Director Finalists' Interviews
Monday, August 17th at 6:30 pm the Winnetka Northfield Public Library District
will hold interviews or presentations over Zoom for their new Director.
Click this link to find the directions on how to join the meeting.
January 2020 Meeting: Public Comments from a Retired Librarian
Above a former youth librarian from the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District offers civil, dignified comments on the sort of Director this library needs.
More January Public Comments
Bob Leonard on Genealogy
Chip
Carol shares her appreciation of the Board's hard work.
January Library Board Meeting, Public Comments
Sorry for the delay. Here's a couple of the videos of the January 20, 2020 Library Board Meeting.
I apologize for not adding a title and simple effects, but my iMovie isn't working.
They Spent How Much?
Here's a link to a Winnetka Talk/Chicago Tribune article on some of the expenses the Winnekta-Northfield Public Library District spent on keeping the former Library Director.
Note that when an organization needs to replace an employee, that commonly costs between $2000 and $7000, if not more. If just half of the 93 employees who left were due to the leadership at the library then tax payers probably spent $100,000 more - at minimum.
Note that when an organization needs to replace an employee, that commonly costs between $2000 and $7000, if not more. If just half of the 93 employees who left were due to the leadership at the library then tax payers probably spent $100,000 more - at minimum.
Results of the 2019 Employee Engagement Survey, Part 1
That response is 42.7% below the national average.
What is a Reference Librarian?
What is a Reference Librarian? Do we still need them?
A Reference Librarian has studied a wide range of reference materials, both in print and online and knows the proper procedure for helping a patron track down information.
With Google or Bing, many believe there doesn't seem to be much need for Reference Librarians anymore, but I argue that's not true.
A Reference Librarian should be able to help you better define your thoughts, show you how to access the information (and not just go to Wikipedia), provide extra pertinent information and offer to help you in the future.
Reference Librarians can:
The skills take a long time to develop so it's sad to see that this weekend NO ONE trained librarian was on duty at the Northfield library. While the staff was helpful and friendly, I'd hope that a district like Winnetka-Northfield could employ enough professionals so that there's at least one person who's studied Reference Services on duty.
I suppose we saved money this weekend, but is that why we have a library?
A Reference Librarian has studied a wide range of reference materials, both in print and online and knows the proper procedure for helping a patron track down information.
With Google or Bing, many believe there doesn't seem to be much need for Reference Librarians anymore, but I argue that's not true.
A Reference Librarian should be able to help you better define your thoughts, show you how to access the information (and not just go to Wikipedia), provide extra pertinent information and offer to help you in the future.
Reference Librarians can:
- Tell you what the weather was like in Denver on May 12th, 1902
- Tell you when English women stopped riding sidesaddle
- Show you how to use ReferenceUSA to analyze whether there's a need for another Chinese restaurant in a town, see the revenue of all the bakeries in a city, see the ethnicities and genders of the executives in a company and a lot more
- Help you refine your thesis and access information for a research paper
- Conduct a professional reference interview that helps you articulate your needs and helps her find the information you need
- Find out if there are any fjords in the US
- Explain what samizdat is
- Lead you to trustworthy sources of medical information -- and so much more.
The skills take a long time to develop so it's sad to see that this weekend NO ONE trained librarian was on duty at the Northfield library. While the staff was helpful and friendly, I'd hope that a district like Winnetka-Northfield could employ enough professionals so that there's at least one person who's studied Reference Services on duty.
I suppose we saved money this weekend, but is that why we have a library?
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