Dining Out

Recently we had dinner out at Chili's.  Our waitress was a young girl.  She was very nice and friendly.  She consistently checked our table and refilled drinks.  Our food was somewhat slow to be served although the restaurant wasn't packed. The food was to order once it was served. Overall it was a good dining experience.

PMLI 2013 Summary

I enjoyed meeting so many nice people at PMLI.  I learned several things that I will take back to our library to hopefully enhance and improve our library.  I enjoyed our team work.  And it is always helpful to see how others are viewing the same project or dilemma and how everyone has a little bit different solution due to their personal experiences and perspectives.
I will have to say that I wasn't expecting as much "homework" as we had.  And it would have been nice to have a little more time to enjoy the park.  Overall it was a good learning experience.  I felt it was well organized and informative.  I look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

Organization

From the group presenting the Organization presentation, I learned the importance of planning and organizing to effectively operate your library on a daily basis.  As a library leader you need to organize everything from staff schedules, projects, book orders, to maintenance.  Keeping task lists and using time management is a large part of the organization process.   By organizing tasks and assigning specific tasks to your staff based on their skill set you will be able to enhance your library's services to public. By consistently maintaining and improving your organizational you should be able to lessen your stress and improve the library's services.

Control

In researching our topic, Control, I found that one of the main aspects of control is that you as a leader can make your personal style positive or negative.  In the library world, as leaders we should strive to maintain control of our staff, resources, and building in a positive but, authoritative manner.  Ideally we should be a servant leader recognizing the differences among our staff and the various communication skills  needed to empower our staffs enabling the promotion and enhancement our libraries.

Dr. Self

The experience that surprised me the most with Dr. Cathy Self was the ability to relax in such a short time.  What touched me most was that my attitude was more positive after the few minutes of meditation.  I find it inspiring that taking a few minutes to mediate can change your whole point of view and stress level.

Interview

My interview was with Sarah.  She has been a librarian for over six years. She currently carries her room key in her pocket and dreams of being a sea horse if she lived in the sea; however, she doesn't believe in extraterrestrials.  She thinks the greatest invention is indoor plumbing  and the weirdest thing she ever ate was her mother's cooking especially when her mom was mad at her dad.  Although if she had to eat a raccoon it would be fried; the food she finds the scariest is sushi; but her favorite lunchmeat is turkey.  The last thing she ate today was banana pudding.   If she could be a kitchen appliance, it would be a dishwasher and if she didn't have to work she would volunteer at the library.

Sarah receives a about 10 test messages a day and doesn't like her handwriting.  If she were mistaken for a celebrity it would be Sissy Spacek.  Her favorite time of the day is early morning.  Her favorite day of the week is Saturday and she enjoys the month of December because of the Christmas festivities.  She has gotten up early to be a "Black Friday" shopper but, she would not consider living off the grid.  Her biggest traffic pet peeve is someone tailgating.

If she could witness one event it would be to see her children graduate from college.  And if she could take a road trip it would be with her grandfather to Georgia.  If she had one wish to be granted it would be that her children have long healthy lives.  If she could be any fictional character she would be Stephanie Plum.

I Am

I am a positive and resourceful librarian willing to help others discover literature and obtain information to further enhance and enrich their lives.

To improve the image of my library I am going to request our Friends group to declutter and do a general clean-up of our basement area which currently houses withdrawn books.   Our Friends are a vital part of our library environment.  Also I am going to make suggestions for enhancing our County's library website.

PLMI - Day 1

Learning about the past can help you grow in the future.  Today's PLMI classes brought to light the origins of the Tennessee Library System.  The history of the system showcased the desire of a few to help educate and enlighten the many rural folks of Tennessee.  Although the time has spanned over many decades, Tennessee librarians are still bringing this gift to many rural and small libraries over the state of Tennessee.  Yes, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds but the spirit of the Tennessee librarian remains unchanged.