Comments on: Teaching the “soft skills” in library school

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:01:06 +0000

Great example, Deborah! I don’t think schools should offer an entire class on “customer service” but I think a reference class should certainly teach people a lot about how to be a good listener, how to conduct a proper reference interview, and how to deal with difficult patrons (all important parts of customer service). My reference class was pretty much all about resources, but luckily I’d learned very similar skills in my training as a therapist (where we did LOTS of role-playing which I found extremely valuable… and embarrassing!).

By: Deborah Fitchett

Deborah Fitchett — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:20:49 +0000

We had a couple of classes on reference interview/customer service and had to send in a video (we were learning by distance) showing a reference interview role play thing. One of the more painful, but practical, things we did.

I wish the groupwork we did had been set up with project managers!

I definitely agree that library schools should teach tech skills – not necessarily specific technology, but the ability/willingness to sit down and play with something until it works.

By: bentley

bentley — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:58:13 +0000

Thank you. I’m working on a professional development plan for myself for the next few years and this is one of the types things I’m looking at.

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:15:34 +0000

Well, Bentley, if you’re interested in what I taught on RSS, you may want to try out the assignment I offered our class http://sociallibraries.com/libr246-12/exercise2 or take a look at the video Melissa Rethlefsen created for Five Weeks to a Social Library on “Using RSS to Add Currency to the Library Website” http://blip.tv/file/get/Sociallibrary-UsingRSSToAddCurrencyToTheLibraryWebSiteScreencast592.mov.

The lecture I gave on RSS http://blip.tv/file/624534/ doesn’t get much into the innards of RSS, but looks at some of what’s possible with it.

By: bentley

bentley — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:04:37 +0000

I second Coral’s request. I’d also be interested in learning more about the innards of RSS. Thanks.

By: bentley

bentley — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:03:17 +0000

Time for my standard “what I don’t like about group projects” spiel (not aimed at you but aimed at library school in general).

I don’t like group projects (and library school was nothing but group projects and all the professors had the same original “it’s just like the real world” reasoning for it). Even if the group project involves lots of cool skills, few people get to learn the new skills. Why? Because when the groups divvy up the parts of the project among its members, it usually goes something like this: “We need someone to do X.” “I know how to do X.” “Okay, you’re doing X. Now, who knows how to do Y?” And so on. If the project had been an individual project, then *everyone* would have had to learn to do X, Y, and Z. Or, even if you have to have group projects, also have individual assignments where everyone has to do X, Y, and Z.

(*still grumpy after eight years*)

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:08:51 +0000

I have mixed feeling about how tech skills are currently taught in library schools, but I think there is a benefit to offering tech classes. I think it’s less about learning specific technologies than learning how to learn about technologies, how to plan for technology implementation in libraries, how to critically evaluate technologies, how to sell ideas about new technologies and how to keep up with new technologies. And the teaching of those skills can be integrated into most technology classes.

I wish I’d had a really practical management course like yours. Ours was certainly cool — we read stuff by Drucker, Senge, etc. — but it wasn’t practical in the least and I wish it had been.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:35:59 +0000

I’m not sure teaching tech skills is always that important in Library School. You should be able to use most new technologies or be willing to learn, but that’s always an ongoing process out of school. I graduated library school (the new defunct Columbia U’s School of Library Service) in 1991, and we had to pass a course showing we knew all the up-to-date tools of the trade: Lotus 1-2-3, DBase III, WordPerfect, SPSS v.1, etc. Would this look useful on a CV now, except to show how old I am? The better course I had was the database design course. It was all on paper, but it made you think how workflow should be.

Also, our Library management courses were great. They did discuss handling problem patrons, dealing with Library Boards, budgeting (don’t forget to buy wastebaskets and bathroom supplies!). They really did prepare us for the real world in libraries.

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:52:07 +0000

Hi Coral, the entire class is online at http://sociallibraries.com/libr246-12/. You can find that specific exercise here http://sociallibraries.com/libr246-12/exercise2

By: Coral

Coral — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:55:38 +0000

I would be really interested in seeing this RSS assignment, if you’re willing to post it online. I’m in library school now, and while I’m not even a little bit afraid of “techie” things, I am a little weak on RSS (Google Reader is my friend) and haven’t played with JavaScript at all. It sounds like a fun and interesting assignment!