Food is Power . . . and Friendship

Your Small, Rural Library CAN Grow a Library Garden!

Does your small rural library advocate for the needs of your community?
Do you have a garden club that meets locally?
Do you have land available in close proximity to your library?
Do you have access to a Master Gardener or a University Extension Service?

Do you know that you can reflect the history and culture of your community through a library garden, and that you probably have everything you need to turn a small space outside your library into a garden?

Do you know that grants are available to support library garden projects?

It doesn't take much money, and doesn't have to be elaborate, requiring only a little elbow grease easily distributed between you and your volunteers. And if you don't have the ground, use pots and planters instead.

But in a rural community almost everyone has had their hands in the dirt at one time or another. You can incorporate vacant outdoor space into a library program (without spending money that you don't have) by employing a garden that can be enjoyed by library patrons, community residents, visitors, and staff and volunteers. For your small library functioning on a shoestring, this marketing idea has the potential to be GREAT!

I think these two particular libraries are fabulous examples of what a small, rural community can do for their residents by combining local history, and community action, with a library garden:

The Plain City Library in Ohio

Olympia Timberland Library in Washington State

Many activities and programs can be developed around a garden plot including teen's, senior's, and children's. And don't forget the differently abled and homeless: They love gardens too, and could probably benefit from the experience. I have always advocated for these demographics to get together at the library, and this is the ideal opportunity.

Here is what you can offer your library users through a library garden:

A new range of clubs. 

Skills development including science and gardening techniques, as well as language and literacy.

Art classes using nature prints and printmaking.

Cooking and preserving classes that share the harvest. 

Get the community involved by offering information presentations and hands-on experience. Advocate for these types of groups to help out: 

The Girl Scouts and Eagle Scouts

The United Way

4-H Clubs

Local schools and churches

VFW and disabled veterans groups

Non-profits

Master Gardeners and Junior Master Gardeners
The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

And when it's up and growing, don't forget the library garden newsletter!

Resources to help you start:

School Library Journal “Dig It! Library Gardens Sprout Up Coast-to-Coast”

http://www.slj.com/2014/08/programs/dig-it-libraries-are-creating-gardens-to-expand-their-mission/

Webjunction.org News “Growing Library Garden Programs” by Jennifer Peterson. http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/growing-library-garden-programs.html

Library Gardens.org for garden landscaping ideas for libraries.

http://www.librarygardens.org/

International Junior Master Gardeners

http://jmgkids.us/

Extension: Cooperative Extension System Master Gardener information

http://articles.extension.org/pages/27234/international-master-gardener-conference

So, what's stopping you from creating a library outdoor space for your community--in whatever space you have available--and promoting your library as a community-gathering place?


Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Broadening Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries.



image:  Thanks to Emily Baltes at Middle Library 
               https://www.pinterest.com/pin/247979523204997784/

Becomming an "Old Home Place" Library - Part Three - Customer Service

Community Focus = Customized Services = Customer Value

Here are some practical lessons in customer service, which is the sole reason why your library exists.

Do you know that "service" is the standard by which libraries are measured?

Your library patrons are your customers who come to you for products and services. Satisfied customers are essential to any organization, but especially to a small, underfunded and understaffed rural library. As a rural or solo librarian you need to establish behaviors in your organization that ensure good customer service.

Are you aware that you communicate with others through your words (7%), your voice (38%), and your body language (55%)?

So remember to smile . . . You are the library and You are essential to its success.

Any problem that can be found in the outside world can be found in your library, as well. Difficult situations or complaints are often fueled by bad first impressions. Strategies to head-off any potential trouble should include your being

• Approachable
• Attentive
• Helpful and
• Considerate

Here's how: 

ASK what your customer's want and listen to what they say. Make sure you understand them. Establish good eye contact and present a helpful face. Treat all customers with respect and courtesy.

RESPOND to your customer's requests by answering or referring their questions. Speak clearly. Provide them with choices. Don't make promises you can't keep.

SATISFY your customer's request by following-up with them. Be assertive, but not aggressive and give them your full attention.

