Posts filed under 'Director'
Last Friday, 85 folks from MLC member libraries and staff gathered at Lansing Community College’s West Campus to hear about community-building activities in libraries. Chrystie Hill got the day off with an enthusiastic talk about the work libraries are doing to build a greater sense of community. Her thesis is that libraries are not just about content, but just as importantly, they connect people with each other. The more we do that, the more relevant and vital we become.
She gave many examples of the things libraries are doing to help people connect with each other. Many of those activities revolve around the use of technology and the web. Libraries are exploring and innovating through the use of Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. My favorite line in her talk, though, came when she was describing her epiphany about libraries and the their efforts to foster people-connections. As she was describing some of the things she’s seen and discovered, she almost had to force out the words that technology is only a means and that there are many other ways to connect people. After she sort of stumbled over the words, she looked up and said, “There, I’ve said it. It’s not about the technology. It’s about connecting people.” It was a cute moment. And a sentiment that many of us share.
Facebook and Flickr are wonderful tools. They’re a lot of fun and it’s easy to while away a couple of hours on the sites. But the type of community found there pales in comparison to the real thing. Reading and commenting on sites about Darfur may help me gather information and make a start at connecting with people. But it’s not until I go to a rally at the state capitol and hear in-person about the tragedy ongoing in the Sudan that I really connect emotionally.
It’s not an either/or proposition. Libraries need both: We need to be on Facebook. We need to share our photos on Flickr. But we also need children’s story-times. We need programs on personal finance, gardening, and henna painting. And, yes, we need book groups. All of these - from Facebook to henna painting to book groups - foster community and they connect people with each. Chrystie is right: We’re not just about content. We need to help people find connections to other like-minded folks.
October 8th, 2007
We are happy and proud to announce that Ruth has been selected to be an ALA Copyright Scholar. The ALA Office for Information Technology Policy has chosen the Copyright Scholars for this year, and Ruth is one of eight new scholars. For the next two years, Ruth will devote a portion of her time to helping librarians sort through the myriad copyright issues that confront them. She will work through the Copyright Advisory Network to answer questions and concerns for network users.
Congratulations, Ruth!
September 18th, 2007
On and off over the past several years, I have fielded questions about whether MLC was interested in running a shared integrated library system. Up to now, we have declined to offer such a service. Lately the questions have become more numerous and with the added twist of whether we would consider running Evergreen, the open source ILS used by public libraries in Georgia.
Many of the libraries talking to us have implemented MeLCat and through that process realized that they wanted more than their current ILS was offering. Coupled with the recent surge of interest in open source software, we have begun to investigate whether the time is now right for MLC to offer libraries that have limited resources and choices an opportunity to join a shared system. In June, I took a small delegation to Atlanta to have a first-hand look at Evergreen and to talk to librarians actually using it. We came away impressed with what we saw and heard from users. (The delegation included Sheryl VanderWagen, Lakeland Library Cooperative, Bill Ott, Grand Rapids Public Library, and Debbi Schaubman, MLC.)
We have also had some informal talks with commercial vendors because we did not want to simply jump on a currently popular bandwagon without considering other options. Open source software offers some benefits but so do systems from established companies.
At this point, we have not made any final decisions about how or when to move forward but continue to examine our alternatives and weigh all the factors. We would love to hear from you. Are you looking for a new ILS? Would you consider an open source system that was shared among a number of other libraries? Are you more comfortable with a commercial system?
August 22nd, 2007
The staff at MLC are in the middle of a strategic planning process. We’re using a method called scenario analysis.
Last August we began with an envrionmental scan to try to assess what’s happening outside and might have an impact on us. We set up an internal blog for the staff, who all volunteered to monitor a web site, newspaper, magazine, TV show, or other media outlet and scan them for interesting tidbits that might portend a trend that we need to be aware of. We gathered dozens and dozens of posts every week. At the end of September, we gathered all the posts so that we could discern the important trends. The trends fit into broad categories, such as technology, social, demographics, government/political, and science.
Now we’re painting the picture, so to speak. We have four teams, each with a different worldview, based on the trends and uncertainties we face. It’s up to each team to come up with a story about how MLC copes in their world. By writing these stories and discussing them, we would like to find some unexpected opportunities or uncover organizational problems that need fixing. All to help us develop the services that will serve Michigan libraries well into the future.
We’d love to hear some of your thoughts about the trends and events that you think will affect your library over the next several years.
November 21st, 2006
Photos from MAME’s Annual Conference, held in Grand Rapids, have been posted to MLC’s Flickr account. MLC was among the vendors in attendance at the exhibition hall. And MLC Director Randy Dykhuis gave a talk on Friday about MeLCat See MLC’s Flickr account.
October 30th, 2006
Today our fearless leader, Randy Dykhuis, celebrated his 50th birthday. Staff decorated his office in a Civil War theme and prepared a special PowerPoint “This is Your Life” presentation.
This is not a joke — the fire truck and firemen did arrive! Too many candles on the cake this year, Randy?????
July 18th, 2006
The last couple of weeks have brought two resignations from the MLC board. Both are veteran board members and have a long history with MLC. Bill Baldridge, with nearly 30 years of service, is leaving Grand Rapids Public Library this fall, and after 37 years, George Bishop is retiring from Ovid-Elsie Area Schools in June.
