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.