Fun and Change, "Green" Libraries
Fun and change may not seem to belong together, depending on your comfort level with change. I've talked about change before, so you know how I feel about it, which may not be how you feel about it. Many times over my career I've heard people say to me, "Change is hard." And that always makes me angry for two reasons: first, it seems to always be coming from someone who isn't going to have to change but is trying to force you to make a change and, secondly, because I don't think change IS that hard, if it's good change. Well, it might not be easy, in any case, but if there's value to the change and it can generate some excitement about that value then it isn't as hard, and seems worth the work.
At the Internet Librarian conference last month I had a few minutes here and there to think about change and fun. There were so many ideas being discussed, so much energy and excitement in the air, it was hard to NOT want to make some changes. And I decided maybe that's why "change is hard." In libraries we seem to be always under the gun, with changes being thrown at us so we are reacting to changes over which we seemed to have no control. Not only are we doing what we've done for a long time, in traditional ways, but we're being asked--some might grumble that we're being forced--to also do more things in different ways. Maybe we can change that, at least a little bit. (Baby steps, I always say...)
What if, instead of always reacting to change that seems to come at us like a cannonball, we thought about some new changes, maybe just small ones, that we'd LIKE to make, that would be fun for us? What if we even just took a few minutes each week or month to think creatively about new things we'd like to do or see, or to look around and see what others are doing that we'd like to try, too. I know, schedules are so packed, but what if we could reserve just those few minutes, on a regular schedule, to be a little creative in our thinking, and see where that could lead us. I have started scheduling a little time each month with a colleague to exchange ideas and brainstorm, and I can't tell you how much that has helped me to better deal with the countless other things on my calendar. That time is a sort of "island" of creativity and "good energy," if you will, to set my mind toward fun and exciting things that I can work on--not to bring about today or tomorrow, necessarily, but working on bits here, and bytes there. And I have a colleague to help. Maybe you want your time to be for yourself and your own creative thinking, maybe you want a colleague--or two or three--to join you. Get together with others in your county, or nearby. Dream a little. Have some fun. Create YOUR own change. --Karen
Resources from today's podcast:
Big Green Purse, by Diane MacEachern, Avery, 2008.
Green Weeding Wiki
SWILSA's Earth Day Resource page
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