Author: Kathy Husser (Tempe)

Kathy Husser is a Tempe librarian and educator who enjoys travel and learning about our global cultures. With post pandemic traveling open up more and more, Kathy wants to share resources for family friendly getaways and fun trips to meet your vacation needs. She enjoys gardening, the outdoors and cooking too!

Categories
Library Jobs

Career Development

Have an agenda and your goals will be accomplished
Have a plan and keep refining for success.

Organizations will have you train or take self-paced learning courses when starting a new job. When you are a tenured worker or better yet a knowledgeable librarian, what professional development should you focus on? What are the next steps in your career development of librarianship?  Read on for advice to broaden your skillsets. Professional development allows you to excel to the next level in your library career.

Volunteer to Lead

When you are offered an opportunity to lead or be a part of a committee, take it!  For example, leading the annual staff training day or planning for the summer reading program should be on your radar. Plan to participate and provide your valuable input  and leadership.

If you work in an academic library, consider volunteering to work on a grant application to benefit your institution and library. Taking the initiative to lead will show others you have the leadership qualities to move forward.

Develop a Plan

As a professional your own development is up to you. Come up with other methods to excel and stand out in your organization in the specialty you’re pursuing. For example, if you are a youth services librarian, then branch out into another areas. Gain a mentor in a technical area to broaden your skills. However, be of  value to the organization in any area and find your niche.

Looking for opportunities and asking to help in other areas is always appreciated by leadership. You will get you noticed for other openings as they become available. Have a plan or goal in mind and ask the appropriate manager if you can shadow to learn new tasks. Furthermore, take on extra responsibilities to learn a brand new skill. You will thank yourself down the road for taking the leap.

Be Flexible

Keep in mind opportunities will present themselves when you least except them. So, be flexible and take them when they’re offered. Be ready to jump at a chance if a position aligns with your goals and career options.

Finally, timelines and career focus are great, but life is unpredictable. You need to remain open to unique opportunities.  If you’ve worked hard and provide value to an organization, they will snap you up. You both win.  Good Luck and Happy Learning!

Categories
Health

Being Happier

Shelves of books to promote reading and self-care.
Books make me happy!

Entering the third year of this pandemic has changed our lifestyles and habits. From remote work, online school and financially our lives have changed. Finding happiness and being happier in general have been more difficult for many people. Here are simple habits to increase your happiness no matter your situation.

Finding the Good

Harvard-trained phycologist Shawn Achor, has a viral TED Talk that simplifies this notion of finding the good. For 21 days, write to someone different in your life a positive email or text. It only takes two minutes and reinforces that happiness is around you. To reaffirm your happiness, write down three different things that made you happy that day and WHY. You need to perform the exercise for 21 days, and the experiences need to be different.

Both habits have proven to increase happiness levels across the board for people.

The Happiness Advantage

In addition, Achor’s bestselling book, The Happiness Advantage, goes into greater detail about why people were happier after these two easy habits. First, he explains that happiness is contagious and produces more happy people. Second, your happiness is your choice. Finally, you are more productive when you are a happier person, family member, or employee.

Positive Psychology

Finally, the positive psychology, involved with increasing happiness has had a great deal of research across many socioeconomic communities.  Showing gratitude, being mindful, and random acts of kindness have proven to increase happiness across demographics.  In addition, practicing self-care and seeking a healthy balance in your life all benefit your overall well-being.

Being kind to yourself and others truly is the easiest way to increase your happiness and those around you.

Furthermore, you might need to stretch your emotional intelligence muscles to succeed. A happier life is out there and the research proves it. Put the time in and try a new habit for 21 days and see what happens!  Being happier is easier than you think even in a pandemic.

Categories
career Library Jobs Library Leadership

Career Mentoring for Success

Leadership written in blue and hand writing the word visible.

Being a mentor or getting mentoring advice will help your career success in many ways you might not realize. Here are a few reasons  why putting yourself out there to provide advice to a colleague helps you and your mentee. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a mentee is “one who is being mentored a protégé.”

Job Satisfaction

Studies have shown that sharing your job knowledge and leadership experiences gives you a more satisfied feeling in your  role. Furthermore, we feel good when we have mastered a skill. We feel even better when we can share that with others. Mentors show commitment to their profession and their teams. Sharing  a bit of ourselves and our experience broadens our relationships. A trusting mentor/mentee relationship is invaluable for job satisfaction.

