Revive Your Vibe

Interior street at The City Library

Salt Lake City’s new library (The City Library) just screams FUN!  It radiates a fresh, energetic vibe that make you want more.    Maybe it’s Moshe Safdie’s combination of a five story curved glass wall, an indoor street surrounded by reading balconies, a giant spiral staircase, pedestrian bridges or unparalleled view of the mountains.  Or maybe its the outdoor amphitheater, spacious public plaza or rooftop garden.  It’s kind of like a library Disney World and that’s before the books.  No wonder it draws thousands of visitors each year.  I wasn’t surprised to read that one of library’s six community goals is the help people ‘enjoy life’ and ‘lighten up’ (seriously!) - which is exactly the vibe that The City Library sends out to the world.  I love that a library is brave enough to admit that part of their goal is to help people have fun, watch movies, make crafts with their kids and read magazines.  

So what’s your vibe?
How do you make the people around you feel?
Think of the last time you were at a party.  Everyone gravitated to the few people that were having fun, talking and laughing a lot. Of course.  We all want to be around positive people who are enjoying life and we want to avoid the Debbie Downers who are moping in the corner, complaining about their day.  
But what about us introverts?  Shy people have a harder time expressing themselves, especially in unfamiliar situations.  They are unlikely to jump into conversations, crack jokes and give bear hugs.  But shy people can get involved by being great listeners, offering to help, asking questions and sharing their interests.

Vibes  from the 100 Acre Wood
I don’t know if it was AA Milne’s intent, but Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends are great examples of how we come across to others...

Winnie-the-Pooh      immature, lovable, self centered but a completely loyal friend
Piglet            nervous, anxious
Owl            condescending, serious
Tigger            FUN, energetic, enthusiastic
Kanga            Responsible, caring
Rabbit            judgemental, grumpy
Eeyore            depressed, negative, energy drain

Time to come clean, who are you most like?
Honestly, I’m a combination of Owl, Rabbit and Kanga (ok, sometimes I’m like Eeyore)
I have very little Tigger in me, although I wish I had more (and so do my students!)  Fun just doesn’t come naturally, I have to work on it.

How to be more like The City Library and Tigger:

• Sleep more so you have energy and enthusiasm for life
• Smile more often - even if you’re faking it
• Let it go - whatever it is
• Define fun in your own way and have it
• Pursue something creative; anything
• Laugh instead of getting angry or frustrated
• Do something spontaneous each day

Check in with yourself during the day, and hold up an imaginary vibe mirror - who is looking back at you?  And what are you going to do about it?

Make A Checklist for Effective Living

Imagine designing a town from scratch!  What would you include?  A park? A school? A gourmet restaurant?  Of course, you’d have to start with a library...a place for the community to gather, learn, connect, recharge and be inspired!  Then maybe later we could think about a bank and a grocery store.

Herriman, Utah (south of Salt Lake City) is a planned community developed by The Sorensen Group, a real estate developer in Salt Lake City.  They opened a stunning library as a part of their “master plan community towne center”.  Prior to The Sorensen Group’s move, Herriman was a town of 1,500.  But by 1999 it was a city and has grown to over 18,000 residents.  A 12 year old city?  For East Coast folks it is a hard concept to even imagine - kids are 12 years old, dogs are 12 years old but even young towns start at 100 years old!  But things are different in Utah, there is plenty of room to spread out and just as many people looking for caring communities to settle down and raise their families.  
And what do young families want most?  Safe environments where their kids can grow and learn...like a fresh, new library.
The clean lines and sparkling glass of the library create a monument that the resident should be proud of.  Not only does it look great, but as a LEED certified building, it acts that way too.

LEED stands for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design.  They are a set of sustainable principles that ensure new building are constructed with adequate attention to the environment.  More new libraries are opting for LEED buildings that save energy, have a low impact on the environment and conserve resources. Using LEED principles to build any space is a great example of win-win-win thinking.  Good for the environment, great on the long term budget, respectful of future generations and an extra win for looking good.  There also seem to be plenty of grants and incentives for environmentally friendly construction projects.

So, how does a building qualify for LEED certification? It’s a long process that starts before any shovels hit the dirt. LEED accredited architect, Tom Brennan, led Herriman through the process that included a commitment to a plethora of environmentally friendly criteria.

At the library site I found a great illustrated checklist...it reminded me of the old Girl Scout Handbook, filled with embroidered badges that could be yours if you only met the requirements on the checklist.  Buildings earn points for each item included.  Here’s a sample:

• install bike racks and designated parking for carpoolers and low emission vehicles
• include open outdoor spaces to encourage biodiversity
• capture storm water runoff
• install reflective roofing and solar panels
• provide a connection to the outdoors with an abundance of daylight
• use recycled products inside the library
• use low emission paint, sealant, adhesive and composite wood
• use the building to educate the community about protecting the environment

What if we had a checklist to follow each day?
If it creates outstanding libraries why not use it for outstanding people?
What would be on your checklist to certify your day as a success?

• Smile
• Eat healthy foods
• Love the people around you
• Exercise
• Think
• Laugh
• Help someone do something
• Work on something meaningful
• relax (a little)
• Feed the dog
• Go to bed early

I could even assign points to each criteria to track how successful each day was...
collect the data...make a graph...drive my family crazy...
‘CEL’ - Checklist for Effective Living
I got to go find a clipboard...

Still Going Strong

80% of Utah’s population live in the vicinity of Salt Lake City.  What remains is a vast expanse of rural counties across the  80,000 square miles.  This could be a library nightmare...but never fear, the Utah Bookmobile to the rescue!  Mary Titcomb’s crusade (see yesterday) inspired me to look for more bookmobiles and I definitely found them in Utah.  

Utah has nine separate county bookmobiles that travel 150,000 miles each year.  They make 303 stops and serve 89 schools.  Everything is bigger out west, including bookmobiles.  These vehicles are HUGE trucks, tractor trailers filled with books!  Each one has about 5,000 volumes and includes cds, dvds, Internet access, audio books and it’s easy to get more books through inter-library loan.  The library cards are free, of course, and there are NO late fees (really!).

Each bookmobile is linked to a map and a detailed bookmobile schedule.  The trucks stop in the towns as well as in schools, head start programs and senior centers.  State, county and local taxes pay for the bookmobile service which is obviously much cheaper than constructing and maintaining a stand alone library.  The mayor of Alpine, Utah loves the bookmobile and says it would be impossible to raise the money to build a library while keeping taxes low.  

Of course, the bookmobile is a blessing to the 200,000 Utah readers who have free access to books, information and knowledge but it certainly doesn’t provide communities with places to gather or give kids a place to read and do their homework together.  I thought about my two room rural library in Wilson, literally a storefront on the main street, tucked between a bar and the gas station.  It isn’t much but it’s worth its weight in gold to me and many people in my community.  I know it’s there when I need it for whatever reason.  It’s a little disappointing to realize that children in rural Utah can only visit the bookmobile once every two weeks but they can stop by Walmart on their way home from school everyday.