Knowing how little we don't know

An essential part of the librarian's job is to have the answers. The problem with this expectation is that it is impossible to fulfill. I was recently reminded of how few answers I have as I sought to accomplish a "reference resources scavenger hunt". This seemingly simple exercise should not have proved so difficult. After all, I am the person responsible for determining what online resources we have in our library and pay the bills for them too. So, when I got slightly stuck on what I saw as a trick question of how many treaties are listed in a particular online resource, I did the smart librarian thing and went upstairs to our reference queens for assistance.

I was relieved to find out that they too found the task a challenge, and we ended up putting an answer down that we weren't 100% sure was correct, but close enough for the information we had to go on! This went against my "having to give the exact answer instinct", but I pressed on to finish the assignment. The online reference resources conquered, I moved on to "print" materials. This was easier, but I caught myself doing something that surprised even me -- instead of straining my brain to remember the Dewey numbers for a particular subject, I cheated and looked at the subjects listed on the end of each row of books! Ouch, that hurt my Dewey Pride! However, the task was accomplished with only one call for help from the queens.

I did learn several lessons from this exercise:

• Librarians don't know and don't really need to know everything, but it does help if they know where to look. 
• We all need to periodically take a challenge using our own resources, because if we can't find it -- nobody can!
• Looking at our resources from a patron's perspectives is eye-opening, and can help us to improve service.
• We need each other in our libraries. I was so happy to be able to call on my colleagues for help, which is a good practice. When we are weak in a certain area, don't be afraid to admit it.
• There are a LOT of great resources that our libraries have -- we just have to know how to get the word out to those who can use them.

Back to the office

The reality of the Monday morning after being away at a week's training experience can sometimes be overwhelming. I was determined not to allow the experience of networking and learning with a great group of fellow librarians be forgotten as soon as I walked through the door of my library. Here are several ways I found that have helped to keep the information fresh in my mind and not lost under the "to do" list:

1. Check work email throughout the week during the conference/training.

• By getting rid of junk email and quickly answering easy work-related questions, I could eliminate the amount of stuff in my inbox on Monday morning.

2. Be ready to share with staff highlights of the week at the Monday morning staff meeting

• Staff need to know that you were not just goofing off and enjoying the scenery all week (though I did enjoy the scenery, and told them so). 
• By verbally sharing about time away with colleagues, they realize that what you learned will also benefit them.

3. Get Monday morning tasks done and out of the way as quickly as possible.

• We all have a lot to do at work, but being slow to complete the tedious tasks of paying bills and finishing up emails does not help. Get it done quickly and then be ready to move on.

4. Take time to organize the notebook from your week of training.

• Once I finished all the Monday work duties (by one hour before I left for the day), I set the timer on my Pomodoro and went through the papers from the conference, making sure everything was behind the proper tab and remembering the speakers and their topics. 
• Organizing the notebook will also help me when I give a verbal report to my board next week.

5. Keep a "to do" list for homework assignments and potential work assignments from the training.

• Though I could not get to these on Monday, I was able to accomplish some on Tuesday. Having a list of expectations helps me to work through them as I'm able. They become a part of my daily tasks and make it more manageable.
• I also made a list during the last day of the conference of all the things I heard during the week that I wanted to consider implementing in my library. Now, I can look at that list and add some of the ideas as tasks on my Google calendar or send an email to a colleague to schedule a time to discuss a new idea with them. 
• Everything does NOT have to be done today -- Keep the ideas out there, but spread them out and be reasonable about a time frame for accomplishing them.

6. Use the blog to keep the momentum going. 

• Having to set up a blog was the best part of this training. I look forward to being able to convey my thoughts about library management and learn from others as well.
• I also see the blog as a way to test ideas and keep the concepts learned in front of myself and others. 

It was a great week, and I won't forget it!

We all have a past

We all come to the present carrying our past with us, and this runs true with libraries as well. Some libraries struggle to overcome their past, whether it relates to a poorly designed building or badly worded policies, while others can never live up to their past "glory days". All of these issues have to be taken into account with any current library administration, the writer of this blog included.

For this reason, I am very grateful to have access to the history of the Linebaugh Public Library System. Linebaugh's Reference Supervisory Associate, Lisa Ramsay, has done an excellent job in providing a clear and concise history of our public library system, which you can read here. Linebaugh has much to be proud of, and even if we do struggle with a difficult name to pronounce and spell, we are happy to have the opportunity to share the great story behind that name. When he learned that his hometown had no public library, Henry T. Linebaugh gave $5,000 toward the establishment of that important institution. The only stipulation was that it be named after his mother, Mattie V. Linebaugh. So, we have her name to remember a son's love not only for his mother but for the value of libraries in a community.

