Kindness in the library

Patron service is the main focus in my work-life library. Everyone on the team–including student assistants and the technology guru–really work at helping our patrons. This attitude comes from the top; our head librarian is service-focused and supports and encourages our efforts to go the extra mile.

Many times I have walked a lost student to their class. The end of the semester means I am sitting panicking students, polishing citations and formatting final papers. I greet students as they come in, and everyone is treated in a welcoming, respectful way in my library. Many students are suprised at this.

I see my role NOT as the lion at the gate, but as the facilitator, the connector. I share, not just distribute information. Questions are not an interruption in my work, they are the reason I am working.

I smile. Its part of the job.

This attitude has recently been codified by the Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians (found on Kathryn Greenhill’s Librarians Matter.) I hope that this will become the defining statement for the next generations of libraries and librarians.

I know it is mine.

I wrote a grant!

During the recent Founder’s Day celebration, I attended a workshop on grant writing.

The library at Tyler is quite bare. We have one donated painting and one donated wall hanging. A coworker and I both brought in some plants, and I change the book displays regularly. Thankfully the space is filled with student which make everything LIVELY!

The John Tyler Foundation sponsors an art contest every year, and the winning piece is reproduced in poster form and use for promotion throughout the year. The library needs art–what better art to inspire students than student art?

I wrote a small grant to have the past five posters framed and placed in the library. I am hoping not only to get this grant, but also to have this be an ongoing program for the library. I would like the Foundation to donate the framed art every year.

My coworkers were pretty enthusiastic, and each helped me proofread the grant. I will not lose my chance becasue of a typo or spelling mistake! This also allows everyone to get behind the project, by being involved in the grant-preparing process.

I should hear the result in November.