Interview Post: Daniel Messer

Biographical

Name?

Daniel Messer

Current job?

Integrated Library System Administrator for the Maricopa County Library District

How long have you been in the field?

I’ve worked in libraries for 21 years.

How Do You Work?

What is your office/workspace like?

Well, here’s a picture!

As a systems librarian, it’s no surprise I’m a computer geek. I’m a slider, a term coined by Knightwise, which means I easily work on any computer and any operating system to get things done. I try to work in a way that makes me mobile, so I can easily work off-site or in branches. It’s a Microsoft environment and the library was awesome enough to provide me with a Surface Pro 4. This is my primary work machine, though I do have an older Dell Latitude at my desk that provides a remote computer inside the network if I need it. I work on Windows 7, Windows 10, various versions of Windows Server, and on Ubuntu Server.  Beyond that, I typically use a MacBook Air, an iPad Air 2, an iPhone 6s+, and a first edition Apple Watch to get things done.

Outside of the tech, I’m an image junky and I have pictures everywhere. Some of them are funny, some of them are of things dear to me, and some are just beautiful and that’s all there is to it. I’ve got a few of my favourite fictional characters in toy form just to make me smile, like there’s The Question (Vic Sage, but I’d love to get a Renee Montoya version), Dr. Jillian Holtzmann, and Optimus Prime (he was a librarian!). There are tech books, a coffee maker, boxes of tea, and a thin veil of chaos.

How do you organize your days?

I use a modified version of the Getting Things Done (GTD) system. If you’d like to read the book, go ahead, but I think Lifehacker can save you some time. While I’m working, my email, the Polaris ILS Staff Client, Slack, Typora, and Firefox are open constantly. Firefox is running our trouble ticket system, TweetDeck, Wunderlist, and a self-hosted Unmark system.

I start the day around 7 am by checking our websites to make sure everything's running smoothly, and then I hit up email. I manage email with ruthless efficiency and before mid-day, my inbox is empty. If a task comes in that I can do right now and it’ll only take a few minutes, I do it. If I need to set something aside, I’ll add it to Wunderlist which is perfect for my task management needs. I almost always set a date due and it’ll ping me via the app on my iPhone and Watch along with sending an email. I’m terrified of missing something important, so I try to have redundant systems in place to remind me when something is due.

After that, I dive into tasks. No two days are the same. There are staff to manage in the ILS, issues to fix, tickets to work, meetings to attend, messages to respond to, training to plan, and branches to visit. I try to get out of the office on a regular basis to visit branches because, when it comes to using the ILS, the branches do far more than our administrative office.

Throughout the day, I use Typora to keep a log of what I’ve worked on. I write in MarkDown, and Typora is an excellent MarkDown editor. Mostly I log the date and then bullet-point my tasks and accomplishments. Whenever I need to know when, if, or why I did a thing, I can easily refer back to my log and cross reference it with Wunderlist and my Sent Items folder in Outlook.

What do you spend most of your time doing?

A little bit of everything. ILS management tasks are a pretty big part of my day along with planning for an ILS upgrade and the staff training that will involve. I’m starting to visit the branches more frequently, so I hope that I’ll spend most of my time where the action is really happening with the ILS and seeing what I can do to solve problems and make things better.

What is a typical day like for you?

I honestly don’t have one! Today I’m writing this from a branch on the east side of the County. Tomorrow I’ll be in Phoenix. Next week I’ll be in Surprise, then Anthem, then Gilbert, and so on. One of the best parts of what I do is that I don’t have a typical day. Sometimes I’m crazy busy and sometimes I’m looking for a project, either way, each day is its own.

What are you reading right now?

I read a lot of everything so no judging! I’m a historian of science and, while remaining skeptical, I have a fascination with the paranormal and I love a good ghost story. So with that in mind, the things I’m leafing through right now are:

• Paranormal: My life in pursuit of the afterlife by Raymond A. Moody, Jr.
• Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The astounding interconnectedness of the universe by Lisa Randall
• Before the Big Bang: The Prehistory of Our Universe by Brian Clegg
• Paranormal State: My journey into the unknown by Ryan Buell

What's the best professional advice you've ever received?

Don’t be so busy making a living that you forget to have a life. My dad told me that when I first moved to Arizona and it stuck with me. I’m not a workaholic, but I’m constantly connected. I can triage email from my watch for god’s sake… and I do. So while I love my job, I try not to let it become the Sauron’s Eye of my existence.

What have you found yourself doing at work that you never expected?

