MPOW, October 29, 2009. the library had pretty much been passed by in strategic planning.\n
You also have to be focused on your external communications, and provide very clear message discipline. \n
Be relentlessly positive--especially when you don’t feel it.\n
Ok, she was probably crazy. But she was passionate, focused, and knew how to articulate a vision. \n
“The fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing" -- from an essay by philosopher Isaiah Berlin. Know why you’re changing. The first thing I had to decide is what was our “big thing.” In a similar vein, SCELC has found that resource-sharing is one of its big things. \n
Dump the stuff you shouldn’t be doing to eke out more time for the new things\n
The first thing I did was stop information literacy and take money out of the database budget to spend on computers, conferences for staff, and event supplies. And by event supplies I mean I bought so many nibblies last year that I qualified for executive membership at CostCo. \n
Establishing reference. Radical, eh?\n
Our old reference area. \n
Weed, weed, weed.\n
Almost there.\n
We had fun with weeded journals. \n
This area is now a hub for events. \n
Visit places and get ideas. \n
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I’m also reading management books recommended by our university president. \n
Camino is a pilot project from SCELC, a consortium serving over 100 libraries in California and beyond. Camino provides express delivery resource-sharing and is based on OCLC’s Navigator software. 7 libraries are participating, including Holy Names. \n
Just keep trying. \n
You cannot overcommunicate. Share your vision, your strategy, your expectations -- over and over again. \n
Never let people feel incompetent...Bring them into the process...Reiterate your expectations...Be patient...Know your internal deadlines for change\n
Let people acclimate to new ideas. \n
Make concessions. “One well-placed blocker can stop an entire change effort”\n
Create a guiding coalition. You need critical mass for change to happen. You will have hardcore change agents and hardcore “no-skies.” Focus on bringing over the people in the middle. \n
Avoid stereotypes. Your greatest supporters may be old. Your underminers may be young. \n
we sometimes need to dwell on things that aren’t upbeat. For example, it’s important to know that CostCo can only ship caskets to 34 states. And also, that they offer both expedited and standard shipping. Like Wall Street, people can function better with bad news than with no news.\n
If you really want to kill a change initiative, form a committee\n
How do you create space for good ideas?\n
Style 23 gives people room to experiment. This is explicitly a catch-all category for any beer that does not fit into an existing style category. No beer is ever “out of style” in this category, unless it fits elsewhere.\n
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And--trust me, this will be relevant--one of my hobbies is homebrewing beer. \n
And--trust me, this will be relevant--one of my hobbies is homebrewing beer. \n
And--trust me, this will be relevant--one of my hobbies is homebrewing beer. \n
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Passion is key. You need other skills, but passion will keep you going far longer than anything else. \n
Critical mass: also called a guiding coalition: if you seriously don’t think you will ever get a majority support for your vision, don’t bother\n