Qualities to Look for in a New Librarian

As I quietly shuffle toward geezerdom, I find that many people mistakenly correlate age with wisdom. Especially library school students who are asked to “interview an expert” and contact me. Thankfully I don’t learn the grade they get on these assignments.

Anyway, one such student contacted me this week and asked a question that was intriguing: What do you look for (skills, experience, etc.) in the people you recommend for hiring?

I do help hire media specialists and it is about the most nerve-wracking thing I do. Given tenure laws, when you hire somebody in the public schools, you’d better figure your relationship with this person has a better chance of being a very long one that of most marriages.

Our district’s hired about a dozen new library media specialists over the past 15 years and all have been happy choices, thank goodness. This is what I look for, in this order:

1. Great people skills. My librarians need to be people who are approachable, great communicators, and exude personal warmth. If these qualities aren’t there, it’s a no go. We’ve passed over a lot of people who look very, very good on paper, but come across as controlling or cold in interviews. People I wouldn’t want to work with.

2. Self-starting. I look for people who have initiated and carried out projects beyond the classroom. It doesn’t have to be school related, but if a person can’t describe a cool project of which s/he is proud, s/he won’t get my vote. The other part of this is passion – the person has to have a passion for something! Books, computers, whatever, but h/she’d have to convey an excitement about some aspect of the open position. I always say the secret to being a successful supervisor is to hire people who don’t need to be supervised.

3. Successful teaching experience. These candidates have “cred” with teachers and empathy for teachers. I don’t really care if a person can catalog a book, but if s/he can’t teach a child or teacher, I don’t need’m in my libraries.

4. Willingness to learn. One doesn’t have to be the computer guru or even have a library degree (but one will need to get one quickly) to get hired by our district. What a person does need is to demonstrate s/he is willing to learn and keep learning. I always ask, “What is the last thing you learned and how did you learn it?” If people struggle for an answer, I keep looking for some one who can.

5. Record of past successes. Don’t just tell me you’ve been a librarian or teacher, but you better be able to describe a lot of cool things you did in that position. (Have a portfolio with lots of pictures of you working with Happy, Productive Library-Using Kids.) I am looking for OUTSTANDING people, not just competent ones.

How’s that? I can teach people all the technical/library skills they need to know, but I can’t teach them how to be great people. And I like great people – they make ME look good :-)

What do you look for in a new librarian when you serve on the hiring committee?

PS. The technology worked just fine at this morning’s MEMO keynote. Thanks for asking.

A Jolt of Java @ Your Library

Below is the collection of responses I received from a request I posted to two listservs - MEMO-L and LM_Net. I asked for librarians’ experiences in placing coffee shops (or services) in school library media centers. (This was done last February, but the topic surfaced again and seems relevant.)

(See also A Jolt of Java Revisited with more postings and pictures.)

My original interest stems from looking at how other institutions have responded to competition from the Internet (if one can buy a book online, why go to a bookstore?), and to see if any of these strategies might work
with school library media centers. I was doing this in preparation for a new talk “E-Books, E-Learning, E-Gads!” that debuted at the SCASL last spring. I asked for and received a picture of students enjoying coffee in a Minnesota high school library!

Obviously, there were already better minds than mine working along similar lines as you can tell from the responses below, including Shonda Brisco who wrote an article on the topic over a year ago and Gail Dickinson who has even prepared a whole bibliography about library coffee shops for her classes.

Thanks to all who responded. Here goes…

Oh, try to pick the librarians who will and who will not survive the Flat World Library Corporation proposal from their responses.

