Infoblog

Leaders Need to Understand the Risk and Trust Relationship

cherylg — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:54:32 +0000

In my talks with directors and library managers, I often hear “we want more accountability” or “how can we get staff to make more decisions on their own, they always come to us for answers”. It’s like a riddle that everyone asks but few people answer.

If people are afraid to make decisions or are [...]

Are Your Readers’ Advisory Techniques Stale?

lisa — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:27:40 +0000

Do you find yourself recommending the same book, or few books, over and over when a library user asks for suggestions? When approached by someone who wants to hear about good books in a genre you don’t know or appreciate, do you go looking for a staff member who does? Register for Readers Advisory Fundamentals [...]

Michael Cart talks about historical fiction

eileen — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:01:09 +0000

In his latest podcast Infopeople’s resident book guy muses about historical fiction (and a bit of non-fiction as well), focusing on some titles from his personal past.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Caro, Robert. The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Costain, Thomas B. The Black Rose. Costain, Thomas B. The Tontine. Dumas, [...]

Find Out How to Use Technology to Better Manage Your Time

lisa — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:42:35 +0000

Would you like to use your smartphone, laptop or tablet to help you be more efficient? Technology is making time management even easier for Library staff and teams with the availability of free and low-cost tools for time tracking, task management, goal and priority setting, and team projects. In this new Infopeople course, Using [...]

Don’t Let Them Take Away Your Self-Esteem

cherylg — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:05:49 +0000

On an evaluation from a Fully Engaged Customer Service workshop I taught, someone made this comment: “I would like to see some techniques for dealing with unreasonable people that don’t require us to sacrifice our self-esteem” I wish I could talk to the person who wrote it. As much as it might feel like it, [...]

George and Joan, Thinking Out Loud about Bosses

eileen — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:11:51 +0000

In this edition of Thinking Out Loud, George and Joan talk about bosses. While it’s easy to gripe about bosses, George and Joan take a deeper look and explore the idea that the problem isn’t always just the boss – it can also be the employee and/or the workplace. Are you using your [...]

Lessons from Learners

Laurie Putnam — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:43:52 +0000

“Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.”
—Charles F. Kettering*

Learning and teaching go hand in hand. Recently I taught “Promote, Inform, Educate: Creating Effective Materials for Your Library Community,” one of a series of courses on communications I’ve created for Infopeople. Although my official role was to be [...]

Learn How to Create Engaging and Effective Online Tutorials

lisa — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:30:13 +0000

Would you like to develop short online tutorials using available free and industry leading tools? From library tours to task-oriented skill building and staff training, Developing Online Tutorials for Patron and Staff Instruction will provide options for developing effective online tutorials. In this course instructor Dawne Tortorella will help you:

Track and evaluate [...]

Which Kind of Customer Service Do You Mean

cherylg — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:50:10 +0000

Today I attended Laurie Brown’s ALA webinar on customer service. I do a lot of customer service training, and I wanted to hear how others approach the topic. And here’s what occurred to me:

Almost 300 people paid to attend the webinar, which tells me there’s a lot of interest in “customer service.” But what [...]

CORE Reference Fundamentals

lisa — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:34:26 +0000

CORE Reference Fundamentals
An Infopeople online course
May 8, 2012 to June 18, 2012

Are you stepping into the role of providing reference assistance for the first time in your library career? Is it time to brush up on your basic skills because you are returning to work in a capacity that [...]