This job! I started out my career in circulation and I absolutely meant to stay there. I’ve got a decent background in computers and technology and I thought that circ was the place for me because, at least where I worked, circulation was the most technologically advanced department in the system. Sure, IT has servers and PCs to manage and all of that. But at one point, I was managing a department with eight self-check-out machines and two different self-check-in machines, each using lasers and radio to move materials through the library!I never wanted to leave, but a position in web content came open and, while I’ve done some web work, I mostly just applied to see just how far I could get through the process. Besides, I thought, after 17 years in circulation, a change might be good.

And I got the job.

I worked for just under four years in web content before a position opened up for an ILS Administrator. I’ve used Polaris ILS for almost the entirety of my career and I went for it and got it! I’m incredibly grateful and very lucky to have such a position seeing as how I started out as a page and planned on a career in circulation, not systems.

Inside the Library Studio

What is your favorite word?

Spizzerinctum. It means vim, vigour, and/or vitality or someone/something with those qualities. My dad is from North Carolina and my mom is from Missouri and I’m inclined to think it’s a word from the American South.

What is your least favorite word?

Moratorium. It’s rarely a good thing when a moratorium is imposed upon something. It also sounds like a place you go to buy dead things.

What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?

I wish I had more time to write and make podcasts. I listen to a lot of podcasts, typically going through three or four per day. When I listen to Cortex and hear Myke and Grey talking about how they quit their jobs to become podcasters and YouTubers, I often dream about doing the same. So if I wanted to do something else, I’d love to become a professional podcaster.

What profession would you never want to attempt?

Politics. Not even once.

Everything Else

What superpower do you wish you had?

Do you know how many problems would be solved for me if only I could fly? I’m not even talking about a putting on a cape, saving the day, superhero descending from the heavens kind of flight. I’m talking about no more morning commute, running errands in a fraction of the time, getting to places without driving sort of flight.

What are you most proud of in your career?

This may sound weird, but I don’t take a particular pride in anything specific. I’m thrilled with some things I’ve done, like speaking at Computers in Libraries or at the national Polaris Users Group conference. But in the end, I’d like to just be able to look back at my career and say, “You know what? I’m proud of the career, not just certain parts of it.”

If you're willing to share, tell about a mistake you made on the job.

Like Mary Poppins, I’m practically perfect in every way. Except for that one time I forgot to put all of the branch’s money back into the safe one night. That sucked, and while everything was fine and nothing was stolen, I felt bad about that for months.

When you aren't at work, what are you likely doing?

I write quite a bit for my podcasting. It could be easily said that I’m either recording a podcast or working on a podcast. Besides that, I’m an ambient and space musician and I’m usually listening to music or trying to make some. I play videogames too, at least when I have some time.

Who else would you like to see answer these questions?

Seriously? Dr. Carla Hayden. But if you can’t get her to do it, then Holly Paxson. She’s fantastic!


This is Dan's third post for LtaYL. His first was "Managing Change" and his second was "Library R&D". He tweets at @bibrarian.

Adamantly Pro-Truth in a Propaganda-Recast-as-“Post-Truth” Time, by Michele Santamaria

Dahlia Shevin, 2016, "You belong/ Tú perteneces."

In the Italian theatrical genre of commedia dell'arte--picture motley characters with names like "Harlequino" and "Punchinello" and broad farce--there is a constant tension between servants and masters, more precisely, the audience is left questioning which is which. As a librarian, I am constantly thinking about how the servant-master dynamic is central to our profession. Since I have chosen a field that is service-oriented, I ask myself: in what ways am I servant? And what is it that I am servant to or to whom? Are there ways that acting like a servant betrays my other core ideals? Are there ways that I can use my status as a "servant" to subvert oppressive power?

At the current political moment, I find these questions particularly inescapable and much more situationally specific: as I ponder whether or not to send a check to renew membership in an organization that "hastily" sent out a statement supporting initiatives of our President-elect, as I ponder the rush to formulate information literacy plans that tackle fake news and filter bubbles, as I ponder safety pin initiatives. Respectively, the questions that are raised for me with each of these examples are the following: Are librarians to be "neutral" servants who curry to power, no matter how much that power repudiates what we claim to be some of our highest ideals? Are we to be servants to the latest way to be on topic, ambulance chasers running after the victims of the fake news story? Are we to be, as one skeptical librarian put it, "Becky with the pin" by remaining silent while displaying our safety pin as a symbol of our goodness while someone with a marginalized identity gets attacked?