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I didn’t see your original request but saw the responses. I started the “Books Rock Cafe” this year in my middle school by turning my workroom into a real cafe! I raised $6000.00 to do it and it is truly a reading incentive program and not designed to make big bucks!! The Media Center is now the heart of the school!!! Circulation doubled, students are meeting their classroom reading goals, and faculty hang out more in the media center more and collaborate more on instruction with me! It is a LOT more work on my part but well worth the time and effort. My media center is a place where everyone gathers to discuss great books! I even have parents checking out books, taking AR test and volunteering to help more. We have watched our low level students who never read anything begin to read, our higher level students have gone from 100 AR points per 9 weeks to over 300 points a 9 weeks and morale is up among the staff!!! Again, this is not for profit $$$, everytime a student reads a book and earns 5 AR points their reading teacher rewards them with a 15 minute Cafe pass during silent reading…everyone receives a free bag of gourmet popcorn when entering the cafe and then they can purchase many other great items such as hot chocolate, juice, crystal light, brownies, cinnamon rolls, cookies etc.. Parent sent money in and we have debit cards…students have money on account just waiting for them! Teachers can purchase coffee and cappucino and anything else…most want the popcorn! Sale of the other products help fund the free popcorn. Staff members buy gift certificates for each other and as rewards to their students. We also have three bookshelves full of the hottest paperback books for sale…our students hate to wait for their hold to come through and parents like coming in and picking out a book for their child.
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I can honestly say it’s a lot of work but it also helped us in being selected as one of South Carolina’s Exemplary Reading Schools this year…that’s my main goal–READING and it works.
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This is in response to your inquiry in LM Net about cafes in media centers. Last year my school won a $25,000 grant from our district to open a cafe in our media center. We call it the Beans, Books and Brains Cafe and use a conference room connected to the media center. I have to give most of the credit to our Business Department head who sought out a partnership with Barnie’s Coffee. They were remodeling a store and sold us their old furnishings at quite a discount. They also sold us the coffee machines and machines to make freezes. (Our most difficult task was running water into the cafe. Our county gave us trouble about redoing some plumbing!) Best of all, they took our students and trained them so that they are trained exactly like regular Barnie’s employees. The CEO of Barnie’s Coffee International came to the grand opening and gave us a check for $5,000 to purchase paperbacks for the cafe.

Kids work in the cafe before school and during all three of our lunches. The kids have been to Barnie’s corporate offices and one of our accounting students keeps the books, rolling the profits over for more product to run the cafe. My favorite part, of course, is that we have book racks where kids can exchange paperbacks. We also have newspaper and magazine racks that kids can peruse. We recently won a Teacherrific Award for this project (a Disney Award given for innovative programs in the counties surrounding Disneyworld) and hope to use it for a grant from ALA for innovative programs. This collaboration between the library media center and the business department has been so positive. It has been great getting to know the kids working there and meeting kids who usually do not frequent the media center.

Next time you are in Orlando (I came to one of your sessions at FETC) stop by and see us.
Timber Creek High School
1001 Avalon Park Blvd
Orlando, FL 32828
321-235-7808
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Article in Jan 2004 Library Media Connection by Shonda Brisco, “Dewey or Dalton? An investigation of the lure of the bookstore.”
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Oh my goodness! coffee machines in the school library…..is it used as a fund-raiser? who runs the business? volunteers? or? what happens when someone is burned by hot coffee? who is liable? do we need to create”social hours” to get students to use a library? makes one wonder what this world is coming to? are the public libraries and university libraries offering the same? for years I have heard from college librarians that the public schools are not teaching “library etiquette” regarding talking, eating, socializing, now what will they say? uffda!!
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Though not explicitly stated in Information Power (1998), a coffee shop and services in the media center would (might?) fit appropriately in Chapter 5 “Information Access and Delivery” under Principle 3 “The library media specialist provides a climate that is conducive to learning.” (Please see pages 87-88) Also note the statement from page 88, “The library media specialist exercises leadership in making students feel welcome — both because their physical surroundings are appealing."
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We opened an LMC at our High School recently, and have plans to expand in the next three years. Our Superintendent told us to dream big, so my dream (in addition to a full computer lab actually adjacent to the LMC — capable of all document and media production) is to have a coffee shop either adjacent or in the LMC. Please send me everything you find out about the endeavors of others in the area. I want to have a solid presentation when I approach the planning committee — I’ve dropped hints, and I think it seems like a fairytale to the administration, but I see it as a reachable, common-sense goal to improve the atmosphere of my Barnes and Noble-esque intellectual gymnasium that they call the Library Media Center.
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Ah ha, the Barnes & Noble strategy. Interesting short-term tactic, but does not address how we must redefine our role or the role of our program if we wish to continue being relevant……it don’t take no master’s degree to pour java…or check out a book. If the best we can do is serve coffee, we deserve to fade away. O.K., I am off the pulpit….good luck with your talk!
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We have a teacher’s coffee group that has its base in our Media Center “back room”. We have an annual fundraiser once a year (I got this idea from SLJ) called “Thanks A Latte.” We (parent volunteers help) sell pretend lattes (hot cocoa with LOTS of marshmallows) for middle school kids and a cookie for $1.00 in our Media Center turned into “Starbooks Café”. We do this in conjunction with having the book fair set up so it’s a Barnes and Noble type of atmosphere. The kids love it! We just did this last week, with every student visiting through their Language Arts or Reading classes, and had our most profitable day ever.
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The first year I was in this library, I allowed food and drink, and it was a fairly horrible experience. Students stuffed leftover food in the stacks, drinks were spilled on tables and never properly cleaned up–maybe it works in some places, but I am much happier this year allowing only water.