Henry Linebaugh's initial donation was not to be the last, and in reading our history, we see other generous gifts of both time and money to make our library system what it is today. I'm grateful for every person who has given of themselves to enhance the work of the public library in our community. We have a great past and an amazing future ahead.

It's all about communication

I was pleased to be able to be a part of the "organization" group today when preparing presentations on various aspects of leadership. It was right down my road...and yet, we still had to talk about those sticky areas of organization -- people! OK, I'm not anti-people, I'm just more of a task-oriented leader and people always seem to work to get me off task. However, it's not the end of the world, just the reality of life, so the common word that come up in our group came up in everyone else's too. Can you guess what it is?

It's all about COMMUNICATION. The more effectively we communicate as we organize, direct, control and manage, not only will the task-oriented manager be less stressed, but the people we supervise will be engaged and empowered and even motivated to join us in accomplishing all the wonderful goals and objectives we envision for our workplace.

So, while it may take effort on our part, the end result is so worth it. I'm willing to work on this in my life, and I look forward to blogging about the results! No pain, no gain...and I really do want everyone to be HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

Closing your eyes is scary

When someone says: "Close your eyes", I have a tendency to rebel. There is something about closing one's eyes that makes you feel like you no longer have control, and to turn that control over to a total stranger is even harder. Well, that's what Dr. Catherine Self asked of us today after we had enjoyed her talk, which I summarized in the earlier blog.

Being a relatively compliant person, I obeyed and closed my eyes, and after some nice relaxation techniques which almost led to a nice nap, Dr. Self asked us to reflect on this: Our most memorable moment in our current job. When I took time to delve into my psyche over a particular event based on her probing questions, I was able to open my eyes with a new perspective. Surprise -- there are ways that we all receive affirmation in our workplace, but we forget them because we don't stop to breathe and reflect.

I knew this already, and I've even encouraged others to stop and reflect (complete with a cup that reads "breathe" on it), but practicing it in my own life? Not as good at that. But today is a new day...a new chance to start a new habit. So, I will close my eyes more often while I'm sitting behind my desk with a pile of work in front of me; forget the work and reflect on what keeps me sitting at that desk day after day--the memory of a great moment!

Serving takes strength

Dr.Catherine Self, P.T., Ph.D., is President and CEO of the Baptist Healing Trust, and it was an honor to be able to hear her today as she shared with us about servant leadership. While some may find this title a misnomer, it is actually a concept that has been around even longer than the 1970 book by Robert Greenleaf to which Dr. Self referred. As a Christian, I find the prime example in Jesus Christ, so the concept was not foreign to me as she shared today.

Dr. Self's premise is that leadership is about relationship. Who do we lead? Followers -- who are the followers? Anyone that's watching us. For me, this includes staff and customers, but also can include those above us, such as bosses, boards and local government authorities. However, leading from a servant perspective does not mean that we are working out of weakness but working out of relationship. Not a top down, "I'm here to help you" position, that leads to someone being indebted to you, but a walking beside position, as mutual individuals with differing needs and gifts. 


Wow, does it take effort to lead this way? Absolutely! A task-oriented leader, like I am, will naturally have a tendency to judge behaviors as they see them. However, a servant-leader, like I'm striving to be, will realize that every behavior is a result of feelings that stem from a deeper need that has been met or not met. Now the challenge is for the emerging servant leader is to stop, listen to the other person and ask questions to discern not just the feelings that led to the behavior but the felt need beneath. 

What does it mean for your work environment? It means first of all that staff know you care about them as persons. When someone realizes you both hear them and care about them, then they are encouraged and empowered to do their job better. They will seek to be better which can only benefit everyone around them. This is a good thing.

I am...and who I can be

Kia Jarmon from the MEPR Agency gave a great presentation today on the personal brand. Her explanation of brand is "the sum of all things people experience from you." Though those of us who lived in this world prior to FaceBook don't have as much of a problem, Jarmon explained that many of us are "branded" from early in life. Parents (and grandparents) who post pictures of children from birth are actually building the brand of that person that will go with the into adulthood. However, that brand does not have to control us, but it requires us to grab hold it and take over control of how we want people to see us. We make our brand.

If I could make one statement about myself, and how I would like people to perceive me, it would be:

I am an organized and efficient woman who encourages others to be the best they can be in service to others.

