2018 Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness

Multi-district workshop on Friday, May 18, 2018, King of Prussia, PA
Speaker: Ryan Dowd, runs the 2nd largest homeless shelter in Illinois, is Founder of the Homeless Training Institute and author of ALA’s book “The Library Guide to Homelessness.”

Web site: http://www.homelesslibrary.com/

You can subscribe to his weekly newsletter from the home page.

Four Goals of Training: Recognize the power we have to resolve problems | Have great confidence doing so | Our library will have fewer problems | Our library will be more compassionate and inclusive

Keys: Empathy-Driven Enforcement and the Psychology of Voluntary Compliance

Notes in bold are taken directly from the note guide.

PART 1 – Deeper Understanding of Homelessness

The cycle of inter-generational poverty leads to a culture of poverty and economic apartheid. There several types of homelessness, but chronic homelessness involves people with multiple problems, including mental illness. Homeless individuals grew up poor and due the cycles of inter-generational poverty, they are part of a culture of poverty. For example, compared to middle class culture, they understand how to travel 20 miles using multiple types of public transportation, know when sales happen at different thrift stores, and how to move their family with less than 24 hours notice.

Homeless individuals have a different communication style. They have a smaller vocabulary, missing things like adverbs and other descriptors, making it harder to communicate. A middle class 3 year old has a much larger vocabulary than an adult who grew up in poverty.

Homeless individuals speak differently, have a smaller vocabulary, and pay more attention to nonverbal cues than you. Middle class children learn to differentiate between Casual Register appropriate for friends and family (includes slang and cussing) and Formal Register appropriate for job interviews, professionals, and people in positions of authority (police) (does NOT include cussing). Children raised in poverty do NOT learn Formal register and us casual register with everyone. This can lead to misunderstandings and ‘rudeness.’ They use body cues to determine meaning – How you say something matters more than what you say. Use simple words, but use non-verbal cues like volume, inflection, and body language to give meaning.

Homeless individuals argue differently than you. The middle class are quieter, keeping their voice at a “level 2” and only resort to “level 10” volume when on the verge of violence (screaming at a kidnapper, for example). Poverty is LOUD – shelters are loud, a large family living in a small space is loud, so any feelings beyond calm, from annoyed to angry to furious, goes from a “level 2” to a “level 9”. It is hard for the middle class to differentiate between “level 9” of “annoyed” and a “level 10” of “violence.”

Homeless individuals have experienced more trauma than you. Children raised in poverty and homeless individuals have experienced more sexual and physical violence, including traumatic brain injuries that kills off parts of the brain. The brain trauma leads to mis-perceived threat stimuli (so everything seems threatening and causes an overreaction) and to difficulty self-regulating anxiety and anger – it’s hard to regulate emotions. Homeless individuals get anxious and angry faster, they stay agitated longer, and it takes longer to calm down. They also suffer from PTSD.

Homeless individuals have experienced more punishment than you. They have experienced so much they are habituated to it and give up being good. Punishment beyond 24 hours is not effective because Homeless individuals have a different worldview than you and only focus on their needs for the next 24 hours. A middle class person has a “time horizon” of 70+ years, roughly a lifetime, while a homeless person only looks forward 24 hours. They are in survival mode and focused on immediate needs – food, sleep, and safety trump retirement planning and mortgages. If a problem can’t be resolved in 24 hours, it derails the homeless person. The average lifespan of a homeless person is 30 years less than a middle class person.

Homeless individuals view respect differently than you. In the middle class, respect is granted or given automatically and (we) expect to get respect in return. Respect is the other person’s to lose. In the culture of poverty, this is flipped. You must EARN respect first, or you’re a chump.

Homeless individuals view protection, retaliation, and insults differently than you. There are three dominant cultures in the world: Face culture (Asian), Dignity Culture (USA, Australia and Western Europe) and Honor Culture (Latin America, Africa, Urban poverty, and Middle East).

Dignity Culture: trusts the rule of law, strong authority figures, relative affluence, protection is through the police or government and courts, retaliation is viewed as tacky, and insults are viewed with amusement or ignored.

Honor Culture: distrusts the government, weak authority, high corruption, high competition for resources, protection is through self-defense, retaliation is essential – to prove your reputation for self-defense is to ensure safety and is a shield against violence and secures future safety. Insults are seen as a probe for weakness and they MUST retaliate against insults for self-preservation.

Do NOT Insult homeless individuals, as they live in an Honor Culture.

Homeless individuals have different triggers than you: Uninvited touch and unfairness. Uninvited touch triggers past traumas (muggings, sexual assault). Unfairness and discrimination and being treated as undesirable or being treated as ‘lesser’, being dismissed, ignored or talked down to are also triggers. People enjoying their misfortune are triggers – 10% of the population are “everyday sadists” who enjoy giving people a hard time, enforcing the rules, singling out the homeless for poor treatment, bullying the powerless. Homeless individuals are OK if everyone is treated poorly (like at the DMV), because at least it’s fair treatment.

Part II – Punishment

What is punishment? Threat to enforce compliance and just making people feel bad. “I’m so disappointed in you, child.” < That is a form of punishment.

The Problem with Punishment: mental illness makes punishment less effective, as does substance abuse, being habituated to punishment, past trauma, having a short time horizon, and growing up in the honor culture where insults are taken with great seriousness. In fact, punishment oftentimes has the OPPOSITE effect of what you intended.

You can keep punishing until everyone is banned and you hate your job, you can allow anarchy and not enforce any rules, or you can find a way to get people to follow the rules voluntarily!

A new paradigm: Empathy-Driven Enforcement

It’s compassionate and more effective – it’s all about HOW you enforce the rules.

Part III – Empathy-Drive Enforcement (TM)

Psychology of voluntary Compliance

Emotional Contagion – Mirror neurons fire in response to positive or negative emotion. Mirror neurons are stronger in women, who tend to have greater empathy as a result. You can catch negative emotions and give away your own emotions. Be Aware. People are more likely to voluntarily comply if you share positive emotions.

The Psychology Conflict teaches that you can’t think abstractly when you are angry, but that is when you most need abstract thought to have empathy and problem-solving skills. [INSERT GRAPH]. Binary thinking – when a person only considers two options – is most prevalent in a high-conflict situation. People are more likely to voluntarily comply if you lower the level of conflict. Use reciprocity (I’ll scratch your back scenarios) to lower conflict. What matters is perceived, not actual, treatment. Their perception is your reality – their perceived version is stronger than the actual version. People are more likely to voluntarily comply if they owe you a favor instead of 5 times the revenge. Eye for an Eye was actually a commandment to stay with a 1 to 1 retaliation, when normally humans retaliate in a disproportionate amount than they were harmed – a 1 to 5 ratio!

In relationships, there is a 5 to 1 ration – you must provide 5 positives for every 1 negative. For example, if you miss a special dinner with your spouse, just bringing flowers isn’t enough…but if you bring flowers, a gift certificate, a favorite food, complements, and a gift…then maybe you’ll be forgiven.

Relationship Builders: compliments, questions (conversations that show you care), deeds, and touch

Relationship Destroyers: criticism, defensiveness (expect problems/combativeness), stonewalling (silent treatment and repeating the same answer), and contempt (the worse, shows the other person is worth less than you and is often shown through body language).

People are more likely to voluntarily comply if you do five positive things before you ask.

Psychological Inertia – Positive relationships will continue moving in that direction – an option in motion will tend to stay in motion. It matters how an interaction starts – the First Five Seconds. He showed a great video demonstrating the importance of eye contact, introducing yourself, asking for their name, and asking how you can help. People are more likely to voluntarily comply if you get their emotions moving in a positive direction instead of a negative direction. It takes FIVE times the effort to reverse a negative interaction.

Neurochemical chemistry of aggression and empathy

Serotonin, Dopamine, and Oxytocin decrease aggression and increase empathy. A handshake raises oxytocin, as does eye contact, social standing (being treated like an equal), and predictable ritual (especially for people with autism).

Cortisol increases aggression, causes the fight/flight reflex, created when feeling threatened by a saber tooth tiger – life or death. Homeless individuals are AWLAYS in this state, their brain is “swimming in a pool of cortisol.” People are more likely to voluntarily comply if you help them have the proper brain chemistry.

Likeability – When people like you, they comply and help. Favors – get potential funders to do favors for the library – makes us more likeable! We like people who like us. People are more likely to voluntarily comply if they like you, which you can accomplish by showing that you like them and let them do favors for you.

