 Well, hello everyone. Good afternoon or good morning. Whenever you're listening to this, my name is Cheryl Stenstrom and Along with Dr. Sue Allman and Dr. Deborah Hicks. I co-chair the iSchool's leadership and management program advisory committee I'd like to welcome you to our first committee webinar So I'm going to say a few words about the session then I'll introduce our speakers and then we'll get started with our main content So this committee is representative of a wide variety of information professionals It meets twice a year to help ensure the Curriculum offerings at the iSchool are relevant and current for iSchool students And several years ago the committee recommended that we invite leaders in our field to participate in a series of Webinars which we've called a day in the life of the leader so you can find recordings for each of those webinars on the iSchool's website during our last Meeting our semi-annual meeting we noted that the information being discussed was not only useful to us for planning purposes But would be invaluable to students in the info 204 course and any of the other management course offerings at the iSchool So taking a page from the webinar series our committee members have very graciously agreed to join us today to record their thoughts and ideas on the Main leadership and management trends that they're seeing in the field So with that I just want to very briefly introduce the speakers and then we'll move into the main part of our recording We have several questions for Already prepared and each speaker will take a few minutes to address each one And as you view this recording, please take the time to pause the webinar and read the full biography of each committee member So in alphabetical order our committee members are dr. Manda folk Who's an assistant professor and the head of teaching and learning at Ohio State University Libraries? Pardon me. Dr. Melissa Fraser Arnott, who's the chief of integrated library services at the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, Canada Mary Nino, she's the former associate dean of the King Library at San Jose State University Kelvin Watson, who is the director of libraries at Broward County in Florida And Daphne Wood who's the director of library services planning and engagement at the Greater Victoria Public Library on Vancouver Island, Canada So thank you all for being here today and welcome to the recording I'm going to turn it over now to my colleague. Dr. Hicks who will start with our main questions Thank you, Cheryl and welcome everybody So we're going to start off with a question that I think Will be of particular interest to students of info 204 Which is what are some of the management and leadership process trends that you're seeing in libraries right now? And let's start with Amanda Great. Hi everyone So some of the things that I've been seeing over the past several years is the realization And this is probably happening been happening for quite a while, but maybe it was just new to me The realization that management and leadership aren't the same thing Hopefully you do have managers who are leaders, but hopefully you also have leaders in your organization That hold a variety of positions So at Ohio State right now, we often use the phrase lead from where you are Reminding people that we want them to feel like they have agency no matter what position they're in So maybe they're managers. Maybe they're not but everybody has something to contribute So at the same time, we're also thinking a lot about participatory decision-making and shared leadership and what does it mean to have folks from across the organization participating in decisions that affect the entire organization or specific units within the organization as well as sharing leadership and bringing those voices into the fold So I think over the past several years. I saw that at Pitt. I was at the University of Pittsburgh Until 2016 those were also trends that I was seeing there But I've seen them recognize a little bit more fully over the past several years at Ohio State Thank you How about you Melissa? What kind of management and leadership trends are you seeing right now? I'd say very similar to what Amanda is seeing And this is sort of being reflected in the leadership styles that we're encouraging We're through our through management training for current managers that we're seeing That we're hoping to develop as well as people who are on the leadership track Or who are seeming leadership responsibilities without being in a leadership a formal leadership or management position We're recognizing the importance of involving as many people in our organizations as possible in the decision-making processes and really in empowering our staff To to bring forward ideas new initiatives and during times like these that where you've got a lot of change You've got a lot of different client groups that you're serving a lot of a lot of change in all the subject matters that we're that we're focusing on It's it's more necessary than ever to have more people involved and to feel empowered to actually speak up and propose things It strengthens organizations to have more voices involved in these decision-making processes so for individual leaders You you even as as you know new hires even as recent graduates are likely to have some leadership responsibilities Um, so you want to think about start thinking about leadership styles Thinking about leadership styles that really are more inclusive That allow that that involves sharing power Um, if you're interested in management literature and and leadership literature, you're looking at sort of participative participatory leadership You're looking at servant leadership You're looking at forms like this. We're really really moving away from sort of the opal to authoritarian kind of leadership You know command and control type leadership structures And you might even see organizations where where you're going to see changes in the organizational chart To reflect this and you're going to see flatter organizational structures where decision-making is really happening closer to the front lines Excellent. Thank you very much Mary what kind of trends are you seeing in management leadership? Well, I have to concur with melissa and amanda but just on a very practical level. What I'm seeing is More hiring from within which is kind of an interesting shift That wasn't always the case. I'm also seeing that was mentioned the working of all the different types of voices from across the organization And that's been interesting people Paired together to figure out a problem and looking at alternative solutions. Uh, that's something that's More and more happening. Um, I also see more partnering with other communities such as the business community And seeing what Excuse me seeing what the organizations can do together that we bring different things to the table and We typically have often the same goals, but what can we do together? So those are some of the things i'm seeing Excellent practical is always appreciated. How about you kelvin? What