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Working Knowledge
A Monthly Column about Life on the Job |
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By Mary Pergander
American Libraries Columnist
Mary Pergander is director of the Lake Bluff (Ill.) Public Library. She received her MS in library and information science from the University of Illinois in 2002. Contact her at working@ala.org.
Column for January 2006 |
The Road Taken—Eventually
On the Monday after Thanksgiving several years ago, a perplexed young man sat across the desk from me, relating his holiday experience. His visit with his parents and siblings had not gone well. In fact, his family had pressured him to choose a profession and stick with it. Their expectations were high-one sibling was a lawyer, the other a doctor.
He, on the other hand, was following a different path. At 27, he held licenses in two ancillary health professions. He also had amassed an impressive art collection and was building a reputation as an art historian. He had been perfectly happy until his holiday visit home.
“When will I find the one thing I want to do and settle down?” he asked.
“But you have already accomplished something beyond anyone else in your family—flexibility!” I pointed out. “You have developed a wide range of interests and skills. You know how to be many things, successfully. You can't know right now where all this will lead, but it is all authentically you.”
At the time, I was the director of a hospital radiology department, but soon my own career experience would parallel his. First, there would be positions of increasing authority and responsibility in dietetics, radiology, quality management, and marketing. Then I would spend several years in hospital administration. Along the way, I would work with and serve on boards of many types in my work and as a community member. I would create policies, help develop salary and benefit plans, hire people at all levels of the organization, and deal with many ethical issues. I would have the pleasure of developing new businesses and services, and the agony of dismantling departments and reassigning employees.
It would take more than 20 years from the day I first set a goal of becoming a librarian to finally accomplishing it. The eventual catalyst? A friend dared me to stop talking about becoming a librarian “someday” and do it! When I finally pursued my MLS, I planned to become a public library director within two years. That goal became a reality three months before I graduated in 2002, when I was hired as director of the Lake Bluff (Ill.) Public Library.
Collective working knowledge
In my admittedly short library career, I have met people who began working in libraries as early as junior high school, as well as current LTA and MLS students in their 50s or older. Regardless of our individual paths to libraries, we all add strength to the profession through the life experiences we contribute. Building on those experiences moves the profession forward.
We learn about the technical and historical aspects of the library profession in school, but we often arrive in the workplace with very little working knowledge about the other aspects of being successful in the organization and our careers. What does it take to connect professionally and develop respect from our peers? How can we earn what we are worth? How can we handle troubling issues in the workplace? Where do we best fit into our organizations, communities, and professions?
It is an honor to continue the column begun by Elisa Topper, whose work I have read faithfully each month and from whom I have learned. As your new columnist, I invite you to continue developing working knowledge you can use in the workplace, regardless of the setting. Whether you work full time or part time, serve on the staff or the board, are still a student or graduated decades ago, call yourself support staff or librarian, our topics will often be applicable to your life the next day. That is my goal and my pledge.
Working wisdom
Regardless of how long you have been involved in libraries, you have developed knowledge about things you never learned in library school. Has someone given guidance to you, or helped you learn from their experience? What piece of advice or insight has meant the most to you? Why not share your “working knowledge” by e-mailing me at working@ala.org. In the coming months, we will pass on your valuable insights and build upon them.
(c) Copyright 2006 American Library Association
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