Going Beyond The Great Idea

Getting buy-in and doing effective training for 2.0 projects Jenica P. Rogers-Urbanek Computers in Libraries 2008 Academic Library 2.0 GOING BEYOND THE GREAT IDEA

Without a head lemming, most groups will never step off the cliff.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS STILL NEED LEADERS

2.0 projects are described as ‘intuitive’, ‘social’, ‘participatory’… but they still need a leader to:
Sell the idea
Organize the project timeframes
Facilitate training, setup, and follow-through
Learn from Ghandi.
“ We need to be the change we wish to see in the world.” Step up!
Collaborative ≠ self propelled

Most of us are the middle duck, if not the little bitty last duck. You need support from your supervisor, administration, colleagues, and support staff.
How to convince them all?
GETTING YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW: YOU NEED SUPPORT FROM ABOVE, ACROSS, AND BELOW.

Avoid “uncritical me-too-ism”
Prepare the ground before you begin
Sell the project: Utility

Consider each stakeholder separately – what do they care about?
Be relevant to internal and individual needs
Bring data to support your arguments
Adapt to your audience
Sell the project: one size does not fit all

Focus on your reality-based library
Have reasonable expectations
Do sensible user assessment
Strive for achievable results
Plan to measure success in meaningful and do-able ways
Sell the project: Avoid truthiness

You wouldn’t want to hang off a building without safety ropes, a training program, and appropriate oversight. We need to apply those same ideas to our projects – even small and informal ones.
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP: PREPARATION IS ESSENTIAL

Show and Tell
Provide documentation, no matter how “self explanatory” it seems
Hands-on exploration is worth 1000 words
Allow private learning before public roll-out
Integrate the learning into the doing
Multifaceted Training = Learning 2.0

Maybe you do... The path to nirvana runs through training by doing – it’s like constant on the job training, only less painful.
“ I DON’T HAVE TIME TO LEARN A NEW TOOL!”

You must teach and learn the basics formally – you can’t skip this step. But, then…
Encourage exploratory use of the tool
Assign, delegate, or collaborate on necessary tasks that require use of the tool
Have an “expert” who is prepared to assist when necessary
If the tool is relevant and useful, the task work will be relevant and useful – and will facilitate learning the tool with minimal extra time required.
Advanced On the Job Doing

You’ve taken the lead, gotten key buy-in, and trained your participants, and now…
TIME TO JUMP.

Plan for success – is your project scalable?
Prepare the ground – will your library know what you’re talking about when you first broach the topic?
Write it down – document your process for future use.
Assess the project – what’s working? What isn’t?
Respond to criticism – and then make appropriate changes.
Plan for failure – what happens if it falls apart?
Other pretty good practices

Lemmings
Ducks in a row
iPhone party
Stephen Colbert
Safety Training
Road to Heaven
Learn
Base Jump
All found on Flickr or Wikipedia, licensed for reuse through Creative Commons.
Photo Credits

Thanks for listening! Questions and commentary welcome now or during the unconference

Jenica P. Rogers-Urbanek Collection Development Coordinator and Technical Services Team Leader SUNY Potsdam College Libraries http://rogersurbanek.wordpress.com [email_address] AIM/Meebo/Twitter: Jenica26

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Going Beyond The Great Idea

by Jenica Rogers-Urbanek

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