Monthly Archives: August 2022

10-Minute International Librarian #99: Think how you can build your resilience

COVID-19 has underlined how impossible it is to be certain about the future.

Of course, COVID is far from the only source of unpredictability, with climate change leading to more extreme weather events, as well as the risk of conflict or other major disruption.

This has underlined the importance of resilience – the ability to face difficulty, and have the skills, confidence and resources to get through it.

Being resilience is often linked to having strong connections with others, and so not being alone, as well as inventiveness and responsiveness in the face of change.

So for our 99th 10-Minute International Librarian, think how you can build your resilience.

You could think about how you can plan for contingencies, and make sure that you have the space and resources to react to changing circumstances.

You could look at how you yourself perceive the future, and your ability to respond to whatever happens. Remind yourself that predictions often do turn out to be wrong, and be ready to do something different.

You can also reflect on where you and those around you could build new skills that leave you better placed to seize new opportunities, not least around digital.

Share your ideas about what building resilience means for you in the comments box below!

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 3.2: Empower the field at the national and regional levels.

You can view our other posts in this series using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below!

The 10-Minute International Librarian #98: Make a plan to implement something you’ve learned

We place a big emphasis on the importance of being a learning profession.

We know how important it is to be open-minded, and ready to listen to others, given how much we can gain from their insights, experience and knowledge.

But of course learning – most of the time at least – needs to be accompanied by implementation.

For example, participating in a conference is a great experience, but only has maximum impact if we can think about how we can take what we have gained, and turn it into something on the ground.

This isn’t always easy. Lessons learned can be easily forgotten if not applied, or we set ourselves goals which are unrealistic and end up having to give up.

Putting newly-gained ideas and abilities to work is not a given!

So for our 98th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, make a plan to implement something you’ve learned.

Is it a specific skill or technique, or rather a broader way of doing things, or even an attitude. It doesn’t need to be anything directly professional either – maybe it’s  way of relaxing or changing your mindset!

What opportunities do you have to apply it? What is reasonable, given all your other work? How can you do it in a way that isn’t going to be too hard, or mean that there’s a big risk of failure?

Let us know about examples of how you’ve implemented something you’ve learned in the comments below.

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 3.4: Provide targeted learning and professional development.

You can view our other posts in this series using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below!