A good time was had by all

A memory about this summer's reading project and thoughts about successful teamwork.

That phrase summarizes this blog and you can skip it if you wish.  With the exception of the summer of 2013, I've been involved in summer reading groups for several years.  At MPOW, we offered three years of reading "contests" for the students, staff, and faculty over the summer.  They were fun, but yielded few volunteer readers or ones who had the time to do it.

Since retirement, I expanded my volunteer work  in the library at My worship place to include the children's collection.  Children were not using the collection and  it was in danger of being removed because of space issues.

After working several months to inventory the children's materials, I wanted to see if we could reignite interest in using the collection.  I suggested a reading contest to the librarian and pastor who oversees this group.  My reason was that summer was a good time to encourage children to read those books which promoted Christian values and life.
We timed it to coincide with the Bibles given to graduates in elementary school.
I was rather apprehensive but I didn't need to be because God was in it.  The pastoral staff took the suggestion and remodeled it to fit a larger need while not excluding my concerns.  They included parents reading to children as well as other ideas.
 They even added a reward --ice cream at a popular ice cream spot.  They mentioned the project several times in church and even once the senior pastor talked about some of the books in the library during the children's section.

I continued to prepare the children's collection for the summer. The nasty fall and fracture I had in July occurred at the start of the contest and the next step:  purchasing new books.  However, this too didn't stop and actually the new material acquisition came at a better time for processing and promotion.  That first Sunday, parents and children came to the library.

I was unable to be at the library for several weeks.  The other librarians were "swamped" to use their words with children in the library.  We tallied around 88 books checked out. 
Thirty people, parents and children and staff attended the ice cream party which was held on a perfect Sunday.  We all thought it was a good end to the project and to the summer. 

Teamwork occurred here without a great deal of effort.  My thoughts on the word, "team," is that it is overused and misapplied.  In some workplaces, everyone has to be together all the time and in total lockstep or they are deemed not part of  the team and little value because their efforts are in a different section of the workplace.  It's like the story of the  boy and the dike.  He didn't need to call a committee to know what needed to be done.  No one questioned that his contribution didn't benefit them all.   Daily work may function better with common goals, but not everyone has to hold hands all the time.  Hearing people say," I'll contact my team."  usually makes me clench my teeth.  My experience has been this is a polite way to not follow through in a timely manner.

In this case everybody's contribution was valued and the benefits of this effort has already been blessed and I hope will continue to be a blessing and a great memory.