Inside The Alberta Library
One of the interesting things about being part of a collaborative community is that we are engaged in an ongoing conversation. And one of the interesting topics of conversation at the recent NEXT Symposium was community engagement.
The conversation often took the form of questions. What is community engagement, really? Are we doing it now? Could we be doing it better? And if we do it really well, do we have the wisdom and resources to handle the feedback?
I’m using the word ‘community’ here in its broadest sense. While public libraries are at the centre of their communities, post-secondary libraries are also at the centre of their learning communities.
Perhaps one of the reasons why community engagement was a hot topic was that keynote speaker David Lankes was almost insistent that libraries exist to help make communities better. To make your community better, you have to have a pretty good idea of what people in the community need and want.
The NEXT Symposium itself was an example of community engagement in action. The library community came together and talked about what they want and need to happen in the future.
Community members seemed to agree that they want bold, responsive leadership. The risks of not taking action far outweigh the risks of the status-quo. Many people also agreed to disagree. That is, they agreed that while they have a lot in common, they don’t need to have 100 per cent consensus on a given issue to move ahead; that quest for unanimity can be paralyzing.
This is all part of a conversation that needs to continue. As part of that continuing conversation, all of us at The Alberta Library welcome invitations to meet with you in your part of the province; because you are our community … and community engagement is important to us, too.
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Library Q & A: Lakeland College Library
We talk with Byron Walker and Wanjiku Kaii, Public Services Librarians at Lakeland College Library to find out what's new.
What is your library's biggest current challenge?
Managing the rapid increase in the costs of electronic resources and negotiating the minefield of electronic books.
What area is changing fastest in your library?
- Acquisition of electronic resources (databases, e-books, etc.) in order to meet our students’ needs, especially students taking online and distance learning courses
- Adoption of new technology such as assistive technology in order to adequately meet the needs of our library users
- The library’s web site because it is important to keep it fresh and user-friendly
What idea are you most proud of over the past five years?
- Developed a web site for the library
- Signed “Memorandums of Understanding” with our local public libraries that enable our students to access the public library collections
- Extensive weeding of the Library Collections on both campuses to keep it current
- We are very proud of how our library renovations and re-organization at both campuses turned out last summer. Positive comments have been received from both staff and students and usage numbers are up.
Where do you see the most opportunity for innovation over the next decade?
- Updating our library web site and adoption of social media so that we can communicate with our library users more effectively
- Electronic books and streaming of audio visual resources
- Collaborative projects with other institutions so that we can share resources
- Ability to serve our online and distance learning students and instructors
How does your library stay in touch with clients / library users?
For our faculty and staff, we have a current awareness program. We send them tables of contents in print or electronically. We also send them notifications of new resources.
For students, we put announcements on the library web site, on college Facebook pages, and occasionally advertise in the student newspapers.
How do you stay in touch with political leaders in your community?
We attend community events and send letters to our local MLAs and MPs on matters that affect the Library community, such as the “Postal Library Book Rate”.
Punch Jackson and Lucy Pana: friends for life!
Punch Jackson and Lucy Pana have been named Honourary Lifetime Members of The Alberta Library in recognition of their distinguished careers improving library services across the province.
Punch Jackson
Punch recently retired as Director of Public Library Services at Alberta Municipal Affairs. In addition to acting as one of the founding members of The Alberta Library, Punch played a leadership role in creating Canadian Library Month, connecting libraries to the SuperNet, launching public library marketing campaigns, finalizing the first Community Access Program agreement, creating electronic performance measures and bringing together the first national meeting of Library Ministers.
Punch also helped guide a major provincial consultation process that led to the report, Framework for the Future: Positioning Alberta Libraries for the 21st Century.
Lucy Pana
For more than a decade Lucy personified The Alberta Library by acting as its founding CEO, helping the organization grow from an idea into an award-winning, internationally-recognized consortium.
