Sorkinesque (a day in the life, part I)

July 29, 2009 at 6:04 pm (ALA Annual 2009, Twitter, blogging, collection development, conferences, databases, day in the life, humor, leadership, management, news, personal, philosophizing, professional development, reader's advisory, traditional library services)

Intro/Backstory
Yes, it really did take me that long to finish and post those meeting minutes!  The reasons why will become apparent shortly.  But first, some backstory.

Last week various colleagues posted the news in various forums that another one of those “day in the library life” blogging events was going to take place.  I love those things.  I never sign up for them, though, because, realistically, if I stopped to write down everything I was doing in a given moment, I’d never get anything done.  And then I thought, well, what better way to demonstrate that a normal day in my life is very much like an episode of Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night than to take a crack at it?

[Those of you who don't know from Sports Night are cordially invited to check out the DVD and see what all the fuss is about - even though starting with anything other than the pilot might seem counterintuitive, I highly recommend starting with "Dear Louise," "Shoe Money Tonight," and "Small Town" to get a feel for the characters, their workplace, and their relationship to each other. It's a wonderful show about a close-knit group of professionals who are extremely passionate about what they do, to the point of appearing like complete ciphers to folks who don't work in their field. Sound like any other professional folks you know? :) ]

So, without further ado, here is a reconstruction, based on my frantically scribbled notes, of everything that took place in my library life on Monday, July 27, 2009.

Library Alchemy: A Day in the Life

Part I – Off-desk

9:30:  Check the desk schedule, add my desk shifts to my Outlook calendar.  Exchange witty banter with colleagues.  Laugh self into pancreatic pain.

9:40:  Finish up ALA expense report and bring it to my boss.  Chat with boss about database stuff, which segues into a philosophical discussion of future staffing models for the reference department.  Return to office.  Field questions from colleague about the exact same stuff was just discussing with boss.  More philosophy ensues.

10:00 Open up e-mail.  Answer the time-sensitive stuff.  Answer flurry of questions about Twitter and HootSuite.  Get another chunk of the Twitter gang signed up with HootSuite accounts and schedule trainings for those who want it.  Discover the “most popular Tweets” feature in HootSuite and squee over it.  Put aside a whack of database reference cards to give to a branch colleague at the Friday meeting.  More e-mail with various blog staffers in an attempt to coordinate some guest posts for September. Decline to take a call from a vendor and proceed to feel guilty about it.

A colleague drops by to check in with me about the school tour I’m giving this afternoon.  The group  has changed its mind several times on whether or not it wants catalog and database training.  The colleague and I decide that asking them what they want is the best solution.  Photocopy catalog and database training handouts for tour group.  Run over training in my head while at the photocopier.  A colleague walks by, greeting me with the mysterious phrase, “PEANUT SAUCE!”  I respond with the countersign, “SCALLIONS!”  Tamp down nervousness about giving catalog and database training, which never seems to go away no matter how many tours and trainings I do.  Accept that fear is normal.  Recite the Litany Against Fear anyway.

11:00 Break time. Decide to take a walk around the building. Ask colleague how her Friday evening presentation went. Ask another colleague about bloggish things. Say hello and good morning to countless other colleagues. Receive a lovely gift: an inspirational photo of a dandelion with the phrase “I release all that does not serve me” written on it. Hang photo on bulletin board.

11:15 Head over to book order. Discover that all of the non-fiction books mentioned in the 7/26 New York Times Book Review have either already been purchased, or are on order. Do vague skippy victory dance. Dive into the other ordering tools with gusto.  Decide that I should probably call back the vendor whose call I dodged and just tell her “thanks, no thanks” right up front. Get vendor’s voice mail. Quietly rejoice. Deliver polite, professional message and hang up, feeling 100s of pounds lighter.

12:00 Lunch. Chat with colleague in lunchroom about violins and music librarianship. Consume leftover peanut noodles with zest and start reading Work the System. Approve wholeheartedly of its emphasis on systems thinking and personal responsibility. Speculate on how its principles could be applied to my work life. Finish peanut noodles and head to the post office to mail a package to my mom. Study lines for the play I’m currently acting in while stuck in line at the post office.

1:00  Log into Eleventh Stack. Clean out spam filter, look at stats. Start rearranging widgets in sidebar based on a conversation taking place on the blog team distribution list. Start draft of next week’s blog post. Proofread a few scheduled posts. Read the post du jour and marvel again at how many awesome, creative people I’m surrounded with.

Log into the library’s Twitter account. Check for new followers. Block spam followers. Read followers’ tweets. Make mental note to remind everybody to use #pittsburgh in their tweets. Ping the rest of the Twitter team about HootSuite signup and training.

2:00 Meet the school tour group in the teen department. Immediately lose all normal vision when contact lens slides off center. Attempt several times to correct this subtly. Fail miserably. Start tour anyway, blind. Ignore rude noises produced by high school males and charitably assume that they are involuntary. Give tour of first and second floors, with special emphasis on Job and Career Center, based on group leader’s interests.

Ask about catalog and database training. Teacher says, “Whatever you think is best.” Decide to give the best catalog and database training ever and lead students to computer lab. Turn on projector. Wait. Fiddle with projector, silently coaxing it to cooperate. Decide projector has developed selective deafness. Give training without projector, using the computer at the lab attendant’s desk. Give thanks once again for theater and improv training.

