Before I headed off for the beach, I wanted to get down my thoughts about ALA. I have always enjoyed ALA, but in recent years as I have become more active in committee work, there is less time for programs and the exhibits. This year was no exception, and perhaps worse than ever.
As chair-elect of LAMA’s Building and Equipment Section (BES), I had to attend the LAMA Board meeting, which meets twice—from 8:00 – 12:00 on Saturday and the same time on Tuesday. Since our section’s all committee meeting is Monday from 8:00-12:00, you can see my time was severely limited. For me, it is worth it. BES routinely puts on one or two pre-conferences and five or six programs. In Anaheim next June, the section will provide a pre-conference tour of libraries in Santa Monica and Cerritos—both of them green and award winning facilities. Programs will include offerings on Security & Preservation of Rare Materials; Redesigning and Repurposing Existing Library Space, “PeopleSpaces in Libraries:”Top Building Trends, Sustainable Libraries, ALA-IIDA Library Interior Design Awards; Planning a Capital Project; Ergonomics, and Building Blocks for Planning Functional Library Space—I only hope that I get to sit in on a couple of them.
I attended one terrible program, entitled “Transforming your Library though Technology,” which was offered by ALA but unfortunately was very mundane and basic and offered little food for thought. I did, however, attend the LAMA Presidential Program which featured Frances Hesselbein. Ms Hesselbein, the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of America, is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Governors of the Leader to Leader Institute. A petite mature woman with a very quiet voice, she held her audience spell bound and challenged all of us to care and trust one another and especially to work for America’s young people and children—our future.
For me, the other worthwhile program was the 23rd presentation of AIA/ALA Library Building Awards, which is sponsored by the American Library Association and the American Institute of Architects, and administered by BES. Some of this year’s winners included new library buildings or renovations at Santa Monica College, Lafayette College, Seattle’s Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center, and La Grande Bibliotheque in Montreal, Canada. I enjoy seeing the winning libraries and it is exiting hearing the architects and librarians talk about bringing their ideas to fruition. After my term as Chair of the Section, I have volunteered to serve on the committee making these awards, so I am looking forward to that time. I would urge you to put this awards program on your ALA to do list, alternating years with the ALSA-IIDA Library Interior Design Awards which will be presented next year in Anaheim.
I was also able to spend some time with R2’s Rick Lugg, along with Hester Campbell, talking about their return visit to Joyner on July 10. They had their first draft of their report, which we discussed in part; their final draft will be delivered to us next week. They, however, have asked us not to distribute the report to the Library until after their presentation. Through experience, they have found that this works best.
Along with Blythe, I also met with Maureen Sullivan who will be leading the Library on a visioning retreat this coming July 31. I felt that Maureen and I immediately clicked—she and I are the same Myers-Briggs type indicator—ENFP. The best way I have of explaining that is that there are no trees in my forest. Well, that is just an aside; Maureen has extensive experience leading libraries though change, and I think all of will get a lot out of the sessions.
I did not get much time to go through the exhibits--my favorite thing is to look at the children's books--and to buy books for my hoped for "grandchildren." Joyner Library had a booth--staffed mostly by our TRC colleagues and other participants in our Eastern North Carolina Digital Program. They certainly are good ambassadors for Joyner and ECU. Thanks guys!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Funding the Margin of Excellence
Keeping up with this blog is even harder than I imagined. I am constantly confronted by two problems—lack of time to write and lack of anything of worth to say.
For me the last week here at Joyner has been really hectic, with having to participate in two to three evaluations on the days that I am here—and then there is the problem that I don’t seem to always be able to be here. Yesterday, along with Alan White form the College of Arts and Sciences, I participated in a follow up to April’s ECU Foundation Spring meeting, working on strategic planning for the organization. The Strategic Planning Committee is led by Carol Mabe, who recently during our Staff Development Day led the Library in a discussion of branding and marketing. Carol, who is joining the Board of Trustees, is an excellent and well organized leader. She helped us come up with a Vision for the ECU Foundation—Funding the “Margin of Excellence” for ECU. We will take that vision plus some strategic goals to the Foundation Board in October. It seems very likely that the University will launch a Capital Campaign in the next year or so and is looking to raise from $50 to $100 million. I hope the Library can be an active participant in that campaign.
