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.
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