More from MLA/DLA Annual - Documenting the Lives of Veterans

MLA/DLA Annual Conference

May 6-8, 2015

Documenting the Lives of Maryland Veterans: How to Provide Access

Mary Mannix - Maryland Room Manager, Frederick County Public Libraries, Melissa VanSchaick and
Kathryn Ryberg - Practicum Students, Jill Craig - Digitization Librarian, Western MD Regional Library

The librarians of Western Maryland presented nontraditional resources to use with researchers. 1) Local smaller newspapers published information about local people. The articles are much more detailed than national newspapers. 2) Scrapbooks as a resource. These are archival (usually) and held by local libraries or genealogical societies. 3) Local Oral History Projects: The Oral history project in Western Maryland has been partnered with Library of Congress’s Veterans history project. For the oral history project, interviews were recorded on DVD. The information in the DVDs needed to be more ‘discoverable’. 

The FCPL’s interns created subject rich summaries of each interview (Full transcripts would take too long to create). The summaries in turn were added to the catalog with an original cataloging record. Subject headings (650 fields) and full text searching will make it easier for researchers to find information by name and by topic. The oral histories included local ‘Rosie the Riverter’ as well. Women working in the Fairchild plant in Hagerstown were interviewed for an oral history project in 2004. The interviews, photographs and memorabilia are available at Western Maryland’s Historical Library (WHILBR).   Excellent presentation and very useful information.

Sarah Kuperman

Collection Management

More from Computers in Libraries 2015

Computers in Libraries 2016

March 8-March 10, 2016 Washington DC

Year after year this conference has keynote speakers who hit the highpoints of library issues. Mary Augusta Thomas’ keynote “Technology & Libraries: Now & Into the Future” connects the past with the future. Librarians provide researchers access to resources format doesn’t matter. The Smithsonian’s mission statement includes the statement that “our expert staff and extensive collections are a crucial resource for research and education communities at the Smithsonian, within the United States, and around the world.”

The Smithsonian library’s diverse collections prove that statement.  The Super Searcher Workshop always offers exciting new resources from the web. The multi-tracked days full of workshops provides the opportunity to hear new ideas from libraries who are enthusiastically sharing their experiences.  My favorite take-away?  Library customers need librarians more than ever, as evidenced by multiple presentations which included a discussion of “one on one” appointments  to help customers with resumes, job hunting skills, business plan development, learning a new device, and writing a research paper.  It expands the reference interview into a learning session that helps library customers build skills in using library resources.

Sarah Kuperman

Collection Management

MLA/DLA 2015 Data Mining Craft

Maryland Library Association/Delaware Library Association 2015 Conference

May 6-8, 2015

Data Mining Craft

The session on data mining at the 2015 Maryland Library Association Conference explored the legal, ethical and privacy issues related to the collection of data, and challenged the audience to consider the library’s role in its collection and dissemination. The presenter, Carrie Gardner, stated that when it comes to the use of electronics, the amount of freedom you enjoy is inversely proportional to how much time you are willing to expend. An example is having an online vendor make recommendations based on your purchasing habits rather than performing multiple searches. She also pointed out that individuals are covered by different laws depending on the country or state they reside in.

Issues that directly involve libraries include keeping track of what people read and library computer usage. Even if the library does not collect this information, security cameras are recording much of this activity. Librarians have been asked by some patrons to collect this information so they can keep track of what they have read while others do not want this information retained. Libraries need to be aware that they are not required to collect Personally Identifiable Information (PPI), but if they do they are subject to subpoena. Even libraries that say they do not retain this information are being approached by vendors, and consider subscribing to, products that collect data for the purpose of making better purchasing recommendations. 

It is very difficult to completely go off the grid. Even if you use only cash, and do not use the Internet, a cell phone or EZ Pass, you are still being recorded by cameras. Facial recognition software has become more sophisticated and has been touted as helping to identify the Boston Marathon bombers. Medical information is shared by health organizations, and friends and associates often post your picture online without your knowledge.

Carrie presented the subject in a way that was engaging and challenging while managing to be balanced and fair about the myriad of issues. After going over my notes, I’m considering posting this anonymously.

