In 2001, four years after I got my MLS, I somehow found myself managing five branches of the Denver Public Library, Around the same time, I had the honor of attending the Stanford-California State Library Institute on 21st Century Librarianship (I21L), a transformative weeklong leadership immersion experience for librarians (sound familiar?) Here's what I learned at I21L: http://tinyurl.com/21report.

Fast forward: I spent five more years as a manager at Denver Public Library, including leading a redesign of the Central Library. In 2006, I moved to California to become director of the Butte County Library. After two and a half challenging and fun-filled years, I moved to Los Gatos in 2009 to be Deputy County Librarian for Community Libraries and Human Resources at the Santa Clara County Library.

In my current role, I oversee the staff and operations of seven community libraries and one small branch, as well as the Library's human resources department. I am responsible for integrating the Library's new strategic plan into daily operations, and helping everyone to understand the roles they play in the context of the larger organization.

When I'm not at work, I love traveling with my wife Robin (mostly to eat great food in new and different places), my dogs Spike and Aggie, punk rock and jazz music, Chicago Cubs baseball, and homebrewing my own beer. In the last couple of years, I've also discovered the joy of running, and I ran my first half marathon in Montreal over Labour Day weekend.

Things that have served me well in my career (and life): listening, encouraging others to do what they do well, seeking to find the right balance to integrate traditional services with innovation, and volunteering for things I don't think I can handle.

Things I still need to work on: remembering people's names, speaking up when I think I know better than everyone else, believing I actually know what I'm doing, and following through on everything I get started.

As a mentor for the 2009 Eureka Leadership Program, I was blown away by the enthusiasm, compassion, talent, and intelligence of the participants - I think I learned at least as much as they did! I am really looking forward to building relationships with the outstanding library leaders selected to participate in this year's program. We're going to have more fun than you can imagine.

derek.wolfgram@library.sccgov.org
www.facebook.com/derekwolfgram
408-293-2326 x3002