We are Family

I have previously discussed Public Libraries NSW and the North East Zone of which my library is a member of.  This week I attended the North East Zone full zone/AGM meeting in Guyra.  The North East Zone meets twice a year, usually one meeting inland and one on the coast.  So Guyra was our inland meeting and in November we will be meeting at Taree.  They also have managers meetings twice a year but these are for regional library managers or stand alone library managers so I don't attend these our regional library manager does.

These meetings are of immense value to me.  Compared to when I lived in the city, networking opportunities are few and far between.  The Zone meetings, biennial PLNSW conference and the annual Library and Information Week breakfast are really the only times I get to do face to face networking.  Hence, why social media is my main form of networking.

The North East Zone is full of many inspirational library managers and the meetings give us a chance to not only discuss things we'd like to lobby - with the help of our ever supportive Councillor representatives - but also to share what we have been doing in our libraries.

This part of the meeting fills me with both excitement and a bit of dread.  I love hearing what everyone is doing in their libraries and I am constantly overwhelmed with how some very small libraries with not a lot of funding or staffing resources manage to pull of some inspiring events.  The dread part usually comes to when I have to share what we have been doing in the three branches I manage.  I almost always follow on from a library that has a never ending list of events and programs.  And then I share mine and I feel a bit deflated at what hasn't been achieved.

This is not to say I'm not proud of what our libraries have been doing.  I just feel that I should be doing more and more.  I say this because due to staffing resources - my libraries are 1.7fte, 1.4fte and 1fte (not sure if these are correct but they are close enough) - a lot of the ideas we come up with are hard to develop and execute.  Although I do hear a number of libraries with 1 staff member still pulling off some excellent events.  So does this mean I'm not working hard enough?!?

So usually after these meetings I do a lot of soul searching, head bashing and generally try to use some of the motivation and ideas I got from the sharing session and see where we can pick up some of these and put them to use in our libraries.

You may be wondering at this point why I titled this post: We are Family.  Our Zone is a very tight nit zone where all members are very supportive of the other.  I think it is due to this that many members of our Zone have been successful in receiving rewards and funding for programs/ideas/events they have executed. 

While I'm relatively new to this zone compared to some members - I'm coming in to my 4th year - I am still made to feel part of the team and very much supported and for this I am forever greatful as it has made my transition into this job so much more easy.

I can't wait to catch up with the Zone again at the upcoming PLNSW Conference in Port Stephens in July.

Ch..ch..changes

When is life not changing?  Everywhere things are changing all the time.  Some change quickly while others take a while to change.

Not all changes have a big impact but there are a few bigger changes coming my way that I suspect will have an impact - can't say if it will be good or bad but regardless there will be a need to adjust.

MPOW is currently going through an organisational restructure. Not just the Library but the whole organisation.  Staff briefings about the suggested changes will begin next week.  While what is suggested may not be the change that will happen, as staff have a chance to comment and provide feedback, it will give us an idea of what's on the horizon.

I'll suspect the Library may not be affected much but sometimes a little change which you think will only generate small waves can generate tsunami's.

Other changes coming up involve a big change to our library service with one of the member councils pulling out at the end of June.  The library service will now only have two member councils which will take a while to adjust to.  Our library members will have access to a smaller collection and because the member council borders on our council border, our staff will have some PR work to do around those members from the other council who will no longer have full library member access but will have to become reciprocal borrowers in order to access our collection and services.

There is going to be council elections in September which may result in new councillors in our council.  Which will then result in a change to the councillor who sits on the library committee.  We have been blessed in the past to have wonderfully supportive councillors on the library committee but you never know what the election will result in.

Then there is the flow on of the Destination 2036 Action Plan  Destination 2036 provides a process and a forum for local government to explore these issues and to consider and develop structures and approaches to local government in NSW that will allow the sector to meet the needs and expectations of our communities of the future.

Not to mention all the continuing technology changes which seem to be happening on a daily basis.

