Preparing for Maternity Leave as a solo MLS Librarian

How I prepared for maternity leave as the solo MLS Librarian for a small rural library with a full time staff of five, serving a population of 30,000.

The key to preparing for maternity leave when you are the only MLS holder and solely responsible for collection development, community outreach, budgeting, and facilities management, is to get strong Board support.

The first and key step is getting your Library Board to support your leave and how it will effect your library.  My board took 5 months to approve my leave, even though I do qualify for FMLA and will not be receive paid leave outside of my earned vacation time.  While they couldnt deny me the FMLA time, I wanted them to support my decisions about how library services would be handled while I was gone and make sure they understood that I would not leave our citizens in a situation where they would losing access to quality services.  One key element to this goal is that I agreed that I would pre-plan everything possible and to clearly communicate with local government and other agencies that library services would continue and who the appropriate contacts would be during my absence.

My maternity leave will roughly be August through October.  The timing worked out pretty good, because those are actually the slowest months for our library usage and my office paperwork.

My planning included the following:

• Plan all library events for August through December with the exception of movie showings since I dont have access to release dates that far out.
• Complete all paperwork (that I have access to) that will be due prior to my return
• Pre-schedule Board meetings ( we will have 1 while I am on leave).  My Board agreed that I should be present for all Board meetings.  We will have to have 1 meeting in September so that we can pass our annual budget
• Clarify any special tasks for staff via email ( so there is a record to refer to - verbal requests can be easily forgotten).
• Set out off office message to reflect the situation, length of leave, and alternate contacts for information.
• Meet with staff to review expectations while away.
• Send memo with alternate contacts and leave expectations to local government and other relevant agencies.
• Updated my laptop with current antivirus and made sure that I could access our ILS from my laptop on my home network.
• Contact the schools and let them know we will not be providing school visits during my leave, but that a library presence for special events may still be requested ( for which I will schedule other staff).

• Order or purchase all craft supplies, reception needs, equipment, etc in advance as much as possible.
• Intensively weed collection to prepare the shelves for 3 months of non-weeding.

Additional specifics:

• I have an assistant that works in my office with me 10 hours a week.  She will be responsible for filtering my email, forwarding messages as needed to other staff, typing event calendars, and bringing all messages, correspondence, etc to my home once per week.  This will make sure that no deadlines are missed.  She will also compile book requests for me into a spreadsheet, and prepare/send Board packets out for our September meeting.
• While on leave I will plan to work approx. 1 day per week from home to make sure books are ordered, documents are signed, and any needs of the library are met that other staff do not have the skill or legal ability to handle.
• In preparing for my leave I have not taken on any new projects, so that I can leave the office without creating an extra workload I will need to keep up with.
• I have asked the staff who will be acting as Library Manager to send me weekly reports via email of any library, patron, staff issues and/or incidents so that I will be aware of any problems in case they are brought to me at a later date.
• I have made sure that the staff have my cell phone number, but know only to call with absolute emergencies that they themselves cannot handle.

In a later post, I will share the written request I submitted to my Board an the memo I prepared about my leave for other agencies I regularly interact with. 

Libraries for Leslie

Yesterday, Leslie Creekmore, A Children's Librarian from Fort Smith, AR died from complications of the flu.   I did not know Leslie personally, but she will be missed by those who knew her and by the library community. Her loss has hit me hard.

Leslie  was originally hospitalized in January where she was quickly put into ICU and placed on a ventilator.  While hospitalized last month she gave birth at 20 weeks, but the baby did not survive.  Being pregnant myself, the news stories have been hard to watch and I cant stop the tears as I write this blog.  Now Leslie has passed from this world to join her child, leaving her husband behind as a survivor.

Several news outlets have reported on this story and it has reached national coverage because she was told NOT get get a flu shot during her first trimester.  This vaccine probably would have saved her life and the life of her child.

If you havent seen this tragic story I encourage you to do so.  Here is the local Fort Smith coverage.

There has been two campaigns started to help this family: A gofundme account and a t-shirt campaign entitled "Get Your Damn Flu Shot."  There has also be a facebook page created.

Libraries are about family and I think most of us in the library profession feel that way about each other. Step up and support Leslie's family and please get your flu shot!

New Name Badges at the Library

My staff and I all got new name badges today!  They look so much better than our old ones!

