Many Hands Make Light Work

• A last ditch attempt at finishing VT's 23 things.


• Three time's a charm.


• Appreciating the library volunteer.


• (re) Jump start....
  

1. What is a blogger to do when the creative juices have not been flowing for months?


2. What is a librarian to do when the work load is backed up?


3. What do 'lost' people do to find their way back?

3 questions, 3rd time on the blog merry-go-round,

and hopefully 3 answers that may in some roundabout way be 'connected' ...

Three time's a charm
Almost 11 months to the day since my last blog. Is there such a thing as blogger's block, or should we just realistically put it down to the chaotic times we find ourselves in these days?
You may wonder - why again?
The belief that 'slow and steady' wins the race may have something to do with it, or the fact that I will not go down as a quitter.

So a stubborn librarian, back in cyberspace, despite back logs of work: Enter the Volunteers!!!

Appreciating the library volunteer
Some days I wonder why we have volunteers, some days I wish they would leave.
What is that saying about people outstaying their welcome?
And then I walk into my office and all the books are covered. I walk by the 'to be shelved' cart and it is empty! I overhear the circ. desk person calling patrons in attempt to lighten my load of 'overdues'.

I went to a conference on volunteers today. My biggest lesson: know what you need from a volunteer before you put them to work. Have a plan for each and everyone of them, and show them some appreciation: in the end - what you give is what you get! Volunteers deserve that second chance too, or maybe even the 3rd. (remember the charm thing!)

As a wise (anonymous) person once said:

There is only one thing worse than training your volunteers and having them leave - and that is not training them , and having them stay.

Jump start....
So, to find my way back to VT's 23 things, to find my way back to blogging, and to find my way back to what motivates us all to work in a library I am intent on (re)connecting with our volunteers. Volunteers trade in their time so I can find the way to my desk, help run a library, and blog in the odd moments!

Volunteers even provided me with my first blog topic in 11 months,

so 3 cheers for 3 times and 23 things!

Looking for volunteers in your community?

Let me 'volunteer' a good place to start:

RSVP Vermont

continued education day 1

First day on the continuing education train (yet again)
Step 1: start VT's 23 things
Step 2: create Blog
Step 3: think of a theme - so here we go:

Theme for the next few weeks will be 'what I learn about life from all the books I handle in the library'.

This will be fun - I am not a great writer, but I think looking for life lessons in all that crosses my desk should be a good challenge. What do we know about life anyway? This week at home alone the reading materials range from the local newspaper, to Extremely loud and Incredibly Close, to If you give a Mouse a Cookie.

Given those three options, here's what I learned today:

• judging by all the classifieds many people are not feeling the economic recovery the big shots keep telling us is happening.
• September 11th had a great effect on generations yet to come
• Be carefully who you share your cookies with!

Maybe not earth shattering conclusions, but at least this blog will lead me to have to think a little more and a little deeper about the things I read!