How we handle change differs.  I like to think that I don't mind change but am also one to say "why change something if it is working well?"  I may think it is working well but perhaps someone with another point of view may not think so.

I am one who enjoys routine and probably is not as spontaneous as I should/could be.  However, I think the next few months will be an interesting time for all involved with these changes.  As a manager it will be a test for me to bring my staff through these changes without too much conflict.

How do you deal with change?  Can you see some big changes coming up that might impact you?

Butterfly Wings

I hope this post does not turn out to be thought of me boasting about my child's achievements - because I'm certainly not out to do that. However, I just have to share what I feel is a result of a program I was involved in back in my maternity leave days.

Butterfly Wings is a program that I ended up being involved with while on maternity leave with my daughter. I was attending a local playgroup hosted by the local community health centre. My memory gets a bit thin here - mummy brain - but I think they asked if anyone was interested in attending some training to become facilitators of an under 2's literacy and numeracy development program. Coming from a librarian background, I jumped at the chance and attended the training.

Gwen and Lisa are inspirational trainers and so passionate about their program it wasn't hard to get excited and enjoy learning. The thing that stuck out for me the most was a slide they showed of the brain size of a child who had been interacted with by their carers and one who hadn't. The size difference was amazing. As you may have guessed, the child who had interaction had a large brain from absorbing all that information, and the child who was neglected had a very small brain. If anything, this slide highlighted the importance of bonding with your child.

Once I became a facilitator, another mum from our group who also did the training and I sought funding to run the program at the Community Health centre. Not long after we were also approached to run it at the Gailes Neighbourhood House. These centres were in low socio-economic areas so funding for literacy and numeracy development was important.

Now I could go on and on about how good the program is - and I recommend my library friends check out the website I linked to above and follow up with Gwen and Lisa about some training for your library staff - but it is the impact it is having now on my child that I want to share.

When I shared this with Gwen, she said she shed a tear but said it was really my bonding with my child that is the cause of this - not necessarilly Butterfly Wings - I think it is a mix of both.

My daughter participated in the Butterfly Wings program from 6mths of age. I had also been reading to her since she was born - something that I highly recommend. You might feel a little silly and they may not always like it - but most of the time they love hearing your voice.

My daughter is now in the advanced reading group in her class, she is writing some wonderful imaginative stories and she speaks very well (we often get comments about this). I feel that a lot of this has happened due to the Butterfly Wings program and the time we spent together singing songs, doing interactive rhyme and sharing stories.

I hope that the other mums that participated in the program are sharing similar stories because I just feel that this program - and others similar to it - give our children the best start in life and it would be really interesting to do some research to show the statistics or evidence that those children who participate in programs such as Butterfly Wings do perform better later in school life!!

Name

"And now we're grown up orphans
And never knew their names
We don't belong to no one
That's a shame
But you could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name
And I won't tell 'em your name"

I don't know if it is the heat that is keeping me awake or the excitement that I will be seeing my brother and some of his family tomorrow. I haven't seen them for over two years!! Maybe it's a combination of both - and perhaps it's because this blog post has been floating around in my head for days.

You will note that I started this post with the lyrics from one of my favourite songs - Name by Goo Goo Dolls. And while the song is a little bit on the sad side, the theme of this blog post is not sad. It's all about names!!

When I worked for larger institutions, I found that there were a few regular library users who I would get to know their names and take pride in using their names when I served them. I think it makes the user feel a little bit special that you know them by name. Of course, there is always a bit of an awkward moment when you are unsure if you should refer to them as Mr, Mrs or Miss so and so or just by their first name, but once that's worked out then calling them by name usually results in a nice little smile appearing on their face. Like you've made a difference to their day! Well that's what I like to think!

Now I work in a small library I can honestly say that I know the name of 90% of the people that walk through the door. Sure I have my days when their name might escape me but you can always "cheat" a little by checking the returns list or waiting for them to hand you their library card!! What other ways do you "cheat"? Yes I know I won't be the only one who does have their secret ways of remembering names.

