It’s the “glass half full” people who will define the future of libraries, and I know that I and the people I know are up for the job — the question is, are you?
Wise words from one of my long-time heroes, Roy Tennant. He’s been around a while, and he knows what he’s talking about. He’s the kind of librarian I trust.
So when Roy writes a blog post warning against a certain cultural defect in our profession (you know who you are, Eeyore), I pay attention. We all know the Eeyore’s in our lives – the colleagues who, despite having one of the best jobs in the world, continue to focus on the downside: budget restrictions, lack of training, heavy workloads, lack of respect from other professions. Change, in general, makes Eeyore quite nervous, and as a result, even more distressed.
I have always found this attitude very frustrating. Sure, all those downsides exist — but they do for most of the working world. And really, what’s the point of complaining, when it would be so much more interesting to put energy towards solving the problem?
By the way, the REAL problem isn’t lack of funds or training or any of the other complaints; the problem is ATTITUDE. While it may be cheesy to say “your attitude determines your altitude”, I believe it through and through. It’s my credo, you might say – along with a strong conviction in the power of karma.
Luckily, both Roy and I have found that the future is looking good. In Roy’s words,
But I’m here to tell you that I no longer believe that we, as a profession, view change as “scary” and “overwhelming”. Sure, there are plenty of individuals who do. But the profession as a whole? Not especially. Partly this is because recently I’ve turned some of my professional attention to the younger generation and I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen. There are a lot of really committed, engaged, and energetic change agents who are leading the way forward.
Thank goodness for the future. 🙂
I highly recommend reading what Roy has to say – the entire post can be found here.