3:00 Reassure long line of patrons waiting outside computer lab that yes, they can use the computers now. Check e-mail and discover that the wireless is down. Discover, also, that there are questions about my ALA reimbursement form. Silently consider starting a goat farm.

Start planning for Friday’s database committee meeting. Finish writing up June EREC meeting minutes, send to group, and post to ACLA wiki. Skim newsreader. Read an article that makes my heart sink and e-mail it to pertinent (and impertinent) parties. Skim “kept as new” items and decide to keep them marked because someday I will pay them the full attention they deserve, really!

Run downstairs to get coffee. Run into teen patron at coffeeshop. Engage in casual, stealth readers’ advisory with said teen. Run into hard-to-schedule colleague and set up a training time that is technically after my regular work hours, but is the only thing that will fit her schedule. Run back upstairs to my office.

Make list of tasks for my intern to work on on Tuesday. Walk down the hall to resolve the questions about my ALA reimbursement. Notice that the hallway smells strongly of french fries. Observe to colleague that, if the library were a musical, it would be at this point that we all burst into song about the joy of french fries. Stand still with colleague for a few seconds and imagine what this would sound like. Clear up questions about ALA reimbursement. Walk back to my office, inhaling deeply and smiling to self.

See? And we haven’t even made it to the reference desk yet! That deserves its own special installment, which I hope to deliver on Friday. Stay tuned!

1 Comment

ALA 2009 Recap

July 14, 2009 at 3:32 pm (ALA Annual 2009, Emerging Leaders 2009, Library 2.0, conferences, fundraising, innovation, leadership, management, professional development)

And we’re back to what passes for normal!  Here is a quick recap of other ALA goings-on.

Emerging Leaders Salon

This was a post-emergence session designed for us to plan out our next steps for getting more involved in ALA.  Although I haven’t yet updated the portion of the wiki devoted to this, I know what I’m going to write, which is half the battle.  My main interest is learning more about ALA Council, because it is either praised or reviled, with very little middle ground.  If there’s a polarized element in our profession, I want to be there as an independent embedded journalist, as it were.  So, you’ll see random posts from me in 2009-10 about ALA Council, how it works, etc.

Salon was also the opportunity for fellow Emergent Christine Ayar and I to stand up and make our modest proposal pitch:  given the state of the economy, we thought it would be a nice gesture if the 2009 Emerging Leaders class sponsored somebody from the 2010 class.  There were enough of us in the cohort that a sponsorship could be raised with a modest individual contribution, but the prospect of standing up in front of people and asking them for money made me a little nervous! 

Much to my relief, the response was positive, and many people were willing to make contributions on the spot.  And now that I’ve had experience with the sort of thing our development folks do all day, albeit on a miniature scale, I have a whole different perspective about it.  If I really want to keep fundraising on my list of competencies to develop (and I really, really do), I have a lot of research to do, and a lot of advice to get.  Best of all, though, it makes me feel really good to be part of a group that also resonates with the idea of giving back out of the good fortune we have received.

Street Smarts A Plus

I attended “Street Smarts A Plus:  Developing a New Generation of Urban Public Librarians” – you can read the handouts here, but they only contain one speaker’s notes – I hope that changes, as it was an intriguing panel indeed. Most fascinating to me was the info about the Queens Public Library’s Page Fellows program, to which I’d give you a link, but can’t really find one source that does it justice.

I’m keenly interested in the future of libraries, and this panel dovetailed with our EL group’s project. We’re committed to trying to attract the passionate, versatile diverse people urban libraries are going to need. What I would’ve liked to hear more about, though, were the challenges of an urban public library, and how to prepare for them. I suppose I probably should’ve gone to the “Shooter in the Library!” panel for that, but I had a conflict.

At any rate, the slides that are available are very good! Here’s hoping the other speakers choose to update.

Emerging Leaders Subcommittee Meeting

Seeing a trend here? I just can’t let it go. In fact, I’d really like to serve on this subcommittee as part of my 2-year committment to EL, but I need to a) formally ask, and b) find out if I can participate virtually, at least for one of the two 2010 conferences.

A number of other ELs were there, and we discussed different ways to change and improve the program.  It was interesting to hear other perspectives I hadn’t considered, and extremely happymaking to hear the young lady from NMRT (whose name I do not recall, more’s the pity) say that NMRT will sponsor automatic NMRT membership for everybody selected.  This is what ALA 2.0 should look like, I think:  divisions and roundtables and committees working across boundaries to advance common interests!

Because I’m me, you know I’m wondering about ways to bring the EL experience down to state and local levels.  I think I want to get through this play first – lines to learn and all – but September seems like a good time to start having brainstorming sessions with folks who might be interested.  Leave some room for another LAV crazy idea in your Outlook calendar. :)

Exhibits/ Vendors

I attended at least one vendor breakfast, and hit the exhibits with a number of super-secret assignments to perform.  Vendor relations is yet another one of those things that I never thought I’d do – it doesn’t come up in library school, and it didn’t hit my radar until I came up to Reference, so I’m coming to it a ways into my career.  Still, it’s been valuable and educational, and I learn something from every single conversation, both what to do, and what not to do.

