Patron Generated Check-out Lengths While writing my last blog post I had another idea spurred by the need for an extended check out length for the business book bins. I realized (as I’m sure many of you have as well) that many different patrons read at different speeds and check out books and resources of varying degrees of length and difficulty. Not only that but, many patrons are working on research projects that might take longer than the standard the 2 weeks or 3 weeks that a library assigns to all of its books. The problem here is that we have invented one sized shoe in a world where people have different sized feet. But what if the patron could decide what sized shoe they wear? Or, what I really mean is, what if the patron could decide what length of checkout their items had?
I feel like this would be fairly simple to accomplish in many libraries. Basically when a patron checks out an item they would type in their preferred due date. They could choose however long that they figured it would take them to read the book or finish their project. Of course, I suppose some limits should be set. I wouldn’t want someone checking out a book for a hundred years or anything but I would love to see the length of time be set to something much longer than it currently is.
It seems like this would solve a lot of problems. In this system, since the patrons pre-determined their own due date they could remember it better and not have that argument at the counter about not remembering when their books were due. They would also be able to have the item for the length of time that they need it and they couldn’t complain about not having enough time to finish it or their project. It would also mean that when there are holds on the item (thus negating the option for renewals) the patrons could still have the time to do what they need to do.
In contrast to a no fines system
One of the other solutions is a no-fine system. Well, yeah right! Try to get that to fly with budgets being so tight and cities thinking that library fines are a money making system to supplement their new crosswalk project. I think that no-fine systems are good for a number of reasons, but in real-life I have seen some problems arise that I won’t take the time to outline here. So, I would think that we could still issue daily overdue fines and fees as a way to get materials returned, but patrons would have more power over their charges and I’m always for power to the people.
The Big Problem
The most glaring obvious problem here is the circulation software. This option is definitely not set-up in the software for patrons so I doubt this idea has any real legs to run on. Maybe some of you out there can get someone to try it out at your library? I don’t know, that’s a vendor fight that we would never win, but if anyone wants to take it on, be my guest.
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I read a great article about businesses starting their own libraries of business books in the office and it spurned a thought that I wanted to share with anyone in a community with a large number of businesses. It’s pretty simple and I’m not sure it requires an entire blog post dedicated to it, but I need to write something here anyway and I want to write this idea down before I forget it. Basically the idea is circulating business book bins. (Self-explanatory! That might be all you need to read here. But if you want more, please continue)
So, you know how libraries circulate those subject specific boxes for schools when the school is doing a big research topic on something like reptiles? Well… What if we did the same thing, but for local businesses? These bins, or boxes, or bags, would be filled with books and resources for businesses big and small to circulate to employees. Each bin could have a different subject in it such as marketing, leadership, management, etc… In fact, we could even have bins for folks who are starting up their own businesses that could be filled with books about start-ups that could include things like NOLO Guides and books on business plans and models. *Thus the library could be the source for renewed entrepreneurship in America, eventually saving the American Way and Dream, the American economy, and in fact, America itself!!
Anyway, I think it would work something like this. The library would put together these various bins and send letters to local businesses advertising this new service listing the various business topics. Each bin would have a collection of books on a specific topic, but only the bin would need to be barcoded because they’re checking out that subject collection in total. There would be a list of materials with a checklist included in the bin to ensure they all get returned. The business would call the library and request a specific topic bin and the library could drop it off. I would love to have the business determine the length of the checkout (which leads to another blog post on check-out lengths later) so they could ensure that they have enough time to have each of their employees read the material. This would be important because businesses of different sizes can have any number of employees and it would take differing amounts of time to circulate the materials throughout the business. At the pre-determined due-date the library would pick up the bin of books. And that’s it. Super easy.
Of course, we might have to make someone from the business come to the library to get the bin instead of going there. I understand those kinds of time constraints. But! I think that, by going to the business, we have the opportunity for a new kind of outreach like we do in schools where we can have a stronger presence in their organization. When we go to the business we can do a small presentation to the staff on other resources that the library has to help them with their jobs. This would almost be exactly the same thing as a school visit but for adults!
Ok… Here’s the part where you tell me what you think… And go!
*Alright, maybe I get a little carried away. But I still believe that libraries are one of the most important institutions in the United States and do actually have the power to vastly improve the state of the country.