I have very much enjoyed an email debate that has been going on among the members of the RTF about appointments and recruiting—with the Task Force recommending that we not do any more appointments at least until their work is closer to completion. It has been good to hear and see the debate. I have asked the RTF to post the discussion on their blog—if they don’t do that, I will try to get people to post it here.
Later this week I am off to ALA—I am chair elect of the Building and Equipment Section and assume those duties after this annual conference. As chair elect, one of my prime responsibilities has been to appoint committee members and chairs, but the database which one is suppose to use to do that has not functioned very well. I am hoping that I can get things finalized at the conference—when I can talk to folks face to face.
For me the last week here at Joyner has been really hectic, with having to participate in two to three evaluations on the days that I am here—and then there is the problem that I don’t seem to always be able to be here. Yesterday, along with Alan White form the College of Arts and Sciences, I participated in a follow up to April’s ECU Foundation Spring meeting, working on strategic planning for the organization. The Strategic Planning Committee is led by Carol Mabe, who recently during our Staff Development Day led the Library in a discussion of branding and marketing. Carol, who is joining the Board of Trustees, is an excellent and well organized leader. She helped us come up with a Vision for the ECU Foundation—Funding the “Margin of Excellence” for ECU. We will take that vision plus some strategic goals to the Foundation Board in October. It seems very likely that the University will launch a Capital Campaign in the next year or so and is looking to raise from $50 to $100 million. I hope the Library can be an active participant in that campaign.
I have very much enjoyed an email debate that has been going on among the members of the RTF about appointments and recruiting—with the Task Force recommending that we not do any more appointments at least until their work is closer to completion. It has been good to hear and see the debate. I have asked the RTF to post the discussion on their blog—if they don’t do that, I will try to get people to post it here.
Later this week I am off to ALA—I am chair elect of the Building and Equipment Section and assume those duties after this annual conference. As chair elect, one of my prime responsibilities has been to appoint committee members and chairs, but the database which one is suppose to use to do that has not functioned very well. I am hoping that I can get things finalized at the conference—when I can talk to folks face to face.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Doing Our Part
I had hoped to write about the Appalachian Regional Development Conference, Doing OUr Part: The Role of North Carolina's Rural Public Universities in Economic Transformation, earlier, but tempus fugit, ya’ll. It was great to spend the weekend in the mountains. Sue and I were able to get some much needed yard work done at the house and to get in a visit with a number of our friends. But on the day of the conference I arrived at Rosen Hall, not really knowing what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
The day’s proceedings began with introductory remarks about encouraging economic development in their regions from the chancellors of each of the rural public universities—ECU, ESCU, UNC-Pembroke, Western and ASU. Our Chancellor, Steve Ballard, led off and presented a very cogent and succinct outline of our strategic framework, focusing on developing Eastern North Carolina’s economic, research and artistic potential and ameliorating the health and educational needs of the region. The chancellors from ESCU, Pembroke, and ASU also addressed how they are contributing to their regions, especially in training teachers and nurses and other vital professions. I was very impressed with Western’s Chancellor, John Bardo, and I would encourage you to look at his statement: Communicating the University’s Role in Economic Development.
At lunch, we were shown a very interesting video called Shift Happens, which is about rapidly changing economic development, mostly what is happening in China and how we in the US are not keeping up nor really aware of the rapid change overtaking us. Worth watching and thinking about. The conference audience was certainly intrigued to say the least.
I also very much enjoyed hearing from a number of others, including:
· Valeria Lee, President of the Golden Leaf Foundation, which is helping North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state.
· Judith Cone is vice president of emerging strategies for the Kauffman Foundation, “where she leads efforts to explore new program opportunities to advance entrepreneurship and education;” and
· Eva Klein, president and founder of Eva Klein & Associates, Ltd. (EKA) which “is a specialized consulting practice, providing technical expertise, planning facilitation, creative strategy formulation, and ongoing project management for colleges and universities, communities, and regions that want to compete effectively in the Global Knowledge Economy.”
