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The Power of the Individual
Doris Schultz taught preschool music at my hometown church. We Presbyterians are not always known for being an animated bunch but Mrs. Schultz--a transplanted Baptistsure did know how to get us kids to sing. Every verse had a motion and every song required full use of our little bodies. Many years later I put her enthusiasm and energy to use as a childrens librarian, preschool teacher and Scout leader. Mrs. Schultz is the foundation for every song and fingerplay Ive ever done.
My junior high librarian was losing her hair and had a wart on her nose. And she was mean. These are deadly combinations when you work with teenagers. I was probably more charitable than most because at this time I decreed my career pathand it was the same as hers! Her example helped me to know what kind of librarian I did NOT want to become.
After an eight-year hiatus from CTLS I got to attend the latest Long Range Planning Committee meeting. As I compare it to the first ones I went to I am again reminded of the strength and energy and power of the individual person. Late into the night we wrestled with big changes and envisioned the future. I daresay the outcome of the meeting would have been very different with another group of people. The future of the system was formed from ideas coming from individuals.
Our lives are full of people who have made a difference, either as an example of strength and wisdom or as a clear sign of the road to failure. This power of the individual flows both ways, to the giver and receiver.
So how does this apply to libraries?
Libraries are not just a collection of books and a bank of computers. They are the staff, the governing bodies, the romance readers, the noisy kids needing last-minute homework help, the faithful Monday morning magazine readers, and that weird guy who never talks but only uses the Internet. Heck, Id even say that libraries are the people who dont use us. (Dont we always share ideas on how to get more people in the library?) While we can mash these folks into large groups we are still influenced by the individuals in each. Who has not ordered a book with a certain patron in mind? Every library is improved due to the suggestions not just of committees but of individual comments made at the circulation desk or even during high-power focus groups.
YOU make a difference in your community every single day. OK, some days the impact is a small as getting the doors unlocked. Other days you make the front page. The Moody Community Library will soon offer resume workshops. This could be a life-changing door opened not by "the library" but an individual person with the idea and the drive to make it happen. Who are the movers in your community? If youre lucky they are active in promoting your library.
Upon request Jennifer Patterson will offer to your staff a workshop entitled, "Team-Building Using the Myers-Briggs model." Myers-Briggs celebrates what is good and useful (and not so) in the individual. It asks us to look at ourselves and at others and how the two mix together. My life, both personal and professional has been improved by this course. (Yes, it has even allowed me to love and appreciate sides of my wonderful husband that I otherwise would not). I encourage you to call Jennifer and book this class for your staff and governing board.
