I must say that these are busy times. I hardly have time to post a few lines, which frankly of course is not entirely true. You can always make time for a few lines, right? My challenge however is that I have a lot to tell, and not just a few lines. Let me explain.
As TU Librarian I am confronted with a severe budget cut. We are discussing and thinking a lot how to address this in a way that we still can be the Library we want to be for our users and for our employees. Which is possible, though difficult. More about this (which is as said more than a few lines) later. At least I could present our plans with our employees today, during a plenary session.
For now I wanted to share with you an approach that was brought to me (and some of my library colleague directors and members of the UKB licenses working group) by Sarah Durrant. Sarah gave (with Tracy Gardner) a training on negotiation skills for librarians. A small part of the day was spent around the necessity of being resilient. And I thought that this might actually be a good approach for the situation we are in now, at this time of budget cuts.
Because: How do we keep going while things are constantly changing? How can we address an uncertain future? Perhaps the ABC-approach Sarah explained to us, could help. Firstly A – Adversity, so bad luck or misfortune may happen to you. Then, secondly B – Belief, and that is the story we tell ourselves. Belief is what we hear in a discussion or presentation or think what has been said, what was meant, or will happen. Then lastly C – Consequences and that means that you are in the position to make a connection to the story you believe in. And that connection brings the opportunity to make the story such that it may give you a positive perspective. Well at least that is my translation to a theory that has been around for quite some time (please refer to the Edutopia blog I’ve just read, where I also found the picture used below, image credit: iStockphoto).
And so I have done my few lines after all. If you want to hear more, you could also check the TEDtalk by Martin Seligman.