kind of uh management leadership trends are you seeing? So some of the things that i'm seeing, um, certainly I would reiterate and concur with all of my Colleagues that have already uh had the opportunity to speak but what I would add is we've been focusing on the trends that i'm seeing are More situational leadership Opportunities so what people can have the opportunity to coach mentor And learn from those opportunities also More planning and thoughtful approach to to opportunities um being flexible and able to Um and able to pivot and um, so those will be so those those would be additional comments that I would that I would make Thank you kelvin and last but not least this dafney. What kind of terms are you seeing? um, one of the things that I would like to to highlight Especially during times like these would be the ability for leaders within organizations to move very very quickly from concept to the execution of a new idea or a new service so there is a methodology of course in project management and um anyone who is Who is studying to become a professional librarian will encounter a lot of really good practical tools to take something from A concept or an idea that comes forward to something that can actually be offered and measured And the value can actually be determined from from that offering something that librarians need to do faster and more often than ever is to Building on what my colleagues have said take the great ideas that come from anywhere They can come from anywhere in the organization And take those ideas and give them wings so go from creativity to innovation Meaning that the idea is made uh in a practical sense something that can be delivered something that can be Offered and measured but within a very very short Time frame so this means relearning over and over and over again something that Something that is offered may not work the first time. There's a lot of There's a lot of experimentation a lot of services that are offered as pilots And if they are truly measured and truly evaluated a lot of good learning comes out of that So the the leader of one initiative may in fact Take a backseat and let another person lead the next version. So we're seeing a lot of iterative learning and Innovation within organizations Thank you so much. Now before we move on to the next question I'm just going to quickly sort of wrap up what I heard everybody saying just because there were there was a lot there And there was also a lot of sort of I for lack of a better description some cross pollination I guess so what I was hearing were trends around empowering everybody in the organization whether that was through participatory leadership or servant leadership this idea of getting great ideas from anywhere and being iterative in Developing ideas and services moving forward. There was also this idea of inclusion Whether that was partnerships with other organizations or through participation in how the organization is run And this was for the benefit of the overall organization the more ideas the better In a sense and this is tied to the idea of coaching and mentorship that kelvin brought up As well as this idea of flexibility being able to move quickly and to pivot into new services and innovations And looking to as daft you mentioned right at the end to project management for ideas around that so Thank you guys for that. That was really wonderful Let's move to our next question, which I suspect we're going to hear Some different trends coming out just given the different focus foci that you all have But also I think we'll also hear how some of these management leadership trends play out in practice as well So what are some of the current service trends you're seeing and let's just reverse our order And we'll start with daft me some of the current service trends that we're seeing in public libraries involve small-scale pilots and experimental services that initially Surprise people that they're even finding a place in public library service delivery But ultimately they They may grow up to become core services and in other cases They may have value as as an experiment that that maybe didn't quite realize everything that was originally envisioned The key there is recognizing that libraries are porous That there's a lot of great ideas that are coming in from all sectors from Truly the community in which the library is is working and in which it is serving So that this cross pollination of ideas and concepts Usually turns into some surprising things. I think um, let's go back even to the concept of the library of things Let's go back even further generations ago to the concept that the library would be the bridge for Learning throughout the summer between school years So at at that time that was that was a very new concept and look at where that is now in the life cycle So, um, I think all libraries are currently looking at what will be the next area of investment How can we get something quickly from idea to execution and see if it works and see how we can learn I love the idea of services growing up to become a core services. That's lovely kelvin, how about you? What kind of trends are you seeing in services? So what I would say um to add on is certainly more We're doing an enhanced amount of digitization and scanning Thinking about leveraging our maker spaces that public libraries have already had I mentioned pivoting before so being able to pivot so that now public libraries are in the process of offering PPE mask or offering Mass hooks for example s hooks is what we we just delivered 152 Broward healthcare center actually last week Um and and just teaching those skills. I bought new sewing machines. So we're leveraging Um more again of using some basic things that people have used before but really seeing those Go go back to those adulting home economic skills. Um, the again 3d scanning printing Um digital access discovery and delivery more content that's created for our online Duplicative of what we were offering in in person now we're duplicating those to be delivered online data analytics artificial intelligence And the internet of things so really focusing on that connectivity digital access discovery and delivery of our our content That's amazing what you are doing for your local hospitals with the PPE. Congratulations Uh, so mary, what kind of trends are you seeing these days? I think uh education is really key. Um, we've always done, you know tutoring and various one-shot programs But I see that becoming more and more part of the library's core purpose Some libraries across the country now you can get your high school diploma through the library We have enough esl requests Or Immigrants coming in wanting to learn language. We're looking at that. How can we better do that and it could possibly be that at the current time these are In-person functions, but I'm thinking that we're probably going to be working on figuring out a way to take those some of those things online um, we have a lot of uh Language story times We have people coming from across the county to attend those And I'm thinking