Influence

The Boys of Baraka

I watched The Boys of Baraka a couple evenings ago. The film focuses on the education of a handful of pre-teen (or "tween") boys who were raised and educated in the inner-city ghetto in Baltimore, Maryland and then follows the boys' attitudes and educational performance during and after one year of special schooling in Kenya, East Africa. In the end, some boys appear to have escaped Baltimore's staggering black, teen male statistics of early death or jail time, while others struggle to complete their high school education.

What is the answer? How can we improve such negative inner-city statistics?

As with many problems, the solution is multi-faceted. As the film suggests, a large portion of the problem is environmental. Family, neighborhood, and school system are all at fault.

These children have "incomplete" families. They are raised by one parent or grandparent while should-be parents are in jail or on drugs. In some cases, these single caregivers do not have the education themselves to know the most positive and effective ways to encourage the child to set educational goals.

Neighborhoods are filled with drugs and violence.

The school system is not succeeding in positively motivating the students to think beyond what they've learned at home or on the streets.

The idea of the Baraka school is to take the children away from this negative environment while adding adults who demand student responsibility.

At the end of the film, an extra interview with Bill Cosby sums up the solution. Cosby says, "Put a body [or person] on them." In other words, I am again referencing in this blog the need for a one-on-one knowledageble caregiver with a growing child.

As a public library employee in the inner city, I again wonder ... How can we reach the child's home caregivers?

I hope to discover some answers to this entire issue as well as appropriate actions to this particular question while working on my assigned Emerging Leader project.

Participation

The New Year grows nearer and nearer and yet, I have received only two comments on my blog. I have asked for participation from various professional contacts and past professors as well as notified both of my alma maters via alumni news. I even made an annoucement on one of the listservs today. I am not quite sure if there is any other appropriate place for me to market this blog.

While I find value (and pleasure) in documenting my experience in this program, I really think it would be interesting to collect ideas on leadership from various professionals throughout the online community.

I can only hope that my contribution will someday also be valuable to others.

Balance

It's that time of year again.

The Holiday Season is in full bloom, and normal responsibilities are compounded by extra, special preparations for celebrations with loved ones. We are busy with things, things, things.

It is also a natural time of the year to reflect on one's life.
This past week, I was home sick for a few days, and I realized that my mind was too busy ... too scattered ... too hurried. The laying around, waiting for my body to feel better, also put me in low spirits. What was I accomplishing?
Rose-colored as it seems, I did affirm that I find meaning and pleasure in my work as a Children's Librarian. However, it is when I am away from the work environment that I feel I am not reaching my full potential.

In addition to my professional aspirations, I need to devote time to my physical and mental health. I need to become more committed to exercise and healthy eating as well as meditation and spiritual study. I need engage all dimensions of my humanity.


Upon my return to work, I retracted a previous commitment to another volunteer project.


During this season of my professional career, I am excited to start preparing for my EL project by reading and listening to some Coretta Scott King Award books. As an individual, I am working on my wellness.

What Makes Some People Leaders and Others Not?

About two weeks ago, the Public Relations department here at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County sent out a press release about my acceptance in the ALA EL program. To my knowledge, the story has been printed in three township papers and our own library newsletter.

Initially, this publicity made me feel strange. While excited and happy that my (positive) news had been publicized, I also wondered what others might now expect or believe about me. I wondered, "What do I expect and believe about myself?"

On one hand, I feel knowledgable and confident as a new Children's Librarian, and I have always liked to immerse myself in activities that I enjoy.

On the other hand, I am still learning and perfecting my practice, and outside of Children's Librarianship, there are subjects where I have yet to understand the basics. Additionally, I label myself as an introvert. To me, part of this label means that occasionally I have to push myself to socialize.

For a moment (while considering the publicity), I had created this picture of a Leader who was extremely out-going and social ... someone who always knew the most efficient, clear, and appropriate response ... someone who was ... not me.

While it is not strange to me that I have participated and do participate in leadership roles, it seems bold to refer to myself as a Leader. The term "Emerging Leader" is more manageable, since it gives me some space to grow.


When I think of historical or present day Leaders, attaining the eventual title "Leader" seems presumptuous. There's so much that goes into the creation of a Leader ... so many kinds of Leaders ... so many motivations for individuals to become Leaders ... It is interesting to wonder about the individuals who are recognized as Leaders as well as the group of individuals who have recognized him or her.

To comfortably attain the title of "Leader," I would need to decide what kind of Leader I want to be, truthfully determine my motivation for being a Leader, choose who I would want to lead and work with, and then be accepted and recognized by this chosen group.

I've just started reading Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins, and I think it will help me address these professional questions in addition to other personal issues and goals.

