations with Melissa and Kendra about being a slow-processor, and I also sharpened some of my thinking about my approach to programming through Marge and Amy's session on Unprogramming.

One of the pivotal slides from Marge and Amy's Unprogramming session

I have DEFINITELY struggled with over-planning programs, and I have a few posts I've been sitting on that I feel like I can finish now (yay!). I love when I read a blog post, connect with colleagues, or attend a session that sharpens and focuses the amorphous blob of thoughts I've been sitting on forever. It feels like magic. 

Organizing Myself at Work

The change between being Youth Services Librarian/Assistant Director and working 45+ hours per week to working part time and splitting my hours between Children's Librarian and Reference Librarian has been pretty epic for me.

Photo Credit: NapaneeGal via Compfight cc

One of the biggest challenges was the way I work, and the way that I separate out my "personal" professional work from the work that is in my job description. Before, I didn't really have to think about it. Work was work was work, and it all took place in my office whether it was blogging, conference prep, book reviews, or employee evaluations. I was salaried, and I was there all the time. I used Outlook, Google Drive, and a giant desk calendar to organize everything, and it was good.  I didn't need to be mobile because I had one space to do all my work. Central command, if you will.

Then I moved and changed jobs, and was suddenly working at multiple desks with no spacious office, nowhere to put a giant desk calendar, no Outlook, and computers that won't even support Google Drive.

I was a bit at-sea. Here's what I've found to work:

• I have never found an online calendar that really works for me (I think it has to do with being a visual person and needing a sense of physical space to tie in with the passage of time, but I digress), so I bought myself a very nice planner to take care of scheduling.

• I took the time to organize my workspace in a way that works (though I am rarely actually in that space, even just organizing my stuff well made a big difference). 

• Work jump drive. ALWAYS WITH ME. Also making sure to make good use of the shared folders on our server, which I can access from any computer. 

•  To replace the CRUCIAL to-do list scheduling function that I relied on Outlook for, I researched and tried a bunch of productivity apps, and eventually settled on Vitalist.  I am intrigued by Evernote, but since it requires you to download it onto your machines, it wasn't an option for me. I needed something web-based since I work from so many locations. 

• I found that I'm AWFUL at working from home. When I'm working from home it's too easy to go down the rabbit-hole of endless 'net surfing since there's no interruption. Since all of my reviewing, blogging, and conference prep is on my own time now, I had to find a way to work from home more effectively. I started using an Internet-blocker app called Self Control (sigh). Basically you choose which sites you want blocked, set a timer for how long you want them to be blocked, and you're good to go. Despite the embarrassing name, I really like it, and it has been a huge help for me (self control! I has it!) Here's an app that works with Windows machines (I have not used it personally): Cold Turkey

It's a work in progress, but these are things that have helped me. What tools do you use to keep yourself organized?

Read This Book

Hey, early literacy librarians, read this book:

Mind in the Making

I admit that it took me a long time to get through this book, but that's because there's so much great information--I really enjoyed it and it never felt like a chore. It's geared towards parents, but ultimately falls more on the academic side of things; I can't imagine handing it to the average patron looking for parenting books. However, the book really supports what we do as children's librarians, and anyone who is interested in the science of brain development will appreciate the view of nurture via nature that the book presents.  The text is firmly rooted in research, and reading about all the different studies was fascinating and very enlightening. I felt like I really learned and absorbed a lot of the research since it was written in a way that was very accessible, so I came away with ideas about how to inform my work so that it falls more in line with the research.

I got it from the library, but actually just purchased it for my personal collection because I want to go back to it (I buy 1-3 books a year, tops, so this is a significant endorsement from me). 

I really really highly recommend this book!

Michigan Library Association's Spring Institute

Sara, Anne, and I had a fabulous time presenting at Spring Institute over in Michigan last week. I love the idea of a state library association sponsoring a whole conference just for youth services (I noticed when I arrived that it was the most fashionable conference I'd ever attended. At first I wondered if Michigan was an underrated fashion mecca, but ultimately I decided that we YS folks are just a particularly fashionable branch of librarianship).

