Excuses vs. Challenges

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Several comments on post from last Thursday "Six biggest library annoyances and how to avoid them" took me to task for adding "excuses" as an annoyance. Anonymous put the sentiments of these folks well and passionately:

I, too, object to "no excuses," as it seems to imply to my administrators that I should be able to provide the same level of services as one librarian in four buildings that three years ago four librarians worked 10 and 12 (or more) hour days to provide. Not being able to provide non-stop info lit for 2000+ students is a reality, not an excuse. "No excuses" always sounds to me like management-speak for "I want it done but don't want to pay for it.". Worse, this has become the default attitude across the work world, not just in schools, and I'm darn tired of it. Which parts of librarianship shall I leave out to look excuseless? Professional development? Selection and deselection? Managinging paraprofessionals thoughtfully? Collaborating with teachers? Community connections? Keeping up with kiddie lit and technology? Of course not, says the "no excuses" brigade. You should stop cleaning your house, attending family events, volunteering outside your workplace, having personal time, taking part in Union activity, etc.

Sorry, quite the sore point for me! I think when we are not clear about the diminished services that result from diminished funding or staffing, we teach those we serve that we were wasting their money before, and we fuel unreasonable expectations. Clarity about possibilities by the professional doing a job should not be interpreted as excuses for a low level of improvement by those demanding impossibilities.

OK, OK, maybe the mention of excuses was my management side leaking out subconsciously. I will freely admit that many librarians and teachers (and principals and techicians and custodians and secretaries and ...) are working under very difficult circumstances with very high expectations. I am also conscious that I have not been a building level librarian for many years, so my vantage point is from the ivory tower of the district office.

But I will put on my library supervisor hat for this post.

Here is my thought - neither profound nor probably original ...

Any single condition or situation can be either an excuse or a challenge. It all depends on the individual's perspective. I would define an excuse as a challenge that an individual views as unalterable, unchangeable, fated. A challenge is a condition or situation that is real, identified, and important - but we should be working to change. Not just accept.

So any of the following conditions could be either excuses or challenges, depending on how the librarian who is experiencing them, views them:

• My principal doesn't support libraries.
• My budget is inadequate.
• My fixed schedule prevents me from having an effective library program.

But it is the next clause that determines whether the situation is an excuse or a challenge...

• My principal doesn't support libraries which is why I don't have enough a) staff b) resources c) respect.
• My budget is inadequate so the collection is old and unused.
• My fixed schedule prevents me from having an effective library program since I can't integrate my program into the classroom curriculum.

All excuses I hear too much.

However I have respect for librarians who say:

• My principal doesn't support libraries but I am working to convince him/her that libraries do impact student achievement using both internal and external data.
• My budget is inadequate but I am building advocacy in my students, staff, and parents to support my proposed budget.
• My fixed schedule prevents me from having an effective library program but I am working with teachers in the flexible time I have, building support for additional flexible time.

George Washington Carver said "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses." I think that is why I find excuses so abhorrent - that those who make excuse do so from a feeling of powerlessness. 

We do not need powerless librarians. Everyone can change his or her situation - or at least go down knowing one has tried.

Comments

[Shannon Walters]

Hi Doug,

You write, "many librarians ... are working under very difficult circumstances with very high expectations." I would argue that many school librarians are working in communities with expectations that are too low. For too many of our school libraries, library = babysitting. Teachers, administrators and even librarians have low expectations for the learning that happen there. The library is a warehouse and the librarian provides supervision while "real teachers" have planning time. When this is allowed to happen, it diminishes the work of teacher librarians everywhere. Like many of my TL colleagues, I am challenged by administrative lack of vision for what is possible, by fixed scheduling, by budgets... but if we accept those as excuses to provide poor service, we become part of the problem, not part of the solution. I passionately believe that libraries can and do change lives, but only if we fight to build programs that truly offer students and staff the opportunity to "think, create, share and grow." I'm afraid though, that as I try to point out instances where the "emperor is wearing no clothes," it will be interpreted as excuses or whining. To affect change, don't we first need to identify the problem?

Thanks for a thoughtful post that helped me think more deeply about my practice.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Shannon,

I think we are saying the same thing - just with a different slant. I couldn't agree with your assessment more. Thanks for commenting.

Doug

[Bob Follmuth]

These latest posts have forced me to hope that I'm the dog and not the teacher: What's the difference between a teacher (librarian) and a dog? When you open the door and let the dog in, it stops whining. May I look at my obstacles and revise my excuses to be plans for action. Thanks for the discussion, everyone.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Bob,

My guess is that you've never entertained an excuse in your professional life, but see things as challenges. My perception is that unhappiness stems from a feeling of powerlessness, so changing excuses to challenges makes a person happier as well as more effective.

Doug

[Anonymous]

Well, I certainly feel special to have been quoted! I actually think I am with Shannon on this: part of the reason I am so frustrated is that our teachers and administrators saw anything the librarians were doing outside of babysitting and shelving as "extra." Extras can be eliminated, right? But once they are, (and here is where my one-librarian district is) it is ridiculous to turn around and demand of the diminished staff that they do all the things that were seen as extra before, because gee, those things WERE affecting educational quality. And I truly struggle with finding the time where I can improve services from the minimum without turning myself into a flat rather than well-rounded person with a home life. I am still very bothered by framing this in terms of "excuses" vs "challenges.". How, as an administrator, are you able to discern between the employee who comes to you with frustrations that are "excuses" versus the employee who is asking you for help in resolving "challenges"? Or the employee who is just keeping you in the loop? Again, I have been subject to so much bad management, I think it is impossible to judge anyone from outside their situation, and equally unwise to assume a complainant speaking among professional colleagues is a whiner in general. One man's excuse is another's raised problem open for discussions of solutions. While I am sure you are not the kind of manager who assumes anyone bringing up any concern is just being negative and lazy, I see too many administrators who take pop management theory to be saying just that. I suppose the semantics are getting me, and we just have different opinions about what an excuse is and what it means. Thank you for the discussion.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Anonymous,

Had you left me any contact information, I'd have asked your permission before quoting you.

I'll just let you have the last word here. I only that one day you get a good supervisor - I think it would make you a happier person.

Doug