At my saddest, darkest, smallest, I am afraid that we might be all of these things already & that the current political and historical moment is just throwing a particularly harsh light on our profession's flaws.  I am afraid that no amount of information literacy is going to save us from the powerful and apparently intoxicating draw of fascism. But most of all, I am afraid for our students, the black, the brown, those wearing hijabs, those who go by they/theirs, the disabled, the students whom I protested alongside with fifteen days ago and who reacted so passionately when a Native American staff member told them about the North Dakota Access Pipeline.

When I saw a young black woman wearing a "Black Lives Matter" pin, I thought she might be headed to the student protest. I didn't have full details. I talked to her as he walked towards the Student Center. She had no clue about Steven Bannon.  But while the students chanted about their local context, their local struggles, it was clear that the current political moment had prompted this feeling of urgency. It was also clear that they wanted to know what was going on, that they believed in the power of information and communication.

So for now, I'm going to set aside my doubts about safety pins, LibGuides on fake news, and official statements. I'm going super-super local to be there for all the students who were at that protest and all the students who were not there but are also legitimately scared. Post-truth might have been designated the word of the year, and on some level, that terrifies me. On another deeper level, though, I understand that as a librarian I am ultimately a servant to the truth. I suppose other librarians might say "knowledge" or "information." What I care most about is the truth. And one of the most important truths sustaining me right now is that my brown skin and lived experiences tangibly help me to connect with some of these students. The truth is, as one autistic student yelled at the student rally, "I am not broken," though it has felt that way, at times, since the morning of November 9.

And yet, there are moments that give me hope. Last week, a Latina who had come to me during the most stressful point of her spring semester last year, came back with a group. At the end of our appointment, she asked me a question about study abroad and we laughed about how much she trusted what I had to say. And she said that she could tell that I was the sort of person who would tell her the truth, who would just say what they really thought. Truth and trust--I will be a servant to those and I guess also to love though I'm not the kind of person who hugs readily. But to be truly present for these students is one thing I can give and that, I think, is no small gift in a political time that seems hell bent on repudiating human connection along with its "no facts/post truth" significations.  Tell it like it is, especially to students.  Love them & call the post-truth that endangers all of us, especially the marginalized, by its proper name--call it and denounce it as propaganda.

Michele Santamaria is the Learning Design Librarian at Millersville University. Aside from #alwayslibrarianing, she is a year-round poet and advocate for social justice.  She has a chapter forthcoming in an ACRL autoethnography publication and a chapter forthcoming in a Library Juice publication about being a poet-librarian. Apparently, there are a bunch of them.  She is happy to interact over social media via Twitter @infolitmaven.

Information Literacy as Liberation

"Fake news" is lazy language.
Be specific. Do you mean:
A) Propaganda
B) Disinformation
C) Conspiracy theory
D) Clickbait

— Tim Dickinson (@7im) December 5, 2016

There's been a lot of discussion of what role librarians can/should play to fight the ongoing maelstrom of suspicious information sources. I agree: information literacy is a powerful tool we have at our disposal, but we have to be smart about this. LibGuides, while useful in some circumstances, are not the way to go. Our constituents barely use our websites when they are required to do so, never mind about when they are out in the wilds of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc., looking at the title of an article that was just posted by a friend. And as clever as the CRAAP test is, and as funny as the acronym might be, I sometimes have a hard time remembering what each of the letters mean even though I'm in this field - imagine how often our students forget it.

No, we need to use a tool that the members of our community can take with them anywhere and easily remember at any time. I've written about this before, but I'm writing about it again because it's timely and important: we should be teaching our constituents to look at information sources using the 5 Ws.

• Who? Who wrote this? Can you even tell? Are they an authority in this topic? Credentials are important, but first hand accounts are also important. Most importantly: who stands to benefit if you believe this source?
• What? What kind of resource is this? Is it an advertisement? Newspaper article? Scholarly research article? Also, what kind of information does it present? Does the content accurately match up with what you already know about this topic? And another thing: are there a bunch of advertisements, either related or unrelated to the topic of the article?
• When? How up-to-date is the information? And how soon after an event was this published? (We've all seen false reports and misinformation happen shortly after major events like school shootings.) Also, how up-to-date do you need the information to be? Looking for reviews of classic movies that came out shortly after the cinematic debut versus critical acclaim that came years later can make a big difference.
• Where? Country of origin? (And yes, I teach students about country codes and how to figure out origin when it's a .com or other three letter extension.) How different is the information provided by CNN versus BBC versus Al-Jazeera? Also, where is this information in relation to the structure of the website? Is it on the front page? Is it buried?
• Why? What's the purpose of the source? Is it trying to sell you something? Convince you of something? Share facts? Also, why are you looking at this source? Entertainment? Medical research? Academic need?

