Signing Off

With great regret, I'm bring Library Grace to an end. It has been inspiring and enjoyable to comment on library management and the trends and issues in the library world. It has meant so much to communicate with a few readers and to encourage and mentor other librarians and future librarians.

Hopefully at another date I can take up Library Grace again. Until that time, I'll be writing a column for Caring Kids and Communities, a local publication in southern Orange County, California.

Wish you all well and much success and happiness in your library careers and library experiences. Libraries have been very good to me and provided a very rewarding and fulfilling career these last 32 years.

Back to School

School has started. It is a little quieter in the mornings, but the library is jam packed after school. It looks like it will be a very busy school year. The usual runs on titles for reading lists is well underway. We have had one school visit and this is only the second week of the school year.

Along with the school rush goes keeping up with the book displays. It seems all our children's book displays are depleted as soon as they are stocked. We are working on ways to maintain this as it is a good indication of greater circulation.

Programming for the fall is planned and Storytimes start up again this week. We are very fortunate to be able to continue with Spanish Storytime this semester. Other programming will include monthly after school programs and a special program from the American Lung Association, Asthma 101 in October.

New this semester is the El Toro Library Teen Advisory Board. These enthusiastic teens have had their first meeting. The Board's first project is Teen Read Week coming in October, the 18th through the 24th.

It looks to be a very busy school year. The staff is excited. We have greater interest and participation from kids, teens and parents. We are looking for new ways to better serve with more programs and new materials. Special thanks to the Friends of the El Toro Library who make all this possible.

Bookless Libraries???

During the last week I read a couple of articles about bookless libraries. And the prospect is a little frightening and even threatening. I consider myself old school. I love dusty books and the adventure waiting between the covers of every one. A world without books is an impossibility that I can neither imagine nor fathom.

Yes, I understand about Library 2.0 and try to learn something technical or electronic daily. Trends in society are moving to rely on technology more and more. There are so many options and choices. A book can be read in several print forms, or many electronic forms, and it can be listened to in several forms. I would not think of eliminating any of these forms, so why eliminate books?

The publishing industry is struggling. Authors are releasing their work electronically with some never making it into print form. The world is changing, but does it have to leave books behind? I read from electronic devices everyday. I would be lost without my computers at home and work. I would be just as lost without books.

Libraries have always been about change. We are continually growing and changing. Trends come and some stay, some don't. One of the best things about libraries is the way they adopt the new, then adapt it to the old.

It doesn't have to either/or when it comes to books and electronics. There is plenty of room for both. There are times we prefer to read books and other times when reading from an electronic device is preferred or more convenient. At least we have a choice. Isn't this what freedom is? Wouldn't bookless libraries take some of that freedom away?

Take care of yourself

This has been a very hectic summer. We have been short staff and everyone seemed stretched to the limit. As usual, I've neglected to to make sure that I had enough time off to rest and recuperate. This is so important as a leader, a supervisor or manager, we often wear all three hats.

Your staff looks to you for direction. It is imperative that you, as their supervisor are at your best -- calm, cool and collected. It's guaranteed that if you are stressed and worn out, your staff will be too. Mistakes increase. Customer service will not be optimal. The list can go on and on.

I remember attending some leadership workshop long ago that suggested that we treat ourselves to a day trip once a month, a long weekend away from home once a few months and vacations twice a year. At the time that sounded like a lot of time off, but I have come to see that all this time off is essential to your mental health. You come back to work revitalized, refreshed and ready to clear for action. You are able to make clear decisions and find solutions to the endless little problems that pop up.

For some reason, I am always happy to give time off to staff, but neglect myself. It's common for me to step in to fill in a scheduling gap and the next thing I know I'm working six days in a row or as in this month three Saturdays in a row. I'm returning after a week off and I'm amazed in the difference in my clarity and decisiveness.

It is more than doing something nice fore yourself. As a leader you owe it to your staff to be at your best for them, to direct and shape the culture of your library. You can only do that with the proper amount of rest and relaxation. Take time to reflect on the direction you are headed, to fine tune your means of transportation there, and celebrate the accomplishments along the way.

Dog Days of Summer

We are in the last stretch of the Summer Reading Program. We have doubled enrollment this year and I'm anxious to see if the number completing the Summer Reading Program has increased as well. We have completed all the special programming for this year and are still doing well with supplies and prizes.

Staff is a little weary and ready for the quieter, slower last few weeks of summer. There have been a rash of much deserved vacation requests. We are already looking in to planning programming for the fall. Storytimes will be starting up before we know it.

Overall it has been a very productive and successful summer. The Summer Reading Programs at all levels saw greater participation and excitement. We were able to provide more special programs this year through the generosity of our Friends Group. Library attendance is up, as is circulation and new library card applications. El Toro Library has been bustling with activity.

Calm in the Storm

It seems that there is a short calm in the storm as we pass the halfway mark for the Summer Reading Program. The flurry of activity at the beginning as everyone rushes to register, children, teens and adults, has subsided.

The children's program, Home Run Readers, exceeded last years enrollment in the middle of the third week. We have an estimated 800-900 enrolled, the highest in seven years. Sponsors and donors have been very generous and we have plenty of incentives to encourage reading through the summer.

Both the Teen and children's programs are partnered with the Angels baseball team and the theme has been very popular. The Angels have been very generous, provide great incentives, beach mats, bobble heads, batting helmets, salsa dishes, clocks, backpacks in the shape of a catcher's chest pad, growth charts, notebooks and more. the grand prize is tickets for four to a special Home Run Readers game. One lucky winner will get to say. "Play Ball" to open the game.