Satisfied customers are essential to the success of your organization; so, make sure your customers are your first priority!

Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Broadening Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries.

Image:  http://www.sugarpiefarmhouse.com/the-old-homeplace

Occupational Burnout in Librarianship

A Passion Deficit: Occupational Burnout and the New Librarian: A Recommendation Report

Did you know that the cumulative effects of chronic occupational stress are contagious?

The consequences of workplace stress may result in emotional exhaustion that is rarely confined to one worker. Burnout, or prolonged exposure to stress, often drains the vitality and enthusiasm of an employee leading to less engagement and productivity. It increases

• turnover rates
• absenteeism
• decreased performance
• workplace accidents
• poor customer service
• and sometimes even predisposes litigation 

It also threatens the integrity and professionalism of an individual.

Here is a report about this prevalent issue in librarianship. This research determines

• the causes and effects of this problem
• explores suggested solutions noted in recent studies
• and offers recommendations involving administrative and personal techniques to prevent the escalation of this issue within the profession

Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Broadening Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries. 

Available on Slideshare.net

The Settlement Library Project Presents: A Passion Deficit: Occupational Burnout and the New Librarian: A Recommendation Report from The Settlement Library Project

Publication:
The Southeastern Library Association (SELA)
The Southeastern Librarian (SELn)
Volume 62, Number 4 (Winter 2015)
http://selaonline.org/publications/index.htm

Image: Infographic from careercast.com
http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/least-stressful-jobs-2015

Becomming an "Old Home Place" Library - Part One - Growing Your Library

Never forget: It's about an emotional connection

You and I realize that it is increasingly difficult for small and rural libraries to continue to survive. We know that a creative transition is necessary to ensure viability--one that includes translating into not only a center of information, but also one of local culture. Our goal should always be to grow services and relationships.

We also know that distributed forms of information have forced the central role of the library to modify. Individual communities with inventive and resourceful library boards and directors should be charged with developing some new strategy that will reflect the identity and personality of the community. This identity has the definite potential to create an "old home place" type of library environment for the locals. The idea is to build bridges where you can, and secure the faith of your residents. This will cement your small or rural library into their hearts making them come back and support your efforts. 

From the beginning, this blog has been about adjusting to, and implementing, this very specific modification. Here are the simple steps revisited:

Evaluate your customer's library experience

• Test your community: determine their opinions, ideas, thoughts, and information requirements.
• Then determine what services are most important for the pleasure and growth of your residents.
• Use this information to define the strategic direction you will need to take. 

Embrace new information technologies in your little corner of the planet

• Create a Vision . . . Tagline, Website, Brand, Advertising Strategy!
• Create a volunteer team that is tech savvy. 
• Create an advisory team that will keep abreast of current technologies and free informational Websites.
• Create a partnership with your local organizations, businesses, and groups to construct local educational opportunities, linked services, and cooperative skills. Get everyone involved!

Preserve the culture and historical value of your community

• Support and secure an emotional link through community history and memory projects.
• Focus on the personality of your town by reinforcing the identity of your residents.
• Begin a participatory archiving process for community pride. 
• Secure a community founded and funded informational, educational, and historical project that everyone can get involved with.

Experiment with creative spaces in your town

• Don't be afraid to ask: Capitalize on what's already out there by crafting small individual spaces within the community that draw attention and interest toward your library.
• Put up signage at the school, community college, fire hall, or VFW. 
• Be open-minded and creative concerning the use of your library space.
• Don't be afraid to start something! 

Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Broadening Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries



Image:  http://www.sugarpiefarmhouse.com/the-old-homeplace

Advocacy in the Rural Library: Become your own best customer

Become a Connector and connect across the miles.

I have talked alot about marketing on this blog.  Advocacy is something that breathes life into marketing, and marketing is what a rural librarian needs to breathe life into the rural community.

