Narratives of Academic Librarians: Chapter 2: The Welcomed Alien

Chapter 2: The Welcomed Alien

I left that [institution library] and became a librarian in a [non-academic library].

When I left, I had some friends who thought that I was crazy.

 

In their view, you know, they were very interested in being a research faculty librarian through a large institution and there were a lot of folks that had the library science degree and were staff members and wanted to stay with the [institution] until a librarian role opened.

 

I felt that it was more important for me to go out and get the actual librarian title, role, professional level experience and then start working my way up the ladder from there.

 

I had originally gone to the library science program to be a children's librarian and then partway through the program I realized that wasn't for me.

I did not know enough about the developmental status of children and what I was really interested in was reference and instruction and so when the position came up in the [non-academic library], I was very fortunate.

 

There was somebody who I knew there, and they very kindly put in a good word for me and my experience to that point.

My interview went well, and they offered me the job.

That's how I got my foot on the actual ladder.

 

I use the word professional just to differentiate between having a librarian position with the word “librarian” in it and not.

I don't really care for the terms: paraprofessional and professional.

Everybody who works in a library is professional, so I just want to insert that as a caveat for when I use this terminology.

It's just to differentiate between working in a library and non-library and working in a library [in a] librarian role.

 

The reason why it was this “welcomed alien” was I'd gone to schools [far away] where I was from and came into [a different state].

It was an environment that I'd never been in before.

I mean every cultural aspect one could imagine was quite different from everything that I knew.

 

I was very different from what a lot of the patrons knew and were used to as well.

I really was this alien sort of dropped into their midst and it was an incredibly positive and welcoming and friendly experience.

 

I had really great connections with people.

I was young when I started there, and I had different interests and I'd come from another part of the country.

I think [that was a reason for] some of the interest in me, when I would do instruction classes.

 

I taught a lot of introductory computer classes, I did a lot of one-on-one consultations, work the desk, and stuff like that.

It was like a night and day [difference] from being in a large city with this big [academic institution].

I'm glad that I got in that environment because I saw real people with real issues and real problems and real struggles.

Working in that library is where I really saw the information social services aspect of librarianship on that really gritty boots on the ground level, working with people in need.

I was very protected.

I was still in a rather quiet and small library, nowhere close to what other colleagues at a similar type of position would experience in other areas.

 

There was an intensity of the need that people had, sometimes not having been able to get help anywhere else or nowhere else to turn.

That was really impactful. And the gratitude that people had when you would spend time with them.

 

And that was when I really realized the whole other dimension of what the field could do and its aspect in really improving the quality of life, if only in peace of mind for the people that you work with, your patrons, your colleagues.

 

It was also where I started going to conferences, and at one, a speaker was talking a great deal about equity and access and anti-censorship privacy and just ethical work in librarianship.

 

That was an explosion of momentum for me.

I'd never seen the field talk about that way before, that was remarkable.

That gave me a huge amount of momentum.

Had I just stayed in an academic library; I never would have experienced that.

 

I never would have seen the talent, the struggle, the effort, the compassion and the work that goes into that kind of interaction with patrons.

 

The switch would happen when you're teaching somebody and seeing as they struggle and then all of a sudden, they understand the process and can do it themselves.

 

That's where information literacy and the information literacy empowerment also switched for me.

The other really big thing that happened then was [a local library leader] was telling me about a statewide professional development [opportunity]- mentoring opportunity for librarians.

 

She was really interested in having me do it.

I really didn't understand what it was about at first, and I was very hesitant.

This was also in a time where I'm doing [a lot of work].

 

I was spent, so the prospect of taking on this [opportunity] for professional development was really daunting.

I think had anyone else other than this [library leader] asked me to do it, I probably would have declined.

 

I said yes.

[For the professional development] you would get together [throughout the year] and you selected a mentor.

I selected my mentor.

[Then you would pick] a project and you and your mentor work on that project over the course of the project.

This [involved] planning and understanding project management and all these other supplemental aspects of the profession.

 

It's not about whether or not you complete the project, but it's all about your methodology and the process and the experience up to that point.

By the time it was done, it was great.

 

I didn't really understand at first exactly what the end goal was.

Then I realized the end goal was the process and the method and then the switch flipped again.

 

That experience ended up being something on my resume when I went and applied for my next position.

It ended up being something that gave some weight and helped me get that job.