What a reprieve this week has been! With summer reading over and school starting back next week, it’s been super quiet (comparatively speaking) at the library this week. That means we’ve been able to jump into fall programming planning!
At first, I was still feeling a little burned out and uninspired, but my supervisor asked our director if we could have a retreat this week. We had one many years ago, but it’s been quite some time. On Wednesday, our entire department went to our regional library’s meeting space and spent the majority of the day recapping summer reading and going over what we’d like to change for next year, followed by revisiting past programming and narrowing down what we’d like to do or change for this coming school year. It was a really wonderful day away from the office where we could discuss new ideas, ask for input on problems, and figure out ways to make things work, all while reminding us how blessed we are to work with such a passionate group of people who truly want to make a difference in our community.
If you’ve never had an opportunity to do this with your staff, it is well worth it if you can manage to get away. Our director and HR staff worked the children’s desk for us so that we could have this time to regroup and I left feeling recharged and excited about the fall. What helps you recharge after summer reading? Do you get some downtime to plan or are you jumping straight in during August?
Much Hamsters 