AtoZ Blogging Challenge – Opportunities

During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the 2017 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For this year’s theme, I chose to look at leadership qualities as I’ve just recently (within the past 6 months) become the director of my public library. We have about 50 staff members, most of whom are part-time employees serving a 30,000 resident community by providing high-quality programs and resources. Each day, I’ll look at one trait and how it’s helped me to become a better director.

I think it’s important to take advantage of opportunities as they arise and for me, that meant participating in leadership academies and continuing education courses. I didn’t have a lot of changes to become a leader in my work as a children’s librarian, but I took every opportunity I could to become a leader in my state association and to participate at the national level.

When a position did become available that I was interested in, I took the opportunity to apply. Did I have a background in leadership? Not in my day-to-day career, but I showed my enthusiasm for my field, and volunteer work in areas where I was able to become a leader. I never imagined that I’d become a director fairly early in my career, but I’m so excited about the opportunities it allows me to take advantage of for myself and and for my library.