Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Balancing Perspectives

Had a SPLAT meeting last Friday. I was feeling a bit guilty going into it because I've been so focused on my day to day work that I haven't kept up on my "duties" like I should. I hadn't looked at my reader more than a couple of times in the last several months and I'd blogged about once. I have been involved with "It's Good for You" and I have done things like replying to listserv requests on gaming...but not much else. The meeting went really well though. Helped me get excited again about work we can be doing on a state-wide level and regain some perspective. And it reminded me that I need to find a way to balance my work and my planning.

Somehow - I haven't figured out my foolproof method for this yet - I need to be able to get the way-too-many-day-to-day tasks done (i.e. programming, collection development, reader's advisory, reference etc.) and still keep the big picture in focus. I need to be able to keep further reaching goals and initiatives (valley-wide, state-wide, and regional) in my mind and in the works. What I'd love to do is somehow be able plan a year ahead with the Teen Services side of things (still managing to be flexible and spontaneous when the need arises) so that my deadlines won't be quite so pressing and I won't feel so behind all the time. Hopefully that would also free my mind up enough to be able to focus more on the big picture. The trick will be to somehow make this happen... Just in formalizing my thoughts though I feel like I've made a step in the right direction