Today I am officially back to work for 2025 after a short break, and like I do each new year, I am kicking off 2025 on the blog with my annual 2 part Reading Resolutions posts. First up, I am looking back at the year I just completed by taking an honest assessment of how I did on my 2024 goals.
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 kicked off my 2024 goals by assessing my 2023 resolutions.
Before you run headlong into a new year, any year, I advocate for taking a step back to assess not only the goals you set for 2024, but also taking a hard look at where the goals you set at the start of the year met reality, making those goals harder or even invalid. This is NOT an exercise in feeling bad that you didn't keep resolutions or complete goals. No one ever gets everything done.
Rather the exercise of setting goals is about learning from the past and making adjustments moving forward. I have learned this by living it. This two step process of assessment before gaol setting 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 not done an assessment before, I highly recommend going back and looking at mine. 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. And honestly, when you can inspire yourself, that is a win.
But even if you have never done this before, 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 goals 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 opinion on this issue.
Now on to the leading by example part. Here is the full post where I laid out my 2024 Resolutions with details. As a reminder those resolutions were:
- 2024 Resolution: Get Back to Reading More Than Just Horror
- 2024 Resolution: Double Down on Myself
- 2024 Resolution: Say No More Often (Without Feeling Guilty)
- 2024 Resolution: Start Planning For When I am No Longer "Officially" in Libraries
What I did well:
- I did read more than Horror this year. I made that goal because after being on the Andrew Carnegie Medal committee a few years ago, I was forced to read everything and I loved it. This year I expanded my reading especially through audiobooks, which I love. But, as you will see below, it was not 100% a win.
- Boy did I ever double down on myself. Right at the end of 2023 I got an agent and by the midpoint of 2024, I sold a book to Saga Press (a division of Simon & Schuster). Here are the details. As of this posting, the manuscript is turned in. The plan is for it to be released in January of 2026. ARCs will be available at ALA Annual in June and I will be appearing on panels to promote it. There are also plans in the works for me to be traveling throughout the Fall to promote the book and generate pre-orders. I am cautiously optimist about what comes next, but no matter what, I did what I set out to do. I bet on me and so far, it is working out.
- This one combines Doubling Down and Saying No. Midway through 2024, Robin and I were approached by the peer reviewed library journal, Library Trends to guest edit an issue dedicated to Readers' Advisory. Robin and I have both been careful about what we say yes to when it comes to the work we do together (see the next bullet point), but this opportunity was something both of us never could have seen coming. What an honor to be THE people to edit this academic journal on RA, an often disparaged area of librarianship that we have both dedicated our careers to elevate. To be recognized in an academic arena to solicit academic papers on the topic of RA, well those of you who do this work know what a big deal this is. Robin and I said yes fairly quickly but it is also because we are willing to say no to others. Coming this spring we will have the call for papers for this issue with a huge push at ALA Annual in June. More soon. The issue comes out November 2026.
- There was one big "No" moment this year that was not easy on me. After a few years, Robin and I decided to part ways with Learn with NoveList as the platform for our Actively Anti-Racist Service to Readers class. It was not an easy decision and the conversation about if we would continue took up a lot of the year. We parted amicably as we could not work out the details. But saying no to people I gold as friends was hard. However, it did leave space for us to say YES to ALA eCourses where we are not only going to be offering the class exactly how we want to, but we are developing worksheets for people to use AFTER they take the class, with the hope that we may be developing an entire workbook that people can buy to use with their staff sometime next year. This makes sense as ALA Editions is already Robin and my publisher of our RA textbooks. The first dog of classes for the year (live or on demand) are coming in February and they will come with 6 pages of worksheets as a test run. We have more planned but we want to see how people like what we have created. You can get the full details and sign up here.
- In other No news-- I have been actively courting others who can provide similar training to what I offer and have passed off multiple opportunities to these people in the last year. I cannot keep doing this forever. Not only am I turning 50 this year, but also, all of this doubling down on myself is opening up other opportunities and I don't want to have to say no to those because a library needs some RA training. I still want them to have great training, but it does not always have to come from me. I have also really enjoyed focusing on full state or large system training over the last few years. This train the trainer model is more efficient and I reach more people. In 2025 I have 2 states and a large system already set for the first quarter of the year. Smaller, single libraries, while fulfilling, may have to be sent to others as I have less and less time.
- In late May I will no longer be officially connected to any library as my 6th term on the La Grange Public Library Board will end. As of right now, I am emotionally ready for this to happen. As the deadline to run for reelection came and went, I made sure to check in with myself, and I am happy to report, I felt at peace. Now I still have the election in April and my final few meetings to get through, but I am feeling not only ready, but confident that it was the correct decision. When I left my job at a librarian 2015, I was 100% NOT ready to separate and was very anxious about only being connected the the official library world as a Trustee, but during that years between then and now, I actually did more as a library leader (serving open both the RAILS and the ILA Boards) because I had more time to do it. However, this was not just about my mental health as this transformative moment arrived, I also resolved to make real plans for things I could do when no longer serving on the library board. I will mention them in my goals, but I have had actually meetings and discussions to keep serving and doing more and this makes me excited.
What I need to work on: this list is really where I find my goals for next year.
- While I did read more than Horror, I was really only able to expand my reading to mystery on audio. As I looked at my year end list of books I read (my favorites are posted here), I saw some gaps where I wish I read more-- namely nonfiction which I tend to enjoy. I am also still balancing my have to reads for review with my reading for fun, but this has become less of a burden each year. 2024 felt like the year I managed the stress of my review deadlines the best. But again, it did not leave as much space as I wanted for fun reads. Next year I will build off of my success of coming up with a managing the workload plan with consciously interjecting more non-Hororr reads.
- I doubled down on myself as I planned, but what is the next step after doing that? I think I have an idea and will discuss it in my goals tomorrow. This is no easy task however. What is the next goal, yes, but also, how do I balance going too far in a new direction?
- I did a great job beginning to plan for when I am no longer officially in Libraries having started a few conversations but now I need to move from preparing for that moment, to seizing it is happening on May 20, 2025 at 7pm. While I will make some tangible goals, I need to be prepared for how this moment will make me feel, especially because I will be attending ALA Annual in June more as an author than a librarian.
- Speaking of being an author more than a librarian, as I mentioned above, I have turned in my manuscript for Why I Love Horror. From June 2025 into 2026 will be all about promoting the book. What will that look like for my life and my regular library work. The review deadlines I can plan for, but I need to be serious about the fact that my Fall is going to be just as busy as it usually is but it will look a lot different. How can I prepare mentally for something that is so new and different, something I cannot plan for? And I need to reconcile that I asked for this may doubling down on myself. Where will it take me? I guess I need to work on letting go and going with the flow of where this opportunity is going to take me.
Okay, that's a wrap on 2024's goals and how I did. Back tomorrow with 2025's goals.
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