Narratives of Academic Librarians: Chapter 5: Long Distance Running

Chapter 5: Long Distance Running

Being in the position I'm in now allows me a lot of flexibility.

There's the ability to remain in my current position and [be promoted within the library]. 

There's definite room for advancement. 

Should I decide some time down the road, I might be interested in doing an administrative role, I might be able to have that added on to my assignment for some time.

I'm very fortunate that I have both in my personal life and my current professional role allows me a great deal of growth and a great deal of flexibility, even within the current structure of the institution. 

I get a lot of autonomy on how to be as adaptive within reason.

What I like to do is now that I feel like sort of climbed up to this point, I don't feel like I want to climb mountains. 

I want to go long distances. That's what I want to do. I want to take the work that I can do, the services I can offer, the collaborations I can do, research I can do, whatever good that I can do. For our patrons and my colleagues, knowledge, for information literacy, for ethics, uh, for representation, voice. 

That's what I want to be able to put my momentum into.

I don't necessarily feel like I need to climb up to new levels on a mountain.

I feel like where I am now, it's a long distance and requires you to pace yourself.

It requires you to be good with timing, requires you to take care of yourself.

I don't know what else is going to be on the road. 

When I started a few years ago, I didn't think I would be doing some of the things that I do now.

Even after all the time I'd been in the field, there were things I didn't know librarians did when I showed up here. 

That's why the chapter is called long distance running.

It's all what I can build, what I can do, what I can give going forward. 

Who knows, maybe I'll be here until I retire.

Maybe some other pathway will come along.

Who knows what the field's going to look like?

Who knows what it's going to look like locally?

Who knows what it's going to look like nationally, globally, technologically, what the needs will be, what the empowerment of the citizenry will be?

I don't necessarily have an end goal, but I know that I have a structure and a framework and people and experience.

I feel I can continue to develop myself and hopefully the profession in some way as we go for the long haul.