This is something I've used for years, and it sticks to students. It sticks because they already have the 5 Ws as a tool in their mental toolbox, and I'm just showing them another way to use it. The thing about information literacy is that it's how we teach our constituents to think for themselves. We need to be as efficient and effective as possible in this war against propaganda, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and click bait. Don't you think?

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A Lifetime of Antisemitism

The dominant non-Jewish White person's relationship to Nazism and antisemitism has always been symbolic and rhetorical.

— Sarah Hamburg (@sarahrhamburg) November 27, 2016

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I'm a Buddhist now, but I was raised Jewish. And I still identify that way culturally. So when the tweet up there showed up on my timeline (retweeted by April Hathcock), something started to bubble up inside. I'm guessing, if demographic statistics are anything to go by, that most of the people reading this post are not Jewish. In the past I know that my gentile friends are astonished at the experiences I've had, but it's important to know these things, so I decided to share a sampling of my experiences with antisemitism. I'm going to share small ones and big ones, because Sarah Hamburg is right - most people don't encounter real, live antisemitism.

Small: In high school, I was called "kike" by the younger brother of one of my closest friends. He thought he was being funny, and other people laughed. I know I didn't cry, and I'm pretty sure my friend made their younger sibling apologize, but I knew I could never trust that person - or anyone who laughed - again.

Large: The synagogue I attended when I was a child, the building where my father's funeral service was held, was desecrated with swastikas. I felt so safe, so loved, in that building when I was young. The rabbi and his wife embraced me and my family when we joined the synagogue, and it's one of the few places where I've ever felt like I actually belonged and was welcome. Those swastikas took that from me.

Small: When I was 7, my parents bought a house in a nice suburb of Boston. I immediately set out to make friends with kids in the neighborhood - I'm a gregarious person, after all - and I ended up meeting a girl close to my age right next door. Success! However, a couple of weeks later, the little girl who lived in the house next door yelled at me when she found out we were Jewish: "I never would have wasted macaroni and cheese on you if I'd known you were a Christ killer!"

Large: If I want to visit my father's grave, I have to contact the board that is in charge of the cemetery because they have to keep it locked up with a chain link fence. They have to do this to keep people from desecrating the graves because it's a Jewish cemetery. And to drive the point home: he's buried north of Boston, in Massachusetts, where people are supposedly liberal and open and accepting.

Small: At a previous library, I was told I was over-reacting, and that a work party wasn't just Christmas, because they played "White Christmas" (which was written by Irving Berlin, who was Jewish). I don't know if the person who said this to me actually believed what they were saying, but I'll always remember that almost nobody else spoke up to correct that person.

Small: I've been called "[word]-nazi" multiple times in my life. "Grammar Nazi" mostly, and some "Table Nazi" when I worked in a restaurant. It's ridiculous to compare anyone to a fascist, genocidal regime for things like a predilection for correcting grammar or wanting the tables to be done according to spec at the end of a shift, but it stings extra hard for someone who is Jewish.

As hard as this all may have been for you to read, please know that this is only a sampling of things I've experienced. Never mind the ever-present micro-aggressions - things that are easily brushed off by people who aren't on the receiving end.

One other thing: I didn't publish this to make you feel bad. I published it to let you know that racism, sexism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate, have always been a part of the culture in the US. It's going to be worse now, so you need to believe people. And you need to speak up when you witness this kind of hate.

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Giving Tuesday

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Looking for a way to participate in the tradition of Giving Tuesday while still fighting the prevailing culture of intolerance? Each of these groups is working in some way to support and expand rights and freedoms and civil liberties. These groups will be getting my money today and moving forward.

American Civil Liberties Union
Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS)
Black Lives Matter
Campaign Zero
Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS)
Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
Humane Society
Jewish Voice for Peace
Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)
Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NAACP
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
National Coalition for the Homeless LGBT
Native American Rights Fund
NextGen Climate Action
Planned Parenthood
Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN)
Standing Rock DAPL Fund 
Time Out Youth
The Trevor Project
Youth Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights 

Looking for suggestions of groups to add, as well, so please comment.

What's Next? Strengthening Our Communities Ahead of the Incoming Administration

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I'll admit it. I've been lax about some things in the time since I became a library director. In my defense, the list of things I needed to do when I first started was intimidatingly long and I focused on things that were major conflagrations - opting to leave the fire hazards in place because there's only so much time in a day and only so much energy in a person. But now those fire hazards, those small sparks, need attention since the incoming administration seems to want to pour gasoline over all of us.

Here are a few things I've been meaning to do that will be at the top of my list, along with some things I've been doing all along but that will get even more attention.

