What being an Emerging Leader taught me

I read two really great posts this past week about Rockstar Librarianship. Each post lays out an argument for why having this status of admired, set-apart librarians has the capacity to damage librarianship. Each post called out the Emerging Leaders program as one place that creates this class of set-apart librarians, though neither post argues directly for the dissolution of the program. And each author offers the caveat that not every Emerging Leader is susceptible to, as K.G. Schneider puts it, Shiny Syndrome.

I participated in the Emerging Leaders program as part of the 2011 cohort. I felt so strongly about being part of the program that I applied twice to be part of it after my application to be part of the 2010 cohort was not accepted. I wanted to be part of the program because I wanted to develop my leadership skills and I really valued the idea of being part of what I saw as a prestigious program. At the time, I felt like ALA was an impenetrable fortress of bureaucracy and I saw the Emerging Leaders program as my ticket to scaling the wall of that fortress.

If you're not familiar with it, the Emerging Leaders program is a leadership development group with two components: a small group project and a larger, online learning community. The year begins at ALA Midwinter where participants are oriented to the program in a day-long program. The time between Midwinter and Annual is taken up a small group (3-5 person) project as well as larger online learning opportunities. The program concludes at ALA Annual with another day-long program and poster session where small groups present their work during a reception.

My experience in the Emerging Leaders program was positive for the most part. I certainly grew quite a lot as a result of being part of the program. When I considered what I would tell others about my experience in the program, it boiled down to three things: every Emerging Leader has a different experience, not everyone who participates in the program becomes a star, and you can be a leader without being a graduate of the program.

1. Every Emerging Leader has a different experience:
The experience a participant in the Emerging Leaders program has is often directly related to the small team they're assigned to and the project they're assigned. If the team works well together and has a project that feels like it could have an impact, a participant will probably feel like the program gave them skills they can transfer to other areas of leadership development. If, however, the project feels more like busywork or the team doesn't work cohesively, a participant might feel like the program was not worth their time.

A participant's experience of the program also has a lot to do with how much they take advantage of networking opportunities. The size of the cohort has gotten smaller since I participated, and 50 participants is a much more reasonable size for getting to know other people. Participants have opportunities at the two in-person meetings to make connections with other newer professionals, but they also have the opportunity to meet people who have risen to prominent positions in the organization. If a participants doesn't take advantage of those opportunities, the program can seem isolating, especially they see colleagues becoming part of ALA's "in crowd."

2. Not everyone who participates in the program becomes a star
There are a handful of people from my cohort who have gone on to significant leadership roles within ALA. My guess, though, is that they would've found their ways into those leadership roles even if they'd never participated in the program. I didn't become more well-known in ALA or in my home library as a result of participating in the Emerging Leaders program. I already had a committee appointment when I participated in the program, so I'm not certain that participating in the program helped me in that regard either.

I suspect that as many people decide that participation in ALA isn't for them as decide to pursue leadership opportunities within the organization. While the Emerging Leaders program goes a long way to help make the association more accessible to its future leaders, the truth is that an organization with over 50,000 members is always going to be impenetrable to some degree. Some people choose to find a home in a division or round table. But some people also choose to go another way entirely.

3. You can be a leader in ALA without being a graduate of the Emerging Leaders program
It's true that the Emerging Leaders program does work to equip its participants with the tools to be effective leaders, both in their home libraries and in ALA. However, not every leader in ALA is a graduate of the program. There are many people who work tirelessly to advance the mission of the Association and its divisions and round tables who have no affiliation with the Emerging Leaders program and no interest in participating.

Participation in the Emerging Leaders program certainly opens paths to leadership within the organization. But participation in the program is not the only way in which fitness for leadership is measured. Or at least it shouldn't be. When promoting people to positions of influence, we should look at someone's character and capacity for accomplishing the work that needs to be done. Yes, some of those qualities are possessed by people who participated in the Emerging Leaders program. But not every emerged leader possesses those qualities. The bottom line is that participation in the program should not be a jump-the-line pass to leadership within the Association.