However, just because I am able to make such a statement with confidence does not mean that I have achieved all that is required for me to fulfill that brand. So, I am working on a list of items that I believe will make me a better administrator and manager. Because I want to be seen as a person who encourages others, this requires me to be a positive role model to my staff. I cannot be positive toward them, if I am not positive toward myself. This year, in order to work on having a positive attitude, I have made it a priority to list every night before I go to bed, something good that happened that day that I am thankful for. This is a reminder that there is good in each day, and it is not hard to find. Writing it down that same day helps me to remember it more easily and limits the power of "the bad" from controlling my thoughts. When I can see good in a day, I can encourage others to do the same. It helps me start my day off better and that affects staff.

In relation to that, I am working on being more empathetic with staff. That requires me not only to hear what they say to me, in the case of a complaint or gripe, but to listen and repeat back to them what they are saying and understand where they are coming from. When I can understand where they are coming from and how they see an issue, I can help them to grow by empowering them to do what fits their talents and gifts.

Managing an institution is really about working well with people, and much of that is reflected in how we communicate. While written communication is my strength area, I have to work hard to develop my verbal communication skills so that staff not only hear me but understand me and accept what I have to say because they are accepting of me, my role, authority and believe that I am their best advocate, as well as the library's.

We are a brand, and we are also the brand for the library...but that's a subject for another day.

To move forward, we must know our past

I have noticed a tendency in many areas of life that the younger generation no longer seeks the wisdom of the elders. Along with this is the idea that the past doesn't matter -- we live in a different age and things are done different now, so why bother understanding what was done before. I have a hard time accepting this on many fronts: first, I grew up with my grandmother living in our house, so I always had the perspective of "the elder" in my life, and loved hearing her stories. I also ended up being a history major in college, so have a natural love for "the past." Third, life experience has told me that the past is important, and the more we understand about it, the better we are able to look at where we are and move forward toward a better future.

This brings me to today's topic in our Public Library Management Institute training -- our speakers, Don Reynolds and Lynnette Smith, experts on the subject, shared not only the illustrious and fascinating history of the library since the earliest time possible, but also the more specific history of the library in Tennessee. It's amazing how much of that history crossed the path of my own life.

When they shared about Mary Utopia Rothrock, an amazing woman who began "bringing the library to the workers" in coordination with TVA in 1933, I began to think about my father, who worked for TVA for over 30 years and told me stories about the men who built the dams in our state. Now I know that Ms. "Topie" was the woman who would bring the men books, thus starting the "bookmobile" system for our state. She would be proud to know that today, Tennessee has over 300 public libraries, up from her mere 16 in the 1930s. Libraries should still be about "getting the library to the workers"!

Another amazing fact that I learned today is that Tennessee is the lowest in literacy for the United States --that's number 50 out of 50, and that's not a good record. Our libraries are also the lowest in public funding. Do you see a correlation? If I learned anything today (though instinctively, I already knew it), it is that wherever libraries are, there you find a better community. Libraries provide the community with the access they need to knowledge, and with that knowledge people grow and improve and excel and get work and contribute to society. Libraries are truly a vital part of our towns and cities and we cannot continue to ignore their importance and need for funding and support. I learned a lot from the presentations today -- the past is important to know and can remind us how crucial libraries were in the past and continue to be today.

Every Librarian Has a Story

One of the great things about being in library management is being able to attend conferences and training events and meet other "like-minded" men and women -- ie. folks who love to read and helping people gain access to knowledge. This week up in the beautiful setting of Fall Creek Falls State Park, I've been able to meet some of these special people. I am actually sitting at the same table with Pamela, the Director of the Wartburg Public Library, in Wartburg, TN.

Pamela and I immediately found we had something in common -- her daughter, who worked at my library in Murfreesboro while she was attending university. It is a small world, even if we are just talking about Tennessee! It was wonderful to catch up on her daughter, who was beginning a new job as a teacher today. Mom was both excited and anxious for her eldest, so I'm sure it was hard for her to concentrate on our training today, as she wondered how her daughter was doing with her new job.

One thing most communities don't realize is that their librarians are not just librarians, and Pamela is no exception. While being the Director for only 2 years, I am sure most people come into her library just relating to her as "the librarian" and not realizing that she is so much more! She is a well-traveled woman, having spent 10 years in the Air Force and lived and visited many countries. Having met her husband overseas, she can even claim being married in Italian (with translation)! She's seen the world, which always enriches a person's work perspective and experience. She has also been a stay-at-home mom, raising three daughters and taught piano.

A woman with a story and dreams, and now she is helping others see their dreams fulfilled as they come to the public library for information and knowledge to help them grow. When asked what her biggest dreams are now, Pamela quickly says: "A new library," then adds, "but really the biggest need is to have a full-time assistant." She's been around the world, and now her focus is how to make the Wartburg Public Library the best for her community. Great story, Pamela...thanks for sharing!