FOCUS
The Newsletter of the Montana Library Association
President's Message
The text editor in Smore is pretty straight forward. Can also easily embed links or included numbered or bullet points.
There are lots of design features that are fun to play with, including hi-res background art, color palettes and fonts. This is the "minimal" design and as you can see it is very bare bones. I'll do another mock up using a different design scheme later.
Word/Article length is flexible too. I'm keeping this brief though just as a place holder.
Hi Kendra
Generic Library Pic
Another random pic
Here are options that can easily be added, edited, rearranged within a Smore flyer. The "form" option allows for inserting Google docs. This is an example of what a "Title" looks like.
This is the space a feature length article could occupy
“I’m not a role model…Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”—Charles Barkley
It always makes me smirk when the newest and hottest celebrity/ pop star/ athlete laments that they don’t want to be seen as a role model. They protest that they shouldn’t be hindered by societal expectations and they “just got to be me, man.”
Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you shy away from leadership duties or roles. Do you suddenly become a wallflower and hope for the power of invisibility when someone mentions networking or mentoring? When you first filled out your application, or signed your acceptance letter how could you know what responsibilities come with the title of librarian.
For many years, the stereotype of a librarian has been closely associated with strict rules and an even stricter bun hairstyle; ready to shush the masses into submission. While at the same time seen as socially awkward and painstakingly shy. We are believed to retreat from the world into our safe haven of an almost empty library with dusty books and a cat to keep us company. In more recent years, librarians have been depicted as boorish book pushers by day and secret crusaders by night.
This December, I will have been part of this wondrous library world for 11 years. During this time, I have changed my professional persona multiple times: cataloger, interlibrary loan, reference, IT, system administrator, and currently library director. Now be honest, don’t those titles conjure up some stereotypes that even we hold ourselves?
How do you want your coworkers to see you? Your boss? Your patrons? Your community? Your state organizations? If you don’t consciously decide how the world is to receive you professionally, the world will choose your persona for you.
You may say, “Dawn, this is silly and busy work; I have real library business to attend to.” Yet, it is serious. The way we handle ourselves, our social media history, our appearance and other factors color the way that our communities see us. Ways of creating your own personal brand are: start thinking of yourself as a brand, audit your online presence, maintain a healthy social network both on and off-line, find ways to produce value, be purposeful in what you share, associate with other strong brands, reinvent and your personal brand will always be evolving.
Recently, a fellow community leader put up a scathing Facebook post about local county officials and I cringed for them. The person may have felt the need to vent but the professional degradation will last forever. How can someone be seen as a community leader when they disrespect the community? This person has done great things for the community, but all of his good deeds are forgotten because of his negative Facebook comments.
But you say, “Dawn, I’m not interested in being a community leader or a regional leader; I like doing my job then going home at night, and that’s it. I don’t need any training on networking, mentoring, leadership, or being a role model.” However, being a true role model or a true leader isn’t flashy or loud; a true leader is one who does the work well so that those that come after him/her can continue the work and isn’t that what most of us strive for?
My mentor is a quiet leader. She shies away from the limelight and the glow of recognition. She is in her early 90s and still volunteers multiple days a week, but few in the community know of her extensive accomplishments. She prefers it that way. She has told me that it does not matter who does it, but that it got done.
Maybe you are also a quiet leader that has to wade through the everyday right-versus-right problems. You know the problems that don’t have life or death consequences, but one outcome may better you and your organization more than the other outcome. Why reinvent the wheel and work through these everyday problems yourself? This is why as a professional organization we come together a few times a year to find new ways of dealing with our day-to-day problems.
Although you may like to work under the cloak of anonymity and do not like to work in the limelight; I encourage you this year to get out of your comfort zone. Maybe, just once you will decide to head up a workshop, agree to be on a committee, or become a mentor to a new employee. I urge you to contact me (406-377-3633) or other MLA board members with your ideas and thoughts for the 2016 MLA Conference. We need our everyday heroes just as much as we need our extroverted, world-changing heroes.
Protect! Power! Inspire!
Dawn Kingstad, President
(406)377-3633