Legitamcy – Three requirements for authority figure to be viewed as legitimate:

1) Be listened to (have an audience)

2) Rules are predicable and

3) Rule enforcement is fair (for example, does a library tell the bank president who comes in stinking after a workout that he smells or just the homeless individual?)

What is not required? toughness, seriousness (jokers can be legit), or distance/aloofness

Rigid consistency can be a problem because sometimes you cannot be consistent and fair – autism rude v. jerk rude. People are more likely to voluntarily comply if they view you as legitimate.

Additional Concepts:

Prepare for Problems: Form habits or muscle memories – know how to use your tools. Practice doing it right everytime – develop a routine, use scripts/set statements (Appendix of the guide). Just Do It – practice working with problem patrons – see them as a learning opportunity, rather than a threat.

Solve problems as early as possible – before any conflict erupts. Non-verbal cues start fights, then “mouth follows body into stupidity.” Gather more tools – Empathy “blue” tools and a few Fire/Punishment “red” tools (he had a toolbelt with actual red and blue tools…

Mindset Tools

We have enormous influence over patron behavior – 80% is prevention and staff training

Start with your Empathy Tools and leave punishment as a last resort.

Lead, Don’t Follow Pull not push – can you push a string? No, you have to pull it. Lead them where you want them to go, don’t follow them into stupid stuff. Model appropriate behavior. Whoever controls the TONE of the conversation, controls the situation.

Know Your Goal – It’s simple – “Compliance with the Rules” – don’t care what they think of you, think in general – just comply with the rule. Don’t make it about you – keep ego out of it. Don’t care what they thinki, as long as they do what we want them to do – It’s Not About You!

Focus on what your patrons action not what they think.

Don’t Judge – Imagine they are a relative and treat them as such, with dignity. Treat them the way you would want your family treated. Help stop judgment by remember the kid you felt most sorry for. Helps explain their behavior. Hurt people hurt people.

Be Calm – Mirror neurons – your calm is contagious. Calm leads to calm because of psychological inertia, and BREATHING is the key to calmness.

When stressed out, don’t suffocate yourself. You can generate anxiety from oxygen deprivation > an emotional response to the physical deprivation leads to illogical actions…so BREATHE. Pause and ask, “Am I breathing?”

Be Respectful – Honor culture demands it – you earn respect by being respectful. Use honorifics or Sir/Mam, use your formal register, especially when you first meet someone and during conflict. It is in our best interest for the homeless individual to behave and comply. Learn from Big Bird and Barney! Manners and common courtesy. Turn up the respect in the first five seconds. The three times is it helpful to be disrespectful: never, Never, NEVER – It just makes matters worse, like Russian roulette.

Slowdown – “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” Take time to resolve small problems to prevent worse problems. A two minute intervention v. a 2 hour issue.

Pre-Conflict Tools – 1st stage of conflict

Stages of conflict go from Pre-conflict to Non-verbal Escalation to Verbal Escalation to Crisis

Cups of Pennies – Consider it a respect-o-meter. Fill your cup with pennies (courtesies, positive interactions, legitimacy, respect, Oxytocin from a handshake, etc.) in advance, before problems erupt. Target certain patrons to focus your pennies on – for example, Ryan scans the shelter each night and sees who he needs to interact with to help head off any potential problems.

Use Names – Give your name, then ask for a name. Offer First. If they don’t reciprocate, use Sir or Mam, not “Hey You.” Ask patrons to call you by your first name.

Small Talk – Compliments and questions – ways to build relationships. What trade were they in? Likes? Dislikes? – He had examples of some crazy and some very true past experiences, like one guy who was secret service for Bill Clinton. Do what society is not willing to do. Add pennies to the cup.

Be Walmart – Greet everyone. Walmart greeters were brought in to stop shoplifting, but their customer satisfaction rating soared after introducing them…because while they let the potential shoplifters know they were paying attention, they made the non-shoplifters feel welcome. Say Hello, let everyone know they have been seen and acknowledged.

Shaking Hands – Profoundly effective. Same amount of Oxytocin as a 3 hour conversation. Hands should be shaken parallel (not in a way that shows dominance or submission), handshake should be equal distance between both people, your left hand should be kept out of your pocket, you should shake 3 times, and you should squeeze the same pounds per square inch as checking a peach for ripeness (then buy the peach). Leave the desk, come around to shake hands.

NON-VERBAL TOOLS – 2nd stage of conflict

Where to Stand – When talking with someone about compliance, remember Honor culture and let them save face by taking the conversation to a less public place. Legitimacy issues if inconsistent. More wiggle room if you keep the conversation private.

Body ‘language’ – Perception – Smile. We remember our words, but not our body. He showed a video without the sound of a staff member with a scowl and arms folding, who was saying “Hello, welcome to the library.” Side discussion about Resting Jerk Face – for homeless individuals, if resting jerk face projects contempt, this can lead to misunderstandings because of the non-verbal message it communicates. Change it if possible.

How to Stand – Stand with a 15% turn of the body – all conversation, not confrontation. Allows for tension to escape. / \ not | |. Make this a habit – do it with every conversation, so it becomes second nature.

Your Hands – Calm messaging with the hands – put them in pocket or behind back – in a neutral position. If speaking with a paranoid person, make sure your hands can be seen or if you fear violence. Don’t: Point, cross arms, make a fist, or put your hands on your hips. These can be seen as aggressive.

When in Danger: Praying Ninja _/\_ – increases confidence or the Thinker or cross your heart X – pick one and make it habit.

Don’t Touch – Uninvited touch is a trigger and don’t touch stuff – use words. Wake up a sleeping patron with words. PTSD – they may come awake swinging. Knocking on the table could be seen as rude. If you have to touch, keep furniture between you or touch the middle of the back, where they can’t swing at you. Don’t crouch – you are putting your nose by their elbow. If they are wearing earbuds, you may tap their knee to get their attention, but immediately apologize. (Article on people sleeping/snoring) First instinct is to hit/punch. Ryan told about a time he forgot this and came up behind a homeless man at the shelter and touched him on the shoulder – the man came swinging around with his fist raised, but saw and recognized Ryan and just say, “Oh, Hi Ryan, how are you?” Side discussion about sexual harassment and aggression – only give ONE warning and then hand the person off to a supervisor. Convey calmly that there is a rule about not touching staff and move to the side away from the touch, so non-verbal cues reinforce the verbal.

Smile 🙂 Blood tests revealed that looking at a smiling baby shoots up the positive brain chemicals giving you the same buzz and copious amounts of chocolate. A smiling adult only gives you 10% of the baby buzz, but still the equivalent to 22 lbs of chocolate. Smiling is ONLY a pre-conflict tool, if you smile during a conflict it looks like you are an everyday sadist.

Eye Contact – Avoid glaring or not looking a person in the eye at all. Ideally you should maintain 60-70% eye contact with 30-40% without contact to show respect. When not maintaining eye contact, look at the floor. 6-7 seconds looking at the individual, then 3-4 seconds looking at the floor.

VERBAL TOOLS – 3rd stage of conflict

Talk Quieter – They will be louder, so you be quieter. 1 decibel lower is idea – Lead into quiet

Talk Calmer – Avoid sounding frantic and speak like a meditation video with pregnant pauses.

Listen – You earn pennies in your cup for just listening. Active Listening – Repeat what you THINK you heard them say to help avoid miscommunication. His example was with a patron who was banned and complained to him about it, he reiterated, “So, if I am hearing you right, you are upset that you were banned for 2 weeks?” “No man, I was a jerk, I deserved that…but she was disrespectful to me!” The issue was not technical (how long) but emotional (respect). The complaint was about how they were made to feel and this was clarified by repeating back their statement. Scripts: “Correct me if I’m wrong…” “I think what I hear you saying is…” or “If I understand you…”

Be Sad – Show empathy and avoid being an everyday sadist – if you have to reprimand someone, don’t take pleasure in it. Be sad about it. “It upsets me to enforce these rules, but…” “I’m really sorry I have to do this, but…” NO JOKES – it can be perceived as “they’re laughing at me.” It is OK to apologize while enforcing the rules. ODOR Example – common questions on the Web site (whole article on this topic).

