Fishing in the Library:
Suggestions for Implementing the Fish!
Philosophy
Seattle’s Pike Place Market welcomes tourists and locals with fresh produce and flowers, vendors, live musicians, and the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. The fish market is known internationally for the unique way workers interact with each other and customers, and their philosophy has been shared in a video and numerous books. Learning the Fish! philosophy and adopting its key ideas can change your life. The following overview offers some ideas about applying it to your library to reinvigorate your staff and generate enthusiasm among the staff and students at your school.
Choose Your Attitude. “There is always a choice about the way you do your work, even if there is not a choice about the work itself,” write the authors of Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results. “We can bring a moody attitude and have a depressing day. We can bring a grouchy attitude and irritate our coworkers and customers. Or we can bring a sunny, playful, cheerful attitude and have a great day. We can choose the kind of day we will have.
My colleague Anna Johnson, an English teacher, demonstrates a great example of “choosing your attitude.” Like many teachers, she hates to see students packing their bags and hustling toward the door minutes before the final bell. Instead of imposing penalties or getting angry, however, she’s adopted a humorous approach to the problem. In the final moments of a class visit to the library, she’ll loudly announce, laughing, “All right everybody! Get your stuff together and herd obnoxiously by the door!” The kids laugh—they get the point—and the period ends with humor and smiles.
Choosing your attitude can take other forms in the library—besides having a sense of humor, we can choose to be positive about working with challenging colleagues. When a hard-to-deal-with teacher is scheduled for library time, I take a minute beforehand to think about how I can use our time together as a personal growth opportunity—how I can use the time to practice patience, model attentiveness, and be my best, calmest self. A dreaded encounter becomes a chance to learn and better my interpersonal skills.
Play. Research into the positive effects of play have shown that playfulness increases productivity, job satisfaction, customer service, and creativity, and employees at the fish market demonstrate this observably. The fishmongers obviously love what they do. One will toss a fish an other, shouting, “One flounder, flying to Boise!” and the other fishmongers will echo in unison, “One flounder, flying to Boise!” They tease customers, invite them to try their hand at tossing fish, and create an environment that buzzes with energy, smiles, and fun.
You’re probably not going to toss dead fish around your library, but you can implement the sense of play the fishmongers demonstrate by following the first principle—choosing your attitude. Choose to think of yourself as someone who creates joy, relieves stress, and offers a way for people to enjoy their time in a safe and rewarding place. Choose not to think of yourself as the Guardian of the Books or the Maintainer of the Silence. Incorporate small acts of playfulness into your teaching. When I conduct freshmen orientation sessions, I refer to the activities in each session as “games,” which always makes kids laugh. At the end of each lesson, I station myself by the door and as each student leaves, I say “Good-bye_________” and I stick stickers on their arms—Scooby-Doo, Hello Kitty, or whatever. It’s amazing how a small, funny act can make a teen’s face light up.
Be There. “Being there” means that you are fully present with the people you’re with—your full attention is focused on them, and you are interested in what they are saying or doing. It makes people feel appreciated, listened to, and cared for, and it can make a bigger difference in your relationships with students and staff members than any other Fish! principle. In the library, “being there” might look something like this:
| Turning off email when someone comes to your office |
| Ignoring a ringing phone to continue a conversation |
| Greeting each student as they enter the library (I call if the “Greeting Gauntlet”—no one enters the library without my attention. This serves the dual purpose of building rapport and keeping me aware of who is in the LMC and what they need). |
| Asking a series of questions to help students find books, and then sticking around for the answers—too often, it’s easy to walk away when they tell us they don’t need our help. |
| Paying attention to details and complimenting students on them—“I like your new backpack!” “Did you get a haircut? It looks great!” |
Make Their Day. “Making their day” consists of doing something unexpected or out of the ordinary; taking an extra step to serve, help, or please someone. “In every moment lies the possibility to make a positive impact on anyone you meet,” write the authors of Fish! The Guide. “[It] starts by focusing on one person at a time.”
In the school, this can be as simple as standing at the door to greet students as they pass, handing out stickers, asking a student about a football game or play performance the night before, or lending a hungry kid lunch money in an emergency. In the library, you can remember students’ favorite books; memorize as many student names as possible, post a bulletin board of articles about students’ sports and activities, and give simple gifts. A couple of times each fall, I buy a box of Satsuma oranges and put them in a bowl at the circulation desk. Students are surprised to learn they’re there for the taking. I get a smile and a thank you, and they get a healthy treat and a sweet reminder that someone cares about them. When my pile of advanced reading copies outgrows my time to read them, I put them on the circulation desk with a sign that says “free,” and they’re quickly snapped up.
However you choose to make your students’ day, it begins with a simple realization—the realization that you may be the one adult they see that day with a kind word, an encouraging smile, or a small gift.
Librarians are in a unique position; with the potential to have contact with every student in our school, the possibilities for improving our school’s climate and the lives of individual students with our actions. Take a simple inventory today—check your attitude and think about the one you’ve chosen. How much playfulness is a part of your life and your library? Are you fully attentive to every student you interact with? Are there simple, thoughtful acts you could perform that would “make the day” for a student or staff at your school? If you have time, visit the World Famous Pike Place Market and watch how they conduct business. Their professionalism, coupled with an obvious sense of positive playfulness, will make you smile. It might also inspire you.
Fish! The Guide. Burnsville: Charthouse Learning.
Fish Philosophy Network. http://www.fishphilosophy.com
Lundin, Stephen C., Harry Paul and John Christensen. Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost
Morale and Improve Results. New York: Hyperion. 2000.