Books & Resources
Transform and Thrive
ALA Editions
Let’s celebrate the ultimate human resource – thinking! Let’s celebrate our communities – no matter their starting point! We can develop ways to bring out the best in library staff members in order to better serve a community. For instance, if those working in a library demonstrate competence, cheerfulness, and respect for all, the library can spark curiosity and encourage the good in the community. As Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.” Libraries can scatter joy as a baseline to play an important role in helping a community flourish.
With several nods to Charles Dickens – enough to keep one’s head bobbing – libraries exist today in “the best of times and the worst of times.” According to modern research, while most Americans think that libraries offer lifelong learning opportunities for all ages that benefit their community, many remain unaware of specific programs and services at their local library. It is the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness. Some libraries consistently ask what’s working, what’s not, and what we can do differently to be more effective, while other libraries ask how to get more money. Depending on library leadership, it can be a season of Light for some libraries or a season of Darkness for others. It can be the spring of hope and the winter of despair at the same time - if a library serves 150 teens after school lets out in the afternoon but doesn’t have a plan to serve them wisely.
This book will offer key tenets to help any size library - no matter the level of funding – to improve and thrive. It is aimed at readers who have a deep interest in seeing libraries evolve and flourish. It should also appeal to readers with a professional – and personal – interest in learning to think completely in order to uplift humanity through library services and activities. Take the time to savor your reflections on the ideas presented in this book. Transform & Thrive is an attempt to reawaken the library profession and nourish its growth for years to come.
From Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life (1860, rev. 1876), http://www.emersoncentral.com/behavior.htm
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. (1859, 1993 edition) p. 1.
Excerpt adaptation from pages xi - xvi of Transform and Thrive: Ideas to Invigorate Your Library and Your Community by Dorothy Stoltz with Gail Griffith, James Kelly, Muffie Smith, & Lynn Wheeler. (Chicago: ALA Editions. © Copyright 2018 by Dorothy Stoltz, Gail Griffith, James Kelly, Muffie Smith, & Lynn Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.)
