cgick

This has inspired me to start thinking……how can I be an entrepreneur….within the library or outside?

I’m on iTunes, I have subscribed to many, many Podcasts over the years – and I NEVER listen to them! I’m not sure why, it seems like such a good thing. I’m an NPR junky and often have the radio playing at home. I thought that having podcasts targeted at the topics I’m particularly interested in would be a good substitute for that, but it appears I like to have it on more as background noise (and to perhaps have a few things sink in) rather than to have on something I feel I should really listen to.

But, I digress….we’re not here to talk about that! I have to admit that I get a little overwhelmed searching for podcasts and vodcasts. Perhaps its because I started the assignment without having anything specific in mind. So, I did as I often do in the book store, the movie shop, the music store – I end up browsing because I can’t remember a dang thing I wanted to read/see/hear. Until I get my iPhone where I can call up the list of things I want to read/see/hear on my Google Docs site….I tend to wander. Which can be fun. I found library stuff, NPR stuff, training for a marathon stuff, and LOTS of Obama today!

With YouTube, I’m a late adopter. If I’m looking for something specific, I like it, but I just haven’t found myself that interested in browsing YouTube – I just don’t get that excited about the random things people put together. I have used it to search for demonstrations of how to do certain exercises or how to do certain crafty things.

As for the Library and Pods, Vods, and YouTubes……CCCL does storytime podcasts and for the Reading Festival we posted an author interview that was great! I see vodcasts and YouTube videos as tremendous marketing/publicity opportunities for us in the future – to make great events that we do in our libraries available online to a much wider audience, and to raise our visibility in Library Land. They’re great formats for creating community participation – through video contests, etc. We’ve done that at CCCL and, as the YouTube assignment showed, so have other libraries!

Been on vacation – 2 whole weeks (I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before!) Am feeling very behind the game, spent hours sifting through emails, emails and more emails today. I am now currently halfway through the Week 8 Social Networking assignment.

A couple months ago Cia Court talked about Ning at a Monthly Manager’s meeting. I was inspired. I created a network for the Orinda Library (I skipped straight to bonus points for this assignment – without even knowing it!).

This evening, I joined the Library 2.0 network, invited 2 friends, but will save my forum commenting until tomorrow. I have to admit, I spent too much time socializing on Facebook this evening to have the energy for more!

If you are on Facebook, I invite you to search for me and add me as a friend.

Last week I viewed an archived InfoPeople webcast called Setting Boundaries with Library Patrons.. It was a pretty good overview of some of the best ways to deal with the public, both in challenging or difficult situations, and in those situations where your customer wants to be your good friend and hang out for awhile!

Perhaps I’ll go into more detail about some of the other things that I came away with in another post, but there is one point that has been rattling around in my head since I watched the webcast.

The presenter was talking about approaching customers with Respect and said that he often asks in his classes how people show respect to others. Many answer “making eye contact,” “acknowledging a person’s presence,” and I must admit that I’d probably fall in line with those answers. However, he argues, these actions are merely good manners (and should always be employed!), but that to really show someone respect is to have high expectations of them!

By always expecting the most of a person, whether they’re a customer, a co-worker, a volunteer, a friend, we’re showing that we hold them in high esteem and that we believe that they’re capable of performing at the top of the game – whatever that game may be (work performance, behavior, etc.).

I have high expectations for my staff. I have high expectations for myself. I’ve never thought that expecting the best was something out of the ordinary. I never really even thought of it as a tactic for motivation. Its simply the way it is. But what about working with the public – do I always approach interactions with the public in the same way? Do I enter into every interaction with respect for the person? Or do I sometimes come into it with a preconceived notion about what’s going on, what the behavior is, where the person is coming from?

I expect anyone I have an interaction with to assume the best and hold me to the highest level until or unless I prove otherwise. Why not do the same for them? Co-worker, volunteer, or customer – we all deserve to have high expectations placed on us – we all deserve to be approached with respect.