I’m posting for yesterday even though it is Friday morning and we will be starting our last day soon. Yesterday we talked about the cost of our resources and how monies are allocated toward serving our library’s service responses or objectives. Not surprisingly, not one of us (77 folks) specifically knew the percentages of our budgets that are allocated to children’s services, adult services, etc. Not just collections, but staff, facilities, and technology as well. We all need to be more educated in the areas of allocation. We need to know what value each and every activity brings to the end product (our service responses). If we eliminate or modify ineffective activities, we can reallocate resources toward those that are essential to meeting our priorities. While cutting out activities that take only “a minute,” when multiplied by 4,000 (or whatever number) because of repetition, we are talking about a lot of minutes that can then be applied to new activities.

After the conference yesterday, I too, went to the Cleveland Heights Library and really enjoyed the “referenceless-desk” operations. Following that I went to Playhouse Square and saw the production of A Chorus Line. It was great and I actually got a good seat. Some interesting trivia: Each cast member kicks his or her legs a total of 36 times (18 kicks each leg) in the final kick line of the show. In 1975, A Chorus Line won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best New Musical. All together, the cast of the 2006 Broadway production of A Chorus Line had spent 472 years in dance training with 637 teachers!

Expect one more post shortly,

Reeba Lynn