2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

3. Challenges
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BEST PRACTICES 2012
Momentum is an important word to remember when starting a new group like NewFeds.
Thanks to the enthusiasm and leadership of our co-chairs, NewFeds quickly became less
of a “good idea” and more of a “real thing.” Within a few weeks of meeting for an informal
lunch, we convened our first meeting (with official minutes!) and began brainstorming
how to structure the group. We maintained momentum through the 2011 summer
conference season, primarily through email exchanges and via posts to the NewFeds
Facebook group .
Our first event, the NewFeds Virtual Conference Redux in August 2011, was our way to
crowdsource the knowledge we had gained and provide presentation opportunity to
NewFeds members. Using Adobe Connect and a conference call number, we brought
together 15 members of the federal library community to share insights and resources.
Knowing there was a quickly-approaching FEDLINK event, we established subcommittees,
recruited co-chairs for these new entities, created a handout, and set up a
bare-boned website.
And then life intervened. Some of us got new jobs, some sought different jobs, and others
were thrown curveball after curveball at our current positions. Moreover, as early-career
professionals, many of us faced challenges making time for NewFeds activities during our
workdays. We were juggling the demands of learning our jobs while also trying to stand
up NewFeds. With the addition of a busy holiday season, NewFeds went into
organizational hibernation.
Our loosely-defined roles were not yet documented, which left some members feeling less
empowered when asking their leadership for time to work on NewFeds initiatives. This
created communication challenges, since our fledgling leadership group was trying to
coordinate by email after hours, during our busy personal time. Many NewFeds face
additional work barriers such as technology and security issues in the workplace that
prevent access to certain communication tools. Another challenge has been finding the
time to attend additional training events. Some supervisors are more flexible than others,
and some require professionals to use annual leave to attend activities. As new
professionals, we have not built up much leave.
NewFeds leadership has reflected on what has happened so far with our organization and
its sub-committees. We have also observed processes of other professional organizations.
We are collectively using this knowledge to continue to improve our organization. We
intend to annually assessing what we have accomplished and where we want to go in the
future.
4. Lessons Learned
With signs of spring coming back to the DC area, several members of the NewFeds
leadership began a vigorous dialogue via email and telephone in recognition of the need to
re-energize NewFeds. We convened a foundational and instructive face-to-face meeting.
Although we had been leveraging a range of communication tools to coordinate our group
activities, one of the main lessons we learned was the value of traditional in-person
conversations and relationships. During our strategic brunch meeting, we had a
productive discussion about NewFeds and the way ahead. Seeing one another allowed us
to learn about our non-librarian lives and find other ways our interests converged. We