A Wandering Eyre

That was the question in my inbox from an post MLS grad this morning. With Annual looming in the not so distant future (gosh, I wish May was a little farther away), I thought I would share my response here as well.

Being involved in ALA can be very rewarding. Yes there is stodginess and red tape galore, but the people are great (if you find your niche). Which bring me to item one:

Find your niche. ALA is not for everyone, but if you decide it is for you, find a group working on stuff you love. There are groups in ALA for almost everything. Find the one that speaks to you. I would suggest starting with only one group and branching out from there. If you become really involved, one may be all you can handle!

Go to as much of your chosen group’s stuff as possible. I am not talking about big sessions on topics, unless they are small discussion groups. Every committee, roundtable, or division has business meetings and social events. Go to those. Introduce yourself. Happy hours are especially good for this. Everybody is happy with a drink in their hand. It is intimidating to walk up to people you do not know and introduce yourself, but do it anyway, especially if you are familiar with that person’s work. I have met a lot of wonderful people this way. The two that come to mind which I remember clearly doing this to are Michael Stephens and Walt Crawford. Either they do not remember our first encounters or they have continued to be nice to me anyway!

Volunteer to do stuff. Anything. Many times, people will be happy to have new people wanting to do things. That is how I got so involved in LITA. Some groups are easier to move around in than others. I have, so far, been involved with ACRL Instruction Section and LITA. I have found LITA to be more of my taste topic wise and much easier to get involved in. If you do a good job, people will remember and give you more work. This unfortunately means more work, but you should be having fun.

Have fun. Speak up. Make ALA your own. ALA belongs to all of us. Yes, it is a monster at times, but it will only get better if we all pitch in with our ideas and take action.

–Jane, wants to build ALA 2.0

I have to publicly apologize to TLA for misreading their email, which I think was not quite clear. I am sorry for the confusion. I am not sure I am sorry for the flap. I still think that I should not have to pay to go to the conference, if I chose to do so. I still think I should be paid for my time. I did sign the contract knowing I would be paying my own way to get there and that I would not be compensated in any real way. I hate that our profession makes us be martyrs.

Here is the response I recieved from TLA, reprinted with permission, of course:

Dear Michelle,

There has been a misunderstanding. No one is asking you to pay for the preconference, conference, or anything. The email from the TLA office was an email to all Texas speakers (members and non-members) in case anyone wished to attend the full TLA conference (beyond the date of their session). If so, we offer all Texas library professionals (whether they elect to be a member of TLA or not) a discounted rate, if they wish to attend other sessions.

We are delighted that you are presenting this preconference and know that the information will be of great value to the participants. We very much respect your time and certainly understand if you prefer not to attend the full conference. We simply wanted to let you know that, as a Texas speaker, you could avail yourself of the lower rate for the full conference if you so wished. We’re sorry for any confusion; the note from ****** was intended in the hospitable spirit for which TLA is well known. We love the TLA conference and appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge with your colleagues around the state.

I am very interested in any recommendations or observations you have to make preconference planning at TLA better. I know that your attendance numbers have really swelled, reflecting the strong interest in the topic. I also know that experiencing such an increase in attendance creates its own set of problems, and we will work on developing solutions in the future.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Patricia H. Smith

Mr. Rochester would tell you that I tend to feel things violently and fly around with little logic occasionally. I let myself do that this time. I am sorry I was so angry so fast. I am not sorry that my big mouth got this conversation going, yet again. Do we have to do this every year? *sigh* Below was my response to Patricia, which sums up how I feel.

Patricia,
I really appreciate your response. I apologize as well, for flying off the handle. I will teach the preconference. In speaking with some of my colleagues, I am not the first person to have made this mistake of needing to be registered. Some of them simply went to their event anyway. Maybe an explanation that we are not required to register is needed. At other conferences which comp speaker attendance, this is made very clear from the beginning.

I would like to extend my feelings that people teaching preconferences, regardless of affiliation should be paid for their time and efforts. Similar conferences, like Internet Librarian, pay their presenters $700 for a half day conference. I know TLA pays out of state people to come and speak and what is the difference between them coming and myself. I have no affiliation with TLA other then my locale. I am still paying my own way to San Antonio.

I am happy to teach about the topic I love, but I do not believe that I should be a martyr to do so. I hope that TLA will be a leader in our profession and stand up for speaker rights. I am sorry about the flap this caused, but I think it is a topic worth discussing.

TLA and I will agree to disagree. I just want to encourage people not to be taken advantage of when they are asked to speak somewhere. The good news is that the preconference is very popular and a lot of librarians are going to benefit from hearing about 2.0 tools. The bad news is that this is the last preconference I am going to do for free. It is too much work.

