How I Resolve to Rock in 2015

I'm a couple days late to the party, but Storytime Underground has put out a challenge for us to create some professional goals for 2015. My husband and I create a goal jar around this time of year for us and our family, so branching out and setting some goals for my job is a natural next step, right?


1. Blog consistently, and about more than just storytime plans.
During 12 weeks in the fall, 12 weeks in the winter/spring, and 6 weeks in the summer, I've done a fairly decent job at recording my weekly storytime plans. It keeps track of things for me, and I know I search lots of other blogs for ideas when creating my plans so hopefully what I post will help others too. But during storytime breaks (like now!) my blogging really slacks off. I want to try and post at least once a week, all year-round.

When I checked my stats and tags, I have written 130 posts so far, and 58 of those have been storytime plans. When I take out the 33 posts I wrote for the 31 Days of Writing challenge in October, 60% of my posts are only storytime plans. I want to try and decrease that percentage even more, by writing about other stuff too.


2. Do the 31 Days of Writing challenge again in October
I really enjoyed having something simple yet specific to write about every single day for a whole month. I'd like to do the exact same thing as last October, where I write short picture book reviews about new books that have come out in the previous year.


3. Finish weeding chapter books
I've come to realize that weeding in the children's area at my library hasn't been done for a looooong time. Over the last two years, during storytime/programming breaks, I've worked my way through EJ (picture books), lightly through 000-300s, hard-core through 921 (biographies), and almost all through 596-599 (animals). Last August I did some shifting and re-arranging of chapter books, which resulted in lightly weeding K-Z (based solely on condition). This section is our most tightly packed, and with good reason -- I've found 100+ year old books on the shelf! At a minimum I need to weed A-J on condition, and I really should go through the entire section and weed based on circs too.


4. Professional development - attend more workshops and conferences
Because I don't have a library science degree, I am learning A LOT as I go in this job. Between everyday experience and online reading (yay for Storytime Underground and SO many other great youth services blogs!) I am slowly getting up to speed in the library world. But nothing beats face-to-face conversations and presentations and discussions like what happens in a workshop or conference. In 2014 I attended three small, local workshops about things like Summer Reading and Storytime 101. Looking ahead to 2015 I'm already super excited about Spring Institute and MIKidLib Unconference, as well as smaller workshops put out by my co-op.


5. Personally read 36 books
It may not seem like very much, but I checked my Goodreads and discovered I'd only read 24 books in all of 2014. Granted, I read things like Harry Potter and Eragon which are huge books. But I do work outside of the home 30 hours a week, and have a home to clean and food to cook and a young family to be with. So I've officially made my challenge for Goodreads to up my reading from 2 books a month to 3. And note, these do not include the picture books I might read to my kids or for storytime or as new ones come in to the library - these 36 books are only the ones I'll read for myself (I love Jessica's post on tips to help you read more often, even if you have little kids! I plan to try a lot of these!)


I'm sure other things will come to mind, like increase Summer Reading participation and plan more teen events, but the five points above are what I feel really passionate about right now. What are your goals for the upcoming year? If you need ideas, Lisa has a really good list of goals to consider for all levels of expertise!