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Tuesday, August 26
I'm Going Home
by
Jason
on Tue 26 Aug 2008 09:17 PM CST
The announcement went out to the staff at Regina Public Library today so I can now officially talk about my new job. I have accepted a position as RPL's Organization Development Specialist! "As a what??? I never took a class on that in library school," I hear you saying and I have to admit, I had a similar reaction when I first read the job posting. But the more I looked into what the job would be about and what it would involve, the more excited I became. Regina Public Library, like so many public libraries, is going through major changes and this position will have a key role in helping facilitate those changes within the organization. (Stop me when you hear too many buzzwords!) A big part of these changes are shifting technology and I'm especially excited to have a role in helping to develop RPL's already impressive use of technology by developing training plans for staff in how to best utilize these tools.How excited am I? I stayed up until midnight last night reading about what other libraries are doing to change themselves and brainstorming ideas I might be able to bring to RPL.
I finish my contract with Southeast Regional Library this week, I'll have a week in Regina to get settled and try to compress two houses back into one then I start on September 8.
I always look for the circles closing and here's another one - I've been a huge fan of RPL since I was very young to the point that, whenever I was in Regina with my parents, I'd ask them to stop at the Central Library so I could borrow books, magazines, records (!), cassettes and CD's. (I was living in Regina by the time they got their DVD collection!) Here's a shot of me, judging by the poofy hair, probably around 15 years old, coming out of Central Library. Now, in a time warp, I'll be doing the same thing every single day. I cannot wait!
Monday, August 25
I Have A Job
by
Jason
on Mon 25 Aug 2008 05:25 PM CST
Well, having managed to convince myself that I would likely be sitting on EI for a month or two this fall waiting for some pending jobs to be posted, there was a small flurry of Regina-based library jobs posted in the last month. I went for three interviews early last week, had two offers by Friday and today, made the tough decision to accept one of them. In a rarity for me, I went more with my head than my heart in making my decision but I think it will be the right choice in the long term (much like how choosing a year and a half contract in rural Saskatchewan turned out to be the right choice over a full-time, permanent government librarian position for more money and every second Friday off that I was also offered when I was first looking a year and a half ago.)I'm not going to say anything else right now because I think the employer wants to announce it internally first and I know very well how small and inter-connected Saskatchewan's library community is and that many people in that community read this blog, either directly or via RSS and Facebook. I will say that I'm pretty excited and think it will be a position that's a good fit for my interests and abilities. (Now, where'd I put my 506 notes?)
Thursday, August 14
Hypothetical Reality Question
by
Jason
on Thu 14 Aug 2008 09:17 PM CST
A bit of hypothetical reality question for you - what is the single most important thing you should do as a manager to help staff accept institutional change?
Wednesday, August 13
Buying Biases
by
Jason
on Wed 13 Aug 2008 10:23 PM CST
No matter how aware you are of them, inevitably when you are charged with buying non-fiction for your library, your personal preferences will creep through.
We had a discussion at work recently about the biases of our current and past librarians and here's what we came up with as some of the biases over the years (aka "there wasn't a book in this category that the librarian couldn't pass up")
- business books- cookbooks- technology books (guess who?)- parenting books (guess who part two?)- military history books (guess who - part three? Hint: I'm replacing a guy who volunteered to go to Afghanistan)- political books- new age booksI think there was only one librarian who we couldn't really peg as showing any noticeable bias in his buying - though we think he's the one responsible for buying "The Joy of Sex" as a branch perm for each of our locations so that sort of trumps any biases anyone may have!  (Some of the stories I've heard about this book at the branches: some librarians keep it behind the counter, not out of censorship but out of fear of it being stolen or "abused". One found it moved to the children's section. One found it in the humour section. One moved it to the top shelf even though it was supposed to be on a lower one. And I'm sure there are tons of other stories like that.)
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