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When I attended the Eureka! Institute we gave a presentation at the end about innovative ideas in libraries. Our group had a whole bunch of them and I presented them. The response was “it seems like your trying to save the world.” I kept my mouth shut, but what I thought was “Well… Yeah, we are!” I mean, I am obviously biased, but the intense amount of good that a library does is why I got into librarianship in the first place. Anyway, the reason I’m writing this is that I have once again found that libraries are one of the only institutions that can save the world.
I was watching a Ted presentation by Tim Jackson called Tim Jackson’s Economic Reality Check. While I totally agree with so much of what he says and am so excited to throw away my stuff and move aboard my boat for a couple months (Henry David Thoreau) I am more impressed with his statements at the end of his presentation. These statements make it perfectly clear that libraries, once again, are going to be the savior of humanity. But only if librarians allow them to be.
Basically, it comes down to people’s ability to achieve a new kind of fulfillment beyond material goods. We need to begin to not only provide the information to allow people to fulfill the needs in their life, but we also need to provide the materials they need. After all, what good is a book if you don’t have the resources to learn from them? I’m suggesting that these materials are our collections beyond books. Things like seeds, guitars, tools, video games, and maybe even augmented reality. But, as a great man once said, “You don’t have to take my word for it.”
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So… I wrote a super snarky blog post yesterday that basically came down to complaining about librarians or library workers who claim they can’t do something because they don’t know how (we work in a library, everything you need to know is on the shelf, in our databases, or you should know how to find it). However, I decided not to post it on the advice of quite a few librarians. So instead, I’ll post this blog about an organization that presents a solution. I don’t like complaining but I do like solutions after all.
I’m going to put out a plug for an organization called InfoPeople who I have had many great experiences with but whose Twitter account I just found. From their website InfoPeople describes themselves as:
“A statewide LSTA project that functions as the training arm of the California State Library. Some other state libraries provide training via in-house staff. California has opted to essentially outsource training in order to leverage the maximum return on investment of training dollars. The Infopeople model provides a breadth of training topics and a depth of training expertise greater than any single library or library agency, no matter how large, could provide.”
While I do like this organization quite a bit, you might have noticed a tweet once or twice where I expressed my frustration with some of the trainings that they offered. This was more in regard to the fact that they saw a need for those trainings and not because the organization did something wrong. (Ex. A $75 training for Googledocs? Librarians should already know how to use this)
Anyway, I have been to some of their trainings and I enjoyed them and learned quite a bit. More recently I had a couple of experiences with some of the folks behind the organization and I have to say that they are all good people trying to do good work for libraries.
While they do charge for their trainings, they do provide quite a few webcasts and online seminars that are archived that you and your staff can see for free. Even though this is a California based organization, it seems that anyone can access the free webinars! What a great service to libraries! If you haven’t checked out their webinars you really should. One of my favorites being George and Joan: Thinking out Loud.
So if these don’t help you learn something new, check out their website because they have a whole lot more to offer. Don’t forget you can also check your library’s shelves, or its databases, or a podcast, or youtube, or google, or even wikipedia. Once again, I will restate what spurred this post in the first place and simply say – If you work in a library, not knowing something is no excuse.
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In case you haven’t heard (read) me mention it on Twitter or Facebook I’m putting together a collection of circulating guitars for my library. If anyone is interested, here is some background on this project, what I’m planning, and how we’re moving forward.
History
While working at Lincoln Public Library my director and I had a discussion about various innovative collections we could start at the library. We had a great space and some good ideas but we weren’t sure how to implement them. Some of our ideas included video games, tools, and other musical instruments. The biggest barrier to us starting this collection was that we just simply didn’t have time. We were running a 40,000 square foot joint use building with a huge circulation number, a large amount of acquisition and cataloguing work, and just about everything else that comes with not only a brand new building, but a new staff and a new library system. Did I mention there were only 2 full time staff members? Anyway… Those are the reasons that Lincoln Public Library doesn’t have a guitar collection.
The good news is that East Palo Alto Library in the San Mateo County Library system where I now work will have a collection of circulating guitars. It was all made possible by my involvement in the Eureka! Program that is allowing me to apply for a five thousand dollar LSTA grant. This grant will be the seed money to start my collection. What follows is the VERY rough draft of some of the information that I compiled for the grant.
