David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Convincing Staff to Learn a New Thing

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Last year, I attended a presentation focused on convincing staff to use a new tool the library had purchased. The presentation offered up different ideas on how to do that.

The presenter (and, I assume, the library) didn’t seem to want to make learning the new tool mandatory, and were concerned that they might have to do that at some point.

Anyone else hear a problem with that concept? I sure did. I think there’s a better way to function.

Now … volunteering to do something can be perfectly fine, in the right context. For example, maybe the task isn’t in your job description but it needs to get done while someone else is out on extended leave, or maybe you do it in an interim capacity until someone else is hired.

Also, volunteering is fine during a pilot project phase. You know, that “we’re just testing this out and need feedback” phase.

But once the job or function or service is more formally offered by the library? Don’t take volunteers. No “convincing” needed.

Instead, assign the new service or tool or project to someone (a person, a department, everyone, etc), and expect that they will do that thing (whatever it is) or learn it in order to help customers. Also think about making sure someone is in charge of getting everyone trained, if you don’t already have a training program in place for it.

After that? No convincing needed. It’s now part of someone’s job – just like working the reference desk, building a website, or cataloging a book.

image by Marc Falardeau

How NOT to Handle a Service Interruption

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A couple days ago AT&T had a regional internet outage. I found out about it when I got home from work – my family said “hey dad, the wifi is acting up.” So I did all the normal stuff – checked the router, rebooted it a couple of times, etc.

That didn’t work, so I checked Twitter and discovered that AT&T has a “helpful” support account: @ATTCares.

The @ATTCares account says this in the profile: “Want help from a real person? Tweet your issue to our team of problem solvers. We love a challenge, and we know how to find the answers.”

Last night, @ATTCares … didn’t seem to care.

The network outage was a large, multi-state problem, and lasted a good 6-7 hours at least. Through it all … AT&T didn’t acknowledge that there was a problem or say anything about a service interruption on their Twitter account.

What I saw instead was this:

  • We’ll definitely look into what’s going on. DM us your account info to get started? ^ATTCareTeam
  • We’re happy to help. Pls send us a DM with more details on what you’re experiencing? ^ATTCareTeam
  • Our team can assist you. Pls DM us your accnt info so we can look into this for you. ^ATTCareTeam

I tweeted them, and didn’t get a reply until 10am this morning (the problem was fixed by then).

So I read a book, went to bed, and the problem was fixed by morning. Oddly enough, at 10am this morning @ATTCares finally responded to me by saying this:

Umm … thanks?

So. What could AT&T have done differently?

  • They could have used their Twitter account to acknowledge the problem, and tweet updates. That would have been really helpful! They could have said something like this: “yes, there’s a problem. We don’t have an ETA, but we are working on it and will update as needed.” That’s all I really needed to know – instead of wondering if my router was having problems.
  • They could have let their own staff know about the issue. From the tweets of other irritated customers, the people who called AT&T support weren’t told about the outage. Instead, they suggested sending out AT&T technicians to fix the problem. Not helpful in this situation, and glad I didn’t call!
  • Also – AT&T should probably not claim there’s a real person at the other end of a Twitter account if there’s really not. From the responses I saw, it looks very much like they have an automated bot of some sort that replies to tweets and asks for info to be DM’d. Those replies were frustrating other customers.

Ok. So does your library ever have an outage, or a service that isn’t in operation for awhile? I’ll guess so. How do you share those issues with your customers?

Here’s what my library does:

  • We have a way to make web announcements for things like inclement weather or if bookmobile schedules change. We also use it as a reminder when the library is closed for holidays
  • We put up signs inside and outside the building.
  • We use social media to share – especially if something unusual happens, like we close because of weather, or if there’s a power outage (it happened last year).
  • Also make sure your own staff knows! Email and the staff intranet are great places to do that.

Make sure to share so your customers know what’s going on. Another way to say that: don’t be like ATTCares!

Practice your Presentations!

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After attending a recent conference, I realized something – not everyone practices their presentations beforehand!

There are definitely some benefits to practicing giving your presentation, especially if you are a new speaker and are going out in front of people for the first time.

Here are some things you might want to practice and/or finesse before the actual presentation:

  • Hook up a laptop to a projector and actually go through your slides. Figure out the simple stuff – things like how to open up the presentation, how to advance the slides, etc. I know – this seems pretty basic. But I’ve seen really smart people sorta freeze when they suddenly have to stand in front of a lot of people and fumble around with files and folders, or an unfamiliar laptop. Sometimes even just advancing slides can be weird if you’ve never really done it before. So practicing those simple things beforehand is a good thing to do.
  • Presenter Notes. If you use presenter notes, know where those are, how to scroll through them if you have a lot of notes, etc. Again, pretty basic stuff … until you are standing in front of 100 people, can’t see that last point you wanted to make, and your mind suddenly goes blank about how to scroll down to that last point. Yikers!
  • Time your talk. Actually practice your presentation out loud. Make sure you don’t go over time. Especially if you are on a panel, or in a session with multiple speakers. Also work on pacing the other way – if you have 45 minutes for your talk, you don’t want to finish in 20 minutes. I set an alarm on my iPhone that goes off about 10 minutes before the end of my time. That way, I know I need to wrap up, and give a couple of minutes for questions at the end of my talk.
  • Practice that tech stuff. Showing a video? Make sure you know how to play it, how the audio will work, etc. Showing off a website or a database? Know how to bounce out of your presentation to show the site, and then be able to bounce back into your presentation to continue.
  • Check the tech before you start. Test the microphone. If it has an on/off switch, test it out. Is there a clicker to advance slides? Test it out.

Ever had a problem when you gave a presentation? What was it? I’d love to know!

Why Speak?

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I do a lot of public speaking – at library conferences and for my library in our community. I like it and think it’s sorta fun.

If you don’t like public speaking, or if you have just never really done it – why learn to speak in public?

Here are some reasons for public speaking:

  • Learning a new skill. Public speaking is definitely a skill, and as such it can be learned. And improved upon.
  • Resume builder. Employers like people who can confidently deliver a presentation.
  • Organizing thoughts. The process of creating a presentation – organizing thoughts, arranging them in a logical way, sharing next steps, etc – is a great way to organize thoughts and ideas.
  • Confidence builder. Apparently a LOT of people get wigged out by the idea of standing in front of people and talking. So what’s the best way to face those fears and build up that confidence? Yep – taking the leap and sharing thoughts in front of a group of people.
  • Public Speaking translates well to other areas. If you can organize and give a public presentation, you also have the skillset to lead training sessions and lead meetings.
  • Learn how before you need to do it. If you move up in your organization or in your career, most likely you will eventually have to deliver some type of presentation – in front of a board or government officials (city council, state government, etc), or even share something in the news on a local tv station. It’s a good thing to learn how to do BEFORE you need to actually do it.
  • Sharing is good! My favorite reason – I’ll bet you or your library has done something cool, or inspiring, or innovative, or just different. Other librarians want to know about it! A great way to share what you did is to give a presentation at a regional, state, or national conference.

That’s what I think, anyway. What should I add here? Let me know! Also – here are a couple of other articles on reasons to improve public speaking:

 

My presentations at Internet Librarian 2017

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Here’s what I talked about at Internet Librarian 2017. You can find slides to many of the talks here.

 

The apps talk isn’t something I necessarily believe in – this was part of a fun Tuesday evening program. I argued for apps, and Marshall Breeding argued (successfully) for websites. It involved costumes. You had to be there 🙂