Reading Resolutions 2021: Part 1- Assess How I Did In 2020

My management philosophy is "lead by example." As the author of this blog, one that I know is used by thousands of library workers all over the country as a trusted resource, I also understand that I must not only hold myself to a very high standard, but also, I need to model the behaviors I think all of you should also employ.

This is why every single year, before I set out my own reading resolutions, I publicly assess my resolutions from the previous year. Here is last year's post where I assessed my 2019 resolutions.

While do this exercise every year, for obvious reasons, assessing the goals we set in January of 2020 is even MORE important at the end of this hellscape of a year. A few weeks ago I got this conversation started with Alissa Williams' guest post where she set the example of assessing her 2020 goals. As I said in my introduction to her post:

Look 2020 was hard for everyone and for their own reason, myself included. No one was left unscathed. However, while 2020 did not go as planned, that doesn't mean the reading resolutions and professional goals we set for 2020 aren't worth assessing. 

Each year I encourage all of you to look back on the resolutions you made and goals you set at the beginning of a year before you even think about doing the same thing for the next year. I do it for myself, honestly and in full public view, to encourage you. But, I have already heard from some of you that since 2020 was, well, 2020 you should get a pass.

NO. Absolutely not. In fact, precisely because 2020 did not go as planned, it is even more imperative that we look back on our wishes for the year and think about what we did accomplish and what we didn't, assess why, and then decide if the things we didn't get done need to be revisited. Sometimes they do and other times they do not. Sometimes our goals were misguided even before we set out to accomplish them, even in a "normal" year. Learning from what we plan vs what we do is so important.

Again, click here to see Ms. Williams getting the assessment ball rolling. 

Before any of us run headlong into 2021, hoping to leave 2020 far behind, you really need to take a step back and assess not only the goals you set for 2020, but also how you actually did read in 2020. This is NOT about feeling bad that you didn't keep resolutions or complete goals. No one ever gets everything done, and 2020 just magnified that. 

Rather it is about learning from the past and making adjustments moving forward. I know for myself, this process has saved me from burn out by forcing me to look at long held practices and make real changes that have improved this blog and my professional life in general. In fact, if you have done an assessment before, I highly recommend going back and looking at them all. I just went through the past 3 years before writing this post and it made me appreciate how much this process have helped me.

Even if you have never done this, start now. It is extremely important to look back at the year that was BEFORE you plan for the year to come, otherwise you are simply making plans in a vacuum, which helps no one. I will demonstrate why this is necessary for you today by using myself as your example. You cannot learn from the past without taking a moment, not matter how painful, to reflect.

But, before I get to myself, I want to make my annual plea to NOT make resolutions about the number of books you will read in a year. Many people set goals based on a number and in my experience this is never a good idea. It makes most people anxious and leads to choosing books based on how quickly you can finish them. It is quality not quantity. Sometimes a book that takes you a month to finish will help you more [whether professionally or personally because it nourished your soul] than 5 that you could have rushed through in that same time frame. Just before the end of 2019, I had more to say on this topic here. 

Do what you want, of course, but that is my professional opinion on this issue.

Now on to the leading by example part. Here is the full post where I laid out my 5, 2020 Reading Resolutions with reasons. As a reminder those resolutions were:

1. 2020 Resolution: I will continue to beat the EDI drum and get even louder.  
2. 2020 Resolution: I will read more middle grade novels.  
3. 2020 Resolution: I will stop apologizing for being so horror focused. [This resolution came directly out of my work in assessing the year before's resolutions.]
4. 2020 Resolution: I will find more ways to carve out fun reading time but not limit myself to books alone, and find ways to "review" it. 
5. 2020 Resolution: I will step up as I step down. 

As I have been doing for the last few years, I will not tackle each resolution specifically, but rather, I will make general statements on how I did under the categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have enjoyed this method of assessment not only because it allows me to be completely honest with myself, but it also has been key in illuminating where I need to make changes vs which goals were just a bad idea from the start [because sometimes they just are and not completing them is actually a better move].