An advocate is one who pleads for a cause; a champion; a defender.  To be an advocate one must act upon, or do something.  Advocacy is a verb; an action word.  It does not entail siting around waiting for someone else to come along, pick up the standard, and get things done.  As librarians in rural communities, we must do it ourselves for our communities.  We must be the ones to positively impact behavior in our public enterprises and local society.  It is no longer enough to put a sign up; we must change and become our own best customers.

Advocacy influences the power structure of a library.  It helps to create allies, route information, and meet community needs in a low-income environment.  It is the difference between just being "there", and being a focal point and action center.  Advocacy keeps the lines of communication open, and forces library staff to be proactive in networking and promoting library services.  As information specialists in the new century, we need to think and behave like CEO's:  creative, dynamic, and venturesome enough to generate our own ideas into action, borrow them from successful organizations, and apply them at home.  Advocacy makes us "seen" and "heard".

"Librarian" is the perfect definition of a Connector. Connectors are the influential people in a community or locale who network and bring about rapid and widespread change.  This type of Connector-mentality creates the greatest library advocacy.  A Connector "grows" networks by sharing information, and by initiating access to information.  This is a person with an appetite for continuous learning, and one who is comfortable across a wide range of social and organizational settings.  This is the 21st century librarian who will bring the future into the rural library setting.

Everybody loves a good story, especially one that promotes wisdom and health into a community.  The library is already filled with the ideas of great thinkers, innovators, and doers.  Connectors can share themselves with the community by using the library as a "neutral zone".  Its about building advocacy through local civic and social service organizations, community activists, and religious leaders.  Every town has these people living in it.  This is the opportunity to invite people who turn great ideas into reality into the library setting.  It is up to the rural librarian to locate and connect with these individuals to create advocacy that helps solve community needs, and position the library as the focal point of the community. 

Library services are impacted by advocating with other types of Connectors because this type of connecting increases library value and library visibility.  So, become your own best customer:  become a community Connector and your library's greatest advocate!

See 'Fotched-On' Librarian's newsletter archive on Scribd for ideas and tips on how to go about it!


Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Changing Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries



image:  School Library Journal http://www.slj.com/2014/01/schools/california-school-librarians-look-to-higher-ed-during-advocacy-overhaul/

Outreach to Remote Users: Taking the Library Road into the Woods

Some of the most exciting opportunities in rural librarianship are in areas that have not been attempted before.  The goal is to give the patrons the best possible access to the largest possible amount of high-quality, high-relevance information.  The rural librarian in a small community may need to be prepared to depart from professional norms in order to benefit patrons.  Historically, librarians have not generally been rewarded for coming up with and implementing new ideas. Nonetheless, we need to encourage those who have crazy ideas to implement them, and run the risk that change sometimes brings.  A historical unwillingness to take risks and embrace new ideas is exactly the reason why some libraries are ignored by their public, while others thrive.

It is clear that fewer and fewer people are physically crossing the threshold into the public library.  Users not coming to us doesn't necessarily mean they don't want to see us; it may simply mean that we need to go to them. The forward thinking rural librarian sees this as an opportunity, rather than a crisis. A rural librarian is in a position to shape the future of a small community.

But there is an obvious problem:  a plate already full and the solo librarian or staff already going full-tilt.

So, what do we do?

Reexamine what you are already involved in, and the amount of time spent in traditional library practices. Weigh the benefits these actions provide against the cost of lost opportunities--in other words, the benefits that could be realized by doing other things instead. 

The opportunity is in online resources and making them easy to access and use.  This expands the number of people who actually make use of the library's services.  Offering remote access is a chance to make libraries as essential in the electronic era as they were in the print era, only richer, more complete, and more fun! 

Service to remote users is necessary in small, rural communities.  The 'Fotched-On' Librarian in small town America is needed to serve those who can't afford broad access, as well as to act on behalf of the sponsoring communities who require remote access.  This includes reaching-out to invite people not only through the library doors, but also through the doors that exist in Web-space:  doors patrons have a key to by virtue of their membership within the community.  Once a patron is through the doors of cyberspace, it is still our job to help them find and select from the manifold information available.  Services provided to users from a distance are every bit as real and valuable as those provided within library's walls.  Sometimes all it takes is to simply inform our patrons that we have these services for them to explore.

