PEGA-SIS Newsletter
Spring 2018 | Vol. 2 Issue 3
In this Issue
Ask PEGA will return in July with conference-going advice.
Letter from the Chair
Happy almost-summer, everyone!
First of all, thank you to everyone who voted in the recent PEGA election! And congratulations to our newest board members: Patrick Parsons is our new Vice Chair/Chair Elect and Andrew Lang is our Secretary/Treasurer. Both of them will officially join the board during our annual business meeting in July. Thank you to all of our candidates for being willing to serve! It’s because of you that PEGA continues to thrive.
I hope you were able to attend our most recent members-only webinar, Understanding Burnout and Leading Your Organization Through It. It’s an issue that many in our profession face, and it’s something we don’t talk about enough. A big thanks to committee chair Karin Johnsrud and the members of the Education Committee for planning and hosting the webinar! If you weren’t able to attend, you will soon be able to listen to the recording on our website.
And since it’s almost summer, you know what that means: the Annual Meeting is right around the corner. The PEGA board and our committees are working hard to bring you another great PEGA Party and exciting new changes to Beer & Edits. As we have thelast few years, we’ll be having a virtual business meeting shortly before we go to Baltimore. Keep an eye on the PEGA listserv for more information about how to register. We’ll also have more information about all of these events in our special Conference Edition of the newsletter.
Deborah Schander, Chair
AALL Professional, Growth, & Advancement SIS
Show Us Your Shelfie
1. Name, Title, Library: Scott Vanderlin, Student Services Librarian, University of Chicago, D'Angelo Law Library
2. Tell us about your Shelfie: My shelfie is the main bookcase in the home I share with my lovely partner. You'll quickly notice that the books are not cataloged by call number (like a librarian), or alphabetically (like a well-organized non-librarian), or even autobiographically (like High Fidelity), but aesthetically (by color). It's appropriate, really, because I think bookcases in people's homes function as much as pieces of art as they do storage devices. I know that it's the first place I wander when I'm in someone else's home for the first time.
3. What is your favorite thing on your shelf? A barleywick candle. If you'd asked me this a few years ago, I probably would have named some dumb book or trinket. I was in a funk candle-wise. I'd have sooner lit myself on fire than light the wick on another boring, paraffin snooze-fest. Then I stumbled upon the future of soy-based flammables and my entire worldview shifted.
4. Besides your workplace library (naturally), what is the coolest library you have ever seen/been to? Is it cheating to name a library that I don't work at, but that is on the same campus I work at? If that is fair game, it is easily the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library here at the University of Chicago. It is both the most visually striking and technologically incredible library I've ever seen. If that won't work, I'd have to say the little free library on the block I live on. So cool.
5. What do you like the most about being a librarian? What do you like the least?
Most: I like being able to make students' lives easier by showing them tools and techniques that will save them time.
Least: I mean, what's everyone's least favorite thing about being a librarian?
6. What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? Be yourself.
7. Who is your library/librarian hero (or the person who inspired/inspires you to be a librarian)? Maribel Nash. Maribel has shown me that I don't have to choose between a career as a print/commercial model and a law librarian. I can be both.
8. What was your best day on the job? No idea. It probably involved free food.
9. What was the last book you read? Digital or Print? I'm not making this up--the last book I read was I'll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara. I finished it about two weeks before they arrested the Golden State Killer (EARONS, if you prefer). Absolutely insane. Oh, and digital.
10. What’s the last thing you Googled? "i'll be gone in the dark"
11. Cats or Dogs? Cats if they're mine, dogs if they're someone else's.
12. Coffee or Tea? Coffee. Duh.
13. How many cardigans do you own? I just counted. Own? 8. Wear, like, ever? 1. I should probably plan a trip to Goodwill.
14. Favorite word? Least favorite word? I don't think I've ever ranked them.
15. What’s your perfect Sunday afternoon look like? Reading, drinking good beer, football on in the background, with at least my person and possibly a small, select group of loved ones.
How to Build a Better Librarian
Networking for Introverts
by Deborah Schander
Networking. It’s both the byword and the swear word of most professional organizations. There are networking events, and networking articles (*cough*), and we chat to each other about how good (or bad) someone we know is at networking. A few years ago, as an introvert who had to spend a lot of time at events, I begrudgingly learned a lot more about how to network, what worked well for me, and that it really isn’t that terrible after all.
So what changed? Why is networking something that’s worth the effort? And how can you do it without feeling like a fake? Here are a couple suggestions from what’s worked for me.