If you're interested in seeing the slides from our presentation they are available here. Most of our jokes only work in person though. Sorry!

Anne has a collection of the ideas gathered during the interactive portion of our talk over at So Tomorrow. 

Enjoy!

What Flannel Friday Means to Me

For the two year anniversary of Flannel Friday, Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce is doing a special roundup of posts where community members reflect on how FF has impacted them.

Adorable graphic Sharon designed

For me, Flannel Friday was the beginning of creating a personal learning network (PLN) that has dramatically changed my career for the better. When FF started I was alone at a rural library with a too-big job and no network whatsoever. It was sad. And lonely.  Through Flannel Friday I got onto Twitter--FF gave me an entry point, people to follow, and reason to be on Twitter. Now I have a worldwide network of amazing librarian colleagues, many of whom have become real life friends, and that has led me into participating in librarianship on a wider scale by giving me the resources, awareness, and connections needed to get involved with presenting and committee work.

I love the idea sharing that takes place on FF. My first post included no flannel; it was a prop story. I continue to advocate for FF as a community for idea sharing rather than one specific format. It's so much more than just flannel board stories!

To me, Flannel Friday means community.

Conversation Starter 2013

Holy moly there are a lot of awesome conversation starter topics for ALA Chicago in June! I must admit that I'm feeling a little intimidated, but I have a topic on the table myself (with of my coworkers). If it's something you'd like to see, please make sure to vote for it waaaaay back on page 12 (see--so many great topics! I don't know how I'll ever decide which two I'm going to vote for).

Program on a Plate: Serving up Successful Visual Literacy Programming for Pre-Readers

by ALAConnect Helpdesk (staff) on Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 10:07 am Description: Besides storytime, what literacy programs is your library feeding hungry pre-readers? Visual literacy programming offers pre-readers and struggling readers a way to hone this crucial skill through collaboratively interpreting visual data and creating narrative. VizLit, like STEM, gives parents value-added programs with direct results.  Parents love it, kids love it; it’s a recipe for success! Join the conversation as we share our basic ingredients for visual literacy programming and help you develop strategies to implement these easy programs in your library.

Who else has an awesome proposal out there? Let me know in the comments so I can narrow down my choices!

Four Tips for Job Seekers

I've been able to be involved in a lot of public library hiring and training so far in my career, and I always meant to write up a post about some of the suggestions I have for library job seekers.

Today I read this great post over at Letters to a Young Librarian, and it inspired me to share a couple of gentle reminders.

 

1. Personality matters. A lot. A huge part of working in the library these days is customer service. We look at an enthusiastic friendly personality as a key skill that can't be taught, and for anyone who works with the public this is a huge factor. If you're someone who is quiet and nervous during interviews practice practice practice.

2. For public libraries, the core answer to every question is basically the same: Consider your users.
(Know your community/engage with your community/we do this to improve patron experience/to make it easier for patrons to___) I absolutely LOVE Cari Dubiel's take down of the "I like to read" response. She just nails it with this sentence, "The interviewer does not want to hear what the library can do for you.  She wants to hear what you can do for the library." So true, and extrapolating that answer out even further, everything you do for the library is for the benefit of your users/community. There's a reason it's called public service.

3. Your cover letter is too.damn.long. Librarians! Come on! You don't need to list everything that you've ever done in your cover letter. I know we're a long-winded bunch but if your cover letter is longer than this blog post you're not doing yourself any favors.

4. Read the Ask a Manager blog. Honestly everyone who needs a job, has a job, or ever will have a job should read this blog.

