The Columbus Public Library director, Pat Losinski, gave an inspirational and passionate acceptance speech. Apparently the CPL staff that was able to attend had all taken a bus that day to get there, and they were excited! It was so fun to see.
Pat spoke about some of the library's successes, and said that the staff is encouraged to take risks. He told the story of meeting with a local CEO who told him "you have turned that library from a noun into a verb!"
After the speech, my school-librarian friend Deborah posed with the award money. She was so inspired by Pat that she said she suddenly wanted to be a public librarian!
The CPL staff were mingling at the reception, and Deborah and I had a great conversation with the CFO, Dewitt Harrell, who reiterated how wonderful the whole staff is. I asked him how management was able to involve all staff and have buy-in at all levels, and he told me that it's all about maintaining a positive approach, from the top down. He likes to focus on the strengths that each staff member brings to the table. He said that everybody brings different strengths that are valuable, and if you think of each person as having two unique strengths, in an organization of hundreds of people . . . well, that's a pretty strong organization.
He did caution, however, that we must always be asking ourselves "we may know how to do things right, but are we doing the right things?" We have to be open to change and the always-shifting needs of our communities.
Sarah and Deborah.
Sarah and Jen.
No comments:
Post a Comment