"Me and My Shadow"
Staff Exchange for Learning and Development

The concept was simple. Match up libraries, providing each interested member of a library's staff the opportunity to visit another library for a morning or afternoon. Each staff member shadows a peer in their partner library, seeing how that individual accomplishes his/her work and collecting ideas to take back to the home library. Because the program's first two years were such a success, the Assistant Directors Forum is running it again. This year's contacts will be Giselle Stevens (Newburyport Public Library), Nancy Ryan (Lynnfield Public Library), Deb Hiett (Boxford Town Libraries), and Mary Behrle (NMRLS).

The objectives of the program are as follows:

• Rejuvenation - provide staff with the opportunity to re-energize their jobs by being exposed to new ideas, new people and new approaches.
• Networking - give staff a chance to meet their peers in another library, develop relationships and build contacts.
• Idea Gathering - give staff a chance to see how another library does its work and identify new learning or improved processes that can be taken back to their own library.

Information about the program will be sent out to assistant directors and directors in early summer. The program is scheduled to begin in the fall. Watch for information and encourage staff to "shadow!"