Opportunities with Summer Reading Programs

What does the annual Summer Reading Program mean to the Library?
This is an opportunity to for programming to show what the library has. It brings non-library users in the the library for free programming. Parents often have forgotten the value of free things to do with the kids. Take this opportunity to remind them. Once in the door, we have an opportunity to show them other services and materials of interest.
This is an opportunity to win new library users through exceptional customer service. While most libraries are very busy during this time of year, we can take advantage of higher attendance to allow the public to see just what they get with their tax dollars. It is also an opportunity to work with our staffs to provide them with scripts and scenarios to use. It is vital that we, as managers, make sure our staff understands the level of customer service that we require of them.
This is an opportunity to outreach to the community, people, schools and businesses. It's an opportunity to partnership with other government agencies. It's an opportunity to create partnerships that can be useful for both parties, not just during the summer, but throughout the year.
This is an opportunity to market the library. We are able to make library services known in the community, schools and business. Everyone is for reading and giving kids a help up to better education. Just about everyone would like to be associated with these efforts. Talk about what the Friends of the Library do. Talk about what a difference the library makes not only in the community, but also in individual lives. Talk about the library to everyone and everywhere.
There are endless opportunities I won't take time to mention here. The first to come to mind are opportunities to promote reading, career opportunities, volunteer and community service opportunities, but there are many, many more. During the hustle and bustle of this busy time of the year, take time to think of all these opportunities at your finger tips and how you can take better advantage of them. Remind you staff, particularly after the most hectic days, that they make a difference each and every day. It never hurts to let the staff know that you appreciate their hard work with moral boosters. We had a staff ice cream social to kick off the Summer Reading Program and we'll have another moral booster to celebrate the end of the Summer Reading program.

Maintain a Positive Attitude

With the economy in sad shape, library use has increased around the country. It's good that people are remembering and discovering the resources available at the library. With all this busy activity, heavier workload, it is easy to forget the real reason we are here in the library. We are here to serve.

Dealing with stressed and frustrated people takes patience and time. Just about every time we work through that frustration to get to the real need and hopefully meet that need, it is well worth the effort. We win another person sold on the value of the library. We get the satisfaction of a job well done. We learn new tools for our customer service tool box. Everyone gains and wins from the experience.

After attending a library customer service workshop with Susan Berk, I took time to think about what sets me off and to think of ways to respond without letting my emotions and feelings get in the way. It didn't take much time to think back about some customer encounters that I wished had gone differently. I went over the scenarios and thought of some scripts. Since that time, I had a few difficult encounters, but I was able to diffuse the situation and I went way less stress and frustrated myself.

Another thing I tell my staff is to work, really work, at maintaining a positive perspective. We are not just locating a book for someone or helping a patron set up an email account, we are making a difference. We open a new world to that someone, or a new career to the patron. There are endless possibilities in the library and we are opening up those possibilities to everyone who walks through our doors. For every difficult patron you may have, there are a hundred that walked away happy. You found the book someone was looking for. You were able to find that difficult to find statistic for someone else. You may just be the smiling face that asked someone to have a nice afternoon that turned his or her lonely day into something a less lonely.

Book Groups and Book Talks

Last week we completed our annual book talk at a local retirement home. My librarians and I cover anywhere from 6 to 9 books, both fiction and non-fiction, mostly new releases. It has stretched me to look at titles and genre that I would not normally be reading. Last year I covered three fiction titles, this year I covered one fiction and two non-fiction.

The hardest part of the preparation is picking the titles. I try to pick the titles early and to read as much of the book as time allows. Background research includes the author and reviews of the book. I also look for special features of interest in the book. I reviewed Cokie Roberts new book, Ladies of Liberty. She wrote the book to record history in the words of those who lived it. She did extensive research from surviving letters from the wives of the presidents and prominent families of the period. One point of interest was a collection of recipes in the back that included home remedies, as well as, food recipes. I'm already thinking about next year's titles.

