School library reopening during COVID-19 : my thoughts

My thoughts turned this week to pondering how operations could resume at SRCSA library. This proposal that I’ve compiled incorporates social distancing and also addresses decontamination of resources due to COVID-19. Keep in mind, this report consists of my own thoughts, based upon information and best-practices gained through reading and viewing webinars. (Bibliography appears below.) This report should not be treated as authoritative or actionable; rather, I consider it to be a starting-point for dialogue about reopening my school library.

Series-order labels for books

Series-order labels really help identify which book should be read next. They streamline shelving books in order, and help to flag series gaps- but often numbers that were printed by the publisher are in a tiny font or missing entirely from the spine of the book. Labeling some of our series books was one of my projects this week in SRCSA library. I worked my way through “Captain Underpants” and embarked on “Magic Treehouse.” I designed the labels with a high-contrast black text against a white background, in the same size-14 font that I use for books’ call numbers.

Love of libraries, a value that I hope to pass on

In our class discussion of “culture,” we were asked this week, what aspects of our culture do we want to keep alive by passing on to the next generation? My answer is that, through my work in a school library, I hope to instill a love of reading in the young people I serve. I hope to create library “repeat customers,” and encourage students’ lifelong learning through support and use of libraries. This directly hearkens back to the benefits I’ve gained from libraries, and what I consider the “advantage” of being raised by a person who considered it important that I be given access to the library.

Science of queuing for minimum wait in line

Just in time for the traditional kick-off to the holiday shopping season: here’s an interesting essay via The Conversation, on why a single long line, served by multiple cashiers, can be more efficient and move more quickly than several smaller lines each with a single cashier. The essay focuses on grocery stores relying on the “single-server” queuing model — but I’ve observed that many grocery stores combine single-server and multiple-server models.

Individual cashiers continue to each ring customers through individual lines, and choosing wrongly can result in significant wait. But in the same store, a single line of customers will form for several self check-out devices. And sure enough, even if one self-module breaks down or is subject to slow-down, that wait time is dispersed across the entire system. Customers can move to the next available unit instead of having to wait for that one.

‘Cataloging Correctly for Kids’

Highlighted among books and resources on my professional shelf: Cataloging Correctly for Kids, An Introduction to the Tools by Sheila S. Intner, Joanna F. Fountain, and Jean Weihs (American Library Association, 2011).

I took a course in cataloging as part of my pursuit of a library degree, and, while it offered a good foundation for my eventual work in a library, I felt that there was more to learn — particularly in the realm of working with records in an online catalog. Add in, too, my wish to learn those practices that are especially helpful to children, and it was clear to me that reading this book was essential to my professional development.

Leveled readers, ‘user-friendly’ identification labels

One of the components of new language-arts curriculum at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts, was the inclusion of “leveled” readers. The same title might be produced in four different ways depending upon a reader’s ability, but with only a number-rating on the back and a different-colored border on the cover to identify which book was which.

Well, I thought when preparing this curriculum, I could provide better “customer service.” In order to help teachers to clearly distinguish same-titles with different rates of difficulty, I created identifying stickers. And I think the design is subtle so that students shouldn’t latch onto which of their classmates have which level of book. My appreciation to parent-volunteers who assisted with label-application.

Shelf-end signage in SRCSA library

There are metal frames on shelf-ends in the library at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. Those metal frames are just the right size to hold an index-card. So, today, I composed navigational signs for each set of shelves. The signs display book-type and the span of labeling to be found among books on those shelves. My hope is that customers find it easy to navigate among bookshelves in the library, when trying to zero in on a location for the book that they might be looking for.

‘Shelf-reading,’ essential for library operations

Shelf-reading is one of those “behind-the-scenes” jobs that are done by a library professional. When library books are shelved in order, correctly, patrons will never have to be frustrated by looking for a book in the location on a shelf where the book’s “address” says it will be, but not being able to find it. Time budgeted for shelf-reading is part of my commitment to library customer service.

Scapegoated while working at JOANN’s

In September 2017, I walked away from a part-time job with JOANN Fabric and Craft Store in Santa Rosa, California. I chose to leave after being singled out and scapegoated, for being held responsible and threatened with write-up for long lines at checkout during a heavily-advertised sale.

Volunteer library-book courier

Walked downtown to return a book after work, to the Sonoma County Library. The book had been in Lost-and-Found at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.

I regularly brought back public-library books when I worked in Bellview Elementary School library. I also retrieved books brought in error to the public library. With both systems automated and relying on book barcoding, the chief difference was a matter of barcode placement when telling each system's books apart.

My one request to patrons was to tell me right away, without embarrassment, if a book was brought to the wrong library.

