Loading...
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,