As Michael Stephens recently noted, he and I had the pleasure of keynoting the St. Joseph County Public Library's staff in-service day. We had a great time, and I was very impressed with the events the staff committee had planned for the day, the staff in general, and their willingness to explore new ideas. Plus, I got to watch Michael return "home," which was a special pleasure unto itself, and watch him hit some real high notes in the presentation.

Yesterday I received a really nice thank you letter from the SJCPL Staff Day Committee in which they mentioned a few different things they have implemented because of our talk. In addition to the fact that it's letters like these that make it all worthwhile, I want to highlight the fact that SJCPL's Circulation Department is running with the idea of a "no log," except they have taken it the next step and turned the log into a wiki. Why? To let the entire staff easily and efficiently "log service problems and work together toward positive, creative ways to address these issues." The Department even received a special "Rewards & Recognitions" Team Trophy for their proactive approach - like this one - to meeting challenges!

If your library wants to try something like this, you can do it for free using PBWiki. You can even password protect the wiki so that only your staff can see it. It's a great example of a way to learn about some of these new online tools in a "safe" way. (Just remember not to put private patron - or other confidential - data on a third-party site.)

I'm late to the game on these, but I want to make sure I highlight a couple of really great initiatives from incoming, blogging, and Flickring ALA president Leslie Burger (and yes, it still feels good to be able to use all three of those adjectives in regards to the ALA President!). Less than a month to go!

1. "ALA President-Elect Leslie Burger will host a gathering for bloggers in her suite at the Hilton on Saturday June 24th after the Scholarship Bash (starting around 10:30 pm and going until midnight). It will be an informal event, great for networking, unwinding and catching up with bibliobloggers both old and new." [Library Garden] Click on the link to RSVP in the comments or via email!
2. Leslie has also asked me to help publicize her call for stories about libraries transforming their communities (her theme for the year). From her letter:

   "Libraries Transform Communities is the theme I have chosen for my presidential initiative. We know that when libraries are transformed either by new service programs, renovations, or new buildings that the communities they serve are in turn transformed. Part of the initiative is to create a Transformation Tool Kit, which will have tips and ideas for how to transform your library, and stories from libraries that have been transformed.

   This is where I need your help, send in your transformation stories and photographs. Explain briefly how your library been changed? How have your library users and community been transformed? The stories and photographs that you submit will be featured on my website, http://lb.princetonlibrary.org.

   Send all materials to Romina Gutierrez at rgutierrez@princetonlibrary.org as soon as possible.

   I hope you share your transformation stories with me and with the library community!"

I'll be in New Orleans for this month's ALA Conference (conference wiki here), and I hope to blog quite a bit from it, including from some of Leslie's events.