1. Privacy Audit. I've been meaning to do this for years now. I printed out and read a bunch of materials, such as this checklist from ALA, but there was always something that got in the way of execution. No more. This will be at the top of my priority list.
2. Disaster Preparedness, Including Active Shooter Response Training. I made some progress on this project, but again things got in the way. I need to make this a priority, so I will probably invoke liability to get people's attention. I found Library As Safe Haven helpful when I did have a chance to do this work, and will pull it back out now that I'm making it a priority.
3. Inclusive Collection Development, Programs, and Outreach. I've talked before on this blog about how we will do displays about and for disadvantaged groups, but we make a point of doing it beyond the typical time frame. For example, we had a display on protest culture and civil rights activists, yes, but not in February. Also, I'm planning to spend a good chunk of our collection development budget on beefing up our resources for and by underrepresented voices.
4. Safe Space Building. I went through Safe Space training recently, and the facilitators talked about how it's possible to have your entire building or department be designated a Safe Space. It means everyone who works in the building has to go through the training, so it's going to be a reach, but I want to try. If any building on this campus should be a Safe Space, it's the library.
5. Adding Language to Our Mission/Vision/Values Statements. Our goal of being inclusive (which does not mean neutral... you all know that, right?) is woven throughout our guiding documents, but it isn't stated anywhere explicitly. It needs to be.

So that's what I know I can do. What I think we should all do. But I know there is more, so please comment with what you're doing and what we call can do.

Self-Care: Happy Making Stuff

I am taking the recent turn of events in our country seriously, but now - more than ever - we need to take care of ourselves. We need to take care of ourselves because we need to take care of each other, and if we don't take care of ourselves we'll run out of energy for helping others. I know audre lorde was speaking to all of us when she wrote: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” 

Since I don't have a guest post ready for today, I decided I'm going to publish a list of things that bring me joy or smiles or hope or at least satisfaction. I've seen it on other blogs and a lot on social media. I'm also going invite you to either do the same on your blog or social media or at least in a notebook.

• Satisfaction: That first perfect sip of your first cup of coffee. Cream and sugar, please. 
• Joy: Poetry that is so good it takes up residence in your gut. Tom Hennen's poetry did this to me recently.
• Hope: How ready the ACLU is for the coming fight. I've been a member since 2001, and I'll always be a member.
• Joy: The way my cats have a pecking order for who gets and give affection to me first and second. Viktor waits, politely, a little back from the door when I get home because Zephyr, as a longer term resident, gets first dibs. 
• Smiles: That I know my neighbors' dogs' names, but not theirs. Lady is the black lab and Padfoot is the teeny muppety looking pup.
• Hope: Students on my campus had an anti-Trump rally this week. I went out and cheered.
• Satisfaction: That my muscle memory is coming back and I'm playing the guitar almost as well as I did before I stopped for a while. Even sight reading for the most part.
• Smiles: Attended a wedding last weekend and danced so hard for so long that my legs hurt the next day.
• Joy and Satisfaction and Smiles and maybe even a little Hope: NONONONO Cat.

Hope this list helps you at least a little. Writing it helped me a whole heck of a lot.

Nothing Blooms Every Day: On Work Life Balance in Librarianship (My RECIP/CLRC Keynote)

Below you'll find something approximating the keynote talk I gave a couple of weeks ago at RECIP/CLRC. It's mostly what I wrote ahead of time, with a little bit of my memory of what I said instead. Also, I had a mini-breakout session in the middle of the talk and have tweaked what I wrote to fit this context. Thanks for reading.

Before I get into the meat of my talk, I want to thank Tyler Dzuba and the rest of the conference organizers for inviting me here today. One of the driving passions in my career is helping library science graduate students and early career information professionals, so this conference’s raison d’etre is very near and dear to my heart. On top of that, what a gorgeous time of year to be this far north. Delaware trees have started to turn, but nothing like what I saw on my drive up.

I have one more thing I want to tell you up front... a caveat of sorts, if you will.

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You see, even though I knew my topic for this talk almost immediately, I had a hard time writing it. When the organizing committee approached me, I’d been doing a lot of reading related to this topic and expected to have a good handle on it by the time the conference rolled around. That just didn’t happen, and I felt stumped.

Whenever I’ve given presentations or workshops or whatever in the past, whether invited or proposed, I was always coming from a place of knowledge. I was the one saying, “hi, I did a thing, and you should let me teach you how to do a thing.” But that just isn’t true here. The reason I’d been researching this is because I was having problems myself. In fact, one of the ideas I had for the title of this talk was “Learn From My Mistakes: On Work Life Balance in Librarianship.”