My $0.02:
Leadership programs, by their very nature, attract high achieving people who want to be a Big Deal within their sphere of influence. The problems start when we give participants in, and graduates of, the program the implicit message they are are part of that admired, set-apart crowd by giving them coveted volunteer appointments or by including trading cards with their likenesses in our profession's publication. I really enjoyed being part of the Emerging Leaders program, but I also know that being among its graduates doesn't make me special. I hope that people in other cohorts can say the same thing.

Stay positive,
Erin

The Whole Sad Story

This summer, the fifteenth anniversary of my brother's death came around. I made a playlist because that's the kind of thing I do.  Erin asked if I would share it (back then) and now I have this platform, so here it is. I include the albums in the playlist as the videos may be different versions than the ones on my real playlist.

Side 1:

1. Keep On The Sunny Side from Will The Circle Be Unbroken by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and featuring Mother Maybelle Carter.

2.  The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down from The Band by The Band

3. World Without Tears from World Without Tears by Lucinda Williams

4. Elvis Presley Blues from Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch

5. Midwestern Arms (live performance from REV 105 Radio Archive) by Dead Hot Workshop


6. Loneliness House from Slant 6 Mind by Greg Brown

7. Let Go from Born Under by Martin Zellar

8. Miles Davis' Funeral from Cure For Pain by Morphine (as outro)


Side 2:

1. Jubilee from Stones In The Road by Mary Chapin Carpenter

2. Somewhere Else from Back To Me by Kathleen Edwards

3. Tear Stained Eye from Trace by Son Volt

4. Life Ain't Always Beautiful from Tough All Over by Gary Allan

5. These Days In An Open Book from The Dust Bowl Symphony by Nancy Griffith

6. Boulder to Birmingham from Profile: Best of Emmylou Harris by Emmylou Harris

Friday Jams (9/26/2014)

Rachel:

Happy 5775! So I live up in the mountains where we don't have things. One of the things we don't have is radio. Normally I jam to my ipod and podcasts when I'm in my car, but sometimes I don't have those things. For those occasions I keep two CDs in the car of the kind of music you can hear on my life's greatest work, this Groove pandora station. My favorite of those is Heat Wave. Y'all, y'all. there is so much I love about this jam. I love it on every level. But most especially on the back-up singers telling you to go get you some level.

Erin:
I don't feel like dancing. No sir, no dancing today. But maybe you do?

It's New Years!

This morning I am not here. No, I am busy celebrating Rosh HaShana, the new year on the Jewish calendar. It is a time of reflection, re-dedication, and all kinds of other R-words. 

I was thinking about how Rosh HaShana fits into my professional schedule and I got to thinking about the plethora of new years that I get to experience. First, my personal new year, the fiscal new year comes in July.   Then we have the New Year of the instruction librarian, the beginning of fall semester. Then I get Rosh HaShana. Then, a little later we get the new calendar year, the beginning of spring semester. So many new years!


Sometimes we can fall prey to a thought trap that goes: That Project Is Good For Next Fall, I Will Start It Then. But if you've got the time, you've got the desire, you could be doing it right now instead of thinking about how great it will be when you start doing it finally after you've wanted to for months and months. By "you" I mean "me."

I've been saying yes to all of the awesome things (personally and professionally) and now my life is full of terrifying, challenging, rewarding opportunities. I recommend it. It's not comfortable, but that's not what being your best is like. I want to be my best so I've got to keep pushing.

You don't have to wait for any one new year to start anything. There is always a new year. Each new month, new fiscal quarter, new week, always a reason.  You don't have to feel bad if your plans go astray. I like an actual new year as a time to take a long look and reassess, but it isn't right to put off changes you know you want to and can make until that time.

Start every day. Start today.

L'Shana Tova and
Keep Rockin'

-Rachel

This is a call

The nomination period for Library Journal's Movers & Shakers award is currently open. Currently in its 14th year, the award coverage intends to "profile 50 up-and-coming individuals who are innovative, creative, and making a difference."

I really, really want you to consider nominating someone this year. I know that the nomination form requires you to put in the effort of identifying attributes your nominee possesses. I know that it requires that you find a second person who will co-sponsor the nomination. It seems like a lot of work and you're probably really busy.