If a student wants, however, I let them finish a drink in my workroom, because that’s where I let myself drink. I enforce the rule equally for staff, faculty, and students.

Maybe I had so many problems partly because I work alone, without an aide. Maybe if there were more of us patrolling, or if I had a separate area for a coffeehouse, it would work.
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….students are not allowed to eat or drink in the library (per orders by the administration and the maintenance staff). The one time that I did have EVERYONE in the library–using it, browsing for books, sitting and reading–was my first year here when I invited everyone to the library to see all the new materials that had been added. It was just before the holidays in December…we had food, drinks, books…and not ONE spill by the students!
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I have an “almost” - my library is located just above the student center, which has a small deli/coffee shop. There are two sets of stairs directly from the student center into the library. When I started this job last August I had every intention of allowing students to bring in their café goodies because I thought it would make the library more appealing – fewer rules. I quickly found out that my policy meant that I became Mom, cleaning up all of the empty cups, muffin wrappers, crumbs, you name it. The are now “no food in the library” signs posted all over, particularly at the top of the stairs and on the tables where kids sit. This means they only bring food in sometimes, and at least they know why I harass them when they bring food in. That being said, I am pretty tolerant of coffee in the morning and I rarely say anything about it. How can I criticize a student who comes in early or sits at break writing a report and drinking coffee? I do draw the line at pizza/fries/yogurt/cup of noodles however, and I’m not fond of Gatorade and Snapple bottles because they leave sticky rings on the tables.

So far there has only been one major spill, and it was the assistant librarian who did it! I don’t think it is a bad idea at all, but there are issues to deal with as a result.
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We have a coffee machine in our library - but we don’t have photos of students using it, yet. Good idea.
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I noticed that there will be a session at the Texas Library Association conference on this very thing. You probably will not be attending, but often after the conference the handouts are available online. Some of the librarians that are participating are Lucile Dade (Carrollton Public Library), James Lutz (Texas Christian Univ.), John Witmer (Alief ISD). You might be able to contact them personally about this. I know that the former director of the Texas A&M libraries, Fred Heath, opened a coffee shop at the entrance to the main library several years ago. I think it has been a great hit. I have thought this might be fun to try too, but have been preoccupied with other needs. I look forward to watching for the posts
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All the High Schools in Irving ISD do it. We were the last to get on board. Some of the middle schools do it - some for students and some for staff only. The Middle schools have a Saturday program at Barnes and Noble called “Java Makes Me Jump.”
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I opened up a shop after Christmas break, and it’s been great! It was super busy for the first two weeks, but things have leveled off now. It’s brought MANY kids in who wouldn’t normally darken my door in the mornings.

Here are a few details: open from 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. only, sell cappuccino, coffee, prices range from fifty cents to a dollar, one student volunteer per week helps out (paid in drinks), and all drinks stay in the coffee shop (a former storeroom) or head out the door (no drinking in the main library).

I have chess, checkers, and a jigsaw puzzle spread out on the tables for kids to work on while they sip. I also have a wonderful student artist painting a mural for me on one wall.

