This month, we want to celebrate the
news
that 44 current pages working in the
branches have completed
the
Circulation (Circ) Mentoring Program. This program enables
pages to have opportunities to shadow current library aides and other circulation staff in order to increase their skills, confidence, and hire-ability for circulation department
openings as they are announced.
While this program is not new,
it
is a prime example of
ways
FCPL can and should be actively nurturing the growth of its
staff. When we build viable “ladders” for internal
promotion, we contribute to the kind of succession planning that
enriches the best library systems
across the country and creates
the leader-managers we need most.
Recently retired City
of Fairfax Branch Manager Kathy Hoffman moved up from a 10-hour
a week Librarian I position over 30 years ago to
eventually master a leadership role that not only reflected her own experience of active mentoring,
but
her skills as a mentor to current and future managers within
our system.
Whether we are growing non-merit pages for merit positions, circulation staff preparing for information desk and programming roles, or library school graduates for management roles in our
system, we need to see our branches and our human resources department as partners
in an ambitious laboratory based on respect, opportunity,
imagination, and growth for all.
Jessica Hudson’s story of being inspired as a student “shelver” or page in her local
public library to pursue the impressive
career and achievements that have brought her to us should not be an exception, but a model.
As we move to the next phase of
the Public Engagement Project with its telephone and online surveys, we need to remember that the proof of
each public library’s value is in the experience of its current and
future users. And that experience in turn depends on having staff with
the knowledge, skills,
and opportunities to imagine and create peak
experiences.
Like other managers in our system, I
am
beginning to work on annual performance evaluations for my staff. Key to the
success of these conversations is being able to respond to the dreams staff bring to me for training, for promotions, and for
experimental projects that may or may not lead to immediate success. We are at our
best
when we see these evaluations not as driven
by a judging attitude that focuses on minimally acceptable standards,
but
as aspirational
flights that nurture trust,
ambition, skill-building,
and better outcomes for
all.
For each
of
us, the colleagues and managers who saw beyond our
limits to help us reach higher are the ones we thank most when
we
look back. Let’s be a library system that makes that achievement happen
for
the greatest number of
staff. Our library users will benefit from that
strength.
Thank you.
Deb Smith-Cohen
President, Fairfax County Public Library Employee Association
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