Info Connection (Task A)

The Emerging Leaders team would be expected to:

a. Be familiar with the history of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards,

as well as reading several of the winning titles

While randomly picking up the children's area tonight, I happened to come across The Coretta Scott King Awards, 1970-2004.

I have seen this title before as an undergraduate while working at the Curriculum Resource Center at Youngstown State University. I even saw it more recently in early October while weeding the beginning of the children's nonfiction section.

It wasn't until tonight that the information became relevant and necessary.

I sent my first email to my team members to share the discovery!

My Emerging Leader Project: Introduction

Now that I have laid the foundation for this library leadership blog, it is time to detail my involvement in the Emerging Leader's program.

Toward the end of October, EL participants were given a list of possible projects/assignments and their descriptions. We were asked to distribute "points" or "votes" to the ones we most wanted to undertake. Based on our interests, individual participants were placed into teams.

At the beginning of November, I was thrilled to be assigned to my first choice -- Project A: Lift Every Voice and Read: A Personal Library for Every Child.

Why This Project Interests Me:

Since my first children's literature class at Youngstown State University and Mock Caldecott experiences with NEO-RLS, I have studied and researched awards given to children's literature.

During my time at Kent State University, I became intellectually interested in marketing. However, I can trace my attention to visual, organizational, and usability techniques throughout my education. (This awareness probably began with my mother's practical use of marketing in our annual, family garage sales.)

Today I work at an urban location in my library's system where I encounter many African American youth. Therefore, I can understand the need for "positive images of African American history, lifestyles and issues of concern to African American culture." This understanding is also grounded in my undergraduate experience as a sociology major.

From my formal education, work-related, and familial experiences (especially in interacting with my 22 month old nephew), I understand the importance of home libraries (in conjunction with adult interaction) as a block in building vocabulary skills.

The Challenge:

So far, the only part about this project that makes me uneasy is the deadline: "Deliver examples of the completed marketing campaign products by June 1, 2009 considering a $10,000 campaign budget for possible implementation in 2010."

... It helps to remember that I am part of a team ...

Defining Leadership

As stated in a previous post ("Audience Questions"), I created this blog to capture my experiences in the ALA EL program as well as other professional experiences that relate to the topic of leadership.

This statement directs us to the question ... What is leadership?

My hope is that professionals, especially those in the library community, will utilize this blog format to its full potential by providing their own comments ... their own insight into the meaning of "leadership". By using this format in the way it is intended (as a social network inviting professional comments), current leaders can enlighten not only new professionals such as myself but also generations of leaders to come.

Therefore, the goal of this post is to ask the question: "What is leadership?" as well as to provide space for others' responses.

I will not yet comment on this question myself. While I do have some ideas on the topic (some of which I have hidden within these posts and will later reveal), I want to provide the space for others' to share ideas before I lead the conversation.

I expect to post my initial interpretations on the meaning of "leadership" around January 1, 2009. Hopefully, this will provide enough time for me to increase my readership and their participation.

As I participate in the EL program and receive more interpretations via others' comments, I expect to modifiy my initial definition and will post my new thoughts toward the end of 2009.

Thank you for taking time to share your experiences and insight here =) I look forward to your participation!

Imperfection

As a Children's Librarian, I plan and lead a variety of programs that target children spanning from the ages of six months to twelve years. As one should expect when working with children, my programs are synonymous with commotion.

I use the term "commotion" to capture the energy, activity, and surface chaos ( ... okay ... sometimes actual chaos ...) that accompanies my programs. Overall, I see this commotion as a positive reaction ... Brains are still developing, and there are so many topics to explore and discuss ... There is so much to see and do!

Working in an urban location of my library's system, the majority of children who come to my programs are brought by daycares or preschools. Occasionally, it is necessary for several of these groups to come at the same time, and when that happens ...


I wish each child could experience my program with a one-on-one caregiver.


Socialization and learning how to be part of a group are very important. ("Life is people and relationships" as my mom has told me.) However, if I'm interpreting the information correctly, the research on (individual) brain development (especially from birth to age three) points to critical learning through one-on-one interaction ... from the amount of time devoted to bonding as well as time devoted to conversation. Even tweens and teens have developmental needs that demand the time and attention of individual adults.

Yesterday morning, I actually had one caregiver and child from the general public at my program. This was in addition to three preschool classrooms. During the arts and crafts activity, I was able to share a few words with the two, but stated I would return to talk some more.

In the commotion, I neglected to return.

After everyone had left, I realized my mistake and felt ... I can't think of a better word than ... down.

After talking with colleagues, I understand that one does what one can ... planting seeds along the way ... For that moment though, I just felt a little blue. I can understand how the two felt isolated from the preschool groups and had wanted to extend my welcome in order to encourage families to continue to attend my programs.