It’s definitely a work in progress (a little dinky right now), but I love that it’s created more traffic all day! People come in at all times to see the latest on Miguel’s mural or work a few minutes on the puzzle.
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When you get replies to this could you pass them on to me? I’m thinking of doing the same thing. Last year I found a company that would supply the machines and supplies to the library for no cost–just take their money from the machines. Our public library does this and it has been good for them. They have more than 30,000 patrons a month–I’m sure it isn’t the coffee, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt the traffic there either.
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I am in the midst of working towards placing one in our SMALL media center on a trial basis. (We are renting the equipment and borrowing small round cafe tables from the drama dept. that we will cover with vinyl tablecloths.) I am convinced this will draw more students into the IMC. I have had a couple of teachers come up to me in a very negative fashion and am expecting more as word gets out. However I do have full support from my head principal.

We are currently waiting for an estimate on the water line which must be installed so have not formally announced plans to the students or staff. We will then rent a cappuccino machine with two flavors and a third head for hot chocolate. If thing work out well, we will purchase our own equipment and fun seating. If our plans become reality I will email you again.
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I attended your sessions at the joint KLA/KSMA conference in September at Louisville, Kentucky and thoroughly enjoyed them. We started a coffee shop this fall at Tates Creek High School in Lexington, Kentucky and are thrilled with the addition! This was the brain child of my partner, Amber, and our clerk, Cindy. Amber has pictures, not staged, of students reading in the coffee shop area so I will pass your query on to her. In the mean time, tell me exactly what you would like to know and I will respond. I could probably write a 500 word answer with no sweat, but I want to couch my response in terms of what you need to know. I respectfully submit our experience proves a coffee shop is a GOOD idea.
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We have been hosting a monthly morning coffee in the library. WE don’t have coffee machines. Each time (Jan & Feb) the coffee was sponsored by a student fundraising event. In Jan we raised $1200. for the Tsunami project (21,000 school total), and Feb the German club raised $300.00 for their trip to Germany. Unfortunately I don’t think anyone took any digitals. We are planning another on April 1 for the Red Cross. Will take some then if you still need them. The coffee has been a very positive activity. We see kids who don’t ordinarily come to the library. We also play music, seems to get them into the area. It runs from 6:55 - 7:25. We serve Krispy Kremes (3 kinds), coffee with flavored creams, and cocoa. We always sell out of cocoa! We sell each item for $1.00. Let me know if you want any more info.

I don't have a Coffee Shop - being I'm in an elementary school it might
raise some eyebrows...but I do host groups of 4th & 5th graders in the
library for lunch every single day.  I tie into reading - a certain number
of AR points gets you a free pass out of the cafeteria. 

Here's my blog post on the concept:

http://guusjem.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-you-feed-them-more-they-read.html#comments

Last year I only did it with 4th grade, this year it's both 4th and 5th
grade since the 5th graders convinced their teachers they wanted to keep
doing it. 

Guusje Moore
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A Bibliography of Coffee in the Library Resources compiled by Gail K. Dickinson, PhD School Library Media Program 249-6 Dept of Educational Curriculum and Instruction Darden College of Education Old Dominion University Norfolk, VA

Libraries with cafes
Hastings, Texas
http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/hastings/library/update/Lit%20cafe1/literary_cafe1.htm
Lexington, Ky
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/living/education/k_12/9597679.htm
Las Vegas, NV
http://ccsd.net/schools/mojave/library/pdf/chuckwallastogo.pdf
Shawnee, Kansas
Knop, Kathi and Chris Larson. “Coffee, Anyone?“ Book Report 21.1 (May-June 2002): 24. Wilson Web Database. Online. 21 Mar 2003.

OTHER RESOURCES

PLA conference session 2003
Carts, Cafes, and Coffeehouses: A Report on Food in the Library

Trelease, Jim, and Stephen Krashen. “Eating and Reading in the Library.”
Emergency Librarian EBSCO Database. Online. May-June 1996: 27.

Kornman, Becky. “Café Middle School.” School Library Journal Feb. 1998: 49.

Stewart, Ken W. “The Library Blend: One Media Center’s Alluring Brew.”
School Library Journal Aug. 1997: 26-29

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List below kindly sent in by Sara Johns... 