perhaps we become more of a youtube service model where anybody can do it at whatever time So I think that's um, really great trend that we're seeing also I'm seeing a lot more with civic engagement Them with the elections with the census. How do we get people involved in their community in? A way that they become a part of the community So those are some of the things we've been working on and some of the things I've been noticing that have changed Thank you so much Melissa, how about you since you are in a very different situation than your typical academic or public library? What kind of service trends are you seeing? Um, well, I mean I think for like everyone else we've all had we we've all had sort of immediate trends in response to To covid and that we've all had to quickly adjust to offering completely online services The library parliament we've got we we have beautiful facilities We've always been very committed to our in branch services And now and and I don't think we would ever have considered closing branches if we didn't have to In order to keep people safe. So so things that we would never have considered moving online five years ago We now we now have online so like everyone else. Um, that's really sped up our Our leader shortened our lead time We have to move faster. We have to have you know figure out how to involve more innovative technologies in our processes earlier But in terms of service trends There are some trends for us that have been going on for several years And a lot of these probably other library types have experienced as well And that's a lot more emphasis on making sure that we are representing You know underserved underrepresented populations minority voices Making sure that that that indigenous communities have You know have representation in our collections Making sure there are opportunities for minority workers In our in our workplaces Making sure that these that that The impacts for these groups are are included in our research publications Within the the federal government context in canada parliament government agencies In the last couple of years, there's been a lot of emphasis on Gender-based analysis, which is include which which which really is beyond simply You know gender it also includes You know gender identity racialized groups Different groups, you know different social economic levels So we have seen more more diversity in the types of products that we're offering And I think this is going to continue You know well beyond the current you know the current covid situation But I also think that this situation has taught us how agile we can be And how much more innovative we can be And it's and I think it will open the door to a lot more experimentation across library types as we You know as as we gain confidence from these experiments and from these these projects that we're launching that have that have gone well Thank you so much And amanda, how about you what kind of kinds of service trends are you seeing these days? Yes, I would agree with what my colleagues have mentioned previously But also, um, this isn't perhaps a new trend, but it's as important if not more important, but Thoughtful uh collaborations and partnerships. So I'm within an academic library context and we're constantly Thinking about what units we need to be partnering with and what does partnership look like? Um in that particular setting um Sorry, I just lost my train of thought there for a moment I was talking about collaborations and about partnerships and this is happening across Our university library system Also in terms of academic libraries, we've been thinking about The value of academic libraries for about a decade now with the release of that report in 2010 So thinking about what kinds of data we're gathering in libraries and being able to use that data to tell our story As well as inform the decisions that we're making about our services So for instance at ohio state right now My group has been charged with rethinking our reference service point We had a very traditional reference service point and we'll continue to offer reference services But we're trying to translate that into um a larger concept related to student learning and student success And what is it about university libraries and the expertise that we offer that can contribute to the overall student learning and success endeavor So really think rethinking the ways in which we talk about our services even internally I think um is making a big difference in the ways in which we partner and tell our stories Uh also in terms of partnerships, that's a great way Not only to promote awareness about what uh expertise services and collections libraries have to offer But it's a a great way to understand what the needs are of various units on campus and uh the types of conversations that they're having That you might be able to contribute to Thank you so much everyone. So again, just to sort of wrap Uh up what everybody's saying and sort of put a little bit of a bow on it. I guess you can say we're seeing a lot of experimentation and focus on agility to try and as Daphne very nicely said grow up Um these experimental services into core services because we don't know what The services will be in the future and so we have to Explore which was nicely highlighted by mary's focus on education that that wasn't necessarily a core purpose, you know 20 30 You know 50 years ago. Um, but is it's certainly a core service now We also heard a lot about what will sort of You know give us a bit of a preview for the next question around technology Which is the importance of technology when it comes to service provision such as youtube services whether it's a having a story time or programming on youtube or looking at digitization and scanning and maker spaces, which was a lovely example kelvin of Taking this stuff and and making it useful for the community in many ways So that brings us to our next question and i'm not going to be surprised to hear Some of the same trends being talked about in this one, but I also think it's important to really highlight technology trends in libraries these days because they are increasingly more important So amanda what kind of technology trends are you seeing in your libraries? Sure, so I think libraries have been concerned about user privacy for a really long time That's really one of the hallmarks of our profession But in the digital environment for me anyway, I think it's really easy to kind of put user privacy To our it teams and think that that's something that somebody else is going to handle but As we increasingly interact with users through technology I think that's something that we all need to have a baseline understanding of and even more than that data security Because I know that i'm in meetings quite frankly and I'm in meetings quite a bit now and people ask me Oh, you're from the library So you must know a lot about privacy and security And I'm suddenly put in the position where I need to be an expert on that even though I don't feel like I am also in terms of technology Implementation