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I've made lots of mistakes in this way, and the reality is that I’ll likely always have problems. So there I was, someone supposedly so knowledgeable that I was invited to give a keynote. Yet I was at a loss.

Actually, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.

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Why did I even agree to give this talk? Why did I propose this topic? But then, it the midst of trying to figure out if it was too late to change my topic, I realized I wouldn’t need to.

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I remembered a conversation I had with a coworker back when I was brand new to the field myself. I don’t remember what we were discussing, other than I’d asked for advice, but I do remember that they stopped and looked away for a moment before continuing. They said, “you know what? That’s good advice for me, too. I find myself doing that a lot… giving advice I need to hear myself.”

So that’s where I am with this topic.

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I’ve done a lot of reading and a lot of soul searching. I even hosted an online chat as part of my work on #libleadgender related to work-life balance. But I don’t want this to come off sounding like “do as I say, not as I do.” I’m still trying to figure this work-life balance thing out myself, and I wanted to be upfront about it: I still need advice, too. Regardless, I have learned some things, and I want to share them with you.

The first big thing I want to discuss is embodied in another title I almost gave this talk:  "It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint: On Work Life Balance in Librarianship."

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There's no other way to say it other than it's a long road. And sure, saying "it’s a long road" is a cliché, but it’s something I remind myself of probably on a weekly basis. Speaking of clichés, though, let’s think about this in terms of the analogy I did pick for my talk title: plants and gardening. I’m not much of a gardener, to be honest. I even managed to kill a bamboo plant, which is supposedly almost impossible to do. But I do know that planting and tending a garden is a long game. Preparing the soil, figuring out what plants work best in your climate and in the space you have, getting or growing seedlings, planting, weeding, harvesting. You need to think of your lives and jobs the same way because your careers are hopefully going to be a long road.

It’s easy enough to say this, right? But how do you put such an abstract thought into action? Well, here are my thoughts.

First, professional development. You’ve got to keep learning, or else you’re stalled. Think about this: when I was in graduate school, the hot new wireless protocol was 802.11b. By the time I graduated, we had 802.11g. So the stuff I learned in my "Computers in Libraries" class was out of date by the time I graduated. Never mind the fact that there have been 6 or 7 further protocols since then. And that’s just one small area of knowledge from one class. The skill that will serve you best in the long run is the ability to learn and adapt, and librarians are great at that despite the reputation we somehow picked up, but it has to be a conscious effort.

The good news is that you are already on top of this idea, since you’re reading a libraries and librarianship oriented blog. Even if you don't read my blog every time I publish something new, I hope you're taking time every week to pursue some professional development - reading or otherwise. I have to admit that, even though I require everyone on my staff to spend at least an hour each week working on some form of professional development, I have a hard time fitting it in myself. Easy to say, but hard to do.

Another reason why you need to take time for professional development, even if your main duty is staffing a service location like the circulation desk or the reference desk, is to give yourself a break from having to do emotional labor. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it’s the part of your work performance that has to do with the emotions you display. There’s a very limited range of emotions that are appropriate for when you are working with the public, but we all have lives beyond the performance of our duties, right? It doesn't matter to some. Get into a fender bender on the way to work? Too bad, you have to at least pretend be in a good mood if you’re doing a story hour for toddlers. Get into a fight with your best friend? Better put that anger aside if you’re supposed to be leading a class of incoming freshmen through a basic introduction to information literacy. Get proposed to by the love of your life? You can't show how giddy happy you are because you need to be calm and steady if you’re staffing the reference desk for a three hour shift. But that hour of professional development you spend in your office or at your desk or in your work space, away from the public, that hour of turning everything else off in favor of reading the latest issue of College and Research Libraries or watching a webinar on conflict resolution… that’s an hour when you can just be yourself. And we all need that kind of break. Making sure you get that kind of space in your work week is crucial to being successful on the long haul.

Second, figure out your workflow.

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I’ve spent a lot of time researching this and developing my own workflow, but it’s not really something I can teach you because everyone will have a different version. Further, what works for you might change over time - I know it has for me. Right now, I mostly use a website called Habitica that turns my daily to do list into a role playing game. I’m a big ol' nerd, so the goofy 8 bit graphics make me smile every time I’m on the Habitica website. Another attraction of this site is that I go adventuring with a party, so any time I don’t accomplish a task, Habitica lets whatever monster we’re fighting injure the whole party. I also use a paper planner. The act of writing myself a list helps me organize the following day.