Explain – don’t debate. Don’t dictate. Good rules are not up for debate. Saying “Because those are the rules!” is disrespectful, but give an explanation for the rule – “Because people are studying.” “Because we have ants.” “Because it disturbs other people using the library.” “Because it could trip up someone and hurt them.” (Article on Too Many Bags in the Library)

Explain. Blame the Rules. Just blame the organization, the boss, or the Board. “It’s not me and you, it’s THEM” – that nebulous body of people up there who make all the rules. Ryan routinely blames his Board. Shift the blame to someone out of the room – even blame the boss if you are the boss. One time, he blamed the State of Illinois. “I don’t want to lose my job.” Example from the Delusion’s Article: “I’m not sure about that [delusion you think is real], but either way our Board of Directors insists that ALL books be put in the right section. If books are in the wrong place, I get in trouble.”

CRISIS TOOLS – 4th stage of conflict

When to Call the Police – Ryan feels we should hold this “Nuclear” option for Dangerous situations and when a person has been asked to leave and they refuse. Don’t cry wolf – if you threaten to call the police, you must call the police. This is the “ultimate Fire tool” for punishment. Calling the police takes longer to resolve the problem than pleading for the person to just leave. It is disruptive when the Police arrive and can cause trauma and anxiety for other people in the library (undocumented, parolees, etc.). You garner more Respect if you are able to handle the crisis yourself (Honor culture folks are watching what you do). If you have pleaded and they refuse, “Fine, call them if you want” – then they have given you NO choice.

Have a code name for the Police

How to do Backup – Get a colleague to call – don’t do it while standing next to the person near their peers – that’s everyday sadistic. Have a strategy. When you speak to the person (away from others standing at a 15 degree angle /\, have your backup standing 5-10 feet away to monitor and call 911 if asked. The primary person should do the talking, the backup is moral support and crowd control. In high-stakes conflict, the primary person should be the senior member of staff, while in low-stakes conflict the person who needs training and practice should be the primary. The senior person can then coach.

How to break up a fight – Peacocking fight v. a real fight. Peacocking fights are loud and slow – they need a reputation for violence to keep them safe, so in this type of fight they want you to break it up so they can save face. a REAL fight is fash and quiet – you hear the crowd or breaking furniture, not the fighters. Procedure: Clear the room, Call 911, Let them fight it out until the trained police arrive.

How to ask someone to leave:

1. Make sure you have pennies in your cut – it’s not personal, just the job.

2. Take a minute to listen – let them plead their case

3. Use baby steps – have them gather up their stuff for a quiet discussion near the door, then tell them they’ll have to leave, and finally tell them it’s for 2 weeks.

4. Make sure they know it’s not personal – “we are still cool”

5. Give them the hope for a Fresh Start – share information about appeal process (even if the appeal will be denied) and/or let them know that when they come back, all is forgiven and they start with a clean slate.

Appendix: Your Personal Phrases

PLA 2018: Ditching Dewey

Ditching Dewey: How to Make Searching Your Collecting Engaging, Not Enraging. | Saturday, March 24, 2018, 10:45 AM with Cumberland (RI) Public Library
Handouts: Download 1 Download 2 Download 3 Download 4 Download 5 Download 6 #takebackthestacks

(Something that’s been on my To Do list, in our Strategic Plan, and in the budget since 2017…so here’s hoping this will be sufficiently motivating. Related reading: The Dewey Dilemma from LJ, Five Steps to Ditching Dewey, Ditching Dewey: Choosing Genre Categories)

Melissa – worked at B&N before becoming a reference librarian. Danielle a research assistant with bookstore/media/movie/blockbuster store experience and inventory control and logistics background.

The Browse Method – can be used on any ILS in any consortium. Color coding and plain English.

Benefits: Markham Public Library did a C3 classification system and did before/after research: Shelving productivity up 475% and Item retrieval time reduced 346%. Circulation rose exponentially. Collection Maintenance benefits – Like with like, horrifying to see gaps and obvious weeds. Customizable to each environment. Pull out those items your community uses more often – cookbooks, travel books, etc. Get more non-users back in the door. Happy Patrons and low cost. Spine labels, overlays, and staff time. $2,800 for 21,000 titles – not free, but affordable.

Why?

Lack of comfort with Dewey – what does this mean? Why are they in so many different places? I don’t get how this works, I’m just going to go buy it on Amazon! Antiquated system (1876 for closed stacks) = LJ survey from 2009 – patrons have a trouble understanding the online catalog because call numbers don’t make any sense to them. Dewey wasn’t meant for patron use! How can we be 21st century libraries with an out-of-date foundation that was never meant for patron use?

Created a worst case scenario, based on research. For example, kept the Dewey number in the record but hidden (in case it needed to come back).

Keep call numbers – Finder numbers – same place on the shelf, every time. Took 52 subjects divided into 9 main categories and are color coded by spine overlay.

The major categories – 0000 to 9999. Numbers do not repeat. Room for growth. Find books in 3 ways: Numerical cal number. Clearly identified categories, color coded and in plain English.

Works with any ILS – work with System to make global changes and make macros to help save time in creating new call numbers. End panels with vinyl letters – easier to shift end-caps. Extras to make it better – main out of pocket cost is labels. Demco tinted label protectors. Lighter colors are more usable. Personnel time – so logistics and only touch items once. How do you make this happen – Key buy-in from Director, department heads, and staff. Selling points: easier for everyone, including us. Not overnight…long-term project. Time to adjust, customizable, get input on how to implement (categories). Not at Tech Services project, because they didn’t have to do it! Work with those involved. Board buy-in – be realistic with hours it will take, but remember the end game. Community buy-in – communicate and keep them in the loop. They want the library to be user friendly and to come in and NOT feel dumb. Used passive programs to test theories. What should we call this? Ask them to help and get their interest in the process. (vote, see samples). Questions asked: Self-help v. self-improvement. Arts, transportation, architecture, and true crime – where would you look for these books (vote with a slip). Architecture was a hot mess, but the rest were ‘spot on.’

Physical work to change the collection: Weed until it hurts and then weed a little more. Weeded books are crying because their work is done!

Process:

Pre-label your book – speed through the process. Use staff to the best of their abilities and interests to help with the process. Use Worksheets – simplified process: According to layout sheet, where do you think the book goes? Ex: Art > Painting > Watercolor and the 4-digit number or True Crime > 8002 People & Places > Law Enforcement (tertiary line: racial profiling) Keeps books together
Staging Process – Start with a section, so staff can see the final product. Keep it moving, not sitting dead in the office. House & Home > 2601 > Cleaning. 2008 Arch HisPres instead of 720.97 and 724.23 and 693.1 and 694.1 and 728 – Historic Preservation books now all together!
Patrons don’t care how you organize it, just as long as it is consistent within the library. Flow of the library. You may want to use a test area to work out the details of the process (or beta test with LP or DVD collection). Pulled out graphic novel collection. Food network stars together or apart? Yes, put star chefs face out! Ask patrons. Go through the stacks and decide which books stay put and which will be moved with new friends and neighbors.
Moving Time – Print the labels, put them on the spine, team up, check and double check. Person 1 put it in catalog and print. 2nd person checks accuracy and set aside questions to discuss. Dewey can go in 099 or 092 (hide one, use the other). Where will OUR patron LOOK for this? Final decision… colored label color and then put them back out.

Free to any library (after June 1). Details on web site – cumberlandlibrary.org/browse-method

Adaptable to children’s collection – but not there yet. Remember “A library is a living organism”

Q&A – Can you move full collections, maybe out of order? Try to get the books shifted first – and then label. Ask pages – what do you think of this and the arrangement?

Ingram can pre-process at a cost, but can add a note when you order about the call number.

PLA 2018: Ideas and Slides

This has been an uncommonly inspirational and informative conference – and it’s not over yet. Guess I missed a very moving talk by Steve Pemberton: “Believe in your dreams, rise above obstacles, create opportunities for others, and most of all, persevere.” Glad I can watch it later…privately…with tissues. So often, we never know the impact we make – the lives we touch – the good we do. Serving the public – from birth to death – is really an amazing path to choose for ones life’s work.

Some missed programs:

Community as Collaborator

Participatory experiences in the library – those that put the user in charge of their learning – are an exciting way to create meaningful connections for the community. Learn strategies to facilitate and scale programs and spaces for your patrons no matter your library’s size by leveraging trends to inspire your community to take ownership of library experiences.