MLA/DLA Annual Conference - More Great Sessions

Maryland Library Association/Delaware Library Association 2015 Conference

May 6-8, 2015

 “Now More Than Ever: Offender Workforce was an especially useful workshop.  At Enoch Pratt we work with ex-offenders fairly often, and particularly in the Job and Career Information Center.  We heard about the Offender Workforce Development Training from the National Institute of Corrections.  The workshop addressed the question: What can libraries do to assist ex-offenders?  Some answers:  book discussions, educate and encourage lifelong learning, provide career/job centers, create specific programs for them, and provide links to various community services.

Some useful tools included:

Maryland Community Service Locator:  http://www.mdcsl.org/search.html

A jobseeker site: http://www.americasjobexchange.com

“MLA Legislative Update Plus Engage Software taught me about the legislative process at the state level, particularly the budget. We learned about advocating for libraries at the state and federal level. The Engage software makes it easy for people to support their libraries. There is a link on the Maryland Library Association website under “Engage and Advocacy Resources” or at:  http://cqrcengage.com/alamd/

 An important point one of the presenters made was that we should encourage customers, family, friends, neighbors and any citizens who support libraries to speak up. They can call, go online, or write to tell their elected officials the importance of libraries and their services.

Career Development in the Libraries was directly applicable with our library customers in the Job & Career Information Center, and the information can be shared with the branch staff also.  Tips included:        

•  When uploading a resume to an online application, a PLAIN TEXT document is best.
• O*NET is good for language to use on resumes (The career counselor mentioned this too, and we already had it on the Jobseekers Toolkit website)
• LinkedIn is a good tool for networking when job searching. (Which we know but sometimes forget to mention to customers.)
• The importance of listening before giving information (Librarians tend want to find and offer information and sometimes skip the first step of really listening.)
• If using Indeed to search, try to go directly to the company’s website to apply.

Mindful Leadership  with Patty Sundberg  and James Kelly provided useful information for all employees, even those who  aren’t supervisors.

The benefits of emotional intelligence in the workplace are numerous: better task performance and fewer cognitive failures, less emotional exhaustion , and  greater job satisfaction. The RAIN  technique can be used before the amygdala in the brain hijacks us:   Recognize what’s going on, Allow experience to be just what it is, Investigate with kindness, and Natural awareness which comes from not identifying with the experience (keeping it at arm’s length).   Focused attend and open monitoring are important for self-regulation.   We practiced active listening without speaking.

Recommended books:

Flow : the psychology of optimal experience  by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Drive by Dan Pink

Finding the Space to Lead: a practical guide to mindful leadership by Janice Marturano.

Emotional intelligence  Daniel Goleman.

Jeanne Lauber

Workforce Development Librarian

Enoch Pratt Free Library/State Library Resource Center

ATD International Conference and Expo

Association for Talent Development International Conference and Exposition

May 17-20, 2015

The ATD conference is for training and development practitioners at all levels.  Attendees come from all over the world to share best practices, learn about current and future trends, and listen to industry leaders.  This year there were 9600 participants from 92 countries.  Since the discussions were focused on training, I thought I'd share some random ideas that I picked up at the conference, either in sessions or in discussions.  

• The day after an employee attends a training program the manager should ask “what did you learn” to boost retention of information and thwart the forgetting curve.

• There is a difference between being productive and being busy (or, if you like, between being busy and being productive).

• Communicate your value to your supervisor and leadership.  Up to 93% of the messages you are sending are non-verbal (dress, posture, attitude) verses what you actually say and do.

• Dressing for work?  Consider this -- if the CEO came in and invited you to a lunch meeting with a potential partner/board member could you go as you are?

• There is a great shift to video in our culture; people now go to YouTube for repair information rather than looking in a handbook.

• Most organizations experience at least 3 major changes per year.

• Communication is different from connecting, message sent does not equal message received.

• The richest form of communication is face-to-face; if it’s important have a meeting, don’t call or email.
• Just because an email is sent doesn’t mean it was read. (Especially if it comes from SD&T)

• Email is not an instant messaging tool!

• Employee engagement (emotionally connected and psychologically committed) leads to employees who are productive and provide better service.

• Organizational diversity generates more profits/better service, and diverse teams perform better.

• False consensus is the belief that other people know what you know.

• Everything we learn in the first four years of our life we learn by playing.

• Training is a process not an event.

If you are interested, check out the Twitter feed for the conference -- you don't need a Twitter account to view the feed, just go to the website and enter the hashtag #ATD2015.

Lisa R. Kenyon
Staff Development and Training Coordinator