Emerging Leaders Issue (2009)

Library Student Journal,

January 2010

Welcome to the Second Annual Emerging Leaders issue.

The Emerging Leaders issue was created with the goal of showcasing current (or recently graduated) LIS students. Our leaders are:

1. Amber Billey, Pratt Institute
2. Melody Clark, University of Washington
3. Kati Gordon, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa
4. Jenny Schwartzberg, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
5. Muriel K. Wells, University of Alabama

Nominated by their peers, these 5 professionals were singled out as outstanding leaders and inspirational colleagues. It is my pleasure to share some of their thoughts with our readers and honor their hard work. The paths that led these leaders to librarianship were varied, but they all share in a passion to make a difference through education, service and life–long learning.

Thank you to all of you who nominated leaders this year – without you we wouldn’t be able to share in their success! Many thanks also to Kathie Popadin for her hard work on the layout for this issue and continued patience with me. Finally, thank you to these emerging leaders for coming forward and offering up a little of yourselves – it is wonderful to hear fresh voices and enthusiastic professionals.

These leaders have inspired me, and I hope they inspire future generations of librarians in their work.

Cheers,

Miriam Sweeney

Why did you decide to study librarianship?

Librarianship felt like the next logical step in my life. During my art school undergrad I was a systematic sculptor, but it never occurred to become a librarian. Then in my senior year we had use the library and archives at the local art museum for a final project. The librarians there were so helpful and knowledgeable. The experience was incredibly inspiring and left a lasting impression on me which sparked the idea that I might have some inclinations toward librarianship. This was confirmed after graduation when I was hired at a natural history museum to build and maintain taxonomic databases for the zoology department. There I cataloged every millipede known to man (over 13,000 species!), but more importantly I met the librarians, archivists and scientists whose experience and direction lead me to earn an MLIS.

Librarianship embodies my core values: organization, lifelong learning, and service. But it took the mentoring of dedicated and passionate information professionals to help me to realize this perfect career path. I will forever be thankful to them, and remember the important role mentoring can have on young individuals trying to find their path in life.

What excites you most about the LIS field? What worries you?

Technology and technology. As digital data proliferates, I see an exciting interconnected world of limitless possibilities. But I also see a mess of metadata and trapped contextual silos of information. It will be the librarian’s challenge to manage this mess, break the silos, and finally create a sustainable system that organizes, preserves, and provides access to the human record. With this challenge comes great responsibility. As we struggle with metadata standards, intellectual property, and ever changing technology; we will have to continue to adapt and develop new tools. And it is that constant adaption and development I find most exciting about the LIS field.

What is your dream job, why?

I feel really lucky to love my current job. I work for an open-source software firm that develops collection management systems for museums and archives all over the world. I design all the cataloging interfaces based on currently accepted metadata standards, as well as custom interfaces. The work constantly changes, and I get to think about how to organize information in so many different and complex ways.

But if I had to say my dream job, that would be a LIS professor or even (knock on wood) dean of a library school. I want to help prepare the next generations of librarians and information professionals.

What will the LIS field look like in 20 years?

With how quickly technology is changing it’s hard to say where librarianship will be in 20 years, but what I can confidently say is that our core values of organization, preservation, and access will remain. As well as a mindset that is constantly poised for change. So regardless of where the LIS field will be, we’ll be ready to meet it head on (with glasses on).

Favorite LIS–related joke?

“Standards are like toothbrushes, everyone agrees they’re a good thing but nobody wants to use anyone else’s.” –Rick J. Block, Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute & Head of Special Collections and Metadata Cataloging at the Columbia University Libraries.

Why did you decide to study librarianship?

After I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to go to graduate school, but I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do. I did know I wanted to do something in my career to help alleviate poverty and increase development in transitioning countries around the world, as well as underserved populations in the United States. Should I study economics? Policy? Political science? All of these definitely play a role, but I felt they wouldn’t get to the heart of the problems we face. One day, it came to me: almost anything can be accomplished with equal access to information. I’d heard about the iSchool at University of Washington in Seattle where I lived, and I applied right away. Since starting graduate school, I’ve learned so much more about how public access to information and computers affects our world and impacts powerful, positive change for communities around the globe.

What excites you most about the LIS field? What worries you?

What excites me most is the power of access, equal access, to information through libraries and other public venues. What worries me is the ongoing problem of “information overload,” as well as false or misleading information that people assume as fact. Information literacy is key now more than ever, and the more access to information people have in a setting with seasoned professionals, such as libraries, the more informed they can be about the accuracy and reliability of information, especially on the Internet. Another very worrisome fact is that a lot of people think “everything” is on Google.

What is your dream job, why?

This changes daily :). I am really enjoying research analysis right now, in both my job as a research assistant, and as a student. I would really like to explore options in research, with or without a PhD, specifically in regard to the impact of public access computing around the world and how information, communication, and technology play a role in international development. I would also love to just search (and research) for people all day, every day, so being a reference librarian or a librarian for Internet Public Library would be fantastic too!

What will the LIS field look like in 20 years?

This is hard to say. I think it will look differently, just as it does now, depending on the fields within the field, various library systems, and the development of new information technologies every day. That being said, however, I hope, sooner rather than later, it will become a lot more collaborative and less disjointed. I know at my school and in the academic arena, there is tension between “library” and “information,” “librarian” and “information professional.” I would hope each side will embrace how they can benefit and learn from one another, as well as other related fields, such as human-centered technology design, technology development, and information management, resulting in stronger collaboration to best serve our users. I also hope there is much, much, much more funding for libraries across the globe!

Why did you decide to study librarianship?

