Today I will be delivering the keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the North Country [NY] Library System. I will be doing my signature RA for All pep talk to a group of library workers, administrators, and trustees.
That talk follows my 10 Rules of RA Service which are always available here. This talk is a great way to introduce the principles and importance of RA Service to all library staff, but it is most effective when the leaders and decision makers of an institution are present.
Too often I present this talk at the beginning of a long in-service day and the administrators are too busy organizing the rest of the day to be a part of the training. I think this is detrimental to everyone. In fact, I have started directly requesting that administrators be present for this presentation. It is not enough for the people in charge to book me, they need to hear what I have to say and be a part of the change they are trying to kickstart with their staff.
North Country Library System, however, didn’t need me to ask everyone to be a part of my keynote; they planned from the start for me to talk to the entire group. It was their idea for me to do this basic training for such a broad audience. Bravo to them.
As a Trustee myself, I am super excited that trustees are also being included in today's audience. I think we can effect more change and improve service to our patrons better if we educate the library decision makers as we are training ourselves. I have never had trustees in the audience for this talk. I am excited to see what they think.
Now it is time to take what I think is a good idea and see if it actually works in practice. I will see very soon.
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