My favorite vendors are the ones who respond to customer input, are easy to reach, and understand that I’m not always available to take their calls.  In fact, the most valuable part of dealing with vendors is, again, boundary setting:  being able to express what you do and do not need, learning to say no in a kind way, and being able to communicate that yes, you do want to talk to them…just not right now!

Sales is a difficult job, and dealing with salespeople is part of many librarians’ lives.  I think it would be great if, profession-wide, we talked about this a bit more.  If this conversation is happening, and I’m not in on it, can somebody point me to it?  Please and thanks!

So, there’s that.  It’s going to be an interesting fall around here, that’s for certain.  I wouldn’t have it any other way…

When next we come back, I’ll have descended from the clouds and returned to earth.  Library world can be very airy.  It’s good to soar…but it’s time for your alchemist to get grounded.

Leave a Comment

Emerging Victorious

July 11, 2009 at 12:43 am (23ThingsN@, ALA Annual 2009, Emerging Leaders 2009, conferences, leadership, personal, philosophizing, presentations, professional development, theatre, website redesign)

For the win, as the kids say.  I’ve got the certificate and the pin.  I have emerged. 

It’s more like leveling up in an RPG or PVP.  Congratulations elven mage!  You have earned the requisite number of hit points.  Here are  more skill points to spend in the areas you see fit.  Also, have some tokens and gold.

All joking aside, it went well.  I’ve taken video of our poster session on the Flip camera I borrowed from IT.  Now I just have to figure out how to upload it.  That may have to wait until I’ve come home.  I love the Flip, though, and will be saving up for one asap.

The bulk of today’s workshops were spent reflecting on our experience, what we’ve learned, and where we’ll go from here, so I thought I’d touch on those elements briefly.

The EL Project Experience

I deliberately chose a project that was not in an area I normally work in:  marketing.  It’s something I’m very interested in, but don’t get nearly enough of an opportunity to dabble with.  The group’s task was to re-prioritize the marketing plan for LibraryCareers.org .  The original marketing plan was created by a prior Emerging Leaders’ group in 2007; our task was to reassess their work, in light of the time that had passed, and re-rank their priorities.  Of course, being the overachievers that we collectively are, we decided that it would be cool to actually start some of the tasks and try a few things.  You can read all about our work at our project page on the EL wiki.

If you’re cynical, you might be asking yourself, “Er, why are we trying to encourage people to become librarians right now?”  Even I can’t candycoat the notion that, in the short term, things aren’t looking so hot.  I, however, am committed to library science for the long haul.  People will be needed to keep libraries going.  Fewer people, probably, I”ll grant you.  But if that’s the case, then we want the absolute best and brightest.  Anyone who would like to engage in a spirited discussion on those points is cordially invited to comment.  You might want to check out my comments on librarians’ salaries, too, in my report – we have a LONG way to go, and we should NOT stop fighting for better pay  However, we HAVE made progress.  The data is there.  It just needs to be organized and presented in a comparative fashion, so folks can see the gains, however modest.

What I’ve Learned

This is, I think, the part that doesn’t mesh neatly with what the program’s creators intended.

I applied for Emerging Leaders during a very challenging period of my life.  I had just experienced two very personal losses, and my confidence was at ebb tide.  I was engaging in what has been a habitual pattern for me:  trying to compensate for personal difficulties with yet another professional success.  I thought that if I could just Be More Brilliant (patent pending), it wouldn’t matter quite so much that I had failed so miserably in other areas of my life.

This project, while utterly fabulous, turned out to be the assignment that convinced me I had to take better care of myself, or I was going to burn out in a hurry.  Between my normal project workload, the slowly blossoming library budget crisis, and the larger-than-expected enrollment in 23 Things ‘N @, the last thing I needed was one more project. And yet, I had taken it on.

So, basically, I had two choices. I could quit, or I could figure out once and for all how to take better care of myself so that I would have the strength to deliver on all the promises I’d made.

I started with sleep. 8 hours, whether I needed it or not, every night. That was a habit that took a while to build, but I could feel the difference once I’d created it. LAV with adequate sleep is so much more effective than LAV without sleep.

Next, diet and exercise. I’ve been vegetarian for about 1.5 years, and have been cutting back on dairy to see if I can transition to a vegan diet and still be healthy. I made a new rule for myself: I have to either walk TO work or walk home FROM work – no exceptions, no excuses. And I began a yoga practice that began paying off almost immediately, especially since it’s mostly restorative yoga – the last thing I needed was one more activity where I was striving instead of nurturing.

The next step was to add more fun things back into my life, so that I was more than my job. This was really really hard for me. I’m so very much in love with what I do, and it’s really easy for me to take on more and more library work–both paid and volunteer–because it means so much to me. But other things mean a lot to me, too, and I’d been skimping on them to the point that, when I started adding them back, I didn’t realized how much I’d missed them.

So, I’m writing a lot more now. Plays mostly, some poems. I’ve entered some of my work in a short play festival – I’ll let you know how that turns out – and I’ll be starring in a play a friend wrote, to fulfill a theater residency he won. I’ve become seriously artsy-craftsy, both at things I already enjoyed, like needlework and decoupage, and things I’d never tried before, like painting and drawing.