The skills and job tasks associated with academic librarianship drew me to the field in addition to its potential to give back to society. I worked in a library during my undergraduate and first masters. Back then I just enjoyed the satisfaction of helping a fellow student navigate the library resources. It wasn’t until I began library school that I realized how intriguing the meta-science of knowledge creation, organization, distribution and acquisition really is. As a graduate student in the School of International Studies, my colleagues and I often analyzed current events and ultimately concluded the solution too many of the world’s problems was education. The field of library science offered me a chance to contribute to the education process, while promoting freedoms I hold dear. Entering library science meant I didn’t have to discard all the idealism I’d acquired as a student in higher–education and I could apply the knowledge I’d gained through my interdisciplinary studies. I also have a knack for technology and soon realized how useful these skills are in the library world.

What excites you most about the LIS field? What worries you?

I am most excited about the prospect of conquering the information jungle and providing highly–demanded skills as an information professional. While many fear librarians are losing importance I believe finding relevant information still requires much expertise and the ever–increasing amount of accessible information makes our job that much more important. I’m also excited by advances in technology changing the way we communicate and share information. Again I think librarians have important roles to play in the evolution of communication and information technologies. I’m most worried about my own skills becoming out–dated. I’m also concerned about the digital divide and ensuring information is accessible in a knowledge society. I hope to work with freedom of information advocacy groups to try and overcome barriers and injustices.

What is your dream job, why?

My dream job is working for an academic library doing a combination of reference and instruction with a focus on user services and emerging technologies.

What will the LIS field look like in 20 years?

In 20 years the LIS field will be focused on a hybrid of traditional and virtual library services. Academic library spaces will continue to evolve into places offering multipurpose computing, researching, studying, and socializing areas. Additionally virtual reality will be more commonplace such as teaching library orientations “in–world” and expanded distance learning services. However, traditional library services will still be relevant as the book will continue to be a competitive technology.

Favorite LIS-related joke?

“Trying to manage librarians is like trying to herd cats.”

Why did you decide to study librarianship?

I fell into a job at the Newberry Library years ago and never left. I love books, languages and history so rare book librarianship is the perfect job for me. I finally got my degree when I could take classes online, part–time, through the University of Illinois.

What excites you most about the LIS field? What worries you?

For me, the most exciting part of the LIS field is being able to work with rare books and manuscripts. Also, the new world of digital libraries, historical research databases, online catalogs, and ever-expanding Internet resources has been a boon to researchers and it’s been very exciting to watch it all develop as a historian and genealogist.

The rush towards digitized collections worries me because I don’t believe there is enough forethought about backing up collections and databases and moving them onto future platforms. There already have been some digital collections that have vanished because the institutions could no longer afford to host them. This is a major problem that will get worse if the library world doesn’t make sure that the money and resources are there to maintain these collections indefinitely. Also, too many people believe that with Google Books and other digital collections, we won’t need to save and archive rare books. What happens when the digitized copy is imperfect or it’s another edition or variant from the particular edition you need to consult? What about books with marginal notes by authors or scholarly figures? Hand–illustrated books? There are always reasons to consult the original books, not just the digitized image of one copy of a particular book. Digital collections are wonderful resources but they are not the only or best resource out there. The library world will always need both original source material and digital collections and new, everyday books, whether they be e– or paper formats.

What is your dream job, why?

I currently have my dream job, at the Newberry Library in Chicago. There are very few places that have such fabulous collections open to the public, and that would allow me to develop and pursue my interests as the Newberry has done. I have become a specialist in the history of children’s literature, and co–curated a major exhibit at the library in the fall of 2008, Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children’s Books.

What will the LIS field look like in 20 years?

Ever more oriented towards Internet and digital librarianship, but there will always be a place for rare book libraries as a source of original source material for scholarship. Even with digitized images, you still need to look at the original materials and see what the physical artifacts have to tell you. I believe rare book libraries will still be collecting and developing resources for the benefit of scholars and the general public.

Favorite LIS–related joke?

Q: Why was the T–Rex afraid to go to the library?

A: Because her books were 60 million years overdue.

Why did you decide to study librarianship?

My decision to study librarianship came as a product of the desire to combine three components of my personality, 1) the love of teaching, 2) the drive to study, research, and acquire new knowledge, and 3) the innate desire to serve others. What other career path could go beyond my expectations of fulfilling all three areas? Having retired from a teaching career and subsequently working in the business arena, I found myself hungering for an intellectually fulfilling challenge. I found librarianship to be the perfect fit and I have never looked back.

What excites you most about the LIS field? What worries you?

We are in the position to be on the leading edge of innovation while possessing the skills and knowledge to make it happen. The economic, political, academic, public service, research, and educational worlds depend more and more upon information professionals to deliver information in digestible and usable manners.

What is your dream job, why?

I currently have my dream library job as a solo librarian for a nonprofit. The National Children’s Advocacy Center in Huntsville, Alabama allows me the great privilege of serving as the librarian for the nation’s children’s advocacy centers. In this position I serve as the one providing the link between research and the practice of our nation’s best forensic interviewers, therapists, social workers, prosecutors, prevention experts, educators, trainers, and administrators in the child abuse protection, prosecution, and prevention world. My work is valued by those I serve as an integral part of their success. I conduct research, provide reference services, maintain print and electronic collections, provide on and off–site library instruction, create special projects and help to secure relationships between regional, national, and international partners.

What will the LIS field look like in 20 years?

In the future the silos constructed both intentionally and unintentionally in the provision of library resources and services will be, if not removed, then eroded somewhat. These silos are those constructed to serve certain populations of users such as patrons with differing degrees of physical ableness. These walls will be eroded by a combination of policy, technology, and demand for service to all regardless of time, place, and condition.

Favorite LIS–related joke?

My favorite joke: How many librarians does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: Three: one to check the library’s policy on light bulb changing, one to test which type of bulb sheds the best reading light, and one to change the bulb.

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