So far it looks like my spring is going to be filled more with administrative duties and committee work than fun programs with the babies and teens. Oh the joys of being in management! Just one more reason to be looking forward to Summer Reading time! I am on two committees this spring. Our director is retiring in the summer and I am on the hiring search committee for our new director. I’m also on the strategic planning committee, so lots of exciting changes are coming this year for my library! That rash of librarian retirements they promised us back when I was in library school is actually happening now (in my library anyway). We have had 4 positions retire in the past year, with probably about 4 more planned in the coming year. And yes, we are filling those open positions! So it has been fun to welcome great new people with new ideas and new energy.
In other news, I was able to attend PLA several weeks ago. I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about it yet. That week in Indianapolis was one of the most fun I’ve ever had! And I learned so much. My favorite sessions were Tinker With Technology and PlaySpaces in the Library. The Tinker Group is a group of librarians in the Chicago area who were all doing technology programs for kids and teens in their libraries and decided to have monthly meet-ups to share their ideas. Now they were taking their ideas to PLA to share with us all! I was so excited to leave the session with several ideas that I felt confident that I could implement, even with my limited money and skill!
The PlaySpaces session was equally inspiring. The Barrington Public Library staff shared pictures of their AMAZING new children’s room with us. It was really great and helped me think outside the box and dream big for my own children’s department. Then, thankfully, there were other presenters as well who talked about adding play to your library space on a smaller scale. I hope I have a chance to implement a lot of these ideas soon. But honestly, the best thing about PLA was the people.
I loved meeting and just being around so many public librarians from around the country, all of them as passionate about what they do as I am. It was such a great feeling! I am now dying to go to the next PLA in Denver in 2016! Here is a picture of me and my best library school friend hanging out with Sherlock at the Innovative Party Friday night. I also saw my boss dancing at that event – what moments to remember!
Allison's Library 