Yes, Highlands Proves There Really Is a Free Lunch

Thanks to Kathleen Brunner, Highlands Branch Childrens's Librarian, all employees there won a drawing for a lunch, sponsored by the 96.1 Lite Lunch Brigade a few weeks ago.  They also have a group shot of the happy DU staff on their site.  Nice advertising for JPL and who doesn't like a good, free lunch?  Click here for more information:  http://www.wejz.com/PhotoPages/Photo.aspx?PhotoID=874321.

Staff Profile

David Foster, Library Associate in Mandarin Branch’s children’s department, is well known for his ability to “break the ice” with strangers and make them feel right at home, all the while finding out what customers’ real needs are so he can best help them. David is respected by his present and past supervisors, peers, and customers for his exceptional skills. One thing he said that might best describe his take on customer service was what he learned on his first job out of high school, “It taught me the value of a proactive anticipation of what will best help a customer.” He makes each customer feel like their need is his top priority; and for him it is.


Q: What is our professional history with City/JPL?

A: I began working for JPL in late fall of 2004, just as the last of the new branches were being completed under The Better Jacksonville Plan. Although my mother and I visited UPK on its grand opening day months before, I was not actually part of the start-up team. Michael Sullivan, Kathleen Krizek, Mary Calcagni, and Kim Hamilton saw my potential as an assistant in the Y department, and I worked between the circulation and Y departments. Although I knew that I would move to South Mandarin, ironically, I also was not part of the start-up crew there. I arrived over a week after its grand opening and again was fortunate in that Ed Murray, Lynne Baldwin, Anne Clement, Marsha Collins, and Linda Ehnert saw my potential as an LA in the Y department. I worked for Ms. Clement for 4 1/2 years before my transfer to Mandarin Branch, where I am Margo Crafton's assistant.

Q: Are your people skills and good customer service derived more from a personal affinity for people, professionally acquired, or both?

A: My family has a history of serving our community; my mother and sister-in-law are teachers, my sister is a nurse, one of my brothers works in law enforcement, one of my nieces works in a seniors home, and one of my nephews served eight years in the military.

My rapport with customers stems from two people, in particular -- my father, who had the ability to speak with ease with virtually anyone about virtually any topic, and a family friend, for whom I worked after graduating from high school. That job involved sales, and my friend taught me how he maintained a client base, in no small part due to his jovial, outgoing nature. I apply that lesson on a daily basis, welcoming families as they step into our department, and proactively providing assistance.

My love of reading comes from my mother, who cannot sit at the breakfast table without reading the cereal box ingredients! At home, we were surrounded by encyclopedias, Reader's Digest, National Geographic, and any number of bookcases that were filled to the brim.

My approach to customer service is that--at that particular moment, during that particular transaction--to the customer, I am the face of JPL.

Q: Why is it important to connect with parents as well as children?

A: Building a strong rapport with the entire family allows me to better determine the family's needs, whether specific, such as resources for a school project, or whether broad in scope, such as encouraging a life-long love of the library, and, by extension, building a life-long love of reading.

I am fortunate that--at both SOM and KR--I have hosted the Mother Goose and Toddler Time programs, allowing me to focus on our future readers from the very beginning!

I also host a kids graphic novel book club, which Shivon Rockward started for KR, in which I am able to work with school-age students who are at a stage where many students face distractions, such as video games and television. I stress critical thinking, specifically comparison and contrast and the concept of irony, as well as the pure joy of leisure reading. I provide an atmosphere that is conducive to each student's expressing his or her point-of-view.

Q: How is customer service changing in the children’s department?

A: More and more, we are a hub for families with parents who—in addition to helping their kids get books—are here to search for a job. Something as simple as letting a parent know that, in addition to finding books that pertain to their child's interests, we can provide coloring pages, puzzles, and pop-up books to keep their attention so a parent can focus on that important task. I am also able to tell parents about our website links, specifically Careers and Jobs, under the Recommended Websites on our home page. My taking a moment to research the next WorkSource visit could change a family's life!

The summer months, which are our peak season because our school-age kids are on break, have also changed in the last few years of our nation's economic downturn. I've heard again and again that our programming has offered families a free, healthy alternative to costly entertainment.

Q: Tell us something about yourself that most of us would not know.

A: My family has a new generation! My brother and I were raised as a “second” family, so we've been uncles since we were in elementary school. In the last few years, my oldest nephew and his wife have started their own family. Children have always been part of my life!

