Flashback Friday: What I Was Doing in Marches Past and How This is Relevant to RA Training

All of these reviews of books I am writing now made me think about what I was reading in March of years gone by.  Well, because of the blog, I can answer that for myself and share it with all of you. I spent an hour or so going back to the March archives and read through what I found there.

But seriously, sometimes we get so caught up in what we are currently reading or focusing on that we forget to step back and think about what we were obsessing about only a year or two ago.

As a RA Librarian, I also like to think about my reading as a journey.  Why did I read a certain book and what did I think about it at the time? Do I still agree with that now?  Would I read that book now, or have a moved on in my taste or interests?

And going beyond my reading, what RA issues and concerns were important enough for me to write about in the past? Are they still relevant today, or have we all moved on?  Or, even worse, are they still important but I have left them behind.

Assessing our past helps us to tackle the patron in front of us now. Glancing back through Marches of the past today energized me to help patrons. I was remembering good books that I could suggest to them, and I was reminded of ideas that were good, but had been left behind for something new a shiny.  Now I might revisit them.  And happily, I saw mentions of programs started in the past that I continue to use to help patrons today.

Take a look for yourself:

• March 2008 
• March 2009 
• March 2010 
• March 2011 
• March 2012
• March 2013

This was really a fun exercise for me.  I hope it was helpful to you too.  I think I might try this with a different month next year too.