As part of my ongoing customer-service commitment to the people who rely on our libraries, I gladly volunteer to take on the role of school-to-library courier.

Bellview library reshelving project

Book range, made up of sections of shelving in Bellview library

Among my efforts to provide outstanding service to customers in Bellview library, I recently completed a major reshelving project amidst the library’s daily routines.

‘Se requieren habilidades bilingües en español’

(En español / In Spanish)
Leyendo un anuncio para trabajar en una biblioteca: “Se requieren habilidades bilingües en español.” Quiero hablar con los usuarios de la biblioteca en el idioma que entienden. Por ahora, hablo y entiendo sólo un poco de español, pero estoy estudiando. Las entradas de mi blog escritas en español son parte de mi práctica regular. Busco palabras que no conozco.

(In English / En inglés)
Reading an advertisement for work in a library: “Spanish bilingual skills are required.” I want to talk with library patrons in the language they understand. For now, I speak and understand only a little Spanish, but I am studying. Blog entries written in Spanish are part of my regular practice. I look up words I don’t know.

Weeding is part of library customer service

‘Free Books’ can be cause for celebration among enthusiastic readers

I love the tagline on the “Awful Library Books” blog, “Hoarding is not collection development.” The blog commemorates actual books that were once in libraries and in some cases, still are -- presented as arguments for removing outdated materials from a library collection.

Library customer service: Are you aware of your library’s resources?

I’ve written before about the librarian’s “customer service” hat, and the ways that customer service manifests in my work in a library.

Today I want to address the importance of familiarity with a library’s resources among people working in the library — because you can’t recommend a resource to a customer if you don’t know about it yourself.

‘Beating the Workplace Bully’

My interest in strategies to combat bullying — from being a survivor in childhood — led me to Beating the Workplace Bully by Lynne Curry (AMACOM Books, Jan. 13, 2016).

Drawing upon her experience as a workplace coach as well as past experience as a target, Curry identifies seven workplace bully types, their motivations and mindset. She also addresses strategies for dealing with each bully type.

The dynamics between bully and target that are addressed in this book include supervisor to subordinate, subordinate to supervisor and bullying between workplace colleagues.

The librarian’s ‘customer service’ hat

What would my ‘customer service’ hat look like?

Among library blogs, 500 Hats by Barbara Braxton is a personal favorite; it expands the perceptions of people who think of librarians only as “keeper of the books.”

Each entry focuses on one of many “hats” worn by the library professional.

Hats are a big part of my image and so in that vein, I offer thoughts on my “customer service” hat. Customer service is a big part of my daily activities in Bellview Elementary School library.

Personality screenings and autistic job candidates

Cartoon image created with Bitstrips

My primary purpose when creating Bitstrips cartoons is to illustrate blog posts and pages. When I found this image, among Bitstrips’ cartoons, it suggested a perfect illustration for my concern about personality screenings for job applicants.

How do you treat job applicants?

In its online application, an employer asks applicants to address what good service means to them. To be considered as a candidate, the applicant must successfully communicate an understanding of good service, and how she/he will contribute to good service at the company.

Preference-based communication: Why does my phone still ring?

Why do marketers and, for that matter, customer service representatives, ignore preference-based communication when interacting with customers? From 2009, a question raised by Howorth Communications continues to have relevance.

Do businesses’ weak policies invite bullying?

Image by Baron Christopher Hanson

Writing at the SmartBlog on Leadership, Baron Christopher Hanson argues that “the perceived weaknesses of a business, combined with desperate customers and evadable transaction policies, may actually entice bully customers.”

Hanson makes an important distinction between “high-expectation” customers who, “[a]lthough challenging ... are usually honest, civil and pay well for exceptional value or treatment,” and bullying customers, who are “usually dishonest, uncivil, verbally abusive and do not pay well.”

According to Hanson, the latter’s tactics “border on scam artistry.”

Hanson’s essay is of great interest to me as a survivor of bullying. I agree with Hanson that businesses should enforce clear policies but am not sure that all instances of bullying by customers can be attributed to perceived weaknesses in the target. This comes rather closer to victim-blaming than I feel comfortable with.

From time to time while working at a northern California newspaper, I encountered people who were textbook models for how not to behave with the media: They demanded free papers and behaved as though their announcements were more important than other submissions. The problems in these cases were not evadable policies or perceived weaknesses in the company; instead these people expected themselves to be exempt from rules that everyone else had to follow.

Hanson’s premise is worth thinking about when examining company policies, with the caveat that strict enforcement won’t stop people being mean. But hopefully if a business doesn’t cave to their bullying, these mean people will go away.