{"id":81016,"date":"2014-09-12T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=81016"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:14:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T16:14:35","slug":"remembering-a-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=81016","title":{"rendered":"Remembering a Legend, Charlene Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"

_ _ _<\/span>
\nby Katherine Kimball Adelberg, Senior Assistant,\u00a0INALJ Michigan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Remembering a Legend, Charlene Davis
\n<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"CharleneDavisKYDL\"<\/a>Earlier this month I attended a memorial service for my former director, a legend in Kentucky\u00a0libraries. Over her 37-year career at the Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives (KDLA),\u00a0the State Library of Kentucky, she had a lasting impact on the state\u2019s libraries and their patrons.\u00a0She lead the charge on resource sharing and the Kentucky Digital Library<\/a>, but her real passion\u00a0was library technology. She spearheaded grants from the Gates Foundation that installed the\u00a0first public computers in many libraries. More about her exceptional career can be found in the\u00a0most recent issue of Kentucky Libraries<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Charlene Davis<\/a> was also a fantastic leader. Instead of supplying a chronology of her numerous\u00a0accomplishments, I\u2019m going to remember her by sharing some of the most powerful lessons I\u00a0learned from her.<\/p>\n

Libraries are mission-driven organizations.<\/strong> Without stating it explicitly, Charlene\u2019s every\u00a0action was motivated by KDLA\u2019s mission of supporting the state\u2019s public libraries. Every project\u00a0we took on, every interaction with library staff helped libraries empower their patrons.<\/p>\n

Charlene\u2019s laser-like focus on library patrons was exceptional. One of her final projects, Fueling\u00a0the Mind<\/a>, came about when she discovered that only a tiny percentage of students that receive\u00a0free lunches during the school year have access to food during the summer. Charlene designed\u00a0a program that stopped summer reading loss and ensured hundreds of children had enough\u00a0to eat during the summer. A library director reported that when Charlene first told her about\u00a0her idea, she had a catch in her voice and said, \u201cwe have to feed these babies.\u201d She wasn\u2019t\u00a0a sentimental person, but the needs of Kentuckians were always on her mind. This sense of\u00a0mission was contagious.<\/p>\n

Look beyond the short-term battles.<\/strong> Charlene always took a bird\u2019s eye view instead of\u00a0worrying about short-term losses or gains. Long-term planning is not my strong suit, but she\u00a0helped me see that taking a step back could be incredibly liberating.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, I decided to take on a big project; a webinar series that provided examples\u00a0of library programs that highlighted the IMLS 21st Century Skills<\/a>. It was a failure in terms\u00a0of conveying the skills, but the libraries loved hearing about their neighbors\u2019 programs. Now\u00a0KDLA hosts successful monthly online trainings following the same format. Where I saw failure,\u00a0Charlene saw opportunity.<\/p>\n

Curiosity opens doors.<\/strong> Charlene\u2019s endless curiosity was legendary. There was no detail too\u00a0small, no story she was not interested in hearing about a Kentucky library. An anecdote about a\u00a0child winning a summer reading prize was met with the same level of interest as a challenge to\u00a0a library tax rate.<\/p>\n

\"Katherine<\/a>Remaining curious has allowed me to seize opportunities I might have otherwise dismissed.\u00a0For example, my curiosity about instructional design coincided with an opportunity from\u00a0WebJunction. With Charlene\u2019s support and encouragement, I applied to participate in the\u00a0Strengthening Continuing Education Content for Libraries<\/a> project. What followed was an\u00a0amazing, occasionally hectic, and very rewarding learning experience.<\/p>\n

Partnerships pay dividends.<\/strong> This lesson is intimately related to the previous two. I didn\u2019t fully\u00a0appreciate the value of partnerships until I saw Charlene cultivate them. Her focus on long-\u00a0term goals helped smooth any bumps encountered and ensure that collaboration was cemented for years, beyond individual projects. In the 1990\u2019s, she worked tirelessly to ensure Kentucky\u00a0libraries were connected to the Internet via the Kentucky Information Highway, now in its fourth\u00a0iteration<\/a>. Charlene was still in contact with many of her collaborators from that effort, most\u00a0of whom had moved on from state government. We met with some of them, now working for\u00a0Internet service providers, to discuss the limited bandwidth options of rural libraries. Within\u00a0days, the libraries had new quotes provided and greater bandwidth to offer their patrons.<\/p>\n

Every employee at KDLA and many librarians across Kentucky have stories about how\u00a0Charlene guided their career and encouraged their development. These are a few of my own.\u00a0She\u2019ll always be in my thoughts, and I\u2019ll strive every day to be a little more like her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo of Charlene Davis via the KY Gov website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

_ _ _ by Katherine Kimball Adelberg, Senior Assistant,\u00a0INALJ Michigan Remembering a Legend, Charlene Davis Earlier this month I attended a memorial service for my former director, a legend in Kentucky\u00a0libraries. Over her 37-year career at the Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives (KDLA),\u00a0the State Library of Kentucky, she had a lasting impact on the…<\/p>\n

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