–Jane, off to work on that preconference

I recieved a very nice email from TLA, which I have asked to replublish here. I will put it up with my response when I recieve permission.

A brief sum: There was some confusion on my part because the email I received yesterday did not say I HAD to register. Apparently I CAN register. I think this still means if I wanted to go to the conference I would have to pay, but I do not want to go.

Anyway, it is all still very silly and I think we need to stand up a little and say no to certain things. We are not martyrs; we are librarians and people. I for one do not wish to be a saint. More later, plus a mea culpa for an indignation only halfly deserved. I have to go teach a class.

–Jane, cautious

I have mentioned previously in this space about the saga of my TLA preconference on Web 2.0 Tools for instruction librarians. A preconference that over 100 people have signed up for. A preconference that will make LIRT a lot of money. A preconference for which I am not being compensated in any way whatsoever. Well, today, it got better.

I received an email today informing me that they had not yet recieved my registration. An email telling me registration was past due. Registration which they expect me to pay for with an overnighted check or a fax with my credit card information.

I am so angry. The amount of time I have already spent on this and they want me to PAY to make them money!

Here was my response to the person from TLA and the chair of LIRT:

I was not aware that I had to register for TLA to teach a preconference for LIRT. Though I am a Texas resident, I am not a member of TLA and am not being paid to prepare and teach an all day seminar for your librarians. I will not pay for the privilege of teaching when I am being compensated no other way.

I am frankly appalled that I am being asked to pay to be a speaker at function in which I am not a member at which TLA is making quite a lot of money. I have already spent many hours preparing for this, but I will not come if I am required to register and pay to teach my preconference. I know that TLA pays people to come and speak from out of state. Why not people who are not members, who give up their time?

Please advise me on what further action I should take. I would like to be of service to TLA, but will not pay to do so. I would suggest that TLA look to other professional organizations that treat their speakers with more respect.

Sincerely,

Michelle Boule

TLA, you should be ashamed of yourself. I am.
If I get a response that is remotely apologetic, I’ll let you know. I refused to be treated this way.
–Jane, pissed

Just a bit of something to start your week off right. You have to see it to believe the goodness.

–Jane, hooked on a feeling

John Bylberg made a good point when he said the other day:

I’ve often thought (and I’m sure I’m not alone) that the future of libraries rest in the hands of our children’s librarians. It’s actually quite poignant how that army of burden has been routed to a group of librarians who probably never considered that they would be given that kind of responsibility.

He wrote this in response to a Wall Street Journal article about young people’s library use.

He is right of course. It made me think of the emphasis I have seen lately on teen programming in the library and that we should start to mirror some of that programming for the younger kids as well. Do we have computers just for kids to use? How restricted is their time on the computer and what can they access?

It would be wonderful if we could offer internet workshops to children, even very young ones. If they are old enough to be online, they are old enough to start learning about information literacy, online safety, and online etiquette. I continue to see lamentations about our young people’s lack of information literacy skills, even at the the college level, and starting the conversation when they are young would be beneficial to all.

For tweens and teens, you could have web design and internet safety classes. Some of the classes could even be run by other teens. What a fun and rewarding program that would be to run!

–Jane, it’s not just storytime anymore

You guys stop trying to talk me off the cliff. I appreciate the kind words. All of you get back to work now.

–Jane, is reading feeds and plotting

As Meredith said, yesterday’s post was a downer in a lot of ways, but I still love what I do. I just had to commit those feelings to “paper” and get them off my brain. I feel better and I hope you all do as well.

A couple people have asked, “How did y’all decide what do use and do during Five Weeks?” As usual, Meredith has beat us to the punch and written a fabulous post. She is way more organized then the rest of us! Those of you that have been asking about the nuts and bolts, go read the post. If Meredith left anything out, just ask us. We are happy to share. Seriously, I wonder if she ever sleeps.

Meredith calls me her “wing-man” and ours is a duo I love being a part of. I think we make a great team. She keeps me on track and I keep her from worrying about things to death. Well sorta. If you want to see this dynamic duo in action, we will be doing a Five Weeks pony show at CIL. There will be real ponies!

Working with the other organizers was fun. I physically work with Karen so that was nothing new, but getting to know Dorthea, Amanda, and Ellyssa was a joy.