Character

I received another face-to-face comment about this blog. It was worded something like this:

"The only thing I don't like are the large, bold words. My eyes want to focus on them."

I had planned to reveal the meaning behind this feature (as well as other subtleties in this blog) in my first December post. Due to interest, I will address this particular feature now.

I am enlarging and bolding the keywords in each post ... the one or two words that describe the critical action or topic of the post ... the words that quickly (and noticeably) answer, "What happened?"

This feature is important for two reasons:

Focus: The large, bold words focus the audience's attention (as well as my own) on what I feel is the essence of what I have experienced. They also act as an overview or quick reminder of detailed events.

Character: This feature also provides character. This blog is a reflection of myself ... an individual who appreciates organization ... an individual who appreciates the ArtS, including visual presentation.

Audience Questions

My first comment about this blog was made to me in person. The interaction went something like this:

"Hayley, I like your blog ... but I wish you would have mentioned the library where you work."

"Well, I didn't know if it would be safe ..."

It's true that I had purposefully not mentioned the city where I live or the library where I work.

Why?

Background
In the past, I've started a Livejournal account (2003-06), a Myspace account (2006-07), and a Facebook account (2004-present). I'll even admit to joining FriendFinder for a month in 2007. I joined each of these social networking sites for a different reason and have had very different experiences with each. In each successive experience, I also brought a different degree of maturity.

It wasn't until I was pursuing my Masters degree that I was the most concerned about unknown Others stumbling across my personal life and information. In particular, I heard the rumor that employers were starting to access social networking sites as a non-traditional means of "interviewing" or background checking. (This is in itself an interesting issue to address, but it is not the focus of my post.) Therefore, I actually set aside time to look more carefully at the information I was providing as well as learn about how to set my accounts to a degree of privacy wherein I was comfortable.

It's not that I was actually posting information that might bring unwanted attention ... It's that I had never thought about the possibility of my personal and professional life unexpectedly meeting.

More recently, about a month ago, my father asked me about my involvement in the internet's social networking sites and mentioned some related (though now forgotten) internet horror story. While I assured him my Facebook account was privatized, the warning lingered ...

Answer
I created this blog in order to capture my involvement in the American Library Association (ALA)'s Emerging Leader (EL) program as well as look at my work-related experiences through the lens of the idea of leadership. Though this was my acknowledged goal during set-up, I didn't realize (until tonight) that of all my self-initiated social networking experiences thus far, this blog is unique.


Its purpose is professional.



Let me introduce myself. My name is Hayley McEwing. I have a Masters in Library and Information Science from Kent State University and am working as a full-time children's librarian at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County in Youngstown, Ohio. I believe that libraries transform communities!

Experience

While creating yesterday's post, I periodically saved my draft.

Five minutes later, when I tried to review the text for the last time and wanted to post, the suspicion that hovered in my subconscious had become a reality ...

Only my very first draft had been saved.

Disappointed? Yes. Stressed? There was an additional sigh added to the day's "mistakes."

I've had recent experience with unexplainable technology bloopers, so I could accept what had happened. I created a new strategy for blog posting: "Print before logging out."

Planning

Today I followed a link from the 11/5/08 American Libraries Direct electronic newsletter and read a post from the blogging team "Lifehacker." Ultimately, I became familiar with the site kayak.com.


When I first accessed the Lifehacker blog, their post asked for suggestions of best travel sites. In the 40 some comments I skimmed, kayak.com was listed the most.


When I explored the site myself, I found it usable and detailed; I understood the organization of the site and was able to make advanced searches to fit specific travel needs.


In twenty minutes, I found a $200 cheaper round trip flight ... through the same airline whose own website I had searched the day before ...

It seems that no matter what age or stage in life, a person emerges into a different space or place when he or she explores others' suggestions.

Gratitude

To the Ohio Library Council Board of Directors:

I would like to thank you for your congratulations and your support during my participation in the 2009 American Library Association’s (ALA) Emerging Leaders (EL) program. While I am honored that I have been chosen for this awesome experience, I am equally thrilled to receive your support!

As Mr. Douglas Evans explained to me via email and phone early last month, I understand that I am to provide your organization with a report of my involvement in the Emerging Leaders (EL) program. My report will not only demonstrate what I have learned, but it may also be valuable to the Ohio Library Council membership.

While this report is not required until the conclusion of the EL program, I thought that it may be valuable to document the process and to share my experiences as I encounter them. My blog entitled "Learning: Emerging Leadership" has been created for this purpose. This format will also allow you, other Ohio Library Council members, and any interested individuals from the internet community the ability to ask me questions about certain EL experiences or to post insights on the topic of leadership.

Thank you once again for your support. It is much appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Hayley McEwing