This third module of the I-DO Make a Difference series focuses on the librarian as a manager--of facility, budget, resources, personnel, and program. We began by viewing a proposed lists of tasks a librarian undertakes, and were invited to amend it. Both the original list, and the items that the participants added, described an exhausting workload! I chose this image to represent what running a library entails: often just one lone librarian, dealing with so many details that have to be firmly rooted in curriculum, pedagogy, and campus needs and expectations but networked to cover all those needs and form a cohesive program. Whew!
The two concepts that arose to manage this diverse list of tasks were organization and creativity. A librarian should be, by nature, prone to organization--after all, our job is to organize resources and information in such a way as to make it easy for our patrons to efficiently find what they need. It's just that there is SO much to organize: the collection, the budget, the daily/weekly/yearly schedule, the learning spaces, and many other responsibilities that fall in a librarian's lap. And it all should be done in the spirit of customer service and curricular support. Another whew!
Where organization requires great effort, I think creativity takes more thought: How am I going to draw in my patrons this week? What creative ways can I use to connect my library lesson to classroom learning, without sounding like a repeat of the lesson they just heard? What is going to surprise and delight and inform and entertain my community? Where an organizing project may end (such as yearly inventory), creativity must be drawn upon day after day, week after week, as needs and interests and student/staff populations change. Technology plays a huge role in this process as well--add keeping up with tech trends to the to-do list!
Of all the modules in this series, this may be the one I learn the most from as a librarian wannabe. I have experience teaching and collaborating--but this will be the first time I manage a school-wide program. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks!
The two concepts that arose to manage this diverse list of tasks were organization and creativity. A librarian should be, by nature, prone to organization--after all, our job is to organize resources and information in such a way as to make it easy for our patrons to efficiently find what they need. It's just that there is SO much to organize: the collection, the budget, the daily/weekly/yearly schedule, the learning spaces, and many other responsibilities that fall in a librarian's lap. And it all should be done in the spirit of customer service and curricular support. Another whew!
Where organization requires great effort, I think creativity takes more thought: How am I going to draw in my patrons this week? What creative ways can I use to connect my library lesson to classroom learning, without sounding like a repeat of the lesson they just heard? What is going to surprise and delight and inform and entertain my community? Where an organizing project may end (such as yearly inventory), creativity must be drawn upon day after day, week after week, as needs and interests and student/staff populations change. Technology plays a huge role in this process as well--add keeping up with tech trends to the to-do list!
Of all the modules in this series, this may be the one I learn the most from as a librarian wannabe. I have experience teaching and collaborating--but this will be the first time I manage a school-wide program. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks!
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