Yesterday I began the process of posting my 2020 reading resolutions by first looking back and assessing how I did on my 2019 resolutions. You can read that post here.
Today, using what I learned by assessing how last year went, and knowing what things I have planned for the coming year, I present my 2020 Resolutions-- the ones I will hold myself to for assessment a year from now.Again, please remember, I post these both so that I am forced to hold myself to them [or not as the case may be] but also because I am a big proponent of the "lead by example" leadership style. If I am advocating for you to make resolutions and then go back and assess how you did before making the next year's resolutions, I also have to do it myself.
However, that being said, my resolutions are very specific to me. I do not expect nor encourage you to take mine as your own. Please use the process as the example and then try to make some for yourself. Tomorrow I will have another librarian who agreed to share hers too.
2021 Resolution: I will look for ways to drive change when it comes to EDI. Last year it was about being louder, and getting myself into more venues to discuss equity, diversity, and inclusion to more physical people. My focus was on helping well-meaning white people separate being racist from their part in systemic racism. I think with the help of the larger Black Lives Matter movement, I was able to be a small part of this reckoning for many people. Understanding that you don’t have to be racist to be part of the structure that upholds racism has always been the point of my training, but I think more people were ready to listen to the message this year. But now I need to pivot. As I mentioned yesterday here, I began to take personal action on the EDI front from joining committees to starting a diversity scholarship. However, it is not enough to simply keep doing what I have been doing. Systemic change is a marathon, and it requires constantly pushing the boundaries in order for noticeable change to happen. We are up against over 400 years of history. So I will actively be a force to drive change this year. I already know I will be part of some serious EDI work through my local library [as a Trustee], and I am determined to make sure that the RAILS EDI committee gets some action steps going very soon, but in terms of my own training programs, I need to step it up a bit. Most of my current training is about revealing to library workers that systemic racism is a thing and they have to actively work against it, but I need to create a second level training. I think this can happen after the new book is completely in the publishers hands [Feb/March]. I also want some time to talk with others, especially those from marginalized communities about where my efforts are best focused.
2021 Resolution: I need to keep embracing horror while actively inserting graphic novels, nonfiction, and stories [non horror] back into my leisure reading life. This comes out of my assessment from 2020. I did great reading Middle Grade because I made it a resolution. But in the strained leisure reading life of 2020 these other loves of mine just disappeared. Again, I discussed why yesterday, but just because I have a reason doesn’t mean I am off the hook. I know reading more of these titles will improve my personal and work life, so I am making it a priority right now. Once the details of my manuscript submissions for the new book are done, I am sure I will have more brain space for non-horror reading and listening too, and I will make these reading areas a top priority. That being said, I need to also continue to find the healthy balance of embracing of horror as my main genre even when I am not actively writing a book about the genre. 2021 will be the year to see if my ability to stop apologizing for reading mostly horror, will actually stick. I realize all of you expect mostly horror from me; but I still felt guilty every year but this last one [2020] that this was the case.
2021 Resolution: I will work on increasing connections and interactivity with my general RA training programs. In 2020 I did many more webinars than interactive training programs due to the pandemic. Libraries also wanted more “train the trainer” programs, which while super effective in the short term, are not as helpful in the long term because many of the the trainers I trained have not had effective ways to get more staff involved and trained when everyone was socially distant. I was still able to provide a handful of libraries with an experience similar to in-person, but most of those were for small groups- less than 25— so we could all be on Zoom together on one screen. Only 1 library was able to turn my planned, hands-on, full library in-service day into a virtual event and that was because the person running It on the library’s end is exceptional and a friend. We were able to spend time working it all out together and we then presented on how we did it at a library conference. Neither the webinar only model, nor the elaborate virtual recreation of a full library, in person staff day are sustainable for another year. And with closures and limits in services still happening off and on at libraries, I cannot stand by and do nothing either. 2020 exposed the problem I have been warning of for the last 5 years— libraries tried to back away from being about books and now, that’s what people need and our staff’s are not ready to provide the level of RA service they need to be able to provide. So I am going to try to identify a few clients with whom I can work to figure this all out. Even if things go back to “normal” this Fall, libraries are not going to be able to close for staff days anytime soon; tax players won’t stand for it. I can make a living doing things virtual, but the content and learning is much better when the programs are for the entire staff and truly interactive. I care more about the experience and learning. Thankfully I have some ideas and two upcoming programs where I can try a few things out.
2021 Resolution: I am going to offer more training programs that work to help close the huge communication gap between Administration/Trustees and Library Staff. As I mentioned yesterday, 2020 exposure a huge disconnect between administration/trustees and the boots on the ground staff. Operation in the midst of a pandemic was the catalyst but it is a gap that has been widening over the years. Many libraries have a toxic work environment, I am starting to think it is the norm quite honestly. I worked in one of those toxic environments so I understand it all too well. I have some ideas on how to improve communication between both sides, which I think is the biggest problem. Too often, I hear from staff that they cannot talk to anyone above them except for their immediate supervisors, for example. I also know of libraries where Trustees are going directly to library staff to demand information behind administrators’ backs. I even heard of one extreme example in the Northern US where the Director washed their hands of helping out in the pandemic by moving to Canada and being “unavailable” to go to work. None of this is good. And It is happening all over the country. I have begun to address this issue by proposing a program at a library conference for general staff about what they need to know about their Board of Trustees and how they can interact with them. Most libraries with toxic work environments would be greatly improved by better, honest communication between the very top and the bottom. I am also in the process of working on a larger program to figure out how to council both the top and the bottom of the organizational chart on how they can work together better. I am working with another library professional who is also a Trustee and I hope to expand to include some Directors and Clerical Staff. 2020 was the year library workers got vocal and went public with the details about the toxic work environments we have all been dealing with behind the scenes, and I am glad that it is no longer a secret, but the next step is to act. I am well positioned as a library professional and a Trustee to begin acting.
So those are my plans for 2021. Again, they are all informed by my assessment of my 2020 resolutions. I know I won’t be perfect with these 4 goals, but by laying them out I have an outline of where to begin, and the beginning is the best place to start.
Please let me know if you want to share your 2021 Resolutions and/or your Assessment of your 2020 Goals. It is a very tame way to hold yourself accountable and helps others. Click here for my contact info.
No comments:
Post a Comment