Eliminating Fines and Fees on Children’s Materials to Create a Win-Win for Your Library and Community

Librarians have long debated the philosophy and financial role of charging fines and fees for late, lost, and damaged materials. This is still a critical topic as fines and fees pose a significant barrier to library use, especially for low-income families. In this interactive session, explore research on the benefits of eliminating fines and fees and engage with colleagues on this topic, including how to overcome challenges to achieving increased library access.

Hire for Fit: Best Practices for Hiring to Your Culture

Does your library have a unique culture that attracts a certain kind of talent? Want to increase your success at hiring and keeping stars for your team? Want to know what rules to break, what data points to track, what question to always ask and what to do with red flags and green flags? Want to compare questions and techniques with libraries with 3 very different cultures? Join us!

PLA 2018: Great Expectations

Great Expectations – Customer Service and the Future of Libraries

Positive memorable experiences – Customer experience is key.

Comply with customer or follow policy without exception – need organizational definition. Need a definition and then develop tools and training needed to provide that service. Goal: We will provide library internal and external customers with an exceptional, personalized and consistent service experience. Vetted by staff and incorporated their ideas and experiences.

GET HANDOUT and Review recorded webinar

https://mcldaz.org/custom/about/greatexpectations/ < web site

Front line staff see it as a playbook – expectations | Supervisor – tool to help encourage underperforming staff (observable, trainable and coachable – behaviors we want them to model) | Director – Common language and framework for both internal and external customers

Customer service behaviors 101 – nothing new, but does the organization provide it consistently throughout the library?

Great Expectations are aspirational – challenge to find something to improve upon

Great Expectations: (sample of her 3 hour class)

Make everyone feel welcome – inclusion, accessibility, easiest to grasp, set tone for entire customer journey. Project a friendly and approachable demeanor with body language and non-verbal cues.Lean in, open body language, etc. Scan the area around you periodically. If you don’t do this “I’m too busy, don’t bother me.” Can’t have good external without good internal. Treat all customers fairly – Libraries are for everyone – reflect community and world at large. Give every customer the same enthusiasm – genuine and sincere. Be consistent from one customer to the next. Does everyone feel welcome, even the grumpy ones?
Anticipate customer needs – helping to create a seamless experience by eliminating barriers. Say WOW that was easy. Reduce customer effort whenever possible – anticipate questions and go over things in advance. Do a quick account review to see if card is close to renewal or any fines or holds, upcoming due dates – inform them. Proactively look for unique customer service opportunities – Self-check – pull person out of line and check in books. Anticipate the next logical step in the customer’s journey.
Radiate confidence – Earns customer trust. Training gaps, but staff are more knowledgeable than they think they are! Ability to FIND the answers, even if you don’t know the answer itself. Confidently share knowledge and expertise – Example overdrive – jump in and help. “Use your professional judgement.” Keep up to date on knowledge of tools, products, services, and collection – New interfaces need training – new events, new items, changes to be aware of and have a grasp of what is happening around them. Staff needs = new training strategies.
Inspire curiosity – Introduce customers to their next favorite thing. Creative cleverness in displays. Positively suggest resources customer may not be familiar with – Customer gets their notion of products and services from the staff member who first introduces them to it. eBooks – become proficient so you can excite the customer about the new options and formats. Empower the customer with knowledge – teach and explain, walk them through, show them where to find the info they need. Readalikes – show customer Fan Fiction or novelist. End each session with “If you didn’t get all that, don’t worry..I’ll help you every time.” Humans are information seekers and we want to figure things out. Inspire customer brains.
Creatively solve problems – Pursue the reconciliation of the relationship, not just the resolution of the issue. Look for offsetting consideration for the disappointment. Make an exception, split the fines, Be flexible but consistent in approach to resolving problems. H.E.A.T. – Tool for staff from Disney. Need a method. Hear them Out (listen). Empathize. Apologize and Thank them for their time and patience. need to recover from a service failure.
Own the moment – When customers aren’t interacting with us, they’re working through our phone system, our building, our branding. Example: Page puts a book back incorrectly. Customer journey from parking lot and everything they do in the library or online. All of our roles throughout the journey. Complete every task with the customer’s experience in mind. Staff behind the scenes. Take each opportunity to make a positive experience. Your 15th card is the patron’s very first – especially with kids. Transform transactions to interactions with the patrons.
Personalize the experience – Get an emotional response in the customer that makes them fiercely loyal. Very Individual Person (VIP). Gauge customer reactions and respond accordingly. Visual cues – looking for signage or us. Recognize repeat customers with friendly acknowledgment – Repeat customers – use professional judgment to decide level of interaction and level of service. Be mindful – consistent customer service.
Act with integrity – Reliable and accurate information. Privacy! Confidentiality! New to staff who don’t know libraries. Use appropriate resources to give accurate information – know digital collection! Power Library. Know the source. Consumer Reports for example. Respect the privacy of customers as well as coworkers. “Mr. Peters and Fifty Shades of Embarrassment” If they lower their voice or give you note, respond in kind and gauge that by being in the moment. Walk them to the shelves to speak with them quietly. Circle back or let them know where you are so they don’t have to talk to another staffer.

Recommendations:

Focus on the behavior you want – demonstrate the expectations. Come back with notes and photographs to identify the expectation and behavior.

Keep it staff informed with real-life examples

Keep both internal and external focus

Conduct follow up meetings – Managers, work with staff to identify what is working and what is more difficult – training gaps

Good customer service is the result of intentional over time.

Implementation Process

New habit, needed feedback and follow up meetings. Developing a shared vocabulary. Could talk about failures and successes that could be replicated.

Cute graphics and puns helped

“Roll” model awards on the spot awards

Ongoing efforts – recruitments and staff training adjusts to fit audience. Working on peer recognition plan.

Supervisor tool kit under development with committee input. Lots of communication.

PLA 2018: Coach Your Team to Greatness!

Friday, March 22 at 2 pm | Maggie Snow and Stacey Hendren from Anoka County Library

50% of employees who leave, site their manager as the reason they quit. How comfortable is an employee going to their manager with any type of question – gauge of job satisfaction.

With coaching, you can actively engage your employees and move forward.

County transitioned to a coaching model.

Handouts: Work Outcomes (.doc) |

Effectiveness & Success – people want to feel valued and know they are making a difference in their job. Coaching fosters great harmony between management and staff. Regular coaching brings focus back to goals. Gets to heart of things before they escalate. (Wow – wish I could have worked in a system with supervisor training and mentoring opportunities – down-side of going directly from library school into a Director position).

Blah-blah about the history of the process. Created new work outcome statements based on a mass of post-its about what everyone does – helped with staff buy-in. Boiled down to categories and found some that apply to everyone from janitor to Director. Expectations of everyone in every position. Bottom up – people who do the job said what they do. Coaching training provided for all supervisors.

Coaching: Collaborative initiative where supervisors guides and prompts forward movement. Inquiry and open-ended question asking that encourages people to reflect and take self-guided action. Engage employees, accelerate growth in high achievers. (Lisa Gates Linda.com training) Actively engaged employees show passion for work. Coaching supports all types. Allows supervisor to identify needs and skill level of staff. Skill v. Challenge. Flow is complete emersion and peak performance. Otherwise, you are anxious or bored. Bored folks look elsewhere. Anxious people are unhappy. Communication and open-ended questions get staff into the flow channel.

corrective and positive feedback – Corrective address and identify situations quickly and describe behavior and shared responsibility for behavior. Expectations – where not being met. Express continued trust and support of person. Describe specific behavior and the results and impact. Discuss the importance – value, making a difference and express gratitude. Private or public? Frequency – individual supervisor meetings. Prepare for discussion, have examples and action items. Train and share skills and be confidential. Mentoring along with supervising and keep boundaries between the relationship.

How often do you discuss goals and performance with those you supervise? Monthly? Weekly? annual?

How to Coach:

Set goals at the annual review. meaningful goals that align with interests, strengths and goals. Annual meeting means the goals are forgotten about. Coaching method delves deeper – why is learning about ebooks important? How are you going to do that? What are you going to do with that knowledge? Measure? know impact?

Coaching a reminder and check-in on goals (quarterly). If you haven’t had the time, supervisor can help make the time or help them with skills or coaching/teaching. Grow method – goal, realities, options, will – realistic goal? applicable? options – how refine? will – is this something you really want to learn or care about and want to do? Will unlocks actions, accountabilities and roadblocks. What is causing you to struggle with this goal? “Because I hate it and don’t know why I wrote it down.”

