I'm writing this on October 9 but dating it as October 8 as I meant to write yesterday about my one month anniversary at RPL. So far, the first month is a blur but I'm enjoying it immensely - from the work I've been able to do to my co-workers to just learning about the organization itself (and the upcoming changes.)
I'll probably write more later but I've got to go change a diaper. (Trust me - I'd rather flesh out this entry!)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Search
Recent Entries
Recent Comments
This Month
Month Archive
Links
|
Wednesday, October 8
Thursday, September 18
Organization Development Specialist...
by
Jason
on Thu 18 Sep 2008 11:08 PM CST
...could also be called "OD Specialist" if the longer title won't fit on your business card. I can't remember which co-worker pointed this out to me today but I thought it was pretty funny.
Sunday, September 7
10 Tips For Surviving Your First Day of Work
by
Jason
on Sun 07 Sep 2008 03:39 PM CST
I start my new job tomorrow and so it's the usual mix of nervousness and excitement today. But to be honest, I'm more excited than nervous for this one and the biggest thing I'm worried about is whether I should take the bus or drive followed closely by "what should I take for lunch?" since I'm not going to get home for lunch everyday like I did in Weyburn.
Here's a list of 10 Things To Help You Survive Your First Day at a New Job and Google has lots of similar results on the topic. Tuesday, August 26
I'm Going Home
by
Jason
on Tue 26 Aug 2008 09:17 PM CST
The announcement went out to the staff at Regina Public Library today so I can now officially talk about my new job. I have accepted a position as RPL's Organization Development Specialist!
"As a what??? I never took a class on that in library school," I hear you saying and I have to admit, I had a similar reaction when I first read the job posting. But the more I looked into what the job would be about and what it would involve, the more excited I became. Regina Public Library, like so many public libraries, is going through major changes and this position will have a key role in helping facilitate those changes within the organization. (Stop me when you hear too many buzzwords!) A big part of these changes are shifting technology and I'm especially excited to have a role in helping to develop RPL's already impressive use of technology by developing training plans for staff in how to best utilize these tools. How excited am I? I stayed up until midnight last night reading about what other libraries are doing to change themselves and brainstorming ideas I might be able to bring to RPL. I finish my contract with Southeast Regional Library this week, I'll have a week in Regina to get settled and try to compress two houses back into one then I start on September 8. I always look for the circles closing and here's another one - I've been a huge fan of RPL since I was very young to the point that, whenever I was in Regina with my parents, I'd ask them to stop at the Central Library so I could borrow books, magazines, records (!), cassettes and CD's. (I was living in Regina by the time they got their DVD collection!) Here's a shot of me, judging by the poofy hair, probably around 15 years old, coming out of Central Library. Now, in a time warp, I'll be doing the same thing every single day. I cannot wait!  Monday, August 25
I Have A Job
by
Jason
on Mon 25 Aug 2008 05:25 PM CST
Well, having managed to convince myself that I would likely be sitting on EI for a month or two this fall waiting for some pending jobs to be posted, there was a small flurry of Regina-based library jobs posted in the last month.
I went for three interviews early last week, had two offers by Friday and today, made the tough decision to accept one of them. In a rarity for me, I went more with my head than my heart in making my decision but I think it will be the right choice in the long term (much like how choosing a year and a half contract in rural Saskatchewan turned out to be the right choice over a full-time, permanent government librarian position for more money and every second Friday off that I was also offered when I was first looking a year and a half ago.) I'm not going to say anything else right now because I think the employer wants to announce it internally first and I know very well how small and inter-connected Saskatchewan's library community is and that many people in that community read this blog, either directly or via RSS and Facebook. I will say that I'm pretty excited and think it will be a position that's a good fit for my interests and abilities. (Now, where'd I put my 506 notes?) Thursday, August 14
Hypothetical Reality Question
by
Jason
on Thu 14 Aug 2008 09:17 PM CST
A bit of hypothetical reality question for you - what is the single most important thing you should do as a manager to help staff accept institutional change?
Wednesday, August 13
Buying Biases
by
Jason
on Wed 13 Aug 2008 10:23 PM CST
No matter how aware you are of them, inevitably when you are charged with buying non-fiction for your library, your personal preferences will creep through.
We had a discussion at work recently about the biases of our current and past librarians and here's what we came up with as some of the biases over the years (aka "there wasn't a book in this category that the librarian couldn't pass up") - business books - cookbooks - technology books (guess who?) - parenting books (guess who part two?) - military history books (guess who - part three? Hint: I'm replacing a guy who volunteered to go to Afghanistan) - political books - new age books I think there was only one librarian who we couldn't really peg as showing any noticeable bias in his buying - though we think he's the one responsible for buying "The Joy of Sex" as a branch perm for each of our locations so that sort of trumps any biases anyone may have!  (Some of the stories I've heard about this book at the branches: some librarians keep it behind the counter, not out of censorship but out of fear of it being stolen or "abused". One found it moved to the children's section. One found it in the humour section. One moved it to the top shelf even though it was supposed to be on a lower one. And I'm sure there are tons of other stories like that.) Thursday, July 17
In Praise of The Four Day Work Week
by
Jason
on Thu 17 Jul 2008 11:39 PM CST
Tomorrow is my YouDay. Since the government hasn't officially declared it a statutory holiday as per my recommendation, I am taking it off using one of my earned holidays as per my personal YouDay policy.