Basic description of the project
The East Palo Alto Library will create a collection of guitars as well as offer two 8-week beginning guitar group lesson programs to include both those individuals who already own guitars and those who have checked-out the EPA guitars. There will also be 4-6 one time programs throughout the year that are focused on music. These will include performances, movies, artist visits, and game nights (Rock Band).
Background
The project was identified as a need due to the lack of music programs for youth in the East Palo Alto community. Music classes are no longer offered at local schools and there are no local businesses that offer music lessons or sell musical instruments. The economic status of a large percentage of East Palo Alto residents makes it difficult to gain access to expensive music lessons as well as the instruments themselves even if such businesses did exist within the community.
However, this community has a long and rich history with music as well as a cultural identity in music. East Palo Alto is home to one of the largest populations of Pacific Islanders in the continental United States and Polynesian music has played a significant role in the culture of East Palo Alto with performances by local groups at churches and various community gatherings. There is also a significant Spanish speaking population that performs various forms of Spanish music. The African American Population in East Palo Alto has had a significant effect on the music since the early 1950’s when this population became the most prominent. Each of these stylings of music has led to a blended genre of music that is being performed locally by such bands as the Vintage Music Collection and the Hip Hop Orchestra. (Two groups brought to my attention by Sereptha Strong who is one of my librarians named)
These are not the only groups in East Palo Alto. In fact, there have been a number of self-taught musical groups that have arisen from within the community. The most prominent of some of these groups are primarily rap and hip hop groups such as Totally Insane, Sean T, S.I.C, Mac & AK, The Youngen, Chunk, Bigg Rigg, Band-Aide, Scoot Dogg, Ad Kapone, and Mac-10.
Many families gather to play instruments that have been handed down from generation to generation, and there are some residents who offer their backyards to local performers as a stage. There are also few homemade musical venues such as the House of Bigger Girls and some churches allow musical performances.
Moreover, music has been cited as a way for youth to express themselves in a positive and creative way. There have been numerous studies that have shown that music can act as a deterrent to violence. This, coupled with the understanding that EPA was the murder and violent crime capital of the United States throughout the 90s shows that there is an inherent need for a musical outlet.
Anticipated outputs and outcomes
For the Community
Patrons who check-out guitars and participate in the 8-week group music lessons should have a basic understanding of tuning, parts of a guitar, major and minor chords, a few chord progressions, a number of strumming and picking patterns, a number of scales, and few basic songs.
Many other larger community benefits of music have been identified however, the measurements of such benefits can be difficult to quantify. A list of the potential benefits to the community with supporting documentation can be found at;
Some of the outcomes listed from various studies include
Improved reading comprehension
improved math grades
Improved standardized test scores
Improved social Skills
Many of these outcomes are difficult to measure, and in no way am I making the argument that this program alone will have the ability to accomplish all of these things in a short 8 week program. However, this program could be a small contributing factor in the growth and improvement of our community.
For the Library
Increased Circulation
Increased level of programs and services
Increased number of partnerships with EPA organizations
Some identified community partners
We have identified a number of organizations that have expressed interest in partnering with the Library to provide these programs. There are a few local bands/artists who would like to volunteer to teach group lessons. Other organizations who have expressed interest include
Sassy
JobTrain
YMCA
Ravenswood school district
Stanford
Budgeting
This is the part that I’m most excited about right now. Just the fact that I’m thinking about the budget because I’ve made it this far gets me pretty excited so here is how the money will break down.
The majority of the grant funding will be used to purchase guitars and supplies. We would prefer to find ways to have the guitars donated to the program. However, guitars may need to be purchased. Guitar starter packs from Guitar Center typically range from $150-250 depending on quality. I would like to begin the collection with 15 guitars and spend approximately $3,750 of the grant money on these guitars. That means I can spend about $250 on each guitar. I wanted to make sure that this was even possible and that I could even get a halfway decent guitar for this price so I walked across the street from my house to Guitar Center on Sunday (Guitar Center’s close proximity to my living space has not had a beneficial effect on my finances BTW) and started to ask them some questions about what kinds of discounts I could get if I bought 15ish guitars with a starter pack from them. I don’t want to say what the discount is, but the unofficial offer was very significant and might allow me to do even more. However, since the offer was unofficial I’m going to keep my $250 estimate and hopefully wind up with more money in the end to offer more classes or more learning materials.
