I was advised today to make myself unique, differentiate myself if I want to eventually work full-time in the library field. Asante Cain, Reference and Adult Services Coordinator at Grand Rapids Public Library, was very generous with his time this afternoon. (I'm not looking for a new job, I assure you--I'm just trying to understand the operations of a large urban library system for a school assignment.) In the course of talking about the hiring process at GRPL, Asante advised me to be personable and inquisitive and interested in everything my bosses are doing just as a matter of course, as opposed to turning on the "charm" when opportunities for advancement manifest. Good advice. A list of things I want to try to do:
A list of things coming up:
Tuesday Nov. 8 And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born? (W.B. Yeats) Armageddon is no excuse for falling behind.
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The 2016 Michigan Library Association Annual Conference was a huge success ... But, what does that mean? The immediate translation is I now have even more ideas than I have time and other resources to implement. Ideas are storming the gate, crowding the exit, rushing the stage. Between that and the upcoming election, my mental bouncers will have to work overtime to sort everything out.
For now, I just want to bookmark The Harwood Institute and Libraries Transforming Communities, and make a note to compile a list of local civic and business groups and people at the local school I want to contact. Then, I can start working on specifics, projects, ways to approach, funding sources, etc., and put them all in a report/proposal for my Director. Need to compile a list of new ideas for the Marketing Workgroup, too. So many ideas. Then, I need to slow down, breathe, meditate, get back to schoolwork so I can be a real librarian someday ... Post-SOUP, pre-dinner. Here is the fact: I didn't expect to win. Upon scanning the competition's descriptions, my first thought was that a program addressing such basic needs as food for the hungry and citizenship for immigrants had me beat from the start. Creative writing is not a necessity, like eating and living in a free country are necessities. Unless, of course, you're a creative writer, in which case to not write feels like dying. That is the reason I will continue to pursue funding for this program, because exercising creativity and learning to communicate effectively can make life profoundly more livable and fulfilling, especially for the kind of kid that I was when I was in middle school and high school. It's a good thing for other types, too. It can enhance almost anybody's life, I think. But the misfits are my favorite, the ones for whom I stand at the cliff in the field of rye.
You must have come in during the middle of the conversation in my head. Let me back up. I just finished a short presentation at the Library SOUP event at the Michigan Library Association 2016 Annual Conference. It was a crowdfunding event, based on Detroit SOUP. Each participant voted with her/his ticket for the favorite of five programs presented. My program: the Teen Writers Journey to Publication, a Skype-connected writers' group that meets in seven different library branches across the county. The Teen Librarian from the East Lansing Public Library won with her Wee Free Pantry idea. And good for her! She deserved it. She presented it well and it is a worthy idea. For my part, I received a lot of great feedback. A friend told me I was "hands down, the best presenter" at the event. My bosses told me I looked natural up on stage. (Inside, I was screaming with anxiety. But one learns to disconnect and let another part of oneself take over. Which can also be learned through creative writing.) It was suggested that I "take it on the road" to some local civic groups to see if I could procure funding from them. It was also suggested that I try again next year at the SOUP. I intend to do both. I've been meaning to connect with civic groups anyway to gauge interest in a local history wiki project and find people willing to contribute as writers or interviewees. Outreach is also maybe part of my job, as Marketing Assistant. Now that I know I can pull off a presentation, I think I'm ready to be more active in that capacity. At any rate, it was a great opportunity and a big step in my professional development. Now, back to my MLIS homework ... and maybe the Pub Crawl at 7 (which will be a Pop Crawl for me, but a chance to hang out, maybe) ... |
AuthorJeffrey Babbitt, MLIS, is a graduate of the School of Library and Information Science at Wayne State University who is pursuing a career as a librarian in Michigan. Subject Headings
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June 2021
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