2021-04-27 Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears
Featured Story
Resilience
[ ri-zil-yuhns, -zil-ee-uhns ] noun- the power or ability of a material to return to its original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity.
- the ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from illness, adversity, major life changes, etc.; buoyancy.
- the ability of a system or organization to respond to or recover readily from a crisis, disruptive process, etc.:Cities can build resilience to climate change by investing in infrastructure.
Okay, so we’re not stretchy or buoyant, but I feel as if society as a whole has been working on its resilience throughout this pandemic. Lots of people are polarizing, some are coming to terms with the new, and others are just along for the ride to see what happens. I’m pretty sure that’s normal, right?
In Library Land, however, we have to be tip-top on resilience. Libraries are the places that people come to for answers, no matter what they are searching for. We get phone calls, emails, questions, every day about what is going on in the world. For the front-line library staffers, sometimes we’re on top of the latest and sometimes we’re not.
BUT we tend to have great resilience.
When patrons come in and ask a question that we’re not prepared for, especially if it has anything to do with something that will directly affect us, we tend to keep our cool, find valid facts, and can pass that along to our patrons without ever breaking a sweat. When our desk hour is over, we quickly retreat to the back where our coworkers inquire about the odd look on our faces, and finally, we can breathe a sigh of relief and start adapting to this new information.
Image by David Yan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/20990774@N08/2846071018
Resilience makes a great foundation to thinking about the future because we never know what’s going to happen or when and the ability to adapt and work through situations becomes a demanded skillset.
Librarians have had incredible resilience in 2020 and heading into 2021, it looks like it’s the same. The pandemic changed the way libraries function, almost overnight. Quick thinking and acting, ability to adapt to the growing pandemic, have allowed libraries everywhere to continue serving the community despite closures and lockdowns.
If you’re looking to build your resilience, a few things you can do are:
- Avoid viewing the change as a negative thing
- Keep things in perspective
- Remain hopeful
- Take care of yourself
- More tips
It’s amazing what resilience can do!
– Vanessa Thiele
Fail Forward
We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.
Cricut
A few months ago I started using our school’s Cricut. Things were going pretty well and I was getting the hang of it when all of the sudden the blade got shy and wouldn’t cut the paper. What’s more, both of our building’s Cricuts were having the same issue. I was having a hard time finding any help files that addressed this issue, so after I spent two hours of frustration I went home discouraged. Fast forward a couple weeks later, and I decided to try again. This time I made sure to upload the latest update for the Cricut Design Software, and I am happy to report that both Cricuts have overcome their shyness and performance anxiety and are now cutting like they are supposed to. It was a good reminder for me to not give up, but to also step away from a problem when nothing seems to work.
– Gretchen Perkins
Crush Corner
Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!
Virtual Reference Online Conference
I attended some of the sessions of the North American Virtual Reference Online Conference and really enjoyed them. The conference was free and you can see the slides and recording of the sessions here: https://www.navronline.org/slides-and-recordings. I especially enjoyed the Keynote Resisting Achievement Culture with Slow Librarianship and Trust me: Collaborative Chat Training for Uncertain Times.
– Jessica Martinez
SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org
SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.