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The following takes place between 12 AM and 1 AM

Yes, I know it’s been awhile. I’m moving.

I’ve been meaning to pen a little something about David King’s “rant” in response to one of his Computer in Libraries experiences. He writes:

First, I asked if attendees had learned something innovative or new at the conference that they’d like to take back to their libraries. Almost everyone raised their hands. Then I followed up with this question: how many will take that cool, innovative idea back to their libraries, and hit a brick wall with administrators when they try to implement that idea.

ALMOST EVERYONE RAISED THEIR HANDS.

This is not good.

Why? Well, during my Q&A time at the end of the session, the whys started coming out. Techie librarians are discouraged. Many have administrators and/or managers who don’t want to change, who refuse to learn new technology and who refuse to implement new ideas.

True enough. The world has it’s share of myopic administrators. This is certainly not unique to libraries, though. In fact, in the words of someone I respect greatly, if you haven’t experienced working under an asshole, you’re just lucky. David King isn’t necessarily talking about assholes, but you might very well be one if you dismiss the recommendations and suggestions of your motivated, talented, and bright tech librarians. Either that, or you’re too busy playing the game to remember why you’re playing it. There are several reasons why administrators buck original ideas.

Primarily, new ideas represent change and change equals risk. Many people in middle and upper management know that risk translates into a higher possibility of failure. After putting in all those years of getting to that position, who wants to fail and be bumped off (or worse, down)? A management position in an organization represents a major career goal to many people and all too often, people have followed the time-tested formula to get there: keep your head down, tamp down on the risk, maximize “success.” Success, in this case, would be the routine, long-term maintenance of the status quo. Seriously, it works great–as long as you’re working for that king of institution.

Some people also just don’t like to step out of their comfort zone. They don’t want to absorb new things. I was on a top technology trends panel at OLA last January when someone asked, “what if we don’t want to learn about all these new technologies?” (paraphrase). I don’t think I was in the mood for hand-holding because my answer was, “it’s your job.” Really. I don’t believe libraries are life support systems for staff. We need to work for our bread. That means that we have so stop bunting and try to knock it out of the park every single time. That takes passion, and too many people in every industry, including libraries, lack it.

I think that Dave should have followed up his question with, “How many of you are going ahead with implementing your ideas anyway?” Those are the people I want to work with. If you love what you’re doing, then do it. Don’t let someone else’s tunnel vision dictate what you accomplish in your lifetime. I had breakfast with Sean Robinson (ACPL) and chuckled about the fact that we both routinely would code well into the witching hour (which may explain some of the “idiosyncrasies” in SOPAC). The point being that, there was never enough time in the day to do what we loved, so we did it when we could.

I’m reminded of a great quote from Steven Pressfield’s War of Art:

I’m keenly aware of the Principle of Priority, which states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what is important first.

If you raised your hand at David’s talk, chances are your boss doesn’t know the difference.

Naturally, you’ve got to bang up against the red tape, cover your behind, and remain within your sphere of authority. If you’re sharp enough to have a great idea, however, chances are you’re sharp enough to figure out a way to get some traction behind it.

Having come to the library world from a horrifically inbred engineering firm (and I’m talking afternoon-on-the-Chatooga, Deliverance inbred), I can tell you with all certainty that this is not a problem specific to libraries. There is one thing that is more prevalent in libraries, however, and that’s a pervasive culture of entitlement. Whether it’s the expectation that you’ll never have to step out of your comfort zone, that you’ll be able to settle in to a nice quiet career, or even that you have the right to have your great ideas met with ebullience. So, in the final analysis, I have a little sympathy for this particular plight, but it’s not keeping me awake at night–that would be the work I love.

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As a new librarian in the academic job search world of limbo, posts like these catch my attention quickly. I am struck by this paradox: People don’t feel empowered to exact change in their libraries (as you have articulated here); Job postings and search committees seek idea people with passion and enthusiasm. I am confused.