Our old badges were a basic gray name tag from Demco that were boring and ugly and weren't even big enough to include our library name.

Our new badges are from Mighty Badge and are wonderful.  I like that we can now create badges in our office and not have to wait weeks to get badges in for new staff.  It was tricky learning how to print the inserts without smearing the text, but practice makes perfect, right?  We could have gone with a more custom layout, but that cost more money and these will work just fine for us!

BBW and Ethics

Banned Books Week has always been my favorite "librarian" celebration.  I admit, its partly because I like to push the envelope and make people uncomfortable.  But isnt being uncomfortable a good thing? Being comfortable is boring (intellectually comfortable that is).

Today I was at a meeting in which I was talking about the importance of Banned Books Week as a springboard to educate others about the value of open access and the ability to balance ourselves with multiple opinions.  It was disheartening to hear many people in the room respond in favor of censorship.

These people felt that I should be acting as a parent to my young patrons and keeping them away from topics that were "inappropriate."  Of course the book in question had the word "mommies" in the title.  It was so sad to hear others who work in libraries (although these particular respondents did not have an MLS) say that children's books with same sex parents were "not appropriate."

I whole-heartedly believe that it is my job to PROVIDE these materials.  In fact, its more than my job, its that thing that keeps me awake at night.  I cant stand the thought of censorship, but to hear it applied to libraries makes my stomach turn and my heart ache.

In trying to find a good educational response to this conversation, I found myself re-reading the ALA Code of Ethics, the Library Bill of Rights, and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

If you haven't taken time to read these documents, please do.  They offer many words of wisdom and they depict a clear vision of why I have dedicated my life to librarianship.

Favorite moment of ALA 2013

So for those who don't know me and maybe some of you that do know me, The Giver by Lois Lowry is my favorite book.  It has been my favorite book since I was 9 or 10 years old and I still reread it every year.  As an avid fan, I read all four books in the series and I must say that I liked all of them except book two.  In fact, if I had to rank the books in order of my most favorite, I would place them in this order: 1, 4, 3, 2.

These books are the ones I most frequently recommend (to both children and adults) to my patrons and to my friends.

Why do I love this book so much?  The Giver is a great coming of age, dystopian novel that that makes on rethink society and re-evaluate our lives.  Every time I re-read this novel I learn something about myself and reading often causes me to think beyond the scope of my personal reality.

At the Annual American Library Association Conference this year in Chicago, IL I got to MEET Lois Lowry.  When I found out that she was going to be at the event I was beside myself with excitement.

So behold....A picture of me with Lois Lowry!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my job, or I wouldnt be here.

I started my career almost 5 years ago, in September of 2007.  My first professional position, was that of a Library Director in rural Arkansas, serving a county of 30,000 people.  I am still in that position today.

When I started library school, I originally wanted to work in a high school library, but fate sought a different path for me.  I never thought my first professional library position would be that of a Library Director.  That being said, I love

The great thing about being a small town library director is the variety in my day.  I don't do the same things every day.  I am lucky that my Board supports community activism and outreach, because I get to be involved in numerous local organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Boys and Girls Club, etc., which provides both professional and personal benefits.

From day to day my schedule may include: programming, creating book orders, attending community meetings, troubleshooting computer problems, moving furniture, updating our website, promoting our library via facebook, soliciting donations, writing grants, responding to emails, writing reports, working at the circulation desk, shelving, moping the floor, or hosting a story hour.

In the past I have had the pleasure of patrons screaming at me, climbing a ladder to hang a banner, moping a flooded room in new shoes, cleaning feces off the bathroom walls while wearing a suit, wearing a silly hat from craft time while out running library errands,and dancing silly dances with kids at a music program.

The life of a rural librarian is never dull!

I love my job and overall I think I am appreciated by my community, but on occasion I interact with people who dont see my dedication or do not appreciate the fact that I dont sit and read books all day.  Im mean, would I ruin new shoes or scrub mold off the building if I didnt love my job?!

The joy is when the kids I visit in their classrooms remember me when they come by the library and want to give me a hug or when an email is sent to my Board complimenting me for a job well done (and getting surprised because I didnt know it was going to be sent).

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that regardless of the trials you face as a public figure and public servant, you are making a difference.