MLS Service: Consulting

by Jeannie Dilger-Hill, MLS

MLS Consultants have plenty of variety in their work.  Whether it’s donning a hard hat to visit a new library site or negotiating knowledge management issues, their work with MLS member libraries is always diverse and interesting.

The Consulting Team consists of David Seleb, Director of Consulting and Continuing Education, and three Library Services Consultants:  Jeannie Dilger-Hill, Gretel Stock-Kupperman, and Christina Stoll.  Together with the Continuing Education staff, they make up the Consulting and Continuing Education Department at MLS (http://www.mls.lib.il.us/consulting/).

Typical (And Not So Typical) Questions
One major function of the Consulting Team is to answer questions for members, serving as “librarians’ librarians.”  Here are some recent questions they’ve answered:

• A school librarian was looking to have an event this school year on the topic of cartooning.  Christina connected her with the Career Services Coordinator at the American Academy of Art, who has students taking cartoon art classes, who could serve as speakers for the event.

• A for-profit academic library was looking for a way to connect with colleagues in the Chicago area.  Gretel contacted all the for-profit schools in the area and arranged a networking meeting to start the conversation.

• A new public library director was interested in revitalizing a Friends group.  Jeannie found some resources on the FOLUSA (Friends of Libraries USA) website, www.folusa.org, and also mentioned an upcoming CE event on that very topic, presented by FOLUSA Executive Director Sally Reed.

• A university library was looking for assistance on disaster planning resources.  Gretel found a number of disaster planning tools as well as continuing education events to educate the director and staff.

• CLASS (Children’s Librarians Association of the South Suburbs) requested assistance from MLS in securing food coupons as Summer Reading Prizes.  Christina touched base with a contact at the Daily Herald, who was able to secure Panera Bread Kids’ Meal coupons for this year, and hopes to offer more next year.

• A community college needed help with revising their copyright policy.  Gretel used her experiences writing such policies and research from other institutions to help this college get started.

• A public library interested in building a parking lot wanted to know if there were any guidelines regarding the number of parking spaces for public libraries.  Consulting Serving Our Public: Standards for Illinois Public Libraries, Jeannie found recommendations based on population size and building size.

• A new museum library was looking for ways to automate their library.  Gretel visited to discuss the full scope of their needs, and sent back suggestions after conducting research.

• A school media specialist wanted figures on recommended per pupil expenditures for library materials, to present to her administration.  While there are no statewide or national guidelines, Jeannie was able to refer her to average per pupil expenditure statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Grants
Reviewing grants takes up a good portion of the Consultants’ time, especially in late April and early May, when LSTA (Library Services and Technology) grants are due.  This year, the Consultants worked with 74 members libraries, and reviewed grants on:

• career workshops for Spanish-speaking immigrants who have no place to turn for resume and interview skills training,
• digitization of a key collection of three dimensional objects on American history,
• a cooperative program to promote school and public library services at neighborhood block parties throughout the summer,
• a 6 week literacy program for pre-school aged children in a community with no public library.

In addition, this year MLS Consultants worked with Acorn Public Library District, Frankfort Public Library District, Indian Prairie Public Library District, and North Park University Library on a grant to explore the customer experience in the library, with the goal of creating a set of best practices for customer service.

Communication
Another part of the Consulting Team’s job is communication with members.  Christina, Gretel, and Jeannie rotate responsibility for writing, editing, and publishing MLS E-nnounce (http://www.mls.lib.il.us/ennounce/archives.asp), which is the system’s primary communication tool.  This requires finding content, interviewing members and staff, writing articles, turning the articles into web pages, editing, and publishing the newsletter via an email distribution list.  Writing the Member Spotlight column helps the Consultants get to know the members, and provides another opportunity for face-to-face communication.  Rotating responsibilities helps distribute the workload, and also allows each consultant to meet different members and member organizations. If you'd like your library to be highlighted in our Member Spotlight column, contact the Consultants at consultants@mls.lib.il.us.

Networking
The Consulting Team tries to meet as many members as possible.  Organizing and attending networking meetings is one way the consultants accomplish this.  The Consultants regularly attend meetings with adult programmers, readers’ advisors, reference librarians, museum librarians, public library administrators, and children’s librarians, just to name a few.  For a complete list of MLS networking groups, see http://www.mls.lib.il.us/networking_groups.asp.

In addition to meeting one-on-one with our members, attending meetings helps the consultants keep abreast of the latest trends and issues that MLS members are facing.  Consultants also use this opportunity to gather ideas for workshops and services MLS should offer.

Variety Is the Spice of Life
The Consultants agree that working with MLS members is truly rewarding.  Gretel Stock-Kupperman serves as a liaison to academic and special libraries.  As a former member, she enjoys being able to offer services to all library types and developing new programs to meet member needs.

Christina Stoll utilizes her expertise to work with special, school and youth librarians.  She says the most rewarding part of her job is helping individual librarians and library staff at member libraries by answering their questions, finding resources, or serving as a sounding board.

Jeannie Dilger-Hill, who works primarily with public and school libraries, says the best part of her job is visiting member libraries and getting to know the staff and their needs.  She encourages members to invite the Consultants for a visit at any time by calling (630) 734-5130 or emailing consultants@mls.lib.il.us. 

Consultants Jeannie Dilger-Hill, Christina Stoll, and Gretel Stock-Kupperman, with Department Director David Seleb.

Published September 19, 2007 in vol. 1, iss. 17 [View]