accessibility is a really big issue one that I'm not sure Some of us are better than others in keeping that in the fronts of our minds as we are implementing technology and so What is accessible to one user may not be accessible to another? And so we need to be really thoughtful about how we implement technology and make sure we have alternatives For our users to be able to access the services and collections that we're offering In a digital environment Finally, uh, how do we use technology? Especially in our current disrupted state to meet users needs in a virtual environment both in a synchronous and asynchronous way So everybody's lives are disrupted right now people aren't necessarily working on normal schedules But they're still going to need support from the libraries. So how do we manage technology appropriately to continue to be able to meet their needs? Thank you so much Melissa, how about you? What kind of tech trends are you seeing? I I would agree that um information security and privacy are going to be very important. I mean Uh within within the current context of cobit everyone switching to telework Um has meant that a lot of the processes that we had internally that that a lot of libraries had internally that were still Paper-based that relied on you know handoffs and signatures for approval. I've suddenly been you know switched to um online processes So automation libraries is not new. Uh, we've had we've we've been doing this for decades our integrated library systems have Um, they have modules that allow you to move all the way from initial user request all the way to you know de-selection using using automated steps But these other units, you know eight human resources units, um, you know financial and and acquisitions approvals that have not Not normally taken place within these systems are now moving online So that creates it creates major projects for staff. Um, but it also has major information management implications Um beyond privacy and security Uh, there's a lot of decision making going on right now by email. Um by virtual meeting. Um, so I For any of your students who are who are looking at Doing information management focus degree doing archives focus degrees There's going to be some new challenges looking at how information is recorded Making sure that these systems are put in place with all of the the functionality and features that are needed to support Um information throughout the lifecycle for your organizations. That's going to be important um making sure that staff are aware of you know the importance of of You know accuracy currency version control when they're when they're working with these in these um Now completely electronic environments work work environments um On the front end, uh, we're seeing a lot more You know a lot more delivery tools than we had before. I think we we've talked about um, you know producing videos for clients We've talked about you know more online more online teaching and training. Um, so any of these Uh We have a lot of you know, social media has been around for a while We've been talking about our our presence on social media for a while But that presence might change now as people are interacting with these with these networks differently So there's there's a front end and a back end that are going on right now Uh where there's going to be a lot of you know Not just implementation but a lot of a lot of policy work a lot of a lot of thinking about these implications for our For our libraries and where we want to position ourselves On both internally and within our communities Thank you so much on melissa So mary, uh, how about you what kind of technology trends are you seeing? I'm seeing the technology become far more user friendly for our patrons and Also far more self-serve Patrons can be booking their own meeting rooms. They're downloading their books. Um, they're checking out their hot spots They're doing their own scanning. So I see a lot of that happening Um, I'm seeing better discovery systems, which is great when we're spending millions on resources We needed to get into the hands of our patrons. So whatever we can do to make that more available and more easily available I think is to the good One thing I'm seeing which I'm not sure how to reconcile with the move to digital Is I'm hearing a lot when I'm in children's services I'm hearing a lot from parents that they are limiting their kids screen time And as we go towards more digital resources, I'm wondering how that's going to play out So I've been thinking about that and How we can make parents comfortable with our technologies and what we're doing in the digital realm But at the same time Be able to Still offer a full array of information even if it is in a Format that perhaps parents are a little nervous about so I think those are some of the things I think we're going to be Talking about more and more Yep, I suspect we are especially those questions around screen time Kelvin, how about you? What kind of tech trends are you seeing? So some of the tech trends and and certainly we've covered a lot of the ones that are Are already happening. They've been happening in libraries Some of the work that that that I've been focused on around virtual libraries for the past, you know 10 plus years has been about virtual library our presence outside the physical building And so what I believe we're going to continuously see is the library being in multiple places Like for example here in Broward, we have put digital library services on our buses. For example, we have them at at our airport We have the even our library services at our at our parks As well as the seaport for people who are Taking cruises in the future anyway when they start back doing that But what what I what I also would say is that during this time We've definitely seen that that need for the expansion of broadband access talked about earlier the digital The digital access discovery and delivery certainly the broadband access Is is key to that and so that's kind of come it's not necessarily a New trend it's a it's an ongoing trend and we've been experiencing it for a while And that's making sure that people have the tools that they need to Access the the digital content, right? So which will which which talks about then The education of our services that's some that's something that I've been hearing you know just rumors of we're seeing and you know more people streaming and digital online learning And so really the current technology trend is going to be To make sure that people know and understand how to use the tools as well as have that connectivity that they need You know if such a situation occurs again with another another crisis I think there's cross that doesn't happen anytime too soon. Daphne. How about you? What kind of tech friends are you seeing? Well, I don't know if anybody else was watching Saturday Night Live, but I was and there was this this great moment where In in one segment they said well, I've got to go now. I have to go and get my laptop I borrowed from the library to homeschool my kids And and