A couple of nights ago, a bunch of us were talking about how we used to blog regularly before being promoted. It was suggested that people would like our advice on management. Here's my shot at starting that.
The number one piece of advice that I have for any new manager is to find your passion. For me, that is programming. You may find that you like ordering, budgeting, or strategic planing the best. My schedule, no matter how busy I get, will still have a story time added. This is what keeps me excited and gives me energy, even on the bad days. It also keeps me connected with our customers, which helps me to plan for new services.
The further that you go up the management ladder, the further away from "doing" you become. You are more of a leader and are there to encourage and mentor your staff. You find them the resources so that they can "do". You spend a lot of time working with your staff. If you can still feed your passion, it helps you get through the less fantastic parts of your job (for me, that is the schedule!).
Showing posts with label Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Management. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Give Me a Break
For those who are just tuning in, back in early March, a survey popped up on Mel's desk based on a Twitter discussion. We were curious about what all of us were doing-how many story times, how many staff, how many programs, etc. The first set of results appeared here and discussed non-story time programming. Today's post will focus on story time breaks.
At my library, breaks are extremely important. Not only do they allow you to reenergize before the next story time session, but this is when I fit in professional development, weeding, special projects, and those thousand tasks that I just don't have time for during a story time week. We run our story times in 5-6 week sessions and have a 3 week break afterwards. This isn't exact-sometimes around the holidays, the break ends up a bit longer. In 2014, we will have story time for 30 weeks (6 5 week sessions) and will be on break for 22 weeks. We've tried different methods of breaking up the sessions, but this is what works for us and our community.
Below shows the results of us asking, "Do you take breaks in between sessions, or weeks off from regular weekly story times?"
It surprised me that the "No" category is so high. Let's talk about possible reasons that I have heard in the past.
Story time is my favorite part of my job!
I get that. I love story time too. I am really excited when it starts. It allows me to meet all of the families at a young age. I also love coming up with new ways to promote early literacy. On the other hand, isn't there anything else that you would like to try? My breaks are when I can pull out dance parties, toddler crafts, and iPad programming. These are the things that don't fit in the regular schedule, but I still love to do them.
If I stop doing story time, the families won't come back.
I get it. This is a legitimate concern, especially for smaller libraries. We have always been lucky and breaks have figured into our schedule, but we have fiddled with lengths. One year we had month-long breaks (one month on and one month off). I thought our parents were going to throw a fit. By the time you remember to come to story time again, the session is over. We went back to three week breaks because that is how long most of our books circulate. Also, we are able to remind parents in the last week that they are able to register for the next session in another week.
For those libraries who just aren't ready to try a break yet, why don't you do a couple of weeks of traditional story time, then a week of early literacy stations, followed by a week of toddler crafts? Keep it at the same time, but change it up a bit. Story times are extremely important for early literacy and libraries, but so are crafts where kids can work on fine motor skills which will prepare them to write or early literacy stations that show parents how to replicate the effort at home.
Keep in mind, though, that these are just my thoughts and opinions. You will have to do what is best for both you and your community. You know what you can handle on a given week and what will or will not work.
At my library, breaks are extremely important. Not only do they allow you to reenergize before the next story time session, but this is when I fit in professional development, weeding, special projects, and those thousand tasks that I just don't have time for during a story time week. We run our story times in 5-6 week sessions and have a 3 week break afterwards. This isn't exact-sometimes around the holidays, the break ends up a bit longer. In 2014, we will have story time for 30 weeks (6 5 week sessions) and will be on break for 22 weeks. We've tried different methods of breaking up the sessions, but this is what works for us and our community.
Below shows the results of us asking, "Do you take breaks in between sessions, or weeks off from regular weekly story times?"
Do you have a story time break?
Story time is my favorite part of my job!
I get that. I love story time too. I am really excited when it starts. It allows me to meet all of the families at a young age. I also love coming up with new ways to promote early literacy. On the other hand, isn't there anything else that you would like to try? My breaks are when I can pull out dance parties, toddler crafts, and iPad programming. These are the things that don't fit in the regular schedule, but I still love to do them.
If I stop doing story time, the families won't come back.