Great post. Your point about entitlement hits home really hard for me. Of course, most of the road blocks I tend to encounter come not from my boss but from other librarians. And I think it does come from the whole sense of entitlement they seem to carry around. Whoa, Nelly do they resent anything and everything that might possible take them one step outside their comfort zone. That’s exactly why I’ve essentially stopped asking and just started doing. As my wise mother always says,
it is better to ask forgiveness than permission…

John, I admire your attitude — “don’t let someone else’s tunnel vision dictate what you accomplish with your life” are truly words to live by — but I think this post shows a bit of ignorance about the kinds of problems encountered at gigantic public/academic libraries, the kinds of places that probably have more people in management than work in your entire library system. There’s difficult, and then there’s impossible.

Have you ever been told to remove some project you’ve spent months working on because someone from the union is threatening a work stoppage because requiring staff to even make minor adjustments is “upsetting” and therefore constitues a “hostile work environment”? Have you ever spent over 2 years and 30+ meetings trying to get a blog started at your institution… and still failed? Have you ever written a piece of software used by a dozen or so other (smaller, ostensibly more backward and change-averse)
libraries but not your own? Have you ever been told to pull down a feature that hundreds of people use every day because a single patron complained about one small aspect of it? (Three of those have happened to me; one to a colleague of mine).

I’m up late many nights coding (which due to union regulations is one of the few things that could actually get me fired on the spot) because that’s what I love doing and an entire universe of small-minded idiots isn’t going to stop me. But I’ve had to learn to make peace with the fact that it’s all futile and existentially absurd. I keep a copy of _The Myth of Sisyphus_ by Albert Camus on my desk next to GoF, the pickaxe book and the ILS manuals. Camus probably sees the most use these days.

No matter how apathetic, ignorant or change averse things are at smaller libraries, they’re also probably the only places that meaningful change is ever going to happen.

Jennimi–I think in many cases, the hiring practices of an institution are a direct reflection upon its management style. Job postings are usually written with HR people and tend to have their own generic brand of narrative. That is to say, their authors copy the descriptive choices of virtually every other job posting in the world. Exceptions, of course.

Taro–I think your situation is probably among the most severe, though certainly not unique. Unions are another can of worms altogether and, nine times out of ten, have lost sight of the forest through the trees. As I get ready to leave Michigan in two days, I can’t help be reminded of the fact that despite a struggling manufacturing-based economy, the specter of outsourcing, and failing companies, unions keep demanding more from their companies. It’s pure lunacy–to sink the boat that floats you. Ford, for example, is trying to put a positive spin on the fact that it only lost $282 million this quarter, as opposed to $1.8 billion this time last year. Compare that to Toyota, which is non-union (and opening plants in the US). But I digress…

I have to agree that smaller libraries stand a better chance of being able to demonstrate the benefits of thinking different. That’s one of the reasons I’m going to Darien. Large institutions can do it too, though, but it takes individuals who are not willing to simply tow the line. The alternative, as I’ve said before, is really nothing short of a crisis in libraries as a world of information passes by. So you get fired for working on your own time. Take that code and go somewhere where it’ll do some good. So you get fired for speaking your mind–make sure you said your piece loud enough (and professionally enough) so that it gets heard by the right people. Or simply look for another place to work if it’s that intolerable. Institutions that hemorrhage talent very quickly begin to shrivel, and that may be a disservice to the public they serve, but if you’re powerless to do anything about it, it’s not your problem. Let that be a smudge on someone else’s name.

Nice post - but I have to agree with Taro and I work in a public library! You say “I don’t believe libraries are life support systems for staff. We need to work for our bread.” My response is that you’ve never worked in a union environment.

I have very supportive bosses - it’s some of my supposed “colleagues” that I could do without. The ones who refuse to support RFID or SelfCheck or even things that help remote users - all on the grounds that this would endanger staff jobs. They don’t much care for my response that some staff don’t deserve to have jobs. Almost as bad as the teaching career I left…

To miy mind, if your administrators says “NO” to your innovation proposals is much better than to allow you to do all the preliminary work which takes lots of time, and when everything is ready to be realized in practice - they will never let you do it Abd what is worse - your colleagues don’t support you. They understand you, they understand the needs of changes, but will do nothing to help you, as they don’t want some new tasks to do…

[…] blyberg.net » The following takes place between 12 AM and 1 AM “There is one thing that is more prevalent in libraries, however, and that’s a pervasive culture of entitlement. Whether it’s the expectation that you’ll never have to step out of your comfort zone, that you’ll be able to settle in to a nice quiet (tags: change management libraries technology in:blyberg) […]

