David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

CIL2010 – Gen X Librarians: Leading from the Middle

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Notes from a talk I attended …

Speakers: Lisa Carlucci Thomas (Digital Services Librarian), Southern Connecticut State University, Karen Sobel (Web Librarian), and Nina McHale (Reference & Instruction Librarian) – both at the University of Colorado at Denver

Gen X and Tech – Nina

Ha – quote – “I have shoes older than you.”

Generalizations work sometimes, sometimes not so much. ie – there are 20-something digital novices and 80-year old tech gurus.

Defines Gen X at early-mid 1960s to early 1980s. That’s me – born in 1966.

Growing up (along) with technology:

gen x librarians developed technology skills as needed – computers entered our lives during our educations

1970 – mean income, $10,001 – “Kitchen Computer,” $10,600

1984-1993 – computer access doubled for Gen Xers.

Gen X – between two worlds:

typewriters and word processors
card catalogs and opals
print and electronic
DOS and Windows
Analog and Digital
Traditional and Social
VHS and DDR
Landline and Cell Phone

Parallels in personal lives:
there has always been a generation in the middle – but tech adds a new dimension.

Attitudes toward tech:

we’re proficient with it
accepting of change and desire to improve systems
more likely to bank, shop, and look for health info online – connecting traditional institutions and new modes of communication

Gen X at Work – Karen

Sandwich Generation at work

Good mix of generations, income brackets, and levels of information at the university

She works on bridging the gap in the classroom.

different generations want to know different things.

make sure to personalize the instruction

Gen X skills in the library:

Gen X is bridging the gap – we started out analog, ended up digital. So we can help older people that are just starting out learning the “new stuff” – cause we’ve been there too

“I like technology, but I’m not an addict” – we have a better balance than older and younger generations

What does it mean to say “I’m not a computer person?” – But … they still have a phone…

Many Gen X librarians lean in tech-related taskforces, digitization projects, training programs

Gen X and Leadership – Lisa

Never before – 4 generations int he workplace

Gen X – rising into management positions (that’s me too)

Gen X is the smallest entry wave of managers in leadership roles right now…

Difference – Gen X is loyal to the profession – not to the institution.

Require personal/professional life balance

self-driven and self-motivated

promote innovation, mediate change, mentor people towards that change

Mentioned BIGWIG as a good example of gen x librarians working towards change

Sweet – mentioned mine and Michael Porter’s Library 101 project as something trying to give back to the profession – thanks!

Interesting – are we the self-centered skeptical slackers the media once portrayed us as? Not so much. Instead, we are independent, innovative individuals – who are becoming proficient leaders in our fields.

#genx hashtag…

Personal Accounts, Work Accounts – What To Do?

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Sometimes, I get these types of questions:

“I’m learning about social media tools, and a patron saw I was online and asked me a question … but I wasn’t at work! What should I do?”

“I was at work, and a friend saw I was online in Facebook and started asking me about the party last night. What should I do?”

    Here’s my take. I’d love for you to add to the discussion!

    First, for the patron/after-hours question. There are a few different ways to deal with this:

    • Answer the question. Really, this isn’t much different than getting stopped in the store and asked a question (yep – I think I have an “I’m a librarian! Ask me” sticker stuck to my forehead – don’t you?).
    • Alternatively, simply say “I’m off-duty. Email me the question, and I’ll answer it tomorrow.”

    How about the friend-contacting-you-at-work thing? For starters, I’d say chatting with a friend while at work is perfectly fine (as long as you’re getting your work done). You’re learning the tool with someone you trust. That’s a great way to gain new skills.

    What if that staff member is spending too much time in Facebook? Think about your work phone for a sec. In most jobs, it’s fine to get an occasional call from a friend. But if you’re spending 5 hours a day on the phone with that friend, then it’s a problem. And it’s not a problem with the phone – it’s a behavioral issue that the employer needs to deal with. Same thing with Facebook. Deal with the problem (spending too much time talking to friends while at work) – not the symptom (phone/Facebook).

    While I’m on the topic, a related question that I’m also asked is this: “Should I set up separate work and personal accounts in social networks, or set up one for everything?”

    I’m not convinced the question is completely warranted anymore. Some social networks have made this issue pretty easy to figure out without worrying too much about personal/work-related stuff. For example, Facebook has two types of accounts – personal profiles nad organizational Pages. If you set up an organizational library Page, and you set up a personal profile that’s you, the two don’t really cross over.

    There is one kinda tricky part to Facebook Pages. To set up a Facebook Page, you use your personal profile. That organizational Page is connected to, or owned by, whoever originally sets up the Page. This is important to think through! Do you create a “library david” profile, then create the Page (which sorta goes against Facebook’s policy – one profile per person)? Or do you use your real personal profile to set up the page? I know more than one librarian who has gotten another job, moved out of state … and still technically “owns” the Facebook Page from the old job. That can get weird fast!

