Making a career of it

I was just contemplating ... I won't be a library science student forever. By the end of the summer, I'll have my MLS in hand. So what am I going to do with my library degree? What goals do I have in mind for my professional library career? And how does technology fit into each of them?

Goal #1: I will be on the cutting edge of service to library users. I want to be continually aware of users' needs so I can facilitate access to the appropriate resources.

Interaction with library users still happens through the old-fashioned channels - like the "reference interview." Increasingly, we also interact with library users through technological intermediaries like e-mail, chat or text. Being available to users on their own technological terms is a key to good library service.

More importantly, I want to take users' skills and needs into account when designing and implementing library computer systems. I want library systems to be both intuitive and effective. Hence, I feel very strongly that we all need "next gen" library catalogs - actually, we needed them yesterday. I want library technology to serve our users better than the competition (and let's not kid ourselves, there is competition).

Goal #2: I will be a library leader. This doesn't mean I want to be a library director (at least not right now!). What I mean by leadership is that I want to pioneer new ideas, get colleagues and users excited about libraries and librarianship, and participate in strategic efforts to move libraries toward fulfillment of their missions.

A non-technological example of this for me is my enthusiasm for a strategic planning process we are working through in the library where I'm employed. I enjoy thinking about the opportunities that beckon us. I am also excited about developing a plan that helps the library develop in appropriate ways.

Library leadership in technology is not limited narrowly to being a techie pioneer, even though awareness of emerging trends is part of leadership. I'm interested in leading processes of technological change that are sensitive to humans. Library technology leadership means planning effectively so that we enhance rather than detract from our professional work.

Goal #3: I will seek beauty and truth. This is perhaps the most important goal of the three - it needs to be interwoven in all I do. I conceive of beauty and truth beyond objective frameworks. This goal is measured intuitively in a process self-reflection.

Beauty and truth are related concepts - what is beautiful is also true and vice-versa. While beauty is many times intricate, it is at other times extremely simple. This holds true for the solutions to problems. Sometimes we need to come up with an intricate answer Other times we need to step back and recognize that the answer is quite simple.

As I work with library technology, I have to continually question whether it serves the ends of beauty and truth. Is the technology freeing us to be joyful, generous, and thoughtful servants - or is it enslaving us to fear, greed and narrowmindedness?

I have a sore temptation toward excess productivity. The real problem with technology is that it gives me the illusion that I can accomplish more and more, faster and faster. As I grow older and (hopefully) wiser, I am learning that a rhythm of rest and reflection makes me healthier and brings more beauty and truth into my life. When I use technology, I need to make sure I remember that the night, the seventh day, and the seventh year were set aside for us to rest and replenish ourselves.

With that, I'm realizing it is now fully dark. Tomorrow is a new day. Good night.

Library Nostalgia Time (sort of)

Part of my (unofficial) job description is weaning my library from cards by computerizing our operations. We haven't had a public card catalog for years, but we still maintain an "inventory shelflist." We also have a card file that includes all of our current periodical holdings and a card file of our standing orders.

Until recently, we also kept a file of order cards (carbon copied and filed by vendor and title) for all monographs as well as a paper file of each and every interlibrary loan request. We also forced students to check out their reserve books on old-fashioned blue book cards. When we phased out the cards, my student assistants were worried that they wouldn't have any work to do any more, since they were spending so much time creating this paper trail. They got over it, though.

All the cards seem silly - especially in 2009. But I think I kind of "get" them.

There's something nice about thumbing through a drawer full of cards. It's nice to feel a physical representation of each and every book. Cards contribute to that nice library smell. They are neat and orderly and don't fail when the power flickers or the Internet connection goes down. Typing, sorting, and filing cards gives us something to do all day that is not terribly difficult, yet makes us feel important as librarians.

And darn it all, I don't think I have any more "free" time to sit around and read books in my automated library world than my card-based predecessors did. It just means I have different priorities and a different range of responsibilities. You can't quite say I get more done: I just get different things done.

Yes, a little part of me dies every time I recycle a library card. Yes, I have a large box of retired library cards in my basement - an endless supply of free one-sided note cards.

But like any nostalgic old fogey, I'm not going to pedal backward anytime soon. I praise the Lord Almighty for the number of access points in our OPAC, the precise computerized filing, and the lack of hassle with a crummy unforgiving typewriter.

Nothing kills nostalgia like a true blast from the past.