Busy Busy!

I guess the lack of recent posts is a good indicator of how busy this month has been. We are definitely enjoying summer (lilacs are done, peonies are coming) and the foreign exchange students are getting used to our computer system. The time/print system upgrade didn't go well, but we have just about recovered - one little glitch still remains. But without glitches, what fun would we have?

My favorite time of year is coming: the new Fiscal Year! Time to order supplies! Spend money while it's available! Then organize everything so we can find it later.

Some of the staff have started the technology training - there are a few blogs already, and several are using IM around work for quick questions instead of phone calls. Hopefully people will see the value of learning new things and trying new ways of doing things.

Not complaining

We spend a lot of the summer wishing for rain, so I'm trying to be positive about all the moisture we're having now. The yard never stays this green for so long, and the flowers seem happy (ducks too!). This isn't that unusual - I returned to Bozeman in 1989 for MSU graduation and it was cold and rainy that June, too (MSU was on quarters then so graduation was later). So I pretend this is Seattle (or Ireland, as someone else suggested) and enjoy using my umbrella, which normally is neglected.

Staff training update: hopefully this week we can have people begin the first lesson or two. I will be working on later lessons to get them ready - things like Flickr and YouTube. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's blogs!

It's Summer!

I can tell it's summer - the Library has been invaded by tourists and foreign exchange students. It's funny to see the different reactions people have to our time system: some people are so grateful to have an hour of free internet access, while others are so indignant to be limited to just one hour! The foreign students are interesting - they don't wait for any explanation of how to use the card I just handed them, so they often run in to problems - computers are already reserved, they don't realize they only get one hour each day. They all seem to use a Russian email program - mail.ru - which likes to hijack our homepage, causing problems to whoever uses the computer next. Or they set the language to something much different than English. But I guess it is good they can easily contact family at home (at least I'd like to think that's what they do with their computer time!). If I had a student studying in a foreign country, I'd be happy to hear from him once in a while.

So, I'll remind everyone how to reset the home page back to the library web site and review the computer use guidelines one more time!

Technology really is great

Even though we sometimes get frustrated and impatient, I was reminded today how wonderful technology really is these days. A frequent library patron today showed me the color photo of her 12-hour-old granddaughter, born in a state in a different time zone, that she had just printed from her email. How cool is that? How thrilled would my parents have been if I could have emailed them a photo of their just-born first grandchild 28 years ago, instead of having to wait 3 weeks and make an 8 hour drive to see him? I can't even imagine.

When my husband was stationed in Korea 20 years ago we would have been overjoyed at the opportunity to email, or IM, once in a while to get up-to-date contact. Instead we were grateful just to have a 30-minute phone call at a previously arranged time (6 a.m. for me, 11 p.m. for him), and if someone was already on the phone he hoped to use, or long-distance circuits were busy, all I got was a busy signal with no way to find out why we couldn't connect. Very frustrating for both of us!

So when I have to wait a minute for a page to load, or lose a cell phone signal, I think back to those dark ages and and amazed by how far technology has come!

I'm still learning

We're really getting started with staff technology training! First, we've developed a survey (online, of course, to get everyone comfortable with online activities) using surveymonkey. I've never been on the developing side, only the participant side, of this so it's been fun for me to try something new. I sent the first version to our technology committee, reviewed their comments, made some changes and sent the revised version back to them. Staff should be able to start on it next week.

We've also started a staff technology wiki outlining the planned course, very similar to the MSL Library 2.0 Challenge (thanks to Lauren and everyone else for letting us use your great plan!). We want to have an instant messaging lesson, too, so I'm working on that one. I've got a meebo account now and am including that in the IM lesson. We'd like to use IM at work instead of a lot of the phone calls we make - a few of us do that already and it's so much nicer than having the phone ringing while working with a patron!

Staff Competencies

We're working on a plan to bring all staff up to a common level, technology-wise. The states' Library 2.0 course was the beginning of this idea, and a presentation at Computers in Libraries last month made us really get thinking about it. We're adapting the North Carolina version of competency levels to fit better with our situation. It's hard to draw a line between "all staff" and "staff who work with the public" here - everyone has some interaction with the public. The hardest part is deciding what to have at each level. There are so many basic skills everyone needs that the list can be overwhelming - that might make some staff give up before even starting! So we're planning some sort of survey: what do they know, what do they need for their jobs, what do they wish they knew. Then we can plan from there.

Then there is the issue of time: when will any needed training take place? But we're just going one step at a time.

It might be spring...

I got the bicycle out yesterday (and rode 4 miles!) so I think it might really be spring this time. The deer seem to have moved on, leaving only chewed tulip leaves in the front flower beds - I'm going to have to investigate deer-proofing tips out there.

Saturday night I was at the the great Mannheim Steamroller Fresh Aire concert and guess who was the French horn player? Our very own Greg Notess! There were 10 Bozeman Symphony players making up the MS orchestra, so that was fun to see.

I read this idea yesterday but can't find the link today: a university (I think) is using a hot dog cart for roaming reference work. When I first read it, I thought it was just in the library, but the photo showed the cart (and librarian) outside - using a wireless laptop, and some basic reference tools, they can be providing service where people are. Now that sounds like a really clever way to expand library services! Even if we could only offer that in the summer months here in Montana, it could be interesting.