Libraries = Learning Organizations

Bill Drew's blog post "How to Help a Young Librarians Love of Librarianship" brings a lot of food for thought! My immediate thought is that Libraries are the perfect environment for a learning organization and how important it is for libraries to model that mindset. Note the following musings:

1. Encourage continuing education ... provide funding! From my perspective this is a top priority for library directors and managers! Encouraging staff to take online courses (they abound especially for Idaho librarians through WebJunction Idaho) and attend face to face workshops and seminars is important. Some staff are too shy to take the initiative to ask. So as a Director ... you can take the initiative and encourage!
2. Play with new technologies. Our agency encourages everyone ... yes, everyone in the agency ... to take 15 minutes a week to explore new technologies during work time. This gives individuals the permission to schedule into their work flow time to learn. Once again opening the door ....
3. Work outside of job descriptions ... this can be invaluable, especially when the workplace is experiencing a flu epidemic -- it also provides opportunity for collaborative efforts and diminishes territorial or "this is mine" syndrome. It provides respect for each other's position and individual abilities to perform specific tasks. One never realizes how difficult a task is until you try to do it yourself.
4. Listen ... new librarians have good ideas as well as the veterans! Build respect among staff by valuing everyone's opinion and ideas.
5. Outreach ... go beyond the library as a place ... partner with schools, organizations, and businesses. There are plenty of partners out there and young people are usually pretty good at sizing them up -- libraries do not have to do it all by themselves!
6. Freedom to fail ... it's okay to make mistakes! I have learned the most when I tried and failed. Although I beat myself up for a while ... I was still able to regroup and achieve even greater heights with that knowledge.
7. Credit ... everyone loves to have their ideas and accomplishments acknowledged. That little aloha or thank you will go a long way toward motivating staff. Keep it positive!
8. Open ... to new ways of thinking, new ideas, new processes. Just because it has worked well in the same manner for the last 10 years, doesn't mean there is no room for improvement. Try it ... in small increments rather than the entire system at once if possible. That helps end users become accustomed to the change gradually.

Thanks Bill for the great ideas -- these are great tips not only for encouraging new librarians, but also for motivating the seasoned veterans ... Thanks for making me stop and think...