You may never see your remote users.  In fact, there are more differences than similarities among remote library users.  So go big with those wonderful crazy ideas, implement some of them, and take risks.  Swallow hard and plunge off the paved library road and into the woods, leaving some of your traditional burdens behind.

Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Changing Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries

Image: 
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2434370/Festival-No-6-unique-magical-festivals-around.html

Thanks to:  Donnelyn Curtis, Ed. 2002. Attracting, Educating, and Serving Remote Users Through the Web: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians.  New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Serving our Differently Abled Neighbors . . . with Attitude

Staff Etiquette for Serving Patrons with Disabilities Never Ends

After all these years, it is still an issue in rural librarianship. The Americans with Disabilities Act was a watershed moment that helped take the term “disabled” out of employment, public access, freedom of movement, and the ability to utilize public and private services.  However, many rural libraries to this day, suffer under the weight of ADA compliance mandates, especially in economically depressed states.  In the rural library these issues can be traced to a lack of funds to purchase technologies for adequate accommodations, a lack of addressing sufficient knowledge about disabilities with staff, and simplifying what small, rural libraries can do today to accomplish appropriate services.  

These issues can expose more serious underlying problems such as a greater likelihood of not meeting ADA compliance in the library structure due to a lack of staff training and attitudinal barriers; and library directors and branch managers actually being unable to comply with ADA mandates for whatever reasons.

Only a few of us might be considered experts in the area of serving our customers with disabilities within the library setting.  As rural librarians, let’s help ourselves address ADA compliance in the best manner we can, not only through assistive technologies as they become available in our neck-of-the-woods, but also through our attitudes and hospitality toward our neighbors who are Differently Abled.

Here are some simple how-to's:

• Approach a patron with an offer of help, but don't proceed until the offer is accepted.
• Do not pass judgment on the validity of a patron’s statement of disability:  disabilities are often invisible, and many people do not appear to have disabilities even though they do.
• Remember that people who use wheelchairs, or who are of short stature, may have difficulty reaching high shelves, while patrons with other disabilities may find it very had to bend down to reach low shelves.
• Do not touch wheelchairs or mobility aids without permission.  Leaning or hanging on a wheelchair is an invasion of personal space.  Moving a wheelchair or crutches may leave a person stranded.
• When patrons ask you to act as a guide, offer your elbow.  Do not grab arms or push patrons; instead, allow them to hold on and follow you.
• When giving directions to people with visual or mobility impairments, be very clear and include information on distances, changes in floor level, and any obstacles along the way.
• Remember that a disability is not an illness:  don’t treat people with disabilities as though they are sick.
• Don’t be offended by a lack of response or unconventional behavior.  People with hearing impairments may not have heard or understood you; other disabilities may affect social or motor skills, causing unusual responses.
• Remember that using a mobility aid such as a wheelchair or walker is not in itself a tragedy.  Mobility aids give people the freedom to move about independently.
• Do not pet or play with guide dogs or working animals. These animals are not just pets, and distracting them can put their owner in danger.  Always ask permission of the owner before interacting with an animal.
• Always let the person with the disability decide what they can and cannot do.  Don’t neglect to mention programs or services because you think patrons with disabilities might not benefit from them.
• Interact with patrons who have disabilities as you would with any other customers.  Remember always to think of the person first.

Brought to you by The Settlement Library Project:
Serving People, Changing Perspectives, and Sharing Resources in Libraries

 

Image: by Morton Bibow, Harvard Law School Project on Disability http://www.hpod.org/networking/idpo

Thanks to:  Deines-Jones, Courtney & Van Fleet, Connie. (1995). Preparing staff to serve patrons with disabilities. New York, NY: Neal-Shuman Publishers, Inc.

Free Agent Librarianship: Ready to Impact

Knowledge - not Ignorance

The “Real” Captain America
“Sentinel of Liberty”

Yeoman’s Service refers to an efficient, useful or loyal servant or assistant who performs or renders labor in a loyal, valiant, workmanlike manner; especially in situations which involve a great deal of effort.

