HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 15, 1991COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
PUBLIC LIBRARY
CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
TO:
FROM:
Stuart W. Anderson, City Manager
M. Rebecca Loader, Library Directort~
SUBJECT:
Operational Report #58 (November 4-November 16)
DATE:
November 15, 1991
Significant Accomplishments
A. Two sessions of pre-school storytime were held on 11/5 and 11/6 with
47 in attendance. Two sessions of Tiny Tots were held on 11/7 with a
total of 62 in attendance.
B. The Library Board met on 11/6 with 8 attending.
C. The Friends cancelled their regularly-scheduled meeting on 11/4 and
met on 11/12 instead with 10 members present.
D. Two sessions of per-school storytime were held on 11/12 and 11/13 with
63 present. Two sessions of Tiny Tots were held on 11/14 with 61 present.
E. Senior Citizen Filmtime drew 40 people on 11/13.
II.
Departmental Goals
A. The Midwest Federation of Library Associations held its sixth quadrennial
conference in Minneapolis October 30-November 2. Attendance was hampered
by the Halloween Blizzard, but some staff members were able to attend.
Please see attached reports.
B. A new copier was delivered to the library on 11/7. It will be available
to the public 11/18.
C. On 11/7 Becky met with representatives from the Anoka County Library and
the Anoka Public Library for the quarterly review of the automation system.
Several procedures and upgrades were discussed.
D. A light was added to the parking lot behind the library building to increase
security lighting.
E. On 11/14 Mary Kloss resumed a bulk loan arrangement with Parkview Villa. This
service has been active for many years, but had been temporarily halted during
their extensive remodelling project.
III. Issues and Problems
A. The Friends of the Library are sponsoring Project Bookshelf again this year.
The Friends are asking people to donate a new children's book (pre-school
through teen-age years) to the project before December 13. At that time
the books will be sorted by age group and distributed throughout the C6unty
along with toys solicited through various agencies. Last year the Friends
distributed 176 books to children through SACA.
B. The library will close at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31, 1991. This
action has been approved by the Library Board and the City Manager.
OCTOBER
LIBGIS
Circulation 1990 1991 Reference ~?~ ~
Adult 5,992 6,291 Directional A 448 332
Juvenile 6,860 6,816 Directional B 68 58
12,852 13,107 Working days 27 27
Midwest Federation of Library Associations (MFLA)
Sixth Quadrennial Conference
October 30-November 2, 1991 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Minneapolis
I attended MFLA on two separate days.
October 30
A. "Collection Assessment:
Developing a Profile for Cooperation"
Four librarians described a project in Illinois that included
over 100 multitype libraries. Funded by two LSCA grants, the
project evaluated each collection by areas represented by Dewey
Decimal classification. Data indicating quality and quantity of
holdings was compiled into a document and map showing locations
of strong collections.
B. "The Library as an Entity of Culture"
Dr. Jennifer James, an anthropologist from Seattle, wowed the
audience with an analysis of the library as an informational
institution in a culture in transition. She outined practical
methods for dealing with change and used models from popular
culture to illustrate her points.
~C. "The Future of the Public Library is Now"
Susan Goldberg, Director of Minneapolis Public Library, used an
ICMA report on trends affecting local government to pinpoint areas
of concern for libraries.
D. "Buying CPU Equipment for Integrated Library Systems"
David Dorman, automation consultant, presented an analysis of
automated systems and discussed ways to project future upgrades
based on use.
II.
November 2,
A. "Combined/Shared Facilities for School Media Centers & Public Libraries"
Librarians from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota presented
varying viewpoints on this controversial topic. The consensus was
to stress cooperation, not combination, among agencies.
B. "The Legislative Trip"
Deborah Miller and Elaine Cooke, professional lobbyists, discussed
the role of the legislative process and how it effects libraries.
They emphasized the part public relations plays in libraries.
C. Susan Allen Toth luncheon
Toth, local author of Reading rooms: America's foremost writers celebrate
our public libraries, spoke about why she started to write, how she
decided to write this particular book, and the many reactions she
has received.
