Archive for June, 2009

Get your geek on

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

igeekwormsnewblog

Geek the Library is a community-based public awareness campaign designed to highlight the vital role of public libraries for individuals and communities, and raise awareness about the critical funding issues they face.

The website, which uses ”geek” as a verb, encourages the public to share what they geek, and the answers range from worms to football to schooners and beyond. This public awareness campaign shows that everyone is passionate about something — yep, even worms — and that the library supports them all.

So what do YOU geek?

Posted in General interest, Uncategorized | No Comments »

WOMM: customer service counts!

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Word-of-mouth marketing is the best and most powerful way for you to get your message to potential customers.  (Click here for more info about WOMM in your library.)

The following post, courtesy of Alison Circle at LibaryJournal.com’s Bubble Room, explains how customer service — one of the most important pieces of word-of-mouth marketing — can make or break a customer’s experience.

Burst the Bubble: Bad Customer Service
June 1, 2009
Today I inaugurate an ongoing feature: Burst the Bubble. Things that make us sad in the Bubble Room — anti-brand experiences, failed marketing ideas or what-were-they-thinking concepts. I’m inspired today because of two diametrically opposite customer service experiences I had this weekend. Good, even outstanding, customer service is the watchword for libraries, so emulating what is good and avoiding what is bad is an excellent strategy.

Let’s start with how the bubble burst. Like many of you, I spend my weekends on home projects. Given that it is spring I am inevitably drawn to the garden store on a sunny Saturday. I like to support the local businesses, but boy do they make it hard for me. I literally had to hurdle multiple obstacles to get to the plants: trying to park, maneuvering my cart over hoses strewn in my path, puddles, even a makeshift board that an employee accidently jammed into my foot. That burst the bubble for sure! My cart was loaded down with 8 bags of mulch and I asked for help getting into my car. They said no. And when I asked for a paper towel to wipe the mud from the bags off my hands, the cashier handed me a single sad little paper towel.

Compare that with my experience the same day at a national chain hardware store. I was living every wife’s nightmare — my husband had sent me to the hardware with a long list of items most of which I had never heard of before (two gang old work box with fins and no nails). I approached the first employee I saw who escorted me through the entire store and gathered my items. It took ten minutes. Hummm. They also have a garden section. I’m very tempted….

Today’s public has high expectations for customer service, whether it is shopping, visiting a ball park or going to the library. And they have unforgiveable and long memories. To continue to keep their expectations inflated and not burst, we have to realize that every interaction every time is an opportunity to be on brand or not. It requires dilligence, commitment and awareness.

Click here to view the original post.

Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

ResumeMaker offers discount and free trial

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

ResumeMaker is offering a group discount free trial period to TBLC members. See below for more details, and contact Vickie Frost at (813) 622-8252 (ext. 224) for more information.

ResumeMaker helps job seekers write professional resumes and search millions of job openings from one location.  Quick-and-easy step-by-step wizards quide patrons through building resumes and cover letters, without assistance from Library Staff.  ResumeMaker provides everything patrons need to create, store, and distribute top-quality resumes and cover letters, and keep track of contacts, companies, data, and documents that contribute to finding a job.

ResumeMaker’s career resources include virtual interview practice, interview tips, expert job search advice, and an internet job finder – linking job seekers to over 60 job boards across the country from one screen.  Job finder gadget sits on the computer screen and instantly notifies a patron when a job is posted that meets their specific criteria. 

ResumeMaker has been rated the #1 selling resume writing and career development solution for the last 10 years.  ResumeMaker is published by Individual Software, Inc., a 26 year old company, with a rich history of designing and publishing software solutions for education and business. 

ResumeMaker is a popular solution for libraries because it is easy for patrons to use, requires little or no help from library staff, and has thousand of professional samples, cover letters, and phrases written by certified resume writers.  It is the only software solution designed for the broad demographic base of patrons served by libraries, from entry level to the most seasoned professionals, in almost every conceivable market sector and industry.

Posted in General interest, TBLC news | No Comments »

Librarians now add social work to their resumes

Monday, June 8th, 2009

times-article

By Will Van Sant, Times Staff Writer

Librarians have an image problem — stern face, thick round glasses, “shush!” —- which they parody with Web sites like Warrior Librarian, Macho Librarians with Guns, Librarian Avengers.

Now, harsh reality has swept aside self-mocking pretensions to comic book greatness and turned librarians into real, if largely unsung, heros of the recession.

Take mild-mannered David Stoner.

Trained to help adults discover the trial of Socrates and sixth graders track the Oregon Trail, he now spends half his time in the trenches of a battered economy. There his job is far more urgent: helping people who need jobs, food stamps or Medicaid.

“These days, it’s really social work in some respects,” said Stoner, who directs adult services for the Clearwater Public Library System. “And it’s really satisfying to see how much you are helping.”

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Photo and article courtesy of the St. Petersburg Times.

Posted in General interest | No Comments »

What can TBLC do for you?

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Florida libraries are going through a time of transition, and many of you are taking on more responsibilities in your job, or even taking on completely new roles that may require targeted training. Or perhaps budget restraints in your library have caused high tension among coworkers.

This is where TBLC comes in. Over the past several months, we’ve offered various workshops to help train our members in new areas, to learn how to keep cool during this demanding time and to deal with change. But we know we can do more for you.

So tell us how we can help you. What other workshops can TBLC offer to get you and your coworkers through this rough transition? Do you need training in certain areas? Do you have a topic that you – or someone you know – can teach? We offer in-person and online workshops, so feel free to make suggestions for either or both.

Additionally, TBLC staff members can come to your library to speak on a sundry of topics, including virtual reference, customer service, resource sharing, advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please email your ideas to Beth Farmer at farmerb@tblc.org.

Posted in Continuing Education | No Comments »

YALSA’s SummerSlam Reading Jam

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Attention public librarians!

YALSA and World Wrestling Entertainment® have joined forces for the SummerSlam Reading Jam, a pilot project with two great prizes: your library could win $1,000 for teen and tween materials for your library’s collection and two of your tween and teen library patrons can win a free trip for two to WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event in Los Angeles.

Here’s how it works:

·         Sign up online! The first 500 libraries to register for the pilot project will receive mini-posters courtesy the WWE. The deadline to sign up for the SummerSlam Reading Jam is June 8 (although registration will close once 500 libraries have signed up for the pilot project).

·         Check ’em out! Each librarian who signs up will receive 25 WWE mini-posters, which should be distributed to any library patrons between the ages of 10 and 18 who take out two books between June 24 and July 16. The posters are all numbered. Distribute all your posters by July 16.

·         Win prizes! Two lucky poster holders each will receive a Grand Prize of a free trip for two to WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event in Los Angeles, Calif., on August 23, 2009. In addition, they will receive $200 in spending money. WWE will also be giving away 10 copies of the WWE Encyclopedia, which recently made the New York Times Bestseller list. The libraries that distributed the winning posters for the two Grand Prizes will each receive a stipend of $1,000 from WWE for teen and tween materials for your library’s collection.

Full details and the official rules are available here.  (Contest open only to those who reside in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.)

And don’t forget to sign up for the WrestleMania® Reading Challenge, which launches during Teen Read Week in October. Registration is available through Teen Read Week registration through July 31.

Contact Stephanie (Stevie) Kuenn at skuenn@ala.org with questions.

Posted in Conferences/events, General interest | No Comments »