Reflections.

I went to my first library meeting with the new manager. We looked at what our vision and mission should be. We also covered our strengths/opportunities/weaknesses/threats. It was interesting to think about. Especially since one of our weaknesses is lack of server knowledge and I'm interested in taking a class on server maintenance. We also may need to do some IT training and e-learning, which is right up my ally.

I did provide all of my coworkers with a link to this blog. My new manager kindly informed me that I need to add more reflections on my experiences. So that's what I'm going to do. I may go back and edit some posts in the future to map my experiences with my PKSB.

I found our meeting really interesting. We all had a lot of trouble defining ourselves--what we do and what our vision of ourselves is. It's obvious to all of us that what we do is necessary, but describing how we are necessary is the difficult part. We protect patients, I think that is the long and short of it. Helath Care libraries ensure that medical staff have access to all the latest evidence based research--from the least-harmful methods of intubation to how dying patients prefer to be treated.

I also needed to think about how I, myself personally added to the team. I wasn't sure whether I really did or not, but I did try to think of some things that I'm good at. I think my friendly attitude helps at the front desk and readers seem to appreciate that I am quick to respond to their requests for inter library loans. I have gotten several emails from people thanking me personally--some have even come into the library to see me. Is being friendly and taking reader requests very seriously something that adds to the team? I think everyone else I work with does that too, although sometimes they are not as quick on ILLs because they have more obligations to fulfill. I guess all I can really say at the moment is that I don't cause many problems and try to do as good a job as everyone else. At any rate, I'll have to come back to this question at a later date.