Month: April 2006

I kind of hate to admit it, but this morning’s all-staff meeting was actually stimulating. This doesn’t mean that I think we should have them more frequently, of course, but today went exceptionally well. Now, there were moments… there always are when you get 30-ish people together in a room furnished with 28 or 29 chairs, food sitting there (like desert placed on the table before the main meal) waiting for “after the meeting,” and something as meaty as our organization’s direction for the next 10 years on the agenda. But I came out of the meeting realizing that I really have found my dream job. This organization values the future and the past just enough to experiment with the new, preserve the best of the old (collections and traditions alike), and build it into the conscious structure of the organization that each of us should be scanning the horizon for innovative tools, methods, and services (see my post on Our Vision and Watch List below).

One of the points that drew the most discussion this morning was the method by which we would watch those tools, methods, and services on our “Watch Lists,” and the staff at large didn’t even balk at my co-worker’s suggestion that we create and update an internal blog! It’s very refreshing to know that my department (made up primarily of late-20s and early-30s types) aren’t the tech-outliers in the library any more. It was also very refreshing to hear our director saying, “We’ve got a community of people here that know how to figure things out, find information about things, and teach things to other people, so take advantage of your co-workers.” This is the key to getting over Millennial Discomfort and continuing to do what librarians do best: providing timely and excellent information service.

I’ll be interested to see how this all plays out.