It never fails at a conference or a webinar or on twitter or a blog post someone always says – but I don’t have time for that, IT will never let us do that, administration will never let us do that. Never mind what “that” is. There is always a reason. An excuse. Yes an excuse. I don’t understand these people. I’m not sure what they are looking for, magic beans? fairy dust? There isn’t any.
I read this post Yeah You’ve Got Problems. So Solve Them by Will Richardson during the mad rush between a workshop and ALA in July. It really stuck with me. I think I’m going to borrow his approach.
That is a problem. What are you going to do about that?
I hear ya’. How you gonna fix that?
I love talking with other librarians and library staff. But there is always a least one person who wants the presenter to take them by the hand, follow them back to work and wave my magic wand over their problem. Guess what? No one else can solve your problem. It’s your problem. At your job. No one knows that situation better than you. People can give you tips and suggestions and motivations and links, but no one can fix your problem. That’s your job.
Maybe this post is harsh, but I think a call for a little responsibility is in order. Sometimes that means doing research on your own time, in the evening (gasp!), fighting for what you believe in, what you need, what your patrons need, even if the person you are fighting is a coworker.
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