Succession Planning

When you receive mentoring from a leader or another colleague you are learning valuable lessons from a seasoned employee. Someone who has already been through an experience or solved a particular issue. This creates a great learning opportunity to gain knowledge and have exposure to real-world examples. These topics you might never even know existed, if not for your mentor. Like the old saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Hearing and learning firsthand from a mentor are valuable ways to expand your toolkit for heading up the career ladder and in turn assisting your organization’s leadership.

Additional Exposure

For men and women mentoring gives an opportunity to show your company what you’ve got to offer and can open additional opportunities for your career growth.  Professional conferences, industry memberships and networking events can all be a form of mentoring or passing on valuable experience to help others in your industry. With travel opening more, considering a more formal platform to share your skills and experience with others.

Not able to travel? How about a more organic platform to mentor colleagues and share your experiences openly. I remember a roundtable of community stakeholders that would assemble once a quarter to discuss current business trends. This group discussed challenges and upcoming concerns others might not be aware of. This was a group method of passing on important information while keeping our networks active. While not as personal as one on one mentoring, connections were made and relationships were forged during our gatherings four times each year and continue today.

If you have an idea on a mentoring strategy let me know. We all should be sharing and learning!

Categories
Librarian & Entrepreneurship Library Leadership

Digital Marketing in Libraries

The internet and digital marketing have advantages for libraries. Read on for a couple of tricks to increase your library’s exposure and customer base. Libraries are here to stay, and social media will help bring customers back into the building.

Social Media

It’s a Facebook/Twitter/Instagram driven world. This means that marketing your library on these social media platforms is essential. That’s true for any business. Post pictures of programs, customers, and be sure to use hashtags every post. Post photos of the building, bookstore, and community events at your library. Keep up with various literary events such as Banned Books Week or National Library Week.

Email Marketing

Set up a mailing list and then blast out newsletters and other information to teachers, legislators, and other local officials. Customers need to be reminded the library is in the community.  Furthermore, reach out to new customers interested in various events at your library. Grow those customers and sign them up for a library card!

Use Videos

A picture is worth a thousand words, and photos sell. We live in a video-saturated world.  Make short videos about the programs at your library.  Storytimes and children’s programs have the biggest audiences at libraries, so publicize the most popular.

When doing this or taking pictures, it is important to use a proper high-quality HD-capable camera. With all the images we encounter in our daily lives now, we are quite good at telling HD from non-HD photos. The latter are now judged as inferior by default. Go for the quality and make an impression.

Event Marketing

What’s the next big event that you’re hosting at your library? Whatever it is, you want to use that to market your library big time. What’s more, you need to make sure that as many people know about it as possible. Use the tools above, employ flyers and banners, advertise to schools, and use other traditional event planning measures to get as much exposure as possible.

All this and more can help you get your library the publicity it needs and deserves

 

Categories
Health

Stress Relievers

Tan and black French Bulldog with red harness
Get a pet to provide a stress free work environment.

The world is entering the third year of the pandemic. We all have had to adapt to a new way of living and have more stress. Whether it’s from remote work, a new job, or online school, stress relievers are more important an ever.  Continue reading for habits that are easy to use to relieve day to day stress.

Get Out in Nature

Taking a quick walk around the block or morning jog in a park will help your mental health. Research has proven that two hours a week in nature increases your cognitive abilities and your physical wellbeing. It can be as easy as enjoying your coffee on the balcony. Looking at the trees and green spaces on your walk to work is another easy fix. The stress release from doses of daily nature, crosses ethic groups and demographics. So get out there and get some daily “green.”

Pet Ownership

The health benefits you get from having a pet are too many to list. Pet owners experience less depression, reduced blood pressure, and survive chronic illness than non-pet owners.  Whether it’s a dog, cat or gerbil having another animal to care for is a great stress reliever. The time commitment and cost of owning a pet are present, but the health benefits are huge. Older people also experience a sense of purpose and companionship with a pet. Cats are more independent and easier to care for than dogs. Make sure you do your research before making a commitment.

Controlling Your Emotions

Finally, this is easier said than done, but controlling your emotions will greatly benefit your health. Referred to as your emotional intelligence, increasing this trait has many benefits. At work, with your family, having a greater self-awareness is important. This benefits your mental and physical health as well as your personal and professional relationships. Practicing self-control, emotional control, and decision-making skills enables you to handle life’s up and downs.  If you were raised in a household that didn’t acknowledge emotional health or feelings, this will take practice. Check for self-care programs and talk to friends to increase your awareness and skills.

The first step in relieving stress is to acknowledge it and then make small changes. Being more resilient and adaptable in life is a must these days. Best of luck in your journey.

