Tuesday, June 30, 2015

What I Stopped Doing: Improving Services by Giving Things Up

Speaker:  Maureen Hartman, Hennepin Co. Library, YALSA Board Member
  •  Looks at the shifts in services to teens & demographics, technology use, and literacies (not just print)
  • Growing and changing what our ideas of what learning looks like
Guiding principles:
o   Be a facilitator, not an expert
§  Ask questions and put others in charge of their own learning
§  Be the “guide on the side” by empowering them to go on the journey with you
o   Everyone serves teens, not just you
§  Introduce teens you know to other staff
§  Stop thinking of yourself as a one person show – you’re just burning yourself out and making it look like only an expert can do it
o   Library staff learn new skills
o   Refocus beyond traditional roles and measurements
o   Partner outside library walls
§  Sometimes you have to give up other things to make time for partnerships
·      Ex:  Limited when teen volunteers could come in; planning way ahead (all storytime planning twice a year); stopping

Things you may be able to stop to make room for programming:
  • Think about stopping programs that you’re not sure if anyone’s going to come (over and over again) – you need a more solid understanding of what the needs of your community are
  •     How about programs where only 5 kids come on each basis?
    •    We’re not competing with Youth Services but… why aren’t more people coming?  This could be something you can stop doing
  • Stopping bookclubs
  • Delegate booklists/displays to other people
  • Stop working the desk – (but how will you know what the community needs?!)
  • Stop complaining about administration

What about you?
  •      What are you holding on to?  What were you told to give up but you secretly do it anyways?
  •      Every change is hard at first

What does your boss think?
  •     Make sure you’re communicating with your supervisor
  •      Look for support from people who do similar work or who will bring another perspective

What about patrons?
  •     Even after HS, kids were staying into 19, 20 years old – needed to write specific guidelines to age kids out and be sensitive to kids– you have to ease them out over time, not a sudden drop/change
Priority Grid:
High
“Quick Wins”
Major Projects
IMPACT
“Fill Ins”: Low Impact, Low Effort
“Thankless Tasks”: Low impact, hard to achieve
Low
EFFORT
High

Make a plan – Team action plan for the year
  •      What is the work, project or program?
  •       What are we trying to accomplish?
  •       How can we measure this?
  •       Who is doing the work?
  •       What do we need to do this?
  •       What to start and end
Start/Stop/Continue
Start: What should we/I start doing
Stop: What should we/I stop doing?
  •      List ideas/items:
    •    Things that are not working or helping
    •    Things that impeded or are not practical
    •    Not delivering desired results
    •    We or others dislike
Continue: “What should we/I continue doing?”

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