Edward Scissorhands
Sunday, April 1, 2PM
Central Library
The film screening will be followed by a discussion led by Jamie Rocco, Ordway Center's Vice President of Programming and Producing Artistic Director. Mr. Rocco will also share interview clips of Matthew Bourne--the creative powerhouse behind the stage sensation.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
LEARNING OPPORTUNITY
Interested in learning more about Web 2.0 and social networking software? Meredith Farkas has made webcasts and podcasts from her online class, Five Weeks to a Social Library, available online so that even those not enrolled can benefit.
--Andrea
--Andrea
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Exciting resources!
I've been taking an information policy class and I've found out about a lot of great resources. Most of them have a strong focus on policy, so many people probably aren't interested in them. BUT here are a couple that could be helpful to our patrons:
http://www.opendemocracy.net This is a news site for global current affairs. You can look for articles, editorials, and forums on a particular region or topic. I really like that it has overviews of issues as well as more in-depth research, on the Iraq conflict for example.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Audio_Books_Project Project Gutenberg, the public domain digitizing giant, is working with some organizations to provide downloadable audio books. I'm more familiar with librivox.org, but the three projects combined can provide a lot of titles--for free. How exciting! And they are looking for volunteer readers to make more books available, if you're looking for something to do.
-Katrina
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Next Generation Leadership: Where Do We Go from Here?
Rachel Singer Gordon, author of “NextGen Librarian’s Survival Guide” and webmaster of LISjobs.com (among other accomplishments) talked about the difficulties inherent in managing and (on the flip side) being managed by people outside your own generation.
Understanding the problem, and how it can affect both the supervisors and supervisees was the easy part. Everyone working in the profession today is aware of the “graying” of the profession, and that we need to both attract and retain younger librarians to continue the profession into the 21st century. The difficulty comes when you start to map out what you can do that will effect that.
The exploration of generational issues was particularly well handled, but the part which dealt with managing nextgen librarians was (I thought) rather ineffective. Many of the suggestions made came from other articles which Rachel Gordon has written for LJ or other professional reading, and were less about intergenerational management than about good management in general.
Her main focus seems to be that if we don’t talk about the potential conflicts, we will fail to take advantage of the strengths of everyone on the team. We cannot ignore such all encompassing social issues (which affect so many people so deeply), and we need to examine what our own prejudices about each generation might be, so we may be better able to see how to change some of these beliefs. No one likes to be defined by an artificial stereotype, whether they are baby boomers, millennial generation or nextgen.
Many of the remedies mentioned are already being tried here at SPPL, i.e. vertical teams of employees working together on committees, collaboration across age lines, and attempting to instill a certain autonomy in the workplace.
The one thing I will carry away from this webinar is a new word (new to me, at least). The term is “neotony” and it means carrying youthful characteristics into adulthood. What a delightful concept! Let us hope that the characteristics being carried into adulthood are positive ones.
Doris
Understanding the problem, and how it can affect both the supervisors and supervisees was the easy part. Everyone working in the profession today is aware of the “graying” of the profession, and that we need to both attract and retain younger librarians to continue the profession into the 21st century. The difficulty comes when you start to map out what you can do that will effect that.
The exploration of generational issues was particularly well handled, but the part which dealt with managing nextgen librarians was (I thought) rather ineffective. Many of the suggestions made came from other articles which Rachel Gordon has written for LJ or other professional reading, and were less about intergenerational management than about good management in general.
Her main focus seems to be that if we don’t talk about the potential conflicts, we will fail to take advantage of the strengths of everyone on the team. We cannot ignore such all encompassing social issues (which affect so many people so deeply), and we need to examine what our own prejudices about each generation might be, so we may be better able to see how to change some of these beliefs. No one likes to be defined by an artificial stereotype, whether they are baby boomers, millennial generation or nextgen.
Many of the remedies mentioned are already being tried here at SPPL, i.e. vertical teams of employees working together on committees, collaboration across age lines, and attempting to instill a certain autonomy in the workplace.
The one thing I will carry away from this webinar is a new word (new to me, at least). The term is “neotony” and it means carrying youthful characteristics into adulthood. What a delightful concept! Let us hope that the characteristics being carried into adulthood are positive ones.
Doris
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
EVENT AT CENTRAL
Sunday, March 4, 2:00 p.m. - Central Library 4th Floor Meeting Room
My Autobiography, My Life: The Heartwarming Story of an Orphan Train Rider as told through the blocks of a quilt - Author and quilt maker Ann Zemke uses her book, They Named Me Marjorie: The Brave Journey of an Orphan Train Rider, and a very special quilt to tell the story of her grandmother's life, including her experiences as an Orphan Train Rider.
Barb M.
My Autobiography, My Life: The Heartwarming Story of an Orphan Train Rider as told through the blocks of a quilt - Author and quilt maker Ann Zemke uses her book, They Named Me Marjorie: The Brave Journey of an Orphan Train Rider, and a very special quilt to tell the story of her grandmother's life, including her experiences as an Orphan Train Rider.
Barb M.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
CUSTOMER SERVICE UPDATE
As part of Central’s Strategic Plan implementation of the goal of making library services more readily available, we will shortly begin providing a Library Greeter in the lst floor lobby during the busy lunch hour time (11:30-1:30). The Greeter will welcome patrons and provide basic directional information. The Greeter will have a laptop to do brief catalog searches as well as access information from our website.
Also, we will be increasing the “roving” aspect of our reference services. More libraries are offering roving reference with overwhelmingly positive response from patrons. “Passive roving” (walking around waiting to be questioned) is one option. Another option is “broadcast roving” (“Anyone here have a question?”) Most effective is the individual approach -- asking individual patrons something like “Are you finding what you’re looking for?”
Look for more information on the Greeter position and roving reference at Saturday morning meetings and your mailbox. In the meantime, if you have any questions, ask Phyllis, Greg, Doris or Barb S.
--Barb S.
Also, we will be increasing the “roving” aspect of our reference services. More libraries are offering roving reference with overwhelmingly positive response from patrons. “Passive roving” (walking around waiting to be questioned) is one option. Another option is “broadcast roving” (“Anyone here have a question?”) Most effective is the individual approach -- asking individual patrons something like “Are you finding what you’re looking for?”
Look for more information on the Greeter position and roving reference at Saturday morning meetings and your mailbox. In the meantime, if you have any questions, ask Phyllis, Greg, Doris or Barb S.
--Barb S.
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