SMART goal – Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely goals.

Develop a schedule – meet once a month or 5 minute check in – How are you doing, what are you challenges, do you need support from me. Quarterly meet in the office for an hour – no rules for how much or how often, as long as it’s more than once a year.

Prepare with corrective and positive feedback. Prepare open ended questions. “What has been the best part of your week?”

Coach – coaching worksheets with topics for discussion (handouts section). Look back at job description. Get updates on training quarterly to make sure training is appropriate and helpful. Updates on progress – Know what folks are working on and help create projects and give support.

Discussion of ideas and challenges. Updates on teamwork to get broader perspective as supervisor. Follow-up after coaching session. Supervisor notes throughout the quarter for each staff member.

Talking individually with staff and supporting their development. Provide support and feedback necessary to keep staff actively engaged.

Differences in who is supervised – Start with a self-reflection. How do you communicate and like to be communicated to? Talk along same channels. Director supervises upper level management – touch base and get out the way.

Continuous Improvement – Learn from each other. Take 5 minutes to write down a paragraph of what you talked about (performance review done!) Library system talks about communications and communication plan. Douglas county presented on a communication plan. (PLA 2 years ago). Email sent out on Thursdays. Sharepoint, etc. Staff know who we will communicate with them and cuts down on gossip. Follow the chain of command to find the correct answer. preferred method of communication – in person or email? Make it known and use it. Community development program – facilitation training from university extension service. Rewarding – helps with coaching, teams, community conversations. Public services team – 10 minutes for training at meeting and supervisor training through county (cohorts).

Coaching methods improved leadership skills and improved communication and gained personal satisfaction and self-knowledge.

Staff need to operate effectively and with integrity and coaching helps make that happen.

Talk about what the staff member is passionate about – ex. art degree. Assist with displays, give ideas for design. Actively engaged by using her passion throughout the building.

Bite-size management training – example? Opioid training on what it is, what’s going on in the county, and possibilities for library and then discussion. Sexual harassment in libraries – questions sent prior to the training!

How have you changed appraisal process? Just added. Still once a year form completed and given to HR. Just more documentation and meetings. Work outcome statements included in document.

ON PLA web site – handouts available.

How do you go from complaints to constructive? Script out what you want to talk about and stop them and get back to the script. That happened, how can we make it better and what did you learn? Get back to the open ended questions from the form to redirect the discussion. Acknowledge the problem what is our shared responsibility. (Growth mindset session – look into that).
Resources to help? Linda.com training, coaching and developing training. strategic thinking and emotional intelligent. Drive by Daniel Pink. Leaders eat last by Sinek, Simon.
How do you coach managers? Open ended questions can go from the employee to the manager! Push the manager to give you what you need as the employee. Have a conversation with managers about job descriptions. Coach managers on this process. This is what we are going to do, here is the training, and create this as an expectation of the managers. Why – I’ll provide training to make it happen.
Diverse community coaching – Communication piece. Focus on the individual and their strengths and issues.
What do you with the data from the sessions? Communication piece again, how does the supervisor prefer to be contacted – are you burying your request in their inbox because they hate email? Believe the person you are working with is not out to get you. Not intentional – how do they best respond and want you to communicate with them. How you best want me to follow up with you?
Challenge others to pay attention to community and libraries. What are you going to learn to drive our library forward! Become an expert on something. Personal and professional goals. Do strategic thinking about what you want to do – personal, branch, system goals. Brand new v. journeyman. Different experience level = different flow = different coaching. What can you teach or mentor to others, as a journeyman? Turn expertise into a benefit to the rest of staff.
How do you pull back-end staff into this process and strategic plan. Increase access to information, ideas, and stories – Web site, new products, usability, MLA, metadata, RDA, align organization to new techniques. Sit on committees statewide.
confidence needed as a new managers – fake it till you make it. Build a strong relationship with your supervisor – always complain up, vent up. Find an accountability partner to bounce ideas off of. Confidentiality with and talk with them about the issue. When performance is lacking, the rest of the staff all know it and look to you to do something about it. Deal with it directly, so staff trusts you and maintain your integrity. Script it out, read through it, and stick with the script. Roll playing for hard conversations. Acknowledge that you don’t know it all.
maggie.snow@co.anoka.mn,us (call)
Stacey Hendren – stacey.hendren@co.anoka.mn.us (email)

PLA 2018: Beyond the turnstile…

Beyond the turnstile…

IMLS Research project – better ways to assess efforts, especially for people who prefer to talk. Program evaluation…

National stats gathered about library programs:

# of programs, # of programs for youth, # of library users who attend programs

Q 1. Describe a program or service (1) designed to meet the information needs of library users who prefer to talk when interacting with information and (2) involves your library working with partner.

Free Library of Philadelphia – ESL, interpersonal, in branch with greatest linguistic diversity. Walked the street to gather interest. Volunteer instruction while walking the business district – recommendation. 12 participants with 6 languages in the class! Would hang out after class and formed a bond. 12 week class, then graduated to community college (followed instructor).

Find a cooperative partner willing to give 50/50 effort. Clear roles and responsibilities. Cross pollinate ideas, but also benefits business nonprofits in the neighborhood. Easier to work with ‘small fish.’

Outcomes: Wanted to expand class to evening and expand reach into another zip code. Process – teacher gave entrance assessment & exit to see improvement. (Project Outcome) Assessment? Staff assessed comfort level of participants – brought children in, got to know others in community, employment on corridor, etc. Polling place, tell stories to staff of how they were empowered. “reach back into the community by connecting others with library.”

Seattle – 2018 Literacy collection outreach project. Don’t want to check out materials b/c of fear of fines, so purchased 500 items that were handed out at programs for home use. Somalia family safety task force as partner. Powerful director of the organization – expanded from computer classes to discussions and increasing literacy skills and dynamic partner helps spread the word. Took materials to computer classes and to local events. Required patience and grace to work with nontraditional organization (non-white). Cultural differences. Evals: Outcomes based eval. Determine outcomes built with cooperative organization. Some of the libraries outcomes had to come off the table to work with the group. Assessment? What is the change in the lives of the people participating? Computer language classes were women only and they felt more confident in basic communication outside community. Talk with teachers as needed. Could talk more confidently with kids about schoolwork in English. Some felt ready to pursue work outside their community! Airport, for example. Word of mouth and requests for new partnerships.

Cleveland – Collect in 45 languages at the library, but users felt uncomfortable. Who to ask, not sure what to do. Videos in spanish/arabic, etc. More accessible – quick hits of information (library card, programs, etc.) Legal clinics asked about, so will make more videos to address need. Legal Aid Clinic partners – throwing money at a project was their an ROI? Did we really help our community? Took a slower approach. 1 clinic to start. 10-14 lawyers came to library (paid) and had people waiting outside the door. Mortgage/rental law issues. Built it. 5th year of program. 30 clients – 2.5 hours a piece. Successful for city and library. Assessment? Neighborhoods keep score! Other places were contacting outreach department to request the program. Lines waiting outside show value! Outcome measures: continued growth.

Best practices for serving populations in the margins. IMLS grant study. Assessment models used bubbled to the surface:

Interactions and relationships

Changes in lives

Other branches contacting us?

Numbers sometime still work

Models:

1. It takes a village – Partnering with other organizations – Are people bringing friends? Furthering education in area (community college)?

@. Safety-net model – Focus on objectives and leveraging resources. Show how library helps others in community to hold the safety net. “Since we started, have you noticed change in your clientele?” Example: Legal aid saw smarter clientele attending library events

#. Changing the Conversation – If library needs to be held accountable for larger phenomena. Program on teen sex abuse – research showed a need and even though 0 attended first event, all brochures placed around library disappeared. Excited to offer program again. More reference inquiries about topic?

How did you follow-up with participants?

Christina – 6-month follow up and she’d go see them and ask how program impacted the person in the business district. Personal connection.

What outcomes? Did you use Project Outcome? No, designed out outcomes.

PLA 2018: Strategic Planning for Culture Change and a Dynamic Future

Auburn Public Library and Plano Public Library | March 22, 4 pm

Auburn, Alabama – Auburn University, 62,000, 20th fastest growing city in USA, top retirement destination, too.