Lucy, who retired in 2009, was also instrumental in the creation of the Alberta Public Library Electronic Network and in developing a wide range of services, including Licensing, TAL Online, Ask-A-Question, The Alberta Library Card, VisuNet and marketing campaigns for public libraries.
In letters of congratulations, TAL Board Chair Maggie Macdonald thanked Punch and Lucy for their outstanding work and their continued friendship and support for Alberta’s library community.
Chinook Arch builds on café culture
How do you find out what your stakeholders need? You ask them.
That’s the approach Chinook Arch Regional Library System took when they invited staff and trustees from their member libraries to participate in a World Café. The purpose was to learn about the concerns of member libraries and to look for commonalities that might be addressed on a collaborative basis by the System. The World Café discussion was part of the Chinook Arch needs assessment process to determine direction for their Plan of Service.
They chose the World Cafe model after participating in a similar format at The Alberta Library’s NEXT Symposium in the fall of 2010. Robin Thiessen Hepher, Chinook Arch’s Assistant Director says they were inspired by NEXT and felt the group discussion process was “a beneficial exercise”.
Although Chinook Arch adapted the World Café format to meet time and logistical constraints, they stayed true to the philosophy. The World Café model emphasizes the importance of having the right questions to spur discussion and Robin says they gave serious thought to the questions they used. Participants were asked to discuss:
- Which current trends will have the biggest impact on your library?
- What services should your library provide to meet the changing needs of your community?
- What does your ideal library look like 5 – 10 years from now?
Participants were divided into small groups of about 6 people. Each small group discussed the same question for 25-30 minutes and then shared their conversation with the larger group, giving everyone a chance to reflect and comment on the ideas expressed.
The conversations were documented and will be compiled so that analysis can be done. Robin says they will be looking for common themes that emerge from the data. The results of the analysis will be provided to the Chinook Arch planning committee and will inform the Plan of Service developed by the committee.
There is great potential for this discussion to yield concrete solutions to stakeholder issues. For example, Robin says that the idea for the RISE Network came out of a World Café held around five years ago at a conference in Taber.
As organizers of the event, Robin says the role of the Chinook Arch staff was to “create an atmosphere conducive to conversation and get out of the group’s way.” Part of creating the atmosphere was the re-arrangement of their physical space. They turned a standard boardroom into a welcoming environment by adding plants, artwork, and round tables with tablecloths and centerpieces. Beverages and snack options also added to the café atmosphere.
Staff set the context by explaining the process and energized people by screening a clip of David Lankes speaking at the NEXT Symposium. After that the focus was on letting people have meaningful conversations.
Even though bad weather limited the number of attendees, Chinook Arch considers the day a success. “Library staff and trustees said they appreciated the opportunity to share ideas and appreciated that we wanted to hear what they thought,” reports Robin.
Their Plan of Service will be that much stronger as a result of asking their stakeholders the important question – “What do you think?”
TAL Profile: Petra Mauerhoff, CEO, Shortgrass Library System
What drew you to your profession?
As an undergraduate student working at the Killam Memorial Library at Dalhousie University I worked alongside several library school students and learned more about the program from them. As graduation from my bachelor’s degree neared, it became clear that I would need to find a way to make a living, which would not be easy with just an honours undergrad degree in Sociology. However, library school seemed like a good way to fulfill that need! I took a chance and applied to the MLIS program at Dalhousie and was accepted and the rest, as they say, is history.
After graduation I took any job I could find including various contract positions as a records manager, but I eventually found my way to working in public libraries where I have worked since 2005. I made the switch to a College Library in 2009 and started missing public library work pretty much right away.
When the opportunity to apply for my current position presented itself, I realized right away that it would be a great fit: getting back to working in a library region that serves smaller libraries in a more rural area is what I had successfully done in Nova Scotia before making the switch to the college library, and I am so glad I got the chance to get back into it. I have now been in my position since the beginning of 2011 and it feels good to be back in the public library world.
