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Making a Vision is the topic of the MEMO Summer Leadership Conference. We’re at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center MN. The speaker is Martha Alewine, from School Library Media Services, South Carolina Department of Education. The wireless in the center is very erratic, so I haven’t tried blogging live. Attendance is lower this year than last. I suspect that school media centers are demonstrating the same reluctance in planning that I’ve recently seen in public libraries. What a shame – visioning is exciting and the planning the follows is the first step to better programs.

A few interesting points from Day 1. (Martha continues tomorrow)

• Opening quote: Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is just passing the time. Vision with action can change the world.
• Identified stakeholders of the school library media center. Perception is reality. How do your stakeholders perceive you? Do they know enough about the media center to have a perception? Martha recommends a weekly update to the principal of media center activities.
• Identified characteristics of a good leader. Knowing what hoops to jump through. “Pick the hill on which you’re willing to die.”
• Recommended book Good to Great – Jim Collins.
• Media specialists may not be reading from the front, but leading from the middle. Between the administration and faculty and students.
• Led us through beginning of visioning process. SOCS matrix. Identifying Strengths, Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies.
• In groups, identified 5 main strengths through “Appreciative Inquiry”. (no whining, seeing the positive).
• Identified 5 opportunities.
• Using the strengths and opportunities, develop one goal.
• The goal for every group was some variation of — to ensure that every student was taught by a certified media specialist and that students achieved appreciation of reading, information literacy, & information technology standards.

This sounds like something that we can/should take to the legislature – a unified voice from the school libraries.

Senior citizens are a huge group to be reckoned with and served in libraries. We can be their gateway to World 2.0 and they will be our biggest supporters and advocates. In our obsession with chasing after the millenials’ attention, let’s not forget the seniors.

At work, we’ve had tremendous success with a Sr Techies grant project this year. At home, I’ve had great fun teaching technology skills to my 80+ year old Mom. She’s already worn out a PC, printer, and scanner (after starting with Windows 98). She sent me this E-mail that’s been circulating around the octegenarian circle– sent to her by her cousin, Vernon. I’ve found the seniors to be delightful with a great sense of humor and the ability to laugh at themselves. With thanks and apologies to the author (????) . . .

The Computer Swallowed Grandma!


The computer swallowed grandma.
Yes, honestly its true.
She pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’
And disappeared from view.

It devoured her completely,
The thought just makes me squirm.
She must have caught a virus
Or been eaten by a worm.

I’ve searched through the recycle bin
And files of every kind;
I’ve even used the Internet,
But nothing did I find.

In desperation, I asked Jeeves
My searches to refine.
The reply from him was negative,
Not a thing was found ‘online.’

So, if inside your ‘Inbox,’
My Grandma you should see,
Please ‘Copy,”Scan’ and ‘Paste’ her
And send her back to me!

I am in awe of the libraries of southeastern Minnesota and the supportive communities they serve. Here’s why, as once again I share a day in the life of a multitype librarian.

Molly (I introduced you to her in SELCO Librarian) and I went to Houston to begin work on a grant project for which Molly is the project manager. As we add new libraries to the SELCO Online Library System, we write grant applications called Community Libraries as Online Partners to fund the process. Again this year we have been awarded LSTA funds to bring on 2 schools. The first will be the Houston Elementary School.

Community Libraries as Online Partners is a fact of life in our region, as libraries who are regional partners on the automation system and in resource sharing support, encourage, and advocate for and with each other. School, public, special, and academic libraries are part of the fabric of the region’s communities and serve the same citizens together.

Houston High School has been online for several years. Automating the elementary library is part of the plan for the district, the town, and the region. We met Media Specialist Shelley at the school to plan the process. While the grant application set forth the timeline we envisioned in February, a flood, books thrown hurriedly into boxes, and a remodeling/restoration project which included asbestos removal have necessitated some modification to our original plan. Shelley is undaunted, and even the 95+ degree temperature in the school didn’t dampen her enthusiasm to get going (or was that 95+ the Minnesota humidity?) While the floor is still bare, and the water-damaged shelves aren’t ready for books yet, she and her assistants will be cataloging the books from their temporary cardboard storage containers.

As Molly and I talked, the admirable cooperation and support between the school and public library is apparent. The cataloging will be done following the same model we used last year, when we automated Houston’s new public library (that was last year’s Community Libraries project). The school media assistant worked during her summer vacation to accomplish that task and now is ready to do it all again. Books requiring OCLC cataloging will be sent to the regional headquarters through the public library delivery service (the school does not have summer delivery). The public library offered assistance through use of air-conditioned space for an additional cataloger. Did I mention that Shelley is on the public library board and is the representative to the regional library board?

Then on to the public library. Visiting Houston MN (along the famous Root River Trail) is like walking into library town. On the main street is the public library. You can’t miss it, because it has books all over the exterior of the building. You just know this town loves its library and the information access it brings to the economic development of the community.