    There’s also one slightly tricky part with Twitter, too. My library has a library Twitter account. And I have my personal Twitter account. Easy enough. I also do a lot of “listening” via Twitter searches for my library. So, when someone asks a question or says something about the library – even if they don’t use the proper @topekalibrary to do it – I see that comment. I usually reply to them using my @davidleeking account. What do you think – is that ok, or should I use the @topekalibrary account? Not sure.

    S0 – what do you do? Do you find it easy or hard to separate your work life from your personal life online? Let me know – and share what you do!

    photo by anomalily

    23 Things Kansas starting soon!

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    Kansas librarians, pay attention! You might be interested in 23 Things Kansas, a 23 Things program for our state.

    What is a 23 Things program? From the 23 Things Kansas website, it’s “a fun way to learn about and practice with online tools for community, sharing and productivity.”

    And it’s a pretty cool thing – for January-April, you learn about many emerging web-based tools – some familiar, some not quite so familiar. Each week focuses on one thing – for example, the week I’m facilitating is all about web-based video. So that week, we will play with sites like YouTube and Vimeo, search for videos in video search engines, and some of us will even create videos and upload them to the web. And then some.

    Want to find out more? Go visit the website … and don’t forget to register!

    Tinkering in the Techie Toybox at NEFLIN

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    The second presentation I gave at NEFLIN in Jacksonville, FL was Tinkering in the Techie Toybox – here’s the Slideshare version and a couple of links included in the presentation. Enjoy!

    Tinkering in the Techie Toybox: Staying on top of Consumer Technology

    View more PDF documents from David King.

    Links to other Techie Toyboxes I mentioned in the presentation:

    CIL2009: Learning Solutions Through Technology

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    Sarah Houghton-Jan, Lori Reed

    Lori:

    First time in history we have 4 generations of people in the workforce. Some people are always wired, some aren’t there yet.

    another consideration – time & money. Need to figure out how best to use our money/time for training…

    Showing a “Calculated Savings” slide – showing how much they spend in mileage reimbursements for travel time to and from training. Wow.

    elearning solutions:

    • asynchronous (blackboard, not all there at same time, learning 2.0 classes)
    • synchronous training – all online at the same time (webjunction classes, webinars – opal, webex, go to meeting, adobe connect, dim dim, etc) – have to have bandwidth to support this type of training.
    • blended – blending both together

    Giving examples of blended learning: using physical and digital social spaces…

    Best learning is informal learning

    Don’t put the cart before the horse – there are some things you have to figure out first:

    • Determine what the need is first – what do they need to learn/to improve their jobs, etc
    • Then determine who the audience is

    Talkshoe as a good tool for communication. WebJunction as another (their webinars).

    Twitter is a great way to reinforce learning.

    Tips to implement elearning:

    • you need support from the top
    • include IT in discussions early on
    • trainer, train thyself
    • don’t put speed over quality – if it fails, elearning will get a bad name.Make sure you’re doing it correct!
    • have a plan – create goals
    • be prepared to demonstrate ROI – might be costs!
    • enlist the help of tech-savvy staff
    • look for support from local businesses

    Sarah:

    Oops … missed a bit. Starting now…

    Tech2Know Program Plan:

    series of short web-based how-to guides, tutorials, etc. Sorta like a 23 Things program for competencies. One topic a week…

    3 follow-up elements:

    1. permanent online discussion forums for each topic

    2. tech playground

    3. an ask the techies week when the helpdesk would target lingering issues people have had about anything

    Some core principles:

    prizes – important! Library Genius 2.0 t-shirts from ACPL, find free or low-cost swag – USB drives that cost $4, etc.

    Why invest in staff training? save money, strengthen skills, improve customer service, shows commitment to lifelong learning, increases staff retention, motivates staff to keep learning, increases efficiency

    Benefits: really helps improve staff – their skills, their job descriptions, future training eneds, helps with performance evals, consistent customer service. That “come back next tuesday when Jill’s at the desk” statement? Not acceptable.

    Project Planning: start with goals.

    Planning questions:

    what are your goals?

    who manages the project?

    Do you have or need to create a skills list?

    Do you have a timeline in mind?

    What are your resources (funding and staff)?

    What training resources exist, and which ones need to be created?

    Ensure staff buy-in:

    • listen – if you ask, use their input
    • keep everyone informed
    • reassure staff they don’t have to know it all now
    • managers MUST follow project plan
    • hold a brainstorming session or party
    • fun. rewards. food.

    Admin buy-in:

    • write a purpose statement
    • determine measurable deliverables
    • build training in to performance evals
    • train admin/management first or separately

    Creating a training program:

    • decide on types and numbers of training
    • start with the basic topics
    • open training to all staff
    • mandatory or voluntary?
    • training budget based on staff needs
    • set goals and rewards

    Ongoing learning:

    • Do a mix of scheduled and unscheduled learning…
    • give staff 15 minutes a day to study/learn
    • schedule 1 off-desk hour for self-study
    • encourage conference/lecture attendance
    • share online tutorials, etc

    Tips: ask students to dream at the end – if you ruled the library, what would you change now, after learning this stuff? (came from Michael Stephens)