$1.9 million budget, 22 FTE, municipal library , advisory board, stable funding
Strategic process goals: be intentional, engage employees at every level, and have a living, breathing document
Key Questions of the process:
Why are we here? Aspiration statement – big picture developed by leadership and board.
What do we believe?
- Guiding Principles: Guideposts to help with decision making – questions to ask. Our community is at the heart of everything we do (don’t plan in a vacuum) and be responsive to the community – yes and maybe to patron requests. We work as a team – Every person at every level contributes to success of organization. People always come first (not that they are always right) – think about people not books or facilities. We don’t circulate the Gutenburg Bible…we can replace books, not people and relationships.
- Policies and procedures are designed to make the library easier, not harder, to use.
Who Are We? We all fill different roles, including the Library. Service Roles: collection, community connector, literacy and learning leader, place, and technology resource. A way to talk about ourselves and what we do, and to explain what we do to Board and City government.
What do Our Patrons Need? Service Priorities: Accessibility and Openness, Literacy and Education, and Community Engagement (partnerships)
Their strategic plan fits on 1 page – these 4 questions and all the answers.
The Process: Teams, Vision for excellence, Initiatives and activities, Lots of sharpies and post-its.
Program of Work – Enhanced To Do list for the year – Initiatives and activities to focus on for each fiscal year – priorities for the year. Owners listed, and a timeline for each initiative. Priorities for follow through.
Never stop planning because planning never stops. Service Roles set for longer term, Service Priorities set for intermediate term and Program of Work for the upcoming year. It’s part of the budget process to update the POW – used to organize statistics, annual reports, and Director’s update – organized around the POW.
Results – great communication impact inside and outside. Used to explain the library to new assistant city manager (their boss). Accountability, day-to-day balanced with big picture, and integrates with other plans (department plans, professional development plan, and city department plans).
Chris Warren – @cswarrent321. cwarren@aubrunalabama.org

Libby Holzmann (libbyh@plano.gov) Plano Public Library System Director – Groove is in the Heart!

277,000 population, Toyota moved to town, 5 locations, $12 mill budget, 179 staff
One Library, Five Branches – same and awesome – goal.
New director – started the process by listening to the staff and make it a collaborative process. Hear concerns, questions, ideas – themes popped up.
- Didn’t understand why, where we are going, don’t know people outside the building. Now join us with this project
Leadership Team (LEAD team) – Us v. They – anyone with manager or supervisor in the title told they were leaders and brought onto this team.
- iOpt – online 24-question survey to see how people process information. Needed to understand how everyone works and combat fear.
- Questions for culture check – strengths/weaknesses of library? What are your responsibilities? What would it take to improve your skills? What are 3 key initiatives you would like to see for your library?
- Conversation about “us” (what we believe about where we are going together as a team) | Changing “Our” direction | Creating consensus/clarity (Get 20 people on the same page)
Team Building taken to staff – asked to answer the same questions. Work as a team to gather info and get it back to LEAD team. Processed answers and found themes:
- Place | Programs | Community | Development
- Designated “champion” teams for each initiative
- Champion teams created goals and actions, including “on boarding” new staff orientation
Staff Development Day – staff input
- Director visited all libraries
- Champions and supervisors leaded conversations in small groups – cross pollinating and made people uncomfortable – discussions. Staff can ask what the goals and objectives mean – personal understanding.
Training a huge component
- Defined cross-training opportunities
- Hands-on learning sessions
- Cross-stem meetings
- Ongoing & Frequent
- Food is good
Tools: Visual org charts (asset mapping and picture in email) | Intranet | Outside Facilitator | Champions (communication) – authority to deliver | Training (frequent) | Reinforcing the Plan
Journey for everyone and bring them along with you. What do you Need from us?
Staff can now answer WHY they do what they do.
Next steps: measuring the outcomes | Sharing status and progress | Engaging the community
Momentum and pulling together | Next year invited to have a table #morethanbooks at community event (pull a fire truck)

Q & A

Team building consultant rather than a strategic planning consultant
Role of the trustee? Governing Board would have a much deeper involvement – mission and visioning. Staff, front-line involvement impactful (be able to tell the boss they have a bad idea). Director relies on staff to have the good ideas. Trustees speak for the needs of the community and constituents
How do you find boundaries – can’t be all things to all people. The plan – who are we, what are we trying to be for our community. Can say “Great idea, let’s connect you with these folks who do this” Mission creep. (Zoolander example). Understand your community. This is what our community needs us to do, not ‘this is what the library can do.’ Awesome at 5, rather than mediocre at 50.
We want all the things, but can’t afford all the things. Asset mapping – using assets strategically to complete projects with existing staff. Using skills and abilities. Do that within your community – find everyone and asset map to the community. Partnerships.
How did you engage the community – external input? Auburn: greatest shortfall – didn’t seek as much as seeking for new plan. Surveys and focus groups and using outside resources from other existing plans, including citizen survey. Plano: Asking the community at outreach – survey on the fly and take notes.
Where did capital/building planning fit into this process? Auburn – parks and rec master plan included capital planning. “Library as place” service goal.
Leadership training helped give staff the skills they needed to self-guide through the process
Middle-management influence? People with influence make the case to admin. Storytelling and influence to get the Director to listen and be on board.

PLA 2018: It’s Not About the Desk

Megan Rosen and Susan Brown, Chapel Hill Public Library | 3/22/18 10:45 am | It’s Not About the Desk: Service Philosophy/Design/Delivery

Happy to share that Susan worked at Lawrence Public Library (KS) and was a friend and colleague. She’s been at Chapel Hill for 5 years, to my 6 at HVL. We have fond memories of 2012 PLA here in Philadelphia.

Presentation actually about organizational change. It’s not “moonlight and canoes” – it’s really hard. True change is a process – it’s about collaboration and cooperation and empowering people. Takes empathy, curiosity, compassion, and thinking differently about what we do and why we do it.

Moving product in and out, while providing service to 2,000 visitors every day in a pretty, new building. But biggest strategic goal was to focus on people and service: Human-Centered Design. New building had an enormous “Titanic” single service desk (not designed for the user in mind, but a beautiful building). Created for Circulation and Reference to co-locate, but without cross-training, so patrons had to be shifted off.

Encouraged staff to get from behind the desk, but with limited success. “We are too busy to improve” attitude among staff. None of the change means the old way was bad, it’s a statement on the present and future. “Leadership on the Line” – technical v. adaptive change – changing the mindset. IMLS Grant received – Useful, Usable, Desirable author came and worked with them over the year. From new Web site, collection layout, and new Service desk…but learned they didn’t have the foundation upon which to build those improvements. User-Focused Design – for them, not us. “We are Not Our Patrons” Invited staff to collaborate on process – teams to attack ‘things’ starting with mission/values. What are we in this business for? Service Pledge for staff: “You are our top priority.”

Service Pledge – Not just a poster in the office – pull staff together to talk about the Service Pledge. What does “friendly” mean to you? Different definitions among staff – workshops helped with open, frank conversation to determine what the pledge looks like and where to experiment. Involved accountability and immediate feedback/coaching in the moment – that’s the leadership challenge. It’s our job “If you see something, say something.” Make expectations crystal clear. Pointing example. Good poor excellent customer service map with Cheryl Gould. Performance measures for friendly customer service. “Fully engaged Customer Service”

Policy Alignment – reworked policies to be agnostic. Help us understand your client and build our empathy. These folks aren’t ‘giving you’ a hard time, they are ‘having’ a hard time. Big shift in thinking. Big signs with fewer words – good idea for everyone, including the visually impaired. Coach staff to believe people, don’t police people, just give them a card instead of sending them home for a utility bill. Susan couldn’t get a card because she had $40 in fines from 8 years ago – paid it. Start waiving fines, believe people, blow up dumb policies (book limits, for example).

Rules of Behavior – 21 items long – as people did naughty things, they were added to the list. “No staring at staff.” “No moving the furniture.” “No smoking, no crack, no guns.” and ‘No breaking the law.” Painful process and interesting conversation – instead of rules, have a tool for staff to feel empowered to take action and effect change when something bad is happening. New Expectations for Behavior – “No breaking the law.” Super simple – involves the police s a partner. Staff embracing and using situational ethics. Examples: Sleeping at the library – role played with person asleep with all stuff hanging out. Wake him up and alert him that it’s not safe to have all his stuff out. Pregnant woman sleeping next to hubby working – she’s safe.