Please everyone, keep the big picture in mind. Our jobs are not to come up with cool, innovative ideas, either. It is get information into the hands of the public, all of them, from the most high techie geeks to the technophobes.
I don’t really know you, but you seem to be making a lot of broad generalizations about library staff and a sense of entitlement combined with complacency. I have been a librarian for 17 years. I don’t see a lot of that. I DO see professionals who can’t afford to live in the community they serve, so yeah, I joined the union to try and change that. I see working moms juggling career and family who cannot up and quit because their supervisors don’t get them. People might resist change because then their experience is undervalued, and because training is an afterthought. Give your colleagues a break. Get to know them. Work on your people skills. Then maybe we can all progress together.

I could have written Chris’ post, but instead of I’ll throw my own two cents into the mix.

I work in a blue-collar community which is fortunate enough to be located in one of the states in the nation for libraries, if not for much else. I also work as a VR contractor for our statewide service. I deal with patrons who can barely make sense of the information we can get them through our shiny, happy T1 line (and from books - remember books?.) Literacy is still a huge issue here in libraryland.

Those shiny, nifty library 2.0 tools also don’t mean much if you either can’t afford high-speed service or live in rural areas where no one even offers broadband or DSL service. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen libraries out on the forefront of the campaign to increase broadband access to residential areas without service.

And I joined the big scary union the moment I was eligible to do so, the union that not only preserves our jobs, but gets us somewhat decent - if not stellar - salaries. And without my union-preserved health insurance, I would not be typing to you today. Unions also frequently work with libraries to preserve the funding we have now. If you don’t like your union, you have options, such as running for union office or even getting rid of that union you so dread. But don’t be surprised if, once you do so, how much harder it is to have a voice for change within your very large library system.

and yes, there shouldn’t have been an “of” after “instead” in my first paragraph. Yes, I can read, which is a good thing.

[…] a-buzz about Blyberg’s post about David King’s rant at CiL. I was in the session when he asked those […]

Thanks for your thoughts. I disagree, however, that our jobs are not to innovate. You’re absolutely correct, Chris, that our primary objective is to help people get the information they need, but the way we do that cannot remain the same. It can’t because the world of information has changed and is continuing to change. So, the fact that many libraries are not listening to their innovators is, like Dave points out, a very disturbing trend. It’s compounded by the fact that these are institutions where individuals are ready and willing to step up.

Also, I’m fairly certain that I didn’t mention Library 2.0 or Web 2.0 (with the exception of filing under the Web 2.0 category). That was on purpose. This is really a discussion about innovation and good ideas being ignored or discouraged. I don’t see the relevance of blue vs. white collar communities here other than to say that both types of communities require their own specific brand of innovation.

I can’t speak to how effective unions are in preserving jobs and salaries, but, in general, their primary concern is definitely not the welfare and effectiveness of libraries. It’s important that all staff members be paid what they’re worth, and have their wellbeing taken care of. When unions step in and tell libraries what they can and cannot ask of their employees, however (as in the testimonial earlier), they cross the line. That’s a cop out to justify laziness and complacency.

I love this post! I think it really captures the thoughts of those who are trying to innovative and expand library services. I think David is correct in his observation at CIL 2007. There is a large groups of people who are having theirs thoughts and ideas minimalized and they are very very frustrated.

~Sean

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John - before you speak further on how unions hinder creativity & innovation in libraries, please consider that many of the libraries which are supposedly “stifling” their employees’ creativity & innovation are almost certainly not unionized. The vast majority of public libraries in this country are not unionized.

However, the Cuyahoga County PL system in Ohio is considered to be on the cutting edge of public library services - and they’ve been unionized (SEIU, if it matters) for at least the last two decades. Hasn’t gotten in their way, has it? Cleveland Public? Also unionized, and on the cutting edge of public library services.

