Florida Library Association's One Book One State
Good Afternoon Colleagues,
My name is Gene Coppola and I am the Chairman of the Leadership Development Committee of FLA.
In late 2011, Florida Library Association President Gloria Colvin announced the selection of Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding under Any Conditions by John P. Kotter as the inaugural “One Book, One State”program for 2012. This is one of the Committee initiatives to create statewide "Leadership Legacy" programs.
This particular program provides a way “to create a network of activities and conversations about leadership throughout the state,” in the words of committee member, Elizabeth Curry who proposed the idea. "A program such as this offers opportunities for librarians and library staff around the state of Florida to share ideas about leadership based on the common experience ofreading the same book."
In keeping with this year's FLA theme,"Vibrant & Vital", Colvin's selection is particularly relevant in a climate of change in libraries -- how to lead an organization through change. This short book, with many illustrations, is available in a variety of formats, easy to read, has wide appeal and is accessible to many librarians and library staffmembers.
Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding under any Conditions is a fable that focuses on a group of penguins and illustrates how each individual works as part of a team to solve a melting iceberg crisis. The book uses the penguin story as an example to discuss how people can work together to adapt to the constant changes occurring in both our professional and personal lives. The penguins encounter obstacles much like we do in our everyday lives, including members who are resistant to change. The book describes how members of the penguin colony work together to overcome the obstacles with clever tactics and heroic action.
"One Book, One State"features self-starting regional group discussions throughout the state of Florida. The results of the initial discussions will be presented at the 2012 FLA conference. There will also be a discussion group during the conference that will offer advice and guidelines for libraries that decide to participate and start conversations about how to deal with change. Local group discussions may include anyone from the library community and library staff members from every level of the organization are encouraged to participate. Copies of the book may be available (of course!) at libraries and booksellers. See attached flyer for more details.
So, start your own reading group today and if you're planning to attend the 2012 FLA Conference, please join your fellow colleagues to discuss how the penguins finally figured out what to do.
GeneGene P. Coppola
Library Director
Palm Harbor Library
2330 Nebraska Avenue
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
727-784-3332 ext. 3001
gene@phlib.org