Service Pods (broke up desk). The Five Why’s – Get at the actual problem. Staff worried about lines of patrons. Library card renewal procedure the root cause of a problem with people using the self-check. Helped address the “We are too busy to change” issue – what are we doing that is busy work? Blocking patron record at $5, short card registration renewal. What drives patrons to a staff member? Most were frustrated patrons who couldn’t use the self-checks. And broke down the lines.

Staff & User Tools

Computing team made all computers the same (got rid of PC Reservation) and created “research stations” (Quick look ups – assets that do multiple things.)
- We do this already, except they also provide staff access to ILS on these. – LEAP??
When people call, they get a real person 90% of the time. Cordless phone.
- We do this already, woot.
Staff Badges – Big, bright, easy to read.
Service Points – “?!?” Tools throughout the building, so service point provides delightful service in line with pledge. Design Challenge – furniture in line with service pledge but within the footprint of existing overhead light fixture! New desk – staff and patron work side by side, has a bench for the person waiting with the patron behind helped, designed to be a tool or a landing pad.

Compassion, Curiosity, and Empathy.

Q&A –

How did you get staff together? Repeated training and meetings. Only staff development day closed. Form teams of 3-5. Role of team to communicate about their work.

How many staff at the big desk? Where will they go with new desk? First was built for 4 people, but only ever staffed 2. No more sitting at the desk, just there when helping the users. Staff count hasn’t changed, but scheduling changed. Desk = “Welcome hub” – Staff engage people on the floor and use service points out in the library. Unlocked self-checks and can log into staff side of ILS from them to help patrons there.

Staff who are not naturally helpful or friendly – Frowny natural resting face. We can’t legislate her face, but am more concerned about the staff member who is nasty when angry with patrons. Help ‘coach them right out the door.’

Did staff feel less safe when desk was broke up? Yes. Being out and about doesn’t feel safe, but the best security is being out and about and friendly to patrons! “I’m around.” Being out there is a deterrent. Try something and see how it goes to effect change. Focus on user and not on self.

Work at the Desk issue…Takes time to address. Have to change the way people think and fix obstacles and then blow up the desk. If are doing back of house work in front of house, that’s a problem. Give staff time to get work done where it should be done. They are not being friendly, helpful, and engaged if doing work and not helping patrons!

How can we find a way, with small staffs – the Five Whys – is there work they are doing that they do not need to be doing?

Did the patrons need to be retrained? Yes, some were unhappy to lose the desk (for aesthetic reasons). Used go-pro to see if people where wandering helplessly – not the case. We can’t train patrons, we have to adapt to user needs and design for humans!

If you need to make a user guide or signs, you need to rethink it!

Check out their web site – very user-friendly – giant buttons above the fold. Data-driven UX tumbler – used a month to see what patrons used the web site for. Only 4 tasks. User-focused web site, not marketing. All about allowing people to do what they want to do! Give them what they want.

Mission Values and Pledge and Staff Engagement – then the staff transitioned into the new design/furniture. Service to Delivery Evolution. Experimenting, training, discussion among staff to reinforce the changes.

The Where Log – Staff wrote down verbatum what people asked at the desk. Measured over time and then made changes, and came up with new signage plan. Prototyping and testing. White board on lobby and asked patrons to vote – A/B Testing.

PLA 2018: Wednesday Kari Chapin and Sally Yates

So, I’m glad I came in early and am able to stay in Center City. I missed the Book Buzz, but am glad I ventured out into the blowing snow to hear Kari Chapin’s “Imagine the Possibilities” motivational talk and later to hear Sally Yates. While I took notes at Kari’s talk, I just listened to Sally while she restored my hope in our country and system of government. Also visited vendors and had a lovely home-cooked meal. A lovely second day of conference.

From Kari’s talk:

Start each day with the question, “What is possible for me today?” and end each day with “What happened today that surprised me?”
Pay attend to every synchronicity
Along with being open and grateful, ask yourself “Who did I help today?” and “Who was helpful to me?” It feels good to support others in their quest to be better.
If you’re having trouble asking for help, remember that you are denying others good feelings by not letting them help and be useful. “Everyone you will ever meet knows something that you don’t.” – Bill Nye
In the morning, set an intention or goal for yourself and then reflect on it at night – What interfered in reaching the goal, if you didn’t reach it? Goal setting encourages new ideas and possibilities.
Networking TIPS: Pick 3 things you can share (stories, leads, recommendations, interesting stuff) and pick 3 things you’d like help with (resources you need, a problem you need help with, programs, volunteer opportunities). Ask people questions about themselves because those are questions we can answer easily.
IDEAL DAY Exercise: Picture every facet of the perfect day (a work day v. a personal day) and notice what is not there. Let go of what’s missing initially but visualize everything about the day.
What is the one area where you could ask for some support today? What one questions you could ask to move forward.
Stop Shoulding All Over Yourself! When you tell yourself you should or shouldn’t do something, it’s usually followed by something you really don’t want to do! So, LET IT GO, or say no, or delegate it, or ask for help. Let yourself off the hook. Open up new doors – be self-supportive. Should Hangovers = Guilt.
What can you let go of to make room for new things to come in?
Give yourself permission. It’s OK to have ideas and validation from others that the ideas are good. Give yourself this permission. When you writ it down, “strange magic begins to happen.”
Ideas to consider:
- Get an Accountability Partner, with ground rules, to help keep you on track and determine why items stay forever on the to do list. Did you leave that item on your to list for 3 weeks just to make you feel bad about yourself? Do you need help to complete it? Can you just let it go?
- Organize a private FB group
- Set up a local mastermind / lunch & learn / peer group to share resources, tips, and tricks with – cross pollinate with non-library folks
- Quarterly self-guided reviews – Get real with the expectations you set for yourself.

My thoughts: I needed to hear that! I have stuff on my to do list from 2013. I’m currently reading that Tidying Up book (which she mentioned) and now am motivated to finish it. When can I ask for help, delegate, or let go of things? What unreasonable expectations do I set for myself? If I pause to reflect on what I accomplished each day, will I feel less scattered? worth a shot.

PLA 2018 Project Outcome pre conference

PLA 2018 | Philadelphia | March 20 (all day) | Project Outcome Training Workshop

FREE to PUBLIC LIBRARIES – www.projectoutcome.org

What is an Outcome? Knowledge | Confidence | Application | Awareness

What is an Outcome Measurement?
Need Assessment (What does our community need?) | Output (How much did we do?) | Outcome (What good did we do?) | Patron Satisfaction (What should we do better?)

Why Measure Outcomes? To better measure and improve your library’s impact on the community it serves | To support planning and assessment over time | To help better manage services and resources | To demonstrate a need for funding and other support

Examples: Sacramento knitting club, Jacksonville PL for funding justification (SRP and story time) Richard Mott said, “Parents that attended our programs, 96% said because of program attendance, they felt more confident to help their children learn.” Tells funders that libraries are essential.

Process: 1. Identify Needs 2. Measure Outcomes 3. Review Results 4. Take Action

Data Collection Team: Set up additional accounts to share training resources and set up a training plan that includes an overview and then the appropriate level of training for their part, for example, survey administration. Build internal support and get staff buy in.

Strategies for Building Internal Support:

Start Engagement Early – Make everyone aware and give folks a chance to voice concerns and see who is interested in the process (Teen services, for example).
Build Internal Support – Identify library leadership/Board/staff who believe in the value of outcome measurement to help carry the message and make the case.
Be Upfront with What You Expect to Find Out – Know WHY you are doing this. Be transparent about what kind of information you are trying to capture with outcome data. It could be seen as threatening and feel apprehensive about the change in the process. Goal is to provide the best service possible – what is working or not and change what isn’t working to make it better. Ex: Summer Reading Program. Forward thinking. What ways have libraries found to gather feedback about the internal process? Seek out examples of how to check in with staff during the process.

Feedback from Dan Hensley, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the process gave the library “piles of beautiful data” and served as a “great advocacy tool” to tell stories. (His video is archived at the project web site.)

Q&A: How many libraries think about and document outcomes WHILE planning the program – so you know what success looks like before you start? This project is adaptable, so it could be used to gather data for hyperlocal goals, outside the prescribed Project Outcome goals.

Outcome Measurement Continuum: From Patron-reported learning (immediate survey) to Patron-reported adoption/application of learning (follow-up survey) to Deeper analysis and long-term benefits (outcome measurement guidelines).