I thought you know what I wonder Um, I wonder how many people are thinking of the library as one of those foundational supports that they need To educate their children to educate themselves To keep themselves current with all of the the skills that they may need for their career to even choose a career When we think of technology trends as as we all know and as as has been said libraries provide a a foundational Support which includes the tools to how to use those tools And now in in so many examples There are libraries that are helping people create new content with those tools And then the library then goes on to curate that content and share it so it's this full spectrum of of Essential roles that the library is playing right now I personally find it really interesting Um in in terms of content creation that it's the best of times and it's the worst of times And by that I mean When you think of podcasting for example, um a few years ago podcasting was um You know it there were there were some really popular programs like serial and they were sort of the groundbreaking You know opening up of a whole new type of format What has happened since is everyone can make a a podcast and and it feels like everyone is making a podcast right now So a new role for libraries in this in this New digital environment is what libraries have always done help people find the gems help people find Um the voices that need to be heard and to amplify them help people Sort through all of this this content that's never been available before in so many different forms And ensure that people can can find it can use it can can use it to better themselves and to fulfill their their own needs and their goals Thank you so much This is a sort of nicely wraps up a lot of the the themes that I was hearing All of you talk about which is in some ways that this idea of the traditional role of libraries Is just being enhanced and extended by technology In some really fundamental ways, whether it's uh curating You know new called new technology offerings and content or uh, you know The library acting as this foundational support for learning moving forward You know, uh in in some ways this ties to what kelvin was saying around infrastructure needs and support You know libraries focusing Acting as an advocate for those basic kinds of information technology infrastructure needs As opposed to just you know our previous information information needs As well as things like technology education And even you know going back to core values like privacy and security and accessibility All of these are sort of covered in these emerging technology trends. So thank you very much all of you for this And this brings us to our next trend question, which is around workforce trends Some of you have talked about these but in some ways I suspect our students will be particularly keen to hear what you have to say about workforce trends So daphne what kind of workforce trends are you seeing right now? some of the workforce trends Our continuation I think a continuation of what's been studied previously and that is A somewhat unfortunate lack of individuals within the library profession that are interested in Becoming managers and ultimately leaders of the organization So there are opportunities for those that want to take on those former Formal leadership roles. There's of course informal leadership opportunities available everywhere throughout libraries. That's that's an essential skill But some of the trends that we're seeing is when libraries Have openings for senior roles. They're often very difficult to fill and it's it's Both I guess an opportunity for those that that really want to pursue those those roles that have the The accountability the responsibility All of the all of the things that are needed to guide our institutions collectively, but It I guess I would try to make an appeal in terms of the trends to that's that's move that trend from largely A difficult recruitment area to one in which we have A number of people coming forward with a number of really interesting backgrounds Perhaps people that haven't been working in libraries their entire careers Perhaps people that have that have taken on a role in a library is a second career Or people that just bring a wealth of experience or a perspective that isn't predominantly available in the library profession right now Thank you. Kelvin. How about you? What kind of workforce trends are you seeing? So i'll just pick up where my colleague left off and that is um those um looking at the requirements of our particular job openings to identify if a A degree librarian or some other individual with different skills should be brought on To our organization That's a particular area that we focused on is our community engagement area where we have sought out Individuals who don't have library degrees and once they've joined the joined us here They then go on to pursue a library degree as well as you know bringing those other experiences for example sales skills to our To our organization and really being comfortable going out and being More of an extrovert I would say Some other workforce trends that we've done particularly here in Broward I know other libraries as well as around social equity and equity diversity and inclusion really being comfortable with Not only our workforce, but the customers in the library part patrons that we that we serve Which dovetails into something I mentioned earlier with which is the situational leadership Which is Identifying different situations and how you handle those as a as a leader. We went from calling our One of our manager meetings We went to start calling it a leaders meeting because that's really what we are trying to build here is Is leaders either formal as well as informal leaders being accountable to To everyone to our staff to our customers to the county and another workforce trend that we've that we've been doing is Looking at people who've been here for four months and then people who've been here for nine months and calling them It's called a stay survey and really looking at that data analyzing the comments that people are making so that we can actually help Make our workforce not only better, but keep people here Not won't necessarily say happy, but keep people here. Keep them growing given the tools That they that they need and trying to identify issues early so that we can we can focus on them as an organization Thank you. So mary. What kind of workforce trends are you seeing? Well, I couldn't agree more with the focus on inclusion and Internal leadership opportunities that people may not care to pursue I see that a lot One thing I'm seeing a little bit more of too is a lot more labor unrest and I think that's true Across the country and probably maybe even more true now after we kind of come through this I think we're going to be finding some Difficult situations ahead in that regard also, I'm seeing more distant learning and training with Our employees making sure but he is kind of up to speed on certain basic skill levels and that should be able to Be an