Why do you think libraries are important?
The fact that we are able to provide services, resources, information and programs to anyone within a community remains the main argument for me as to why libraries are important. There is really no other institution within most communities that is as inclusive as a library is. No matter at what stage you are in your life, no matter who you are, you can come to the library and chances are great that there will be something there for you that will be of personal relevance.
Who had the most influence over your career?
My colleagues from the various positions I have held. I have learned so much not just from fellow regional librarians (both at the provincial/territorial and system level within a province), but also my staff. Many of them have been long-term employees at their respective libraries/library systems and the historical knowledge about their organizations in particular, and the library world in general, has been invaluable.
What major changes have you noticed in your time in the library community?
One of the biggest changes I have most recently noticed has to do with the way the recruitment and hiring of library managers/CEOs is done at various organizations. It used to be approached in a very top-down way with only very few board members involved and little or no staff involvement. When a final decision about the candidate was made, it was presented to staff as a done deal and they just had to deal with it.
I am now seeing more and more of a 360 approach to hiring, with more members of the organization involved in the selection process and the final decision making. I believe that this is a great move forward and has likely contributed to happier and more effective workplaces.
What has been the most rewarding part of working with the library community? What have you enjoyed the most?
I greatly enjoy the community development aspect of working in the library community. In many communities, especially rural ones, resources can be sparse and I love connecting various organizations to pool their resources and build capacity among their staff to provide a much wider variety of services than they each would have been able to provide on their own. Building these connections and finding ways to effectively provide services to members of our communities is extremely rewarding. Working alongside like-minded people with a common goal and brainstorming ways to improve how we do things is one of my favourite aspects of my work.
What is the best/most memorable item you ever borrowed from the library?
I am a heavy user of the local public library wherever I live, and I go through a lot of books and audio items each week. One of the first things I did after moving to Medicine Hat this past December was get myself a library card to Medicine Hat Public Library. Their selection is absolutely fantastic! I always have a hard time deciding what to pick when asked which is my favourite or most memorable book, but one item that has always stuck with me was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, which I borrowed from the Eastern Counties Regional Library System in Nova Scotia, and “read” as an audio book while driving. I remember driving along, crying as I listened to it – I probably should have pulled over! Another absolute favourite is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, a library book I read in one sitting, hugging my old dog close all night as I was reading it. It is a book I also recommend to any dog lovers I meet and one I will definitely re-read again over the years.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise others in the library community.
I am crazy about dogs, their language and behavior, and positive training. I own a dog training business and spend most of my free time learning as much as I can about these topics. I believe that much of what I have learned (learning theory, problem solving and communication skills) has come in handy in my interactions with people, particularly in my work life.
What is your involvement with The Alberta Library?
As the CEO for a Regional Library System, The Alberta Library provides many invaluable opportunities for interaction with colleagues, inter-library cooperation and supports us in providing services to our member libraries.
Netspeed 2011: The human side of technology
After taking a break for a year, Netspeed is set to return in 2011 by going beyond bits and bytes to explore the human side of technology.
The conference, which runs October 19 – 21 in Calgary, will focus on a wide range of topics, including how technology makes life easier, improves service, helps meet customer demands, provides more and better choices, improves access to resources and connects people in new and interesting ways.
Clive Maishment, The Alberta Library’s CEO, says that while taking a break was necessary to bring library community members together for a library futures symposium, Netspeed was missed.
“We certainly heard from many libraries, particularly those in smaller communities, that Netspeed is a valuable part of their professional development,” says Clive. “In 2011, our plan is to provide an enriching conference experience by combining outstanding speakers with great networking opportunities – and perhaps a few interesting surprises along the way.”
This year, you’ll also be able to register for Netspeed online; stay tuned for details. If you’re interested in presenting at the conference, you’ll have to hurry – the deadline for proposals is February 18th (email to netspeed@thealbertalibrary.ab.ca).