Mural of Jean Ribault 's Landing in Florida, 1562

At 5 p.m, May 1, 2012, on the 4th floor of the Main library, JPL will host the unveiling of Lee Adams' painting of French Captain Jean Ribault's landing at the mouth of the River of May (as he named it; known now as the St. Johns River), May 1, 1562.  He raised a monument claiming the land for the King of France and proclaiming the land This 450th anniversary will also be celebrated with other events sponsored by other local organizations (click here for more information: http://www.coj.net/commemorate450.aspx) because of its historical importance.  Lee Adams' mural, largely restored after years of neglect, will be a bold reminder of Florida's rich history and entice customers to search out JPL's Florida Collection to see our state's impact on the development of this this nation.

History of the Mural and the Pillar Depicted in It:
 The mural depicts a time priod of 1562-1565.  Jean Ribault set the original pillar in place on May 2, 1562, proclaiming the land to be New France.  The famous drawing, credited to Jacques le Moynes, has made history books around the wrold, depicts Rene de Laudonniere and Chief Satouriba's son, Athore, at the pillar.

1924 marked the 300th anniversary of the beginning of Huguenot immigration to America and the time was used to celebrate the landing of Jean Ribault in 1562.  A Mrs. Cooley, who was a member of the Jacksonville Chapter of the DAR, wanted to honor the Huguenots and the Chapter designed a replica of the column Ribault left at Mayport, raised money to produce it, and it was installed at Mayport on May 1, 1924, on land known as Wonderwood-By-The-Sea, owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Starke.  She wrote that Easter sunrise services were held there for more than a decade.

In 1940, Mrs. Starke's land was claimed for the Naval Station Mayport and the monument was moved probably to another loction on the base.  Later theit was moved to a site on Mayport Road.

In 1959 the monument was moved again to land designated as Ft. Caroline Natinal Memorial.  After that, many streets and subdividsions in the area took on names connected with the French Huguenot colony of La Caroline.  The monmument will be rededicated on May 1, 2012, by the National Park Service and the DAR. 

  
Last paragraph:
Input for this article was drawn from a memo from Michelle Barth, Deputy Chief of Staff, Mayor Alvin Brown's office to the library Board of Trustees and from input provided by Mrs. Lyn Corley of Jacksonville.  Mrs. Croley is a history buff and found this painting in a local school cafeteria, then worked with two mayors and the Library Board of Trustees to get it finally placed at the Main Library.

Staff Profile

Bob Silkett, former Southeast Branch Librarian Senior and now manager of NW, was one of the 3rd Quarter “Challenge the Process” award winners. He is a big supporter of DESNINATION: Leadership and has completed 64 hours of LDA training. Theresa Barmer, former SE Branch Manager, asked him to implement and oversee a branch communication plan as part of his DESTINATION: Leadership Action Plan Objective. Not one to slack on a challenge, Bob Silkett, along with a big helping hand from Ralph Henderson, Library Associate, successfully launched SE’s news blog in January 2011, and you can view it at: http://www.selibraryjax.blogspot.com/
Bob’s former manager at SE, Lynne Baldwin, said, “He is not only a nice guy but also a great librarian and leader, who encourages the heart of his staff every day through his hard work, creativity and dedication to JPL.”

If you plan to develop a branch blog, Bob says it may not be as difficult as it may seem, and you can contact him at NW Branch, 765-5402, ext. 220, if need be.

Q: How did you plan the SE blog and get buy-in from staff?

A: Concerning planning of the SE blog implementation, we benefited greatly from some thoughtful work that Ralph Henderson and I did as part of the DESTINATION: Leadership Action Plan process during the FY09-10 year. At that time, we noted that while there were many ways for our branch to communicate key information to our customers (flyers, plasma screen, blog, posters, etc.), we did not feel we were doing an effective job of coordinating these resources or using them to their fullest. SE’s blog was languishing with only a couple of articles posted each month. So our project that year was to first identify and define the various communication vehicles available, list potential content or topic areas of information (SE/JPL events, Library Resources, What’s new at the Branch, for example) that we thought would be of interest to our customers, and then to develop a media schedule allowing for easy management to deliver customer focused information throughout the year. As we moved forward on this project, we focused more attention on our blog. It needed the most help and also represented our best opportunity to reach the most people, if we could provide quality and quantity of content on an ongoing basis. That was the big test.

As for getting buy-in from staff, the best way is to either get staff involved early in the development/planning process or develop an implementation plan that not only tries to anticipate challenges to success but also attempts to help staff succeed. If staff succeeds, so does the plan, and everyone wins. In this case, we were far along in the planning, so the focus was on implementation. Here’s what I tried to do:

Gain Management Support: Theresa liked Ralph’s and my work enough to identify it as a key branch objective for FY10-11, and we were also able to tie it into the Performance Objectives (“promote awareness of the Library’s informational and educational resources”).

