Narratives of Academic Librarians: Chapter 4: Continuous Learner

Chapter 4: Continuous Learner

Chapter four is “continuous learner” because I think all of us who are in the academic

field are continuous learners. We feel like it is never enough. There are so many new things to

learn every day, every time. If you're working with technology, that is ten times more.

When we were doing the LMS, and we were doing the tutorials, we thought that was it.

That was the technology. Then apps came in and then we started developing games and game theories.

It is always about being able to try new things.

That is what made the position for me.

That is what kept it fun, and why I have been working on it for the last 10 years in this position.

I have been in the library field for 20-something years already. It seems a long time, but it

is because of continuous learning, and curiosity, and adaptation that you are able to see new

things coming in. You want to develop something, to meet it, or you see a need and you want to

meet it. That is the identity that I have.

It is not about the troubleshooting in terms of, “why this doesn't work?” or why doesn't

this work?” It is more from the user side. “I would love to do this. How can I get it to work?

What technology do I need? What skills do I need so I can get this to work and put it out there?”

It is the user technology side I am interested in. It is not the other techie side- I leave that

it up to library systems and library computer geeks. I just want to use it, because I have so many

things that I want to be able to do with it so that students can learn from it.

Being a continuous learner is chapter four for me and that's what I am in right now. I still

enjoy my job; I still enjoy what I do. Technology is just changing so fast now that we're on

virtual learning. 

I'm like, “Oh this is no problem. We’ve done this.”

People say, “well, let us create this little snippet, just give it to faculty and they can just

put it right into their LMS.”

We have done that before, so it is not something new. Zoom meeting- we have done

virtual reference chat, so this is just adding an image to it. It is almost the same thing. Zoom is

just adding an image to it. 

We just cannot be in our pajamas anymore- but that is what it is.

To me, that is how I take the job and that is how I take that identity. It is about

adaptations, about enjoying it, and looking for things that can make life easier for students and

making learning more fun and engaging. That is where a lot of my games and puzzles come in

that I am also involved in.

Author note:

As the reader, you have the opportunity to look for themes in this narrative on your own.
My analysis of this narrative can be found in Chapter 6 of my 2020 dissertation, linked here: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9701&context=etd