Posts What do you do if you are a university library director who steps out of the library on a Friday afternoon to find the pavement riddled with chalked signs saying ” The library closes too early on Fridays”?
An older breed of library director would roll their eyes, feel annoyed, maybe get the paths cleaned….then in the next week a small notice might appear on the website about why the opening hours are as they are….or more typically, in the library newsletter that comes out two months later. Really engaged directors might post something on the library blog.
Jenica Rogers, Director of Libraries, State University of New York at Potsdam got down on her hands and knees with pink chalk and wrote answers, Chalk Notes as a Valid Communication Format . I love it that instead of writing “it’s the budget, stupid!”, she created a cliffhanger for the students and gave herself time to think about it over the weekend.
Jenica is a great role model for a current generation of leaders who are reluctant to move up in to managment. If you want to read her take on this – and why library management can offer something to the un-greyed part of our profession – check out her earlier post, An attitude problem, where she challenges many of the myths about being a library manager.
Here is the poster that appeared on Tuesday in the library lobby – transparent and inviting collaboration.
friday sidewalk poster image Uploaded to Flickr on September 23, 2009 by Jenica26
Thanks for posting this and giving me the opportunity to be exposed/introduced to Jenica Rogers. I am definitely going to add her to my Google Reader.
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I’m very glad to hear that, Fern. It is always worth reading Jenica’s posts.