Friday, January 1, 2016

My New Year's Resolutions



Like many, I have the same resolutions to eat better, exercise more, and get in better shape every year.  But this year I also decided to take the time to plan some professional resolutions as well:

     (1)  Read more.  I do read quite a lot, but found that I have tapered off a little in
            the latter months of this year.  I attribute that to my job change.  When I was
            a page, I didn't have to make any special effort to select books to read; I
            would read whatever caught my interest while I was shelving.  Now that I'm
            in Outreach, I have to take time to go into the library and choose something,
            and I often don't think about it until after I've left.  I need to make more of an
            effort to check out something every week.

     (2)  Work on Reader's Advisory.  This is the area I have the least confidence in. 
            Even though I read alot, there are still so many books out there I am not
            familiar with.  Working in youth services further complicates it because we
            also have so many reading levels to consider, as well.  I plan to start giving
            myself assignments to put together reading lists to give myself more practice
            in this area.

     (3)  Take at least one library science class.  I have been thinking about this for awhile,
            and started to, then changed my mind several times.  Part of this is that I am
            skeptical that I will really learn anything from a class that I don't already know
            from work experience, and that I am very skeptical of online classes in general,
            and I don't want to waste my money.  But, if I ever decide I want a full-time
            position, then I will need to have 6 credit hours of library science to get the
            required state certification, so I just need to bite the bullet and hopefully I'll be
            pleasantly surprised and actually get something out of it.

     (4)  Continue to develop and expand my storytime skills:  use more non-fiction in
            storytime, incorporate early literacy tips in storytime, continue to improve
            existing storytime kits and develop 3 new ones, and get experience with,
            or at least observe, storytimes and programs for ages other than preschool.

So these are my professional resolutions.  What are yours?

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