Yeomen, or Yeowomen, are noted for their civic duties in the maintenance of affairs and are called upon to serve their sovereign or their country as a protector. Yeomen or Yeowomen are respectable, honorable members of a society: individuals who are considered upright in their personal and public dealings and experts in their field. Isaac Newton and Thomas Jefferson both hailed from the Yeoman tradition. And according to Sir Walter Scott’s "Ivanhoe," Robin Hood’s merry band of followers were also Yeomen and Yeowomen. In the Dr. Suess book, "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," the ‘Yeoman of the Bowmen’ was a master archer who was able to shoot the hat off the heads of those with questionable character. Yeomen and women are known by their cunning, skill, and courtesy.

So what does Yeoman’s Service have to do with librarianship?

It has been said that, “The perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate” (Luc de Clapiers). So it is in librarianship today when faced with the deterioration of liberties guaranteed to the public through our Constitutional mandate for intellectual freedom. The First and Fourth Amendments to our Constitution are integral to American librarianship. These rights accord all American citizens the freedom to seek and receive information on all subjects from all points of view without restriction. Founding Father and signer of the U.S. Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, summed up this fact well when he stated,

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be.”

In the United States, citizens enjoy the opportunity to participate freely in their government – indeed; they are the government - by voting, voicing opinions, supporting a candidate or even becoming one. Understanding how the government of the United States functions is one of the many responsibilities of a free public library system toward its community. Becoming informed on the basics and staying informed about government dealings is necessary to produce contributing citizens rather than careless critics. The major role of librarianship is to protect those individual liberties which support an informed, educated citizenry with access to information - including all government information.

This is the Core Value of Librarianship.

A public library exists as a Sentinel of Liberty. It serves the public as a free source for information and knowledge necessary for representative republic democratic ideals, points and purposes. In a democratic republic such as the United States, the people are the sovereigns who elect representatives to exercise the government’s powers according to written law. The highest duty of librarianship is to protect and maintain this constitutional system and the values established by our constitutional legacy.

This is the Yeoman’s Service.

The Father of the American Constitution, James Madison, wrote this: “A popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their OWN Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” (When using the term “popular government,” Mr. Madison is referring to a political power which resides with the people, not with a monarch or elite group such as czars. Two types of popular government exist: democracy and republic.)

The role of librarianship in this popular government is based upon the expectations of the citizenry. An informed and educated citizenry is the very best defense against despotic or tyrannous government movements or any laws made which defer from the original intent, or subversion, of our Constitution – the highest form of law in this land.

Freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech are as necessary as air to the search for truth.

For citizens to be well informed and educated, ideas must be available for examination and discussion. Our Founders made provision for an educated citizenry as an essential means to preserve this democratic republic and the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Although governments are instituted among men, their powers are derived from the consent of the governed. In order for the governed to give their educated consent, information must be available, accessible and understandable beforehand. As a marketplace for ideas, libraries must be free and not restricted by government action.

Librarians offer a Yeoman's Service to the governed.

Libraries are Sentinel’s of Liberty.

The Core Value of Librarianship is to protect individual liberties which support an informed, educated citizenry with access to information - including all government information.

It’s about Knowledge - not Ignorance.



Is your library technically considered a Rural Library? And what exactly is Free Agent Librarianship?

According to the United States Census Bureau, rural areas comprise open country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents. Areas designated as rural can have population densities as high as 999 per square mile or as low as 1 person per square mile. On the other hand, according to the ALA/APA Rural Libraries Survey, rural librarians define rural differently: to some a library is rural if it is isolated; to another, a library is rural if the main patrons are in agriculture or commute long distances to larger metropolitan areas for work; and yet another defines rural as a population of less than 5000 with more deer per square mile than people!

