Librarian Badge

This is the fifth post in a series celebrating National Library Week



The final post of Dewey's Not Dead's series celebrating National Library Week is a guest post. Written by Serenity Ibsen, Access Services Manager at Pacific Northwest College of Art and my MLIS cohort member. I am honored to have her writing appear here - she has been a major influence while I have been working on my degree.

I met a woman a few weeks ago who was considering moving back to Portland after attending Simmons. She had interviewed our Archives and Technical Services Librarian about the library job market. I asked whether she was a librarian and she said, "no, I work at a bike repair shop. But I have my MLS." I was shocked by her humility. I don’t think that working in a bike shop is a humble profession; it’s a highly-skilled job. But she achieved that shining medal many of us in the library world aspire to and because she wasn't practicing, she wouldn't call herself a librarian.

For those of us who work in libraries, but do not have our Master's of Library Science, it has been beaten into us by some that we are a lesser race, not "real," and certainly NOT "Librarians." One should NEVER call oneself a Librarian if one does not hold the prized degree. In my penultimate semester of library school, I yearn for the day when I can proudly wear the badge of Librarian, having worked diligently at school and learned the guts of the profession.

However, I have always been one to scoff at the notion that a piece of paper confers magical powers to a person. Well, except in the cases of medical doctors, architects, wizards, and engineers. (But those are also semi-mythological professions with their own cultural taboos and mores).

But what makes a librarian a Librarian? Is there an intrinsic spark or quality that true librarians have whether MLSed or not that makes up the meat of "real" librarianship? There has been a lot of heated debate about the value of the MLS. Many people who have been working in libraries for decades are not considered Librarians because they don't hold the degree, but they have been doing librarian-type work and uphold the values of our profession. Some people believe that the MLS is BS and just a hoop to jump through.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that working for my MLS is the best thing I have ever done. I am learning so much that I don't think I would learn in practical situations. I am earning a degree that will tell others that I have completed a series of courses proscribed by the American Library Association. I have met so many different people and have created strong personal and professional relationships with them.

In her blog post The Value of the MLS/MLIS, Jennifer Macaulay says that she doesn't "think [the MLS] is a rite that magically makes one a librarian." I wholeheartedly agree. I think that being a librarian is a way of living, thinking, and above all an action. It's not a badge (though I desperately want one), it's not a title, it's not even who you are. I think what I'm learning the most in library school is that the secret fire of being a librarian is the constant "doing" of librarianship. We must find ways to explain what we do and why, and prove how libraries are valuable. We must constantly reassess what our users need and try to see things from their perspective. We must adapt, advocate, fight, share, and serve. Historically libraries were for archiving and preserving the creative endeavors of humanity. But humanity is our reason for existing and if we can't figure out a way to remain relevant and give people what they need, then our spark goes out.

So I've begun calling myself a librarian. Already. I'm not done with school yet; I don't have my badge. But I do have the fire.


Original art work by Serenity Ibsen. Photo credit: NYPL via the commons.

A Call for Creativity

This is the second post in a series celebrating National Library Week.

This term I am enrolled in the class "Information Services for Academic Libraries," which has provided some of the best readings to date in my MLIS program. One of the latest articles we read was Lingo and Tepper's "The Creative Campus" from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

While this article called for the need of more creativity in the academic institution as a whole, I feel that this argument is especially true for academic libraries. In a day and age where shouting out your relevancy to your users, communities and power holders may not even be enough, incorporating and promoting creativity within your organizational culture can certainly go a long way. Here are some recent examples of creative efforts by academic librarians:

Using free social networking tools to embed yourself in classes. Again in the Chronicle, there was an article highlighting a librarian who is embedded in a classroom, where she and the students are logged into twitter together. Throughout the class discussion, she will tweet relevant information sources and material. What is amazing about this is how in happens in real time, and the sources she recommends are in response to the topics and ideas brought up in discussion, not based off of a course reading list or research topic list - creating organic librarianship rather than static librarianship.

Re-imagining physical library space. I found this one by browsing Library Journal's list of 2011 movers and shakers. Joesph Sanchez, Library Director at Red Rocks Community College, converted an old storage room into a recording studio. Not only is that an amazing service to offer to students, but this would also be a great resource to include in marketing campaigns.

Providing amazing User Experience and Web Design. Everyone laments the ineffectual design found on academic websites (xkcd captured the sentiment perfectly). Creativity is an essential element of good design, and a lack of creativity equals bad design. Library websites are not immune from this phenomenon. I find that the typical causes for poor design on library websites are the stiffing policies set in stone by bureaucratic institutions. However, there are some libraries out there who are getting it right: While not perfect, I think PNCA's Fine Art Library is one of the better academic library websites I have seen. Simple? check... Navigable? check... Visually appealing? ...check and check!

Not only is this week National Library Week, but today is National Library Workers Day. Library workers (especially student workers) can be some of your biggest sources of creative potential, often bringing specialized skills and resources to the table. And keeping with the theme of Big Tent Librarianship, while this post focused on Academic Libraries any and all forms of libraries could always incorporate creativity. In fact, one of my favorite library websites comes from a public library! When it comes to creativity, I am a firm believer that we all have a thing or two to teach each other!

photo credit: New York Public Library, 1923, via The Commons

If all training materials were this amazing...

...every single library shelve in America would be PERFECT.





Well, maybe not perfect...