· Valeria Lee, President of the Golden Leaf Foundation, which is helping North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state.
· Judith Cone is vice president of emerging strategies for the Kauffman Foundation, “where she leads efforts to explore new program opportunities to advance entrepreneurship and education;” and
· Eva Klein, president and founder of Eva Klein & Associates, Ltd. (EKA) which “is a specialized consulting practice, providing technical expertise, planning facilitation, creative strategy formulation, and ongoing project management for colleges and universities, communities, and regions that want to compete effectively in the Global Knowledge Economy.”
Thursday, June 7, 2007
June musings
It has been an interesting week to say the least—starting with the announcement about Jim Smith’s resignation on Monday morning. Quite frankly, I am still in some stage of grief. Meeting Jim and talking with him about his management style and how we would work together was certainly one of the deciding factors for my coming to ECU. Jim is and always has been a friend to the Library and supportive and helpful throughout my first eight months. It has been nothing but a delight reporting to Dr Smith since I arrived; I surely hope that his successor will maintain his “transparent, collaborative management.”
We have had two opportunities to discuss the administrative changes that I think are necessary to continue moving forward and dealing with the complexity of issues we face vis a vis the delivery of information services to the ECU campus—the Revisioning Task Force (RTF) and then an all Library meeting. In both of them, I hope that I have made it clear that the appointments do not and will not negate or nullify the work of the RTF; as someone has said “change is organic.” We have a lot of issue to deal with and questions to answer. All this summer we will be hearing from experts on the changing role of libraries—beginning with this week’s dynamic speaker, David “Giz” Womack from Wake Forest’s R.Z. Reynolds Library, who shared with us the fun that hosting a “gaming night” has generated in their library. I was excited—I know that I will never be able to compete at Halo, but I have some hope that I would not embarrass myself at DDR.
I was asked to share the outline of the organization chart with the Library. That is one of my goals this week—so look for the email.
Finally, I can not tell you how much fun I have had cheering on the Joyner Knights! We may not be the winniest team competing, but I love watching them play and along with a large number of our Joyner colleagues, cheering them on. In fact, I think it is fair to say that we have the most supportive and boisterous “cheering section.”
We have had two opportunities to discuss the administrative changes that I think are necessary to continue moving forward and dealing with the complexity of issues we face vis a vis the delivery of information services to the ECU campus—the Revisioning Task Force (RTF) and then an all Library meeting. In both of them, I hope that I have made it clear that the appointments do not and will not negate or nullify the work of the RTF; as someone has said “change is organic.” We have a lot of issue to deal with and questions to answer. All this summer we will be hearing from experts on the changing role of libraries—beginning with this week’s dynamic speaker, David “Giz” Womack from Wake Forest’s R.Z. Reynolds Library, who shared with us the fun that hosting a “gaming night” has generated in their library. I was excited—I know that I will never be able to compete at Halo, but I have some hope that I would not embarrass myself at DDR.
I was asked to share the outline of the organization chart with the Library. That is one of my goals this week—so look for the email.
Finally, I can not tell you how much fun I have had cheering on the Joyner Knights! We may not be the winniest team competing, but I love watching them play and along with a large number of our Joyner colleagues, cheering them on. In fact, I think it is fair to say that we have the most supportive and boisterous “cheering section.”
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Saturday was a long day, beginning at 8:00 and not ending until 9:30 when we returned to the hotel. I found the plenary opening session enlightening and sobering. Michael Adams is a Canadian social scientist and researcher who has published a lot about the differences between Americans and Canadians, focusing on social values. Being a bleeding heart liberal, I found myself pretty much in agreement with the Canadian psyche and not in step with my fellow Americans. I know that his power point presentation will be on the ALADN website, so you can see some of the points that he made in his presentation entitled Fire & Ice, which is also the name of one of his recent books.