Categories
career Librarian & Entrepreneurship Library Leadership

SWOT As A Tool

Leadership written in blue and hand writing the word visible.

Do you need a tool to determine next steps for your career or maybe another big decision in your life?  Ever wonder how data can help you make decisions? Read on for the steps in creating your own S.W.O.T. analysis and why it is an important tool.

Strengths and Opportunities

A simple S.W.O.T. analysis uses four metrics, using available information about your project or decision. The four components are: S=Strengths, W=Weaknesses, O=Opportunities and T=Threats.  Strengths and opportunities are seen as the positives for a decision or project.

If you’re making a career move, a strength of yours would be flexibility in moving for a job. An opportunity would be your strong negotiating skills, to help you find your next job. Anything which will help the cause is your strength and an opportunity to achieve your goal.

Weaknesses and Threats

On the other hand, weaknesses and threats hinder your pursuits. Using a career move as the same example, a weakness is your inability to relocate for a job. A threat might be a poor job market in your desired location. Using a SWOT template, you list the information you’ve gathered. You would then analyze your career needs and the possible steps to move toward your goal. To sum it up, it’s a pros and cons list for situations, decisions, or projects.

Why S.W.O.T.

S.W.O.T. analysis tools are used to develop strategic plans, gain stakeholder feedback, and provide data for decisions.  In the library strategic plans I’ve developed, S.W.O.T. templates, focus groups and surveys were used to create and implement plans.  I’ve also seen interviewees use S.W.O.T. analysis to help “sell” themselves during a recruitment. Again, information that is data-driven will add value to a decision or project. Being knowledgeable in developing a S.W.O.T. analysis for your next project or committee will add value.  You will also have the data to back up decisions.

Take some time to determine if a S.W.O.T. analysis will help you and then check out the various templates to make the job easier.

Categories
career Library Leadership

Productive Meetings

Have an agenda and your goals will be accomplished
Have a plan and keep refining for success.

During this time of hybrid and remote work, meetings whether virtual or in person, are vital for healthy team morale. Productive communication from you and senior leadership is so important to share information and gather employee feedback. Keep the following tips in mind when holding your next staff meeting.

Agendas

 Host meetings if there is important information to be distributed that cannot be shared via email or phone. To hold a meeting just because, really is not a sufficient reason. So, be sure employees are aware of the agenda, and send it out 24 hours ahead of your meeting. 

Furthermore, if you’re hosting a guest speaker also include their contact on the email reminder and an agenda. If the meeting is a brainstorming session, be specific of the intended outcomes. Before the meeting begins, provide employees context. Enable the team to prepare their thoughts beforehand. No one likes to waste time. Set the stage for expectations with a meeting agenda for the best results.

Online meetings

While easy to attend, virtual meetings lack the social interaction and networking that in person gatherings provide. If your organization’s meetings are mostly virtual, establish parameters for video and audio use.

For example, will all attendees be expected to have cameras ON but muted audio unless speaking? Be sure staff are aware of the expectations. How should attendees dress? Should audio be muted? It’s difficult to gauge an audience virtually, so ask your questions multiple times for various responses. Be sure to monitor the chat function to ensure no question is unanswered. Also check throughout the meeting for raised hands. 

Note Taking

A short review of what was shared via email is important after the meeting. Some employees might not have attended, or contacts and links were shared that staff need to complete a task. Having information written down is important for effective communication and accuracy. Rotating the note taking responsibility among your team or designating one person each quarter is a solid strategy. It’s also an excellent professional development tool for your team.

Virtual meetings have the option to be recorded, which makes note taking even easier. Whatever method used, be consistent and your communications and meetings will run smoothly every time.

Categories
Library Leadership

Libraries and Programming

Shelves of books to promote reading and self-care.
Books make me happy!

We have lived through the last two years in pandemic mode with many changes including library services. We have seen service models change and new programs emerge. The needs of communities are at the forefront of these changes, along with health and safety. So, what do programs look like now, with COVID-19 and health risks still in the foreground for many libraries? Let’s look at some successes.

Programs Outdoors

If you are lucky to live in a climate where in-person library programs can be held outside, patrons can have a new service model outdoors. Customers enjoy storytimes, school-age crafts, or book clubs social distanced for safety. However, programs are very engaging. If your climate is too warm or snowy, then an alternative has been a hybrid format. Producing online programs streamed via Zoom or prerecorded. This has become popular with many libraries.