I get it. This is a legitimate concern, especially for smaller libraries. We have always been lucky and breaks have figured into our schedule, but we have fiddled with lengths. One year we had month-long breaks (one month on and one month off). I thought our parents were going to throw a fit. By the time you remember to come to story time again, the session is over. We went back to three week breaks because that is how long most of our books circulate. Also, we are able to remind parents in the last week that they are able to register for the next session in another week.
For those libraries who just aren't ready to try a break yet, why don't you do a couple of weeks of traditional story time, then a week of early literacy stations, followed by a week of toddler crafts? Keep it at the same time, but change it up a bit. Story times are extremely important for early literacy and libraries, but so are crafts where kids can work on fine motor skills which will prepare them to write or early literacy stations that show parents how to replicate the effort at home.
Keep in mind, though, that these are just my thoughts and opinions. You will have to do what is best for both you and your community. You know what you can handle on a given week and what will or will not work.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
How Much is Too Much?
A couple of weeks out on the Twitterverse, Melissa (of Mel's Desk fame) tossed out a question asking how many story times we all did each week with how many staff. In addition to answering her, I asked the additional question of what's your minimum number of programs that you do weekly? We started a conversation, which turned into an online questionnaire, and now we have results.
As a newer manager, I have recently been asking a lot of questions.
All I can say about this chart is "Wow". As professional librarians, we recognize that story time isn't our entire programming repertoire. This makes me really happy because it gives me data to take back to my staff. I would love it if we could coordinate at least one non-story time program per week at my location. I am a big believer that you need to get kids in while they are young, keep them as they grow (like with great programs and books), and eventually they will be both parents bringing their own kids and taxpayers supporting us.
Surveys are great tools, but you shouldn't interpret their results in a vacuum. What I mean by this is that it is important to go out and ask other people in similar positions questions so you have more information to better interpret the results. Luckily last week I attended the PLA 2014 Conference. You may recognize me as that person who quizzed you about your programming methods. What I found is that there is no standard answer. You need to do what is best for your community. I found that in a significant portion of public libraries that all YS staff program in some way. This includes libraries who split up their librarians with fancy titles, such as School Services Librarian or Preschool Services Librarian. On the other hand, many people brought up the Baltimore model where a select group of professionals run all of the story times and do it really well.
So what does this all mean? You could say, "Half of the respondents do 1 or less non-story time programs a week." With this thought you don't need to add more because you are just too busy or some other excuse. Otherwise, you can say, "Half of the respondents do at least 2 non-story time programs a week! I wish we could find a way to add at least 1 to our programming line-up." With this attitude, first, I as a manager would LOVE you. Then I would help you to make this work. There are a lot of great ideas out there in blogland, Pinterest, and the passive programming world. Make it work for you and your community. This is one of those areas that they don't teach in library school.
Look for more great survey results coming soon to both Libraryland and Mel's Desk.
As a newer manager, I have recently been asking a lot of questions.
- How much programming should we be doing?
- Does this include story times?
- Is there a minimum number of programs that staff should be doing?
- Is there a maximum?
- At what point does burnout occur and can we prevent it?
- Should every staff member have to do programs?
Number of non-story time programs in an average week
Surveys are great tools, but you shouldn't interpret their results in a vacuum. What I mean by this is that it is important to go out and ask other people in similar positions questions so you have more information to better interpret the results. Luckily last week I attended the PLA 2014 Conference. You may recognize me as that person who quizzed you about your programming methods. What I found is that there is no standard answer. You need to do what is best for your community. I found that in a significant portion of public libraries that all YS staff program in some way. This includes libraries who split up their librarians with fancy titles, such as School Services Librarian or Preschool Services Librarian. On the other hand, many people brought up the Baltimore model where a select group of professionals run all of the story times and do it really well.
So what does this all mean? You could say, "Half of the respondents do 1 or less non-story time programs a week." With this thought you don't need to add more because you are just too busy or some other excuse. Otherwise, you can say, "Half of the respondents do at least 2 non-story time programs a week! I wish we could find a way to add at least 1 to our programming line-up." With this attitude, first, I as a manager would LOVE you. Then I would help you to make this work. There are a lot of great ideas out there in blogland, Pinterest, and the passive programming world. Make it work for you and your community. This is one of those areas that they don't teach in library school.
Look for more great survey results coming soon to both Libraryland and Mel's Desk.
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