Comments on: Retire the Phrase “Doing More With Less” http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/ the neverending reference interview of life Fri, 24 May 2013 07:03:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Librarian Entrepreneurs | Information Tyrannosaur http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-8128 Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:15:47 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-8128 [...] since you can’t really do more with less, you can only do less. Andy Woodworth gives an example of cutting a pizza into different parts. In doing more with less you really are just spreading your [...]

]]> By: laura k http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5590 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:17:20 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5590 One thing I feel that I encounter all the time is the line between NOT doing more with less (i.e. not trying to push yourself and your library too far with too little funding) and just plain not working that hard. Perhaps this is unfair of me, but I’ve certainly encountered people in various work situations who just weren’t pulling their weight. They weren’t interested in trying new things because they were always afraid it would add too much work to their load. I understand not wanting to be used like a pack mule, but if it holds you and your library back, where is the benefit there?

]]> By: Tom Bruno http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5573 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:31:50 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5573 Okay, it’s official- I’m Doing Less With More from now on:

http://oodja.blogspot.com/2011/10/doing-less-with-more.html

]]> By: Jake http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5545 Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:16:15 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5545 I don’t think “doing more with less” is a good thing. It’s a “buck up,” “hang in there,” and “make lemonade out of lemons” thing. Budgets and staff have been cut, and neither are coming back. But at the same time, it’s easier to leverage new technologies, back to this “library 2.0″ concept, to get stuff done. It’s easier to promote, linking blogs to Facebook and Twitter, and scheduling postings and tweets, for example. It’s easier to batch process now than it was 10 years ago.

]]> By: Lindsay Sarin http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5537 Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:27:25 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5537 I’m working my first job out of library school and when I saw the job description (on my first day of work I might add), thought “ok that’s a lot but I can do it!” Several months in I’m realizing that there is no possible way that I can do just what’s written on paper, let alone all of the other committee work, special projects, and professional development expected of me and work less than 80-100hrs a week. At a conference recently I heard similar stories from every librarian I spoke with. BUT we all keep doing it anyways. I don’t know if it’s martyrdom or just fear of losing a job, but we do need to stand up and say enough is enough.

]]> By: Cari http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5532 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:35:44 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5532 I get what you’re saying here. There’s no reason to add services when the funding and/or staff time isn’t there, thus making the public think we don’t deserve to be funded. But I don’t see it as martyrdom when the public thinks we get paid $40 to sit at our desks and talk to each other all day (real comment I saw on a library expansion news story). I’d like people to know just how much I do at the wage I get paid with the resources I have.

]]> By: Tom Bruno http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5531 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:01:35 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5531 I make a motion that we start doing less with more… just to shake things up.

]]> By: shinyinfo http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5527 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:39:47 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5527 I think you see it more with the “Higher Calling” types in libraries. You see this sort of thing with some individuals in social justice groups a lot. The greater the suffering, the more dedicated you are to the cause. It’s mostly egoism.

I am the only librarian at a non-profit organization and I was approached about doing a Big Read program. Wouldn’t that look AMAZING if I could pull it off by myself? Look at me! Look at all of the things I’m doing with no staff or budget! But reality is that I simply DO NOT have the time to dedicate to this sort of thing alone, so it would be half-assed or not as good as it should be. Who does this hurt? Everybody. Just so I can say that “I did it! I’m amazing! Look at me!” It’s ego masking as dedication and it hurts us all.

]]> By: Mike the Librarian http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5524 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:23:20 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5524 I’m fine with cutting fat from budgets, but there hasn’t been all that much fat anyway. And I am sick unto death with people believing I can just make fewer photocopies (like I’m printing stacks of junk anyway), to free up money to buy more books or something. (A ream of paper at Wal-mart is about $2.50. The average paperback is about $10 now. Gas is up, so even paying for that for an author can be prohibitive. Need a new trashcan? How about a leftover box from collection development?) Things aren’t that bad at my library. Yet. But I completely agree that trying to do more and more with less and less leaves no one feeling satisfied.

]]> By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5522 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 06:20:27 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/retire-the-phrase-doing-more-with-less/#comment-5522 There is the idea that the tireless civil servant is somehow an ideal, but I wouldn’t guess as to how many people actually feel that way.

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