THE "KRISTINA" FOLDER

In all of the schools where I have taught, I have had a number of colleagues tell me that they have a "Kristina" folder. They actually took the time to create a folder so they could save the emails that I sent to them personally, to their departments, or to the entire school. They knew that I took great care to sift through the plethora of information that I would receive, in order to pass on what they would find useful. Even though they might not have had the time to read about a new web tool or strategy at the moment, they valued what I shared with them, and planned to eventually revisit it.

Sometimes my colleagues would tell me weeks, months, or even a year later about some "new" gadget or gizmo they learned about. I would smile internally, because I knew that there was an email written by me about that same information tucked away in their folder from long ago.

What have I learned from this?
1. Your colleagues will value you when you take the time and effort to solve their problems. “Advocacy only works when you solve someone else’s problem. When you provide solutions, your worth becomes visible and valuable.” Deb Kachel - Affiliate Faculty, Antioch University School of Education
2. Your colleagues might not be ready to learn what you want teach. Don't take it personally. They will learn when they NEED to, and sometimes it might not be from you. That's ok.
​3. Even though this might seem inconsequential, any time you bring value to the library profession is a form of advocacy.

As I was creating a presentation about advocacy today this little factoid jumped into my brain. It was a silly little thing. But then when I began speaking to a graduate class and listening to Joyce Valenza I began to realize that we do need to pay attention to and appreciate "the small stuff." Not everything is a big show. Not everything is unicorns and rainbows. What really matters is the day to day experience, those moments when we make a difference that ignites change. This was an "aha" moment today for me, a truth that I had forgotten and had remembered when I began reflecting on my journey to librarianship.

​A good friend and wise mentor Donna Rosenblum once said to me, "It's all just bookshit." She didn't mean it in a derogatory way. She is an avid reader and was a great librarian before she retired. What she meant was that there are bigger things than the books, the housekeeping, and the management. And those bigger things are relationships. A "Kristina folder" isn't about curation and technology. A "Kristina folder" is about when someone trusts you enough to accept your help, whether or not they think they need it.