Core Values; Spanish Language Resources; Puppets

News May 30, 2008 (mp3 file:5.68 MB; 6:16 min.)

Core Values; Spanish Language Resources; Puppets



As I was reading "Group Genius" earlier this week, and pondering the ways in which we might make use of the information about collaboration, and how creative "sparks" really happen, my brain wandered over to the topic of core values. (You may remember that I have a very short attention span, I'm a hyperlink, Happy Cow (I'm gonna win, I'm gonna...Ooh! Look--dandelions! kind of person, so that's not as odd as it might sound...) The concept of core values is one that, I admit, I don't do much thinking about, at least consciously, in those terms. And I'm thinking that should probably change. In fact, I've talked to my board chair about discussing it at the next couple of board meetings--with the current board, and then again when new members come on board in July. I think that the SWILSA staff and board share the same core values; in fact, I'm pretty sure that we do, but I think it's a good thing to talk about because those core values are the underpinning for everything we do, everything we plan, everything we say. Maybe we need to articulate those every now and then, to remind ourselves of what we're doing, and how we conduct ourselves.

Core values are at the very heart of things; they're more intrinsic than vision or mission. The National Park Service has a pretty good description, which includes: "The core values of an organization are those values we hold which form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves...The values underlie our work, how interact with each other, and which strategies we employ to fulfill our mission. The core values are the basic elements of how we go about our work. They are the practices we use (or should be using) every day in everything we do."

One of SWILSA's core values, for example is, I think--I hope--Respect: respect for each other in the offie;, respect between the staff and the board, and among the trustees of the board; respect for all of you librarians and trustees, our clients; and respect for colleagues and everyone with whom we work. It's not our mission to have respect for everyone, and to treat everyone with respect, it's much more fundamental than that. As we carry out our mission "to help libraries provide the best possible service to Iowans," it is how we expect to conduct ourselves--how YOU should expect us to conduct ourselves.

I encourage you to give some thought to what your library's core values are, and discuss it with your board. They are so much at the heart of what we do--HOW we do--that it's a discussion well worth having. --Karen

Links from Today's Podcast:
National Park Service on core values
Group Genius: the creative power of collaboration, by Keith Sawyer (Amazon.com)
Spanish language resources
Puppets at SWILSA

Summer Reading for Adults & "The Little House" Book Kit

News May 23, 2008 (mp3 file; 3:35 min.)




Link from Today's Podcast:

SWILSA "Library Displays & Events" webpage

Interlibrary Loan Tips & Mother Goose Flannelboards

News May 16, 2008 (mp3 file; 3:51 min.)

Trends; Children's Book Week

News May 9, 2008 (mp3 file:3.36 MB; 3:36 min.)

Trends; Children's Book Week
Correction: My apologies to Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne, the authors of "Microtrends."! Keith Sawyer, to whom I attributed the book in the podcast, is the author of "Group Genius," another book you should read! --Karen



Last week I started reading a book entitled, "Micro trends: the small forces behind tomorrow's big changes," by Mark J. Peen with E. Kinney Zalesne. The author identifies and discusses more than 70 trends--some of which I'm not sure I'd consider "micro" but all are interesting and many are worthy of our consideration when thinking about our services in libraries. Some may be more significant--at least on the surface--for us.

Here are just a few; think but them and what they might mean to your library, its patrons, and services the library provides for them:

• Teens are knitting;
• More technology is purchased by women than by men
• The number of people who sleep fewer than 6 hours per night is rising fast;
• 1 in 10 Americans is straining to hear, or missing out on sounds altogether;
• We hear about Americans' attention span shortening but there are also many "LAS," or Long Attention Spanners--they read long books, do crossword and Sudoku puzzles, play golf, etc.;
• We typically think that "geeks" aren't social but the more enthusiastic users of technology in America are the most social people in America;
• Nature-based sports--skateboarding, kayaking and mountain-biking are on the rise, while more traditionally favorite sports such as tennis, baseball and volleyball are declining.

Do these microtrends matter to libraries? Why or why not? It bears thinking about... --Karen

Links from today's podcast
Children's Choice Book Awards
SWILSA Youth Services