The Good Enough Librarian

Mention "storytime" and people have a pretty distinct idea about what it looks like - 30 minutes of sitting still, listening to story after story, with a few songs mixed in, maybe a flannelboard story too.  Regardless of whether this resembles your storytime style or not, it's a stereotype of the genre. Breaking that requires very intentional choices on your part and a narrative-shift on the part of your families. Start by asking yourself: What is my goal for storytime? What do I want families to walk away feeling? thinking sharing? What are needs I'm noticing? Concerns families share? If you're part of a team offering storytimes, discuss these questions as a group. Do you have different opinions? Where are you on the same page? While there are no wrong answers, if you said your main goal was for families to have a love of books and reading, I'd ask you to push yourself a little. If you've always read at least 3 books for storytime, I'd ask you to thin...

In a time of isolation and individuality, programming offers an opportunity to nurture community and communication. Libraries, Parks & Recreation, and other non-profit agencies have been community programming experts for years. But many of us continue to operate in a reactive way, addressing individual problems or rehashing the same programs and services we've inherited from previous generations. What would it look like to pull back and bring intention to your services? Intentional programming steps back from performance-driven/audience mentality and instead encourages collaborative, engaging connections at all levels. At it's heart this is about doing more by doing less! This shift can be daunting, but its effects stretch out beyond your programming to spark institutional change. You'll notice better buy-in by staff and stakeholders at all levels, more meaningful services that use your resources (money and staff!) thoughtfully, and more dynamic programming that reflec...