Once upon a time....

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a number of really great friends at school but would often be pursued by bullies. This resulted in the little girl seeking refuge in the library and escaping the bullies through reading books.

You see reading books meant the little girl could be anyone of the many characters held within the pages of a book. Mostly she liked to be characters in far off lands that were strong and brave, and who would never be bothered by silly ol' bullies. She would spend many a lunch time in the library visiting different worlds.

After some time the librarian asked the little girl if she would like to help them in the library by stamping and gluing a due date slip in the front cover of the new books. The little girl felt very special to be needed by the librarian to do such an important job. It also meant she got to see what happened in the secret room that no other students were allowed to go in.

While stamping and gluing the little girl would often sneak a peek inside the new books and read a few pages. One day she felt brave enough to ask the librarian if she could borrow the new books she liked. Of course, the librarian agreed and the little girl felt even more special because she got to read the books before any other student.

Slowly the little girls' role in the library began to evolve to serving students at the desk by stamping their books with the due date, shelving the books that had been returned and as she got older she even got to help sort the card catalogue. She also made some new friends in the library with the other students who had also sought refuge in the library at lunch time and joined her in becoming library monitors!!

Unfortunately, when the little girl became a bit bigger and moved on into high school, the bullies followed her. You see she was a little bit chubby, didn't really like sport much (except for t-ball and softball), and she did well in her studies. I suppose that combination made a few people find reason to tease her.

Thankfully, the high school library was open at lunch time so her escapism continued. And much to her pleasure, the high school librarian, upon discovering her experience in readying new books for the shelves, asked if she would like to help him out too - in exchange for reading the new books first, of course!!

So her love of libraries continued and her experience working in libraries broadened. When it was time to choose what to do for work experience, of course the not so little anymore girl chose to work in libraries. You see she had also been lucky enough to have a father who took her to their local public library regularly, so she was keen to investigate how the secret back room of the public library worked.

Work experience at the public library was a little scarier. You see the not so little girl was more comfortable working in the secret back room because the bullying had made her quite shy. But she tried her best and took in all aspects of library work.

By the time the not so little girl was due to finish high school she had to make another decision. What was she going to do for study after high school? A lot of her teachers wanted her to do a degree in science or geography - because she had shown promise in those areas. But the not so little girl could not imagine enjoying a job working in those areas and did not really want to build up a HECS debt. So she found a TAFE course for a library technician and hoped that her marks would be good enough to get her into the course.

Well, I'm sure you have worked out that her marks were good enough. After high school, the not so little girl did a two year TAFE course to become a library technician. In her course she found some like minded souls who had also sought refuge in books and libraries throughout their primary and high school years. And she enjoyed devouring the content of the course so much that it wasn't even a chore.

Through her work experience during the TAFE course she learned that in order to work in libraries you had to enjoy people as well as books, so slowly her shyness receded and she became braver at helping people who came into the library.

Of course, this is not where the story ends.....

I'll see where blog every day of June takes me but more of the little girls’ story may emerge over the next month!!

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?