Look, I know it's easy to dismiss the Movers & Shakers award as something that misses the mark. The awards are often criticized for ignoring certain parts of Libraryland. Depending on where you're situated in Libraryland, you can probably make compelling argument for why your particular area of librarianship is underrepresented. In the case of my peers, it often gets noted that many of the winners are people who have public-facing job duties. After all, it's difficult to see the impact of work which, when done well, doesn't get noticed.

The introduction to the 2012 awards describes the awards this way, "For 11 years now, LJ's Movers & Shakers has been spotlighting librarians and other in the library field who are doing extraordinary work to serve their users and to move libraries of all types and library services forward."

At their best, the Movers & Shakers award is a celebration of the people in libraries who are doing amazing work to serve their users. And I would argue that behind-the-scenes people do as much to move libraries forward as people with more front-and-center jobs. We each have a role to play in libraries and it's time to shine the spotlight on people who are doing amazing work outside of the public spotlight. Their contributions to librarianship matter. They move us forward and make us better.

So, let's do this.

Let's find the people who are doing innovative things to serve users, even if those people never see the users they serve. Let's find the people who are doing creative things to grow collections, describe collections, and preserve collections. Let's find the people who are using technology in new ways or whose work makes using library resources and services easier for end users. Let's take the time to write thoughtful nominations that connect the impact of behind-the-scenes work to the experiences of library users.

Let's do this.

Nominations are open until November 7, 2014.

Stay positive,
Erin

Friday jams (9/29/14)

Erin:
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted a song from Jason Isbell's Southeastern and grumbled about how it didn't win a Grammy? Well, this past week Isbell cleaned up at the Americana Music Awards by winning Artist, Album, and Song of the Year for "Cover me up."

Hooray! 

In honor of Isbell's big win, enjoy a live version of "Cover me up" that was recorded on Austin City Limits. Playing fiddle is Amanda Shires, Isbell's wife and an amazing singer/songwriter in her own right. You should totally check her out album Down Fell the Doves.

Rachel:

What a week.

In times like this it takes a man of such style you can not often find.

A List of Lists

I set myself up for a busy fall.  And now that it is fall I find myself overwhelmingly busy. More than I have been in years.  Don't get me wrong, I set myself up to do exciting things, new things, challenging things because I really want to do these things and I know I can get through it, but there comes a time when I just don't know what exactly I need to do at this particular moment to make the world now into the world of the future.

I make lists. I'm a list maker. I don't think I could quit if I tried. Here's a variety of lists that help me get through the busy times:

Simple To Do List

I like to give them titles. I also like to black out the completed items with a sharpie. I also like to tear up the list into very small pieces when it is complete. It's probably not the best idea to delve into the roots of those habits, so we'll just leave it at that.

However, it can be hard to get the right level of specificity on a simple to do list, especially at work.  A simple to do list that goes on for pages is more a reminder of the endless suffering you're enduring.  See, above, how washing the dishes and putting the dishes away are separate items? When I make my to do lists for home, I list each individual action associated with the laundry; start laundry; change loads; change loads; fold laundry; put clothes away. Otherwise, it doesn't actually happen and/or I don't feel like I've really done anything.

A subset of the Simple To Do List is the Completed Items list, which doesn't really work for me but I've heard good things from other people.

Five Things

So much of my day is spent answering little questions and putting out fires that I can lose focus on some of the larger things or easily find a way to avoid simple tasks that I don't want to do. In the past few weeks, I've been listing five substantial things that will make me feel like I've accomplished something meaningful during the day.  Here's what that looks like:

  

Done, Bitches

Now, once upon a time about five or six years ago, I was put in an extremely uncomfortable position that resulted in a lot of feelings in addition to a lot of complicated things to do in a very short time. I had to get my thoughts together about exactly what needed to happen, and I wrote them down in a very, uh, frank manner. I think I averaged two and a half epithets per list item. This list was on a private forum, and when I had completed items, I would strike them, exclaiming in all caps, "done, bitches." Which is how that sort of list is referred to by a certain set. It was very popular as a cohort were completing and defending their dissertations. I recommend using this sparingly, but when you need it, it is extremely effective.



So, what kind of lists do you make? How do you keep yourself on track in a busy time of year? Talk to me in the comments!

Keep Rockin,
Rachel