The next step

I'm going to try my darndest to keep up with this blog because it is a good exercise for me to keep my thoughts in order. So much has happened, which is why I have not posted as frequently as I'd like to be posting.

First off, advocacy update: we will be presenting to the higher-ups some ideas for staffing models in terms of teen services. After gathering a ton of data regarding teens in our county, I am putting together a proposal draft which will then be sent to another committee to be considered.

This is somewhat perfect timing because due to the decreased property tax and local option income taxes, we are in an absolute budget crisis meaning we are now discussing a total re-structuring of our system. It's a massive challenge for us as an organization. There has been lots of talk of challenging the "sacred cows" and figuring out what the core values are for the system. A true challenge.

I have the honor of serving on this committee as requested by the director so I will have a unique insight into how exactly a large library system is funded and managed and how these hard decisions are made.

It's such an interesting era to be a librarian. So many libraries across the country are already at bare bones services and struggle just to keep the doors open to the public. In this day and age of technological innovation, our society changes on a day to day basis and it's hard to keep up and meet the needs of our patrons.

Okay, back to taking care of business.