I will be hitting the road (well…actually – the air!)  bringing 2-3 weeks of our workshops to New Zealand – and I couldn’t be more excited. Thanks to the Management at Palmerston N. City Library and the Auckland City Libraries, I will be providing our “Pro-active Service and Roving” concepts and skills to many Library Managers and Staff in New Zealand in August and September.  Both Library Systems have many progressive  services and  an admirable approach to service excellence. I’ll post some of their best ideas on this website in late September. And – of course – I’ll be sure to find time to tour a bit of this wonderful and scenic country while I am there.

I had an email from someone attempting to access the SirsiDynix Institute Audio seminar archives, which no longer appear on their website. This is a concern to me, because I have a link on this website to an audio seminar I provided for them waaaaay back on Dec. 11, 2007. You can access my audio seminar “Guide to Roving, an Essential Service for Library 2.0″ on Apple iTunes at no charge.

You can also access more of the FREE  SirsiDynix Institute Archived seminars at Apple iTunes at

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

You may have to download iTunes (its free). Once you are on the main iTunes page click on  “podcasts”, then “audio podcasts” then use the search window at the top right to enter “Sirsidynix Institute”….and – Voila! There are the archives. You can sort the list by date, name, duration. They are all free. Enjoy!!!!

If you are interested in learning more  about “roving” outside of the building check out this upcoming audio conference related to community outreach.

Conversations with Leaders Series: Making a Difference in the Community: In Conversation with Linda Cook (CEO, Edmonton Public Library, Chair of The Alberta Library and a founder of the Library Advocacy Now! program). The Edmonton Public Library has 17 community librarians whose job it is to stay out of the library and work with community organizations. In this interview, Cook shares tips and techniques from the library’s Community-Led Toolkit.

DATE:  Tuesday, June 22, 2010. TIME: 2:00 pm ET. More info and registration at

http://tinyurl.com/Linda-Cook

By now, most librarians agree that the role of the library is changing, and that e-journals and e-books are poised to turn the library building into study space and librarians into e-sherpas, and many academic libraries have begun moving in that direction. This interesting article appearing in USA Today 06/09/2010,  describes how the Welch Library at Johns Hopkins University is pioneering what I would call a “a radical roving” approach. Two years from now, the medical library at Johns Hopkins, a world leader in medical research, will have realized a “distributed” library model, which the article calls “A library located everywhere, and nowhere.” Not only in the sense that every researcher’s computer can access the library’s website and its vaults of electronic journal articles and e-books, but in that library personnel are embedded in various departments to work with researchers on their own turf. Many Academic Libraries have adopted some forms of this model in the past, however, what’s different is that the Welch Library  ”will be “recycling” much of its print collection, and storing other books offsite; faculty and students will be able to send away for the hard copies via snail mail — like ordering a DVD from Netflix.”

Read more at http://tiny.cc/embedded_Librarians

Recently I was looking into “non-Dewey” systems of Library material classification, and there are many laudable efforts being tried at various Library Systems. Word based or category based classification systems encourage and support browsing and self service for Library patrons, and represent a truly pro-active approach to guided self-service.

The following description of WordThink^TM , as designed and implemented at the Rangeview Library District comes from Wikipedia, and describes it as a word-based materials classification system developed by Rangeview Library District’s collection development department to replace the Dewey Decimal Classification. Patterned after BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) and the word-based system used by Maricopa County Library District, WordThink organizes materials according to 45 different categories with additional subcategories. Materials are then arranged alphabetically by title.

Note: In September 2009, Rangeview Library District launched its new brand, Anythink^TM . The district changed the names of its community libraries to Anythink libraries as part of the district’s branding efforts. The Bennett and Perl Mack branch libraries were the first in the district to use WordThink. By the end of 2009, all Anythink libraries will use the new word-based system

A bit different than the Roving skills I teach in my workshops. I wonder – How can we support or help this effort? Are there any Libraries “adopting” this project or others like it?
Click here to watch “Library On A Donkey” on YouTube, or copy and paste url:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQMh8_TD2dI  )

As so many U.S. Libraries struggle to prove their value to their communities, rallying against disastrous budget cuts, statistics like these can be immensely valuable.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Nearly one-third of Americans age 14 or older–roughly 77 million people–used a public library computer or wireless network to access the Internet in the past year, according to a national report released today. In 2009, as the nation struggled through a recession, people relied on library technology to find work, apply for college, secure government benefits, learn about critical medical treatments, and connect with their communities.

The report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries, is based on the first, large-scale study of who uses public computers and Internet access in public libraries, the ways library patrons use this free technology service, why they use it, and how it affects their lives. It was conducted by the University of Washington Information School and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

For the article and link to the full report, go to  http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/opportunity-for-all-library-compuer-use-study-100325.aspx

On Wed. March 10 I was fortunate enough to provide a presentation at the ExLibris Association I-Tea, at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information,  The title of the presentation was, “The Journey From I to We: How to apply insight into others to achieve greater success through teamwork.”

Persuasive, clear communication is a topic that has been of keen interest to thousands of the Managers and Staff I have served over the years. In fact, this model of communication effectiveness is of great use to anyone who has to live or work in collaboration with other human beings. (and who doesn’t? -  unless your career is “Professional Hermit”!). The “Me-first” approach we have all learned in our youth and, perhaps even embraced as we struggled to succeed in our careers, is not conducive to success in the workplace and even gets in the way of building strong business and personal relationships.  But how does one make the shift in thinking from “I to WE” that is needed to communicate more effectively? How can we get out of our own heads to understand others? Using the simple but profound model of Behaviour Styles which I have developed, everyone had fun getting a “quick read” on their own Behaviour Style and laughed in recognition of the predominant style of some other key people in their lives. I then demonstrated how we can all communicate more effectively by adapting to other Styles – changing the language we use to better suit the other person’s perspective, based upon our insights into their predominant Behaviour Style.  This does not mean we lose ourselves, but is akin to adapting to speak a slightly different language. This simple, but profound shift has the power to transform individual lives and team performance.

My thanks to Francis Stocker, Principal of Kestrel Info Services, for highlighting this innovative idea in her most recent issue of “Hawk’s Eye On Public Libraries”.

“This month, I’ve been struck by the simplicity of an innovation made by Glen Carbon Centennial Library (GCCL) in Illinois (see p. 6), which has received Library Journal’s 2010 Best Small Library in America Award. In the LJ interview, director Anne Hughes explains how GCCL has instigated a ‘No to Yes Log’, and every time a staff member has to say ‘no’ to a library user, he or she logs the event. The management team regularly reviews the log to see if there are ways to change a “no” to “yes” in the future. This is  a great way to capture opportunities for improvements in customer service. Staff at GCCL has authority to make changes on the spot, “to use their best judgment to serve the interests of the patron.”

“Where it isn’t possible to authorize on-the-spot improvements, a No to Yes log could still be used to extend staff self-reliance. Bay adding a space in the log for the staff member to suggest ways to fix the problem, he or she can become a full partner with managers in turning recurrent situations around.”

For more information on the GCCL and the award, see the Library Journal article at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6716260.html

To subscribe to the excellent “Hawk’s Eye On Public Libraries” go to http://www.kestrelinfo.com