No abstract
I became a library administrator quite early in my career although, as a somewhat late entrant into librarianship, I was hardly a child. Mentoring was much talked about and little practised at the time, and I never figured out how to seek out a mentor, let alone how to snaffle the career guidance and sponsorship implied in the relationship. But I was a fast learner, a good listener and quick to make connections, which led me to use numerous more experienced people as temporary mentors when the occasion arose. I learned the obvious, and much that was obscured as well. On one particularly memorable occasion, only very recently (and with woefully little preparation) and unexpectedly appointed director of the small college library, I said wistfully to a senior colleague that things seemed to be going well, but I was feeling much discomfort with the sense of just, as I put it, "faking it" -making seat-of-the-pants decisions, not really ever knowing enough to feel in charge. Somehow, I thought, this long-time director at a larger and older college would be able to make it all clear to me. Instead, his reply was, "Oh, you'll get used to feeling like that", which is still memorable more than 20 years later. The lesson? You are not really ever going to feel that you know enough to be fully in charge, so get on with it.The administrative life continued to be full of these little learnings, and I thrived on them. After more than two decades heading several libraries, I am not sure one ever "gets used to feeling like that"; but, regardless, I have achieved -through years if not wisdomsenior administrator status and, in fact, bask a little in the respect implied by requests for advice on career direction and advancement, organizational strategy or problem solving. However, sometimes I find myself musing: How did I get here? What is different and when did it happen? Now, I know as well as anyone that there are not necessarily sharp lines of demarcation or, as one especially perspicacious commentator put it, "Life is what happens while we are making other plans". Still and all, and regardless of what I do not know (way too much), and what I am expecting to learn in the future (more yet ), I certainly would not call myself "junior" by any chronological or experiential measure.
Creativity is a modem concept. Although the Oxford English Dictionary shows the word created appearing as early as 1393, creative in the sense of imaginative does not show up until 1745, creativeness in 1820, and creativity in 1875. These last examples all refer to poetic imagination. Creativity in arenas other than the arts appears to be an even more contemporary notion. We now speak of creative thinking, creative problem solving, and creative living. A minor flood of books has appeared to help us learn how to apply creativity to our work and lives-often carrying fanciful titles, such as Roger Von Oech' s Whack on the Side of the Head .,. and Kick in the Seat of the Pants. Can we be creative in the workplace, particularly one that is as heavily systematized, bureaucratized, and interdependent as an academic library? Is there a paradox in trying to be both creative and systematic? Or is it possible to have systems that encourage, reward, and promote creativity? Some of the most-discussed creative minds of recent history have worked with a medium that is the zenith of system and rigidity-the simple-minded on/off computer bit. Names that spring to mind include Nolan Bushnell and the video game; two guys named Steve creating Apple Computer in a garage; Bill Gates dropping out of Harvard to write the first BASIC for a small computer, which led to Microsoft Corporation; Raymond Kl;lrzweil inventing the talking reading machine for the visually impaired. .. the list could be much longer, obviously. James Watson and Francis Crick's Double Helix, the bestseller that chronicled the discovery of DNA, made a lasting impact on me. The mystery and wonder of two slender intertwined threads that carry the secret of life, however, offered a stark contrast to the obvious laziness, competitiveness, and mental playfulness in which the discoverers were engaged. Racing to be the first to uncover the exact structure of DNA, the pair spent more time in-r British pubs, gossiping, and otherwise avoiding work than they did in the sober and systematic pursuits of the laboratory. What they were doing, clearly, was thinking creatively, sometimes systematically, but mostly by indirection, by using play to ''unleash hidden potential,'' as the creativity gurus like to say. In the December 1986 issue of the AAHE Bulletin Patricia Hutchings writes about the value of creativity as an outcome of liberal education and how it might be taught to undergraduates. She implies that creativity is not so much a skill as a mental mode that can be fostered by three classroom strategies. Creativity in our professional lives, I think, can be encouraged in much the same ways. Risk taking needs to be encouraged. A 1986 study, ''The Effective College President,'' found that effective leaders take more risks and encourage others to be creative as well. Risk taking is more an everyday frame of mind than a matter of gambling on big issues. Small risks include accepting and accommodating a certain amount of ambiguity, trying out untried approaches to problems, thinking...
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