Bill joined the board in July 2000 and served two terms as treasurer. In that post he worked with staff on MLC’s finances and oversaw the audit process. After the MLC board moved to Policy Governance in 2002, Bill became chair of the Audit committee, the successor to the treasurer position, and continued his excellent work by advocating for several new strong financial controls. He led the effort to identify and hire a new auditing firm and put into place policies that would insure ongoing high quality from our auditors. In addition, Bill was extremely faithful about attending board and committee meetings. I always appreciated the commitment he had to his job as board member and his candid and insightful comments.
George’s tenure on the board extends back to the mid-90s. In fact, he was a member of the selection committee that interviewed me way back in the spring of 1995. He’s been a tireless advocate for school libraries to develop collaborative relationships with other types of libraries in the wider library community. George has not only talked the talk, but he has walked the walk. Anyone who has visited the Ovid-Elsie High School Information Center instantly sees the results of George’s passion for libraries and the impact they can have on student learning. Not only is the library filled with video monitors, computers, and books and access to ebooks, databases, and MeLCat, it is a bustling center of student activity. George brought that same passion to his work with MLC. He has served with distinction as School Library Representative, At-large Representative, and as Chair.
MLC will miss both Bill and George. Their advocacy of the power of libraries to affect lives has been good for this organization and has helped keep us on course as we develop services to meet our mission.
But with these retirements comes an opportunity to pass the torch to the next set of leaders.
This year I am very pleased to welcome two brand new board members. Ishwar Laxminarayan is director of Jackson District Library, where he started less than a year ago. Already he has jumped into the Michigan library community with both feet and is doing great things in his community. Cathy Wolford is also a first-time board member. Cathy is manager of technical services at Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford and brings to the board more than six years experience experience in a library that focuses on historical documents, archival papers, and manuscripts. I am very pleased to welcome Cathy and Ishwar aboard.
May 11th, 2006
In January, the MLC Board of Directors authorized a survey of the membership about the future and their use of various kinds of library services. The survey was designed to assess their thoughts, beliefs, and predictions about their levels of use of things such as blogs, wikis, integrated library systems, OCLC, virtual reference, and consultants.
Out of the approximately 1300 librarians who received an invitation to participate, 360 responded to the survey for a 28 percent response rate. Almost all respondents were from MLC member libraries. Forty-four percent of the respondents were from academic libraries. Twenty-nine percent were from public libraries and 11 percent were from schools. The remainder were from special libraries, consortia, and other types.
Some of the key findings from the survey are highlighted below:
When asked about their services to end users, the majority of respondents said each of the following would increase in the next 3 – 5 years:
- Quality assessment of customer service: 71 percent said it would increase
- E-document delivery: 67 percent said it would increase
- Patron-initiated ILL: 65 percent said it would increase
- Embedding of services beyond library confines: 56 percent said it would increase
- Information literacy learning outcome assessment: 52 percent said it would increase
- Personalization & self-help services: 51 percent said it would increase
Somewhat surprisingly, virtual reference ranked below the 50 percent level:
- Local virtual reference: Only 44 percent said it would increase
- Shared virtual reference: Only 37 percent said it would increase
In the area of technical systems, there was less unanimity about what is likely to increase:
- Electronic resource management: 53 percent said it will increase
- Simplification of library system interface: 52 percent said it will increase
- Cross-linking of e-resources, e.g. OpenURL & federated searching: 51 percent said it will increase
Two other technologies that have received significant coverage in the press and at conferences ranked quite a bit lower:
- Instant Messaging: 41 percent said it will increase
- RFID: 21 percent said it will increase
The section on library management showed clear opinions on a few items that will increase
- Marketing: 73 percent said it will increase
- Public relations: 66 percent said it will increase
- Strategic planning: 63 percent said it will increase
- Fund raising & grant writing: 58 percent said it will increase
- Staff development: 56 percent said it will increase
The section on top challenges asked respondents to up to three choices from the list. The result was a diverse mixture, with three items topping the 40 percent mark.
- Keep abreast of technologies, e.g. single point of access on the web: 49 percent said it will increase
- Funding & management of electronic & print library resources: 45 percent said it will increase
- Marketing: 40 percent said it will increase
- Update library facilities: 32 percent said it will increase
- Information literacy: 29 percent said it will increase
- Library visibility: 26 percent said it will increase
There are many other findings and interesting responses in the survey. To review a summary of all the questions and responses, go to the MLC web site.
April 10th, 2006
A couple years ago, we started the Member Forums as a way to create a dialog with our members. It was an experiment on our part. We didn’t know if anyone would be interested in serving or whether they’d really show up for the meetings. Two years later, we find that the participants really like the forums. Most of those who were members of the forums have asked to continue serving. Seems like we were successful.
The forum participants serve two-year terms with an opportunity for re-appointment. It’s time to open the application process again. If you think you’d like to serve on a forum, take some time to check them out and send an application. We’d love to have you join us.
February 16th, 2006
In September, we had David Weinberger give the keynote address at our annual meeting. Now, we’re happy to make his talk available. David is a great speaker, which you’d expect from someone who used to write jokes for Woody Allen. He’s very passionate about his ideas, and he has a lot to say that will interest librarians. The speech runs about 75 minutes.
December 28th, 2005
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