Weekly inspiration ~ 15- 19 April

Another busy week gone past! Hopefully next week slows down a little bit. :)
I had a fantastic time last night at an Aoraki LIANZA event in Rangiora. It was awesome to network with other librarians- I forgot how refreshing it is to meet people that have a similar mindset to you and that you don't have to explain every aspect of being a librarian to!

 I've also been finding lots of great articles and ideas on Twitter this week- here are my top ones :)

1: 20 Ways Libraries Are Using Pinterest Right Now: Being a massive fan of Pinterest I thought this article had some really exciting ideas and ones that I can use for my personal account too :)
http://edudemic.com/2012/03/20-ways-libraries-are-using-pinterest-right-now/


2: Re-reading my favourite books from high school. I've been feeling nostalgic lately and decided to re-read this fantasy series by David Eddings. I'm not a fan of fantasy anymore but I'm still devouring these books!


3: This Joy of Reading board on Pinterest: I love these quotes and pictures!
http://pinterest.com/castatelibrary/the-joy-of-reading/
 

Give the people what they want!

For these school holidays the library offered craft activities like scrapbooking and bookmaking and boy, were they a hit! We haven't offered activities like this for a while and I was so happy with how popular they were. For me personally, it was a great 'out of comfort zone' experience. I love craft but haven't really taught it to a group of people as such. After talking with my colleague who is also the youth librarian, I decided to keep it really simple. I figured that the children probably wouldn't be that interested in all the finicky details. I/we were right! I did a brief introduction of what scrapbooking is all about, a show and tell of how I put a page together and what materials were available. After that chaos reigns! I'll let these pictures tell the rest of the story :) I'd love to hear some more school holiday tales, either here or on Twitter @JuliadeRuiter

Introducing what scrapbooking is all about

He made a sweet card for his Mum :)

Getting into the complicated side of things!

Explaining how colours work together.

 

 

 

 

 

Let's Make it Happen

I've just been reading the September/October 2012 copy of the American Library Association magazine and I came across an article by Meredith Farkas that I thought was interesting. See the article here: http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/practice/let-s-makeithappen
The article is all about not being scared to bring up new ideas/ways of doing things. I don't think this modern library design in the Netherlands was dreamed up by people who hated change! 

 " If you want to make something happen, the biggest thing holding you back may be you". - Meredith Farkas

Libraries are all about change and for that to happen positively we need people who are willing to speak up and get their ideas out there on the table. 
That said, its not always as easy as this sounds!  I can relate when Farkas mentions that she had only been out of library school for a year when she saw an area she thought could use improvement. When I first started working in the library, I had so many ideas that I felt very passionate about but was way too scared to mention them to anyone! As I've grown in confidence and knowledge though, I don't feel so apprehensive about getting my ideas out there. I mean, whats the worst that could happen? My ideas won't always work or be received positively but that doesn't mean I should stop voicing them. I find it helps to mention it to a trusted colleague first before somewhere like a staff meeting. Then, if they see an obvious flaw you will only be embarrassed in front of them!

In this article Farkas mentions that it's often easier to come up with ideas when you are relatively fresh to the profession. While I agree with that, its also hard because you feel like you don't have any experience/a right to speak up.
Finding or teaming up with people who have a similar vision to you may help. Two brains will always be better than one :) I know for me personally, I have a great team of people I work with that are willing to hear out my ideas and I trust their feedback. This has definitely made me more confident in coming up with ideas and thinking outside the square.

The future of libraries is going to change- that much is obvious. I guess it all depends now on how we ( the passionate, foward thinking people!) are going to approach it.

I highly recommend reading this article- I've also just read on Twitter that Meredith has presented a paper at the LIANZA conference 2012- I have some conference envy right  now! 

Thanks for reading- I'd love to hear some comments from some like-minded people- here or on Twitter @JuliadeRuiter

Julia :) 

P.S. Just realised this is my second post on change- I must love it!