I once had another librarian visit my library and they commented on how I spoke to everyone who came into the library by name and how good they thought that was. I was a bit surprised as I thought that is what most of us strive to do - am I wrong??

There are a few people who I get stuck with their name. I was very proud today when a regular came in and I said her name to her quietly and she said my name back - we were both proud we had remembered the others name - although I did have a name badge on!! 8-)

So do you make it a goal to remember everyone's name and call them by name when they come into your library? What are your secrets to remember people's names? Do you feel special when your regular library, cafe or shop staff person remembers your name and uses it?

"I think about you all the time
But I don't need the same
It's lonely where you are
Come back down
And I won't tell 'em your name."

The Special One

As it is my daughters 6th birthday today, I thought I'd share her birth story - note that I wrote this 6 years ago not long after my daughter was born. For those not keen on detail, stop reading now!!

After arriving 6 weeks early, I’m still a little shell shocked in re-telling my story of the birth of our baby daughter, Anaki, but I’ll give it a go.

On Monday 30th January (my birthday), I went to the hospital after discovering a “show.”
After an internal examination it was determined that my mucus plug was breaking away but it was big enough and there was enough left for there to be no concern. The OB commented that it was good to see my cervix getting into action – although my due date was 6 weeks away.

I went to work as usual on Tuesday and just felt a bit irritable – I mean I’d been feeling pretty irritable for most of my pregnancy due to the sleepless nights and heat – but this was a different irritable. I was a bit fidgety and did go to the toilet quite a bit more than usual but I put it down to the heat. On the train on the way home from work, I felt stomach cramps and a need to go to the toilet. I tried numerous times when I got home, but nothing would happen. On the third
attempt at around 6pm, I felt like I’d done a pee but hadn’t. Very strange feeling. I called my husband and said I think my waters broke but was unsure because it wasn’t the “gush” they usually describe. I decided to ring my sister to see what she thought – having been there before.

My sister assured me it would be a “gush” if my waters had broke but she said she’d phone around her female friends to double check. While she did that, I continued eating dinner with mild stomach cramps. She phoned back after a few minutes and said that a friend of hers had had what I described and she’d gone into labour not long after, so she thought it was wise to call the hospital. I phone the hospital and described what happened. The midwife suggested I sit still for half an hour and then get up and see if I loose any more fluid. If I did to call them back. So I sat for half an hour munching on M&M’s. After half an hour I stood up and lost more fluid – this time with a pink tinge. I phoned the hospital and they said to come in.

Not thinking much of it all, I took a few essentials and the baby’s bag which I had packed a little early. I made my husband stop at the servo station to grab some things I hadn’t got around to getting and we made our way in – only 20 mins drive. On arrival I was taken to the birth suite nd
made to wait until the OB could see me. There were many births happening that night. My cramping had pretty much gone at this stage but I was still dribbling fluid. The OB checked and said my waters had ruptured and I had a hind water leak. Due to protocol and risk of infection I was required to stay in hospital. My husband had to go home (by this stage it was about 1.30am) and I was left on my own in the maternity ward to cry myself to sleep as this whole birth thing was really not going the way I thought. Being a first time, it was all getting a bit too much.

The next day, a team of OB’s and OB’s in training came to see me. They said that because baby was early I was required to have 2 injections of steroids to ensure baby’s lungs developed in case of an early delivery and they would induce me the coming Monday should nothing have developed naturally by then. The steroid injections are very much like having a tetnus needle in your leg – ouch.

Come Friday, I was pretty much sick of hospital. I had 2 ladies with baby’s rooming in – this
is an excellent idea but when you haven’t had your baby yet and you are being kept awake from 10pm-4am each night by crying babies, it can be a little tiring. So I was pretty grumpy Friday
morning and I really felt like I had PMT with cramps and the moodiness that I usually get. This continued all day. By night time when my husband and sister arrived (my support people), the cramps were having a definite pattern and they were twice as bad as the ones you get with PMT. My sister kept saying I’m in early labour but even after monitoring we could not convince the midwives as they said I was talking through the pain so it mustn’t be. I was doing more than talking through the pain. I was on hands in knees in the bed rocking around trying to breathe, getting up and walking around. Anything to ease the pain.