The Good

• Resolutions 1 and 2 not only went well, but they were actually helped by the dumpster fire 2020 became. Who knew?
• Beat the EDI drum louder: not only did I continue to give my standard presentation, Robin Bradford and I teamed up so she could focus on Collection Development while I focused on the RA Service side. And we expanded from the traditional lecture to having more organic discussions with live questions. I also funded a diversity scholarship for HWA and solicited ARRT, LibraryReads, and NoveList to join me. We inspired other library workers to contribute to the fund and I am happy to report the HWA was able to fund 6 scholarships this year! I also helped to start an EDI committee for RAILS. The BLM protests and honest discussions about systemic racism in the general consciousness helped others to hear what I have been saying for years, that well-meaning white people need to acknowledge and then work to undermine systemic racism.  
• Read more Middle Grade: Middle Grade novels were not only a joy to read during the longest days of quarantine, but also because many were readily available as audio on Libby. I was having trouble sitting down and concentrating to read, but listening to some excellent, diverse, and guaranteed happy ending books was wonderful. 
• Resolution 3 went great,  I focused on horror all year long. My first full year as Library Journal's Horror Columnist went extremely well, especially considering there was turn over in who supervised it. With a solid, contracted, paycheck coming from reading and reviewing horror for the year, I didn't have to apologize because I had to read and write about horror. However, I would be remiss to not acknowledge that the paycheck alone was not the only reason I was able to not feel guilty about reading mostly horror. I also spent all of 2020 working on the third edition of my RA guide to horror [in fact, as of this writing I am days away from turning in the final manuscript]. So the big question is, will I be able to keep this attitude up? I am not sure. 

The Bad

• Resolution 4 didn't happen and honestly, the first part of that goal will be assessed in "the ugly," but the second part, that is a good example of what I talked about above-- a goal that was probably a bad idea from the start. That second part was about doing more reviewing, readalike lists, and posts about things other than books, such as podcasts or TV/film. But not only did I not have time to add these things [why I even thought I would even without a pandemic, as I was writing a book and starting the horror columnist gig, is beyond me], they aren't even in my wheelhouse. As I will mention in "The Ugly" I have identified other areas where my expertise can be much more helpful and useful. 
• Resolution 5 was more of a so-so. I did step down from a few things, but I also decided to run for the Reaching Across Illinois Library System as a Trustee. There was an opening and the timeline to nominate myself overlapped with the early days of the shut down. I realized that I was well positioned as someone who worked 15 years in a RAILS library and had almost 20 as a RAILS Trustee, I could help lead us through this difficult time. But running for RAILS Board also meant I have to stand for reelection to my local library board for April 2021. As of this writing I am officially on the ballot for that election. But that's not all. This Fall I was approached by the RUSA CODES nominating committee and asked to consider running for VP/Pres Elect of that Board. I did think about that quite a bit and did eventually throw my hat in the ring. It is opposed and the other candidate is someone I know who is qualified, so we will see.

The Ugly

• Although this was not its own goal, like many of you my 2020 reading life was a mess, and while I am okay with that in general, I did miss out on something I greatly enjoy-- graphic novels, general nonfiction, and story collections specifically. In general I had a very hard time reading anything that I wasn't assigned for money. I was able to listen though. However, even that was weird. Normally I like nonfiction on audio, but every time I tried it, I couldn't focus. I found joy in the aforementioned Middle Grade, some backlist SF, and literary fiction though. I will make some tangible goals to help me bring these titles I normally enjoy back to my life.
• On a side note-- my 15 year old son discovered manga in 2020 and loves it. He was always a graphic novel fan but now he is a manga mega fan and we have had many conversations about the series he has been devouring and why he likes them. So I did get tangential graphic novel reading done. 
• 2020 exposed a HUGE disconnect between library administration and staff. I began my steps toward narrowing that gap and being part of a solution to that problem by running for the RAILS Board. I also did Trustee training for the state of Wisconsin. But for 2021, I will be creating new training programs to help close this gap. I have already had 1 accepted for a conference. But why did I put this in "The Ugly" if it wasn't a resolution to start with? Because assessment is about more than assessing how you did on your goals; it is also about how well you "read the room." The closures and pandemic exposed how bad the communication at libraries is from top to bottom; however, I was not surprised. I really should have been doing more trustee based training before this. Shame on me. Helping to make this problem better is in my wheelhouse and I am going to have a goal about this tomorrow.

That is my assessment of 2020's goals. I will have my 2021 resolutions up tomorrow, but understand, those goals were created as I went through this assessment post today. It is through this assessment that I was able to articulate where I think I need to go in 2021.

Notice  I said "think." When you think about the year that was before planning for the year that will be, you set yourself up for your best chance at growth and success. However, it is only a best guess. Be kind to yourself as you assess your 2020 goals, but also be honest. Use your reflections not to beat yourself up but to help you have a better 2021.