Happily playing guitar badly in my front yard in Santa CruzNext I need to buy some of the supplies that I need to display the collection and to keep the collection going. These are just basic necessities like extra strings, picks, straps, and other general maintenance supplies. I think I can get enough for the first year with around $300. But then I still need to purchase a way to display the guitars and I think that I can get wall mounts (before the discount that I’m going to ask for) for around $20 each so I need about $300 for that. So now I’m up to about $4,350
What I have left over is about $650 that I’m going to use to refresh our music learning collection. I want to purchase books, dvds, cds, magazines, etc… that will help people learn on their new instruments. I should also mention that the starter packs come with an intro to guitar DVD and I think that I will keep that DVD with packs when the patrons check out the guitars.
The last purchase that the library will be making will be the cost of the instructors for the program. I don’t want to take this money out of the grant money because it is an ongoing cost. So I’m planning on paying a guitar instructor about $30 per hour for the group lessons and I have already found some teachers who are willing to do it for that price. Even more exciting, I’ve found some teachers who have offered to do it for free! However, I’m wary of these offers because I’ve my previous experiences with flighty volunteers and I don’t want the students to miss out because the guitar instructor is a flake. So I’m budgeting $480 for two one hour, eight week group lesson sessions. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Fines and Fees
Just so you know, I’m totally against fines and fees. However, we do need to be able to maintain our strings and picks and we do need to repair any damages to our guitars, and I need to ensure that we get these guitars back. So, depending on what kind of price I can get on all of these things, I will be charging some kind of fine/fee structure that is yet to be decided.
While I don’t have the grant approved yet, I am very excited about even the possibility of having a funding source for this collection. If, in the end my grant is not awarded to me, I at least have the foundation for writing more grants! Not matter what happens with the grant, I’m pretty sure I can get this off the ground in a number of ways.
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Having grown up in the greater Sacramento Region, I thought I’d give some of you out-of-towners, some tips and pointers about what to do, where to go, and all of that. Sort of like a mini tour guide. I hope you have a great time in Sacramento. I know I’m going to enjoy being back in my hometown!
Restaurants/Bars
Sacramento is home to some of my favorite restaurants and bars and the list just keeps getting longer and longer. Here is a my short list of delicious food options and some recommended menu items.
Tapa the World
Tapas the World has some of the best tapas I have ever had. I wholeheartedly recommend that you do two things while here. The first is that you must absolutely try the olives. The bright green ones melt in your mouth like butter except they are far more delicious. The second thing you need to do is be adventurous and let the waiter know that they should surprise with 3-4 of their favorite tapas. I have done this everytime I have been here (I go here a lot) and it has yet to fail me. Most tapas are under 10$ anyway so you won’t have to worry about huge bills at the end.
Kru
This is probably my favorite Sushi restaurant in the entire world right now. The sushi is fresh, the restaurant is clean, and the servers are great. What else can I ask for?
Two things to try, the Sweet Potato Beer and the preserved wasabi root. The sweet potato beer is incredible! I’m not sure how to describe it, but it’s a dark beer with a taste like a wheat and if I never drank another beer in my life… The preserved wasabi root is a variation on that traditional wasabi paste you get everywhere. But this has a fresher and cleaner flavor to it and I now can’t believe anyone ever served wasabi as a paste from a tube.
Fannie Annes
Three words… Peanut. Butter. Burger. It’s actually called a jiffy burger and the ingredients are: Peanut Butter, Hamburger Pattie, Bacon, Cheese, and of course a bun. This is not a meal for the faint of heart and if you know anything about healthy eating this is not a meal for the unhealthy heart. I’m pretty sure this burger will kill you if the deliciousness doesn’t!!
Places to See
Train Museum
Located in Old Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is a complex of historic facilities and unique attractions. Widely regarded as North America’s most popular railroad museum, there is something here for everyone! Throughout the year, experience lavishly restored trains, engaging exhibits, and unique special events.
Old Sac
From the website – The unique 28-acre National Historic Landmark District and State Historic Park is located along the beautiful Sacramento River. Bustling with activity, the district is alive with shopping, dining, entertainment, historical attractions and world-renowned museums set within the time of the California Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad.