The result of all this personal tinkering is that I’m a lot more interesting to be around, I think. I’m also a much more effective librarian: I’m managing my time better, getting things done more efficiently and effectively, and taking a lot more of the normal daily stress and drama in stride (those of you who miss the dramatic goat farm declarations will be reassured to hear that they haven’t vanished entirely). I feel a million times more confident than I ever have, because I’ve gone a long way toward solving the biggest problem I face: how to balance LAV the fiercely brilliant and creative librarian with LAV the ridiculously lovable, comically flawed human being who, like everyone else on this dotty blue planet, is simply trying to make her way the best she can.

Quo Vadimus?

So, now what?

That’s a good question.  I honestly feel now like I could do absolutely anything.  So what do I want?

I”m pretty happy where I am, doing what I’m doing.  Pittsburgh rocks, Washington press corps snickering aside.  I’d like to stay here for the next 40 years, work my way up the food chain, and get the big gold watch when I finally retire.  It remains to be seen whether or not the economy will support this endeavor.

That being said, what I really want to do, regardless of what titles I may hold or official responsibilities I may have, is to create environments where people can be their best selves.  I want to help people become the best they can be.  I want to help them achieve their goals and then to go beyond those goals to tap potential theydon’t even realize they have.  I want to inspire, motivate, and induce side-splitting laughter when appropriate.  I want to be a good listener, the kind of person a colleague can come to when s/he needs advice.  I want to call shenanigans on bad behavior and take concrete steps to make it better.

Mostly, though, I want to be a good person, ethical and fair, kind and wise and loving.  If you can do that, I reckon, everything else falls into place exactly where it should be.

And with that, having discharged my official conference duties, I”m exercising the right not to blog.  I’m going to visit the exhibits, and see some panels, and attend some meetings, and reunite with classmates and old friends, and talk to random people on shuttles and in coffeeshops in the hopes of making new connections.  I’m going to walk around Chicago and soak up its utter fabulosity, and I’m going to start memorizing my lines for my play.

Mostly, though, I’m going to enjoy having emerged.  I make rather the fetching butterfly, if I do say so myself.

I’ll fight wih that video footage next week.  Take care, and be well.

Yrs, etc.,

the incorrigible alchemist

6 Comments

Bookstore love

January 28, 2009 at 2:16 am (ALA Midwinter 2009, conferences, personal)

All that growth and learning can take a lot out of an alchemist, so today I made it a point to visit Tattered Cover, a local independent bookstore.   It was a feast for the eyes and a treat for the soul, with a wide range of books and gifts for all sorts of tastes.   On top of that, the entire store looked like a library.  From the large wooden circulation desk at check-out to the old-fashioned desks and filing cabinets used by the staff to the hardwood floors, high ceilings, and wide windows, the whole place reeked of bookish nostalgia.   As if that weren’t enough, there were subtle touches to indicate the store had been planned with care and love, like the wooden pew smack-dab in the middle of the religion section, or the cardboard cassette tape of The Lord of the Rings hanging near the sci-fi/fantasy section (as read by the Pope, run time of three days). 

Meandering through Tattered Cover felt like coming home somehow, and I made sure to support the local economy in a fashion that could arguably be described as A Bit Much.  It was worth it, though.  My only regret was that my party and I had already eaten lunch, as the store also features a sumptuous cafe with plenty of vegetarian options.   If you’re ever in Denver, you simply have to go, as it’s a perfect example of the kind of past even the most forward-thinking library would do well to preserve, in atmosphere, if not in particulars.

And that’s Midwinter in a nutshell!  I think it’s all still too fresh and exciting to try to sum up – suffice to say, I’ve learned a lot, and I’m returning to CLP with ideas, energy, and enthusiasm.  Besides, anybody can write a “what I learned” post – the real test will be seeing whether or not I can put all of these experiences into action.  I have faith. :)

Tomorrow’s a travel day, and I suspect most of Thursday will be spent getting back into the swing of things, so I’ll see you Friday, maybe.  I’ve already got a tweetfest planned, so blogging on top of that might be alchemy overkill.

Besides, I’d rather hear what’s been going on with you.  What’s new in your library world since I’ve been away?  Any good reference questions?  Brilliant ideas?  Reading any good books lately?

Leave a Comment

Midwinter Monday Miscellany

January 27, 2009 at 1:03 am (ALA Midwinter 2009, Emerging Leaders 2009, Library 2.0, conferences, leadership, management, professional development, social justice, wikis)

Today’s sessions included:

ALA Recruitment Assembly

Some of the Emerging Leader projects, including my team’s initiative, are tied to the Assembly’s work, so I thought it would be good to show up and see how they operate.  We discussed the various team projects, and I gave a summary of our team’s initial efforts.  I really enjoyed hearing about one team’s work expanding the recruitment wiki, a tool ALA members can use in their own recruitment efforts or in conjunction with their community partnerships.

Do you recruit people to librarianship, or to ALA? It’s something I love doing, mostly because I believe in libraries and library workers, and all the things we can do. Things don’t look great in the short term, to be certain. If, however, you pull back and take the long view, a world where information keeps expanding exponentially is a world that’s going to need a lot of information professionals. And you can’t have professionals without the word “profess,” which would be my first pick for a word to replace “recruitment.”

At any rate, here’s a semi-hypothetical question for you: if you had five minutes to talk about libraries and librarianship, what would you say? Would you be willing to say it on video? In a podcast? Would you prefer to write a humanifesta? What’s the best way to get the word out about libraries and librarians?

