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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 1/5/2008
Posts: 28
Points: 84
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Hello all, I work in a public library. Of course local revenues are down and liable to go down even further. There's a hiring freeze and a raise freeze. At the same time, the public needs our services even more. Our usage is up, way up from a year ago when there was even a trend toward fewer visits to our branch.  It's like that everywhere, right? So my question for the group is: what do you do to help keep your staff's morale up? Also, how are we justifying our services among others that a government may provide (in our case, it's the County)? Just wanting to hear helpful hints and supportive words in these here hard times. Thanks!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Jumpstart - Moderator
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Joined: 11/18/2007
Posts: 73
Points: -69
Location: Wisconsin
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I am a public librarian. I also run my own job source for librarians in Wisconsin. I am just thankful to have a job, and I know the other staff members are too at the library I work at (we were just named Wisconsin's only 5-star library in Library Journal). Awhile back, I saw the writing on the wall; I took the took the time to spell out why the library exists and how we transform lives. See the positioning statements on our library's web site: http://www.dellslibrary.org
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator
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Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 348
Points: 922
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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zayit wrote:Also, how are we justifying our services among others that a government may provide (in our case, it's the County)? Just wanting to hear helpful hints and supportive words in these here hard times. Justify to who? Your patrons? Your funding organization?
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator
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Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 348
Points: 922
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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The best thing for the staff is to see the support from the management/administration. Just seeing administration fight for the staff and the organization is a big boost. The funny thing about no raises is it is not a disaster. There are much research that shows money is not the key factor for happy employees in most situations. Little thing can go a long way. Providing a breakfast, lunch, or snack occasionally. Developing an award for strong performance, good ideas, or other areas that show initiative. Bringing in a guest speaker or activity for staff. Making a bigger push to thank staff or highlight performance of the organization. If you have funding in other areas that cannot be used for staff, let them know that but than use it on staff (new desk chairs or some other show that they have the tools they need).
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Jumpstart - Moderator
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Joined: 11/18/2007
Posts: 73
Points: -69
Location: Wisconsin
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bcgray wrote:zayit wrote:Also, how are we justifying our services among others that a government may provide (in our case, it's the County)? Just wanting to hear helpful hints and supportive words in these here hard times. Justify to who? Your patrons? Your funding organization? Libraries and the librarians who staff them need to be able to justify their existence to both patrons and funding organizations these days. They need to be able to justify their existence to both users and non-users.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator
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Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 348
Points: 922
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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jbruckner wrote:Libraries and the librarians who staff them need to be able to justify their existence to both patrons and funding organizations these days. They need to be able to justify their existence to both users and non-users. Yes, I know that. But depending on which audience is being questioned by the original poster, the answer varies. so, I was hoping they would expand on their question.
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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