Director Liz met us with delight and introduced us to everybody in the place. The President of the Friends of the Library was there, as well as a teacher at the school. A teen volunteer from Cheyenne Wyoming spends her summers in Houston. Another library customer proclaimed the excellence of the library service provided and recommended the author she is currently reading. (she convinced me) You can’t buy an advertisement like this. I’d like to bring this lady to Library Legislative Day! Heck – I’d like to bring this whole Community Libraries town to Legislative Day!

Blocking MySpace teaches kids as many good searching and internet safety skills as banning roads does teaching kids road crossing safety.

Thanks to Michael Stephens for quoting this e-mail from Stephen Abram.

In case you missed it . . . here’s how Google celebrated the 4th . . .

. . . and here’s how ask.com celebrated . . .

and library catalogues?

Reading the posts of conference bloggers is like looking into a window – you can see what’s going on, sometimes you can hear the loudest voices, but you’re left salivating for the scrumptious dinner on the table, which is definitely out of reach for the window peeper. That’s what’s happening to me as I read the blogs of those lucky enough to be at ALA.

Thank you Jennie Levine for this post from “Who Controls the Future of Search?” with Stephen Abram and Joe Janes, narrated by Roy Tennant. Roy asks: “What is your worst nightmare and your finest vision for the future of library search services, and what is your level of confidence in achieving either?” Stephen’s response is that his worst nightmare is that everyone in the field keeps looking at the other and saying “your side of the boat is sinking.” He says we’re perceiving millennials wrong, we’re fighting internally (school libraries aren’t teaching the kids properly) instead of banding together to fight the external problems (like politicans who cut funding) and we have to get better at advocacy and be willing to say cutting library funding is stupid.

Wow, I love the analogy of the sinking boat. His words echo what our State Librarian Suzanne Miller said the first time I heard her speak when she came to Minnesota. She said that we librarians need to speak with a united voice. She chastised us for being splintered and fragmented and not presenting a clear message.

I see too many libraries competing instead of complimenting the services of other libraries in the same community, who are serving the same citizens (especially kids), being financed by the same tax payers. It makes me irate as a taxpayer, saddened as a library professional to see libraries and schools or counties and cities engaged in bitter battle over who provides service or funding. I wish that every single community had a common library advisory group that met regularly to advise and support all the libraries in that community. A library group that worked to find efficiencies, economies of scale, and ways to streamline services to provide for a well-informed community of life-long learners.

From the Albert Lea Public Library Blog – Today is Let it go day! Whatever it is that’s buggin you, drop it! It’s only eating away at you and providing nothing positive. Thanks, Albert Lea! I feel better already.

Incidentally, Newlymintedlibrarian Mary Beth reminded me that today is Take Your Dog to Work Day. With no offense to my furry friends — NO THANKS

Ghostbusters? Or . . . .who does the library, information source for communities, call when they need assistance? The (paraphrased) mission of our regional library is to “. . . foster a seamless network of library services, promote cooperation among members, . . . and to foster collaboration and communication among the members.” As I review my calendar of regional activities for the last couple of weeks, I see an illustration of the mission statement in action and the value of our regional library system. Here are some of the things I’ve been doing with libraries in the region:

• Jennah, the media specialist at Goodhue School, asked for advice for her summer project, remodeling and re-arranging the media center. We introduced her to a seasoned media specialist from another region, who is well-experienced to offer consulting advice. Additionally we coordinated the collection of advice from other libraries in our region about moving shelves and installing new carpeting.
• In Northfield, Lynne, the public library director, and I met with the staff at the Northfield History Center and invited them to become a regional library member, thereby facilitating collaborative ventures with their local counterparts as well as other historical archives in the region.
• At Albert Lea Public Library, Peggy and Sarah discussed and demonstrated their use of reading program and blogging software and other library programs. I will be able to relate what I learned from their experiences to other libraries with similar needs.
• The Minnesota Digital Library Annual Meeting was informative and inspiring as we are considering implementation of a project to assist libraries and history archives to digitize historical newspapers and documents.
• At the brand new Rochester branch of Minnesota Business College I met with Rachel and Lee. They are eager to join the regional library to network with other libraries in the area and participate in training. We also discussed options for them to participate in delivery service for resource sharing.
• Erin from the University of Minnesota Experiment in Rural Cooperation called and invited me to meet with her. They have a collection of books they have gathered to support their project and would like us to facilitate their sharing the books with libraries in the region.
• At Spring Grove Public Library I assisted the library director, Millie, with problems she was having with her brand new blog. Then I got to help senior citizens attending a Senior Techie class, part of an LSTA funded regional training project.

Wow! It’s been a busy couple weeks full of very rewarding visits with libraries. But really, this is what regional libraries do all the time – just another day at the office ;^)

A nifty new bike and a hand-me-down for little brother

Happy birthday, Little Guy. You’ve got your wheels, and you’re on your way.