Reading Resolutions 2023: Part 1- Assessing How I Did in 2022

Today I am beginning my 2 part series on 2023 Goals. And like the past few years, I begin with a look back at the year that was. 

I like to 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 try.

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 2021 resolutions.

Before you run headlong into a new year, any year, I want to advocate for taking a step back to assess not only the goals you set for 2022, but also how you actually did read in 2022. This is NOT about feeling bad that you didn't keep resolutions or complete goals. No one ever gets everything done, and during the last few years of an ongoing pandemic, that is especially true.

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, 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 4 years of assessments before writing this post and it made me appreciate how much this process has helped me. I can literally see my growth and improvement. It is clarifying and quite honestly, inspiring. More on that below.

But even if you have never done this, please considering starting 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 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 many 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.  I have 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 2022 Reading Resolutions with reasons. As a reminder those resolutions were:

• 2022 Resolution: I will continue to pursue partnerships so that I can provide more training and advice without spreading myself too thin
• 2022 Resolution: I will work on my organization and time management.
• 2022 Resolution: I will write my non-paid review immediately in order to harvest my true feelings about the book better.
• 2022 Resolution: I will spend time in 2022 thinking about where I see myself in 5 to 10 years.
• 2022 Resolution: I will publish a personal, non-horror related essay.

What I Did Well:

• I am very proud of the partnerships I have added to allow me to train more people without burning out. My partnership with Robin Bradford grew faster than even we could have imagined in 2022 and that was beginning to get overwhelming; however, with the chance to present our program in person at 2 conferences [PLA and ILA] and our partnership with Learn with NoveList version of the class, Robin and I have been able to increase the number of people who participate in our program without increasing our workload. I also partnered with LibraryReads to present at the Missouri Library Association Conference, I did multiple presentations with NJ LibraryLink, and I had 3 multiple month contracts with larger library system. All of these partnerships allow me to reach more library workers with fewer administrative issues on my end. This success has led me to think even more broadly about how I will offer my expertise and knowledge and is going to directly lead to a 2023 goal.
• I cannot express how much better I got at organization and time management. As I expected, I got every busier and had more clients in 2022, but unlike 2021, I had no double bookings and I had a much easier time hitting every deadline. I 100% attribute my improvement here to making this a goal. While I will not have this as a goal for 2023, I made significant changes to my work flows in 2022 which are sticking around.
• I spent a lot of time thinking about where I want to be in the next 5 to 10 years and some of that will be seen in my 2023 goals, but I also know I need to keep thinking about this. For example, I am still deciding if I ever want to go back into working at a library (as a Director) or for a larger library adjacent company. But, I did have some more immediate future decisions that I made this year, decisions that needed to be made but required I do this wide-lens contemplation in order to consider them properly. For example, I have decided not to re-run for RAILS and my local library board in the coming years. I will focus on the ILA and HWA boards only. There are many reasons I have made these decisions but all of them came from my goal to think more long-term. This goal is not going away, but it will be more focused for 2023. I am very glad I prioritized this activity.

What I Need To Work On:

• I moved way from having a specific reading goal in 2022, for the first time. Instead, as you see above, I honed in on capturing my feelings about the books I read immediately. I did do this but not in the way I listed above. Because I was on the Carnegie Medal Committee-- an assignment I did not receive until March-- I had a LOT of reading that was not for review, but that reading also came with monthly meetings where our committee checked in with each other and spent 2 hours chatting about the books and what we thought of them. It was heaven! Seriously, the amount of reading was not as stressful as it could have been because of the committee and how well we worked together. Because I dod not want to giveaway what we were reading, I did not record most of what we read. This entire process did what I wanted to get from that third goal, even though I didn't realize it until now.  I was able to capture the pure joy of the very best of what I read and have meaningful conversations about so many books, all in ways I have not experienced since my very earliest days as a librarian. But here is the problem, I won't have the Carnegie Medal Committee though. I am going to have to figure out how to best harvest my feelings about the books I read. It is going to look very different. 
• I had a goal to write a personal narrative essay this year. There was a reason but now that I have lived out the experience, I don't know if it needs sharing in that way. Here is the very short version. I spent 2022 applying for and receiving Austrian citizenship for myself and my two children as part of their official Holocaust Refugee Reparations. There were many steps and the entire process made me nervous. I learned that generational trauma is real through first hand experience. My family just spent New Year's in Vienna, we met with our attorneys to thank them, we visited my grandmother's former home, we traveled across our new country and also went to Munich where the Nazi party began. The trip was everything we all hoped it would be, but precisely because the four of us took this trip together, I do not feel the need to work my feelings out in writing or share the specifics with others. However, one thing we did discuss at length on this trip is the concept of reparations and seeing first hand how Austria and Germany grapple with their history every day in very public ways. We had meaningful conversations about how in America we are failing the Black population by not only allowing confederate flags in any way but also by not providing any reparations as a country. Nothing. I met young Germans who are still working through their emotions and the guilt they have. They were not alive. They did nothing wrong, but they know they must still acknowledge the harm. One young man told us they are not comfortable being patriotic in Germany, they do not fly German flags except in official capacity, even during the World Cup it is limited. He said they all think about what being too patriotic could lead to. It was eye opening. Rather than writing about my personal journey, I am going to actively work what I have learned into my trainings with Robin, and more importantly, I am going to spend some real time looking for ways to make meaningful reparations happen in America. But that will be in my non-work life so this will go off the official resolutions for 2023.

That's a wrap on 2022 goals. Back tomorrow to set out the official 2023 goals.