Innovation is exciting and splashy; maintenance doesn’t get the same attention, but it’s absolutely essential. As Jenny Odell writes in How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy (2020), “Our very idea of productivity is premised on the idea of producing something new, whereas we do not tend to see maintenance and care as productive in the same way.” And here’s John Green quoting Kurt Vonnegut in The Anthropocene Reviewed (2021): “[O]ne of the flaws of the human character is that ‘everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.'”

My own human character is certainly flawed in other ways, but for the most part, I really enjoy “doing maintenance.” (Although it would also be really nice to trim my nails to the right length once and have them stay that way forever. Alas.) In the context of library work, though, it can be challenging to show how much time and care go into maintaining the programs, services, and space; nothing runs on autopilot, and everything takes time. Some tasks are daily, some weekly, some monthly, some quarterly or annually or as-needed, but it all adds up.

Library jobs are not the only ones affected by “scope creep” or “mission creep.” We’re often asked to – and praised for – “do(ing) more with less” (usually less resources and/or staff) but at some point, just maintaining everything you’re already doing takes all of your time, so in order to add something new, you have to take something away. In my current job, I’m fortunate that I’m not being pressured to do more all of the time, and I don’t have to push back and set those boundaries. (If you are in that position, a helpful phrase is, “Yes, we can do [new thing]. What are we going to reduce or stop doing in order to do [new thing]?” or some variant of that.)

My approach for the first year or so of this job was to maintain the programs that were already in place and popular, and try some new things too: the “Throw it at the wall and see what sticks” approach. Some were successful and are still going (Lego & Games two afternoons a week); some never got off the ground (Girls Who Code, Caregiver Cafe); some were successful for a while but ran their course (Pokemon Club, Comics Club, My First Book Club). When introducing a new program, you want to give it a few chances; don’t cancel it if no one shows up the first time.

As the new calendar year begins, I’ve made some changes to our programs: I replaced Comics Club/Comics & Crafts with STEAM Time, and My First Book Club is going on hiatus until summer; it might be a summer-only program, as it’s especially helpful for families with rising kindergarteners. Caregiver Cafe didn’t work out, but Baby Lapsit Storytime has been a great success.

Again, I’m fortunate that I have the autonomy to make these decisions and these changes, and respond to community needs. “That’s how it’s always been done,” on its own, is not a good reason to continue doing things that way; at the same time, new is not always better. What programs are most popular in your library? What programs have flopped? Which have been successful?