Special programs have also had full attendance. We have had to turn a few kids away each week. Our community room has an occupancy of 116, so we restrict admittance to children ages 4-12. All the programs have been great and I can only praise the excellent job of our children's librarian and her volunteers.

The Teen program has also exceeded expectations. We have doubled last years enrollment with hope of reaching 100 enrolled by the close of the program. The teens have been invaluable volunteers as well. It seems that we have older, more responsible teen volunteers this year. This has helped make this year Summer Reading Program run smoothly and more efficiently.

The adult program, our third year, has tried a new approach. It's entitled Scrabble Mania and adults enrolling in the program can read to earn chances in the drawing, register for to play Scrabble for chances for the drawing or do both. This has been our most successful adult program yet. Attendance at the Scrabble games started out low, but everyone was encouraged to bring a friend and it has grown steadily with each program. The Friends of the Library purchased prizes, a Scrabble mug, Scrabble book bag, Scrabble cap, Scrabble books and the grand prize a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. Kudos to our adult librarian and his very unique theme this year.

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.

The Economy and Libraries

It has been extremely busy since the first of the year. Libraries across the nation have reported a sharp rise in library attendance and use of library services. Many coreelate the hard economic times and the rise in the unemployment figures to the increased demand for library services. Why rent movies when you can check them out from the library for free. Why buy books that you are unlikely to read again, when you can borrow them from the library at no or little cost. Looking for something free to do with the kids, check out what is going on at the library. Library managers are stretching their budgets and staff to cover this increased demand.

While all this is happening inside library buildings, city, county and state administrators are facing large budget deficits and demand to cut spending. This usually translate into cutting services and costing jobs. Yet in the library, we are witnessing much higher attendance, circulation and demand for services. It is hard to find a better value for our tax dollars.

Librarians are very creative, we rise to the challenge and we will weather this, too. It is time for evaluating our resources, deciding what services are important for this current situation, and making some long range plans for the coming years. All the economic indicators say this crises will not be passing by quickly. This is time to trim away the dead limbs, the outdated services and practices and really step into the 21st century. I look at this hard time as a time for transitions, a time to get fit and trim and into peak running condition.

Over the next few weeks I'm planning to spend quite a bit of time thinking. Thinking about what is really important to the people using the El Toro Library. Thinking about where we should be in five or ten years. Thinking about how this can be accomplished. Thinking about engaging the community into greater support for library services. This is the challenge.

Staying Connected @Your Library

Libraries have entered the Twenty-first century and technology is at the apex. It has entered all our lives with a new impetus. Later this year all the study carrels will be wired for electricity making access WiFi easier. Last fall we implemented a Teen Twitter account to reach teens with Twitter messages about library events and new materials of interest to Teens. The Book Club has a wiki for its members to keep with the reading list and even chat. Last year we upgraded to a new digital phone system. We are expecting a new website, enabling us to be able to reach more people, quickly and timely.

We are helping people to stay connected in other ways, too. We offered programs on selling on eBay and a program on job searching online is coming in March. We had a highly successful Spanish Storytime in January. The FOL have generously contributed to the OCPL eAudiobook collections, supported Reader’s Rally and Literary Orange.

What does all this mean to you, the library user? It means that there are more options for you. The first word that pops into your mind on hearing the word library – is books. But libraries are much more than books. We see libraries becoming more of a community center than ever before. We are growing to include many new formats in addition to the printed word. All this is possible through you, the Friends of the El Toro Library, and your diligent efforts. You have made a tremendous difference, not only in our library but in the community. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough when you provide endless possibilities for so many.

With great sadness we bid farewell to Bob Geiss as he steps down as treasurer. Mary FitzGerald has been an institution with the Friends. She has been president since I came to the library in 1994. Fortunately, she will still be volunteering in the bookstore and we can look forward to seeing her each week. We also bid farewell to Irene Bauer as membership chairperson and thank her for her willingness to serve. 2009 has started as year of change and transition. But out of this change will come new growth. The library staff and I wish the very best to Mary, Bob and Irene in all they do.

Grace M. Barnes
Senior Branch Librarian
El Toro Library

This is an article I wrote for the Bookish Bull the newsletter for the Friends of the El Toro Library.

Reader's Rally at El Toro Library

Reader's Rally at OC Public Libraries is in its third year. Each year it has gone through transformations and improvements. It began as an incentive for Orange County residents to visit a different branch of the OC Public libraries. With the high cost of gasoline and current economic woes, Reader's Rally has transformed into an open house at each branch. For a two week period beginning, February 1st and ending February 14th, you are encouraged to visit your local branch of OC Public Libraries. During the two weeks, anyone may participate in the trivia contest. Prizes will vary at the individual branches, some prizes are offered through the generousity of Friends of the Library Groups. We have a limited number of refrierator magnets with library information, braclet UBS drives for the drawing winners for each branch, and each branch will produce a READ Poster featuring the grand winner.

Each branch may choose a day during the two week period of Reader's Rally to have Open House Celebrations. AT El Toro we will be celebrating this on February 5th. A craft table will be available for kids through out the day. Balloons will be given out while supplies last. Between 2:00 and 4:00 pm we will have a reception in the comunity room with refreshments. And at 7:00 pm we will have a family program, featuring Abbit the Average, a comedy, magic and variety show for the whole family.

I'm aleardy making plans for next year.