Narratives of Academic Librarians: Chapter 3: On a Separate Launch Pad

I ended up back in academia, which was not a thing that happened very much.

 

I didn't do it to get out of [non-academic] librarianship, but it was a pathway that was available to me that I realized was going to open a lot of other endeavors that I could be a part of.

 

Having done [so much professional development], I found out this years later, was something that really kind of tipped the scale for me, just a little bit more over the other candidates.

 

That meant a lot to me, and that's where I had a small staff.

Though I was the [an administrator], half of my job was [librarian-related].

 

I was still working the front desk.

I was still doing outreach.

I was going to events.

I was doing tons of instructional sessions.

We [also began to] expand greatly.

 

We started doing [more] instructional sessions and developing services and workspace.

That's where I learned a lot about systematic thinking.

 

The [lead library administrator], who was there for most of the time that I was there, was really a master of systematic thinking.

If we alter one, how will it affect this and that component?

What will happen later on down the line and being able to do this?

 

That was something that I didn't have as much before I got into that role.

Learning that over the years from them was important and sticks with me today.

Balancing projects, taking things on, thinking about things chronologically and capacity, and relationship-wise and interpersonal-wise [was important].

 

I’m glad that I had the library's budget and working with that was a new experience. Interviewing people over the years, I ended up hiring a whole new crew as people either retired or went on to other positions.

 

The [lead library administrator] also taught me another core aspect that's still with me.

 

All libraries exist in three realms simultaneously.

They're a resource, they're a space, and they're a service.

 

Everything that I do, everything that I think about with librarianship is based on those three core things simultaneously.

Whether it's an in-person space or a digital space, whether it's an in-person service or a remote service, whether it's synchronous or asynchronous, any resource that the library offers, anything, all three of those aspects interact with each other.

 

In thinking about staffing and planning and budgets and projects, those three core aspects have stayed with me the whole career up through now.

I also realized how academic libraries are structured differently than non-academic libraries.

The library is the institution, but in the academic environment, the college or the university is the institution, the library is just a part of it.

You don't create policy.

You create procedures and guidelines that match, mirror, collaborate with the policies of the institution. [This] total reframing of how I even saw the role of a library as an institution was huge.

 

It meant that you were also connected into a larger, geographically more expansive network.

So, you really then learn, systematically the needs of student patrons as a librarian and as an [administrator] and getting deeper into information literacy, data literacy, information seeking behavior. 

The other thing too was the affect of service, not just cause and effect, but how does a service, how does the library as an institution with services, resources, and space affect someone?

It's much more subjective, it's much more qualitative- how a patron feels after having worked with you or encountered your space or your resources. 

Even if there isn't a direct checklist of guaranteed things learned, if it's been a positive experience where they feel more comfortable, they feel like their feet are under them.

They feel like they're more capable of going forward

They feel like they have more autonomy.

They feel like they've been heard, they've been seen-that they play a role.

That added a whole other dimension for me on what librarianship does. 

Those are some of the really big things that I learned there.

Also, how to navigate two different supervisory environments because I reported directly to the one administrator but as far as library procedures, guidelines, and stuff like that- I had [another administrator].

That took a whole other shift in how I functioned, planned and thought systematically.

That also taught me a lot of my project management skills.

Okay, if you want to do X, you're going to have to get by people above you about X to make X happen.

Especially if a colleague or one of your employees says, “hey, I'd like to do ____.”

I like to come from a place of yes, but I also have to say, “okay, if we go forward with this systematically, what else is this going to affect?” And then “what about the people who really have the ability to execute this above us?”

“What are they going to be concerned about? What are their questions going to be?”

 So, let's work together and knock our idea full of holes, then patch the holes, so that when we move it on to the next stage, it's got the best chance of success. 

That's how I learned to talk with people about my thought process, because if you don't preface that, people will think when they bring you new ideas, you're just tearing them apart.

You have to let them know ahead of time “well we fix those things and then make it more likely to go forward and be successful.”

I also began understanding how my own management style works.

I like to be very hands off. 

I like to give a lot of autonomy.

If there's a problem, we're going to address it, but I insist on being kept well informed.

I ask a lot of questions about things, mainly because in the end, I'm responsible for what happens.

The way I've described it when I was an [administrator] “If there's ever anything that comes out of the library that people like, that's a testament to my fruit. If there's ever anything that comes out of the library that they don't like. That's my fault.”

I've stood by that during the years when I was a [library administrator] and it's worked well, it requires a lot of transparency, honesty, and accountability.

I also want to make sure I understand what's going on, because when I get asked by the director, by the provost, by the vice president, whoever, what's going on, I have to be able to ensure that I can coherently, and competently explain what we're doing.

Which means I have to know what's going on. 

[My] responsibility was to clear the way so that employees can do the things they need to do. 

That's how I saw a lot of my role.