Work Space Flexibility

Jenny Levine's (aka The Shifted Librarian) comments on retaining our profession's best and brightest struck a chord with me. In her post on April 10, 2006, Jenny said:

Ask yourself what your library is doing to value your top staff (all of them, not just the traditional, stereotypical functionaries), to create a collaborative environment (especially between generations and between various job roles), and to let your employees color outside the lines a little in order to draw the big picture.

Her post was in response to Rachel Singer Gordon's observation that more than a few librarians no longer actually work in libraries, yet still do library-related work. See her post Neither Fish Nor Fowl (http://www.lisjobs.com/liminal/2006/04/neither-fish-nor-fowl-nor.html) for more.

Craving order is part of our nature as librarians, but are we too wedded to organizational structure and job descriptions to nurture the work space flexibility we need to keep the creative and energetic librarians redefining their roles respected and rewarded?