Pro-tip: Making the Most of Conferences

Totally what my desk looks like post-conference. Source

You know that thing where you go to a conference or workshop and have an amazing time? You get all fired up with awesome new ideas, avenues to explore, and procedures to implement. You take frantic notes, collect handouts, and network like a champ. You've got everything in your conference folder and head back to work ready to take on the world.

Then you get to work and all the happy conference thoughts fly out of your head due to about 10,000 emails in your inbox, notes from coworkers, damaged items, messages to return etc.

Your regular job momentum kicks in, and your conference folder full of hopes and dreams gets set aside, never to be opened again until your CE forms are due at the end of the year.*

The best thing I've done to combat this phenomenon is to literally schedule time to organize myself post-conference. Once you head back to work it's so easy to get sucked into the daily routine, but taking the time to prioritize conference follow-up makes a big difference.

Before leaving the conference, or ongoing during the conference, I like to sit down and make a list of:

1. Follow up list--People to contact post-conference, and why
2. Inspiration list--ideas I want to explore, further reading, professional development goals etc.
3. Implementation list--things I can bring back to my library right away, or things I want to share with my boss. 

Once I'm home or back to work, I enter these things into my calendar/to-do list just like I would for any other task. I decide what things need to be taken care of right away, and what things I want to come back to at another time and just plug them into my calendar. This works well for me because instead of a whole folder to deal with, I have a series of small manageable tasks that can easily be accomplished over time. Task management...revolutionary, I know.

If I don't make sure to prioritize and schedule post-conference tasks, it ends up just being a distraction from my regular job, and a fun waste of time. I owe it to my employers to maximize what I get out of conference attendance, because even if they aren't paying for the conference, they're allowing me to attend on work time.  

*for example. I think this has happened to a friend.

Stop Duplicating Efforts! Creating a Unified Online Community Calendar

source

Have you ever planned a program and no one showed up?

Ever worked hard laying groundwork for a new idea only to find halfway through that some other community group already does that?

 What about discovering (after you've published all your PR) that your big event conflicts with another big event in town?

I know I have. Imagine my delight when the head of Parks and Rec contacted me about starting a project to create a single unified calendar for the whole community  YES YES YES!

If you'd like to view the calendar we created, you can do so here, Antigo Community Calendar. In a nutshell, instead of many different organizations publishing event calendars, and event coordinators  needing to contact multiple sources to advertise programs, we're all using the same calendar. No matter what organization's website you're on, they're using the same calendar.

I recently spoke at the Wisconsin Library Association's annual conference about this project. I was only one part of a team that worked on creating the calendar, but I think it is such a great idea that I support it wholeheartedly, and think it's something that other librarians--especially those in smaller communities--might benefit from as well.

Our presentation was a success, and if you're interested here are some links to more information about the project.

Our presentation
Handout/Worksheet
Example of PR and category breakdown
Sample PR business card
Our funding was sourced by the local hotel/motel tax--see the application form

MLA Handout

Creating Professional Community: Beyond the Social Media Buzz

Instead of giving out paper handouts during our presentation, Sarah and I decided to post live links to all the resources we mentioned in our talk. The goal of our talk is to help librarians, especially those working in YS, to connect online and create meaningful professional networks. Hope this helps!

Contact Us:
Sarah Wethern
YA Librarian Tales
@whtabtpineapple

Anna Haase Krueger

 @opinionsbyanna

The World of KidLit

Cybils
Kidslitosphere Conference

Twitter:
Tweet Chats:
#readadv, #libchat, #yalitchat,  #FridayReads, #titletalk, #SaturdayLibrarian,  #satchat, #pblitchat

Edudemic’s artitcle “20 Twitter Chats Every Librarian Should Know About”
Twitter for Newbies (by Anna)
Why Twitter? “If You Were on Twitter Yesterday” by Scott McLeod

Sarah's picks:

@LizB, @Tuphlos, @jane_l, @gcaserotti, @lochwouters, @abbylibrarian @MrSchuReads, @100scopenotes, @himissjulie, @MelissaZD, @MissKubelik

