Working Knowledge

A Monthly Column about Life on the Job

By Mary Pergander
American Libraries Columnist

Mary Pergander is director of the Deerfield (Ill.) Public Library. Send comments or questions to working@ala.org.

Column for January/February 2008

Be It Resolved . . .

Twelve resolutions for the New Year at your library

How will you make a difference this year in your own professional life and those of your library colleagues? Here are some ideas to help you get started:

Can you name three librarian colleagues working in similar roles in nearby libraries? Reach out and connect this year. Start simply with a call and a question, and work up to inviting them to go for coffee.
Is there at least one professional journal you read cover to cover each month? Stretch yourself. Scan another print or online journal related to an aspect of the library profession that differs from your own role. Watch for opportunities to increase your scope of understanding and improve your own results.
Attend a professional conference, if you can. Many now post handouts on the conference website, so if you cannot go in person, go virtually.
Subscribe to at least one RSS feed on a library topic of interest.
Are you a technology superuser? Learn at least one new shortcut or feature of your library’s automation program. Earn a bonus point if you also teach it to someone else.
Share your librarianship ideas more broadly. Start a blog, write an article, create a poster session, or post to a library discussion list#151;whatever appeals to you.
Vote. There will be plenty of opportunities this year, professionally and politically. Paid ALA members as of January 31 are eligible to vote in the Association election (AL, Dec., p. 13). If you are not yet registered to vote in the general election, do so now.
Take a local or web-based continuing education class related to your own information needs. Bolster your computer techniques, learn a new language, or improve your presentation skills. Then, look for new opportunities to use these in your library.
Serve on a committee in your library, school, or professional organization.
Nominate a librarian for an award. There are many ways to recognize excellence in the profession. All it takes is the time to fill out the application. Even if your nominee does not win, he or she will feel honored by your efforts.
Apply for a grant. Do you have an exciting idea but lack the money to carry it through? Develop your concept and find a funding match. There are even some grants for first-timers, so no more excuses!
Take a vacation, and visit a library. We all need time away from work. Why not seek new inspiration by visiting a library in a new city, state, or country. Perhaps you will make a new librarian friend while you are there.

You now have a dozen ideas for the new year. Even two or three, faithfully executed, will give you renewed energy and confidence. Write me about your successes at working@ala.org.

WORKING WISDOM

Try something new this year. Librarians are pros at accessing the world of ideas, so grab some for yourself! In doing so, you will enhance your own librarianship and perhaps that of your colleagues as well.

Latest Library Links

19h

Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
23h

Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
2d

Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9
2d

Karen O’Grady writes: “I am the embedded librarian for the Hahn School of Nursing at the University of San Diego. I am surrounded by nursing faculty, staff, and students rather than by librarians. This has proven to be an incredible gamechanger for the way I see things. Every student in my school knows me by name. I am often stopped in the hallway to answer questions. Every correct answer I give increases my authority and builds trust. Through these casual mini-lessons, this foreign animal called ‘librarian’ slowly becomes an approachable, knowledgeable person.”

College & Research Libraries News, Dec.
2d

ALA has selected 46 participants for its 2025 class of Emerging Leaders (EL). The EL program allows library staff and information workers to participate in project planning work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. The group will take part in a day-long session during the 2025 LibLearnX conference in Phoenix this January and work for six months, culminating in a poster session at ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia in June, where they will highlight results of their project planning work.

ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Dec. 4
3d

On December 9, ALA announced a $25 million bequest by James W. Lewis, of Washington, D.C. The gift, the largest individual bequest in ALA’s history, will fund scholarships for aspiring librarians with demonstrated financial needs. Throughout Lewis’s career at Merrill Lynch, where he leads the Lewis Group as senior vice president and senior relationship manager, he has demonstrated his commitment to libraries and their communities by generously volunteering his time, including as a member of the Board of Visitors at the library of his alma mater, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also served as a Library Trustee Board member at District of Columbia Public Library for 10 years.”

AL: The Scoop, Dec. 9
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Tess Prendergast writes: “I will never forget the surprised look on one mom’s face during storytime when I dropped a tip—technically called an aside—about how rhyming helps babies differentiate sounds and prepares them for reading. “You mean that all this singing will help her in school?” she asked. “I thought we were just doing this for fun!” Early literacy activities are certainly fun—but also valuable. Many parents and caregivers aren’t aware that simple, everyday activities can benefit their child’s early language and literacy development and have a lasting positive impact on their learning.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.

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