February 28th Readings

“Staffing Shifts Roil Orland Public Library” –American Libraries A synopsis of the accusations leveled against the new director of the Orlando County Library System.

Even after reading this article through twice, I could not tell you what its point was. It seems to be just a bunch of seemingly unrelated facts trying to form a complete story. I don’t think it got anywhere near that goal. It honestly makes me side with the director. The staff quoted had no good evidence. The best fact they had included data from 2 full years before the new director even took the position. The paragraph about the renovations also supported the director since she stated how she hopes to construct a “Wow Space.” What she describes there is essentially what is known as a third space, which is or at least was a huge goal libraries are after. While it is never my instinct to side with those in positions of power, all evidence appears to be pointing to a huge tangled mess of miscommunication. I’m looking forward to how others reacted to this article.

“Assessing Staff on the Competencies”-Library Technology Reports This chapter explains various methods of staff evaluation as well as what to do with the results.

I felt that there was something missing throughout most of this article. Most likely this can be explained by the fact this is basically an excerpt from a book (I think) and meant to be read as a whole. Either way I felt there was some important material here. Competence in your employees is crucial to running a smooth operation. The only real way to find out their (and yours) level of competence is by various assessments. They can be considered as a necessary evil in a way. Just be sure to choose the best way to implement the assessment so that employee don’t react in a “test and bristle” way.

I was faintly curious (as well as in need of an article to bring to the discussion) about assessment so I googled “library assessment tools” just to see what would come up. I didn’t dig too deeply into it, but a potentially useful website came up libraryassessment.info. It appears to cater more towards academic libraries, especially with the ACRL mentioned under categories. But I think for anyone looking for a good example of what libraries can do with assessment, this is a great place to start.

Perspectives On…”One Model for Creating a Career Ladder for Library Support Staff”-Fama & Martin This article explains the process that the Lamar Soutter Library went through to develop a career ladder for their library support staff.

While I had never thought this way about support staff positions before reading this article, I completely understood what they were getting at. There is definitely no where to go as a support staff unless you go on with schooling and get your MLS. Since this was my plan the entire time I worked in a library, I guess I never saw what was right in front of me. All of my fellow library assistants had been doing their job for about as long as I’ve been alive. I remember being in awe (and a little jealous) of the added responsibilities they all had though, from repairing materials to cataloging. While I am a full supporter of a formal recognition of their advance work, I am scared that allowing support staff too much responsibility essentially defactos them into doing librarian duties, without the degree. But that opens up the large can of debating whether or not an MLS degree is even worth anything these days.

“Working Knowledge-Manage Your Boss Please”-Pergander Quick summary of advice on working with your boss instead of against.

In general this short article seems to have some good ideas. Any way to make your relationship with your boss run smoother is a good option. It beats the other alternative of feeling powerless as an employee and always berated, but then, you may just have a bad boss in that case.