PA Forward – Make Change: A Penny for Your Thoughts | STAGING Compendium

Angie Andre
by Angie Andre


A Summary
We are coming to the end of a year of the Pennsylvania Leadership Academy (PALS) projects.  June of 2016 will mark the transferring of duties from the 2015-2016 teams to the new groups of leaders that will work on projects in 2016-2017.   My group was in charge of writing articles that support the PA Forward Literacies for the Compendium Blog. We had an amazing experience and our group hopes to continue contributing to the Compendium in some way. As our PALS year is coming to an end we will be paying tribute to all of the 2015-2016 PALS groups and share their experiences.

If you are looking for new ideas or have ideas to share the Database Leadership Group has been working on a resource for you. The database is called The PA Forward Commons. This is where you can search for ideas and find inspiration. Take a penny, leave a penny, take an idea and share an idea. Librarians have such wonderful ideas and love to share so the Commons is a great resource for librarians to help move PA Forward.

I interviewed the members of the Database Group and everyone agreed that they are satisfied with their end result and are proud of what they accomplished. They expressed challenges in the beginning of the process in determining their purpose and direction their project should take.  Understanding what the previous group had accomplished and what was expected was unclear but once this was figured out the group worked together and was successful.

PA Forward Logo of Five LiteraciesI asked them what advice they would share with this year’s PALs group and their replies apply to most anyone working in a group.

  • COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE!
  • Respect each other and their opinions, effort and time
  • Have an open mind if you have a legacy project
  • Have fun and don’t be shy
  • Ask questions
  • Be proud of what you do because you are all leaders!

If you are interested in participating in the next PALS group please click for more information. PALS Information.

2015 PALS Database Group
Amy Ambler: Free Library of Springfield Township
Laura Gardoski: Abington Community Library
Amber Cholish: Scranton Public Library
Elizabeth Kavanaugh: Mary Kintz Bevevino Library, Misericordia University
Sherri Miller: Cumberland County Library System