Sample Immediate Survey – easiest, quickest option. Multiple choice with open ended questions, too. Online or paper, but survey can be edited/customized. Example: Plano, TX included survey in with STEM kits that could be checked out and discovered a lack of knowledge of library programs, so a schedule/calendar was added to the kit. 90% of brochures were kept by patrons!

Follow-Up Survey – longer, 2 pages, with more response space. “Patron-reported adoption” – any change of behavior? Skill used in life or work? 4-8 weeks later (or earlier with computer classes). Takes more staff time – administered differently (ask patron if OK to contact, then gather content, then contact them for an interview.

Summer Reading Survey is only available as an immediate survey. Includes a question, “What could the library do to help your child continue to learn more?” Also it is different for Caregivers, Teens, and Adults.

Process for Choosing the Right Survey: Identify Community Needs > Identify Library Goals (from Strategic Plan) > Choose Program & Survey Topic (avoid survey fatigue) > Choose Survey Type

Example of Survey Questions for Civic/Community Engagement Immediate Survey. Each Topic has a unique set of questions.

You are more aware of some issues in your community
You feel more confident about becoming involved in your community
You intend on becoming more engaged in your community
You are more aware of resources and services provided by the library
What did you like most about the program?
What could the library do to better assist you with your involvement in the community?

Follow-up survey questions:

I became more involved in the community
I used what I learned to do something new or different in the community
I discussed or shared with others what I learned or experienced
I checked out a book, attended another program, or used another library service or resource
What did you like most about this program or service?
What could the library do to help you continue to learn more?

Survey creation process is well designed and seems easy to use – we have to be mindful of what data we want to pull out when creating and naming the surveys. Custom questions can be added to the canned/standardized survey questions. The standardized survey questions can’t be edited and the survey must be given in its entirety, if you want your surveys included in the aggregated online project system. Keeps the data clean. Can add up to 3 open-ended questions per survey, common questions are in a drop-down menu, be mindful of survey fatigue, be mindful of confidentiality, and do not ask for contact information on surveys. Anonymous. Use a separate process to gather contact information for follow up surveys. Example of canned questions, ‘How did you hear about this program?’ or zip code data.

LUNCH … so I’m going to publish the first part.

Administering the Survey – you can have a PDF paper survey or online survey (English or Spanish), unique for each survey. It’s tablet-friendly, can be emailed, or taken at a kiosk at the library. No translations for other languages, yet. OK to translate if you have a trusted translator (ask in discussion board for Russian).

Survey Best Practices: For the Immediate survey, hand out survey at the end of the program, email/text the link, give clear instructions, have a drop-box for completed surveys, build in time in the program to complete the survey, and have a volunteer to help. For Follow-up surveys, collect contact information at the end of program and explain what it will be used for. Send the survey 4-8 weeks after, if calling or interviewing, plan to get help. Push to FB or add to Vertical Response to participants

Survey Schedule: For the year, stagger surveys and audiences. If collecting a baseline, maybe it makes more sense to consistently survey one program all year.

How to Talk to Patrons about Surveys: Strategies to talk to patrons about the value of their feedback. Scripts. “There’s always room to grow. Even if you love the library and the programs, it is always useful to get patron feedback, so we can serve you better.” “We want your honest opinion.” New ideas, help us brainstorm. “This is part of a national outcome measurement initiative managed by PLA.” “The survey is 100% confidential and does not require any contact information.”

From the Web site:

How do I complete the survey?

[For Immediate Surveys] Please read the survey carefully. The surveys measure responses on a 5-point Likert scale, with the additional option of “Not Applicable.” The Likert scale reads from left (Strongly Disagree) to right (Strongly Agree). Please select one response option for each question and make sure to complete the open-ended questions below, which ask you what you liked most about the program or service and suggestions for improvement.

Survey Management Tool – Wow. You can archive older surveys, immediately see responses, you can draft or delete surveys, and you can copy surveys. To enter paper responses, there is a quick and easy button to do it one-by-one online when logged in or you can enter multiple responses through a form without logging in. Works well with volunteers. “The usefulness of your reports and dashboards relies on accurate data entry.” Tip: Mark surveys that have been entered, in case the pile falls on the floor…

You cannot EDIT the responses, you would need to delete and re-enter the responses. So be careful.

Review Results – PDF Summary report, data dashboard, raw survey data, qualitative data analysis, and tips for communicating data accurately

Report builder and step-by-step tools. Training videos are being made now. You can include a custom narrative and logo, for board presentations. PDF Report includes general information/canned verbiage about the process and an overview of the survey purpose, then Results with graphics, data, and comparisons. Eventually, we will be able to include a few choice open-ended responses. We can include attendance, then the response rate is calculated by the system. More blanket text included at the end of the report – “Implications for community impact“.

Data Dashboard – set of visualization tools. Interactive and use the same design elements for consistent presentation. Purple is positive, Green is needs improvement, Grey is neutral. Overview shows aggregate scores, including state and national averages. Matrix – Topic and Outcome matrix can be used to find gaps in service. Can apply filters to specify data. Chord Diagram – When you hover, correlations drawn between topics and outcome indicators. A way to actively manipulate the data and/or show strong connections. Detail – breaks down each question with bar chart and includes state and national scores for comparison. Map – Plots locations of library with outcomes and demographic data. Look at geographic areas of service. Library Info – pulls from IMLS data (older), but pulls in general output (statistical) data into a similarly formatted graphic. Consistent with other outcome data in look/feel.

This is research with a little “r” – so we must provide context if the sample size is small and may need provide additional information about why a program had a low response rate. We can access the raw data and do year-to-year comparisons and access open-ended questions. Dataset also shows comparison of print v. online response rate.

Open Responses also available through Detail dashboard with light filtering. Can filter by program name to group multiple programs together to analyze data and open-ended answers. Ex: Early Literacy programs, including all 3 story times. Includes standardized questions and any pre-determined additional questions or unique questions written by library.

Analysis of Qualitative Data – challenging area to approach – you can read through them, but how do you make decisions and identify trends?

Condense & Categorize Data – group comments according to common topics
Describe Categories – Describe what people said most often and any smaller categories that you found meaningful. Start with categories that have the most comments.
Share Findings – “Share internally with staff, discuss results at staff meetings, identify opportunities for change, or plan to use in eternal advocacy messaging.”

Create a spreadsheet that includes all of the responses and the categories determined in step 1, then score each response. Subjective process that might benefit from working with others. Archived webinar to further explain the process. Determine which categories are most prominent and then “describe what people said most often and any smaller categories that you found particularly meaningful.” Describe the trends that you see – “makes for nice messaging.”

Communicating Data Accurately | Challenges:

Results based on number of survey respondents – be clear, “based on survey respondents” and include number of responses and response rate. Don’t try to infer data to a larger group.
Surveys measure patron’s perceived change – use results for program improvement and to determine if objectives are met, and back up big decisions with other data collection. Don’t use data for published research .
Data is a community snapshot – only show patron’s perspective, triangulate with other data to show a complete experience, “bring in average scores over time for more reliability,” and frame library s one factor in the outcome. Don’t claim causality.

Using Survey Results – What Is Your Goal? (p. 47 of the workbook)

General advocacy
Justify Funding Requests
Programming Decisions
Community-Based Partnerships

Panel

Julianne Rist – Community Goal of minutes read in response to Jefferson County Public Library (CO) Summer Reading surveys – also had a donation to animal shelter when/if community goal was met. Also used Project Outcome to evaluate 1000 Books Before Kindergarten. Used the follow-up survey to see changes in behavior and if readers complete the program. Track by zip code.
Amy Koester – Skokie Public Library (IL), Village of 65,000, 90+ languages, 40% foreign born. Digital Learning Experience – targeted, modified surveys that include questions “Why did you sign up for this class?” (immediate) and “How successful was [class] at helping you achieve your goal?” (follow-up). Needs assessment built into Outcome survey.
Christa Werle – Sno-Isle libraries – Had to come up with a common vocabulary and used many definitions determined by Project Outcome. “Issues that matter” programs – civic engagement survey to evaluate. Homelessness last year, mental health this year. Hyper-local or short duration interests, for example “Living with Bears” or “Solar Eclipse”
Interesting Q&A. Good uses of the process. ROI to determine value of programs.

[Insert me trying to close the library early due to weather in the middle of all this.]

Roadmap – the meat of this workshop…a plan of attack!

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