effective cost effective way of providing some of those skills I think the library is often in all communities seen as a place of It's kind of a community Ship it plays a community leadership role, especially in terms of emergency operations and You know, we have people sitting outside the library in their cars getting online And they know the library is a place that they can find information or Access so I think we'll see a lot of that And I think that will probably be dealing with possible Possible a ops in the future Which is probably not what anybody wants to hear, but I'm hearing that from various organizations that I'm associated with That is an important trend to pay attention to for sure Uh melissa, how about you? What kind of workforce trends are you seeing? Well within uh within my sector within my library in particular and we've been seeing a lot of a lot of emphasis on on A healthy work for a healthy workplace Which is beyond obviously we right now in front of minds people thinking of kovat, but this really means A workplace where people feel supported and they feel safe They feel like they have the opportunity to create some work by balance. They have the opportunity to learn and develop and this is something that we've that's grown out of Um out of the recognition that that what makes our libraries great places in our communities What helps us serve our serve our users is is our staff having having employees who are Dedicated to the library dedicated to this dedicated to our surface missions You know dedicated to can you know continuously learning and growing that You know our employees come to us with those with those attributes But we need to nurture them We need to make sure that we aren't burning them out that we're not that we're providing them with support when they're running into difficult situations And this and and the global pandemic is creating difficult situation for people So we're really seeing You know a need for for leaders to step up and and make sure that their employees feel supported and we're seeing that In many libraries But I think this is it's really it's a larger trend that goes beyond you know the current situation It's really how you're structuring your whole organization All of your policies your procedures whether you are really incorporating Um inclusion and diversity into every aspect of your organization Uh, you know, it's it shouldn't just be a single policy. It should really be a part of your culture Um, and so this is a trend that we're seeing that's really going to make the difference between You know retaining great employees and and losing them Thank you so much. Amanda. What are you seeing? Yes, I'm going to follow up on some threads that my colleagues have already mentioned Just as we noted before how important inclusivity in terms of leadership is critical for having strong organizations Um, that is also true for our workforce more broadly And the fact remains that despite several decades of trying to diversify our workforce Librarianship particularly in the united states is overwhelmingly white And we actually haven't moved the needle all that far in being more inclusive as a profession And so what I've seen in the decade or so that I've been a librarian is um A lot more folks taking seriously the need to check our assumptions and practices that may be contributing To a less inclusive and less diverse workforce. So what does that mean? It means taking implicit bias seriously and being able to be reflective of yourself and what you may contribute to those processes It's recognizing the privilege that you bring to the table and how your perspectives may be informed by that But they may not be applicable to other folks who have not had the same experiences that you have or don't look like you do Or who don't speak the same languages that you do and I think too The con we still have a long way to go Uh To actually achieve these goals, but I've also seen a lot more folks taking responsibility For diversifying the organization. So I think for a long time Organization and profession for a long time issues around diversity were kind of pushed on to our more diverse colleagues Those who had minoritized identities. It was their problem to solve And that's one of the very many reasons why it's difficult to retain folks who don't necessarily Present in the same way that I do But I've seen a lot more folks who have realized that diversity issues aren't just the responsibility of our diverse colleagues But this is something that we all have responsibility to change And so I encourage you to start thinking now about how you might Think about issues of equity diversity and social justice As a librarian and the work that you might need to do in order to help our profession achieve goals of becoming more Inclusive and diverse that has very real implications for the populations that we serve When you don't see somebody who looks like you Working in a particular environment. It may signal that you don't belong there So I think we really need to take that seriously and I didn't see more conversations related to that lately For sure amanda. Sorry for sure So just again a quick Pulling together of every all the different threads and so a few things were mentioned One was this sort of long standing lack of interest in leadership and management and this seems to be Taking place throughout different sectors. It doesn't it's not unique to one particular area And it's certainly not unique as was pointed out by daffy at the beginning To the profession at large. There's quite a bit of research around that there was the Repeated idea around diversity inclusion and equity um, and this really focused a lot more on changing organizational cultures and Taking the time to reflect On these topics both, you know at the personal level as well as at the organizational level and then ultimately ideally at the professional level as well And I saw this as being really tied to this other thread that was going through which had to do with Creating healthy workplaces. So supporting and developing people but also Learning why people stay in the workforce. What is it that they're interested in which connects? obviously, I think to the growing trends in labor unrest and fingers crossed it doesn't happen But also layoffs as well So there are a lot of these things I think are very interconnected in terms of workforce trends So thank you all for for bringing them up. So let's move to our next question which is a slightly different focused one which is What services will move down on the priority list or at the top of your list to drop? So what do you think is Going away in other words. Um, and let's start with amanda Well in terms of our current environment not really knowing What the future holds even in the short term We're definitely focusing a lot of our attention on our services that can be offered remotely And less focus on services that cannot be Or we're thinking about how we can Offer those remotely and what are some of the trade-offs in moving into a virtual environment virtual and possibly