Sell the Vision: If SE was to be the center of the community long term, there was a lot of information that we could share and we needed everyone to participate. So the challenge was to convince staff that with a little effort, each person could make an impactful contribution. The effort would be too much for one person, but manageable if everyone participated--plus it would count towards everyone’s performance objectives.

Make Participation as Easy As Possible: I asked staff to submit one blog article a month. They could choose from nine possible topic areas ranging from SE/JPL programs, library resources (such as databases or services), to highlighting new titles at the branch or even staff interests, that could be tied into library resources. (One staff shared her favorite Spring Roll recipe and it was put in our Cookbook section). Employees could choose their own topics. To participate, staff articles did not have to be lengthy but did need to have quality.

Appoint a Staff Coordinator to Manage the Process: To increase our chances for long term success, I asked Ralph to manage and coordinate the whole process. We developed a Word Doc blog submission form so staff did not have to post on the blog, and he received everyone’s submissions. These were reviewed by branch management before being posted. Ralph kept track of the number of submissions and who was participating and the number of page hits the blog received each month. Ralph and I also had monthly meetings with our Children’s Department and branch management and discussed potential articles and set deadlines, if we wanted to use the blog to support specific programs. Ralph did a great job and helped us maintain momentum on this project while he was with us.

Q: Do you personally write articles for the blog and what have you written?

A: I had written six articles through March but was unable to sustain my own output during the second half of the year due to ongoing staffing challenges at SE and new priorities caused by the recent budget process. I took some of the press releases generated by our Marketing Department and turned them into articles that (if possible) had a SE connection. For example, I wrote an article about the 2011 Black History Calendar and developed a list of titles available at SE that tied in with the calendar’s theme (African Americans and the Civil War). We also developed a display of those books. Sharon Kirkes (Librarian Senior, CW) was also working on a program offering Student Financial Aid Workshops, so in support, I wrote a short article noting the purpose of the workshops and where/when they would be held. I also wrote a detailed article about AARP Tax support at SE, highlighting last year’s changes, the times when AARP would be at SE and what information customers needed to bring to get tax help.

Q: Who else regularly contributes articles and what criteria are used for submitting articles?

A: The goal was to have all reference staff, Adult, Teen, and Children contribute articles on average of once a month. We also looked for opportunities to gain other contributors. One of our Circ staff contributed an article and one particular volunteer did a series of book reviews called “Book Notes from a Shelving Cart”. Sustainable Harvest, a group that used our meeting room last winter, contributed a short article that we used, along with a plasma slide to support the program. In terms of criteria, the article needed to be of reasonable length, with a subject that easily fit within the nine topics that had been established for content. All articles were reviewed by branch management before being posted.

Q: What do you believe the SE Branch blog has accomplished for staff and customers?

A: A big challenge for any new idea or process is sustainability – can we maintain momentum long enough so the program becomes the “new normal”, or in effect becomes part of the branch routine? Here the results are mixed but positive. During FY10-11, we added 77 blog articles which averages 6.5 blogs per month. Our goal was to generate 8-10 blogs/month, which we achieved from January through April. Everyone contributed multiple times. We have good content although some topic areas do need more focus. Ralph found a metric that measured page hits, and we have been averaging around 300 page views a month.

Conversely, we lost some momentum over the summer. Ralph was transferred to another branch in May, so we lost his coordinating skill. The credible threat of a deep budget cut presented to staff in the spring forced the branch to a back-to-the-basics strategy stressing more cross training and focus on maintaining operations in the midst of significant staff losses occurring during the summer. Staff has done a wonderful job of continuing to add content in this environment, but at much lower levels.

In terms of impact on customers, the jury is still out. Our focus this year was to determine whether the branch could add a certain number of articles month end and month out. I think we were largely successful, but reassessment is needed based on current staffing, which is not expected to change soon. Once we proved that we could sustain the blog and keep it fresh, the next step in the process was to approach the Marketing group and get their help to publicize the blog and start building readership with our customer base. I had some positive discussions with Orin Heidelberg, however, this phase has not started.

Q: What is something about you that most of us probably do not know?

A: I lived and worked for a couple of years in Australia, penned an unpublished manuscript on Civil War military history, and avidly collect Old Time Radio shows. I also have owned and managed a community bookstore for four years before doing library work.

Not everyone could attend one of the Town Hall meetings in May, and those who did will want to review the important items covered that affect each JPL employee, and review the different questions asked by staff at those three meetings.