Coffee in the High School Library? Heck yes! Gosh! <http://gruntledcenter.blogspot.com/2007/11/coffee-in-high-school-library-heck-yes.html>
By Gruntled(Gruntled)
The AP has a fun story on high school libraries opening coffeehouses. Young people today are not in the library habit as previous generations (mine) were. The school gets more kids to come to the library, the business students learn to ...
Gruntled Center - http://gruntledcenter.blogspot.com/  <http://gruntledcenter.blogspot.com/>

School Libraries Lure Students With Coffee <http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/11/01/school-libraries-serving-coffee.aspx>
By Madeline Holler
Some school libraries are conceding to the ubiquitous water bottle or can of Red Bull and letting kid patrons sip while they read in order to attract more students. Other schools are taking advantage of unquenchable thirst and setting ...
Strollerderby - http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/default.aspx  <http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/default.aspx>

Reinvent This Library! <http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com/index.php/2007/10/31/reinvent-this-library/>
By Kristin
Your principal is so enlightened that the money is budgeted to you without restriction — you can use it however you see fit to improve the students' experience in the school library media center. After buying a digital camera to capture ...
School Library Media Blog - http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com  <http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com>

Jamalco donates books to ten school libraries <http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20071101/news/news4.html>
The libraries of 10 primary and all-age schools in Clarendon are now better equipped through a recent donation of books by Jamalco. The beneficiary institutions are: Osborne Store and Chandler's Pen Primary and Junior High...
Jamaica Star Online - http://www.jamaicastar.com/  <http://www.jamaicastar.com/>

Coffee shops in high school libraries <http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/alcohol_and_drugs_history/2007/11/coffee-shops-in.html>
By David Fahey
American high schools have begun to install coffee shops in their libraries to attract students to the vicinity of books. For a story which starts in Franklin, Tennessee, see here.
Alcohol and Drugs History Society - http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/alcohol_and_drugs_history/  <http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/alcohol_and_drugs_history/>

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I think there are plenty of librarians who won’t need to worry about being replaced by an online library service.

Hmm, let’s see sticky rings on the library tables OR a job…

Experiences with running a coffee shop in the library?

Does Size Matter?

Hah, made you look. Now get your mind out of the gutter and back on educational matters.

Education has been debating the merits of both small class size and small school size for some years. Small has its advantages.

The debate I never hear revolves around smaller school district sizes.

Here’s my proposal – no districts larger than 10,000 students.

Now I say this based on my own experiences, of course. Mankato at about 7,000 kids seems to be the perfect size. A school board that is non-political and easily reached by parents, teachers and the community. We’re an organization without many bureaucratic layers – anybody can visit with the superintendent without a hassle. As a district administrator, I know all the other administrators, all the media specialists and techies, and a majority of the teachers. Communication is flat and speedy.

Yet we are big enough to support some administrative specialists - curriculum director, assessment coordinator, Title I director, special education director, and, of course, a technology and media director. Folks who all actually provide direct help to classroom teachers.

I’ve worked with “gianormous” districts, doing inservices and training. And while the leaders I’ve worked in those districts are terrific people, I simply don’t know how they are able to manage, let alone manage change. These mega-districts have hundreds of administrators, librarians and techies, and thousands of teachers. Responsibilities get put in silos, communication gets tough, and bureaucracy sets in.

The little joke below seems to apply not just to “government” but any large organization – public or private.

Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A tiny amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years; it does not decay but instead it undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypocritical quantity is referred to as “Critical Morass.” You will know it when you see it.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element which radiates just as much energy since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons. From “The Dull Men’s Club” website

Smaller organizations tend to be flatter organizations with better communication, more personal accountability, and greater likelihood of change. I really don’t know the advantage to kids, parents, teachers or a community of the mega-district.

So what about it readers, what’s the ideal district size or does size make a difference when it comes to student performance? Any fans of the huge school districts?

An aside: When I was first looking for a job in Minnesota, I tried to get hired by a school in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area – big city action, glamour, fame and power, right? When I wound up down here near Mankato, I thought I got the booby-prize.

As it turns out, I got the grand prize. The Mankato area (45-50,000 population) has been a terrific place to raise kids and live without traffic and other urban hassles. I know both the mayor and city manager. We have 95% of the shopping and entertainment one could hope for. We have a state university here. And we are about an hour and a half from Minneapolis so it’s easy to take advantage of the cultural events up there.

Funny sometimes how you get what you really wanted even if at the time you didn’t know that you wanted it.