asynchronous environment as well But for me, this is also Evidence-based librarianship and so it's important to be collecting data on the services that you're offering to Understand how they're being used or not used and that requires thoughtful data collection Certainly something that I haven't figured out yet, but something that were were always working on and For me, it's not simply The more traditional return on investment But thinking more broadly about what sorts of services are taking a lot of energy and resources But don't necessarily have a high payoff either for our users or for the libraries So that's not to say that we wouldn't put time and energy into things that Really have a lot of benefit, but for a small number of folks But it has the benefit has to be there in order to continue doing that We have to see that bear out in the data So I think Reviewing the data that we're collecting making sure it's the appropriate data that we need to make decisions and then determining about how to Prioritize our energy and our resources based on what we're seeing in that data Thank you. Melissa. How about you? What kinds of things are dropping off your service to do lists? So to speak I I would echo that right now. It's a little too early to say Everything is in flux. We're all Really focused on on on kind of games providing services during this during this pandemic And from a reference perspective a lot of our questions are really are focused around this People wanting to figure out What to do in response to this how to access services where they can get the help they need to To receive benefits and to find jobs But I do want to speak a little bit about our print collections I think sort of we we the flip side of the success story of virtual is that some people are kind of Thinking well, maybe we don't need print. Maybe we don't need our physical spaces And I would say that this has actually proved that that's not the case And you know my my reference team does amazing work with With our with our electronic resource collection But we still face questions where we know we know the book They would answer our question. We know That we we have questions that involve historical materials That we cannot access right now Because we're not able to get to our branches And there's always going to be there's always going to be a need for our our print resources So, I mean, we do have some you know, there are some projects that can come out of this We do have digitization initiatives going on For doc, you know for publications that we that we control, you know copyright of we can certainly get into to more digitizing Making sure that they're more accessible online But there's always going to be a need for for physical collections There are some things that we're just never going to be able to digitize There are some physical tangible objects that we're never going to be able to digitize that we need to make sure Are still accessible Our branches remain accessible. I think once people are able to To to move about going to public spaces our spaces are going to become very important to our communities And so it's it's just important to remember that just because we're emphasizing we need to emphasize electronic right now It doesn't mean that that print and physical spaces And paper resources are are done or that they're not going to be a priority going forward Thank you. Mary. What kinds of things that do you think might be dropping down the priority list in terms of services? This is always kind of a funny question because you know, you don't want to let go of anything But I have to agree with Melissa I think the the format issue in terms of acquisitions is something that we're going to have to look at you know, recent research has come out that mentions that people are Kind of going away from ebooks, which is ironic because that's where we're going So, um, we'll have those and that's also we you know, still purchase cds and dvds. So what what's going to happen with that? I suspect those acquisitions will go down Also, I see reference services becoming less At least in-person reference becoming less critical and I have to say I think Those are the two that I'm most aware of at this point in time Thank you. How about you kelvin? What kind of services are you seeing moving down the priority list? So as mentioned for this is definitely a hard question to answer. Um, so but I would agree it's not really necessarily maybe moving things down the priority list, but really assessing the services that That we have overall at this point. Um, we are in the process of duplicating Different programs that we have presented in in in person. We're going to continue those in person That that programming but move to um, you know online We're going to need to assess do some, you know, the do some data analysis I would say one of the one of the services that we were anticipating, I guess changing was the Was our public pc usage We had noticed for years the trends have been in public library that because people have devices that that was going Down public pc usage. So we were in the midst of of a plan to reduce that uh, that public pc footprint, but now Um, that has changed our thinking because we are expecting that when we open our doors again That people are going to be in the libraries more people are going to be in the libraries using the public PCs Um, especially implementing more physical distancing Applying for jobs applying for unemployment and resume writing Um, and just needing that that access to our to our pc's um during this during this time, um We had actually just moved to a new integrated library system at the end of february So we've been taking this opportunity to really to do a physical inventory of our 2 million of 2 million items that we have physically And so this is kind of giving us an opportunity to do that. We Look at our physical space. Um Because we see people coming. Um, probably within the next week. We're going to be reopening And so I'm already working on a I have a reopening plan that we've already developed in trying to phase those services back in and do analysis, uh at the at the same time Wow, best of luck with the opening. That's amazing. Uh, daphne, uh, how about you? What kind of uh, services are you seeing? Moving or even just changing because I think that's actually probably a more accurate description of what people are talking about Thank you. I'll pick up on that. Um On that point. I don't see Necessarily services moving up or down in terms of what we're delivering. I think it's the how so What we're delivering will still always be in line with our mandate So if public libraries have a mandate to connect people with information to Help people fulfill their their highest potential To create strong and resilient communities will continue to do those things It's just how we do them. I think that's what's what's changing right now, of course There's there's no better example than all of the the diversion and deliberate investment To online digital services, but we realize when we do that that we're