Today, I am going to work on the TLA preconference I am teaching called Library Instruction 2.0: Free Online Tools for Teaching With Technology. Somehow, I have to figure out a way to keep 100+ librarians engaged from 9-4 with limited internet and no computers. *sigh*

–Jane, maybe wearing costumes would help

On a day when I went into cranky mode, this came into my inbox like a breath of fresh innovation. ERAMS stands for Electronic Resources Access and Management Services and is an initiative of some very wonderful librarians concerned about collection and access of eresources. From their website:

We need a place to focus on improving the current state of libraries, to create and share what we are doing, and to define the future direction of products, services and content. To create a community, an understanding, and a vocabulary about how we need to manage and make accessible our electronic content which is taking over more and more of our materials budgets.

They are focusing on four major areas: Collect. Correct. Connect. Control. These four words seem to encompass all that we are trying to do in our libraries. Such a simple yet much needed idea.

They are having a meeting in Baltimore at the end of this month. Here are the details, which are not yet on their website:

We are looking for the first 50 participants who are willing to visualize a library not focused solely on print resource management and willing to go out on a limb and conceptualize the library which is focused on user access and management of online resources & services. Four questions we will be brainstorming about, to try to develop our future scenario today, are:

What online resources would you collect?
How would you connect people to these new collections?
How will you control and manage these services?
How will you provide your users with the most correct information possible?

Please join: Jill Emery, Bonnie Tijerina, & Elizabeth Winter to learn more about the ERAMS concept and the future possibility this concept holds for libraries.

Where: Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards (MD), Chesapeake Room
When: Saturday, March 31, 2007
Time: 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Light refreshments will be available. Please RSVP to Jill Emery by March 29, 2007.

–Jane, a much needed discussion, subscribed

Meredith wrote a long post yesterday about her feelings regarding Five Weeks and I thought it was time I posted mine as well. Her description of how this came about is honest and her comments are all things I can say “exactly” to. It was a success because our participants felt like they learned and had a good time. That means all was well in my mind. Not perfect. There were glitches, but we dealt with them and moved on. It was great and I can not imagine building it with anyone else.

This particular post has been long in the making.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you read this post I wrote a little under a year ago about some thoughts I had while in ALA 2.0 Bootcamp. What started out as a good experience soured quickly and we were indeed told that it could not be done better. That is a challenge I am loathe to back down from, especially when I had started the conversation for the purpose of making things better. The challenge from Kathleen was reason one why we “sat down,” over IM, and hatched a plan. She was the impetus and for that, I am grateful to her.

Reason two involved the library profession more personally, for me. (Please brace yourself for broad generalizations.) We pay too much for things that do not work. We refuse to change, grow, and learn. We fail to see the future even when it is no longer nipping at our heels, but crushing us under its weight. These attitudes make me tired and I have only been struggling in this profession for less then 3 years. No wonder I know so many older librarians who have become malcontents. (and plenty who are not, they are what keep me smiling)

I helped build the dream that became Five Weeks because I believe that we, librarians of the world, hold the capacity to learn, change, and adapt. I believe that there are enough of us that dream big and then do, but I think we are too few. Too far apart.

It was inspiring to watch the participants learn new things and build amazing ideas and plans of their own, but it also broke my heart to hear about all the roadblocks they each face. I moderated two groups and we spent time every week in each group going over ways to deal with reluctant staff, stubborn administrations, and refusals to adapt. It was especially disheartening to hear over and over again stories of supportive management that nevertheless refused to change because of one or two vocal staff. To hear them voice the concerns that plague my own life made me want to weep for our profession. Weep for the ability of other people’s stubbornness and a culture of indecision to steal the fire that is in so many of us. Weep for all of us who struggle uphill to make things better, but mostly weep for those who hold our profession back.

I hope that all the participants bring their wonderful ideas back to their libraries and meet with resounding success. I hope this everyday for them. They worked so hard and are so full of excitement about what they could be doing for their communities.

I did not intend for this post to be so gloomy, but my feelings about Five Weeks ranged from elation and hope to despair and I think this post was reflective of that. My largest hope is that others will build their own Five Weeks projects. As Meredith stated in her post, an online learning project can be about anything. My desire is that libraries and organizations, even ALA, will see the value on building these kinds of learning portals and offering them for free. Free. of. Charge. For. Everyone.

There are some libraries doing absolutely awesome things, sometimes with little resources and a small staff. We all know who they are. These are the places that give me hope, restore my smile on days when I want to rend my clothes and pull my hair. We are watching you, oh beacons, and we hope that more people notice too.

I still love my profession, but like any love relationship, some days, I do not like you very much. Recently, I have felt all I want to give you is tough love. From the heart, but very tough.

–Jane, power to the people