We also have a great Book Club at the El Toro Library. Brian, my adult services librarian and Mary one of our Librarian Assistants do a fantastic job. Brian has a book club wiki that allows members to keep up with the reading list and to continue the book discussion in chat format. He also puts out a monthly announcement of new titles that are soon to arrive at the library. Mary is instrumental in adding fun touches. When the Book Club read Animal,Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, Mary made the zucchini chocolate chip cookie recipe from the book and Brian brought each member an heirloom tomato plant that he grew from seed himself.

Friends Appreciation

Every library depends on its Friends group, and when you stop to think about it, we would not be able to get along without them. The Friends of the El Toro Library are a great example. They are a productive, prosperous group of hard working volunteers that provide a large percentage of our materials (books, audio books in the various forms, periodical subscriptions, and all forms of audiovisual materials include DVDs); just about all our programming, including refreshments and incentives; and manage to throw in some much-needed extras like electrical wiring to the study carrels to provide greater WiFi access.

Friends are dedicated. They are hard working. They make a huge difference to the library and the community they serve. Children's programming would be very bleak without the generous donations for the Friends. And they manage to do these superhuman feats by selling books for quarters and dollars. It is truly amazing.

Thank you just doesn't seem enough. So I have been trying to think of ways to show our appreciation for their unending generosity, dedication and hard work. I'm on a quest to find something unique and personal. The usual thank you, coffee cup or certificate just won't do. Most of them volunteer in many organization and have many cups and certificates. I'd like to do something unexpected and memorable. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Ever Expanding, Technically

Yesterday, for the first time, we reached our WiFi capacity. The Friends of the Library had all our study carrels wired for electricity, adding 14 new locations for laptops. We expected this to happen, but it came a little sooner than expected. So I have started the wheels going to remedy this problem. We are also asking the FOL for a branch laptop and projector. This will improve programming and meetings. It seems the more we do to improve our technology services, the more we still need to do. We would be lost without the generosity of our Friends of the El Toro Library. The community would be lost.

Interviews are going very well. It seems we have more and more good to great candidates. Part of me wishes we can give every candidate a job, but we can't. It makes the decision hard. With the quality of candidates so high, any decision would be a good one.

Stats and library card applications continue to rise. I'm expecting a record Summer Reading Program this year, too.

Playing Catch Up

It has been extremely busy since the first of the year. I'm anxious to see how our stats have increased. I'm told we have had a rush on new library card applications. The staff has been busy with training our new part-time Library Clerk and working with an intern. We will be interviewing for another extra help (substitute) Library Assistant next week and will interview for three open extra help Library Clerks very soon. So we have been busy with this.

We have also had some trainings on customer service for all the staff. This has meant more time on the service desks for the professionals. (This is a good thing.) I have also been training in webpage management and PowerPoint, and there are our usual monthly meetings. We had a very successful third Literary Orange at our new annual location at UC Irvine. Laguna Woods celebrated their 10th anniversary of being a city. I also manage our Laguna Woods branch and we participated two events. There have been several personnel reviews due.

All these add up to my time being stretched very thinly. It seems like I have been playing catch up too much in the last month or so. These times are good for taking a few minutes to realign your priorities. This accomplished, the backlog of reports and projects is dwindling. There is some light at the end o the tunnel.

Technology training

Training with new technology is an ever ongoing process in the library. OC Public Libraries has a new website designed to allow each branch some control over the content. So I will be learning to manage a webpage. It is a little daunting, but I'll rise to the challenge. At this point I'm not sure what I'm doing, but this will pass and I look forward to the new creative venue to promote the library.

Over the next few months we will also be learning to use Training Partners. This is a means for registering and recording trainings, classes, seminars and even webinars. It not only allows us to register for County training, but also allows us to record continuing education from all resources, including college classes and seminars, workshops, and webinars both those we in which we participated or viewed.

Also on my training schedule is learning PowerPoint. Over the last year we have had several presentations at the library. I've taken two classes and really like the creativity of PowerPoint. I plan to use it for all the general staff meetings. We will be have more community service programs like selling on eBay and online job searching. With PowerPoint we can do more in house programs. Now we need to get a new laptop and projector for those upcoming presentations and programs.