leaving a lot of people behind So I'm I was fascinated by what kelvin was saying Preparing to reopen and to look at what will libraries look like in this new context of physical distance that's required and How people will even feel about physical objects All of that is is really in flux, but even though how we may process materials or circulate materials or design our interior spaces Given local context I think what won't change and what will never move down the priority list is the sense that the library Is the center for human potential? It's the place where people can count on us and whether that's a physical space if we're able to offer that Or if it is a virtual space where we are open anytime all the time Thank you so much for all of this I really love that this actually ended up being a very difficult question to answer for all of you not just because of Covid but also because of this idea that The mandate of libraries in some ways hasn't really changed It's really about delivering that mandate in the different ways to do that So thank you all very much for these very thoughtful answers Now we're going to move on to our last question and we only have a few minutes left to really address it. So Just to keep that in mind as we go forward and let's we'll start with daphne Which is what should new mlis graduates know about the trends you are seeing? I think new graduates should know that they're entering a world That really desperately needs their expertise their creativity their dedication their passion their entering work That is valuable. It's life changing and that the passion that is driving them Currently in their studies is exactly what is needed when they go out into the community and they're able to take those needs and translate them into services into things that That ultimately Make life worth living. So I I would say the trends that we're seeing is There will always be a need for those individuals that know they can make a difference Can inspire those that are working around them can support those that are working around them And that will always be receptive to the ideas perhaps the constructive criticism certainly And we'll have high degrees of self-awareness to know when it is their time to step back and when it is time to let others go forward That is a really lovely sentiment. Thank you daphne kelvin. Uh, what kind of things do you think our graduates should know about these trends? It's hard to follow daphne, but I'll say that uh, uh, I'll I'll pick up on What she left off and just additional comments would be for MIS graduates to know about continually taking the opportunity to learn something every day and how to quickly Pivot and be flexible and also work to implement right because that timing Of all of what's been happening, you know libraries have taken the opportunity to lead We've been able to implement we were able to pivot and and have some flexibility and not sit around Five months later and still be talking about how we're going to do it But actually being able to do it and that goes along with just some decision-making Um processes and you know making a decision and again learning from it and and adapting Because that's what you know We've been doing is adapting to these This situation and the situations in the context of our organizations each and every day Thank you so much Mary what kind of things do you think our graduates should know about the trends you're seeing? One of the things I think about is how librarianship is still perceived as a profession of introverts to some extent And I think that has to be left behind if you're a new graduate I think you're going to be collaborating with all sorts of groups internally and externally I think you need to have presentation skills and marketing skills and you need to be able to do some teaching so We ask a lot of our new grads, but I think it's really rewarding In the library profession, and I think it's a great opportunity for them to grow Mary you win the award for connecting that answer to the outcomes of info 204. Congratulations Melissa, what kinds of things do you think our MLIS graduates should see Should see in regards to these trends or should know in regards Well, first I would say don't be discouraged for anyone who's graduating right now It can be a little daunting what to graduate during a time of economic downturn And so I'm sure there are a lot of people who are worried about their their job prospects And I would say A lot of libraries are hiring. We're going to be putting up a poster for our for our Anticipatory pool in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure a lot of other libraries are Your skills are needed. Your experience taking online courses working in virtual teams is very relevant right now You have there are leadership opportunities in our in our profession There are there are jobs out there, and I know it can feel right now Like like it's going to be a very a very hard road to get to that first position post graduation But you'll get there you have the skills you need promote your promote yourself Um, you know have confidence in the in the skills that you required in your program Thank you. Yeah, I suspect a lot of people are feeling discouraged right now And they really need to hear that there are people are still hiring and that they do still have the the skills They need thank you so much for that and Amanda's word goes to you. What do you think new MLIS graduates should know about the trend? One theme I think that has come up for me today And I think Daphne put it really well is that our mandates in many ways haven't changed our core professional values have Endured over time, which is a positive thing. I think we'll see that continue. We have solid foundations But the ways in which we approach those core values and those mandates are going to constantly be changing Throughout your career. So I've been a librarian for not quite 15 Years and things I don't think I've ever gotten comfortable in the profession We're always thinking about new ways In order to serve our users and and meet those needs And to rip on some of what my other colleagues have mentioned that includes learning daily like what uh kelvin said That includes if you are an introvert I have some introvert tendencies and very much a home body But being aware of those and understanding how you can draw energy in order to knock on other people's doors and create those collaborations and partnerships And work with your supervisor work with your colleagues to take some calculated risks and pilots and new experimental services and programs So as long as you expect not to become too comfortable in doing things a particular way Um, I think librarianship will be very exciting for you and very dynamic in a rewarding career Thank you so much. And so that brings us to the end of our webinar today And I want to thank all of you for being here and for sharing your ideas You shared some wonderful insights into what's currently going on And I think our students will greatly benefit from it. So thank you all Thank you Thank you