I love the PNCA library. I volunteered there at the start of library school, a few of my classmates work there and I even shared a house with one of their staff members. Not to mention that it's simply an amazing library. It has a great collection and, as evident in these videos, a dedicated staff.

I think these videos are also great examples of how small libraries can utilize technology to create great in-house material cheaply.

While I don't know the full details on how they were produced, I do know that a volunteer (fellow ESU SLIM classmate Helen Harris) put them together using her flip camera. And there are plenty of cheap and even free video editing programs out there, such as You Tube Video Editor. Some schools and institutions might have expensive software and equipment, but when you employee old fashioned creativity, you don't need the fancy stuff. A little spit and elbow grease and you're good to go!

UPDATE (3/9/11)

Just heard from Helen, who offered the following insights into the creation of these videos:

First, she got familiar with shelving and using LC Call numbers

Next, she write the script for the movie based on her experience and input of the staff

Third, she filmed it with the staff and edit it and then recorded the voice over/narration with one of the student workers

Finally, she posted it on the library's private YouTube account!

This was also one of her first volunteer projects in a library, and if she is producing fun and creative work like this, than I think Helen is going to make on fantastic librarian! Thanks for the additional insights, Helen!!

Library Superhero

My fellow classmate, Serenity Ibsen, is a library rock star. As well as being a library student, Serenity is the Manager of Access of Services for the Pacific Northwest College of Art's Library.

She recently went up to bat for those who work in the library/information industry, placing the smack down on those who try to perpetuate the image of a stereotypical librarian.

Let me break down what happened:

"Miss Manners" is a online advice column, and a recent edition focused on an individual who was upset with her local librarian's lack of respect and confidentiality. You can read the letter here: Nosy librarian prods for personal info.

If you read Miss Manners' response, you might get a chuckle out of it, but you see the danger in saying all librarians are awkward ladies who get off on sushing.

What follows is Serenity's AMAZING response:

Dear Miss Manners,

Your recent advice on May 19, 2010 to a reader who was upset by the nosy librarian was inappropriate. The problem that the library user writes about represents a serious breach of the American Library Association's Code of Ethics. Section III states, "We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired, or transmitted." Not only do most libraries not keep records of patrons' transaction histories, most library staff are trained to keep their comments to themselves when helping patrons. A breach of patron confidentiality could lead to all sorts of unfortunate consequences, not least among them embarrassment to the user and the loss of much-needed patronage. Your response devalues the seriousness of the library worker's conduct and suggests retaliation of the petty sort.

Keeping in mind that your advice was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, I am still offended by the perpetuation of the librarian stereotype. Library workers are constantly fighting to prove the legitimacy of their professions and most work diligently to provide equal and confidential access to information for patrons. My advice to the library user would be to take her concerns to library management and arm herself with the ALA Code of Ethics. At the very least, you could have let her know that the library worker should have known better. We work extremely hard to make up for the "few bad apples" and revolutionize the stereotype of the information professional from the disapproving spinster to the socially and environmentally-engaged advocate and educator. In a time when libraries are experiencing extreme budget cuts, we need all the support we can get. Next time, please use your voice to laud our victories and virtues.

Sincerely,
Serenity Ibsen

okay folks. I'm back. srlsy.

Man two months go by fast.

Maybe it wasn't the wisest decision to start a blog and go back for a master's at the same time, but I haven't always been known for making the smartest choices.

For those of you out there who don't live in Portland and are not my immeadiate family, here's a little update of Turner's life in library land.

Working for a medical library has been awesome. At first I thought it was a relatively small library - and physically it is, but the abundance of resources is staggering - and a little overwhelming. Most of the patrons in the library don't realize that A) I'm not a librarian and B) I have absolutely ZERO medical experience WHATSOEVER. Except for watching a kid in summer camp throw up once.

I think the medical students just see a dude with a beard and square glasses sitting behind a desk and they think he knows what he's doing. If only they really knew what was really on my screen. I mean really on my screen. I mean really on my screen.

In all seriousness, I may not understand the content that they are searching for, but I am getting pretty good at pointing them in the right direction. And my coworkers and supervisors are all amazing and supportive. That's the other great thing about working here: working along side fellow library students. The online aspect of library school is great in the relative flexibility it offers, but it can get kind of lonely, too. And its really nice to see other students, even if they aren't in my same cohort or program, on a weekly basis and know that we understand what we all are going through. It's pretty grand.

Along with working in the medical library, I'm also volunteering once a week in a small art school library. Which rocks my world. The library feels like it is a major artery of the school, which has a tiny student body, but they all come through the library - whether it is to research, to document their work, or to eat their lunch. There's artwork everywhere. It's located near the center of the city. It's vibrant.

When I get overwhelmed at the medical library (which is often - it can feel like a behemoth that I will never fully understand), the art library feels safe and comfortable. And while both libraries will continue to grow - the art library feels like a rocket about to take off. There is a lot of potential there and it seems that there is very little bureaucracy to hold it back. Not that there isn't a lot of potential at the medical library, it just feels more like an elephant plodding it's way to the watering hole...

It creates a really nice juxtaposition between the two libraries. I'm gaining invaluable experience from two diverse perspectives, using what I learn through school at work, and what I learn through work in school.

So here we go. Another post. I'm back. And as the semester wraps up, I'll be sharing a lot of the lessons I've learned. For those of you who constantly asked about the blog, thanks for showing that you wanted to read more, and I promise you more to read....