Take It One Conversation at a Time
It can be very easy to get caught up in the need to network, especially tracking how many new people you’ve met and their roles. Personally, I find that method takes all of the enjoyment out of the process because it’s about ticking off boxes, not actually connecting with people. So my approach now is to just start with one person and go from here. If we’re having a good conversation, and they seem to want to keep talking, we keep talking. If they keep glancing around the room and are ready to move on, that’s cool too. It’s about each conversation on its own, not about meeting a certain quota.
Don’t Judge People by Their Utility
Part of the dirty underbelly of networking is the idea that it’s really all about finding people who can help you get ahead. This philosophy says the more people you meet, the more likely you’ve found someone whom you can use. And it says, if you realize the person you’re talking to isn’t going to be able to help you, it’s totally fine to dump them and move on. A lot of people subscribe to this philosophy. All I can say is: please don’t be one of them. If you focus on meeting people, finding common interests, and allowing ideas to develop organically, you will build far stronger relationships with people. You will find people you want to work with, not just people you can work with.
Anchor Yourself
But what if social situations make you nervous? Find something that anchors you and work from there. For me, that’s working with a buddy. I discovered that having even one other person in the room that I felt comfortable with, and whom I could go to when I needed to mentally regroup, was just enough of a safety net to help me get through events. And I could do the same for them. You know those scenes in movies where two characters stand back-to-back, ready to face the world together, and when the fight gets going you know they can’t lose? Yeah, it was basically like that. But friendlier. And your orbit increases until, even if you are across the room from each other, you know someone has your back.
With Practice Comes Comfort
The hardest, and most surprising, lesson I learned about networking was that practice really does make you better at it. And you have to make yourself do it. No outs. There will always be reasons why you can’t do it this time or why it’s okay to phone that one in. If you coddle yourself too much, you’ll never really grow. It’s uncomfortable and it’s draining and it’s still necessary. Find a way to mentally get yourself to a place where you can get through it anyway, wash and repeat, and you will find that it does actually become easier.
Think Outside the Law Library
It can be very easy to focus your efforts on just other law librarians. But some of my best relationships and opportunities have grown out of time spent with people who are more at the periphery of my job: librarians in other types of libraries, clinical and writing faculty, friends, and friends-of-friends. If you’re willing to be open-minded, you’ll discover a wealth of opportunities you would have never had otherwise.
Is there a professional skill or technique you would like to know more about or write about for How to Build a Better Librarian? If so, please contact Deborah Schander at deborah.e.schander@vanderbilt.edu.
The Nook: Simple Tips for Self Care
"I wanna punch someone in the face” *
Managing your Anger Instead of it Managing You
by Candle Wester
If you have spent any time with me, I am sure you have heard me say, “I wanna punch someone in the face” or “I wanna punch X in the face.” And if you have spent any time with me, you know that I have not actually punched any random person or specific person in the face. When I say “I wanna punch someone in the face” it is my way of saying I am frustrated or angry. Yes, the more mature way would be to say, “I am very frustrated with this situation” or “I am very angry with X” but that makes me feel like Edward from Pretty Woman – “Hello, I’m Candle and I am very angry with X.” My “I wanna punch someone in the face” phrase is my cathartic release. I acknowledge I am mad or frustrated instead of holding it in or pushing it down, and then I move past it. You might be thinking I have anger management issues and that I should seek counseling to process my frustration and anger in a more positive manner. Possibly; yet, who among us could not use some techniques to help manage anger and frustration in our lives?
As I noted in the first article for this column, I take a morning walk before I begin my work day. It helps clear my head and prepare me for the day. Which in turn helps me in frustrating situations since I am in a calmer and more open state of mind. Furthermore, regular physical exercise from running to swimming to even hitting a heavy bag can help reduce stress and increase endorphins. Many people use meditation to deal with stress because if focuses on responding to instead of reacting to the source of frustration. Some find writing a letter to the source of their anger or journaling about their frustrations to be beneficial because, by putting in it writing. they are acknowledging and expressing why they are upset. What is important is to identify what is triggering your frustration or anger.
Once you have identified your triggers, you can find ways to control/manage/mitigate/avoid the sources of your frustration or anger. But as we all know, in this service-focused profession, there is no way to avoid or even mitigate interaction with certain patrons or co-workers in a library; however there are ways to manage or control our reactions to them or the situations they create.
If you are interested in learning more about anger management techniques, please see:
Is there a self-care topic or technique you would like to know more about or write about for The Nook: Simple Tips for Self-Care? If so, please contact Candle Wester at westercm@law.sc.edu.
*Neither PEGA-SIS nor the author of this article endorses and/or encourages any form of violence.
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