What does your organization need to do to prepare for succession planning? On this show Carolyn Schubert, Director of Research and Education Services at James Madison University Libraries, shares ways we can prepare for organizational change and why now is the time to begin thinking about this. 

Do you prepare for handling ethics situations in your library before they arise? On this show Gail Santy, Maribeth Shafer, and Patty Collins from the Central Kansas Library System share why this is a good idea and how to do it. When you are faced with a situation that challenges core policies and library ethics you will be ready if you apply the practical advice offered in this conversation.

On this show Jamie LaRue, CEO and Founder of LaRue and Associates, shares a distinctive way our organizations can move from being library-centric to being community-centric by cataloging the community. It’s a way we can take the classic library skills of cataloging, reference interviews, and database creation to the next level to create a powerful way to serve our communities.

Why does customer service matter? On this show Asti Ogletree, Operations Manager at the East Central Arkansas Regional Library at the Cross County Branch, jumps right into this topic to explore just why customer service matters and how we can help our library teams make it happen. You won’t want to miss this conversation on what to do when we feel like scattering when a difficult patron walks through the door or even how to create “inspiration stations” to help us be our best selves when we are helping people. 

What do we do in libraries when patrons sexually harass staff? On this show, I speak with Katie McLain Horner, Head of Circulation and Reference at the Lake Bluff Public Library. She shares why personal experiences dealing with this issue led her to think and write about ways to support staff who experience this troubling problem. On this episode we learn how not to respond to sexual harassment, what steps to take if is someone reports an incident, how this can be especially sensitive for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ members of our staff, how important it is to ask staff what they need in these situations, and even what the documenting of sexual harassment incidents should look like. 

What are policies of yes and how might they help us serve our user groups? On this show Jennie Garner, Director of the North Liberty Library, shares what it means to think about policies in a way that creates flexibility, inclusion, empathy, and allyship with those we serve while including staff in policy development and training in a way that gets everyone to yes.