This week started out with a few holes. Last week I emailed the technology coordinator, requesting 4 laptops for the Friends Board meeting on Monday. This correspondence went well. The technology coordinator stated that he would have the 4 laptops waiting for me in the conference room Monday night at 4 pm. Well, Monday at 4 pm, I am told that he is out with Covid. The administrative assistant helps me locate 4 working laptops with cords. All can pull up the Google Apps associated with the Friends email account and Canva.com. That is done. While I am finishing up that issue, someone asks where I will be located while I am not in the Friends meeting, which is held in the Book Nook. I use a room downstairs called the Champlin Room. This room is reserved by the Friends group on Wednesdays for weekly organizing and sorting of book donations. It is not reserved for use on the Monday nights I will be attending board meetings, either the Friends meeting on the last Monday of the month, or the Library’s Board meetings on the second Monday of the month. Tonight, a staff member will be using that room for a Knitting/Crochet group. I organized an email of the Monday dates that I will be needing that room for March to the end of this PFE. I am now upstairs in a computer lab that is used by the staff for meetings and ELA groups when needed. This library does have many rooms that are not in use every day. This fact of space, used space, amazes me.

I reached out to the director asking if there were any partnerships I could help cultivate. We chose the Senior Center. Which I will work on next PFE day.

My PFE is flying by. I have not yet been successful in partnering with another organization. This is still a work in progress with many pieces being played with the senior center and historical commission. The Friends group is really enjoying learning about the Google Drive applications and see great benefit from having all documents, financial reports in one place and accessible to all the board members. I will introduce the board members to their Canva.com account at the March meeting, plus get final approval for the April Join the Friends group drive. If new members sign up during April, they will be given a WWPL mug as a door prize.

I am having an issue with the Friends member that has control of the Facebook page. She does Facebook posting for the group. She has not been able to meet, we only communicate by email or phone calls. I am trying to gather the Friends account’s username and password which she states there are none. She states the account is an extension of her personal account. I am suggesting that the Friends create a new Facebook account using their email and a password they created then allowing this member to have access to that account. Spoke with the technology specialist, who agrees a new account needs to be created. Then we can merge the old account with the new one. He will be speaking to the Director about this issue.

Starting next week, I will be sitting at the Reference desk. This will allow me to gain reference experience while completing my work for the Friends group. I will be allowed to work on the Friends items between answering reference questions. This is great for me. I get the wiggles while I work. The reference questions will give me time to stop, wiggle my brain, and restart working. I also have 3 Friend board members scheduled time to learn Google Drive or Canva.com skills. This is still the most amazing part of this PFE. The members willingness to learn these news skills and that they see the benefits of a shared Google Drive and Canva.com account.

This week was a fun change. I did my Friends work in the morning while sitting at the reference desk. This gave me the opportunity to answer reference questions as needed. I did not answer most of the questions asked of me, but I did listen to the responses by the staff members working the desk. The worst part of the first day of anything is that you are not prepared for all the questions, nor do you know where everything is located, like specific folders, tally sheets, or appointment calendars. Next week I will be brave enough to answer a reference phone call.

I worked with two Friends Board members while they learned about Google Drive and Canva.com. One member uses an Apple iPad which does create a learning curve for me but not too much. There is still one Board member that has not been introduced to Google Drive or Canva.com. He needed to cancel his learning session this week. Hopefully he can come next week.

I did not hear back from the Senior Center during the past week. The Directors stated that the Senior Center presented their budget to the Council the night before which means their focus may have been on that instead of general inquiry from an unknown person.

A whole lot of things are happening at my PFE. The board has approved the wording for a new brochure which includes a Vision, Mission and Values statement, a description of what they do, and the impact volunteers make on their organization. This will now allow me to print and distribute the brochure, update their existing Facebook page with this new wording and publish their Google Site. This is a very big step in all my Goals in Media and Technology and Management and Leadership.

The Friends also approved the ‘My Library Haul Bag Borrow ‘program and the stencil. I proposed the words ‘Your Library Haul’ but they chose the word ‘My’ instead. Now they need to purchase the bag then I will spray the design and work with the Circulation and Cataloging departments to create new records. Very excited.

The Friends also talked about offering headphones and charging cords for patrons to borrow, which again I will work with the Circulation and Cataloging departments to start this process.

I sat at the reference desk in the morning but needed to move around to other areas of the building on Friends business. I work with one Friends board member on Canva.com skills then back up to the reference desk for a few hours. I did try to answer the phone which I did say the greeting correctly but could not answer the question correctly without assistance from another staff member.

I feel that my ideas for this group have not truly changed but expanded as my time with them has improved. The technology needs of the group are high. The introduction of Canva.com, Avery.com, and Google Drive is a good introduction to level. Facebook is still a challenge for the group, only because of lack of using social media and not because of technology skill level. Deciding on an online newsletter site, working between mailchamp.com and reachmail.com, I have decided to not use these sites yet. These sites have a bit of a learning curve which I am not strong at yet. I have instead created a Google Site for the newsletter which the Friends Board member can copy and paste using skills they have learned through Google Docs and Google Sheets. Plus, this will keep all records of the group in one area without multiple passwords and usernames.

The group is not very available for exploring partnerships with outside organizations. This has been a very long and continuous conversation with the group. The group members are very shy. This is the reason why speaking or approaching outside organizations is difficult for them. The restaurants and local businesses they do work with are stretching the limits of their comfort zone of external conversation. The only way of changing this is by a current or new Friends member to take over this area for the group. The Friends board and I are hoping that the April Membership Giveaway will gather a few new members that are willing to join the board and will help with their social media and outside partnership needs.