The Ubiquitous Librarian

Librarian As Entrepreneur

Editorials are so much easier than articles. Here is one I did for Info Career Trends: Librarian As Entrepreneur: A Blueprint For Transforming Our Future . I wrote it as a pep talk for the ‘younger' librarians. Oh, and personally, I don't see us as the Next Generation, but rather as the Now Generation.

Here are two nuggets from the piece:

• Take risks. Nothing is sacred; everything is up for change or renegotiation. We should support responsible risk taking. Librarians often ask how I persuaded my administration to allow me to use online social networks for library outreach. My typical response is that I didn't ask. They don't observe my classroom instruction or my reference desk encounters, so why should they be involved with the extension of those interactions? This depends upon the culture at your library, but I hope to see us evolve into more flexible organizations that empower staff, rather than remaining dominated by policy and hierarchy. We should to have the freedom to act professionally and responsively, and to address patron needs in a quick and appropriate manner.
• Initiate change. We can't always wait for others to do things; sometimes we have to make changes ourselves. If something is wrong, missing, or inefficient, let's not complain, but let's do something about it. I am inspired by the initiatives of two of my colleagues: Ross Singer, a web applications developer, was dissatisfied with many of the commercial products that we purchase, so he designed a value-added link resolver and is redeveloping the concept of "the library catalog." Bonnie Tijerina, an electronic resources librarian, recognized a gap in conference offerings and organized the Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference to address the need. We should take a solutions-based approach toward problems, and not settle simply for what is offered or for what has been traditionally accepted.

Assessment Stuff

Ok, so this is my latest article: The Role of Industry Standards: An Overview of the Top Engineering Schools' Libraries. It took me two years to write this due to motivation issues. It’s about engineering standards and kind of boring.

   

A far more interesting article in the same issue comes from Penn State: Assessing Reference: Using the Wisconsin-Ohio Reference Evaluation Program in an Academic Science Library

   

I am intrigued by the WOREP survey tool and hope that we use something similar in conjunction with LibQUAL+ this Fall. The gist of it is that it seeks to measure reference performance by collecting data from both the patron and the staff involved in a particular reference transaction and evaluating the success and satisfaction of the experience. Often times we (I) feel pretty satisfied with the assistance provided, but what do they think of us? While I am intrigued with the concept, if librarians/library staff know that they are being evaluated, I suspect they will provide a higher level of service… but we can let the assessment folks debate the validity; I like the spirit of the instrument.

   

Let’s get ubiquitous! Why not have a student walk around campus giving away a free iTunes song (.99 cents each) to 100 random people asking them to describe their most recent library experience. And leave it at that! I’d like to get outside our known user base, the people actually IN the library, and try and collect other experiences, even if they say “I’ve never been to the library.”