Capital Building
Catch a quick glance of the Governator! The Capital Building has been the home of the California Legislature since 1869, the State Capitol underwent a major renovation that restored much of the building’s original look. You can tour the restored historic offices of the Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Governor of the State of California. The building features exhibits and tours – and while the website says that you can “possibly an opportunity to watch the legislators debate a bill or cast a vote.” We all know the sad truth behind that one. I won’t comment here.
Second Saturday
Second Saturday in Sacramento is a fiasco to say the least. But it is also a great time if you know a few of the great places to go. Originally this night was a celebration of all of the great art and cultural activities that take place in Sacramento. For the most part (or at least the early part of the night) this is exactly what this is. However, as the night progresses the bars stay open longer and more and more people crowd the streets in what is becoming one of the great gatherings of people in California. Most of them are young and drinking heavily so if that’s not your scene, check out the galleries and restaurants early and watch the insanity from a quiet place.
However, if you are into the night life, this will be a fantastic night of good times for you. While it is the LGBT district of Sacramento I highly recommend the K and 21st intersection. The bars are great, the dress code is relaxed, and the people are a lot of fun!
A few of the New Libraries to See
There are quite a few new libraries around the Sacramento area and I would encourage you to take a tour of them when you get a chance. But I’m sure you will hear about them from the Sacramento Public Library folks. So, instead I will send you further out to explore the new Lincoln Public Library at Twelve Bridges and the new Martha Riley Library in Roseville. Both are fantastic in their own ways.
However, if you do want to stay in the Sacramento Area and see some new libraries and don’t hear from Sacramento Public Libraries, I guess I should mention them. So be sure to visit their new LEED-certified branches: Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven, North Natomas, and Valley-Hi. But really… All of the Sacramento Public Libraries are great and I’ve been to most of them.
Special Events At the Conference
Reggae night
On Friday night you should check out the Reggae night at the Capital Garage that Tiffany Mair is putting together. This is an off-the-books event and should just be a whole lot of fun!
Unconference
The unconference at the Pasadena CLA was my favorite part of the whole conference. This is a loosely organized area where people can meet and talk about shared interests and ideas. Last year they met with new librarians and talked about finding jobs, social media, and many other topics. If there is something that you want to talk about you can even organize a meeting of like-minded folks and have your own conference session!
CYRM Banquet
The California Young Reader Medal is one of my favorite awards of all time. The books are chosen by librarians and children so they are always fantastic read-a-louds. When I was a school librarian (best job ever!) these were always my go-to read-a-louds and the kids always loved them. I can’t say enough wonderful things about CYRM so I won’t even try, but check them out.
Battledecks
Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t give a little shout out to my own event at CLA/CSLA. This of course is Battledecks. If you’re not sure what it is, the title links to my other blog entry that fully describes the whole event. It’s the same time as CYRM and both events will be EPIC so whatever you attend you won’t miss out!
I’m excited to see you all there, so go ahead and add me on twitter and/or just about any other social network. My screenname is always pcsweeney and you can find me anywhere that way. Find me and tell me about what you are excited about at CLA! If you’re not online, lets sit and have a drink and talk libraries for a while. See you there!
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UnconferencingI woke up on Wednesday morning at Internet Librarian to a text from Nate Hill who said that he was organizing a road trip down the gorgeous California Coast with Toby Greenwalt, Loida Garcia-Foibo, and Andrea Davis. It was early, but there was no way I could say no.
This trip turned out to be a lot of work actually as we talked about all kinds of library stuff. As Toby said “We can’t help but librarianing.” So, while this video that Loida made doesn’t capture all the ideas we came up with for the next Internet Librarian it does capture a really great aspect of the trip. BTW, if it did capture everything awesome on that trip, it would be hours long. 🙂
Librarians on a boatInternet librarian started for many people on Saturday at the Monterey Conference Center in California. For me though, it started on my sailboat in San Mateo on Friday afternoon. In fact, I never even went to a preconference workshop, which is too bad because I really wanted to attend the WordPress workshop. Luckily it was blogged by Polly Alida and you can read it here if you want. I don’t think I really regret not going to any workshop because my “preconference” was pretty awesome anyway.
Friday
I have been inviting some of the librarians I’ve met at conferences and around my area to my boat for a day of sailing in the California Bay for a couple of months and Andrea, Lisa, and Nate took me up on it. Unfortunately, this was the one time my engine didn’t work. That was fine, there was no wind and it was raining anyway. So we sat on my boat having drinks made by my roommate bartender and her cousin (also serves as my crew) and I listened while the smart folks on my boat talked about all kinds of library related things until it was time for dinner in the yacht club where they continued to come up with all kinds of library awesome.