If you're trying to get a handle on your workflow, there are some things that I think everyone needs to remember:

1. You need a way to capture ideas immediately. This can be an Evernote file or a Google doc or a box on your desk where you throw scraps of paper with things scribbled on them. Don’t trust your memory - human memories are faulty at the best of times, but when you’re under a lot of stress - like with a forever long To Do list - your brain will turn into a sieve.

2. You need to look at your ideas on a regular basis. I try to do it weekly, but never go more than two weeks. Capturing things immediately is a way to get them out of your brain to make room for other processes, but you can’t ignore those ideas otherwise you won’t have processing room.

3. Keep track of your accomplishments. When you’re thinking long term, sometimes smaller accomplishments fade away and all you can see is the big things you haven’t done yet. Any time I start to feel overwhelmed by everything I want to do to improve my library and the service we provide to our community, I look at the list of things I’ve already done. I wish someone had told me to do this early in my career because this, more than anything, keeps me from burning out when I feel overwhelmed.

4. You need to learn to let go of projects. This is one of the hardest things anyone ever has to do, especially when you love what you do and really want to give the best to the community you’re serving. Sometimes it will be a project that is going well but that isn’t as successful as you’d hoped. Other times it will be a great idea that you just don’t have the money or staffing or energy to accomplish. I find prioritizing easiest when I look at my ideas and ongoing projects in light of the mission statement of both my library and my college. If your library doesn’t have a mission statement, or if it’s a long and convoluted mess of a statement, you could always look at your job description or sit down with your boss to figure out which things are most important.

The third thing you need to remember when thinking about the long haul is that work-life balance is a myth.

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It's never going to happen in the short term. The idea of work-life balance is a myth perpetrated to make us feel even more like failures. It’s the unicorn I was chasing when I first proposed this topic to the organizing committee. If you are tenure track or have a new position or are working on another advanced degree, of course you’re going to throw yourself into your job. That’s the way it works and in a lot of ways, it’s necessary to lose yourself in your job for at times. But there are also going to be times when you’re personal life will take over. You could get really sick - everything from a bad case of the flu to something really serious. You could get pregnant or adopt a kid, at which point you better darn well focus on that new little life. You could end up having to take care of a sick relative.

Don’t neglect your personal life completely because you can’t just be the job. But don’t feel bad about those times when you have to say no thanks to going out with friends because you have an article revision due or a grant proposal due at work. But don’t neglect. The most important thing to remember during those stretches where work seems to blot out everything is the next big theme I want to address: self care.

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Now, let me dispense with a common misconception. Self care is not the same thing as self indulgence. During a recent #libleadgender conversation, someone expressed a concern that self care could be seen as “Treat Yo Self.” Nothing could be further from the truth. When people talk about self-care, they aren’t talking about buying themselves a movie caliber Batman costume. When people talk about self-care, they are talking about drinking enough water and taking a sick day if you have a fever. They’re literally talking about taking care of themselves.

This is another aspect that can be easier said than done, so I want to share with you some of the things I think everyone should do.

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First, spend at least 5 to 10 minutes every single day being still and quiet. If you are religious, this can be prayer or meditation. If you aren’t religious, it can still be meditation but it can also be sitting outside. And I’m gonna say something that you might not want to hear, but watching television or listening to a podcast isn’t gonna cut it. Think about the surface of a pond after someone has thrown a pebble or a boulder or anything into it. What does it take to get the water to rest and be still? It’s not more input. I can’t even tell you how much research has been done into this idea. Really, everything I’m sharing here is based on research. This is basic self care and so beneficial.

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Next, take a lunch break. The occasional - like once or twice a month - lunch hour spent snarfing food at your desk while you continue to work on a big project is okay. But don’t make a habit of it. You are not doing yourself or anyone else any good if you work work work straight through. In fact, there are countless studies and articles that talk about how taking a break and letting yourself rest improves the quality of your work. If you’re more introverted, go somewhere quiet away from your office and eat lunch there. If you’re recharged by spending time with people, go to the staff room or the dining hall or to a friend’s office to eat.

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Here’s another one: you need to get sleep. But remember that enough sleep for one person isn’t going to be enough for someone else. I need 7 hours or else I’m cranky and shaky, although I can every once in a while survive on 5 or 6. I’m middle aged, so I’m cranky enough already. Trust me, you don’t want to see me crankier. If you’re having a hard time sleeping, whether from anxiety or other reasons, get yourself to a doctor. I went and slept overnight at a hospital a few years ago in order to figure out why I wasn’t sleeping well, and you better believe I followed every one of my doctor’s suggestions. Insomnia and lack of sleep only makes things worse, so staying up late to get more done… well, that isn’t going to cut it either.