Dialogue With Directors Discussion Group

Ever wonder what directors, managers and administrators are thinking?  This discussion group was an interesting peek into the minds and thoughts of upper management, and if you think you’re too far removed from those concerns, you’re underestimating the value in understanding how people at all levels of your organization think.

Most of the discussion centered around the job-hunting process, which makes sense.  It’s good to know just how the rules and politics change once you reach a certain level of achievement.  Public library directors, for example, are hired by boards, and are expected to do different things than, say, middle managers.  Still, being a director seems so far out of reach at the moment; I found the following general advice most useful and helpful for the here and now:

  • Take on extra projects, especially when times are tough
  • Seek out good mentors
  • Make people your passion, because leadership/management are about supporting people
  • Create a list of skills you want, then seek out projects/opportunities to build those skills
  • Conduct informational interviews with people who have the kind of job you want
  • Be able to say no to opportunities that aren’t right for you
  • Be willing to pitch in and get your hands dirty, no matter what level job you have

SRRT Action Council

I thought this was going to be the membership meeting, but apparently that was a typo in the program – member meetings are only held at annual.  It worked out well, though, because I got to spend more time observing parliamentary meeting procedure and learned about a number of cool SRRT projects in process.

For example, there’s a resolution that went to Council Forum tonight suggesting that ALA start a “One Book, One Conference” project.  The resolution specifically indicated that a book devoted to Palestinian concerns (a few titles were suggested) would be a good selection, considering the current conflict in Gaza.  This is a controversial notion, but the point of SRRT is not to be popular:  it’s to raise questions and offer a dissenting view.  And without its dissenters and freethinkers, organizations become stagnant, stale, unable to change and grow. 

Another development I’m looking forward to is SRRT’s upcoming experimentation with OPAL for virtual meetings and task completion.  Social justice and technology – like chocolate and peanut butter, they’re just better together.  If you’re interested in alternative media; hunger, homelessness and poverty; GLBTQ issues; feminism; the environment, or a host of other social concerns, visit their page and see if this is the ALA slot that’s right for you.

We’ve covered a lot of territory over the last few days, in an attempt to shed some light on as many different parts of ALA as possible.  I remain amazed at how we’re all working toward the same goal – effective libraries – but use different skills, tools, and philosophies to achieve it.

What’s your role in your library?  Where do you feel like you’re doing the most good?  What tasks are you drawn to naturally?  Do see membership in a professional association as something that enhances your career, or your ability to serve?  Both?  Neither?  What roles and functions of library service are you happy to leave to others?  Your ever-curious alchemist wants to know!

2 Comments

Emergence, evolving. Also, opportunities to learn and grow.

January 26, 2009 at 2:29 am (ALA Midwinter 2009, Emerging Leaders 2009, Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, conferences, creativity, ethics, innovation, leadership, management, philosophizing, professional development)

Day three of the Midwinter whirlwind continues!  Truly, the best January 25th ever.  Here’s why:

Emerging Leaders Subcommittee

Can you tell how much I believe in this program?  I attended the subcommittee meeting because, having benefited from Emerging Leaders, I’d like to pay it forward on all levels.  I’ll be writing a report for RK, obviously, and vague plans are afoot with some of the PA ELs to offer our experiences to the PaLA folks planning the state leadership program.   But helping at the ALA level would be an immediate way to give back, so I screwed my courage to the sticking place and went to the meeting.

It was made of awesome.  Why?  Because one of the first things that was decided was that, starting in 2010, the Emerging Leaders program will be open to library workers who do not hold an MLIS.  This is a huge step toward diversifying the profession, I think – everyone can be a leader, even if a decision about the degree hasn’t been made yet!  Some people can emerge just fine on their own, but others need the structure and the push, and that support should be available to everybody.  Who knows?  It could be just the encouragement a person needs to go GET the MLIS.  But if not, that’s okay too.

Don’t think I won’t be coming after certain members of my reading audience and “strongly suggesting” they apply.  She said, not looking at any two people in particular (IY and RA).

At any rate, watching meeting procedure one more time was very instructive for me in my ongoing efforts to get better at meeting dynamics.  And being present with people who really want to see library workers succeed inspires me to go home and be a leader, albeit in my own quirky fashion.  Remember when I said I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do next with my career?  I not only have a much clearer picture now, but a better roadmap for how to get there.

LITA BIGWIG Interest Group

Blogs, wikis?  I’m interested!  I was also mistaken, but in a very good way.  The group has actually evolved beyond its initial purpose, and does a lot of cool things I wasn’t aware of.  So I did what you do when you’re a stranger in a strange land:  I listened, and learned.  A lot.  The group is made up of smart, passionate people who have big ideas, the group hierarchy is flexible, and they make it really easy to get involved – check out Your BIGWIG for more details.

Listening to the discussion, though, made me conscious of how much I have to learn, and reminded me that if I’m feeling uneasy about the learning curve, some of our patrons and colleagues must be completely mystified. Ergo, I’m finally ready to take that tech-bodhisattva vow: we’re all going to the brave new world together, or I’m not coming. :)

Speaking of Opportunities…

Those of you who have been to conferences before know that sometimes the best opportunities for growth and development come in the gaps of unscheduled time when you serendipitously meet people.  The whirlwind of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and coffees with both new friends and old has reminded me more than once these past few days of an Edith Wharton novel, in a very good way.