It would be difficult to explain some of the great ideas that came up on the boat and I won’t really try but it was a great creative thinking experience free from the constraints of library system’s rules and regulations. It was amazing to listen to these intensely smart folks talk about libraries on my boat. My big realization was that we need to do more to create these kinds of freeform opportunities for librarians to gather and socialize and just brainstorm possible innovations.
At the end of the night, most of us passed out on the boat listening to the rain on the deck and the wind in the rigging. I hope everyone had as great of a time as I did. Next year, “librarians on a boat” will be bigger and better. You’ll be invited, so don’t miss out!
Saturday
Unfortunately, on Saturday I had to work but that was fine because I love my library! So I drove my motorcycle through the rain to Monterey right after work in the dark and after finally finding my hotel and warming up, I found myself in the lobby bar of the Portola Plaza with even more library awesome! How is that possible? I have no idea. But once again a whole lot of smart library folks were blowing my mind with creative ideas. Some of these ubersmarties were Stephan Abram, Roy Tennent, Marshall Breeding, Lisa Carlucci Thomas, and Nina McPhail, who just sat around with some good drinks and once again said the kinds of things that need to be said about libraries. So, once again I just sat and listened and had my brains blown out with awesome bombs until I had to finally sleep.
Sunday
This was a tourist day for me and I went on an amazing drive with Lisa and Nina down highway one in the rain and checked out the pacific coast. If you’re reading this and you’re at the conference, I really suggest you take a couple of hours and make the drive south to Big Sur and see some of the gorgeous coastline in our great state.
Afterwards, my roommate (And bartender from my boat), who had heard about my conference good times, came down to see how the librarians party. We went out to eat with so many great folks and stayed out way too late (of course). Once again, being that we are librarians, there were many great discussions about libraries and librarianship in general and I heard some heated and intense debates between fantastic library folks on issues that I never even thought existed! I now have so many new things to think and lots of new motivations to get out and do something about some of the things I’m concerned about.
I simply could not have learned more (or had more fun) by attending the preconference. Instead, having my own little “preconference” where I sat and listened to the brilliant people in libraries say amazing things I was able to hear some ideas from people that could not have occurred in a structured or more restrictive environment. And… Of course it was awesome!
I’m going to take a break from my redefinition of libraries blog posts and take some time for two posts of a completely different nature. The first is on being a successful interviewee and the second will be about what I look for in applications to get folks through the screening process. Here is the first on being a strong interviewee;
So I have been in management for most of my professional career. I have had to sit on both sides of the hiring table and I have some things to tell all you folks out there who have interviewed for positions or are looking to interview for a position. These are just some tips and tricks that I’ve learned that will help you become a better interviewee.
Be excited1) Act like you want to be there!
I know we all get a little nervous at job interviews and it’s easy to become quiet and reserved but sometimes that can come off to the interviewers as you not wanting to be there. I can’t even tell you how many people I have interviewed who I have had to question (in my mind) whether or not they actually want to be there because they were so quiet and subdued throughout the interview. I want you to show some feeling! Show some emotion! Get excited! You got the effing interview after all!! I am looking for someone who is excited about the profession and has a personality. I can teach you the skills to be a good librarian, but I can’t teach you the personality. So if you have it, you need to show it. Anyway, if you don’t, I’ll poke you with a sharp stick.
*Here is a side note to this tip…
I used to manage an Abercrombie and Fitch and some of our interview questions were –
• If you could invite three musical artists, dead or alive, to your birthday party, who would they be and why?
• Or, if you could live anywhere in the world and money wasn’t an factor, where would you live and why?
We asked these questions, not because we care what kind of music you like or where you would live, but to give you a chance to talk about something that you are passionate about and show us that you can be personable and fun. We were looking for someone who can talk to people in a fun way and interact with us (and therefore hopefully the customers) and we want to see your personality. I’m not allowed to ask these questions in an interview setting for libraries (I’ve asked HR) so you have to show your personality through the other questions we ask. Once again… I can teach you to be a librarian, I can’t teach you to have a better personality.
2) Answer the Freaking Question!!