Prerecorded Library Programs

Other libraries have great success and attendance with recording programs and posting the links. Posting within a Facebook post is also a great way to host a pre-recorded program. The advantage of prerecorded story times is easy editing and a way for the librarian to overcome nerves. Having your program recorded allows the flexibility to fix mistakes before posting. The link is available to update easily as your library changes. Plus the needs of your audience will change too.

Online Library Gatherings

Finally, many public libraries have adapted to all online programs due to funding constraints or public health concerns. Whether prerecorded or live every week at a predetermined time, virtual programs are the safest way to provide literacy and learning to a community. However, the downside is the staff’s reliance of a live audience for immediate feedback.

You also must have a team that has the skills and technology available to produce engaging library programs. Your library staff will need to have a solid handle on the audience they’re serving and the devices available. Have a reliable solution available if technology fails. Furthermore, bandwidth might be an issue and  would be a burden for your library users during online programs. Be sure to have solid solutions in place for every hiccup that could happen.

Categories
Travel

Travel Smart

Single hand holding a small book in a library.
Read up and start opening up your mind.

If you’re curious what the best books and resources a traveling librarian recommends, read on. From choosing your destination to memoirs, pick the smartest resources that will meet your travel needs and help you navigate your trip.

Travel Guides – Think Maps

As a visual learner, who loves photos, I enjoy DK Eyewitness Travel books. These travel titles always have helpful maps and tons of current pictures.  The location is researched and updated almost yearly and many of the books can be checked out at your library!  Library cards are free of charge, and many books can also be renewed. So, take your travel guide with you and have a free resource at your fingertips. Check out other locations before you travel by visiting your local library, and the travel guides available.

Memoirs on Travel

If you’re the type of traveler, who wants to experience a place you’ve read about, then check out these books. Loosely based on the writers’ personal experiences, you’ll also get a true feel of the destination before you travel.  “Under the Tuscan Sun” is a transformative book about Italy and finding yourself. Another book, “Eat, Pray, Love” also set in Italy explores the regional cuisine. You get the idea. Visit your library, and search “travel fiction” and you will be surprised how many novels based on real life travel exist.

Elephant Journal Website

This website is a writer’s haven, and I love posting my travel articles here. There is also a treasure trove of travel experiences and ideas available for trips. What makes Elephant Journal unique is it’s also a free resource with a very personal spin on the experiences. Just search for Travel or Family Travel and articles will appear that meet your criteria. I’ve personally learned some great ideas for winter travel and unique destinations. Learning  about different travel adventures or hidden gems during a trip is what you’ll find by reading Elephant Journal.

Word of Mouth

Finally, ask your friends, family, and coworkers where they’ve gone and enjoyed the most. Word of Mouth has been the best resource to learn about kid friendly spots and the times of year to travel. Be aware that someone’s best vacation, might not be yours. So, go into your travel discussions with an open mind and expectations that suit your family and travel budget. Your best vacation might be just around the corner after that business lunch. Enjoy and safe travels!

Categories
Library Leadership

Plan A Training Day

Single hand holding a small book in a library.
Read up and start opening up your mind.

Organizations especially libraries have long held day long or half day training days. Closing for one day provides a much-needed break for employees to learn and network. Here are a few simple ideas to get your staff training day off the ground.

Have A Plan

If your library will be closing for the day, or celebrating National Library Week, the learning objectives need to be spelled out. Will you be teaching safety polices, new technology or providing an opportunity to hear a  speaker ? Planning a training day, your organization will guide the learning outcomes. Some constants will always remain the same. Food and staff participation are two of the most important that need to be considered when planning your day together.

Staff Involvement

The best method is to include the entire team to set up committees at least six months in advance of your training day. Subcommittees allow all employees to be included in the decisions of the entire day and plays to the strengths of everyone involved with the planning. Spreading the planning among many of your team, also allows professional development for every level of employee.  Allowing all staff to participate in planning also provides valuable buy-in to the day’s activities and successful outcomes.

Food and Fun

Providing meals or even snacks is totally up to you and the budget. Would the Library Friends group be willing to donate food for staff day? Could every staff member bring something for a continental breakfast or easy lunch? Having food and beverages available for your team makes a huge difference, so get creative if your organization will not allow you to purchase food items.

Also include a fun activity that builds your team morale. Are you creating art together, making a bridge from marshmallows, or playing 20 questions while roaming the room? Plan something enjoyable to do as a team to bring everyone together even for 30 minutes. Planning a staff day will be beneficial for your work group in many ways and taking the first few steps is very easy!