By the time my husband and sister had to leave as visiting hours were up, we had convinced the midwives that I was in considerable pain and they gave me sleeping tablets and some oral pain killers. The sleeping tablets kicked in but the pain killers did nothing. I was now a zombie
woman walking around trying to ease the pain. After an hour of no relief, I called the midwife and asked for pethidine – anything to allow me to sleep. I got a shot of pethidine and was moved to birth suite for more monitoring.

I was dozing on and off but still feeling every cramp – these were coming more and more often (before my sister left she’d timed them every 3 minutes – still no one believed it to be early labour). After 3 hours of laying in the birth suite (it was now around 3.30am Saturday 4th Feb.) being monitored and still suffering pain, they decided to move me back to the maternity ward. I sat up to get ready and felt a balloon pop and water gush. Ooops!! I rang for the midwife and said that I think the second layer of waters must’ve broke. She said to go to the toilet and let them know what colour it is. I got to the toilet sat down and really felt the urge to push – so I panicked. I was calling out from the toilet for someone to come and help me. The midwife came and I said I feel like pushing but thought the baby might come out. She said to get off the toilet – she had to help me because by this time the pain was awful. I kept telling them to call my husband. I was adament not to push until he got here – no way was he missing the birth.

I was moved to a proper birthing suite and propped up in bed – there went my plans of active birth as baby still needed to be monitored due to being premmie. They prodded my stomach and said they couldn’t find the baby’s head. I said that it had been down for a while but they couldn’t feel it. They could feel lots of limbs and asked if I was having one – I said I was pretty sure!!! They decided to do an internal to see what was happening. No surprise when they said they could feel the head and that I was fully dialated. Thank goodness all that pain during the day
had not been for nothing!!!

I started pushing as the urge took over and tried to remember deep breaths in between. I
can’t begin to describe the feeling. It was like I wanted to push and needed to push but would start and be frightened by the pain that I would stop. My husband turned up – and I was so relieved as I knew I could now go for it. So go for it I did. Pushing and breathing and screaming and roaring. My sister showed up a bit later – they hadn’t called her but my husband did.
So they both supported my head and shoulders as the bed shook with the effort of pushing. I was adament that this head was going to come out, therefore I wouldn’t let it slip back (something I’d pay for later). After about 6-8 pushes our baby girl, Anaki was born. I ended up with a 2 degree tear because I hadn’t let her head slip back – I really didn’t want to repeat the effort each time. She was wisked away by the pedatrition and my husband to be checked over – due to being premmie. My husband panicked a bit when she started going pink, not knowing that this was a good thing!!! She scored an 8 on the Apgar test after 1 minute and 9 after 5 so she was doing really well. Weighing in at 2.53kg and 42 cm long, she really wasn’t a small premmie.

Due to being 6 weeks early, Anaki was required to spend time in the Special Care Nursery with a drip to administer antibiotics, sleep in a humidy crib, and have her blood sugar tested. I was allowed to visit after my stitches were complete and I’d had a shower. I was feeling pretty shattered by this stage – the actual birth only lasted 40mins so it was quick and my legs
were shaky, feeling like I’d run a marathon. Anaki had a feed from me and then was put back into the crib as I was falling asleep. I was taken back to the maternity ward for breakfast – which I threw up – as I said it really had taken a lot out of me. Then I slept.

Anaki spent 4 days in Special Care – I had to take her temperature, change her and establish breast feeding. Some of the time she was fed through a tube as the breast feeding took a while to establish – being premmie this is expected. Anyway, to cut a longer story short, we both were discharged on Wednesday 8th February and are now doing really well at home. Breastfeeding
still has it’s challenges but Anaki sleeps a lot and has been going on morning walks with mum and enjoys the pram. After a tramatic entry into the world she is doing really well. I’m so much more relaxed being home rather than at the hospital where some midwives are not very supportive (another story) and others contradict each other with the advice. I’m feeding on demand rather than the “every 4 hours” they were enforcing in the hospital and I think we are really getting somewhere.

