Blogs

There are still a couple weeks left to squeeze in a Palm Beach County Library Association/Library Cooperative Annual Summer Job Exchange!

Reminder to participants: Please send in visitor observations/evaluations to David Scott at the Greenacres Branch Library.

Photo by Aaron Schmidt

Two Palm Beach County librarians have been recognized by Florida's virtual reference service, "Ask a librarian."

The June awards, published today in the Ask a Librarian Blog, include:

• Fawn Van Allen, West Palm Beach Public Library for a brief exemplary chat, and
• Debora Stewart, Palm Beach Atlantic University for a teaching exemplary chat.

Visit the Ask a Librarian Blog to read about all of the June award winners.

New member, Christopher Hopkins, is an attorney and shareholder with Butzel Long in Palm Beach. Mr. Hopkins is a trial and appellate lawyer as well as a mediator. He has written articles for lawyers regarding Internet research, the use of Facebook and Twitter for marketing, and how to use the Internet to pick a jury. He is an avid reader of U.S. history books as well as contemporary fiction. In late October, Mr. Hopkins will be teaching a free clinic at the Summit Library on handling matters in small claims court.

Welcome, Christopher!

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

Grab your library card and get free admission to any Florida state park this weekend!

From floridastateparks.org:

"In conjunction with International Literacy Day on September 8 and National Library Card Signup Month, day-use entrance to all of Florida’s state parks will be free the weekend of September 11-13 for visitors who bring a library card, library book, or who donate a new or gently used family-friendly book."

New member and FSU MLIS student Julie Kahan tells us a little about herself.

I am not a native Floridian, I was born in Augusta, GA, but I consider South Florida to be my home. I graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2007 with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Spanish. I am currently pursuing a MLIS degree at FSU through the convenience of distance learning. I just started my fourth semester in the program and have really been enjoying the classes and the professors. I work part-time at the Gardens Branch Library as a student employee. In my free time, I enjoy reading, traveling, and attempting do-it-yourself projects.

Welcome, Julie!

Today’s managers need to bring many skills to the day-to-day management of the people who report to them. One of those skills is coaching. That’s because it’s through day-to-day coaching that you help your people monitor their progress and systematically move toward success. One of the common barriers to being more coach-like in your management style is the inability to shift your mindset from telling, advising, and solving to asking, drawing-out, and promoting self-discovery.

In this webinar, Linda Miller, master certified coach and Global Liaison for Coaching at the Ken Blanchard Companies, will show you how to adopt a coaching mindset and use focused conversations to create an environment that results in individual growth, purposeful action, and sustained improvement.

You’ll learn how to:
• Get into the coaching mindset
• Identify when coaching is the tool to use, and when it isn’t
• Consistently use behaviors that build trust and confidence
• Apply a foolproof structure for action and results
By learning how to assess yourself on a directive versus supportive scale you’ll discover how to challenge management beliefs in a way that creates an action-based mindset for moving forward.

Don’t miss this opportunity to develop your coaching skills; it is the best way to help accelerate others toward a higher level of performance. Register at http://www.webex.com/web-seminars/view_event/665064997.