SMART Libraries' Six-Month Celebration - Weltec
So for
the second time running a car full of yawning librarians braved the Rimutaka
incline for the sake of a free brekkie and a SMART-branded nametag.
It was Good-God-o’clock in the morning and this time we were headed for WelTec,
whilst praying that Mary had ordered plenty of caffeine from catering. Despite
all this though, the mood was cheerful when we arrived. There was a good
mixture of people from all around the Spydus libraries & thankfully, the
coffee was present, piping hot and plentiful.
It was
quite impressive to see a group of folk, essentially strangers to one another,
fall so easily into conversation, rather than break up into clannish huddles
with their own people (as one might expect). The difference, it seemed to me,
was the thing that had brought us all together that morning – SMART.
Not only
was it a denominator common to all, but clearly was something we were
enthusiastic to discuss with each other. Consequently, the room appeared to be
full of library managers, chatting to IT geeks who in turn were listening to
Civica executives: traditionally, these are tax-brackets that don’t rub elbows
all that often!
It was egalitarian. It was unifying. In fact, it was very SMART.
The informal part of the gathering went surprisingly quickly and it seemed like
only minutes before we were gathered together for the presentations.
Presiding,
as we all do, over small corners of our library network, it is always slightly
humbling to examine the full scope of what we have achieved in such a very
short time.
As Annette spoke, it became clear that our successes go a great deal further
than swapping a few library books. What we’ve managed to do and, importantly,
how little we’ve managed to do it with
are of immense interest to a number of people.
That our borrowers are pleased is readily apparent, our customers are almost
unanimous in their delight. And of course, where there are happy voters, happy
town councillors have inevitably followed.
But as each library manager told us their impressions and each SMART group
elaborated on their future plans it became obvious that we have succeeded where
many better funded and more regimented efforts have failed.
SMART is now of interest to libraries up and down New Zealand, our
collaboration a model for the future, rather than an ignorable aberration.
Annette’s invitation
to speak to the Chief Librarians conference in the UK makes one thing plain for all of us: The
world is watching SMART - Try to look busy!