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Another thing you need to do is you need to move. Yes, I’m talking about exercise if you’re capable of it, but I’m also talking about seeing different sights or hearing different sounds. Don’t overtax yourself or think you’re not doing things right if you can’t take a walk because you have mobility issues. Even just moving to a different part of your library can help you.

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The final admonition I have about self-care is that you need to make time in your life for something that isn’t librarian related. You need a hobby or a club or other kind of activity, and reading doesn’t count because that’s still library related.

[At this point in the keynote, I asked people to discuss hobbies - something they love but have neglected and something they've always wanted to try - with the people sitting next to them, before sharing my own hobbies.]

For something I love to do, but that I haven’t done in a while, I need to admit to neglecting my guitar. I didn’t pick it up until a couple of years ago, but a couple of months back when the semester started, that 10 to 15 minutes I used to spend with my guitar went into other things instead. And for me, playing the guitar and learning a new song or new technique is bliss - even when it’s challenging. Maybe especially when it’s challenging.

And for something I want to do, I want to learn to be a better baker. I can do a few thing, like my great grandmother’s pumpkin bread recipe or pizza dough, but I really envy people who are good bakers. And more than anything else, I want to learn to make bagels. I am obsessed with bagels lately, and I end up spending so much money to get the good ones at the bakery.

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As for me, I will learn a new song and try a bagel recipe. Before Thanksgiving. And I’m expecting you all to hold me accountable. I’ll post that I learned the song and pictures of my bagels, and if I don’t meet the deadline, please call me out. In fact, if I don’t meet that deadline, I’ll donate $100 to a charity and I’ll let you all chose. Deal?

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And this leads me to my third big point: you need to have a support network. Before I get into this part, I want each of you to exchange contact information with one of the people you just talked with and pick which hobby or activity you are definitely going to do over the next month. You’re going to hold each other accountable just like I’m asking you to hold me accountable. So take a moment more to give business cards or email addresses or whatever.

A support network is how self-care and thinking long term can come together.

One way this works is with goal setting, like the one I just had you all set. So let me tell you about my best friend. She’s this amazing, strong, and kind person.

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For those of you who know Parks & Recreation, my best friend is definitely the Anne Perkins to my Leslie Knope. I even made her watch all 8 Harry Potter movies, but luckily for me my bestie loved Harry Potter. Anyway, we have become each other’s life coaches. We meet once a week to set goals for ourselves for the next week and to check if we’ve met the goals from the previous week. If we met the goals, we get to take a nap that weekend. If we didn’t, we have to socialize with a coworker who drives us crazy. It’s making the promise to someone else, with ramifications, that gets me to keep up with the goals I set for myself.

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Another way this works is you have a cheering section when you start to doubt yourself. When I was new in my current position, I had a day that left me feeling worn down and wrung out. I was exhausted and feeling a little despondent because something I’d been working on for a while had gotten stalled yet again. A good friend of mine was trying to make me feel better. I told him that I couldn’t keep up my normal witty banter because I felt like Buffy Summers after she triumphed over the demon mayor, and that I was at the “fire bad; tree pretty” level of tired. My friend responded, “so what you’re saying is that on your worst day you’re still a vampire slayer?” It made me laugh, which made me feel better.

My best friend is a psychology professor and my online friend is an academic librarian who mostly focuses on technical services type stuff. But I also have a professional support network that keeps me going long term. I know so many library administrators who have mentored me or who I mentor, officially and unofficially. I can reach out to them and ask everything from how do I handle a particularly sticky situation with a faculty member, to recommendations for compressed shelving vendors, and beyond.

You need a support network and friends both within and outside of the profession, both within and outside of your particular specialty in librarianship. You need people who know exactly what you’re going through and doing, and people who have only vague knowledge. And this is the kind of work-life balance you need to achieve.

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And to bring this back to the metaphor I picked for the talk, gardening, again, support networks are like an ecosystem supporting multiple people just like a garden can support multiple kinds of life. Okay, I’ll admit it, I am beating the gardening analogy to death a bit here because I really wanted an excuse to use this picture, but you get my point.

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Anyway, I want to wrap this up, so let me remind you of my main points, things I wish someone had told me when I was new in this field and an early career information professional:

• You need to think long term and long distance. Hopefully you’ll all have long and fruitful careers, so you need to pace yourself and think beyond this moment.
• You need to take care of yourself. Have a life outside of your career, be still once in a while, and get some rest.
• And you need to have a support network as well as supporting others. Keep each other honest, Keep each other on task. And keep each other laughing.

Thanks again to the organizing committee and to all the conference attendees. I'm proud of how well this talk went, and I hope we all take my advice.