Having Friday off, along with the recent news that the State of Utah is moving 20% of government employees to a four-day, ten-hour-per-day workweek, has me thinking about the concept of a shorter workweek a bit more. I also speak of this from experience. My very first post-undergrad job was with the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, an organization that utilizes a four-day workweek for all employees - from the Executive Director on down to the temporary summer student. (I admit that having this perk in my first job spoiled me quite a bit and was probably the best perk in a job that had many. I always thought that the various perks we got at the SPG were related to the fact that, as a cultural non-profit, they couldn't afford to pay their employees what they would make in similar positions in government or larger non-profits or corporations or whatever. But I soon realised that the SPG was very generous - even by cultural non-profit standards. Some day, I'll do a full-on post about employee perks and benefits and delve into this subject a bit more. And to be fair, I should list the best perks/benefits of my two other "real" jobs. At the Writers Guild of Alberta, the best perk/benefit was having almost total autonomy as the sole employee of the Calgary office which was followed closely by having an office on the edge of downtown with a fantastic view of the Calgary skyline. At Southeast Regional Library, one of the best perks is getting the library's discount on any book we order for ourselves.) So, anyhow, back to the topic at hand, one thought I have about the innovative scheduling is that libraries are sort of missing the boat when compared to the other two female-dominated professions that we often get linked to. Nurses have almost complete flexibility in their scheduling - Shea has a choice of working a 2/5, 3/5, 4/5 or full-time position. She can choose to only work days, only work nights, job share a position, to work casual on 1-2 floors and only come in when she chooses, etc. Teachers, partly due to the legacy of the agricultural roots of the school year, get the whole summer off plus generous holidays at other times of year. I know they don't get the flexibility in their time off but I'd say that 10-12 weeks of holidays per year is a fair trade! Librarians (at least public librarians - some academic librarians get some of the same extended holidays as teachers) don't really get these advantages in most workplaces. Instead, most public librarians have a fairly typical 9-5, seven or seven and a half hour workday with four weeks of holidays and not much else in terms of choice or variety in when and how they work. There are dozens (okay, sixteen on this link) reasons why the four-day work week is a great idea. From the reduction in pollution from less commuting (maybe high gas prices have a positive after all?) to the increased amount of family time to the fact that it may even increase productivity (!), the four day work week is an idea whose time has come. I mean, if it's good enough for the best show on television, isn't it good enough for you too? Tuesday, July 8
Jason's 360 Review
by
Jason
on Tue 08 Jul 2008 08:38 PM CST
One of the tools that HR departments use these days is the 360 Review where, instead of the traditional performance review by your superior, feedback about your performance is solicited from everyone you work with - colleagues, co-workers, people you supervise, etc.
We don't do 360 reviews at Southeast Regional Library but after talking to my colleague in Estevan who had done something similar with his staff and after discussing it with our Personnel Manager, I decided to do one on my own as I thought this process might be useful, especially as I am coming to the end of my first position as a professional librarian and the feedback would help me as I moved forward in my career. In my previous jobs, I had anywhere from 2-6 co-workers in the entire organization and my supervision was limited to the occasional summer student and various contractors so there wasn't much point in doing one in that setting. But now, with the quantum leap of having a dozen co-workers at our regional headquarters alone, colleagues at our two city libraries and supervisory responsibility for nearly 50 branch librarians (over 100 people if you count my indirect supervision of library assistants), I had a large enough sample group to make it worthwhile. I set up a slightly modified version of the SurveyMonkey template for 360 reviews and sent the link out to approximately 60 people within our organization. More than 50% of people who received the survey filled it out. I have to be honest - I mostly got the sort of feedback I expected, both positive and negative and there were no stunning revelations. Still, I think it was a useful process in a number of ways and I'm glad I did it. Here is a summary of my results (which may only be an active link as long as the SurveyMonkey subscription I'm using lasts - I think until fall 2008). I've made it so only the results of the non-open-ended questions are displayed. I tend to be a fairly open person but I'm not brave enough to share all the negatives that were raised (and even some of the positives were either backhanded compliments or digressed to complaints about other aspects of our organization not related to my performance.) 1. How often do you have contact with Jason? A third of respondents said they were in contact with me, either by phone, e-mail or in person, "more than once per week" with "a couple times per month" and "once per week" coming in as close seconds. 2. Rate Jason in the Following Areas (/5) Communication Skills - 3.77 Follow-up Skills - 3.42 Quality of Work - 3.68 Manages Requests in a Timely Fashion - 3.32 Ability to Respond to Change - 3.67 Availability to You - 3.61 Responsive to Requests For Support & Guidance - 3.68 Job Knowledge - 3.61 3. Employee's Key Strengths (I just picked a representative sample)  His ability to listen and understand even if he doesn't agree with you.