Anna's picks:

@sotomorrow, @AskaManager, @catagator, @papersquared, @readingchik @screwydecimal @molliekay @daisycakes @PLSanders @librarian_lali @bobshea

List-Servs

YALSA-BK, PUBYAC, ALSC, CCBC-Net

Flannel Friday and Storytime Resources

Flannel Friday website
Flannel Friday on Pinterest
Flannel Friday website
Flannel Friday--Creating Collaborators and Friends

Mel's Desk
Abby the Librarian
What Happens in Storytime
Storytiming
Storytime Katie
Resource List on Mel's Desk
Storytime Share
Flannel Friday Blogroll
Flowering Minds
Design of the Picture Book

Pinterest for Libraries

Voya Magazine’s “How to Use Pinterest for your Library”
Archived Webinar on Pinterest for Librarians--You must register, but it’s free.

Marge Loch-Wouters’ Pinterest boards full of articles, tips, and tricks for using Pinterest in libraries

Videos
Storyblocks from CLEL http://www.storyblocks.org/

YALSA’s Webinars on demand http://www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinelearning/webinars/webinarsondemand

YALSA Academy http://www.ala.org/yalsa/academy

Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference

Come join us!

Minnesota Library Association

 
The fabulous Sarah of YA Librarian Tales and I are presenting at MLA tomorrow, Thursday 10/4 at 11 am. Our talk is called "Connecting with Online Communities: Beyond the Social Media Buzz"* and is all about how to use the internet and social media to connect with other librarians and grow professionally despite time and money limitations.

Make sure to say hi even if you can't make it to the program--I'm really looking forward to meeting some of my online colleagues in person!

*The name we submitted is different than the name used in the conference materials. This is the name you'll see on the conference schedule if you're looking for us.

Philosophizing

Have I whined mentioned my commute before? I live 42 miles from work. Yeah, that's an oil change per month. On the plus side, lots of time to listen to audiobooks! And I just got a new stereo in my car with an iPod hookup, so Playaways are now available to me, too.  Yay!

The point of me mentioning this is to say: I also spend a lot of my commute blogging...in my head. If only there were a legal/non-life endangering way to drive and blog at the same time, I'd be all over that.  Oh the wonderful posts I've written for you...in my head.

This is one of them.*

I've been thinking a lot lately about philosophies. Why do I certain things, why do I do them the way that I do, etc. I think it's important to be able to answer those questions--especially in institutions like libraries where there is such a long and ordered history. There are few things that make me cringe more than the phrase, "Because that's the way we've always done it."

That should never be the answer to anything. Seriously. If that's the only way you know to justify a process, it's time to step back and evaluate. I'd say re-evaluate, but chances are that there was never an initial evaluation. Libraries are notorious for this; going on Full-Steam Ahead! and rarely stopping to see if circumstances have changed or if there's a better way. Let's stop that, shall we?

I like to look at how things work in terms of systems, and think of more efficient processes and policies. I've likely annoyed many status quo-loving coworkers over the years but, alas, it is my nature to organize, systematise, and update. I can honestly say that in every job I've had, I've left the place running more efficiently than when I started. It's a good feeling.

In terms of what I'm doing now, I plan to write a series of philosophizing posts to cover the following topics:
My philosophy of teen services
My storytime philosophy
My art/craft philosophy
My music philosophy

I'm outlining my plans here in an attempt to be a bit more organized about posting, and get more of these posts out of my head and onto the blog where you can read them.

*The way I wrote this makes me think of the grammatically awkward opening to the show Hoarders, "This is one of their stories..." I thought about making that more intentional and playing up the joke, but my sense of humor is strange and I wasn't sure if anyone would even get it. So I decided to make an awkward footnote type thingy** down here so as not to distract from the serious nature of my blog-itizing.

**There must be a real name for the act of using an asterisk to make a post-script. If only there were some kind of research expert around to figure it out.