There were several other high points during the day for me—I really identified with Michael Ridley, CIO and Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph. He is guiding the library to the concept of The Academic Town Square—bringing the university and community into the library as much as possible for speaker for a, book readings and signings, art presentations, class meetings, etc—and not tucking these events off in some quiet corner but putting them in the busiest part of the library. He described the atmosphere of the library, especially the first floor, as some what akin to a circus. Of course, this is exactly how I would like to see Joyner evolve—and I am even more committed to trying to bring art and other activities into our Library. We have to bring our community—and especially our faculty and administrators into the Library, or we will surely become a backwater.
The last presentation of the day provided an opportunity to hear from the Dean of the Library at the University of South Florida, Derrie Perez, and her development officer talk about an opportunity they were presented about five years ago. An alumnus and her husband offered the library a planned gift of their multi-million dollar medieval manuscripts and incunabula collection. The library neither had the staff and resource much less the building to accept the collection—but working over time with the University administration and the donors, they were finally able to accept the collection. The University has committed both its research and facility dollars to the collection and the donors have committed to helping fund an endowment and bring others in to assist. A win/win for all. Reminds me of a similar problem we are facing with the possibility of acquiring the Wright collection. It will take equal planning and organization on the part of the University and the Library if we are to acquire that collection—and I don’t know that the will is there.
Sunday morning’s session was dedicated to one presenter—Penelope Burk who spoke on Donor Center Development. She has some powerful arguments backed up with extensive and long term research to support her premise that the most important aspects of development are acknowledgment and information. After listening to her, I am convinced that we have to begin calling our donors and engaging them and providing them information on what their gifts are doing for the University and its students. Bought her book to bring back to share with the Library.
Sue and I spent Sunday afternoon hiking along the Bow River. I lack the words to really describe the grandeur and beauty of the place—of course, we are sharing Banff this weekend (Victoria Day) with half of Alberta and thousands of other people from around the world—seem to be a lot of Australians and Japanese, but there are many others represented. You can see some of the pictures we took at Springtime in Banff. After the conference, we will spend the next four days traveling through Banff National Park, looking at the scenery, animals, and especially the glaciers.
Before Cynthia & Wayne left on Monday afternoon, we all had High Tea in the Rundle Lounge. An experience for all of us. The Monday morning sessions provided information on the new ARL Spec Kit on Development, which we need to acquire and the stories of three libraries that have been successful in getting corporate grants—from the Gates and Kresge foundations. Again, I think we need to expand into those areas.
There were several other high points during the day for me—I really identified with Michael Ridley, CIO and Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph. He is guiding the library to the concept of The Academic Town Square—bringing the university and community into the library as much as possible for speaker for a, book readings and signings, art presentations, class meetings, etc—and not tucking these events off in some quiet corner but putting them in the busiest part of the library. He described the atmosphere of the library, especially the first floor, as some what akin to a circus. Of course, this is exactly how I would like to see Joyner evolve—and I am even more committed to trying to bring art and other activities into our Library. We have to bring our community—and especially our faculty and administrators into the Library, or we will surely become a backwater.
The last presentation of the day provided an opportunity to hear from the Dean of the Library at the University of South Florida, Derrie Perez, and her development officer talk about an opportunity they were presented about five years ago. An alumnus and her husband offered the library a planned gift of their multi-million dollar medieval manuscripts and incunabula collection. The library neither had the staff and resource much less the building to accept the collection—but working over time with the University administration and the donors, they were finally able to accept the collection. The University has committed both its research and facility dollars to the collection and the donors have committed to helping fund an endowment and bring others in to assist. A win/win for all. Reminds me of a similar problem we are facing with the possibility of acquiring the Wright collection. It will take equal planning and organization on the part of the University and the Library if we are to acquire that collection—and I don’t know that the will is there.
Sunday morning’s session was dedicated to one presenter—Penelope Burk who spoke on Donor Center Development. She has some powerful arguments backed up with extensive and long term research to support her premise that the most important aspects of development are acknowledgment and information. After listening to her, I am convinced that we have to begin calling our donors and engaging them and providing them information on what their gifts are doing for the University and its students. Bought her book to bring back to share with the Library.
