Connecting Librarian

Its Day 7 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge, the start of another week and I almost couldn’t think of anything to blog today.

So thanks to Kathryn over at Librarians Matter who posted about what she is doing with Facebook in her post Why I didn’t quit Facebook …but could still be a dummy. It reminded me that I have been meaning to talk about what I’m doing there.

When Facebook made its changes, opening up user accounts even more, there was a huge outcry right across the Net. I saw it in blog posts, articles, on the news and particularly on Twitter and if nothing else it stopped and made me think.

How do I use Facebook. Do I use it at all? What for?

In the past I had my Twitter feed going to Facebook, but in the lead up to all the controversy, in cleaning up my Facebook account, I mistakenly deleted this feed and couldn’t get it working again immediately.

I didn’t think too much about it until I had a few online/real-world friends saying that there were missing me on Facebook.  (that was very sweet)  I also found that the people I am connected with on Facebook are very different to those I connect with on Twitter. Twitter is very much a library related network for me.

So I’m still on Facebook, because it gives me the means of keeping in touch with what is happening in the lives of non-library related people I know personally  – kind of like a daily update and gives me the opportunity to provide my own daily update to those same people.

I only check Facebook once a day, unless I need to reply to a comment, but I find that its enough for me. I have locked down my privacy settings as tight as I can without actually leaving Facebook. Minimal apps, photos and feeds coming from my other presences, rather than any concerted effort to add content there.  Still, I like being able to peek through that window to the world of my non-library friends.

And I’ve fixed that Twitter feed issue, so I still only have to say what I’m doing once.

I can fully sympathise with those who have pulled out of Facebook. Its not working for them, so they got out – good on them. But its working for me, even if only in a minimally interactive way, so I’m staying – for now at least.

Its Day 6 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge, its Sunday and has been busy anyway – so what’s new, lol. 

Recently, my 8 year old son has taught me that there are different levels of motivation with different outcomes.

For example, in the last year he has committed to and learnt how to ride his bike without training wheels and to tie laces properly, once offered the right motivation.  Once offered the right reward, he quickly and with great dedication, committed himself to the task and achieved it more quickly than I expected.  He can also be motivated to do smaller things using smaller rewards.

Uploaded to Flickr by solidariat on March 10, 2009

Got me thinking about what motivates library staff to do the work they do. The money is nice but you would be better off working in another sector or another industry if it was just about the money. Being local is a big motivator for family people and having family friendly work policies – which works well in a public library employing mums who work locally.

But much as they are motivating, more often than not they only motivate you to turn up and clock in on time and do what you have to do. There are many library staff out there, who put in the extra time without extra pay and who go beyond the call of duty in their daily work. What’s their motivation? (can I bottle it please?)

For me, my motivation is the love of the job. I absolutely love what I do. I enjoy the work, the people, the challenges, the satisfaction I get and of course being local and getting paid don’t hurt either.

But what motivates other library staff? Can I find out what motivates the dedicated ones and help ensure that motivation continues? Can I find out what may motivate other less dedicated library staff, in order to help them fall in love with their jobs? Do I have the right or responsibility to do that or is it something that is or should be out of my control?  Or am I asking too much, expecting that more people can love their job as much as I do?