Why would they choose not to support or congratulate someone for the M&S honor? What is going on from the institutional point of view? I fully believe that an honor for an employee is an honor for the organization, but now I wonder if I’m missing something?

That would be a curious study.

I do agree with you that people should be recognized for all of the good things they do, no matter how big or small. There was once a point when two of our reference librarians were out for a few months and another was out sick for a week. One colleague and I pretty much single-handedly covered reference at that time. And it was hard. I really appreciated that our Director recognized the good work we were doing. If we’d done that and didn’t get a word of thanks, I’d probably feel pretty discouraged. And believe me, after that, I greatly appreciate when anyone covers for me or assists me with anything, and I let them know about it. We’re a team and we all do that for each other. It shouldn’t be any other way.

In my case, the work I’d been recognized for was done largely before I started working at my job (and was done outside of work generally), and I hadn’t taken any time off to attend conferences prior to my M&S recognition (I’d only been working there for about 7 months at the time). So, I’m not sure that there was any resentment for anything I’d done or hadn’t done, though I also don’t think it was about jealousy, just a cultural thing with the organization.

That said, your post and the comments above are all from the award winning side of the argument. The other side would be the staff who *don’t* get to go to conferences (I admit a peeve of mine is seeing so much of the library’s budget going towards three people attending the same conference that never seems to benefit the library afterwards. Where are the innovations that came from the presentations? Why not report back and teach the rest of us what you learned?), who gets stuck working extra desk shifts when the innovators are all off at meetings or conferences, whose own smaller accomplishments may get overlooked in the shadow of a higher reaching employee. Who does your day to day work when you’re off doing other things? Does management take note of and appreciate the rest of the staff? Does this build up resentment? (BTW, that’s not a “you=Meredith” it’s just a generic “you.”)

A general reaction to these sort of complaints can be “you’re just jealous” or “why don’t you start putting yourself out there” which can seem sort of a shrug off. Not everyone wants to make their job such a big part of their life, but that doesn’t mean that they want to spend their work time compensating for those that do. Not everyone can.

My manager once won an association award and in her thank you speech she acknowledged that she couldn’t have done anything without her staff backing her up. And quite frankly, it’s true. Doing our jobs well (and parts of hers when she had to be away) is what gave her the time to reach out and contribute to the wider library field. But no one ever notices the back up.

Does this make sense? I’m not trying to start anything, or make it seem as though you don’t have a legitmate complaint, it’s just that there are two sides to every story and this may be part of the other side of yours. How management treats and assists innovators is important, but so is appreciating the day to day work that keeps things going.

I’d like to point out again that none of this is personal for me. We like it when people have special occasions/events/recognitions at my library. It gives us an excuse to have little parties in the back room.

I have had the honor of receiving two awards in one year. In my company this was received very well to my surprise. Management saw this as an indicator we have great staff with great skills. In a team meeting I was recognized for the awards and I stated that I could only do this by being in a supportive environment with management and team members that stimulate innovation and taking risks.

On a sidenote: why are the LJ Movers & Shakers limited to US librarians? There is a complete world outside the US

It’s kind of sad, and I look enviously at other library systems that foster a supportive and encouraging atmosphere. But it’s not going to stop me from doing the things I have a passion for.

Brenda, that comment of yours really resonated with me back in 2006 and I immediately thought of it when I was reading the survey results. I wonder what libraries can do to prevent that sort of “tall poppy” attitude from staff. I think more recognition (of all the good things staff do, not just the big awards) not less is the answer.