Sue and I spent Sunday afternoon hiking along the Bow River. I lack the words to really describe the grandeur and beauty of the place—of course, we are sharing Banff this weekend (Victoria Day) with half of Alberta and thousands of other people from around the world—seem to be a lot of Australians and Japanese, but there are many others represented. You can see some of the pictures we took at Springtime in Banff. After the conference, we will spend the next four days traveling through Banff National Park, looking at the scenery, animals, and especially the glaciers.
Before Cynthia & Wayne left on Monday afternoon, we all had High Tea in the Rundle Lounge. An experience for all of us. The Monday morning sessions provided information on the new ARL Spec Kit on Development, which we need to acquire and the stories of three libraries that have been successful in getting corporate grants—from the Gates and Kresge foundations. Again, I think we need to expand into those areas.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
ALADN continues
Both Cynthia and I, since we are new to library development, decided to register for the pre-conference workshop for people new to the field. The ALADN conference program can be found at http://aladn.library.ualberta.ca/program.html
I think I can speak for both of us that it was a good choice. It led off with a presentation by Arthur Criscillus, "Personal Solicitations: Realities, Roles and Relationships" in which he talked about the basics of fund raising. Not having done this too much in the past, I do have some hesitation about approaching people for money. The thing that I will take away from his talk is that fund raising or development for out Library is about the greater good. We are doing good things for the university and our students and we need to be proud of that and be able to present our story to all that we talk to. People want to be part of something, but they want to know how what they give will be used; always be ready & prepared to answer the So what? question.
It is always fun and interesting to hear from people about their successes—many of which you might be able to use in your own library.
Gena Scott and her colleague from University of Missouri at Columbia spoke about "Getting Everyone on the Same Page: How to Turn the Entire Library Staff into a Successful Development Team" I really liked a couple of their ideas, including the Honor the Graduate program which is directed at the parents of new graduates to buy a book in honor of their student & the book will be added to the collection with a bookplate recognizing the student.
My favorite session was by provided by Sam Huang, the Development Officer at the University of Arizona. Sam was a librarian for 28 years before he went into development. He said that he went into fund raising for the University of Arizona library because he was tired of seeing the library’s ARL ranking decline because of budget cuts. He works hard but obviously has a lot of fun. He had many wonderful ideas, but the one I like most was about a Library Faculty Development Endowment, which Cynthia and I ave vowed to try to get started at ECU.
Talking with other participants is always the best part of any event like this. I had lunch with a great group who talked about the best ways to promote your library—black tie events, art openings, literary festivals were all discussed. One intriguing suggestion was to host a “Bring Your Pictures” event at the Library during Home Coming. Concentrating on the featured classes, the Library gets people into the building, receives a lot of relevant pictures for the archives, and probably makes a lot of good “friends.” Sharing all of the pictures on a CD with the participants—or even the “class” seems like it might be a great development tool. Again something I think we should try.
At this event Sue & I have gotten to meet and spend some time with Cynthia’s husband Wayne—we all went out to Bumpers—the Beef Place last night. Cynthia and I however opted for barbeque ribs, which were quite tasty.
We continue to marvel at the incredible beauty of Banff. After the workshop, Sue and I took a short walk, ending up going through a trail in the forest. We saw a young elk grazing calmly, about 50 feet from us. She looked up and studied us for a few minutes and then ambled on her way. Evidently we posed no threat to her. It is still early spring here and so there is not a lot in bloom. I did discover some kind of orchid growing along the woodland path—perhaps a lady slipper. They were very, very tiny—no taller than three or four inches, but oh so lovely. Of course we did not have the camera, so no pictures were captured, but I am going to go back. Well that is all for now.