If you’re smart, I think, you learn a little something from everybody you come in contact with, from the person who serves your coffee to the committee chair in a field wildly different from yours who ends up sharing a table with you in the convention center causeway.  It’s really easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of your job and not see the bigger picture.  Every single person I’ve talked to so far has helped me renew my committment to library work, and am ready to come home and communicate that excitement through concrete action, knowing that I’m part of something larger than my own library, something that can help me help my peers make the library better.  I win, my colleagues win, patrons win, everybody wins.

But we’re not done just yet.  Another report tomorrow night, if I can.

4 Comments

Emerging Leaders, Part I

January 23, 2009 at 10:24 pm (Emerging Leaders 2009, conferences, ethics, leadership, management, philosophizing, professional development)

Things to do in Denver when you’re half-dead from a day of conference goodness? Update your library blog, for one thing. I’m completely jazzed from a day of meeting librarians from all over the country, and I thought I’d share an outline of what we did today, mainly because, really, everyone would benefit from a program like this. I know CLP’s Leadership Team is hard at work on the implementation of the IMLS grant we received for such training, but I know not everybody in my reading audience will get the chance to participate in that. So, we share and, hopefully, grow.

Day one of the EL experience was a full-day seminar on leadership, with time allotted for the project teams to meet and work on their assignments. 

Excerpts from Leslie Burger’s remarks

Leaders ask “Why?”

They aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo

They’re bold, and they aren’t afraid to go to talk to “famous” ALA folk [I still need work on this - I'm too shy to go talk to the people I admire.  Perhaps this is because I"m much cooler online.]

Leaders foster collaboration and listen to other people’s pov.

Leaders take breaks when they need them [how gratifying to hear that said out loud!]

Leaders break the rules and apologize later. :)

Excerpts from Maureen Sullivan’s remarks

You learn how to lead by leading.  Leaders see difficult sitautions as places where they can make a difference.

5 practices:  challenge the process, inspire shared vision, enable others to act, model the way, and encourage the heart.

Nota bene:  I have so many notes and thoughts jotted down under those large headings, it could be – and might later be – a whole separate post.  I found Maureen incredibly inspiring, and hope to get the chance to tell her so in person before I leave.

Two ideas, though, that deserve special consideration:

  1. Sometimes, you have to have the courage to leave situations that aren’t working, if you’ve done your best.  This notion comes from a book I simply HAVE to read now, The 5 Courages of Leadership.
  2. Every one of us is capable of more than they think they are.

If you never pay attention to anything else I type, remember those two things.  I think they are the core notions that will help libraries thrive during the current challenging times.

I also got a really big kick out of the “Appreciative Inquiry” approach Maureen mentioned, which posits the organization as a mystery to be embraced.  Does that sound like our library or what? :)

Project Meetup

My group, which has christened itself “The Group With No Name,” is taking a second look at the marketing plan created by a previous EL group for LibraryCareers.org.  Our official task is to prioritize the implementation of their suggestions, but we are also at liberty to go off in new directions the original group didn’t consider.  Marketing and recruitment are topics fraught with conflict in library world, but I think it’s time to reclaim those words for a good cause:  attracting the talented people who would be able to benefit both others and themselves by this particular way of service.

You see, I have another heretical notion that’s tied to the sad, sorry fact that most of us are still not encouraged to follow our hearts when it comes to a career.   How many potential library workers never find our profession because they’re too busy chasing the things in life they think they “should” want?

At any rate, The Team With No Name has created an action plan using the extremely spiffy rubric that I have to share with everybody in Allegheny County when I get home.  I am more of an ideas person than a details person, so I nearly wept with relief to see a project planning sheet that contains elements I plan to adapt, overtly or covertly, for every single group project in which I ever participate from this day forward.

Post-lunch session

At this point in the day, my feelings of overwhelm began to kick in, and so the rest of the afternoon is somewhat of a blur.  However, we did do an exercise that involved another worksheet I plan to adapt for personal use when I get home.  It involved creating an action plan for your own personal leadership development, written by Maureen Sullivan, and it contains the following elements:

  • Identifying your current leadership strenghts
  • Identifying challenge areas where you could improve
  • Selecting 2 of those challenge areas and writing a goal for each one
  • Creating an action plan for each goal by selecting:
  1. A starting point
  2. Resources you’ll need
  3. Steps you can take toward the goal in the next 2 months
  4. A signal that you’ve achieved success
  • Identifying barriers to development
  • Identifying folks from whom you can seek support

We took 5 minutes to fill out these sheets for ourselves, then paired up with another EL to discuss them.  My partner and I had a great conversation about our challenges and goals, and have agreed to be mini-mentors for each other, and check in semi-regularly on our progress.  I decided to work on work-life balance and project management, my two big bugbears, and plan to bring the worksheet to the library unconference planning meeting with Kelley, as I think a lot of people could benefit from a hands-on exercise like this.

Final thoughts

As I sit here in the internet cafe in the back of the exhibit hall, somewhat overwhelmed by conference goodness and sorely needing both dinner and quiet time to reflect on the day, I keep thinking about Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, comic antihero of C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia IV).  When told that all he remembers of life in the world aboveground is imaginary, Puddleglum asserts, “I’ll stand by the play world.”   He then stomps on the enchanted fire that’s putting everyone to sleep, restoring consciousness with the horrible smell of burnt marshwiggle.

