January is a great time to look ahead and think about your organizational and professional goals for the new year. Whether you’re planning for a big change, or simply want to improve your workflow and sharpen your skills in 2022, Springy HQ is here to support you! As such, we’ve put together a list of ideas that will help you elevate your skills, and make your organization look good while you're at it!
Get Technical - Learn basic HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap
We know this sounds intimidating but learning some very basic web development concepts will not only help you understand how websites work in general but will also allow you to make some simple, yet impactful customizations to your Springshare tools.
- Get started with a training session on adding CSS to your LibGuides System, it goes over the very basics of CSS, including essential concepts and vocabulary.
- Go a little deeper a CSS and Bootstrap training that will show you how to style and customize your LibApps sites! We’ve included some helpful links to free resources and all of the code tidbits we use in the training session.
- Try it out! Once you understand the basics, try changing the look and feel of your LibCal homepage by adding a little bit of customization. This LibCal training session is all about changing the look and feel of your site. Follow along for step-by-step instructions, and don’t worry, we’ve included all the code snippets so you can try it out on your site.
Add it to your resume: “Basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap.” and “Comfortable using and customizing Springshare tools.”
Become the Most Efficient and Organized You
Here at Springy HQ, we don't just develop and support LibApps software, we also use it daily! One of our most used products is LibAnswers. Beyond just chatting and replying to customer tickets, we utilize many of the features to streamline our communication and operational procedures on an individual and organizational level. Here are some helpful tricks for using LibAnswers to transform your reference workflow into a well-oiled help-desk machine.
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- Create individual or systemwide responses to common questions with macros. This is one of the best ways to improve accuracy and efficiency in your LibAnswers system because you can simply apply the appropriate macro instead of typing out the same response again and again!
- Admin-level users can create macros and share them with all users systemwide, and regular users can access shared macros and create individual macros to reuse when needed!
- Watch this four-minute SpringyU video to learn how to set up your own macros.
- Add some metadata to your system with tags! If you work in a large library with a lot of ticket and chat activity, adding tags is a great way to help organize and spot trends in your reference interactions. Once tags are set up, you can use them to browse tickets by subject, a feature we know you’ll appreciate.
- Learn how to manage tags with this quick SpringyU video!
Tip: when you create a macro, you can tell the system to add a tag to your response automatically.
Add it to your resume: “Experience providing reference and technical support via LibChat and LibAnswers ticketing system.” or “Streamlined organizational reference procedures and workflow.”
Step up Your Marketing Game with LibConnect
Whether you work in a public, academic, or special library, keeping library users in the loop is undoubtedly one of your highest priorities. Improving your marketing skills is a fantastic way to grow your own professional skill set in a way that is useful for both your patrons and your organization!
- Learn how to create operational and marketing email templates in LibConnect with this recorded training session.
- Try it out: update your monthly newsletter template! Customize one of our LibConnect templates to fit your library's needs. We suggest including a "staff picks "section, monthly database feature, and any important updates to your covid-19 procedures.
- Create a separate newsletter template for specific audiences! As an example, your library's archives or special collections may have enough news for their own monthly or quarterly email. Segmenting groups in this way will ensure that your patrons hear about topics that interest them.
Add it to your resume: "Use LibConnect to create and send email newsletters and targeted email marketing campaigns to support library outreach and engagement."
Connect with the Springshare Lounge
It's easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day operations of your home institution but don't forget, there's a whole world of librarians out there! The Lounge is a user-driven site where you can post questions, chime in with answers, and read the latest Springshare product updates. As an example, you might be curious to hear how other libraries handle their publishing workflows and permissions in LibGuides. Hop on over to the Springshare Lounge to join!
Add it to your resume: "Active participant in the greater library community." or "Follow library-specific technology trends and innovations."
Still with us? Great! Final step: bookmark this post and then go ahead and map out your professional goals for 2022. We hope some of our Springy ideas make the list!