On Thursday, October 31, 1991, I had the opportunity to attend the
Midwest Federation of Library Associations (MFLA) 6th quadrennial
conference at the Hyatt Regency. I attended several different
sessions that were offered that day.
One session entitled "Quality Service in a changing enviornment".
The presenter, Dick $chaaf, is a co-author of the book entitled:
The service edge: 101 companies that profit from customer'care.
He was a dynamic speaker who outlined basic steps to providing
the best service possibl~ and how to motivate your employees to
meet these standards of service. His focus was on management,
with suggestions on how to Select, T_rain, E_mpower, R_ecognize, and
Reward employees. His key phrase was the best service is attainable
when employees are STERRed not shaken.
I also attended two different sessions regarding reference information.
One was "Librarians in a pinch". This was very basic information on
learning what materials are available in your library. Their suggestion
was to go into your reference section and look at what materials you
have available and then familiarize yourself with what information
they contain. The other session was "Off to a good start: reference
training from the first day to the last". This program was presented
by four reference librarians from Ohio. Their emphasis was on what
type of basic training criteria should be set up for your newly hired
reference staff. These two sessions were not what I had expected, although I
did get handouts from both sessions that I can share with my co-workers
that could be of interest/assistance to them. Finally I attended a
program entitled: "Storytelling extravaganza II". This session was pure
enjoyment. A pre-selected group of people were asked to perform their
favorite story before the group. Several of the story tellers were
exceptional. I appreciate the opportunity to attend this very.special
event for library personnel.
On Thursday October 31, I attended the MFLA conference as a
replacement for Jo. I attempted to cover as many sessions as possible
and to view the exhibits. The following is a report of my impressions
and an evaluation of the sessions I attended.
Jeannine and I attended the 9:00 conference entitled Librarians
in a Pinch. After 10-15 minutes we both agreed that the program was
much too elementary. The speakers suggested reading Katz reference books
as a "very readable and enjoyable" start to explaining reference tools.
They then went on to suggest shelf reading the reference collection to
become more familiar with the tools. From here they discussed basic
reference tools--item by item. Beginning with the World Almanac,
World Book encylopedia and the telephone directory. I suspect the
program was geared toward entry level personnel.
About 9:20 Jeannine and I walked into the Shared Online Database
Systems session. I found this session interesting. We stayed to hear
one special speaker, Bernie Sloan, director Illinet. The possibility
of linking multiple systems--and accessing from your home is out there
and working. The stumbling blocks or stepping stones toward that end
are still quite sizeable, however.
The last 9:00 session: Quality Service in a Changing Environment
proved to be the most interesting. Dick Schaaf, coauthor of The Service
Edge: 101 Companies that Profit from Customer Care gave a very upbeat
and enlightening presentation. He outlined five operating principles
to use to become a successful service provider.
1. Listen, understand and respond to customers.
2. Define a customer--focused service strategy.
3. Ser customer-oriented standards and measure performance.
4. Select, train, and empower customer friendly employees.
5. Recognize and reward customer satisfying actions.
I was impressed enough with the presentation to want to read the
book. I found the comparissons between Library Services. The five
principles and companies like Hardmers very interesting.
The 10:30 session What's New in Multicultural Literature for
Children and Young Adults was both interesting and disappointing. It's
been such a long time since I've done anything with selection and I
found the titles/authors and prblishers names informative. The dis-
appointment came however in the fact that while the number of titles
available dealing with the Blacks, Latinos'~, American Indians have
increased from 50 to over 500 since 1960, the percentage of books
published has remained the same.
At 2:00 Jeannine and I stopped in at the Storytelling
Extravaganza II. I'm not sure what I expected here but I had hoped for
tools/information which would benefit librarians in planning/producing
storytimes. What I saw--Librarians telling stories and telling them well,
very well.~ This was great/entertaining but not particularily useful.
Stories were more for adults or young adults at best.
The snow ended our day--we both headed home too tired to trick
or treat.
Respectfully Submitted,