I mention poor Puddleglum because he seems to exemplify the kind of leadership we need now more than ever.  Library world needs people who are willing to stand up for ideals, no matter what.  And it needs people who are willing to raise a stink when necessary.

Plenty of stuff to chew on there.  I’ll be back with another report sometime tomorrow night, hopefully.

2 Comments

PaLA Conference – Tuesday

November 11, 2008 at 7:58 pm (conferences, databases, innovation, leadership, nonfiction, philosophizing, presentations, professional development, reader's advisory, social justice)
Tags:

The day’s not quite over yet, but I wanted to ring in and give you the highlights. Right now I’m really excited and inspired about the library profession, in spite of the challenges ahead. Here’s why:

 

  1. A meeting of the Electronic Resources Roundtable, of which I am a member.  The outgoing chair is working with the incoming chair on ways the roundtable can be more active.  I volunteered for the planning board, which will do a lot of virtual work, and pitched an idea to one of the other attendees who, like me, likes to write!  So, stay tuned for updates and innovations from us…
  2. Nonfiction readers’ advisory.  Barry Trott’s session was excellent – I’ve had the privilege of seeing him before, but those who haven’t can at least get his handout here (scroll down to Tuesday).  Nota bene:  NO slideshow / powerpoint.  Nothing wrong with presentation software, it’s true, but it’s refreshing to hear a really good public speaker who can engage an audience sans props.
  3. The exhibits!  I am returning home with several leads on electronic resources, and just plain cool things, to share with the other librarians.  One of these is Generations Online, an extremely inexpensive way to help seniors learn to use the internet easily.  Given that service to seniors is a CLP priority, and the need is definitely there throughout the county, this could be huge!
  4. Norma Blake!  2008 Librarian of the Year, y’know.  She talked about the future of libraries, navigating change, and ways organizations can make that possible.  Good communication and transparency were chief among these.  She also declared that you can teach people job-specfic skills, but you can’t teach a good attitude.  Spot on!  I think the next step, though, is examining servant leadership, and ways libraries can bring out the best in their existing staff.
  5. The PaLA annual meeting.  Those of you who nodded off at the word “meeting” would have been impressed and inspired by what took place there.  Allegheny County was well represented by award-winners and office-holders.  Special props go to former classmate Colleen Miles, who is setting the world on fire at the Upper St. Clair Library!  For her efforts, she was named the 2008 Best New Librarian in PA, a well-deserved honor!
  6. I was also greatly moved by  the brief statement issued by Alexia Hudson, whom I had the pleasure of meeting earlier in the conference.  Alexia, a former Emerging Leader herself, spoke on behalf of Philadelphia’s libraries, and requested that discussion of the impending closures be put on the next PaLA board meeting agenda.  I did not know, and was distressed to hear, that the closures are targeted for areas that serve predominately minority populations and also do not have access to school libraries.  This, in my opinion, is unacceptable, and I applaud Alexia for taking the initiative in instigating further discussion and action.

And while we’re on the topic of leadership, I’d like to point out what might be obvious,  but never hurts to repeat:  we are the librarians we’ve been waiting for.  Colleen, Alexia, Erin, Kelley, Bonnie, Karen, Charity, Holly, and ALL the young PA librarians, including yours truly (though I suspect I am older than most of you!).  It falls to us to decide how library world is going to be.  We need the help and support of our more experienced colleagues, and belief in ourselves, to transform the obstacles ahead into opportunities.

And if you think that’s overly sunshiney, wait until you hear my other lofty goal:  all the librarians from Lackawanna county who received awards were extremely kind and supportive of each other, exchanging hugs, giving standing ovations, and applauding wildly.  I would like to see Allegheny County’s librarians showing each other that much love and support in our efforts.

See?  This is what happens when you send alchemists to professional conferences.  I’ll leave it to you to decide whether those funds were well-spent.

For now, though, I’ve got to get ready for the awards banquet, and get packing.  I’m taking an early flight home tomorrow so I can do some last-minute preparation for the talk I’m giving at the library school tomorrow night (my fabulous boss will be the co-presenter, and temper my post-conference zeal nicely, I imagine).  It’s for Barry C.’s Adult Resources and Services class.  The topic is databases, and I’m thrilled to be able to talk about what we do, as well as some of the changes coming over the horizon at CLP.

Until we meet again….

2 Comments

PaLA Conference – Monday

November 10, 2008 at 7:58 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, conferences, humor, innovation, leadership, nonfiction, philosophizing, professional development, reader's advisory, web resources)
Tags:

Day two of PaLA has been fun and educational! For my morning session, I attended What’s New in Library School, and was inspired by the presenters. It’s only been four years since my own library school experience, but there have been a lot of changes in a short time. Most useful here was the description of what it’s like to take classes online; most inspiring was the brief discussion of information ethics. Employers seeking librarians will have a talented, intelligent crop from which to pick!

Today’s poster sessions included one from fellow Emerging Leader Erin Dorney, who blogs at Library Scenester. Her library is a combination academic-public one, which is intruging, and her poster was about her efforts to promote her library in her capacity as Outreach Librarian. Very cool!

