Small Town Librarian

I did not accidentally fall into a small library the way others have.  I had a horrible job in a medium sized public library as the Head of Children's and Young Adult Services.  The job was horrible because of the library management.  It was like an ongoing class in exactly how not to manage and retain professional staff.  Unfortunately, I stuck it out there for four long years and several directors.  Looking back, I should have left much, much earlier.  Having a job you really hate takes a toll on you physically, mentally and emotionally.  Those were hard years.

Eventually, I applied and got an interview for another children's position in my home state of Wisconsin.  I didn't get that job, but at the interview I admitted that my personal passion was small town libraries and that I had always wanted to run one in a town "like Green Lake."  I said that when I retired, I wanted to do exactly that.  I had no idea that Green Lake was hiring a new director just then, but the director I was interviewing for recommended me for the Green Lake directorship.  I was called in to interview and the rest is history. 

I occasionally look at openings in larger libraries and wonder if I would fit there as well as I fit here.  But so few management positions in larger libraries do the things I like most in my job.  First, I still get to do children's services.  I do the Summer Reading Program, the story times, the class tours, etc.  Second, I do all of the collection development in the library, something I am sure I will get up on my soapbox about soon.  Third, I get to relate directly to my patrons.  They know me on a first name basis and I know the majority of them by name.  There is a relationship there that was rarely found in the larger library I worked in.  These three things are what make me adore my job.  Anyone got a directorship in a larger library that will satisfy these needs?  I'll be amazed if you do.

Posted by at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This article is perfect for those of us looking at a bleak budget year.  It will reaffirm what we book people really believe in:  books and people. 

Here is a quote to get you going:

"When the bookmobile stopped coming to Lowell, friends who knew that
Jeanne Good loved to read -- and knew she'd amassed a number of books
-- said, "Why don't you open a library?"

Good, who knew how much books had meant to her, set out to do what
seemed impossible. There would be no taxes in her unincorporated
community to pay for a library. She would have to form a nonprofit,
recruit a board of directors and raise money."

Posted by at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Small libraries in most states are not required to have directors with masters degrees in library science, so many of us directing small libraries don't have an MLS.  Those who do are few and far between in rural libraries. 

I happen to be one of those few and far between.  I think in the entire state of Wisconsin there are less than ten of us running rural libraries who have their MLS.  So many of the wonderful small library directors I know do not have the degree.  Does this make them inferior?  Not at all.

A library director is good at their job because they know their community, love their community and believe in service to that community.  I know incredible library directors without degrees and I have worked for horrible library directors who had degrees.  The degree means nothing when it comes to whether the librarian can do the job well. 

Both library directors without degrees and those running little libraries with them have to put up with comments from the library world at large.  Those without degrees are often not taken seriously.  Those of us with them are told that we need to be working in bigger institutions to really use our education.  Lies!  All lies! 

That said, I am glad I got my education.  Glad I have that MLS.  I think that it gives me a basis of library science knowledge that lets me argue with the library system on a higher level.  I am more sure of what my position is because of my education.  The number of times I have fought with the system is beyond counting.  But often I manage to get small libraries to be seen differently or treated differently.  I have several large battles either in progress or coming in the near future.  I'll try to share as much as I can about what I am fighting about.  Eventually I hope to have other small libraries in my library system join the discussions, but for now I am happy to be the sole trumpeter when trouble heads our way.

Posted by at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you are a small library with a blog, or a librarian working in rural libraries who has a personal blog, I would love to hear from you!  Either email me at tasha (at) greenlakelibrary (dot) org or add a comment here.  I will add you to the blogroll.

Posted by at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I chose the name Small Town Librarian because if you search Google for "small town library" our library is FIRST on the list!  Quite an accomplishment for a library that serves a population of 3,000.  It was never something we tried to do, in fact someone else pointed it out to me after doing that search. 

While you do the search, check out our library website.  It is wonderful and all due to asking for favors from our library system.  I found an employee who works there who doesn't usually do websites but has a real gift for them.  He agreed to do my site for me, and sweetly continues to update it whenever I ask.  What a guy!

But the reason it got done was that I asked someone to do something beyond their job description.  It never hurts to ask and you may find someone with an undiscovered gift! 

Posted by at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This will be my first post on this blog, but sadly it is not my first blog by far. I run two other blogs KidsLit and Sites and Soundbytes that offer more general looks at children's literature and recommended sites, respectively.

But as a small library director, I know that there are librarians out there interested in the perspective of someone who runs a rural library. So this is my forum to vent, preach to the choir, and basically let my bias for little rural libraries out in the open.

Hope you enjoy!

Posted by at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)