I think I can speak for both of us that it was a good choice. It led off with a presentation by Arthur Criscillus, "Personal Solicitations: Realities, Roles and Relationships" in which he talked about the basics of fund raising. Not having done this too much in the past, I do have some hesitation about approaching people for money. The thing that I will take away from his talk is that fund raising or development for out Library is about the greater good. We are doing good things for the university and our students and we need to be proud of that and be able to present our story to all that we talk to. People want to be part of something, but they want to know how what they give will be used; always be ready & prepared to answer the So what? question.
It is always fun and interesting to hear from people about their successes—many of which you might be able to use in your own library.
Gena Scott and her colleague from University of Missouri at Columbia spoke about "Getting Everyone on the Same Page: How to Turn the Entire Library Staff into a Successful Development Team" I really liked a couple of their ideas, including the Honor the Graduate program which is directed at the parents of new graduates to buy a book in honor of their student & the book will be added to the collection with a bookplate recognizing the student.
My favorite session was by provided by Sam Huang, the Development Officer at the University of Arizona. Sam was a librarian for 28 years before he went into development. He said that he went into fund raising for the University of Arizona library because he was tired of seeing the library’s ARL ranking decline because of budget cuts. He works hard but obviously has a lot of fun. He had many wonderful ideas, but the one I like most was about a Library Faculty Development Endowment, which Cynthia and I ave vowed to try to get started at ECU.
Talking with other participants is always the best part of any event like this. I had lunch with a great group who talked about the best ways to promote your library—black tie events, art openings, literary festivals were all discussed. One intriguing suggestion was to host a “Bring Your Pictures” event at the Library during Home Coming. Concentrating on the featured classes, the Library gets people into the building, receives a lot of relevant pictures for the archives, and probably makes a lot of good “friends.” Sharing all of the pictures on a CD with the participants—or even the “class” seems like it might be a great development tool. Again something I think we should try.
At this event Sue & I have gotten to meet and spend some time with Cynthia’s husband Wayne—we all went out to Bumpers—the Beef Place last night. Cynthia and I however opted for barbeque ribs, which were quite tasty.
We continue to marvel at the incredible beauty of Banff. After the workshop, Sue and I took a short walk, ending up going through a trail in the forest. We saw a young elk grazing calmly, about 50 feet from us. She looked up and studied us for a few minutes and then ambled on her way. Evidently we posed no threat to her. It is still early spring here and so there is not a lot in bloom. I did discover some kind of orchid growing along the woodland path—perhaps a lady slipper. They were very, very tiny—no taller than three or four inches, but oh so lovely. Of course we did not have the camera, so no pictures were captured, but I am going to go back. Well that is all for now.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Banff & the ALADN Conference
This is the view from our hotel window at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Seldom do you get to see much less stay in such a wonderful place. Built in the late 19th century, it seems to me to be one of the true wonders of the modern world. Sue & I left Greenville Wedensday night around 8:00--arrived at our hotel at the RDU airport at 10:00. It was a short night, as we had to catch the 4:00 am shuttle to the airport. Flights were uneventful, but any more traveling by plane reminds me of what it was like to travel by bus in the 1950s--no amenities to speak of & long layovers before you catch your next bus, uh I mean plane.We arrived in Calgary, Alberta around 1:30 MDT (3:30 our time). We rented a car--here we were lucky and were given a brand new PT Cruiser w/ less than 25 miles on it. Once you get out of Calgary, which seems to lack any discernible charm, the 100 km drive to Banff is quite lovely--you climb from the flat prairie up into these beautiful rugged mountains. We arrived safely at the hotel, but discovered that I had made the reservation to begin on the 18th not the 17th--not to worry, they could accomodate us & had a room all ready for us. Which brings me back to the picture of the view from our room--wow! The room is incredibly lovely as well, so it looks like this conference will be quite enjoyable.
The preconference begins this morning at 8:00. Both Cynthia Adams and I are registered for the full Conference. ALADN is the Academic Library Advancement & Development Network. In the next four days, I am sure I will learn all I need to know about raising private money for the Library; well, I actually am just hoping that together Cynthia and I will bring back a lot of good ideas about a strategy for coordinating our Development Program. I will close this narrtion for now, but will try to keep the blog current while we are here.
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