If you only read to here and ONLY use rule number one and rule number two you will be above something like 98.9% of the interviewees. If you are excited and ANSWER THE FREAKING question then I will want to talk to you a whole lot more. Everytime I have sat through interviews I have had people who, instead of answering the questions, told me the things that they wanted to be sure to say in the interview and are just fitting it in somewhere. I don’t really care what you WANT to say, I want to hear the answer to the freaking question! Besides, we’re interviewing for a librarian position and if you are a librarian and not answering my questions, how are you going to be answering the patron’s questions when you’re on the job?
3) Use examples
We all love stories. I love a really good story and your really good story is going to give me some depth and understanding to your answer as well as give me a stronger understanding of you. In fact, I don’t even care if your story is drawn from previous experience as a librarian, from your previous experience as a CEO of BP, or the one time you had to walk your neighbor’s dog. I have hired people who have drawn from all kinds of professional (and unprofessional) histories and have related it back to the question in a meaningful way. To me, this means that you are going to be able to bring some new perspectives/ideas from outside the bubble of librarianship to my branch and that makes me happy.
4) But not too much
Whoa! Slow down kid!! One-two examples are plenty! I have had a couple of talkers interview for positions that I have had to cut off because of the time. I don’t need to hear EVERY story that relates to the question, just one or two. And… To review, relate the story to the question in a meaningful way so that you answer the question and do it in a way that shows that you are excited to be there. Don’t be worried if someone else has a better story or that you didn’t show that you have had 37 different experiences with what we are asking about. The person with a better story didn’t tell it as well as you told yours and I can give you 37 more experiences at my branch.
Don't set a tone you don't want5) Never say anything negative!
Saying something negative ALWAYS sets a tone in an interview room that you don’t want to have. We don’t want to squirm while you tell us an uncomfortable sob story. I know we ask questions like- What do you like least about blah, blah, blah. But that doesn’t mean to go off on a tirade about some horrible boss you once had or a bad customer or anything else negative. We are looking for what you like LEAST not something you HATE. You can say something like – Well, I know it needs to be done so I do it and do it well, but I don’t enjoy (__Insert here__) and I would rather spend my time doing (___Insert here___) because I feel that is more important because (___Insert here__). But, if you come to my interview and you answer my question with that boilerplate answer I’m either going to a) be disappointed that you didn’t come up with something new or b) just be stoked that SOMEONE is reading my blog or c) forget that I wrote this blog and not even notice.
These are just five things you can do to be a better interviewee but just these five things that I look for that will put far and above beyond so many other folks that you will most likely get a second interview. I know there are literally tens of thousands of you out there and that you have to get through the resume screening process to even think about getting an interview but I hope this will at least help you once you are in the room. Good luck out there team!
While writing my last blog post I had another idea spurred by the need for an extended check out length for the business book bins. I realized (as I’m sure many of you have as well) that many different patrons read at different speeds and check out books and resources of varying degrees of length and difficulty. Not only that but, many patrons are working on research projects that might take longer than the standard the 2 weeks or 3 weeks that a library assigns to all of its books. The problem here is that we have invented one sized shoe in a world where people have different sized feet. But what if the patron could decide what sized shoe they wear? Or, what I really mean is, what if the patron could decide what length of checkout their items had?
I read a great article about businesses starting their own libraries of business books in the office and it spurned a thought that I wanted to share with anyone in a community with a large number of businesses. It’s pretty simple and I’m not sure it requires an entire blog post dedicated to it, but I need to write something here anyway and I want to write this idea down before I forget it. Basically the idea is circulating business book bins. (Self-explanatory! That might be all you need to read here. But if you want more, please continue)
Anyway, I think it would work something like this. The library would put together these various bins and send letters to local businesses advertising this new service listing the various business topics. Each bin would have a collection of books on a specific topic, but only the bin would need to be barcoded because they’re checking out that subject collection in total. There would be a list of materials with a checklist included in the bin to ensure they all get returned. The business would call the library and request a specific topic bin and the library could drop it off. I would love to have the business determine the length of the checkout (which leads to another blog post on check-out lengths later) so they could ensure that they have enough time to have each of their employees read the material. This would be important because businesses of different sizes can have any number of employees and it would take differing amounts of time to circulate the materials throughout the business. At the pre-determined due-date the library would pick up the bin of books. And that’s it. Super easy. 
When I attended the 
PC Sweeney 