You might have noticed a flurry of blog posts about sessions I attended while at ALA in Chicago. But sharing what I learned in those sessions isn't quite enough; I really need to think about and speculate how I might use what I learned. How will I change my ways now that I know what I know?
Example #1: Partnerships in Unlikely Places
I just had an idea, just 5 minutes ago, that I should call Best Buy's corporate headquarters and ask them if they could come to western Maryland and do a workshop on Technology Users Advisory. We always get asked, "which tablet/device/ereader should I buy?" How well are we answering those questions? So, why not learn from the experts. They could also recommend which technologies we should pay attention to.
Consequently, I have to call back - they weren't open yet.
I had a similar idea that involves Apple. They have some of the best customer service practices I've ever experienced so, why not ask them if they could do a 'think differently about customer service' workshop for us? Assuming my budget can accommodate their fees. If my budget cannot accommodate their fees, maybe this would be a good workshop to have sponsored by several MD library systems, or the other two regionals, or DLDS.
I have to call back - they weren't open yet either; they're on Pacific Time.
I have another example that involves a special project I'm working on with a fellow Leadership Washington County alum, who isn't a librarian nor does he work in libraries. He's an analytical MBA type who has the ability to transform data sets into interesting and engaging visuals for the marketing arm of a bio-tech company. We're both very excited about this project because we, well, I should only speak for myself here, I have very big imaginings that this will do great things for the Washington County community once it's up and running. We are still in the planning phase, talking with key stakeholders and the like so, I won't disclose more until it gets closer to the actual pilot launch. #teaser
Example #2: Experimentation and Innovation in Libraries
This program was all about what libraries can learn from lean startups.
The first thing I took to heart was the extremely simplistic notion of talking to people. Talking to lots of people. Case in point, every year I send out a training needs assessment survey to all of the staff in the three western MD counties in an attempt to find out what they need me to do for them in the coming year in regards to learning and development. After the results are in I try to schedule follow up meetings with the three staff development coordinators in the three counties. This year was no different. However, as a result of this ALA session, I've also started meeting with department heads and branch managers to have similar conversations and so far these meetings have proven to be extremely helpful and have provided much guidance. I still need to schedule these meetings in Garrett and Allegany counties.
One of the immediate benefits of having these conversations is that we identify training need overlap. For example, I was talking with Elizabeth Hulett, the head of adult services in WCFL, and she said that she had tasked one of her librarians to learn there is all to know about the Obama Care initiative that will be taking effect in a few months. Then, when I spoke with WCFL's branch coordinator, Jan Viands, I asked Jan if her staff would need to know about Obama Care, too and of course, they would. So, Shannon (WCFL librarian) and I have somewhat joined forces in identifying sources of staff training that can happen over the next couple of months - with one definite training date being on Oct. 7th for Jan's branch staff meeting. In my research on this topic, I found the Health Howard service, which, if they're prepared to do Obama Care workshops, would be available to Allegany and Garrett counties' staff as well!
The second thing I took to heart was the notion of challenging assumptions.
Step 1: Identify the assumption
Step 2: Challenge it by turning it into a testable hypothesis
This process seems to translate naturally into my staff development life.
Step 1: Identify the assumed training need: "Staff member X needs to learn how to download eBooks onto the iPad." Oh yeah? How do you know? LOL
Step 2: Turn the training need into a testable hypothesis: "I predict that Staff Member X is unsuccessful at downloading an OverDrive eBook onto an iPad."
I obviously need training myself on how to write better hypotheses.
Then, once I have my testable hypothesis, I run a small, tight experiment. In this case, I would go to Staff Member X and ask them to show me how to download an OverDrive eBook onto an iPad. Ideally, I would have some kind of rubric to keep track of which steps in the process were adequately achieved and which ones were not.
I am actually going to try attempt to test this hypothesis with some eReader training that WCFL has asked my help with today (July 11th) and on the 17th. I'll write a follow-up post to review what happens.
So, for those of you who went to ALA, what will you do differently now that you know what you know?
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