Regardless of how you define your demographic, Free Agent Librarianship can be a reality in your library and in your life. A librarian who is a Free Agent is not subject to external constraints through organizational structures, influential and politically motivated library associations, and is not bound by traditional teachings, hierarchies or stereotypes. Free Agent Librarianship promotes a library professional who is set at liberty to create, organize and advance an eclectic librarianship for the purpose of providing highly customized services and inventive possibilities for community information centers focusing on the community at large.

Free Agent Librarianship is ALL about entrepreneurship and making your library the center of your community. So be one!!

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America

Free Agent Librarianship: Able to Deliver

Independence - not Institutionalization

Maginot Line refers to an ineffective line of defense or fortification which is heavily relied upon with not a little undue confidence. A Maginot Line fosters a false sense of impregnability and reliance.

The story goes that Andre' Maginot (1877-1932) was a French Minister of War who proposed a line of defense along France's border with Germany. Although it was believed to be impregnable, the barrier proved to be of little use when Germans actually attacked France through Belgium in 1940. Those who adapt and attempt to utilize this line of defense often find themselves prisoners of history: victims of a repeated chosen path of dependency unable to deliver the needed outcome.

So how does Maginot's Line apply to rural libraries today?

Libraries are traditionally institutions. Institutions operate in an environment consisting of other institutions. Every institution is influenced by the broader environment through what is known as "institutional peer pressure." The main goal for institutions is survival and legitimacy. And although institutions clearly have the capacity to grow and adapt, they also possess the habit of being prisoners of their own institutionalized history whether calamitous or otherwise.

When dealing with an institution, history matters. Paths - or lines of defense and fortification - are chosen or designed early on in the existence of that institution. That path inevitably gets followed throughout the institution's development giving it an inherent agenda based on the pattern of development: you know, "That's the way we do things around here."

Truth is, the historical track of a given institution, or even policy's of the institution, will result in almost inevitable consequences and occurrences: an actual self-perpetuating cycle. Because actions of one type beget further actions of the same.

So how are libraries institutionalized?

Through "Vocabulary:" Not affiliating the library as a business in the business of people.
Through "Commitment:" Lacking a commitment to the energy, resources and time required for successful quality results.
Through "Process:" Being impatient with the process and eager for the resolution or "quick fix."
Through "Professionalism:" Relying on traditions, institutional standards and congregational respected bodies of knowledge instead of focusing on customers.

So what's the answer to institutionalized librarianship?

It's a simple and easy win! Be an independent quality service provider with a head for business. There are three paths to success you can painlessly utilize by having a

Positive Focus with a balanced perspective and an optimistic approach; and by

Embracing Change as both inevitable and desirable, and through

Building Vision by extending the librarian's domain, utilizing the customer's point of view, and embracing a broader concept of information services.

Don't let your dependence on institutional librarianship and hierarchical library organizations be your Maginot Line. The move toward independence in the library environment is not unnatural. An institution is a house of books; a Free Agent Librarian is a quality service manager with a community focus leading to customized services which accentuate customer value.

It's about Independence, not Institutionalization.



Is your library technically considered a Rural Library? And what exactly is Free Agent Librarianship?

According to the United States Census Bureau, rural areas comprise open country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents. Areas designated as rural can have population densities as high as 999 per square mile or as low as 1 person per square mile. On the other hand, according to the ALA/APA Rural Libraries Survey, rural librarians define rural differently: to some a library is rural if it is isolated; to another, a library is rural if the main patrons are in agriculture or commute long distances to larger metropolitan areas for work; and yet another defines rural as a population of less than 5000 with more deer per square mile than people!

Regardless of how you define your demographic, Free Agent Librarianship can be a reality in your library and in your life. A librarian who is a Free Agent is not subject to external constraints through organizational structures, influential and politically motivated library associations, and is not bound by traditional teachings, hierarchies or stereotypes. Free Agent Librarianship promotes a library professional who is set at liberty to create, organize and advance an eclectic librarianship for the purpose of providing highly customized services and inventive possibilities for community information centers focusing on the community at large.

Free Agent Librarianship is ALL about entrepreneurship and making your library the center of your community. So be one!!

Image: diversityrules.typepad.com/.../01/index.html