So that’s my story!!! Sorry it’s so long!!

Library Day in the Life - final post

Well it has come to an end of the week for Library Day in the Life - I look forward to my next blog challenge.

Again the day started with the local steiner school students inundating the library - they only stayed for 2 hours today.

I had one of my favourite library volunteers work with me today. She has almost completed her Cert IV in LIS and is a great help. It is a shame I don't have any open vacancies in my libraries for her to apply for as yet but she still enjoys giving us a hand.

I had a meeting with the Council finance manager but this proved to be false and as a means to get me to attend a morning tea to celebrate my birthday (which was on Monday) and another staff members departure - very tricky but a lovely surprise. I apologised for not staying longer but with the steiner students in the library and only my volunteer there to assist them, I had to rescue her!!

Once the steiner students left the library was very quiet. Although every computer was occupied there was few borrowing books. That was thankful as the boxes arrived and my volunteer and I concentrated on getting the books returned, reservations allocated and shelving done.

Lunch time - off to the pool to do laps and guess where the steiner students were!! There were a few "hello library lady" shouted at me while I was doing my laps. Only hit 44 instead of 50 due to lack of time but it was refreshing.

Back to work and a line up at the door - most wanting computers. Another quiet moment and I caught up with some emails, twitter posts and posted some items to our library facebook page.

The afternoon then flowed on without drama - a nice way to end the week.

Library Day in the Life - Post #4

Again I'm posting a bit late - sorry!!

Due to the flooding, our local steiner school booked the library to be used as makeshift classrooms. So approximately 30 odd (down a bit on yesterdays estimate) students and three teachers entered the library at 9.30am an hour before official opening. I also had to make a quick visit to our "web developer" to obtain an electronic copy of our Council logo to be sent to the company who is making our NYR12 pull up banners.

I got on with the opening duties - running notices, delivering mail, buying the newspaper, returning items and shelving. All I can say is thank goodness I had one of my volunteers with me today to assist with the shelving as it was a constant stream at the circulation desk.

Once the shelving was complete, I got my volunteer to start selecting books for the blind date books we are having during Library Lovers Day and the following weeks. These books are then wrapped in brown paper (with the accession number on the outside) and placed on display for selection from our brave borrowers who have no idea what they are selecting. It was successful last year and we hope again this year.

Some of the steiner students were looking for books on Rome - so I assisted them - and was happy to see their teacher teaching them the ins and outs of searching the catalogue. A few were lazy and went direct to me but the majority did it themselves.

At 12.30pm I closed the library for lunch (as there is only one staff member on and my volunteer finished for the day) and headed to the pool for my lunch time laps. I had to take it easy today due to a calf cramp I suffered on Tuesday seems to have resulted in a slightly pulled muscle - so I only managed 44 laps compared to my 50.

Back from lunch to a crowd of people waiting to get in to the library. Most wanting to use computers or wifi. I went back to returning, shelving and serving at the circulation desk. As I mentioned before - constant stream.

Later in the afternoon one of the organisers of the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival came by with more programs and another room booking request for the library. The Library will be hosting a number of sessions leading up to and during the festival. I love supporting the festival as it not only means seeing a number of excellent presentations by authors, but many people enter the library who would not necessarily visit otherwise.

I then had a moment to catch up on emails, check some facebook and twitter updates and then it was time for closing. A quick check of the gate count revealed over 350 people passed through the door - no wonder I didn't stop!! It may not be much for a big branch but when there is only one person manning (womanning) the library then it's a big deal.

I packed up the books to take to the branch close to home and locked up. Once at the other branch I exchanged books and took the ones for our branch and headed home.