His willingness to help when needed.Empathy for the librarians' workload
Great sense of humor
Excellent leadership qualitiesIs great with dealing with people and finding solutions to a problem. He is organized and has a great knowledge of his job.Listening skills are very good. This is critical and often undervalued. A very good listener
he treated me as an individual, not just as one of the
librarians-recognizes that all librarians have their own strengths and
weaknesses and builds on the strengths.
believes that some rules have a grey area to them in certain
situations. Really listens to concerns--I saw results of a consultation with Jason in a change of an administrative procedure.
Knowledgeable about changes in available technology - CAP training was really useful.
Changes in procedures were well-thought-out and instructions were clear before implementation was required.Jason's door is always open. He is
quick to handle any questions or problems I bring to him. I really like
his creative approach to handling the branches.1) Ability to adapt to the situation at the working level without compromising the main rules.
2) Strong interpersonal skills -relating to those under his supervision well.
3) Follows through when things are not resolved immediately-you can count on him getting to it when he can.4. Employee Weaknesses (again, a representative sample  ) none. I am very happy with Jason's supervisory role5. Other Comments? (yet again, a representative sample) Patient, attentive listening and interpersonal skills will pay off big time in the years ahead. This is a leadership habit. Jason is great to work with. Fun to have around and always looking for ways to improve, both himself and his workplace. Mr Hammond is one of the nicest and
considerate co-workers that I have ever had. I wish to work with him in
the future if it is possible.6. Your Name I specifically asked for (constructive) criticism when I sent out the link and also said that people could reply anonymously as well. Still, approximately one third of respondents signed their names which was nice as it helped give a clearer understanding of why certain people might see certain strengths and weaknesses. Wednesday, June 25
Saskaboom
by
Jason
on Wed 25 Jun 2008 10:54 PM CST
No, not the catchy Feist song...
Instead, "Saskaboom" was the name given to a feature that CBC's "The National" aired last night on Saskatchewan and our booming economy. The piece included a feature on Weyburn and the impact of the oil sector on the local economy. So if you want a taste of the city where I've spent most of the past year and a more positive spin on the Peak Oil idea that I wrote about the other day, watch the video clip. It was interesting to hear the Mayor of Weyburn talking about losing city employees to the oil patch. We're seeing something similar in our library region. I would say that traditionally, the bulk of our branch librarians were stay-at-home moms and housewives who were married to farmers or other people earning an average (or below-average in the case of most farmers  ) income. Now, with the booming natural resource-based economy, it's harder for us to find women wanting to supplement their family incomes because their husbands are making around six figures in "the patch". Or, if the wives do want to work, they can find higher paying employment with longer hours fairly easily since many gas stations and restaurants are offering $10-15/hr with all the hours you want just to get workers. (And lest anyone think I'm being sexist by talking only about female employees, I will mention that of the approximately 100 employees that SRL has out in its rural branch network, fully every single one of them - ie. 100% if you like easy math - are of the female persuasion. Sadly, the only males in the entire organization are the four professional librarians, our van driver and our shipping/receiving clerk.) In related news (to the "boom", not to the issue of "who has boobs"  ), Shea and I drove out to Stoughton, a town half an hour east of Weyburn for the local library's presentation on "Surface and Mineral Rights" as this is something that is of personal interest to both of us. (I'll preface this by saying "as I understand it", since I always tend to get these things slightly wrong. But, basically, surface rights are where an oil company pays the landowner an annual fee for the right to be on your land as they explore for oil or for continued access after a well has been drilled. Mineral rights are when you earn a percentage from any producing wells that are found on your land. Mineral rights are, by far, the more lucrative although someone with a few producing wells on their land could make a decent annual wage, just from the surface rights.) Now, a quick quiz - what's the most successful library program you've ever attended? How about 150 people in a community hall where said community has 653 people according to the last census? Of course, they'd advertised quite widely and a lot of attendees, including Shea and I, were from out of town. But still, that'd be like getting 45 000 people out to a library program in Regina! (Hmm, maybe the RPL should become the RidersPL?) There's definitely a lesson in there about running programs that meet your community needs no matter the size of your community. Plus, the opportunity to promote the library and its services is huge, especially for a non-standard program like this. (Although it was embarrasing to hear one Government employee who was presenting ask, "Do you have Internet in the library here? I know we do in Regina but I'm not sure about here." Ouch!) Anyhow, I'm off to sing myself to sleep... Old dirt road, (Saskaboom, Saskaboom) knee deep snow (Saskaboom, Saskaboom) Watching the fire as we grow (Saskaboom, Saskaboom) o-o-o-o-old |
 www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from shealisahammond. Make your own badge here.
Login
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||