Customer service models for the Special Library, finding the “IT” factor, Library Spotlight on the Kankakee Public Library and fundraising and philanthropy during an economic crisis. It’s all below in the latest “What’s New @ WJIL.

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | WJ Update | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

“What’s New” RSS Feed

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  [http://webjunctionworks.org/il/blog/index.php/category/new-wj-il/feed/]

Resources

Fundraising and Philanthropy During an Economic Crisis

• The Foundation Center is a nonprofit library and training center that educates the public about private foundations and their grants. In response to the economic downturn, they have pulled together resources to inform nonprofits about trends in giving, including interactive map shots that show where grant dollars are concentrated.
• Path: [Library Management -> Funding] 

Focus on Libraries in Tough Economic Times

• This WebJunction focus pulls together content, courses, discussions, and webinars related to Libraries in Tough Economic Times and ranges in topic from budgets to patron services, and from demonstrating impact to sustaining staff development.
• Path:[Member Center -> Events]

Customer Service Models for the Special Library

• Explore three customer service models – the one hour dry cleaner, the grocery story and the fast food restaurant. Author Penny Sympson from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates received the SLA-IL Library Champion Award and also was a Mover and Shaker in Library Journal for 2008. 
• Path:[Illinois Center -> Illinois Libraries -> Special Libraries]

Library Law: Amendments to the FMLA Effective January 16, 2009

• In January, 2008, amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) were enacted to provide new military family leave entitlements and to update the now 15-year old Act. On November 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor published its Final Rule to implement the foregoing amendments. The Final Rule, effective January 16, 2009, intends to improve communication between employers, such as libraries, employees and health care providers to make the Act operate more smoothly and provide needed clarity about responsibilities and rights under the Act.
• Path:[Library Management -> Organizational Management -> Library Law Articles]

Finding the “IT” Factor

• Becky Heil is the Library Director of Dubuque County Library (DCL), a county library system in northeastern Iowa that serves a little over 16,000 people. Like many librarians in small counties, she wears many hats. Although her official title is Library Director, she also works in Information Technology (IT) thanks to some on-the-job training and help from a consultant, providing support to the system’s three branches in Farley, Holy Cross, and Epworth.
• Path:[Technology -> Public Access Computing -> MaintainIT Cookbooks -> MaintainIT Library Spotlights] 

Courses and Learning

 Problem Solving: Generating Alternatives

• When faced with any problem, it’s tempting, especially in today’s frenzied business atmosphere, to either take the easiest route or rely on the old tried-and-true methods. But how many times have you taken a certain action and realized afterward that you had more options than you realized? Now more than ever, today’s business world is complex and multifaceted. As a positive result of that complexity, however, you can enjoy the benefits of increased opportunities in problem solving.
• Path: [Illinois Course Catalog]

The Fundamentals of Exceptional Customer Service

• You’ve seen the ad campaigns that boast, “Customer satisfaction guaranteed.” But in today’s marketplace, satisfaction isn’t enough. This course is designed to take your goals beyond merely satisfying the customer to creating customer loyalty. The training takes aim at outdated modes of thinking, and establishes the building blocks for a service mentality that increases customer commitment, not to mention profits.
• Path:[Illinois Course Catalog]

Learning for Learning Professionals Webinar: Archive and Resources

• As trainers, continuing education coordinators and staff development managers, we believe in lifelong learning. We are committed to helping library employees improve their skills and build successful careers. As cheerleaders for organizational and individual learning, do we sometimes lose sight of our own learning? What are we doing to invest in ourselves? What are the competencies that we will need as we lead our libraries in future skill development and employee learning?
• Path: [Library Management -> Training & Development -> Presentations & Publications -> Learning Webinars

Effective Application Training in the Virtual Classroom: Webinar Archive

• Application Training in the virtual classroom: How can it be engaging? How can we get beyond the demonstration, the “I’ll show you” format so many online classes are trapped in? Is anyone paying attention? How do we know if they are learning it? The problem with most application-based training that is delivered virtually is that it is simply “watch me do it;” it doesn’t allow for interaction, collaboration or hands-on experience. This webinar archive will immerse you in in the topic of technical training in the virtual classroom.
• Library Management -> Training & Development -> Presentations & Publications -> Learning Webinars

Upcoming WJ Webinars (see L2 for details)

• Shelf-Read Your Personal Information – January 14th, 1:00 PM
• Measuring and Managing Bandwidth – January 20th, 1:00 PM
• WJ Virtual Town Hall: Focus on Staff Training – January 28th, 1:00 PM
• Technology Planning in TechAtlas – January 29th, 12:00 PM

Community

Library Spotlight: Kankakee Public Library

• For over one hundred years the Kankakee Public Library has been meeting the information needs of the residents of the city of Kankakee. In recent years the staff have taken on the challenge to explore innovative ways to serve their community, including the filming of an original documentary. Find out more in our most recent WJIL Library Spotlight about the inception, filming and premier of “A City At War: Soldiers of Kankakee.”

WJIL Update

WebJunction has compiled a Competency Index, synthesized from competency sets from a variety of library organizations. The new functionality will create connections between the Index competencies and courses and resources available on WebJunction Illinois. The first implementation will include only the category of Library Management competencies, to be followed by Technology and Personal competencies in the first half of 2009. Look for the Competencies tab to show up on the WJIL Course Catalog page in mid-January.

What Could I do with…comments and recommendations on WJIL?

There are many ways that you can help to surface and recommend content to other WJIL users. You can use the rating, commenting and recommendations functions to assess documents and to give recommendations to colleagues on a course you have taken. Your input and comments will help to build a better resource.