“This is really a discussion about innovation and good ideas being ignored or discouraged.”
This comment dialogue keeps nagging at my subconscious. I think what is really going on is a clash of cultures - between computer people and book people, to put it in very simplistic terms (I’m sure some will balk at this.) I remember in library school, back in the Stone Age (the late 1980’s), at some lecture, this computer guy just scoffing at end users like they were some kind of Neanderthals. That has always stuck with me. I think innovators should think about why the innovation matters. Make the goal meaningful to end users. Don’t mock them because they aren’t members of your elite superhero club. True leaders are innovators who can communicate to everyone in the organization why the change you are proposing is worthwhile.

Cheri, You’re right, I’m generalizing terribly and for that I apologize. In fact, my previous place of employment, AADL, is a union workplace and it’s filled with wonderfully hard working people and I think AADL’s reputation for innovation and creativity speaks for itself. I guess my point, which is now wildly vectoring off on a tangent from the gist of this discussion, is that in some cases union leadership forgets that the company-union relationship needs to be mutually beneficial. Of course, “the company” often forgets that too. So if that relationship breaks down, the entire system breaks down.

Chris, To be honest, I’m not sure where my quote and your comments intersect. For that matter, I don’t think anyone is mocking anyone. You’re correct, I think, in identifying a cultural difference. I’ve given that divide a fair amount of thought, and take it very seriously. But like my quote suggests, this discussion is more about entrenched leadership stifling innovation and what to do about it. This isn’t even a discussion about computers and technology, per se. The correct question to ask is, “Why do great ideas get ignored in our libraries?” and “How do I get my great idea to see the light of day?” I’m not making up the fact that there is a lot of frustration with the pace of change among the rear guard in libraries–this post is actually in response to it.

Maybe we differ in the fact that I believe that if libraries don’t adapt to a changing set of expectations from our users, they’ll become anachronisms and you don’t. I think that divide, in itself, bears some examining.

Actually, when I read your post, I agreed with it. I was responding more to the attitude in the comments like Emily’s, that co-workers are more of the problem.
About “adapting to a changing set of expectations from our users” - I am going to have to think about that some more. I have seen in libraries a kind of “all bets are off” attitude, where we can do anything! Can we be a social service agency? Sure! Why not? An after school care provider? Let’s give it a try! A Kinko’s? Okay!! But guess what? No organization can be everything to everyone. I say we remember what we’re good at and apply those services. Does that make me a Library Luddite? I’m not sure yet - I am trying to have an open mind while at the same time figuring out how to sustain the services we already provide and adjust to changing expectations. I was talking to a colleague who mentioned that there is a library out there offering RSS feeds of library books just returned by other customers. To me, that is a great idea AND an application of a traditional library service in a new medium. Should we be doing more of that? Most definitely!! So I’m not saying that libraries shouldn’t adapt - I’m saying we shouldn’t stray too much from our identity.

To add a naive voice into the mix, the problem I’ve seen at libraries isn’t entitlement, it’s fear. A lot of people don’t like change because they don’t really think they can deal with it. They shudder at the thought of remember more than five different passwords, and think of technology as HAL. And as long as that attitude is allowed to fester, that’ll poison the well of innovation.

Plus the corporate mindset that a few libraries operate on does not help this fear. You cannot simply take a few classes to know everything that an operating system has to offer. Most of those ‘classes’ are just glorified days off in which people are handed packets they’ll lose five minutes after they leave. The only real way to know technology is to get your hands dirty and deal with it. The more you know a system is often parallel to how long you have used a system. And nobody nowadays wants to get their hands dirty or even displays curiosity on how such a vital part of their job–that would easily make their day or break it–works.

Maybe the question to ask is what’s the difference between Cleveland Public, an innovative system, and *your* system, which quashes all your best ideas?

It’s the upper-level administrators, I think. I mean, I hate to get all paternalistic, but the director sets the tone, establishes priorities, negotiates with the union, hires innovators (or doesn’t).

So, ok! I’m off to murder our director and replace him with Roy Tennant!

(Failing that, I’m offering a Web 2.0 seminar for interested staff in the break room Sunday before we open. And unfortunately, I’m not kidding.)

[…] I’ve been thinking a lot about a blyberg.net post that I first learned about through librarian.net: Some people also just don’t like to step out of […]

[…] Blyberg nails it: I was on a top technology trends panel at OLA last January when someone asked, “what if we […]

[…] The following takes place between 12AM and 1AM (blyberg.net) […]

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