Productivity for Librarians

Samantha Schmehl Hines received her MS in Library and Information Science from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2003. She has worked as a cataloguer for the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids and as a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa City. In 2004 she was hired by Mansfield Library at the University of Montana-Missoula and is currently the Distance Education Coordinator/Social Science Librarian/Reference Desk Manager.

List of tables

About the author

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1: What is productivity?

History of productivity

What productivity is not

Why librarians? Why libraries?

Why you?

Chapter 2: Motivation

The big picture and setting goals

SMART goals

What if I have no goals?

Achieving balance

How to achieve balance at work

Keeping balance outside the workplace

Burnout and setting limits

Improving communication

How to say no

Making your workspace work

Finding the fun

A focus on the future

Rewards

Questions to consider

Chapter 3: Procrastination

Procrastination and perfectionism

Procrastination as avoidance

Procrastination as poor impulse control

How to minimise procrastination

Dealing with e-mail

Dealing with other distractions

The Pomodoro Technique

Procrastination as motivation?

The to-do list

To-do lists and organisation

Tools to help organise to-do lists

Getting started with to-do lists

To-do list as tool, not lifestyle

Questions to consider

Chapter 4: Time management

Time management quiz

Identifying peak productivity times

How to get out the door at the end of the day

Defending your time

Multitasking

Dealing with meetings

Smart multitasking

Office hours

Setting priorities

Delegating

Calendar tools

Not just the tools

Questions to consider

Chapter 5: Systems of productivity

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Getting Things Done

Never Check E-Mail in the Morning

Bit Literacy

The Four-Hour Workweek

Zen to Done

One Year to an Organized Work Life

Systems quiz

A cautionary note

Questions to consider

Chapter 6: Managing for productivity

First take the mote from your own eye

Trust is the key

Avoiding micromanagement

Communication is everything

Availability

Breaking the cycle of crisis management

Burnout and the organisation

Anticipate the future and plan for it now

Questions to consider

Chapter 7: Sticking with productivity

Take your time

Visualise the change

Accountability is a virtue

Creating focus

The media diet

The review process

The mind dump

Flexibility

Trust your system

Rewards revisited

Don’t break the chain

Resistance to change

Should I quit?

Is that all there is?

Questions to consider

Chapter 8: Resource guide

General online resources

Motivation

Procrastination

Time management

Systems

Others that might be of interest:

Articles on the application of Seven Habits

General articles and books of interest

The final word

Chapter 9: Wrapping up

Bibliography

Index