This afternoon’s pick was difficult: Bary Trott and reader’s advisory, or more Web 2.0? Given that there will be a second RA session tomorrow, specifically focusing on non-fiction, I opted for the Web 2.0 option (it’s okay to fangirl fellow librarians – stalking, however, is not cool. :) .

At any rate, Three Approaches to Web 2.0 Teaching sounded promising, and was. The evaluation of Web 2.0 tools for creating subject guides, in particular, was helpful for those of us just beginning to explore this area. Given that many of our own patrons require instruction, though, the entire session inspired me to think of different ways to design and teach courses that would help everyone in my service area, staff and patrons alike, develop some new skills.

I was especially intrigued that wikis trumped blogs at Cabrini College for instruction delivery. The presenter pointed out that their blog didn’t receive many comments, which only fuels my ongoing philosophical debate over whether blogs really facilitate conversations or provide entertainment / enlightenment. Is anyone studying this? Hm.

So, here I sit, contemplating dinner and thinking about all the great people I’ve met today, between sessions, and at lunch, etc. There are so many different ways to be of service as a librarian! Listening and gathering information will, I hope, help me be an effective contributor to the Emerging Leaders project to which I’ve been assigned: we’ll be continuing the work done by a prior year’s workgroup, revisiting the marketing plan for LibraryCareers.org. Given my track record for recruiting people to the profession (one more, and I think I get steak knives from Pitt), I think it’s a good project fit. People just don’t know how amazing and diverse librarians and library work really are. It might not be very “traditional,” but anything I can do to help ameliorate that definitely strikes me as worthwhile.

Tomorrow will be an early-start, action-packed session-fest, so stay tuned…

Leave a Comment

November Update from Your Multitasking Alchemist

November 4, 2008 at 8:36 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, Twitter, blogging, collection development, conferences, databases, humor, personal, philosophizing, presentations, professional development, web resources)

The leaves fall, the temperature drops, and the days between blogging pass like a dream.  It’s still very busy in my world, but I thought I’d take a few moments to briefly discuss what “busy” means this month.

It’s database renewal season, so I’m busy crafting an agenda for tomorrow’s meeting.  Quite a lot to discuss on a conceptual level too, as we’re considering expanding the committee’s charge to promotion and instruction.  If we’re really feeling ambitious, we might explore the possibility of having an e-resources committee that would cover e-audio and video formats, and expand membership to include stakeholders in those areas.  All up in the air, of course.

I’m currently at the refdesk.  Best question this evening so far, and a chance to practice explaining technology, involved blogging and live blogging.  The patron heard it discussed on TV, and called in because he didn’t know what those concepts meant.  This comforts me, that even in matters technological, some folks still turn to the library first.

Only one serious callback on the plate, but it’s a doozy.  The magazine writer who was impressed with our collective due diligence on the Robert Frost quote is back with more quotes.  Another Frost, a Vincent Lombardi, a random economist, etc.  Tracing quotation provenance is my favorite kind of question, but don’t tell the other librarians, or they’ll make me share.  Hee.

There are a lot of ordering tools on the table this week, so I think that will be tomorrow’s major endeavor.  There’s an Ingram Advance for next week, too, so I’d like to get a jump on that.  Friday is my next turn in the Eleventh Stack rotation, so I want to make sure that’s of the same high caliber our readers have come to expect.

In professional development news, I’m fussily revising my PaLA presentation and slides. Perfectionism can be a two-edged sword. Luckily, I really enjoy giving presentations and don’t get too nervous – after all, sharing with peers is good, and I appreciate the chance to talk about what my peers and I are trying over here. Tame the Web discussed presentations recently, and I found it a good, reassuring reminder of what’s important.

I’m also greedily devouring various bloggy dispatches from Internet Librarian via my newsreader. Since not everybody can go to every conference, the blogs and embedded presentations are invaluable. If I can ever make time to sit down and watch all that video, and read all that copy, I will gladly share the highlights!

Tweeting tonight’s shift, at intervals. I Tweet rarely, because there’s so much to do. There will always be more work to do, and I tend to work as if my hair is on fire. It is, however, a labor of love. There’s nothing like working in a public library. Nothing. Others might disagree, but then again, everyone has their niche in library world, which is what makes it great.

I think, to be a good public librarian, you have to love people, even when they are not very likeable. Last night I spent two hours on one transaction, and somewhere in the middle of that long conversation, I lost a contact lens. It was one of those moments that tries your soul, and makes you wonder if you really went to graduate school for this. I went home, put on my glasses, and briefly contemplated applying to the Peace Corps.

But the next day, when I came in, I learned that my colleagues had found my contact lens when I could not (being, after all, quite the blind). They rescued it, soaked it in their own saline, and stored it in an extra case they just happened to have handy. And one lovely, leafy printout from the color printer was on my desk, an extra left behind by that same patron I’d been helping. It’s a picture of a path leading into the woods, green and inviting, beckoning us on to goodness knows where.

And that, in a nutshell, is public library service: you make your way down the path as best you can, never knowing what will happen next, and sometimes tested by obstacles. But you are never alone on your journey, and there is always something lovely hidden around the next bend to remind you why you started off on the journey in the first place.

Until next month, probably, I remain….

LAV, library alchemist!

Leave a Comment

« Older entries