It’s time in the semester for (*ahem*) a midpoint check-in… I confess, I am a bit behind with this post, in terms of its anticipated due date (which is to say, the end of the semester is fast approaching!) But in terms of the questions we’ve been invited to consider, my relatively slow journaling pace has offered me a bit of an “aha moment.” Not a surprise, per se – rather, a confirmation. But a pretty important one, as I take stock of where I’ve been this semester, and why it is that I’ve stepped onto this path in the first place.
For class, we’ve been
invited to look back over not just these journal entries, but also the rest of
the work we’ve done this semester, and to consider the themes and trends that
seem to be woven throughout. Here are
some of the themes that stand out for me:
learning and discovery, the public good, public service, libraries as a
place of potential and possibility for individuals and communities, and the
significance of being a part of a community of practitioners who are devoted to
these important contributions to people’s lives and the life we share together.
The aspects of librarianship that really light my professional fire are
"those aspects of librarianship that commit librarians to serve democracy
and human rights" (de la Pena, 2008).
These fundamental values and contributions are at the heart of
librarianship, and they are also at the heart of why I have chosen to switch
vocational gears, and pursue an LIS career.
The “aha moment” came
while working on a recent class assignment, a team blog. My team has been learning and musing about
the jury’s-still-out topic of patron-driven acquisitions,
affectionately known as PDA. PDA is a relatively
new mode of collection development that is born out of technological
advancement – the age of e-books and other electronic resources, and the
capacity to access a vast wealth of information in an instant. The basic gist of PDA is that patrons themselves may add to a
library's collection, via the choices they make about what resources to
download. (It's not the technology of PDA but rather the implications it
has for collection development practices that make it a tenuous prospect, for
some library professionals). As I have begun to explore PDA, I have found
myself excited about what it offers to both the patron (greatly increased and
instant access to a wealth of resources, in "real time," as far as
their needs/interests are concerned) and to the professional (the same kind of
access, on behalf of library users, and the added benefit of time and money, to
re-focus efforts and energies in other new directions that are of benefit to
library users). That is to say, even
when exploring information technology, I am less excited about the technology
per se (though I can totally geek out upon occasion!) than I am about how such
things may kindle an even more “human-centered librarianship,” as academic
librarian and library blogger Andy
Burkhardt (2013) encourages us to embrace.
All of which is to say,
the conformational "aha moment" for me, in the midst of a brief dive
into the waters of a 21st century librarianship that is and will continue to be
shaped by ever advancing technology, was this:
however this profession will continue to change and grow in the face of
technology, and however we as professionals may find ourselves wrestling with
or embracing these changes, the information world is ultimately about the people who inhabit it. Libraries and information agencies will always
remain a public service, places of possibility and potential that are, in the
words of Kathleen de la Pena McCook and Katharine Phenix, "essential to
the survival of the human spirit" (de la Pena 2008). And that is why I'm here. :-)
As we barrel into the
end of the semester (again, *ahem*), I look forward to the entries to come on
this blog, as they will provide me with an opportunity to connect even more with the conversations that are central to the
wider professional community. Since I am
drawn to a “human-centered librarianship,” it is good to enter this profession
with a growing awareness of the issues and innovations that are on the minds
and in the imaginations of my colleagues-to-be!
References
Burkhardt, A. (2013, April). Libraries and the Information
Food Chain. ILA Reporter, Vol. 31 (2), pp. 14-17.
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