This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my professional career! I had the opportunity to attend the TALL Texans Library Leadership Institute. Wowzers. It was amazing. This is a leadership institute facilitated by Marueen Sullivan and Jack Siggins (who are pretty much legends in the library world). There were 24 participants, 6 mentors, a TLA employee. and Maureen and Jack. So, we had 4 days to learn and grow with a total of 33 librarians. The mentors were there to help us learn and grow and to lean on, but they also did a lot of learning themselves (which is telling about what we should all always be doing). We covered many leadership topics that included strategic planning, risk-taking, conflict negotiation, team building, coaching, ethics, advocacy, personal career planning, and more. The Institute is held at the Montserrat Retreat Center in Lake Dallas. We ate meals together and spent time in the evenings walking, playing games, and growing together. We even had a Twitter tutorial on the last night! And created our own hashtag to stay connected (#talltx15). Mornings before breakfast included walking, running, and yoga for those that were interested. I did yoga for the first time and really liked it — thanks to Jane! She was a great teacher!
Mornings at the retreat center
One of the first things we talked about was to “lean into our discomfort” — which is hard, but oh so powerful. Confronting those things that are hard. This was the perfect place for that. We had 2 assignments–and this is where the mentors really came in. We had to write out a plan to cultivate a library champion in our community and then also write out a project we want to complete. I truly did lean into my discomfort as I thought about who I could get to advocate for libraries. And, it also generated many ideas for other opportunities for advocacy in my community. Susan Mann, our current TLA President, was so inspiring when she talked about advocacy. She does so much for Texas libraries. And I think I can speak on behalf of our entire group that we all learned a little (well, maybe a lot) about advocacy from Susan. There are so many things that I learned that I could write about, but I think it all boils down to the fact that we should always be learning and growing. Our profession is evolving and we must evolve, too. I need to stay connected and involved and continue to speak up for our libraries (and their patrons). We built relationships that I know will continue as each of us becomes involved in TLA — and I think we will see some great leadership from this group.
Just about every minute was packed full of learning, developing, and making new friends. I loved connecting with other school librarians, but I really loved getting to know public and academic librarians and learning that we do have a lot more in common than I realized! For any of my Texas librarian friends — I highly recommend that you apply to this program. It’s amazing and you will learn so much. The members of the 2015 TALL Texans Class will be forever friends. We are probably the best class ever to come out of TALL Texans. 😉 I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend 4 days with these amazing leaders. I cannot wait to see what things are accomplished because of them!
Playing Cards Against Humanity — Library Version
2015 TALL Texans
Emily Billings, Tarrant College, Fort Worth
Len Bryan, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin
Laurel Crawford, University of North Texas, Denton
Edgar Fuentes, Houston Public Library
Kelli Getz, University of Houston
Carrie Gits, Austin Community College
Mark Gottschalk, South Plains College, Levelland
Jacqueline Higginbotham, New Caney ISD
Jan Hodge, Crowley ISD
Ashlynn Kogut, Texas Medical Center Library, Houston
Leah Mann, Lewisville ISD
Maya McElroy, Austin ISD
Daisy Ngo, Houston Community College
Tuan Nguyen, Mackin Educational Resources, Burnsville
Cynthia Pfledderer, Southlake Public Library
Robyn Reid, Texas Christian University
Lisa Scroggins, Claud H. Gilmer Memorial Library, Rocksprings
Gail Shipley, Dallas ISD
Jane Stimpson, San Jacinto College, Houston
Jake Syma, Texas Tech University, Lubbock
MyTesha Tates, Houston Public Library
Claudia Wayland, Lewisville Public Library
Peace Williamson, University of Texas at Arlington
Roberto Zapata, San Antonio Public Library
Each of the individuals above are doing amazing things. It was so fun to hear about it. And, as I said before, there is much more to come from the 2015 TALL Texans! And as soon as I have my hands on one of the group pictures, I will add it to the post!