Re: [LM_NET] Thank you and let's keep discussing the role and future of libraries and librarians

[David Lininger <tigerlibrarian@GMAIL.COM>]

Deborah Stafford wrote:
> I have been doing some "thinks" this evening as I skimmed my daily LM_NET
> digests.
> 
> I am going to do my best to make this positive and move the discussion
> forward. I don't want this to be seen as negative to some previous posts but
> I also want to put a different perspective on several previous posts.
> 
> My first "think"; Who gets to decide that as a group we are negative. I hear
> that about local librarians but I do not see most of it as being truly
> negative. Sure we should be positive and build bridges, and advocate and see
> the big picture. But equally valid is the question about why the group has
> that perception. We are not all back in the past, I am pretty positive that
> almost all of us are with the program. IF there are no complaints, no less
> than enthusiastic responses, no "why did you do that" will that really move
> us forward?

My "think" is that we are often perceived as negative by others when we 
say and do things that aren't popular with others. For example, we can 
get a negative image in a teacher's mind when we aren't willing to edit 
out words or scenes from a videotape or make a DVD copy of the VHS tape. 
Administrators can view us as negative when we ask that our space be 
treated with the same respect that other classrooms are treated, when we 
remind them of State Standards, or ask for an increase in the budget.


> 
> My second "think"; we discuss the role and future of our group day in and
> day out. Only within the listserv it is often the everyday little tasks that
> add up to our role and future that get discussed. I have lots of resources
> for the big picture from journals to blogs to the AASL page. What I often
> need to see and get help with are the details. And the details come with
> problems. Lets make room for both discussions.

I "think" that sometimes within our own group we "let our hair down" a 
bit. One difference that I see here as compared to other lists that I'm 
on is that we are often looking at a problem, not to complain, but to 
gather ideas of how to solve the problem. I'm sure that all of us could 
come up with a very long list of problems that we need to deal with, and 
if all we did was focus on what's wrong, we'd soon get ourselves down. 
People who think that way generally don't stay in education very long, 
and certainly don't become librarians. We're all about solving problems, 
not complaining about them.

Something that I've been meaning to do is to keep track of how I spend 
my day. I'm going to give the mechanics some thought, but I'm leaning 
toward just writing down what I'm doing every 15 minutes. That will give 
a snapshot view of the day, but if I do it every day for a week, I ought 
to have a pretty good idea of where the day goes. The result might be 
something to share with my principal.






-- 
David Lininger, kb0zke
MS/HS Librarian
Skyline MS/HS
Urbana, MO 65767
(417) 993-4226
t i g e r l i b r a r i a n  at g m a i l  dot c o m

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